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CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME 
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 FUND GIVEN IN 189I BY 
 
 HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE 
 
Cornell University Library 
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 Portrat and biographical album of Henry 
 
 3 1924 028 805 352 
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 Cornell University 
 Library 
 
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 the Cornell University Library. 
 
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 Henry County, Illinois. ; 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 Fall-page portrait aqd Biographical j^etoheg of pronjineqt and I^epi'egeqfsaiiiYe 
 
 Citizeq^ of fije County. 
 
 TOGETHER WITH 
 
 PORTRAITS AND BIOGRAPHIES OF ALL THE GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS, 
 AND OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 ALSO CONTAINING A HISTORY OF THE COUNTY, FROM ITS EARLIEST SETTLEMENT 
 
 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 
 
 CHICAGO: 
 
 Biographical Publishing Co 
 1885. 
 
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 HAVE completed our labors in writing and compiling the Portrait and Bio- 
 iGRAPHiCAL Album of this county, and wish, in presenting it to our patrons, to speak 
 briefly of the importance of local works of this nature. It is certainly the duty 
 of the present to commemorate the past, to perpetuate the names of the pioneers, 
 to furnish a record of their early settlement, and to relate the story of their progress. 
 The civilization of our day, the enlightenment of the age, and this solemn duty which 
 men of the present time owe to their ancestors, to themselves and to their posterity, 
 demand that a record of their lives and deeds should be made. In local history k found a power 
 to instruct man by precedent, to enliven the mental faculties, and to waft down the river of time a safe 
 vessel in which the names and actions of the people who contributed to raise this region from its 
 primitive state may be preserved. Surely and rapidly the noble men, who in their vigor and prime 
 came early to the county and claimed the virgin soil as their heiitage, are passing to their 
 graves. The number remaining who can relate the history of the first days of settlement is 
 becoming small indeed, so that an actual necessity exists for the collection and preservation of his- 
 torical matter without delay, before the settlers of the wilderness are cut down by time. Not only 
 is it of the greatest importance to render history of pioneer times full and accurate, but it is also essen- 
 tial that the history of the county, from its settlement to the present day, should be treated through its various 
 phases, so that a record, complete and impartial, may be handed down to the future. The present the age 
 of progress, is reviewed, standing- out in bold relief over the quiet, unostentatious olden times ; it is abrillinnt 
 record, which is destined to live in the future; the good works of men, their magnificent enterprises, theii 
 lives, whether commercial or military, do not sink into oblivion, but, on the contrary, grow brighter with age, 
 and contribute to build up a record which carries with it precedents and principles that will 1 e advanced and 
 observed when the acts of soulless men will be forgotten and their very names hidden in obscurity. 
 
 In the preparation of the personal sketches contained in this volume, unusual care and pains were 
 taken to have them accurate, even in the smallest detail. Indeed, nothing was passed lightly over or treated 
 indifferently ; and we flatter ourselves that it is one of the most accurate works of its nature ever published. 
 As one of the most interesting features of this work, we present the portraits of numerous represent- 
 ative citizens. It has been our aim to have the prominent men of to-day, as well as the pioneers, represented 
 in this department ; and we congratulate ourselves on the uniformly high character of the gentlemen whose 
 portraits we present. They are in the strictest sense representative men, and are selected from all the call- 
 ings and professions worthy to be given. There are others, it is true, who claim equal prominence with 
 those given; but of course it was impossible for us to give portraits of all the leading men and pioneers 
 of the county. We are under great obligation to many of the noble and generous people of this county 
 for kindly and material assistance in the preparation of this Album. 
 
 Chicago, December, 1885. 
 
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 HE Father of our Country was 
 born in Westmorland Co., Va., 
 Feb. 22, 1732. His parents 
 were Augustine and Mary 
 (Ball) Washington. The family 
 to which he belonged has not 
 been satisfactorily traced in 
 England. His great-grand- 
 father, John Washington, em- 
 igrated to Virginia about 1657, 
 and became a prosperous 
 planter. He had two sons, 
 Lawrence and John. The 
 former married Mildred Warner 
 and had three children, John. 
 Augustine and Mildred. Augus- 
 tine, the father of George, first 
 married Jane Butler, who bore 
 him four children, two of whom, 
 Lawrence and Augustine, reached 
 maturity. Of six children by his 
 second marriage, George was the 
 eldest, the others being Betty, 
 Samuel, John Augustine, Charles 
 and Mildred. 
 Augustine Washington, the father of George, died 
 in 1743, leaving a large landed property. To his 
 eldest son, Lawrence, he .bequeathed an estate on 
 the Patomac, afterwards known as Mount Vernon, 
 and to George he left the parental residence. George 
 received only such education as the neighborhood 
 schools afforded, save for a short time after he left 
 school when he received private instruction in 
 
 mathematics. His spelling was rather defective 
 
 $fg3$i ^^ e^DllguIH^A^ 
 
 Remarkable stories are told of his great physical 
 strength and development at an early age. He was 
 an acknowledged leader among his companions, and 
 was early noted for that nobleness of character, fair- 
 ness and veracity which characterized his whole life. 
 
 When George was 1 4 years old he had a desire to go to 
 sea, and a midshipman's warrant was secured for him, 
 but through the opposition of his mother the idea was 
 abandoned. Two years later he was appointed 
 surveyor to the immense estate of Lord Fairfax. In 
 this business he spent three years in a- rough frontier 
 life, gaining experience which afterwards proved very 
 essential to him. In 1751, though only 19 years of 
 age, he was appointed adjutant with the rank of 
 major in the Virginia militia, then being trained for 
 active service against the French and Indians. Soon 
 after this he sailed to the West Indies with his brother 
 Lawrence, who went there to restore his health. They 
 soon returned, and in the summer of 1752 Lawrence 
 died, leaving a large fortune to an infant daughter 
 who did not long survive him. On her demise the 
 estate of Mount Vernon was given to George. 
 
 Upon the arrival of Robert Dinwiddie, as Lieuten- 
 ant-Governor of Virginia, in 1752, the militia was 
 reorganized, and the province divided into four mili- 
 tary districts, of which the northern was assigned to 
 Washington as adjutant general. Shortly after this 
 a very perilous mission was assigned him and ac- 
 cepted, which others had refused. This was to pro- 
 ceed to the French post near Lake Erie in North- 
 western Pennsylvania. The distance to be traversed 
 was between 500 and 600 miles. Winter was at hand, 
 and the journey was to be made without military 
 escort, through a territory occupied by Indians. The 
 
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 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
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 trip was a perilous one, and several limes he came near 
 losing his life, yet he returned in safety and furnished 
 a full and useful report of his expedition. A regiment 
 of 300 men was raised in Virginia and put in com- 
 mand of Col. Joshua Fry, and Major Washington was 
 commissioned lieutenant-colonel. Active war was 
 then begun against the French and Indians, in which 
 Washington took a most important part. In the 
 memorable event of July 9, 1755, known as Brad- 
 dock's defeat, Washington was almost the only officer 
 of distinction who escaped from the calamities of the 
 day with life and honor. The other aids of Braddock 
 were disabled early in the action, and Washington 
 alone was left in that capacity on the field. In a letter 
 to his brother he says : " I had four bullets through 
 my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet I escaped 
 unhurt, though death was leveling, my companions 
 on every side." An Indian sharpshooter said he was 
 not born to be killed by a bullet, for he had taken 
 direct aim at him seventeen times, and failed to hit 
 him. 
 
 After having been five years in the military service, 
 and vainly sought promotion in the royal army, he 
 took advantage of the fall of Fort Duquesne and the 
 expulsion of the French from the valley of the Ohio, 
 to resign his commission. Soon after he entered the 
 Legislature, where, although not a leader, he took an 
 active and important part. January 17, 1759, he 
 married Mrs. Martha (Dandridge) Custis, the wealthy 
 widow of John Parke Custis. 
 
 When the British Parliament had closed the port 
 of Boston, the cry went up throughout the provinces 
 that "Thccause of Boston is the cause of us all." 
 It was then, at the suggestion of Virginia, that a Con- 
 gress of all the colonies was called to meet at Phila- 
 delphia,Sept. 5, 1774, to secure their common liberties, 
 peaceably if possible. To this Congress Col. Wash- 
 ington was sent as a delegate. On May 10, 1775, the 
 Congress re-assembled, when the hostile intentions of 
 England were plainly apparent. The battles of Con- 
 cord and Lexington had been fought. Among the 
 first acts of this Congress was the election of a com- 
 mander-in-chief of the colonial forces. This high and 
 responsible office was conferred upon Washington, 
 who was still a memberof the Congress. He accepted 
 it on June 19, but upon the express condition that he 
 receive no salary. He would keep an exact account 
 of expenses and expect Congress to pay them and 
 nothing more. It is not the object of this sketch to 
 trace the military acts of Washington, to whom the 
 fortunes and liberties of the people of this country 
 were so long confided. The war was conducted by 
 him under every possible disadvantage, and while his 
 forces often met with reverses, yet he overcame every 
 obstacle, and after seven years of heroic devotion 
 and matchless skill he gained liberty for the greatest 
 nation of earth. On Dec. 23, T783, Washington, in 
 a parting address of surpassing beauty, resigned his 
 
 commission as' commander-in-chief of the army to 
 to the Continental Congress sitting at Annapolis. He 
 retired immediately to Mount Vernon and resumed 
 his occupation as a farmer and planter, shunning all 
 connection with public life. 
 
 In February, 1 7 89, Washington was unanimously 
 elected President. In his presidential career he was 
 subject to the peculiar trials incidental to a new 
 government ; trials from lack of confidence on the part 
 of other governments ; trials from want of harmony 
 between the different sections of our own country; 
 trials from the impoverished condition of the country, 
 owing to the war and want of credit; trials from the 
 beginnings of party strife. He was no partisan. His 
 clear judgment could discern the golden mean ; and 
 while perhaps this alone kept our government from 
 sinking at the veiy outset, it left him exposed to 
 attacks from both sides, which were often bitter and 
 very annoying. 
 
 At the expiration of his first term he was unani- 
 mously re-elected. At the end of this term many 
 were anxious that he be re-elected, but he absolutely 
 refused a third nomination. On the fourth of March, 
 1797, at the expiraton of his second term as Presi- 
 dent, he returned to his home, hoping to pass there 
 his few remaining yeais free from the annoyances of 
 public life. Later in the year, however, his repose 
 seemed likely to be interrupted by war with France. 
 At the prospect of such a war he was again urged to 
 take command of the armies. He chose his sub- 
 ordinate officers and left to them the charge of mat- 
 ters in the field, which he superintended from his 
 home. In accepting the command he made the 
 reservation that he was not to be in the field until 
 it was necessary. In the midst of these preparations 
 his life was suddenly cut off. December 12, he took 
 a severe cold from a ride in the rain, which, settling 
 in his throat, produced inflammation, and terminated 
 fatally on the night of the fourteenth. On.the eigh- 
 teenth his body was borne wilh military honors to its 
 final resting place, and interred in the family vault at 
 Mount Vernon. 
 
 Of the character of Washington it is impossible to 
 speak but in terms of the highest respect and ad- 
 miration. The more we see of the operations of 
 our government, and the more deeply we feel the 
 difficulty of uniting all opinions in a common interest, 
 the more highly we must estimate the force of his tal- 
 ent and character, which have been able to challenge 
 the reverence of all parties, and principles, and na- 
 tions, and to win a fame as extended as the limits 
 of the globe, and which we cannot but believe will 
 be as lasting as the existence of man. 
 
 The person of Washington was unusally tall, erect 
 and well proportioned. His muscular strength was 
 great. His features were of a beautiful symmetry. 
 He commanded respect without any appearance of 
 haughtiness, and ever serious without being dull. 
 
 
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 SECOND PRESIDENT. 
 
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 OHN ADAMS, the second 
 President and the first Vice- 
 President of the United States, 
 was born in Braintree ( now 
 Quincy),Mass., and about ten 
 miles from Boston, Oct. 19, 
 1735. His great-grandfather, Henry- 
 Adams, emigrated from England 
 about 1 640, with a family of eight 
 sons, and settled at Braiutree. The 
 parents of John were John and 
 Susannah (Boylston) Adams. His 
 father was a farmer of limited 
 means, to which he added the bus- 
 iness of shoemaking. He gave his 
 eldest son, John, a classical educa- 
 tion at Harvard College. John 
 graduated in 1755, and at once took charge of the 
 school in Worcester, Mass. This he found but a 
 "school of affliction," from which he endeavored to 
 gain relief by devoting himself, in addition, to the 
 study of law. For this purpose he placed himself 
 under the tuition of the only lawyer in the town. He 
 had thought seriously of the clerical profession 
 but seems' to have been turned from this by what he 
 termed " the frightful engines of ecclesiastical coun- 
 cils, of diabolical malice, and Calvanistic good nature,'' 
 of the operations of which he had been a witness in 
 his native town. He was well fitted for the legal 
 profession, possessing a clear, sonorous voice, being 
 ready and fluent of speech, and having quick percep- 
 tive powers. He gradually gained practice, and in 
 1764 married Abigail Smith, a daughter of a minister, 
 and a lady of superior intelligence. Shortly after his 
 marriage, (1765), the attempt of Parliamentary taxa- 
 tion turned him from law to politics. He took initial 
 steps toward holding a town meeting, and the resolu- 
 
 tions he offered on the subject became very popular 
 throughout the Province, and were adopted word for 
 word by over forty different towns. He moved to Bos- 
 ton in 1768, and became one of the most courageous 
 and prominent advocates of the popular cause, and 
 was chosen a member of the General Court (the Leg- 
 lislature) in 1770. 
 
 Mr. Adams was chosen one of the first delegates 
 from Massachusetts to the first Continental Congress, 
 which met in 1774. Here he distinguished himself 
 by his capacity for business and for debate, and ad- 
 vocated the movement for independence against the 
 majority of the members. In May, 1776, he moved 
 and carried a resolution in Congress that the Colonies 
 should assume the duties of self-government. He 
 was a prominent member of the committee of five 
 appointed June n, to prepare a declaration of inde- 
 pendence. This article was drawn by Jefferson, but 
 on Adams devolved the task of battling it through 
 Congress in a three days debate. 
 
 On the day after the Declaration of Independence 
 was passed, while his soul was yet warm with the 
 glow of excited feeling, he wrote a letter to his wife, 
 which, as we read it now, seems to have been dictated 
 by the spirit of prophecy. "Yesterday," he says,"the 
 greatest question was decided that ever was debated 
 in America; and greater, perhaps, never was or will 
 be decided among men. A resolution was passed 
 without one dissenting colony, ' that these United 
 States are, and of right ought to be, free and inde- 
 pendent states.' The day is passed. The. fourth of 
 July, 1776, will be a memorable epoch in the history 
 of America. I am apt to believe it will be celebrated 
 by succeeding generations, as the great anniversary 
 festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of 
 deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to Almighty 
 God. It ought to be solemnized with pomp, showsi 
 
 
 
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 /OffTv* ADAMS. 
 
 games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations 
 from one end of the continent to the other, from this 
 time forward for ever. You will think me transported 
 with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of 
 the toil, and blood and treasure, that it will cost to 
 maintain this declaration, and support and defend 
 these States; yet, through all the gloom, I can see the 
 rays of light and glory. I can see that the end is 
 worth more than all the means ; and that posterity 
 will triumph, although you and I may rue, which I 
 hope we shall not." 
 
 In November, 1777, Mr. Adams was appointed a 
 delegate to France^ and to co-operate with Bemjamin 
 Franklin and Arthur Lee, who were then in Paris, in 
 the endeavor to obtain assistance in arms and money 
 from the French Government. This was a severe trial 
 to his patriotism, as it separated him from his home, 
 compelled him to cross the ocean in winter, and ex- 
 posed him to great peril of capture by the British cruis- 
 ers, who were seeking him. He left France June 17, 
 1779. In September of the same year he was again 
 chosen to go to Paris, and there hold himself in readi- 
 ness to negotiate a treaty of peace and of comrherce 
 with Great Britian, as soon as the British Cabinet 
 might be found willing to listen to such proposels. He 
 sailed for France in November, from there he went to 
 Holland, where he negotiated important loans and 
 formed important commercial treaties. 
 
 Finally a treaty of peace with England was signed 
 Jan. 21, 1783. The re-action from the excitement, 
 toil and anxiety through which Mr. Adams had passed 
 threw him into a fever. After suffering from a con- 
 tinued fever and becoming feeble and emaciated he 
 was advised to go to England to drink the waters of 
 Bath. While in England, still drooping and despond- 
 ing, he received dispatches from his own government 
 urging the necessity of his going to Amsterdam to 
 negotiate another loan. It was winter,'his health was 
 delicate, yet he immediately set out, and through 
 storm, on sea, on horseback and foot,he made the trip. 
 
 February 24, 1785, Congress appointed Mr. Adams 
 envoy to the Court of St. James. Here he met face 
 to face the King of England, who had so long re- 
 garded him as a traitor. As England did not 
 condescend to appoint a minister to the United 
 States, and as Mr. Adams felt that he was accom- 
 plishing but little, he sought permission to return to 
 his own country, where he arrived in June, 1788. 
 
 When Washington was first chosen President, John 
 Adams, rendered illustiious by his signal services at 
 home and abroad, was chosen Vice President. Again 
 at the second election of Washington as President, 
 Adams was chosen Vice President. In 1796, Wash- 
 ington retired from public life, and Mr. Adams was 
 elected President,though not without much opposition. 
 Serving in this office four years,he was succeeded by 
 Mr. Jefferson, his opponent in politics. 
 
 While Mr. Adams was Vice President the great 
 
 French Revolution shook the continent of Europe, 
 and it was upon this point which he was at issue with 
 the majority of his countrymen led by Mr. Jefferson. 
 Mr. Adams felt no sympathy with the French people 
 in their struggle, for he had no confidence in their 
 power of self-government, and he utterly abhored the 
 class of atheist philosophers who he claimed caused it. 
 On the other hand Jefferson's sympathies were strongly 
 enlisted in behalf of the French people. Hence or- 
 iginated the alienation between these distinguished 
 men, and two powerful parties were thus soon organ- 
 ized, Adams at the head of the one whose sympathies 
 were with England and Jefferson led the other in 
 sympathy with France. 
 
 The world has seldom seen a spectacle of more 
 moral beauty and grandeur, than was presented by the 
 old age of Mr. Adams. The violence of party feeling 
 had died away, and he had begun to receive that just 
 appreciation which, to most men, is not accorded till 
 after death. No one could look upon his venerable 
 form, and think of what he had done and suffered, 
 and how he had given up all the prime and strength 
 of his life to the public good, without the deepest 
 emotion of gratitude and respect. It was his peculiar 
 good fortune to witness the complete success of the 
 institution which he had been so active in creating and 
 supporting. In r824, his cup of happiness was filled 
 to the brim, by seeing his son elevated to the highest 
 station in the gift of the people. 
 
 The fourth of July, 1826, which completed the half 
 century since the signing of the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, arrived, and there were but three of the 
 signers of that immortal instrument left upon the 
 earth to hail its morning light. And, as it is 
 well known, on that day two of these finished their 
 earthly pilgrimage, a coincidence so remarkable as 
 to seem miraculous. For a few days before Mr. 
 Adams had been rapidly failing, and on the morning 
 of the fourth he found himself too weak to rise from 
 his bed. On being requested to name a toast for the 
 customary celebration of the day, he exclaimed " In- 
 dependence forever." When the day was ushered 
 in, by the ringing of bells and the firing of cannons, 
 he was asked by one of his attendants if he knew 
 what day it was? He replied, "O yes; it is the glor- 
 ious fourth of July — God bless it — God bless you all." 
 In the course of the day he said, " It is a great and 
 glorious day." The last words he uttered were, 
 "Jefferson survives." But he had, a' one o'clock, re- 
 signed his spirit into the hands of his God. 
 
 The personal appearance and manners of Mr. 
 Adams were not particularly prepossessing. His face, 
 as his portrait manifests.was intellectual and expres- 
 sive, but his figure was low and ungraceful, and his 
 manners were frequently abrupt and uncourteous. 
 He had neither the lofty dignity of Washington, nor 
 the engaging elegance and gracefulness which marked 
 the manners and address? of Jefferson, 
 
 V© 
 
 9 
 
 4. 
 
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 V 
 
 HOMAS JEFFERSON was 
 born April 2, 1743, at Shad- 
 well, Albermarle county, Va. 
 
 His parents were Peter and 
 Jane ( Randolph ) Jefferson, 
 the former a native of Wales, 
 and the latter born in Lon- 
 don. To them were born six 
 daughters and two sons, of 
 whom Thomas was the elder. 
 When 14 years of age his 
 father died. He received a 
 most liberal education, hav- 
 ing been kept diligently at school 
 from the time he was five years of 
 age. In 1760 he entered William 
 and Mary College. Williamsburg was then the seat 
 of the Colonial Court, and it was the obodeof fashion 
 and splendor. Young Jefferson, who was then 17 
 'years old, lived somewhat expensively, keeping fine 
 horses, and much caressed by gay society, yet he 
 was earnestly devoted to his studies, and irreproacha- 
 able in his morals. It is strange, however, under 
 such influences,that he was not ruined. In the sec- 
 ond year of his college course, moved by some un- 
 explained inward impulse, he discarded his horses, 
 society, and even his favorite violin, to which he had 
 previously given much time. He often devoted fifteen 
 hours a day to hard study, allowing himself for ex- 
 ercise only a run in the evening twilight of a mile out 
 of the city and back again. He thus attained very 
 high intellectual culture, alike excellence in philoso- 
 phy and the languages. The most difficult Latin and 
 Greek authors he read with facility. A more finished 
 scholar has seldom gone forth from college halls ; and 
 
 there was not to be found, perhaps, in all Virginia, a 
 more pureminded, upright, gentlemanly young man. 
 
 Immediately upon leaving college he began the 
 study of law. For the short time he continued in the 
 practice of his profession he rose rapidly and distin- 
 guished himself by his energy and accuteness as a 
 lawyer. But the times called for greater action. 
 The policy of England had awakened the spirit of 
 resistance of the American Colonies, and the enlarged 
 views which Jefferson had ever entertained, soon led 
 him into active political life. In ^69 he was chosen 
 a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. In 
 1772 he married Mrs. Martha Skelton, a very beauti- 
 ful, wealthy and highly accomplished young widow. 
 
 Upon Mr. Jefferson's large estate at Shadwell, there 
 was a majestic swell of land, called Monticello, which 
 commanded a prospect of wonderful extent and 
 beauty. This spot Mr. Jefferson selected for his new 
 home; and here he reared a mansion of modest yet 
 elegant architecture, which, next to Mount Vernon, 
 became the most distinguished resort in our land. 
 
 In 1775 he was sent to the Colonial Congress, 
 where, though a silent member, his abilities as a 
 writer and a reasoner soon become known, and he 
 was placed upon a number of important committees, 
 and was chairman of the one appointed for the draw- 
 ing up of a declaration of independence. This com- 
 mittee consisted of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, 
 Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert R. 
 Livingston. Jefferson, as chairman, was appointed 
 to draw up the paper. Franklin and Adams suggested 
 a few verbal changes before it was submitted to Con- 
 gress. On June 28, a few slight changes were made 
 in it by Congress, and it was passed and signed July 
 4, 1776. What must have been the feelings of that 
 
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 THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
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 man — what the emotions that swelled his breast — 
 who was charged with the preparation of that Dec- 
 laration, which, while it made known the wrongs of 
 America, was also to publish her to the world, free, 
 soverign and independent. It is one of the most re- 
 markable papers ever written ; and did no other effort 
 of the mind of its author exist, that alone would be 
 sufficient to stamp his name with immortality. 
 
 In 1779 Mr. Jefferson was elected successor to 
 Patrick Henry, as Governor of Virginia. At one time 
 the British officer, Tarleton, sent a secret expedition to 
 Monticello, to capture the Governor. Scarcely five 
 minutes elapsed after the hurried escape of Mr. Jef- 
 ferson and his family, ere his mansion was in posses- 
 sion of the British troops. His wife's health, never 
 very good, was much injured by this excitement, and 
 in the summer of 1782 she died. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson was elected to Congress in 1783. 
 Two years later he was appointed Minister Plenipo- 
 tentiary to France. Returning to the United States 
 in September, 1789, he became Secretary of State 
 in Washington's cabinet. This position he resigned 
 Jan. r, 1794. In 1797, he was chosen Vice Presi- 
 dent, and four years later was elected President over 
 Mr. Adams, with Aaron Burr as Vice President. In 
 1804 he was re-elected with wonderful unanimity, 
 and George Clinton, Vice President. 
 
 The early part of Mr. Jefferson's second adminstra- 
 tion was disturbed by an event which threatened the 
 tranquility and peace of the Union; this was the con- 
 spiracy of Aaron Burr. Defeated in the late election 
 to the Vice Presidency, and led on by an unprincipled 
 ambition, this extraordinary man formed the plan of a 
 military expedition into the Spanish territories on our 
 southwestern frontier, for the purpose of forming there 
 a new republic. This has been generally supposed 
 was a mere pretext ; and although it has not been 
 generally known what his real plans were, there is no 
 doubt that they were of a far more dangerous 
 character. 
 
 In r8o9, at the expiration of the second term for 
 which Mr. Jefferson had been elected, he determined 
 to retire from political life. For a period of nearly 
 forty years, he had been continually before the pub- 
 lic, and all that time had been employed in offices of 
 the greatest trust and responsibility. Having thus de- 
 voted the best part of his life to the service of his 
 country, he now felt desirous of that rest which his 
 declining years required, and upon the organization of 
 the new administration, in March, 1809, he bid fare- 
 well forever to public life, and retired to Monticello. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson was profuse in his hospitality. Whole 
 families came in their coaches with their horses, — 
 fathers and mothers, boys and girls, babies and 
 nurses, — and remained three and even six months. 
 Life at Monticello, for years, resembled that at a 
 fashionable watering-place. 
 
 The fourth of July, 1826, being the fiftieth anniver- 
 
 sary of the Declaration of American Independence, 
 great preparations were made in every part of the 
 Union for its celebration, as the nation's jubilee, and 
 the citizens of Washington, to add to the solemnity 
 of the occasion, invited Mr. Jefferson, as the framer, 
 and one of the few surviving signers of the Declara- 
 tion, to participate in their festivities. But an ill- 
 ness, which had been of several weeks duration, and 
 had been continually increasing, compelled him to 
 decline the invitation. 
 
 On the second of July, the disease under which 
 he was laboring left him, but in such a reduced 
 state that his medical attendants, entertained no 
 hope of his recovery. From this time he was perfectly 
 sensible that his last hour was at hand. On the next 
 djiy, which was Monday, he asked of those around 
 him, the day of the month, and on being told it was 
 the third of July, he expressed the earnest wish that 
 he might be permitted to breathe the air of the fiftieth 
 anniversary. His prayer was heard — that day, whose 
 dawn was hailed with such rapture through our land, 
 burst upon his eyes, and then they were closed for- 
 ever. And what a noble consummation of a noble 
 life ! To die on that day, — the birthday of a nation,- - 
 the day which his own name and his own act had 
 rendered glorious; to die amidst the rejoicings and 
 festivities of a whole nation, who looked up to him, 
 as the author, under God, of their greatest blessings, 
 was all that was wanting to fill up the record his life. 
 
 Almost at the same hour of his death, the kin- 
 dred spirit of the venerable Adams, as if to bear 
 him company, left the scene of his earthly honors. 
 Hand in hand they had stood forth, the champions of 
 freedom ; hand in hand, during the dark and desper- 
 ate struggle of the Revolution, they had cheered and 
 animated their desponding countrymen; for half a 
 century they had labored together for the good of 
 the country; and now hand in hand they depart. 
 In their lives they had been united in the same great 
 cause of liberty, and in their deaths they were not 
 divided. 
 
 In person Mr. Jefferson was tall and thin, rather 
 above six feet in height, but well formed; his eyes 
 were light, his hair originally red, in after life became 
 white and silvery; his complexion was fair, his fore- 
 head broad, and his whole countenance intelligent and 
 thoughtful. He possessed great fortitude of mind as 
 well as personal courage ; and his command of tem- 
 per was such that his oldest and most intimate friends 
 never recollected to have seen him in a passion. 
 His manners, though dignified, were simple and un- 
 affected, and his hospitality was so unbounded that 
 all found at his house a ready welcome. In conver- 
 sation he was fluent, eloquent and enthusiastic ; and 
 his language was remarkably pure and correct. He 
 was a finished classical scholar, and in his writings is 
 discernable the care with which he formed his style 
 upon the best models of antiquity. 
 
 
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 AMES MADISON, "Father 
 of the Constitution," and fourth 
 President of the United States, 
 was born March 16, 1757, and 
 died at his home in Virginia, 
 June 28, 1836. The name of 
 James Madison is inseparably con- 
 nected with most of the important 
 events in that heroic period of our 
 country during which the founda- 
 tions of this great republic were 
 laid. He was the last of the founders 
 of the Constitution of the United 
 States to be called to his eternal 
 reward. 
 
 The Madison family were among 
 the early emigrants to the New World, 
 landing upon the shores of the Chesa- 
 peake but 15 years after the settle- 
 ment of Jamestown. The father of 
 James Madison was an opulent 
 planter, residing upon a very fine es- 
 tate called " Montpelier," Orange Co., 
 Va. The mansion was situated in 
 the midst of scenery highly pictur- 
 esque and romantic, on the west side 
 of South-west Mountain, at the foot of 
 Blue Ridge. It was but 25 miles from the home of 
 Jefferson at Monticello. The closest personal and 
 political attachment existed between these illustrious 
 men, from their early youth until death. 
 
 The early education of Mr. Madison was conducted 
 mostly at home under a private tutor. At the age of 
 18 he was sent to Princeton College, in New Jersey. 
 Here he applied himself to study with the most im- 
 
 prudent zeal; allowing himself, for months, but three 
 hours' sleep out of the 24. His health thus became so 
 seriously impaired that he never recovered any vigor 
 of constitution. He graduated in 177 1, with a feeble 
 body, with a character of utmost purity, and with a 
 mind highly disciplined and richly stored with learning 
 which embellished and gave proficiency to his subse- 
 quent career. 
 
 Returning to Virginia, he commenced the study of 
 law and a course of extensive and systematic reading. 
 This educational course, the spirit of the times in 
 which he lived, and the society with which he asso- 
 ciated, all combined to inspire him with a strong 
 love of liberty, and to train him for his life-work of 
 a statesman. Being naturally of a religious turn of 
 mind, and his frail health leading him to think that 
 his life was not to be long, he directed especial atten- 
 tion to theological studies. Endowed with a mind 
 singularly free from passion and prejudice, and with 
 almost unequalled powers of reasoning, he weighed 
 all the arguments for and against revealed religion, 
 until his faith became so established as never to 
 be shaken. 
 
 In the spring of 1776, when 26 years of age, he 
 was elected a member of the Virginia Convention, to 
 frame the constitution of the State. The next year 
 (1777), he was a candidate for the General Assembly. 
 He refused to treat the whisky-loving voters, and 
 consequently lost his election ; but those who had 
 witnessed the talent, energy and public spirit of the 
 modest young man, enlisted themselves in his behalf, 
 and he was appointed to the Executive Council. 
 
 Both Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson were 
 Governors of Virginia while Mr. Madison remained 
 member of the Council ; and their appreciation of his 
 
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 intellectual, social and moral worth, contributed not 
 a little to his subsequent eminence. In the year 
 1780, he was elected a member of the Continental 
 Congress. Here he met the most illustrious men in 
 our land, and he was immediately assigned to one of 
 the most conspicuous positions among them. 
 
 For three years Mr. Madison continued in Con- 
 gress, one of its most active and influential members. 
 In the year 1784, his term having expired, he was 
 elected a member of the Virginia Legislature. 
 
 No man felt more deeply than Mr. Madison the 
 utter inefficiency of the old confederacy, with no na- 
 tional government, with no power to form treaties 
 which would be binding, or to enforce law. There 
 was not any State more prominent than Virginia in 
 the declaration, that an efficient national government 
 must be formed. In January, 1786, Mr. Madison 
 carried a resolution through the General Assembly of 
 Virginia, inviting the other States to appoint commis- 
 sioners to meet in convention at Annapolis to discuss 
 this subject. Five States only were represented. The 
 convention, however, issued another call, drawn up 
 by Mr. Madison, urging all the States to send their 
 delegates to Philadelphia, in May, 1787, to draft 
 a Constitution for the United States, to take the place 
 of that Confederate League. The delegates met at 
 the time appointed. Every State but Rhode Island 
 was represented. George Washington was chosen 
 president of the convention ; and the present Consti- 
 tution of the United States was then and there formed. 
 There was, perhaps, no mind and no pen more ac- 
 tive in framing this immortal document than the mind 
 and the pen of James Madison. 
 
 The Constitution, adopted by a vote 81 to 79, was 
 to be presented to the several States for acceptance. 
 But grave solicitude was felt. Should it be rejected 
 we should be left but a conglomeration of independent 
 States, with but little power at home and little respect 
 abroad. Mr. Madison was selected by the conven- 
 tion to draw up an address to the people of the United 
 States, expounding the principles of the Constitution, 
 and urging its adoption. There was great opposition 
 to it at first, but it at length triumphed over all, and 
 went into effect in 1789. 
 
 Mr. Madison was elected to the House of Repre- 
 sentatives in the first Congress, and soon became the 
 avowed leader of the Republican party. While in 
 New York attending Congress, he met Mrs. Todd, a 
 young widow of remarkable power of fascination, 
 whom he married. She was in person and character 
 queenly, and probably no lady has thus far occupied 
 so prominent a position in the very peculiar society 
 which has constituted our republican court as Mrs. 
 Madison. 
 
 Mr. Madison served as Secretary of State under 
 Jefferson, and at the close of his administration 
 was chosen President. At this time the encroach- 
 ments of England had brought us to the verge of war. 
 
 British orders in council destroyed our commerce, and 
 our flag was exposed to constant insult. Mr. Madison 
 was a man of peace. Scholarly in his taste, retiring 
 in his disposition, war had no charms for him. But the 
 meekest spirit can be roused. It makes one's blood 
 boil, even now, to think of an American ship brought 
 to, upon the ocean, by the guns of an English cruiser. 
 A young lieutenant steps on board and orders the 
 crew to be paraded before him. With great nonchal- 
 ance he selects any number whom he may please to 
 designate as British subjects ; orders them down the 
 ship's side into his boat ; and places them on the gun- 
 deck of his man-of-war, to fight, by compulsion, the 
 battles of England. This right of search and im- 
 pressment, no efforts of pur Government could induce 
 the British cabinet to relinquish. 
 
 On the 18th of June, 1812, President Madison gave 
 his approval to an act of Congress declaring war 
 against Great Britain. Notwithstanding the bitter 
 hostility of the Federal party to the war, the country 
 in general approved ; and Mr. Madison, on the 4th 
 of March, 18 13, was re-elected by a large majority, 
 and entered upon his second term of office. This is 
 not the place to describe the various adventures of 
 this war on the land and on the water. Our infant 
 navy then laid the foundations of its renown in grap- 
 pling wilh the most formidable power which ever 
 swept the seas. The contest commenced in earnest 
 by the appearance of a British fleet, early in February, 
 1813, in Chesapeake Bay, declaring nearly the whole 
 coast of the United States under blockade. 
 
 The Emperor of Russia offered his services as me 
 ditator. America accepted ; England refused. A Brit- 
 ish force of five thousand men landed on the banks 
 of the Patuxet River, near its entrance into Chesa- 
 peake Bay, and marched rapidly, by way of Bladens- 
 burg, upon Washington. 
 
 The straggling little city of Washington was thrown 
 into consternation. The cannon of the brief conflict 
 at Bladensburg echoed through the streets of the 
 metropolis. The whole population fled from the city. 
 The President, leaving Mrs. Madison in the White 
 House, with her carriage drawn up at the door to 
 await his speedy return, hurried to meet the officers 
 in a council of war. He met our troops utterly routed, 
 and he could not go back without danger of being 
 captured. But few hours elapsed ere the Presidential 
 Mansion, the Capitol, and all the public buildings in 
 Washington were in flames. 
 
 The war closed after two years of fighting, and on 
 Feb. 13, i8i5,the treaty of peace was signed at Ghent. 
 
 Onthe 4 thof March, 1817, his second term of 
 office expired, and he resigned the Presidential chair 
 to his friend, James Monroe. He retired to his beau- 
 tiful home at Montpelier, and there passed the re- 
 mainder of his days. On June 28, 1836, then at the 
 age of 85 years, he fell asleep in death. Mrs. Madi- 
 son died July 12, 1849. 
 
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AMES MONROE, the fifth 
 President of The United States, 
 was born in Westmoreland Co., 
 Va., April 28, 1758. His early 
 life was passed at the place of 
 nativity. His ancestors had for 
 many years resided in the prov- 
 ince in which he was born. When, 
 at 17 years of age, in the process 
 of completing his education at 
 William and Mary College, the Co- 
 lonial Congress assembled at Phila- 
 delphia to deliberate upon the un- 
 just and manifold oppressions of 
 Great Britian, declared the separa- 
 tion of the Colonies, and promul- 
 gated the Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence. Had he been born ten years before it is highly 
 probable that he would have been one of the signers 
 of that celebrated instrument. At this time he left 
 school and enlisted among the patriots. 
 
 He joined the army when everything looked hope- 
 less and gloomy. The number of deserters increased 
 from day to day. The invading armies came pouring 
 in ; and the tories not only favored the cause of the 
 mother country, but disheartened the new recruits, 
 who were sufficiently terrified at the prospect of con- 
 tending with an enemy whom they had been taught 
 to deem invincible. To such brave spirits as James 
 Monroe, who went right onward, undismayed through 
 difficulty and danger, the United States owe their 
 political emancipation. The young cadet joined the 
 ranks, and espoused the cause of his injured country, 
 with a firm determination to live or die with her strife 
 
 for liberty. Firmly yet sadly he shared in the mel- 
 ancholy retreat from Harleam Heights and White 
 Plains, and accompanied the dispirited army as it fled 
 before its foes through New Jersey. In four months 
 after the Declaration of Independence, the patriots 
 had been beaten in seven battles. At the battle of 
 Trenton he led the vanguard, and, in the act of charg- 
 ing upon the enemy he received a wound in the left 
 shoulder. 
 
 As a reward for his bravery, Mr. Monroe was pro- 
 moted a captain of infantry; and, having recovered 
 from his wound, he rejoined the army. He, however, 
 receded from the line of promotion, by becoming an 
 officer in the staff of Lord Sterling. During the cam- 
 paigns of 1777 and 1778, in the actions of Brandy- 
 wine, Germantown and Monmouth, he continued 
 aid-de-camp; but becoming desirous to regain his 
 position in the army, he exerted himself to collect a 
 regiment for the Virginia line. This scheme failed 
 owing to the exhausted condition of the State. Upon 
 this failure he entered the office of Mr. Jefferson, at 
 that period Governor, and pursued, with considerable 
 ardor, the study of common law. He did not, however, 
 entirely lay aside the knapsack for the green bag; 
 but on the invasions of the enemy, served as a volun- 
 teer, during the two years of his legal pursuits. 
 
 In 1782, he was elected from King George county, 
 a member of the Leglislature of Virginia, and by that 
 body he was elevated to a seat in the Executive 
 Council. He was thus honored with the confidence 
 of his fellow citizens at 23 years of age ; and having 
 at this early period displayed some of that ability 
 and aptitude for legislation, which were afterwards 
 employed with unremitting energy for the public good, 
 
 
 
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 he was.in the succeeding year chosen a member of 
 the Congress of the United States. 
 
 Deeply as Mr. Monroe felt the imperfections of the old 
 Confederacy, he was opposed to the new Constitution, 
 thinking, with many others of the Republican party, 
 that it gave too much power to the Central Government, 
 and not enough to the individual States. Still he re- 
 tained the esteem of his friends who were its warm 
 supporters, and who, notwithstanding his opposition 
 secured its adoption. In 1789, he became a member 
 of the United States Senate ; which office he held for 
 four years. Every month the line of distinction be- 
 tween the two great parties which divided the nation, 
 the Federal and the Republican, was growing more 
 distinct. The two prominent ideas which now sep- 
 arated them were, that the Republican party was in 
 sympathy with France, and also in favor of such a 
 strict construction of the Constitution as to give the 
 Central Government as little power, and the State 
 Governments as much power, as the Constitution would 
 warrant. The Federalists sympathized with England, 
 and were in favor of a liberal construction of the Con- 
 stitution, which would give as much power to the 
 Central Government as that document could possibly 
 authorize. 
 
 The leading Federalists and Republicans were 
 alike noble men, consecrating all their energies to the 
 good of the nation. Two more honest men or more 
 pure patriots than John Adams the Federalist, and 
 James Monroe the Republican, never breathed. In 
 building up this majestic nation, which is destined 
 to eclipse all Grecian and Assyrian greatness, the com- 
 bination of their antagonism was needed to create the 
 tight equilibrium. And yet each in his day was de- 
 nounced as almost a demon. 
 
 Washington was then President. England had es- 
 poused the cause of the Bourbons against the princi- 
 ples of the French Revolution. All Europe was drawn 
 into the conflict. We were feeble and far away. 
 Washington issued a proclamation of neutrality be- 
 tween these contending powers. France had helped 
 us in the struggle for our liberties. All the despotisms 
 of Europe were now combined to prevent the French 
 from escaping from a tyranny a thousand-fold worse 
 than that which we had endured Col. Monroe, more 
 magnanimous than prudent, was anxious that, at 
 whatever hazard, we should help our old allies in 
 their extremity. It was the impulse of a generous 
 and noble nature. He violently opposed the Pres- 
 ident's proclamation as ungrateful and wanting in 
 magnanimity. 
 
 Washington, who could appreciate such a character, 
 developed his calm, serene, almost divine greatness, 
 by appointing that very James Monroe, who was de- 
 nouncing the policy of the Government, as the minister 
 of that Government to the Republic of France. Mr. 
 Monroe was welcomed by the National Convention 
 in France with the most enthusiastic demonstrations. 
 
 Shortly after his return to this country, Mr. Mon- 
 roe was elected Governor of Virginia, and held the 
 office for three yeais. He was again sent to France to 
 co-operate with Chancellor Livingston in obtaining 
 the vast territory then known as the Province of 
 Louisiana, which France had but shortly before ob- 
 tained from Spain. Their united efforts were suc- 
 cessful. For the comparatively small sum of fifteen 
 millions of dollars, the entire territory of Orleans and 
 district of Louisiana were added to the United States. 
 This was probably the largest transfer of real estate 
 which was ever made in all the history of the world. 
 
 From France Mr. Monroe went to England to ob- 
 tain from that country some recognition of our 
 rights as neutrals, and to remonstrate against those 
 odious impressments of our seamen. But Eng- 
 land was unrelenting. He again returned to Eng- 
 land on the same mission, but could receive no 
 redress. He returned to his home and was again 
 chosen Governor of Virginia. This he soon resigned 
 to accept the position of Secretary of State under 
 Madison. While in this office war with England was 
 declared, the Secretary of War resigned, and during 
 these trying times, the duties of the War Department 
 were also put upon him. He was truly the armor- 
 bearer of President Madison, and the most efficient 
 business man in his cabinet. Upon the return of 
 peace he resigned the Department of War, but con- 
 tinued in the office of Secretary of State until the ex- 
 piration of Mr. Madison's adminstration. At the elec- 
 tion held the previous autumn Mr. Monroe himself had 
 been chosen President with but little opposition, and 
 upon March 4, 1817, was inaugurated. Four years 
 later he was elected for a second term. 
 
 Among the important measures of his Presidency 
 were the cession of Florida to the United States; the 
 Missouri Compromise, and the " Monroe doctrine.'' 
 
 This famous doctrine, since known as the " Monroe 
 doctrine," was enunciated by him in T823. At that 
 time the United States had recognized the independ- 
 ence of the South American states, and did not wish 
 to have European powers longer attempting to sub- 
 due portions of the American Continent. The doctrine 
 is as follows : " That we should consider any attempt 
 on the part of European powers to extend their sys- 
 tem to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous 
 to our, peace and safety," and "that we could not 
 view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing 
 or controlling American governments or provinces in 
 any other light than as a manifestation by European 
 powers of an unfriendly disposition toward the United 
 States." This doctrine immediately affected the course 
 of foreign governments, and has become the approved 
 sentiment of the United States. 
 
 At the end of his ?econd term Mr. Monroe retired 
 to his home in Virginia, where he lived until 1830, 
 when he went to New York to live with his son-in- 
 law. In that city he died, on the 4th of July 1831. 
 
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 OHN QUINCY ADAMS, the 
 sixth President of the United 
 'States, was born in the rural 
 home of his honored father, 
 John Adams, in Quincy, Mass., 
 on the i ith cf July, 1767. His 
 mother, a woman of exalted 
 worth, watched over his childhood 
 during the almost constant ab- 
 sence of his father. When but 
 eight years of age, he stood with 
 his mother on an eminence, listen- 
 ing to the booming of the great bat- 
 tle on Bunker's Hill, and gazing on 
 upon the smoke and flames billow- 
 ing up from the conflagration of 
 Charlestown. 
 
 When but eleven years old he 
 took a tearful adieu of his mother, 
 to sail with his father for Europe, 
 through a fleet of hostile British cruisers. The bright, 
 animated boy spent a year and a half in Paris, where 
 his father was associated with Franklin and Lee as 
 minister plenipotentiary. His intelligence attracted 
 the notice of these distinguished men, and he received 
 from them flattering marks of attention. 
 
 Mr. John Adams had scarcely returned to this 
 country, in 1779, ere he was again sent abroad. Again 
 John Quincy accompanied his father. At Paris he 
 applied himself with great diligence, for six months, 
 to study; then accompained his father to Holland, 
 where he entered, first a school in Amsterdam, the* 
 the University at Leyden. About a year from this 
 time, in 178 1, when the manly boy was but fourteen 
 years of age, he was selected by Mr. Dana, our min- 
 ister to the Russian court, as his private secretary. 
 
 In this school of incessant labor and of enobling 
 culture he spent fourteen months, and then returned 
 to Holland through Sweden, Denmark, Hamburg and 
 Bremen. This long journey he took alone, in the 
 winter, when in his sixteenth year. Again he resumed 
 his studies, underva private tutor, at Hague. Thence, 
 
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 in the spring of 1782, he accompanied his father to 
 Paris, traveling leisurely, and forming acquaintance 
 with the most distinguished men on the Continent; 
 examining architectural remains, galleries of paintings, 
 and all renowned works of art. At Paris he again 
 became associated with the most illustrious men of 
 all lands in the contemplations of the loftiest temporal 
 themes which can engross the human mind. After 
 a short visit to England he returned to Paris, and 
 consecrated all his energies to study until May, 1785, 
 when he returned to America. To a brilliant young 
 man of eighteen, who had seen much of the world, 
 and who was familiar with the etiquette of courts, a 
 residence with his father in London, under such cir- 
 cumstances, must have been extremely attractive ; 
 but with judgment very rare in one of his age, he pre- 
 ferred to return to America to complete his education 
 in an American college. He wished then to study 
 law, that with an honorable profession, he might be 
 able to obtain an independent support. 
 
 Upon leaving Harvard College, at the age of twenty, 
 he studied law for three years. In June, 1794, be- 
 ing then but twenty-seven years of age, he was ap- 
 pointed by Washington, resident minister at the 
 Netherlands. Sailing from Boston in July, he reached 
 London in October, where he was immediately admit- 
 ted to the deliberations of Messrs. Jay and Pinckney, 
 assisting them in negotiating a commercial treaty with 
 Great Britian. After thus spending a fortnight in 
 London, he proceeded to the Hague. 
 
 In July, 1797, he left the Hague to go to Portugal as 
 minister plenipotentiary. On his way to Portugal, 
 upon arriving in London, he met with despatches 
 directing him to the court of Berlin, but requesting 
 him to remain in London until he should receive his 
 instructions. While waiting he was married to an 
 American lady to whom he had been previously en- 
 gaged, — Miss Louisa Catherine Johnson, daughter 
 of Mr. Joshua Johnson, American consul in London ; 
 a lady endownd with that beauty and those accom- 
 plishment which eminently fitted her to move in the 
 elevated sphere for which she was destined. 
 
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 He reached Berlin with his wife in November, 1797 ; 
 where he remained until July, 1799, when, having ful- 
 filled all the purposes of his mission, he solicited his 
 recall. 
 
 Soon after his return, in 1802, he was chosen to 
 Ihe Senate of Massachusetts, from Boston, and then 
 was elected Senator of the United States for six years, 
 from the 4th of March, 1804. His reputation, his 
 ability and his experience, placed him immediately 
 among the most prominent and influential members 
 of that body. Especially did he sustain the Govern- 
 ment in its measures of resistance to the encroach- 
 ments of England, destroying our commerce and in- 
 sulting our flag. There was no man in America more 
 familiar with the arrogance of the British court upon 
 these points, and no one more resolved to present 
 a firm resistance. 
 
 In 1809, Madison succeeded Jefferson in the Pres- 
 idential chair, and he immediately nominated John 
 Quincy Adams minister to St. Petersburg. Resign- 
 ing his professorship in Harvard College, he embarked 
 at Boston, in August, 1809. 
 
 While in Russia, Mr. Adams was an intense stu- 
 dent. He devoted his attention to the language and 
 history of Russia; to the Chinese trade; to the 
 European system of weights, measures, and coins ; to 
 the climate and astronomical observations ; while he 
 kept up a familiar acquaintance with the Greek and 
 Latin classics. In all the universities of Europe, a 
 more accomplished scholar could scarcely be found. 
 All through life the Bible constituted an importart 
 part of his studies. It was his rule to read five 
 chapters every day. 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1817, Mr. Monroe took the 
 Presidential chair, and immediately appointed Mr. 
 Adams Secretary of State. Taking leave of his num- 
 erous friends in public and private life in Europe, he 
 sailed in June, 1819, for the United States. On the 
 18th of August, he again crossed the threshold of his 
 home in Quincy. During the eight years of Mr. Mon- 
 roe's administration, Mr, Adams continued Secretary 
 of State. 
 
 Some time before the close of Mr. Monroe's second 
 term of office, new candidates began to be presented 
 for the Presidency. The friends of Mr. Adams brought 
 forward his name. It was an exciting campaign. 
 Party spirit was never more bitter. Two hundred and 
 sixty electoral votes were cast. Andrew Jackson re- 
 ceived ninety- nine; John Quincy Adams, eighty-four; 
 William H. Crawford, forty-one ; Henry Clay, thirty- 
 seven. As there was no choice by the people, the 
 question went to the House of Representatives. Mr. 
 Clay gave the vote of Kentucky to Mr. Adams, and 
 he was elected. 
 
 The friends of all the disappointed candidates now 
 combined in a venomous and persistent assault upon 
 Mr. Adams. There is nothing more disgraceful in 
 the past history of our country than the abuse which 
 
 was poured in one uninterrupted stream, upon this 
 high-minded, upright, patriotic man. There never was 
 art administration more pure in principles, more con- 
 scientiously devoted to the best interests of the coun- 
 try, than that of John Quincy Adams ; and never, per- 
 haps, was there an administration more unscrupu- 
 lously and outrageously assailed. 
 
 Mr. Adams was, to a very remarkable degree, ab- 
 stemious and temperate in his habits; always rising 
 early, and taking much exercise. When at his home in 
 Quincy, he has been known to walk, before breakfast. 
 seven miles to Boston. In Washington, it was said 
 that he was the first man up in the city, lighting his 
 own fire and applying himself to work in his library 
 often long before dawn. 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1829, Mr. Adams retired 
 from the Presidency, and was succeeded by Andrew- 
 Jackson. John C. Calhoun was elected Vice Presi- 
 dent. The slavery question now began to assume 
 portentous magnitude. Mr. Adams returned to 
 Quincy and to his studies, which he pursued with un- 
 abated zeal. But he was not long permitted to re- 
 main in retirement. In November, 1830, he was 
 elected representative to Congress. For seventeen 
 years, until his death, he occupied the post as repre- 
 sentative, towering above all his peers, ever ready to 
 do brave battle' for freedom, and winning the title of 
 " the old man eloquent." Upon taking his seat in 
 the House, he announced that he should hold him- 
 self bound to no party. Probably there never was a 
 member more devoted to his duties. He was usually 
 the first in his place in the morning, and the last to 
 leave his seat in the evening. Not a measure could 
 be brought forward and escape his scrutiny. The 
 battle which Mr. Adams fought, almost singly, against 
 the prosluvery party in the Government, was sublime 
 in its moral dating and heroism. For persisting in 
 presenting petitions for the abolition of slavery, he 
 was threatened with indictment by the grand jury, 
 with expulsion from the House, with assassination : 
 but no threats could intimidate him, and his final 
 triumph was complete. 
 
 It has been said of President Adams, that when his 
 body was bent and his hair silvered by the lapse of 
 fourscore years, yielding to the simple faith of a little 
 child, he was accustomed to repeat every night, before 
 he slept, the prayer which his mother taught him in 
 his infant years. 
 
 On the 2 1 st of February, 1848, he rose on the floor 
 of Congress, with a paper in his hand, to address the 
 speaker. Suddenly he fell, again stricken by paraly- 
 sis, and was caught in the arms of those around him. 
 For a time he was senseless, as he was conveyed to 
 the sofa in the rotunda. With reviving conscious- 
 ness, he opened his eyes, looked calmly around and 
 said " This is the end of earth /'then after a moment's 
 pause he added, "I am content!' These were the 
 last words of the grand " Old Man Eloquent." 
 
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 NDREW JACKSON, the 
 seventh President of the 
 ' United States, was born in 
 Waxhaw settlement, N. C, 
 March 15, 1767, a few days 
 after his father's death. His 
 parents were poor emigrants 
 from Ireland, and took up 
 their abode in Waxhaw set- 
 tlement, where they lived in 
 deepest poverty. 
 Andrew, or Andy, as he was 
 universally called, grew up a very 
 rough, rude, turbulent boy. His 
 features were coarse, his form un- 
 gainly; and there was but very 
 little in his character, made visible, which was at- 
 tractive. 
 
 When only thirteen years old he joined the volun- 
 teers of Carolina against the British invasion. In 
 i78r, he and his brother Robert were captured and 
 imprisoned for a time at Camden. A British officer 
 ordered him to brush his mud-spattered boots. " I am 
 a prisoner of war, not your servant," was the reply of 
 the dauntless boy. 
 
 The brute drew his sword, and aimed a desperate 
 blow at the head of the helpless young prisoner. 
 Andrew raised his hand, and thus received two fear- 
 ful gashes, — one on the hand and the other upon the 
 head. The officer then turned to his brother Robert 
 with the same demand. He also refused, and re- 
 ceived a blow from the keen-edged sabre, which quite 
 diiabled him, and which probably soon after caused 
 his death. They suffered much other ill-treatment, and 
 were finally stricken with the small-pox. Their 
 mother was successful in obtaining their exchange, 
 
 and took her sick boys home. After a long illness 
 Andrew recovered, and the death of his mother soon 
 left him entirely friendless. 
 
 Andrew supported himself in various ways, such as 
 working at the saddler's trade, teaching school and 
 clerking in a general store, until 1784, when he 
 entered a law office at Salisbury, N. C. He, however, 
 gave more attention to the wild amusements of the 
 times than to his studies. In 1788, he was appointed 
 solicitor for the western district of North Carolina, of 
 which Tennessee was then a part. This involved 
 many long and tedious journeys amid dangers of 
 every kind, but Andrew Jackson never knew fear, 
 and the Indians had no desire to repeat a skirmish 
 with the Sharp Knife. 
 
 In 1791, Mr. Jackson was married to a woman who 
 supposed herself divorced from her former husband. 
 Great was the surprise of both parties, two years later, 
 to find that the conditions of the divorce had just been 
 definitely settled by the first husband. The marriage 
 ceremony was performed a second time, but the occur- 
 rence was often used by his enemies to bring Mr. 
 Jackson into disfavor. 
 
 During these years he worked hard at his profes- 
 sion, and frequently had one or more duels on hand, 
 one of which, when he killed Dickenson, was espec- 
 ially disgraceful. 
 
 In January, 1796, the Territory of Tennessee then 
 containing nearly eighty thousand inhabitants, the 
 people met in convention at Knoxville to frame a con- 
 stitution. Five were sent from each of the eleven 
 counties. Andrew Jackson was one of the delegates. 
 The new State was entitled to but one member in 
 the National House of Representatives. Andrew Jack- 
 son was chosen that member. Mounting his horse he 
 rode to Philedelphia, where Congress then held its 
 
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 ANDREW JACKSON. 
 
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 sessions, — a distance of about eight hundred miles. 
 
 Jackson was an earnest advocate of the Demo- 
 cratic party. Jefferson was his idol. He admired 
 Bonaparte, loved France and hated England. As Mr. 
 Jackson took his seat, Gen. Washington, whose 
 second term of office was then expiring, delivered his 
 last speech to Congress. A committee drew up a 
 complimentary address in reply. Andrew Jackson 
 did not approve of the address, and was one of the 
 twelve who voted against it. He was not willing to 
 say that Gen. Washington's adminstration had been 
 " wise, firm and patriotic." 
 
 Mr. Jackson was elected to the United States 
 Senate in 1797, but soon resigned and returned home. 
 Soon after he was chosen Judge of the Supreme Court 
 of his State, which position he held fjr six years. 
 
 When the war of 1812 with Great Britian com- 
 menced, Madison occupied the Presidential chair. 
 Aaron Burr sent word to the President that there was 
 an unknown man in the West, Andrew Jackson, who 
 would do credit to a commission if one were con- 
 ferred upon him. Just at that time Gen. Jackson 
 offered his services and those of twenty-five hundred 
 volunteers. His offer was accepted, and the troops 
 were assembled at Nashville. 
 
 As the British were hourly expected to make an at- 
 tack upon New Orleans, where Gen Wilkinson was 
 in command, he was ordered to descend the river 
 with fifteen hundred troops to aid Wilkinson. The 
 expedition reached Natchez ; and after a delay of sev 
 eral weeks there, without accomplishing anything, 
 the men were ordered back to their homes. But the 
 energy Gen. Jackson had displayed, and his entire 
 devotion to the comrfort of his soldiers, won him 
 golden opinions ; and he became the most popular 
 man in the State. It was in this expedition that his 
 toughness gave him the nickname of "Old Hickory." 
 
 Soon after this, while attempting to horsewhip Col. 
 Thomas H. Benton, for a remark that gentleman 
 made about his taking a part as second in a duel, in 
 which a younger brother of Benton's was engaged, 
 he received two severe pistol wounds. While he was 
 lingering upon a bed of suffering news came that the 
 Indians, who had combined under Tecumseh from 
 Florida to the Lakes, to exterminate the white set- 
 tlers, were committing the most awful ravages. De- 
 cisive action became necessary. Gen. Jackson, with 
 his fractured bone just beginning to heal, his arm in 
 a sling, and unable to mount his horse without assis- 
 tance, gave his amazing energies to the raising of an 
 army to rendezvous at Fayettesville, Alabama. 
 
 The Creek Indians had established a strong fort on 
 one of the bends of the Tallapoosa River, near the cen- 
 ter of Alabama, about fifty miles below Fort Strother. 
 With an army of two thousand men, Gen. Jackson 
 traversed the pathless wilderness in a march of eleven 
 days. He reached their fort, called Tohopeka or 
 Horse-shoe, on the 27th of March. 1814. The bend 
 
 of the river enclosed nearly one hundred acres of 
 tangled forest and wild ravine. . Across the narrow 
 neck the Indians had constructed a formidable breast- 
 work of logs and brush. 'Here nine hundred warriors, 
 with an ample suply of arms were assembled. 
 
 The fort was stormed. The fight was utterly des- 
 perate. Not an Indian would accept of quarter. When 
 bleeding and dying, they would fight those who en- 
 deavored to spare their lives. From ten in the morn- 
 ing until dark, the battle raged. The carnage was 
 awful and revolting. Some threw themselves into the 
 river; but the unerring bullet struck their heads as 
 they swam. Nearly everyone of the nine hundred war- 
 rios were killed A few probably, in the night, swam 
 the river and escaped. This ended the war. The 
 power of theCreeks was broken forever. This bold 
 plunge into the wilderness, with its terriffic slaughter, 
 so appalled the savages, that the haggard remnants 
 of the bands came to the camp, begging for peace. 
 
 This closing of the Creek war enabled us to con- 
 centrate all our militia upon the British, who were the 
 allies of the Indians No man of less resolute will 
 than Gen. Jackson could have conducted this Indian 
 campaign to so successful an issue Immediately he 
 was appointed major-general. 
 
 Late in August, with an army of two thousand 
 men, on a rushing march, Gen. Jackson came to 
 Mobile. A British fleet came from Pensacola, landed 
 a force upon the beach, anchored near the little fort, 
 and from both ship and shore commenced a furious 
 assault The battle was long and doubtful. At length 
 one of the ships was blown up and the rest retired. 
 
 Garrisoning Mobile, where he had taken his little 
 army, he moved his troops to New Orleans, 
 And the battle of New Orleans which soon ensued, 
 was in reality a very arduous campaign. This won 
 for Gen. Jackson an imperishable name. Here his 
 troops, which numbered about four thousand men, 
 won a signal victory over the British army of about 
 nine thousand. His loss was but thirteen, while the 
 loss of the British was two thousand six hundred. 
 
 The name of Gen. Jackson soon began to be men- 
 tioned in connection with the Presidency, but, in 1824, 
 he was defeated by Mr. Adams. He was, however, 
 successful in the election of 1828, and was re-elected 
 for a second term in 1832. In 1829, just before he 
 assumed the reins of the government, he met with 
 the most terrible affliction of his life in the death of 
 his wife, whom he had loved with a devotion which has 
 perhaps never been surpassed. From the shock of 
 her death he never recovered. 
 
 His administration was one of the most memorable 
 in the annals of our country, applauded by one party, 
 condemned by the other. No man had more bitter 
 enemies or warmer friends. At the expiration of his 
 two terms of office he retired to the Hermitage, where 
 he died June 8, 1845. The last years of Mr. Jack- 
 son's life were that of a devoted Christian man. 
 
 
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 ARTIN VAN BUREN, the 
 eighth President of the 
 United States, was born at 
 Kinderhook, N. Y., Dec. 5, 
 1782. He died at the same 
 place, July 24, 1862. His 
 body rests in the cemetery 
 at Kinderhook. Above it is 
 a plain granite shaft fifteen feet 
 high, bearing a simple inscription 
 about half way up on one face. 
 The lot is unfenced, unbordered 
 or unbounded by shrub or flower. 
 
 There is but little in the life of Martin Van Buren 
 of romantic interest. He fought no battles, engaged 
 in no wild adventures. Though his life was stormy in 
 political and intellectual conflicts, and he gained many 
 signal victories, his days passed uneventful in those 
 incidents which give zest to biography. His an- 
 cestors, as his name indicates, were of Dutch origin, 
 and were among the earliest emigrants from Holland 
 to the banks of the Hudson. His father was a fanner, 
 residing in the old town of Kinderhook. His mother, 
 also of Dutch lineage, was a woman of superior intel- 
 ligence and exemplary piety. 
 
 He was decidedly a precocious boy, developing un- 
 usual activity, vigor and strength of mind. At the 
 age of fourteen, he had finished his academic studies 
 in his native village, and commenced the study of 
 law. As he had not a collegiate education, seven 
 years of study in a law-office were required of him 
 before he could be admitted to the bar. Inspired with 
 a lofty ambition, and Conscious of his powers, he pur- 
 sued his studies with indefatigable industry. After 
 spending six years in an office in his native village, 
 
 he went to the city of New York, and prosecuted his 
 studies for the seventh year. 
 
 In 1803, Mr. Van Buren, then twenty-one years of 
 age, commenced the practice of law in his native vil- 
 lage. The great conflict between the Federal and 
 Republican party was then at its height. Mr. Van 
 Buren was from the beginning a politician. He had, 
 perhaps, imbibed that spirit while listening to the 
 many discussions which had been carried on in his 
 father's hotel. He was in cordial sympathy with 
 Jefferson, and earnestly and eloquently espoused the 
 cause of State Rights ; though at that time the Fed- 
 eral party held the supremacy both in his town 
 and State. 
 
 His success and increasing ruputation led him, 
 after six years of practice, to remove to Hudson, the 
 county seat of his county. Here he spent seven years, 
 constantly gaining strength by contending in the 
 courts with some of the ablest men who have adorned 
 the bar of his State. 
 
 Just before leaving Kinderhook for Hudson, Mr. 
 Van Buren married a lady alike distinguished for 
 beauty and accomplishments. After twelve short 
 years she sank into the grave, the victim of consump- 
 tion, leaving her husband and four sons to weep over 
 her loss. For twenty-five years, Mr. Van Buren was 
 an earnest, successful, assiduous lawyer. The record 
 of those years is barren in items of public interest. 
 In 181 2, when thirty years of age, he was chosen to 
 the State Senate, and gave his strenuous support to 
 Mr. Madison's adminstration. In 1815, he was ap- 
 pointed Attorney-General, and the next year moved 
 to Albany, the capital of the State. 
 
 While he was acknowledged as one of the most 
 prominent leaders of the Democratic party, he had 
 
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 the moral courage to avow that true democracy did 
 not require that " universal suffrage " which admits 
 the vile, the degraded, the ignorant, to the right of 
 governing the State. In true consistency with his 
 democratic principles, he contended that, while the 
 path leading to the privilege of voting should be open 
 to every man without distinction, no one should be 
 invested with that sacred prerogative, unless he were 
 in some degree qualified for it by intelligence, virtue 
 and some property interests in the welfare of the 
 State. 
 
 In 182 1 he was elected a member of the United 
 States Senate; and in the same year, he took a seat 
 in the convention to revise the constitution of his 
 native State. His course in this convention secured 
 the approval of men of all parties. No one could 
 doubt the singleness of his endeavors to promote the 
 interests of all classes in the community. In the 
 Senate of the United States, he rose at once to a 
 conspicuous position as an active and useful legislator. 
 
 In 1827, John Quincy Adams being then in the 
 Presidential chair, Mr. Van Buren was re-elected to 
 the /Senate. He had been from the beginning a de- 
 termined opposer of the Administration, adopting the 
 "State Rights" view in opposition to what was 
 deemed the Federal proclivities of Mr. Adams. 
 
 Soon after this, in 1828, he was chosen Governor of 
 the State of New York, and accordingly resigned his 
 seat in the Senate. Probably no one in the United 
 States contributed so much towards ejecting John Q. 
 Adams from the Presidential chair, and placing in it 
 Andrew Jackson, as did Martin Van Buren. Whether 
 entitled to the reputation or not, he certainly was re- 
 garded throughout the United States as one of the 
 most skillful, sagacious and cunning of politicians. 
 It was supposed that no one knew so well as he how 
 to touch the secret springs of action; how to pull all 
 the wires to put his machinery in motion ; and how to 
 organize a political army which would, secretly and 
 stealthily accomplish the most gigantic results. By 
 these powers it is said that he outwitted Mr. Adams, 
 Mr. Clay, Mr. Webster, and secured results which 
 few thought then could be accomplished. 
 
 When Andrew Jackson was elected President he 
 appointed Mr. Van Buren Secretary of State. This 
 position he resigned in i83r, and was immediately 
 appointed Minister to England, where he went the 
 same autumn. The Senate, however, when it met, 
 refused to ratify the nomination, and he returned 
 
 home, apparently untroubled; was nominated Vice 
 President in the place of Calhoun, at the re-election 
 of President Jackson ; and with smiles for all and 
 frowns for none, he took his place at the head of that 
 Senate which had refused to confirm his nomination 
 as ambassador. 
 
 His rejection by the Senate roused all the zeal of 
 President Jackson in behalf of his repudiated favor- 
 ite ; and this, probably more than any other cause, 
 secured his elevation to the chair of the Chief Execu- 
 tive. On the 20th of May, 1836, Mr. Van Buren re- 
 ceived the Democratic nomination to succeed Gen. 
 Jackson as President of the United States. He was 
 elected by a handsome majority, to the delight of the 
 retiring President. " Leaving New York out of the 
 canvass," says Mr. Parton, "the election of Mr. Van 
 Buren to the Presidency was as much the act of Gen. 
 Jackson as though the Constitution had conferred 
 upon him the power to appoint a successor." 
 
 His administration was filled with exciting events. 
 The insurrection in Canada, which threatened to in - 
 volve this country in war with England, the agitation 
 of the slavery question, and finally the great commer- 
 cial panic which spread over the country, all were 
 trials to his wisdom. The financial distress was at- 
 tributed to the management of the Democratic party, 
 and brought the President into such disfavor that he 
 failed of re-election. 
 
 With the exception of being nominated for the 
 Presidency by the "Free Soil" Democrats, in r848, 
 Mr. Van Buren lived quietly upon his estate until 
 his death. 
 
 He had ever been a prudent man, of frugal habits, 
 and living within his income, had now fortunately a 
 competence for his declining years. His unblemished 
 character, his commanding abilities, his unquestioned 
 patriotism, and the distinguished positions which he 
 had occupied in the government of our country, se- 
 cured to him not only the homage of his party, but 
 the respect ot the whole community. It was on the 
 4th of March, 184T, that Mr. Van Buren retired from 
 the presidency. From his fine estate at Lindenwald, 
 he still exerted a powerful influence upon the politics 
 of the country. From this time until his death, on 
 the 24th of July, 1862, at the age of eighty years, he 
 resided at Lindenwald, a gentleman of leisure, of 
 culture and of wealth; enjoying in a healthy old 
 age, probably far more happiness than he had before 
 experienced amid the stormy scenes of his active life. 
 
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 ILLIAM HENRY HARRI- 
 SON, the ninth President of 
 the United States, was born 
 at Berkeley, Va., Feb. 9, 1773. 
 His father, Benjamin Harri- 
 son, was in comparatively op- 
 ulent circumstances, and was 
 one of the most distinguished 
 men of his day. He was an 
 intimate friend of George 
 Washington, was early elected 
 a member of the Continental 
 Congress, and was conspicuous 
 among the patriots of Virginia in 
 resisting the encroachments of the 
 British crown. In the celebrated 
 Congress of 1775, Benjamin Har- 
 rison and John Hancock were 
 both candidates for the office of 
 speaker. 
 
 Mr Harrison was subsequently 
 chosen Governor of Virginia, and 
 was twice re-elected. His son, 
 William Henry, of course enjoyed 
 in childhood all the advantages which wealth and 
 intellectual and cultivated society could give. Hav- 
 ing received a thorough common-school education, he 
 entered Hampden Sidney College, where he graduated 
 with honor soon after the death of his father. He 
 then repaired to Philadelphia to study medicine under 
 the instructions of Dr. Rush and the guardianship of 
 Robert Morris, both of whom were, with his father, 
 signers of the Declaration of Independence. 
 
 Upon the outbreak of the Indian troubles, and not- 
 withstanding the remonstrances of his friends, he 
 abandoned his medical studies and entered the army, 
 having obtained a commission of Ensign from Presi- 
 
 dent Washington. He was then but 19 years old. 
 From that time he passed gradually upward in rank 
 until he became aid to General Wayne, after whose 
 death he resigned his commission. He was then ap- 
 pointed Secretary of the North-western Territory. This 
 Territory «vas then entitled to but one member in 
 Congress and Capt. Harrison was chosen to fill that 
 position. 
 
 In the spring of r 800 the North-western Territory 
 was divided by Congress into two portions. The 
 eastern portion, comprising the region now embraced 
 in the State of Ohio, was called " The Territory 
 north-west of the Ohio." The western portion, which 
 included what is now called Indiana, Illinois and 
 Wisconsin, was called the "Indiana Territory." Wil- 
 liam Henry Harrison, then 27 years of age, was ap- 
 pointed by John Adams, Governor of the Indiana 
 Territory, and immediately after, also Governor of 
 Upper Louisiana. He was thus ruler over almost as 
 extensive a realm as any sovereign upon the globe. He 
 was Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and was in- 
 vested with powers nearly dictatorial over the now 
 rapidly increasing white population. The ability and 
 fidelity with which he discharged these responsible 
 duties may be inferred from the fact that he was four 
 times appointed to this office — first by John Adams, 
 twice by Thomas Jefferson and afterwards by Presi- 
 dent Madison. 
 
 When he began his adminstration there were but 
 three white settlements in that almost boundless region, 
 now crowded with cities and resounding with all the 
 tumult of wealth and traffic. One of these settlements 
 was on the Ohio, nearly opposite Louisville ; one at 
 Vincennes, on the Wabash, and the third a French 
 settlement. 
 
 The vast wilderness over which Gov. Harrison 
 reigned was filled with many tribes of Indians. About 
 
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 the year 1806, two extraordinary men, twin brothers, 
 of the Shawnese tribe, rose among them. One of 
 these was called Tecumseh, or " The Crouching 
 Panther;" the other, Olliwacheca, or "The Prophet." 
 Tecumseh was not only an Indian warrior, but a man 
 of great sagacity, far-reaching foresight and indomit- 
 able perseverance in any enterprise m which he might 
 engage. He was inspired with the highest enthusiasm, 
 and had long regarded with dread and with hatred 
 the encroachment of the whites upon the hunting- 
 grounds of his fathers. His brother, the Prophet, was 
 anorator, who could sway the feelings of the untutored 
 Indian as the gale tossed the tree-tops beneath which 
 they dwelt. 
 
 But the Prophet was not merely an orator : he was, 
 in the superstitious minds of the Indians, invested 
 with the superhuman dignity of a medicine-man or a 
 magician. With an enthusiasm unsurpassed by Peter 
 the Hermit rousing Europe to the crusades, he went 
 from tribe to tribe, assuming that he was specially sent 
 by the Great Spirit. 
 
 Gov. Harrison made many attempts to conciliate 
 the Indians, but at last the war came, and at Tippe- 
 canoe the Indians were routed with great slaughter. 
 October 28, r8r2, his army began its march. When 
 near the Prophet's town three Indians of rank made 
 their appearance and inquired why Gov. Harrison was 
 approaching them in so hostile an attitude. After a 
 short conference, arrangements were made for a meet- 
 ing the next day, to agree upon terms of peace. 
 
 But Gov. Harrison was too well acquainted with 
 the Indian character to be deceived by such protes- 
 tations. Selecting a favorable spot for his night's en- 
 campment, he took every precaution against surprise. 
 His troops were posted in a hollow square, and slept 
 upon their arms. 
 
 The troops threw themselves upon the ground for 
 rest; but every man had his accoutrements on, his 
 loaded musket by his side, and his bayonet fixed. The 
 wakeful Governor, between three and four o'clock in 
 the morning, had risen, and was sitting in conversa- 
 tion with his aids by the embers of a waning fire. It 
 was a chill, cloudy morning with a drizzling rain. In 
 the darkness, the Indians had crept as near as possi- 
 ble, and just then, with a savage yell, rushed, with all 
 the desperation which superstition and passion most 
 highly inflamed could give, upon the left flank of the 
 little army. The savages had been amply provided 
 with guns and ammunition by the English. Their 
 war-whoop was accompanied by a shower of bullets. 
 
 The camp-fires were instantly extinguished, as the 
 light aided the Indians in their aim. With hide- 
 ous yells, the Indian bands rushed on, not doubting a 
 speedy and an entire victory. But Gen. Harrison's 
 troops stood as immovable as the rocks around them 
 until day dawned : they then made a simultaneous 
 charge with the bayonet, and swept every thing be- 
 fore them, and completely routing the foe. 
 
 Gov. Harrison now had all his energies tasked 
 to the utmost. The British descending from the Can - 
 adas, were of themselves a very formidable force ; but 
 with their savage allies, rushing like wolves from the 
 forest, searching out every remote farm-house, burn- 
 ing, plundering, scalping, torturing, the wide frontier 
 was plunged into a state of consternation which even 
 the most vivid imagination can but faintly conceive. 
 The war-whoop was resounding everywhere in the 
 forest. The horizon was illuminated with the conflagra- 
 tion of the cabins of the settlers. Gen Hull had made 
 the ignominious surrender of his forces at Detroit. 
 Under these despairing circumstances, Gov. Harrison 
 was appointed by President Madison commander-in- 
 chief of the North-western army, with orders to retake 
 Detroit, and to protect the frontiers. 
 
 It would be difficult to place a man in a situation 
 demanding more energy, sagacity and courage; but 
 General Harrison was found equal to the position, 
 and nobly and triumphantly did he meet all the re- 
 sponsibilities.' 
 
 He won the love of his soldiers by always sharing 
 with them their fatigue. His whole baggage, while 
 pursuing the foe up the Thames, was carried in a 
 valise; and his bedding consisted of a single blanket 
 lashed over his saddle. Thirty-five British officers, 
 his prisoners of war, supped with him after the battle. 
 The only fare he could give them was beef roasted 
 before the fire, without bread or salt. 
 
 In 1816, Gen. Harrison was chosen a member of 
 the National House of Representatives, to represent 
 the District of Ohio. In Congress he proved an 
 active member; and whenever he spoke, it was with 
 force of reason and power of eloquence, which arrested 
 the attention of all the members. 
 
 In r8io, Harrison was elected to the Senate of 
 Ohio; and in 1824, as one of the presidential electors 
 of that State, he gave his vote for Henry Clay. The 
 same year he was chosen to the United States Senate. 
 
 In 1836, the friends of Gen. Harrison brought him 
 forward as a candidate for the Presidency against 
 Van Buren, but he was defeated. At the close of 
 Mr. Van Buren's term, he was re-nominated by his 
 party, and Mr. Harrison was unanimously nominated 
 by the Whigs, with John Tyler for the Vice Presidency. 
 The contest was very animated. Gen. Jackson gave 
 all his influence to prevent Harrison's election ; but 
 his triumph was signal. 
 
 The cabinet which he formed, with Daniel Webster 
 at its head as Secretary of State, was one of the most 
 brilliant with which any President had ever been 
 surrounded. Never were the prospects of an admin- 
 istration more flattering, or the hopes of the country 
 more sanguine. In the midst of these bright and 
 joyous prospects, Gen. Harrison was seized by a 
 pleurisy-fever and after a few days of violent sick- 
 ness, died on the 4th of April ; just one month after 
 his inauguration as President of the United States. 
 
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 TENTH PRESIDENT. 
 
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 (® 
 
 OHN TYLER, the tenth 
 President of the United States. 
 He was born in Charles-city 
 Co., Va., March 29, 1790. He 
 was the favored child of af- 
 fluence and high social po- 
 sition. At the early age of 
 twelve, John entered William 
 and Mary College and grad- 
 uated with much honor when 
 but seventeen years old. After 
 graduating, he devoted him- 
 self with great assiduity to the 
 study of law, partly with his 
 father and partly with Edmund 
 Randolph, one of the most distin- 
 guished lawyers of Virginia. 
 
 At nineteen years of age, ne 
 commenced the practice of law. 
 His success was rapid and aston- 
 ishing. It is said that three 
 months had not elapsed ere there 
 was scarcely a case on the dock- 
 et of the court in which he was 
 not retained. When but twenty-one years of age, he 
 was almost unanimously elected to a seat in the State 
 Legislature. He connected himself with the Demo- 
 cratic party, and warmly advocated the measures of 
 Jefferson and Madison. For five successive years he 
 was elected to the Legislature, receiving nearly the 
 unanimous vote or his county. 
 
 When but twenty-six years of age, he was elected 
 a member of Congress. Here he acted earnestly and 
 ably with the Democratic party, opposing a national 
 bank, internal improvements by the General Govern- 
 
 ^Wl»^ 
 
 ment, a protective tariff, and advocating a strict con- 
 struction of the Constitution, and the most careful 
 vigilance over State rights. His labors in Congress 
 were so arduous that before the close of his second 
 term he found it necessary to resign and retire to his 
 estate in Charles-city Co., to recruit his health. He, 
 however, soon after consented to take his seat in the 
 State Legislature, where his influence was powerful 
 in promoting public works of great utility. With a 
 reputation thus canstantly increasing, he was chosen 
 by a very large majority of votes, Governor of his 
 native State. His administration was signally a suc- 
 cessful one. His popularity secured his re-election. 
 
 John Randolph, a brilliant, erratic, half-crazed 
 man, then represented Virginia in the Senate of the 
 United States. A portion of the Democratic party 
 was displeased with Mr. Randolph's wayward course, 
 and brought forward John Tyler as his opponent, 
 considering him the only man in Virginia of sufficient 
 popularity to succeed against the renowned orator of 
 Roanoke. Mr. Tyler was the victor. 
 
 In accordance with his professions, upon taking his 
 seat in the Senate, he joined the ranks of the opposi- 
 tion. He opposed the tariff; he spoke against and 
 voted against the bank as unconstitutional ; he stren- 
 uously opposed all restrictions upon slavery, resist- 
 ing all projects of internal improvements by the Gen- 
 eral Government, and avowed his sympathy with Mr. 
 Calhoun's view of nullification ; he declared that Gen. 
 Jackson, by his opposition to the nullifiers, had 
 abandoned the principles of the Democratic party. 
 Such was Mr. Tyler's record in Congress, — a record 
 in perfect accordance with the principles which he 
 had always avowed. 
 
 Returning to Virginia, he resumed the practice of 
 his profession. There was a split in the Democratic 
 
 
 
JOHN TYLER. 
 
 -«# 
 
 I 
 
 
 (0 
 
 party. His friends still regarded him as a true Jef- 
 fersonian, gave him a dinner, and showered compli- 
 ments upon him. He had now attained the age of 
 forty-six. His career had been very brilliant. In con- 
 sequence of his devotion to public business, his pri- 
 vate affairs had fallen into some disorder ; and it was 
 not without satisfaction that he resumed the practice 
 of law, and devoted himself to the culture of his plan- 
 tation. Soon after this he removed to Williamsburg, 
 for the better education of his children ; and he again 
 took his seat in the Legislature of Virginia. 
 
 By the Southern Whfgs, he was sent to the national 
 convention at Harrisburg to nominate a President in 
 1839. The majority of votes were given to Gen. Har- 
 rison, a genuine Whig, much to the disappointment of 
 the South, who wished for Henry Clay. To concili- 
 ate the Southern Whigs and to secure their vote, the 
 convention then nominated John Tyler for Vice Pres- 
 ident. It was well known that he was not in sympa- 
 thy with the Whig party in the North : but the Vice 
 President has but very little power in the Govern- 
 ment, his main and almost only duty being to pre- 
 side over the meetings of the Senate. Thus it hap- 
 pened that a Whig President, and, in reality, a 
 Democratic Vice President were chosen. 
 
 In i84r, Mr. Tyler was inaugurated Vice Presi- 
 dent of the United States. In one short month from- 
 that time, President Harrison died, and Mr. Tyler 
 thus found himself, to his own surprise and that of 
 the whole Nation, an occupant of the Presidential 
 chair. This was a new test of the stability of our 
 institutions, as it was the first time in the history of our 
 country that such an event had occured. Mr. Tyler 
 was at home in Williamsburg when he received the 
 unexpected tidings of the death of President Harri- 
 son. He hastened to Washington, and on the 6th of 
 April was inaugurated to the high and responsible 
 office. He was placed in a position of exceeding 
 delicacy and difficulty. All his long life he had been 
 opposed to the main principles of the party which had 
 brought him into power. He had ever been a con- 
 sistent, honest man, with an unblemished record. 
 Gen. Harrison had selected a Whig cabinet. Should 
 he retain them, and thus surround himself with coun- 
 sellors whose views were antagonistic to his own ? or, 
 on the other hand, should he turn against the party 
 which had elected him and select a cabinet in har- 
 mony with himself, and which would oppose all those 
 views which the Whigs deemed essential to the pub- 
 lic welfare? This was his fearful dilemma. He in- 
 vited the cabinet which President Harrison had 
 selected to retain their seats. He reccomm ended a 
 day of fasting and prayer, that God would guide and 
 bless us. 
 
 The Whigs carried through Congress a bill for the 
 incorporation of a fiscal bank of the United States. 
 The President, after ten days' delay, returned it with 
 his veto. He suggested, however, that he would 
 
 approve of a bill drawn up upon such a plan as he 
 proposed. Such a bill was accordingly prepared, and 
 privately submitted to him. He gave it his approval. 
 It was passed without alteration, and he sent it back 
 with his veto. Here commenced the open rupture. 
 It is said that Mr. Tyler was provoked to this meas- 
 ure by a published letter from the Hon. John M. 
 Botts, a distinguished Virginia Whig, who severely 
 touched the pride of the President. 
 
 The opposition now exultingly received the Presi- 
 dent into their arms. The party which elected him 
 denounced him bitterly. All the members of his 
 cabinet, excepting Mr. Webster, resigned. The Whigs 
 of Congress, both the Senate and the House, held a 
 meeting and issued an address to the people of the 
 United States, proclaiming that all political alliance 
 between the Whigs and President Tyler were at 
 an end. 
 
 Still the President attempted to conciliate. He 
 appointed a new cabinet of distinguished Whigs and 
 Conservatives, carefully leaving out all strong party 
 men. . Mr. Webster soon found it necessary to resign, 
 forced out by the pressure of his Whig friends. Thus 
 the four years of Mr. Tyler's unfortunate administra- 
 tion passed sadly away. No one was satisfied. The 
 land was filled with murmurs and vituperation. Whigs 
 and Democrats alike assailed him. More and more, 
 however, he brought himself into sympathy with his 
 old friends, the Democrats, until at the close of his term, 
 he gave his whole influence to the support of Mr. 
 Polk, the Democratic candidate for his successor. 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1845, he retired from the 
 harassments of office, to the regret of neither party, and 
 probably to his own unspeakable relief. His first wife, 
 Miss Letitia Christian, died in Washington, in 1842; 
 and in June, 1844, President Tyler was again married, 
 at New York, to Miss Julia Gardiner, a young lady of 
 many personal and intellectual accomplishments. 
 
 The remainder of his days Mr. Tyler passed mainly 
 in retirement at his beautiful home, — Sherwood For- 
 est, Charles-city Co., Va. A polished gentleman in 
 his manners, richly furnished with information from 
 books and experience in the world, and possessing 
 brilliant powers of conversation, his family circle was 
 the scene of unusual attractions. With sufficient 
 moans for the exercise of a generous hospitality, he 
 might have enjoyed a serene old age with the few 
 friends who gathered around him, were it not for the 
 storms of civil war which his own principles and 
 policy had helped to introduce. 
 _ When the great Rebellion rose, which the State- 
 rights and nullifying doctrines of Mr. John C. Cal- 
 houn had inaugurated, President Tyler renounced his 
 allegiance to the United States, and joined the Confed- 
 erates. He was chosen a member of their Congress; 
 and while engaged in active measures to destroy, by 
 force of arms, the Government over which he had 
 once presided, he was taken sick and soon died. 
 
 
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ELE VENTH PRESIDENT. 
 
 59 "N 
 
 AMES K. POLK, the eleventh 
 ^President of the United States, 
 was born in Mecklenburg Co., 
 N. C.,Nov. 2, 1795. His par- 
 ents were Samuel and Jane 
 (Knox) Polk, the former a son 
 of Col. Thomas Polk, who located 
 at the above place, as one of the 
 first pioneers, in 1735. 
 
 In the year 1006, with his wife 
 and children, and soon after fol- 
 lowed by most of the members of 
 the Polk farnly, Samuel Polk emi- 
 grated some two or three hundred 
 miles farther west, to the rich valley 
 of the Duck River. Here in the 
 midst of the wilderness, in a region 
 which was subsequently called Mau- 
 ry Co., they reared their log huts, 
 and established their homes. In the 
 hard toil of a new farm in the wil- 
 derness, James K. Polk spent the 
 early years of his childhood and 
 youth. His father, adding the pur- 
 suit of a surveyor to that of a farmer, 
 gradually increased in wealth until 
 he became one of the leading men of the region. His 
 mother was a superior woman, of strong common 
 sense and earnest piety. 
 
 Very early in life, James developed a taste for 
 reading and expressed the strongest desire to obtain 
 a liberal education. His mother's training had made 
 him methodical in his habits, had taught him punct- 
 uality and industry, and had inspired him with lofty 
 principles of morality. His health was frail ; and his 
 father, fearing that he might not be able to endure a 
 
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 sedentary life, got a situation for him behind the 
 counter, hoping to fit him for commercial pursuits. 
 
 This was to James a bitter disappointment. He 
 had no taste for these duties, and his daily tasks 
 were irksome in the extreme. He remained in this 
 uncongenial occupation but a few weeks, when at his 
 earnest solicitation his father removed him, and made 
 arrangements for him to prosecute his studies. Soon 
 after he sent him to Murfreesboro Academy. With 
 ardor which could scarcely be surpassed, he pressed 
 forward in his studies, and in less than two and a half 
 years, in the autumn of 181 5, entered the sophomore 
 class in the University of North Carolina, at Chapel 
 Hill. Here he was one of the most exemplary of 
 scholars, punctual in every exercise, never allowing 
 himself to be absent from a recitation or a religious 
 service. 
 
 He graduated in 1818, with the highest honors, be- 
 ing deemed the best scholar of his class, both in 
 mathematics and the classics. He was then twenty- 
 three years of age. Mr. Polk's health was at this 
 time much impaired by the assiduity with which he 
 had prosecuted his studies. After a short season of 
 relaxation he went to Nashville, and entered the 
 office of Felix Grundy, to study law. Here Mr. Polk 
 renewed his acquaintance with Andrew Jackson, who 
 resided on his plantation, the Hermitage, but a few 
 miles from Nashville. They had probably been 
 slightly acquainted before. 
 
 Mr. Polk's father was a Jeffersonian Republican, 
 and James K. Polk ever adhered to the same politi- 
 cal faith. He was a popular public speaker, and was 
 constantly called upon to address the meetings of his 
 party friends. His skill as a speaker was such that 
 he was popularly called the Napoleon of the stump. 
 He was a man of unblemished morals, genial and 
 
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JAMES K. POLK. 
 
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 courteous in his bearing, and with that sympathetic 
 nature in the joys and griefs of others which ever gave 
 him troops of friends. In 1823, Mr. Polk was elected 
 to the Legislature of Tennessee. Here he gave his 
 strong influence towards the election of his friend, 
 Mr. Jackson, to the Presidency of the United States. 
 
 In January, 1824, Mr. Polk married Miss Sarah 
 Childress, of Rutherford Co., Tenn. His bride was 
 altogether worthy of him, — a lady of beauty and cul- 
 ture. In the fall of 1825, Mr. Polk was chosen a 
 member of Congress. The satisfaction which he gave 
 to his constituents may be inferred from the fact, that 
 for fourteen successive years, until 1839, he was con- 
 tinued in that office. He then voluntarily withdrew, 
 only that he might accept the Gubernatorial chair 
 of Tennessee. In Congress he was a laborious 
 member, a frequent and a popular speaker. He was 
 always in his seat, always courteous ; and whenever 
 he spoke it was always to the point, and without any 
 ambitious rhetorical display. 
 
 During five sessions of Congress, Mr. Polk was 
 Speaker of the House Strong passions were roused, 
 and stormy scenes were witnessed ; but Mr Polk per- 
 formed his arduous duties to a very general satisfac- 
 tion, and a unanimous vote of thanks to him was 
 passed by the House as he withdrew on the 4th of 
 March, 1839. 
 
 In accordance with Southern usage, Mr. Polk, as a 
 candidate for Governor, canvassed the State. He was 
 elected by a large majority, and on the 14th of Octo- 
 ber, 1839, took the oath of office at Nashville. In 1841, 
 his term of office expired, and he was again the can- 
 didate of the Democratic party, but was defeated. 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1845, Mr. Polk was inaugur- 
 ated President of the United States. The verdict of 
 the countryin favor of the annexation of Texas, exerted . 
 its influence upon Congress ; and the last act of the 
 administration of President Tyler was to affix his sig- 
 nature to a joint resolution of Congress, passed on the 
 3d of March, approving of the annexation of Texas to 
 the American Union. As Mexico still claimed Texas 
 as one of her provinces, the Mexican minister, 
 Almonte, immediately demanded his passports and 
 left the country, declaring the act of the annexation 
 to be an act hostile to Mexico. 
 
 In his first message, President Polk urged that 
 Texas should immediately, by act of Congress, be re- 
 ceived into the Union on the same footing with the 
 other States. In the meantime, Gen. Taylor was sent 
 
 m\®%&*h- 
 
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 with an army into Texas to hold the country. He was 
 sent first to Nueces, which the Mexicans said was the 
 western boundary of Texas. Then he was sent nearly 
 two hundred miles further west, to the Rio Grande, 
 where lie erected batteries which commanded the 
 Mexican city of Matamoras, which was situated on 
 the western banks. 
 
 The anticipated collision soon took place, and war 
 was declared against Mexico by President Polk. The 
 war was pushed forward by Mr. Polk's administration 
 with great vigor. Gen. Taylor, whose army was first 
 called one of " observation," then of " occupation," 
 then of " invasion, "was sent forward to Monterey. The 
 feeble Mexicans, in every encounter, were hopelessly 
 and awfully slaughtered. The day of judgement 
 alone can reveal the misery which this war caused. 
 It was by the ingenuity of Mr. Polk's administration 
 that the war was brought on. 
 
 'To the victors belong the spoils." Mexico was 
 prostrate before us. Her capital was in our hands. 
 We now consented to peace upon the condition that 
 Mexico should surrender to us, in addition to Texas, 
 all of New Mexico, and all of Upper and Lower Cal- 
 ifornia. This new demand embraced, exclusive of 
 Texas, eight hundred thousand square miles. This 
 was an extent of territory equal to nine States of the 
 size of New York. Thus slavery was securing eighteen 
 majestic States to be added to the Union. There were 
 some Americans who thought it all right: there were 
 others who thought it all wrong. In the prosecution 
 of this war, we expended twenty thousand lives and 
 more than a hundred million of dollars. Of this 
 money fifteen millions were paid to Mexico. 
 
 On the 3d of March, 1849, Mr - Polk retired from 
 office, having served one term. The next day was 
 Sunday. On the 5th, Gen. Taylor was inaugurated 
 as his successor. Mr. Polk rode to the Capitol in the 
 same carriage with Gen. Taylor; and the same even- 
 ing, with Mrs. Polk, he commenced his return to 
 Tennessee. He was then but fifty-four years of age. 
 He had ever been strictly temperate in all his habits, 
 and his health was good. With an ample fortune, 
 a choice library, a cultivated mind, and domestic ties 
 of the dearest nature, it seemed as though long years 
 of tranquility and happiness were before him. But the 
 cholera — that fearful scourge — was then sweeping up 
 the Valley of the Mississippi. This he contracted, 
 and died on the 15th of June, 1849, in the fifty-fourth 
 year of his age, greatly mourned by his countrymen. 
 
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 ACHARY TAYLOR, twelfth 
 President of the United States, 
 was born on the 24th of Nov., 
 1784, in Orange Co., Va. His 
 father, Colonel Taylor, was 
 a Virginian of note, and a dis- 
 tinguished patriot and soldier of 
 the Revolution. When Zachary 
 was an infant, his father with his 
 wife and two children, emigrated 
 to Kentucky, where he settled in 
 the pathless wilderness, a few 
 miles from Louisville. In this front- 
 ier home, away from civilization and 
 all its refinements, young Zachary 
 could enjoy but few social and educational advan- 
 tages. When six years of age he attended a common 
 school, and was then regarded as a bright, active boy, 
 rather remarkable for bluntness and decision of char- 
 acter He was strong, feailess and self-reliant, and 
 manifested a strong desire to enter the army to fight 
 the Indians who were ravaging the frontiers. There 
 is little to be recorded of the uneventful years of his 
 childhood on his father's large but lonely plantation. 
 In 1808, his father succeeded in obtaining for him 
 the commission of lieutenant in the United States 
 army ; and he joined the troops which were stationed 
 at New Orleans under Gen. Wilkinson. Soon after 
 this he married Miss Margaret Smith, a young lady 
 from one of the first families of Maryland. 
 
 Immediately after the declaration of war with Eng- 
 land, in i8r2, Capt. Taylor (for he had then been 
 promoted to that rank) was put in command of Fort 
 Harrison, on the Wabash, about fifty miles above 
 Vincennes. This fort had been built in the wilder- 
 ness by Gen. Harrison,on his march to Tippecanoe. 
 It was one of the first points of attack by the Indians, 
 led by Tecumseh. Its garrison consisted of a broken 
 
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 company of infantry numbering fifty men, many of 
 whom were sick. 
 
 Early in the autumn of 181:, the Indians, stealthily, 
 and in large numbers, moved upon the fort. Their 
 approach was first indicated by the murder of two 
 soldiers just outside of the stockade. Capt. Taylor 
 made every possible preparation to meet the antici- 
 pated assault. On the 4th of September, a band of 
 forty painted and plumed savages came to the fort, 
 waving a white flag, and informed Capt. Taylor that 
 in the morning their chief would come to have a talk 
 with him. It was evident that their object was merely 
 to ascertain the state of things at the fort, and Capt. 
 Taylor, well versed in the wiles of the savages, kept 
 them at a distance. 
 
 The sun went down ; the savages disappeared, the 
 garrison slept upon their arms. One hour before 
 midnight the war whoop burst from a thousand lips 
 in the forest around, followed by the discharge of 
 musketry, and the rush of the foe. Every man, sick 
 and well, sprang to his post. Every man knew that 
 defeat was not merely death, but in the case of cap- 
 ture, death by the most agonizing and prolonged tor- 
 ture. No pen can describe, no immagination can 
 conceive the scenes which ensued. The savages suc- 
 ceeded in setting fire to one of the block-houses- 
 Until six o'clock in the morning, this awful conflict 
 continued. The savages then, baffled at every point, 
 and gnashing their teeth with rage, retired. Capt. 
 Taylor, for this gallant defence, was promoted to the 
 rank of major by brevet. 
 
 Until the close of the war, MajorTaylor was placed 
 in such situations that he saw but little more of active 
 service. He was sent far away into the depths of the 
 wilderness, to Fort Crawford, on Fox River, which 
 empties into Green Bay. Here there was but little 
 to be done but to wear away the tedious hours as one @) 
 best could. There were no books, no society, no in- ^ 
 
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 64 
 
 ZACHARY TAYLOR. 
 
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 tellectual stimulus. Thus with him the uneventful 
 years rolled on Gradually he rose to the rank of 
 colonel. In the Black-Hawk war, which resulted in 
 the capture of that renowned chieftain, Col Taylor 
 took a subordinate but a brave and efficient part. 
 
 For twenty-four years Col. Taylor was engaged in 
 the defence of the frontiers, in scenes so remote, and in 
 employments so obscure, that his name was unknown 
 beyond the limits of his own immediate acquaintance. 
 In the year 1836, he was sent to Florida to compel 
 the Seminole Indians to vacate that region and re- 
 tire beyond the Mississippi, as their chiefs by treaty, 
 had promised they should do. The services rendered 
 here secured for Col. Taylor the high appreciation of 
 the Government; and as a reward, he was elevated 
 to the rank of brigadier-general by brevet ; and soon 
 after, in May, 1838, was appointed to the chief com- 
 mand of the United States troops in Florida. 
 
 After two years of such wearisome employment 
 amidst the everglades of the peninsula, Gen. Taylor 
 obtained, at his own request, a change of command, 
 and was stationed over the Department of the South- 
 west. This field embraced Louisiana, Mississippi, 
 Alabama and Georgia. Establishing his headquarters 
 at Fort Jessup, in Louisiana, he removed his family 
 to a plantation which he purchased, near Baton Rogue. 
 Here he remained for five years, buried, as it were, 
 from the world, but faithfully discharging every duty 
 imposed upon him. 
 
 In 1846, Gen. Taylor was sent to guard the land 
 between the Nueces and Rio Grande, the latter river 
 being the boundary of Texas, which was then claimed 
 by the United States. Soon the war with Mexico 
 was brought on, and at Palo Alto and Resaca de la 
 Palma, Gen. Taylor won brilliant victories over the 
 Mexicans. The rank of major-general by brevet 
 was then conferred upon Gen. Taylor, and his name 
 was received with enthusiasm almost everywhere in 
 the Nation. Then came the battles of Monterey and 
 Buena Vista in which he won signal victories over 
 forces much larger than he commanded. 
 
 His careless habits of dress and his unaffected 
 simplicity, secured for Gen. Taylor among his troops, 
 the sobriquet of "Old Rough and Ready.' 
 
 The tidings of the brilliant victory of Buena Vista 
 spread the wildest enthusiasm over the country. The 
 name of Gen. Taylor was on every one's lips. The 
 Whig party decided to take advantage of this wonder- 
 ful popularity in bringing forward the unpolished, un- 
 lettered, honest soldier as their candidate for the 
 Presidency. Gen. Taylor was astonished at the an- 
 nouncement, and for a time would not listen to it; de- 
 claring that he was not at all qualified for such an 
 office. So little interest had he taken in politics that, 
 for forty years, he had not cast a vote. It was not 
 without chagrin that several distinguished statesmen 
 who had been long years in the public service found 
 their claims set aside in behalf of one whose name 
 
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 had never been heard of, save in connection with Palo 
 Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Monterey and Buena 
 Vista. It Is said that Daniel Webster, in his haste re- 
 marked, " It is a nomination not fit to be made." 
 
 Gen. Taylor was not an eloquent speaker nor a fine 
 writer His friends took possession of him, and pre- 
 pared such few communications as it was needful 
 should be presented to the public. The popularity of. 
 the successful warrior swept the land. He was tri- 
 umphantly elected over two opposing candidates, — 
 Gen. Cass and Ex-President Martin Van Buren. 
 Though he selected an excellent cabinet, the good 
 old man found himself in a very uncongenial position, 
 and was, at times, sorely perplexed and harassed. 
 His mental sufferings were very severe, and probably 
 tended to hasten his death. The pro-slavery party 
 was pushing its claims with tireless energy, expedi- 
 tions were fitting out to capture Cuba ; California was 
 pleading for admission to the Union, while slavery 
 stood at the door to bar her out. Gen. Taylor found 
 the political conflicts in Washington to be far more 
 trying to the nerves than battles with Mexicans or 
 Indians. 
 
 In the midst of all these troubles, Gen. Taylor, 
 after he had occupied the Presidential chair but little 
 over a year, took cold, and after a brief sickness of 
 but little over five days, died on the 9th of July, 1850. 
 His last words were, "I am not afraid to die. I am 
 ready. I have endeavored to do my duty." He died 
 universally respected and beloved. An honest, un- 
 pretending man, he had been steadily growing in the 
 affections of the people ; and the Nation bitterly la- 
 mented his death. 
 
 Gen. Scott, who was thoroughly acquainted with 
 Gen. Taylor, gave the following graphic and truthful 
 description of his character: — " With a good store of 
 common sense, Gen. Taylor's mind had not been en- 
 larged and refreshed by reading, or much converse 
 with the world. Rigidity of ideas was the conse- 
 quence. The frontiers and small military posts had 
 been his home. Hence he was quite ignorant for his 
 rank, and quite bigoted in his ignorance. His sim- 
 plicity was child-like, and with innumerable preju- 
 dices, amusing and incorrigible, well suited to the 
 tender age. Thus, if a man, however respectable, 
 chanced to wear a coat of an unusual color, or his hat 
 a little on one side of his head; or an officer to leave 
 a corner of his handkerchief dangling from an out- 
 side pocket, — in any such case, this critic held the 
 offender to be a coxcomb (perhaps something worse), 
 whom he would not, to use his oft repeated phrase, 
 ' touch with a pair of tongs.' 
 
 "Any allusion to literature beyond good old Dil- 
 worth's spelling-book, on the part of one wearing a 
 sword, was evidence, with the same judge, of utter 
 unfitness for heavy marchings and combats. In short, 
 few men have ever had a more comfortable, labor- 
 saving contempt for learning of every kind." 
 
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THIRTEENTH PRESIDENT. 
 
 
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 t ^MILLAHn FILLfflnHE,^ i 
 
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 ILLARD FILLMORE, thir- 
 teenth President of the United 
 States, was born at Summer 
 Hill, Cayuga Co., N. Y ., on 
 the 7th of January, 1800. His 
 father was a farmer, and ow- 
 ing to misfortune, in humble cir- 
 cumstances. Of his mother, the 
 daughter of Dr. Abiathar Millard, 
 of Pittsfield, Mass., it has been 
 said that she possessed an intellect 
 of very high order, united with much 
 personal loveliness, sweetness of dis- 
 position, graceful manners and ex- 
 quisite sensibilities. She died in 
 1 83 1 ; having lived to see her son a 
 young man of distinguished prom- 
 ise, though she was not permitted to witness the high 
 dignity which he finally attained. 
 
 In consequence of the secluded home and limited 
 means of his father, Millard enjoyed but slender ad- 
 vantages for education in his early years. The com- 
 mon schools, which he occasionally attended were 
 very imperfect institutions; and books were scarce 
 and expensive. There was nothing then in his char- 
 acter to indicate the brilliant career upon which he 
 was about to enter. He was a plain farmer's boy ; 
 intelligent, good-looking, kind-hearted. The sacred 
 influences of home had taught him to revere the Bible, 
 and had laid the foundations of an upright character. 
 When fourteen years of age, his father sent him 
 some hundred miles from home, to the then wilds of 
 Livingston County, to learn the trade of a clothier. 
 Near the mill there was a small villiage, where some 
 
 enterprising man had commenced the collection of a 
 village library. This proved an inestimable blessing 
 to young Fillmore. His evenings were spent in read- 
 ing. Soon every leisure moment was occupied with 
 books. His thirst for knowledge became insatiate; 
 and the selections which he made were continually 
 more elevating and instructive. He read history, 
 biography, oratory, and thus gradually there was en- 
 kindled in his heart a desire to be something more 
 than a mere worker with his hands; and lie was be- 
 coming, almost unknown to himself, a well-informed, 
 educated man. 
 
 The young clothier had now attained the age of 
 nineteen years, and was of fine personal appearance 
 and of gentlemanly demeanor. It so happened that 
 there was a gentleman in the neighborhood of ample 
 pecuniary means and of benevolence, — Judge Walter 
 Wood, — who was struck with the prepossessing ap- 
 pearance of young Fillmore. He made his acquaint- 
 ance, and was so much impressed with his ability and 
 attainments that he advised him to abandon his 
 trade and devote himself to the study of the law. The 
 young man replied, that he had no means of his own, 
 no friends to help him and that his previous educa- 
 tion had been very imperfect. But Judge Wood had 
 so much confidence in him that he kindly offered to 
 take him into his own office, and to loan him such 
 money as he needed. Most gratefully the generous 
 offer was accepted. 
 
 There is in many minds a strange delusion about 
 a collegiate education. A young man is supposed to 
 be liberally educated if he has graduated at some col- 
 lege. But many a boy loiters through university halls 
 and then enters a law office, who is by no means as 
 
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 MILLARD FILLMORE. 
 
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 well prepared to prosecute his legal studies as was 
 Millard Fillmore when he graduated at the clothing- 
 mill at the end of four years of manual labor, during 
 which every leisure moment had been devoted to in- 
 tense mental culture. 
 
 In 1823, when twenty-three years of age, he was 
 admitted to the Court of Common Pleas. He then 
 went to the village of "Aurora, and commenced the 
 practice of law. In this secluded, peaceful region, 
 his practice of course was limited, and there was no 
 opportunity for a sudden rise in fortune or in fame. 
 Here, in the year 1826, he married a lady of great 
 moral worth, and one capable of adorning any station 
 she might be called to fill, — Miss Abigail Powers. 
 
 His elevation of character, his untiring industry, 
 his legal acquirements, and his skill as an advocate, 
 gradually attracted attention ; and he was invited to 
 enter into partnership under highly advantageous 
 circumstances, with an elder member of the bar in 
 Buffalo. Just before removing to Buffalo, in 1829, 
 he took his seat in the House of Assembly, of the 
 State of New York, as a representative from Erie 
 County. Though he had never taken a very active 
 part in politics, his vote and his sympathies were with 
 the Whig party. The State was then Democratic, 
 and he found himself in a helpless minority in the 
 Legislature , still the testimony comes from all parties, 
 that his courtesy, ability and integrity, won, to a very 
 unusual degree the respect of his associates. 
 
 In the autumn of 1832, he was elected to a seat in 
 the United States Congress He entered that troubled 
 arena in some of the most tumultuous hours of our 
 national history. The great conflict respecting the 
 national bank and the removal of the deposits, was 
 then raging. 
 
 His term of two years closed ; and he returned to 
 his profession, which he pursued with increasing rep- 
 utation and success. After a lapse of two years 
 he again became a candidate for Congress ; was re- 
 elected, and took his seat in 1837. His past expe- 
 rience as a representative gave him strength and 
 confidence. The first term of service in Congress to 
 any man can be but little more than an introduction. 
 He was now prepared for active duty. All his ener- 
 gies were brought to bear upon the public good. Every 
 measure received his impress. 
 
 Mr. Fillmore was now a man of wide repute, and 
 his popularity filled the State, and in the year 1847, 
 he was elected Comptroller of the State. 
 
 Mr. Fillmore had attained the age of forty-seven 
 years. His labors at the bar, in the Legislature, in 
 Congress and as Comptroller, had given him very con- 
 siderable fame. The Whigs were casting about to 
 find suitable candidates for President and Vice-Presi- 
 dent at the approaching election. Far away, on the 
 waters of the Rio Gjrande, there was a rough old 
 soldier, who had fought one or two successful battles 
 with the Mexicans, which had caused his name to be 
 proclaimed in trumpet-tones all over the land. But 
 it was necessary to associate with him on the same 
 ticket some man of reputation as a statesman. 
 
 Under the influence of these considerations, the 
 namesof Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore became 
 the rallying-cry of the Whigs, as their candidates for 
 President and Vice-Peesident. The Whig ticket was 
 signally triumphant. On the 4th of March, 1849, 
 Gen. Taylor was inaugurated President, and Millard 
 Fillmore Vice-President, of the United States. 
 
 On the 9th of July, T850, President Taylor, but 
 about one year and four months after his inaugura- 
 tion, was suddenly taken sick and died. By the Con- 
 stitution, Vice-President Fillmore thus became Presi- 
 dent. He appointed a very able cabinet, of which 
 the illustrious Daniel Webster was Secretary of State. 
 
 Mr. Fillmore had very serious difficulties to contend 
 with, since the opposition had a majority in both 
 Houses. He did everything in his power to conciliate 
 the South ; but the pro-slavery party in the South felt 
 the inadequacy of all measuresof transient conciliation. 
 The population of the free States was so rapidly in- 
 creasing over that of the slave States that it was in- 
 evitable that the power of the Government should 
 soon pass into the hands of the free States. The 
 famous compromise measures were adopted under Mr. 
 Fillmore's adminstration, and the Japan Expedition 
 was sent out. On the 4th of March, 1853, Mr. Fill- 
 more, having served one term, retired. 
 
 In 1856, Mr. Fillmore was nominated for the Pres- 
 idency by the " Know Nothing " party, but was beaten 
 by Mr. Buchanan. After that Mr. Fillmore lived in 
 retirement. During the terrible conflict of civil war, 
 he was mostly silent. It was generally supposed that 
 his sympathies were rather with those who were en- 
 deavoring to overthrow our institutions. President 
 Fillmore kept aloof from the conflict, without any 
 cordial words of cheer to the one party or the other. 
 He was thus forgotten by both. He lived to a ripe 
 old age, and died in Buffalo. N. Y., March 8, 1874. 
 
 9 
 
 
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 FOURTEENTH PRESIDENT. 
 
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 ^FHMKLIN FIERCER 
 
 
 RANKLIN PIERCE, the 
 fourteenth President of the 
 S" United States, was born in 
 Hillsborough, N. H., Nov. 
 23, 1804. His father was a 
 Revolutionary soldier, who, 
 with his own strong arm, 
 hewed out a home in the 
 wilderness. He was a man 
 of inflexible integrity; of 
 strong, though uncultivated 
 . mind, and an uncompromis- 
 ing Democrat. The mother of 
 Franklin Pierce was all that a son 
 could desire, — an intelligent, pru- 
 dent, affectionate, Christian wom- 
 an. Franklin was the sixth of eight children. 
 
 Franklin was a very bright and handsome boy, gen- 
 erous, warm-hearted and brave. He won alike the 
 love of old and young. The boys on the play ground 
 loved him. His teachers loved him. The neighbors 
 looked upon him with pride and affection. He was 
 by instinct a gentleman ; always speaking kind words, 
 doing kind deeds, with a peculiar unstudied tact 
 which taught him what was agreeable. Without de- 
 veloping any precocity of genius, or any unnatural 
 devotion to books, he was a good scholar ; in body, 
 in mind, in affections, a finely-developed boy. 
 
 When sixteen years of age, in the year 1820, he 
 entered Bowdoin College, at Brunswick, Me He was 
 one of the most popular young men in the college. 
 The purity of his moral character, the unvarying 
 courtesy of his demeanor, his rank as a scholar, and 
 
 genial nature, rendered him a universal favorite. 
 There was something very peculiarly winning in his 
 address, and it was evidently not in the slightest de- 
 gree studied : it was the simple outgushing of his 
 own magnanimous and loving nature. 
 
 Upon graduating, in the year 1824, Franklin Pierce 
 commenced the study of law in the office of Judge 
 Woodbury, one of the most distinguished lawyers of 
 the State, and a man of great private worth. The 
 eminent social qualities of the young lawyer, his 
 father's prominence as a public man, and the brilliant 
 political career into which Judge Woodbury was en- 
 tering, all tended to entice Mr. Pierce into the faci- 
 nating yet perilous path of political life. With all 
 the ardor of his nature he espoused the cause of Gen. 
 Jackson for the Presidency. He commenced the 
 practice of law in Hillsborough, and was soon elected 
 to represent the town in the State Legislature. Here 
 he served for four years. The last two years he was 
 chosen speaker of the house by a very large vote. 
 
 In 1833, at the age of twenty-nine, he was elected 
 a member of Congress. Without taking an active 
 part in debates, he was faithful and laborious in duty, 
 and ever rising in the estimation of those with whom 
 he was associatad. 
 
 In 1837, being then but thirty-three years of age, 
 he was elected to the Senate of the United States; 
 taking his seat just as Mr. Van Buren commenced 
 his administration. He was the youngest member in 
 the Senate. In the year 1834, he married Miss Jane 
 Means Appleton, a lady of rare beauty and accom- 
 plishments, and one admirably fitted to adorn every 
 station with which her husband was honoied. Of the 
 
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 FRANKLIN PIERCE. 
 
 three sons who were born to them, all now sleep with 
 their parents in the grave. 
 
 In the year 1838, Mr. Pierce, with growing fame 
 and increasing business as a lawyer, took up his 
 residence in Concord, the capital of New Hampshire. 
 President Polk, upon his accession to office, appointed 
 Mr. Pierce attorney-general of the United States; but 
 the offer was declined, in consequence of numerous 
 professional engagements at home, and the precariuos 
 state of Mrs. Pierce's health. He also, about the 
 same time declined the nomination for governor by the 
 Democratic party. The war with Mexico called Mr. 
 Pierce in the army. Receiving the appointment of 
 brigadier-general, he embarked, with a portion of his 
 troops, at Newport, R. I., on the 27th of May, 1847. 
 He took an important part in this war, proving him- 
 self a brave and true soldier. 
 
 When Gen. Pierce reached his home in his native 
 State, he was received enthusiastically by the advo- 
 cates of the Mexican war, and coldly by his oppo- 
 nents. He resumed the practice of his profession, 
 very frequently taking an active part in political ques- 
 tions, giving his cordial support to the pro-slavery 
 wing of the Democratic party. The compromise 
 measures met cordially with his approval ; and he 
 strenuously advocated the enforcement of the infa- 
 mous fugitive-slave law, which so shocked the religious 
 sensibilities of the North. He thus became distin- 
 guished as a " Northern man with Southern principles.'* 
 The strong partisans of slavery in the South conse- 
 quently regarded him as a man whom they could 
 safely trust in office to carry out their plans. 
 
 On the 1 2th of June, T852, the Democratic conven- 
 tion met in Baltimore to nominate a candidate for the 
 Presidency. For four days they continued in session, 
 and in thirty-five ballotings no one had obtained a 
 two-thirds vote. Not a vote thus far had been thrown 
 for Gen. Pierce. Then the Virginia delegation 
 brought forward his name. There were fourteen 
 more ballotings, during which Gen. Pierce constantly 
 gained strength, until, at the forty-ninth ballot, he 
 received two hundred and eighty-two votes, and all 
 other candidates eleven. Gen. Winfield Scott was 
 the Whig candidate. Gen. Pierce was chosen with 
 great unanimity. Only four States — Vermont, Mas- 
 sachusetts, Kentucky and Tennessee — cast their 
 electoral votes against him Gen. Franklin Pierce 
 was therefore inaugurated President of the United 
 States on the 4th of March, 1853. 
 
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 His administration proved one of the most stormy our 
 country had ever experienced. The controversy be- 
 tween slavery and freedom was then approaching its 
 culminating point. It became evident that there was 
 an " irrepressible conflict " between them, and that 
 this Nation could not long exist " half slave and half 
 free." President Pierce, during the whole of his ad- 
 ministration, did every thing he could to conciliate 
 the South ; but it was all in vain. The conflict every 
 year grew more violent, and threats of the dissolution 
 of the Union were borne to the North on every South- 
 ern breeze. 
 
 Such was the condition of affairs when President 
 Pierce approached the close of his four-years' term 
 of office. The North had become thoroughly alien- 
 ated from him. The anti-slavery sentiment, goaded 
 by great outrages, had been rapidly increasing; all 
 the intellectual ability and social worth of President 
 Pierce were forgotten in deep reprehension of his ad- 
 ministrative acts. The slaveholders of the South, also, 
 unmindful of the fidelity with which he had advo- 
 cated those measures of Government which they ap- 
 proved, and perhaps, also, feeling that he had 
 rendered himself so unpopular as no longer to be 
 able acceptably to serve them, ungratefully dropped 
 him, and nominated James Buchanan to succeed him. 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1857, President Pierce re- 
 tired to his home in Concord. Of three children, two 
 had died, and Ijis only surviving child had been 
 killed before his eyes by a railroad accident ; and his 
 wife, one of the most estimable and accomplished of 
 ladies, was rapidly sinking in consumption. The 
 hour of dreadful gloom soon came, and he was left 
 alone in the world, without wife or child. 
 
 When the terrible Rebellion burst forth, which di- 
 vided our country into two parties, and two only, Mr. 
 Pierce remained steadfast in the principles which he 
 had always cherished, and gave his sympathies to 
 that pro-slavery party with which he had ever been 
 allied. He declined to do anything, either by voice 
 or pen, to strengthen the hand of the National Gov- 
 ernment. He continued to reside in Concord until 
 the time of his death, which occurred in October, 
 1869. He was one of the most genial and social of 
 men, an honored communicant of the Episcopal 
 Church, and one of the kindest of neighbors. Gen- 
 erous to a fault, he contributed liberally for the al- 
 leviation of suffering and want, and many of his towns- 
 people were often gladeped by his material bounty. 
 
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 AMES BUCHANAN, the fif- 
 teenth President of the United 
 States, was born in a small 
 frontier town, at the foot of the 
 eastern ridge of the Allegha- 
 nies, in Franklin Co., Penn., on 
 the 23d of April, 1791. The place 
 where the humble cabin of his 
 father stood was called Stony 
 Batter. It was a wild and ro- 
 mantic spot in a gorge of the moun- 
 tains, with towering summits rising 
 grandly all around. His father 
 was a native of the north of Ireland ; 
 a poor man, who had emigrated in 
 1783, with little property save his 
 own strong arms. Five years afterwards he married 
 Elizabeth Spear, the daughter of a respectable farmer, 
 and, with his young bride, plunged into the wilder- 
 ness, staked his claim, reared his log-hut, opened a 
 clearing with his axe, and settled down there to per- 
 form his obscure part in the drama of life. In this se- 
 cluded home, where James was born, he remained 
 for eight years, enjoying but few social or intellectual 
 advantages. When James was eight years of age, his 
 father removed to the village of Mercersburg, where 
 his son was placed at school, and commenced a 
 course of study in English, Latin and Greek. His 
 progress was rapid, and at the age of fourteen, he 
 entered Dickinson College, at Carlisle. Here he de- 
 veloped remarkable talent, and took his stand among 
 the first scholars in the institution. His application 
 to study was intense, and yet his native powers en- 
 
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 abled him to master the most abstruse subjects with 
 facility. 
 
 In the year 1809, he graduated with the highest 
 honors of his class. He was then eighteen years of 
 age; tall and graceful, vigorous in health, fond of 
 athletic sport, an unerring shot, and enlivened with 
 an exuberant flow of animal spirits. He immediately 
 commenced the study of law in the city of Lancaster, 
 and was admitted to the bar in 181 2, when he was 
 but twenty-one years of age. Very rapidly he rose 
 in his profession, and at once took undisputed stand 
 with the ablest lawyers of the State. When but 
 twenty-six years of age, unaided by counsel, he suc- 
 cessfully defended before the State Senate one of the 
 judges of the State, who was tried upon articles of 
 impeachment. At the age of thirty it was generally 
 admitted that he stood at the head of the bar; and 
 there was no lawyer in the State who had a more lu- 
 crative practice. 
 
 In 1820, he reluctantly consented to run as a 
 candidate for Congress. He was elected, and for 
 ten years he remained a member of the Lower House. 
 During the vacations of Congress, he occasionally 
 tried some important case. In 1 831, he retired 
 altogether from the toils of his profession, having ao. 
 quired an ample fortune. 
 
 Gen. Jackson, upon his elevation to the Presidency, 
 appointed Mr. Buchanan minister to Russia. The 
 duties of his mission he performed with ability, which 
 gave satisfaction to all parties. Upon his return, in 
 1833, he was elected to a seat in the United States 
 Senate. He there met, as his associates, Webster, 
 Clay, Wright and Calhoun. He advocated the meas- 
 ures proposed by President Jackson, of making repri- 
 
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 JAMES BUCHANAN. 
 
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 sals against France, to enforce the payment of our 
 claims against that country ; and defended the course 
 of the President in his unprecedented and wholesale 
 removal from office of those who were not the sup- 
 porters of his administration. Upon this question he 
 was brought into direct collision with Henry Clay. 
 He also, with voice and vote, advocated expunging 
 from the journal of the Senate the vote of censure 
 .against Gen. Jackson for removing the deposits. 
 Earnestly he opposed the abolition of slavery in the 
 District of Columbia, and urged the prohibition of the 
 circulation of anti-slavery documents by the United 
 States mails. 
 
 As to petitions on the subject of slavery, he advo- 
 cated that they should be respectfully received ; and 
 that the reply should be returned, that Congress had 
 no power to legislate upon the subject. " Congress," 
 said he, " might as well undertake to interfere with 
 slavery under a foreign government as in any of the 
 States where it now exists." 
 
 Upon Mr. Polk's accession to the Presidency, Mr. 
 Buchanan became Secretary of State, and as such, 
 took his share of the responsibility in the conduct of 
 the Mexican War. Mr. Polk assumed that crossing 
 the Nueces by the American troops into the disputed 
 territory was not wrong, but for the Mexicans to cross 
 the Rio Grande into that territory was a declaration 
 of war. No candid man can read with pleasure the 
 account of the course our Government pursued in that 
 movement. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan identified himself thoroughly with 
 the party devoted to the perpetuation and extension 
 of slavery, and brought all the energies of his mind 
 to bear against the Wilmot Proviso. He gave his 
 cordial approval to the compromise measures of 1850, 
 which included the fugitive-slave law. Mr. Pierce, 
 upon his election to the Presidency, honored Mr. 
 Buchanan with the mission to England. 
 
 In the year 1856, a national Democratic conven- 
 tion nominated Mr. Buchanan for the Presidency. The 
 political conflict was one of the most severe in which 
 our country has ever engaged. All the friends, of 
 slavery were on one side ; all the advocates of its re- 
 striction and final abolition, on the other. Mr. Fre- 
 mont, the candidate of the enemies of slavery, re- 
 ceived 114 electoral votes. Mr. Buchanan received 
 174, and was elected. The popular vote stood 
 1,340,618, for Fremont, 1,224,750 for Buchanan. On 
 March 4th, 1857, Mr. Buchanan was inaugurated. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan was far advanced in life. Only four 
 years were wanting to fill up his threescore years and 
 ten. His own friends, those with whom he had been 
 allied in political principles and action for years, were 
 seeking the destruction of the Government, that they 
 might rear upon the ruins of our free institutions a 
 nation whose corner-stone should be human slavery. 
 In this emergency, Mr. Buchanan was hopelessly be- 
 wildered. He could not, with his long-avowed prin- 
 
 ciples, consistently oppose the State-rights party in 
 their assumptions. As President of the United States, 
 bound by his oath faithfully to administer the laws, 
 he could not, without perjury of the grossest kind, 
 unite with those endeavoring to overthrow the repub- 
 lic. He therefore did nothing. 
 
 The opponents of Mr. Buchanan's administration 
 nominated Abraham Lincoln as their standard bearer 
 in the next Presidential canvass. The pro-slavery 
 party declared, that if he were elected, and the con- 
 trol of the Government were thus taken from their 
 hands, they would secede from the Union, taking 
 with them, as they retired, the National Capitol at 
 Washington, and the lion's share of the territory of 
 the United States. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan's sympathy with the pro-slavery 
 party was such, that he had been willing to offer them 
 far more than they had ventured to claim. All the 
 South had professed to ask of the North was non- 
 intervention upon the subject of slavery. Mr. Bu- 
 chanan had been ready to offer them the active co- 
 operation of the Government to defend and extend 
 the institution. 
 
 As the storm increased in violence, the slaveholders 
 claiming the right to secede, and Mr. Buchanan avow- 
 ing that Congress had no power to prevent it, one of 
 the most pitiable exhibitions of governmental im- 
 becility was exhibited the world has ever seen. He 
 declared that Congress had no power to enforce its 
 laws in any State which had withdrawn, or which 
 was attempting to withdraw from the Union. This 
 was not the doctrine of Andrew Jackson, when, with 
 his hand upon his sword-hilt, he exclaimed, " The 
 Union must and shall be preserved!" 
 
 South Carolina seceded in December, i860; nearly 
 three months before the inauguration of President 
 Lincoln. Mr. Buchanan looked on in listless despair. 
 Therebel flag was raised in Charleston; Fort Sumpter 
 was besieged; our forts, navy-yards and arsenals 
 were seized ; our depots of military stores were plun- 
 dered ; and our custom-houses and post-offices were 
 appropriated by the rebels. 
 
 The energy of the rebels, and the imbecility of our 
 Executive, were alike marvelous. The Nation looked 
 on in agony, waiting for the slow weeks to glide away, 
 and close the administration, so terrible in its weak- 
 ness At length the long-looked-for hour of deliver- 
 ance came, when Abraham Lincoln was to receive the 
 scepter. 
 
 The administration of President Buchanan was 
 certainly the most calamitous our country has ex- 
 perienced. His best friends cannot recall it with 
 pleasure. And still more deplorable it is for his fame, 
 that in that dreadful conflict which rolled its billows' 
 of flame and blood over our whole land, no word came 
 from his lips to indicate his wish that our country's 
 banner should triumph over the flag of the rebellion. 
 He died at his Wheatland retreat, June 1, 1868. 
 
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 { ABRAHAM > H&MP < LINCOLN, > 
 
 SIXTEENTH PRESIDENT. 
 
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 79. 
 
 BRAHAM LINCOLN, the 
 sixteenth President of the 
 ^United States, was horn in 
 Hardin Co., Ky., Feb. 12, 
 i8o"q. About the year 1780, a 
 man by the name of Abraham 
 Lincoln left Virginia with his 
 family and moved into the then 
 wilds of Kentucky. Onlytwo years 
 after this emigration, still a young 
 man, while working one day in a 
 field, was stealthily approached by 
 an Indian and shot dead. His widow 
 was left in extreme poverty with five 
 little children, three boys and two 
 girls. Thomas, the youngest of the 
 boys, was four years of age at his 
 father's death. This Thomas was 
 the father of Abraham Lincoln, the 
 President of the United States 
 whose name must henceforth forever be enrolled 
 with the most prominent in the annals of our world. 
 Of course no record has been kept of the life 
 of one so lowly as Thomas Lincoln. He was among 
 the poorest of the poor. His home was a wretched 
 log-cabin ; his food the coarsest and the meanest. 
 Education he had none; he could never either read 
 or write. As soon as he was able to do anything for 
 himself, he was compelled to leave the cabin of his 
 starving mother, and push out into the world, a friend- 
 less, wandering boy, seeking work. He hired him- 
 self out, and thus spent the whole of his youth as a 
 laborer in the fields of others. 
 
 When twenty-eight years of age he built a log- 
 cabin of his own, and married Nancy Hanks, the 
 daughter of another family of poor Kentucky emi- 
 grants, who had also come from Virginia. Their 
 second child was Abraham Lincoln, the subject of 
 this sketch. The mother of Abraham was a noble 
 woman, gentle, loving, pensive, created to adorn 
 a palace, doomed to toil and pine, and die in a hovel. 
 " All that I am, or hope to be," exclaims the grate- 
 ful son " I owe to my angel-mother. " 
 
 When he was eight years of age, his father sold his 
 
 cabin and small farm, and moved to Indiana. Where 
 two years later his mother died. 
 
 Abraham soon became the scribe of the uneducated 
 community around him. He could not have had a 
 better school than this to teach him to put thoughts 
 into words. He also became an eager reader. The 
 books he could obtain were few ; but these he read 
 and re-read until they were almost committed to 
 memory. 
 
 As the years rolled on, the lot of this lowly family 
 was the usual lot of humanity. There were joys and 
 griefs, weddings and funerals. Abraham's sister 
 Sarah, to whom he was tenderly attached, was mar- 
 ried when a child of but fourteen years of age, and 
 soon died. The family was gradually scattered. Mr. 
 Thomas Lincoln sold out his squatter's claim in 1830, 
 and emigrated to Macon Co., 111. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln was then twenty-one years of age. 
 With vigorous hands he aided his father in rearing 
 another log-cabin. Abraham worked diligently at this 
 until he saw the family comfortably settled, and their 
 small lot of enclosed prairie planted with corn, when 
 he announced to his father his intention to leave 
 home, and to go out into the world and seek his for- 
 tune. Little did he or his friends imagine how bril- 
 liant that fortune was to be. He saw the value of 
 education and was intensely earnest to improve his 
 mind to the utmost of his power. He saw the ruin 
 which ardent spirits were causing, and became 
 strictly temperate; refusing to allow a drop of intoxi- 
 cating liquor to pass his lips. And he had read in 
 God's word, "Thou shalt not take the name of the 
 Lord thy God in vain ;" and a profane expression he 
 was never heard to utter. Religion he revered. His 
 morals were pure, and he was uncontaminated by a 
 single vice. 
 
 Young Abraham worked for a time as a hired laborer 
 among the farmers. Then he went to Springfield, 
 where he was employed in building a large flat-boat. 
 In this he took a herd of swine, floated them down 
 the Sangamon to the Illinois, and thence by the Mis- 
 sissippi to New Orleans. Whatever Abraham Lin- 
 coln undertook, he performed so faithfully as to give 
 great satisfaction to his employers. In this adven- 
 
 9 
 
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 80 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
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 ture his employers were so well pleased, that upon 
 his return they placed a store and mill under his care. 
 
 In 1832, at the outbreak of the Black Hawk war, he 
 enlisted and was chosen captain of a company. He 
 returned to Sangamon County, and although only 23 
 years of age, was a candidate for the Legislature, but 
 was defeated. He soon after received from Andrew 
 Jackson the appointment of Postmaster of New Salem, 
 His only post-office was his hat. All the letters he 
 received he carried there ready to deliver to those 
 he chanced to meet. He studied surveying, and soon 
 made this his business. In 1834 he again became a 
 candidate for the Legislature, and was elected Mr. 
 Stuart, of Springfield, advised him to study law. He 
 walked from New Salem to Springfield, borrowed of 
 Mr. Stuart a load of books, carried thein back and 
 began his legal studies. When the Legislature as ? 
 sembled he trudged on foot with his pack on his back 
 one hundred miles to Vandalia, then the capital. In 
 1836 he was re-elected to the Legislature. Here it 
 was he first met Stephen A. Douglas. In 1839 he re- 
 moved to Springfield and began the practice of law. 
 His success with the jury was so great that he was 
 soon engaged in almost every noted case in the circuit. 
 
 In 1854 the great discussion began between Mr. 
 Lincoln and Mr. Douglas, on the slavery question. 
 In the organization of the Republican party in Illinois, 
 in 1856, he took an active part, and at once became 
 one of the leaders in that party. Mr. Lincoln's 
 speeches in opposition to Senator Douglas in the con- 
 test in 1858 for a seat in the Senate, form a most 
 notable part of his history. The issue was on the 
 slavery question, and he took the broad ground of 
 the Declaration of Independence, that all men are 
 created equal. Mr. Lincoln was defeated in this con- 
 test, but won a far higher prize. 
 
 The great Republican Convention met at Chicago 
 on the 16th of June, i860. The delegates and 
 strangers who crowded the city amounted to twenty- 
 five thousand. An immense building called " The 
 Wigwam," was reared to accommodate the Conven- 
 tion. There were eleven candidates for whom votes 
 were thrown. William H. Seward, a man whose fame 
 as a statesman had long filled the land, was the most 
 prominent. It was generally supposed he would be 
 the nominee. Abraham Lincoln, however, received 
 the nomination on the third ballot. Little did he then 
 dream of the weary years of toil and care, and the 
 bloody death, to which that nomination doomed him : 
 and as little did he dream that he was to render services 
 to his country, which would fix upon him the eyes of 
 the whole civilized world, and which would give him 
 aplaceinthe affections of his countrymen, second 
 only, if second, to that of Washington. 
 
 Election day came and Mr. Lincoln received 180 
 electoral votes out of 203 cast, and was, therefore, 
 constitutionally elected President of the United States. 
 The tirade of abuse that was poured upon this good 
 
 and merciful man, especially by the slaveholders, was 
 greater than upon any other man ever elected to this 
 high position. In February, 1861, Mr. Lincoln started 
 for Washington, stopping in all the large cities on his 
 way making speeches. The whole journey was fraught 
 with much danger. Many of the Southern States had 
 already seceded, and several attempts at assassination 
 were afterwards brought to light. A gang in Balti- 
 more had arranged, upon his arrival to "get up a row," 
 and in the confusion to make sure of his death with 
 revolvers and hand-grenades. A detective unravelled 
 the plot. A secret and special train was provided to 
 take him from Harrisburg, through Baltimore, at an 
 unexpected hour of the night. The train started at 
 half-past ten ; and to prevent any possible communi- 
 cation on the part ot the Secessionists with their Con- 
 federate gang in Baltimore, as soon as the train had 
 started the telegraph-wires were cut. Mr. Lincoln 
 reached Washington in safety and was inaugurated, 
 although great anxiety was felt by all loyal people. 
 In the selection of his cabinet Mr. Lincoln gave 
 to Mr. Seward the Department of State, and to other 
 prominent opponents before the convention he gave 
 important positions. 
 
 During no other administration have the duties 
 devolving upon the President been so manifold, and 
 the responsibilities so great, as those which fell to 
 the lot of President Lincoln. Knowing this, and 
 feeling his own weakness and inability to meet, and in 
 his own strength to cope with, the difficulties, he 
 learned early to seek Divine wisdom and guidance in 
 determining his plans, and Divine comfort in all his 
 trials, both personal and national. Contrary to his 
 own estimate of himself, Mr. Lincoln was one of the 
 most courageous of men. He went directly into the 
 rebel capital just as the retreating foe was leaving, 
 with no guard but a few sailors. From the time he 
 had left Springfield, in 1861, however, plans had been 
 made for his assassination.and he at last fell a victim 
 to one of them. April 14, 1865, he, with Gen. Grant, 
 was urgently invited to attend Fords' Theater. It 
 was announced that they would be present. Gen. 
 Grant, however, left the city. President Lincoln, feel- 
 ing, with his characteristic kindliness of heart, that 
 it would be a disappointment if he should fail them, 
 very reluctantly consented to go. While listening to 
 the play an actor by the name of John Wilkes Booth 
 entered the box where the President and family were 
 seated, and fired a bullet into his brains. He died the 
 next morning at seven o'clock. 
 
 Never before, in the history of the world was a nation 
 plunged into such deep grief by the death of its ruler. 
 Strong men met in the streets and wept in speechless 
 anguish. It is not too much to say that a nation was 
 in tears. His was a life which will fitly become a 
 model. His name as the savior of his country will 
 live with that of Washington's, its father; his country- 
 men being unable to decide which is the greater. 
 
 
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SEVENTEENTH PRESIDENT. 
 
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 NDREW JOHNSON, seven- 
 teenth President of the United 
 States. The early life of 
 Andrew Johnson contains but 
 the record of poverty, destitu- 
 tion and friendlessness. He 
 was born December 29, 1808, 
 in Raleigh, N. C. His parents, 
 belonging to the class of the 
 "poor whites " of the South, were 
 in such circumstances, that they 
 could not confer even the slight- 
 est advantages of education upon 
 their child. When Andrew was five 
 years of age, his father accidentally 
 lost his life while herorically endeavoring to save a 
 friend from drowning. Until ten years of age, Andrew 
 was a ragged boy about the streets, supported by the 
 labor of his mother, who obtained her living with 
 her own hands. 
 
 He then, having never attended a school one day, 
 and being unable either to read or write, was ap- 
 prenticed to a tailor in his native town. A gentleman 
 was in the habit of going to the tailor's shop occasion- 
 ally, and reading to the boys at work there. He often 
 read from the speeches of distinguished British states- 
 men. Andrew, who was endowed with a mind of more 
 than ordinary native ability, became much interested 
 in these speeches ; his ambition was roused, and he 
 was inspired with a strong desire to learn to read. 
 
 He accordingly applied himself to the alphabet, and 
 with the assistance of some of his fellow-workmen, 
 learned his letters. He then called upon the gentle- 
 man to borrow the book of speeches. The owner, 
 
 pleased with his zeal, not only gave him the book, 
 but assisted him in learning to cotpbine the letters 
 into words. Under such difficulties he pressed on- 
 ward laboriously, spending usually ten or twelve hours 
 at work in the shop, and then robbing himself of rest 
 and recreation to devote such time as he could to 
 reading. 
 
 He went to Tennessee in 1826, and located at 
 Greenville, where he married a young lady who pos- 
 sessed some education. Under her instructions he 
 learned to write and cipher. He became prominent 
 in the village debating society, and a favorite with 
 the students of Greenville College. In 1828, he or- 
 ganized a working man's party, which elected him 
 alderman, and in 1830 elected him mayor, which 
 position he held three years. 
 
 He now began to take a lively interest in political 
 affairs ; identifying himself with the working-classes, 
 to which he belonged. In 1835, he was elected a 
 member of the House of Representatives of Tennes- 
 see. He was then just twenty-seven years of age. 
 He became a very active member of the legislature, 
 gave his adhesion to the Democratic party, and in 
 1840 "stumped the State," advocating Martin Van 
 Buren's claims to the Presidency, in opposition to those 
 of Gen. Harrison. In this campaign he acquired much 
 readiness as a speaker, and extended and increased 
 his reputation. 
 
 In 1841, he was elected State Senator; in 1843, he 
 was elected a member of Congress, and by successive 
 elections, held that important post for ten years. In 
 1853, he was elected Governor of Tennessee, and 
 was re-elected in 1855. In all these responsible posi- 
 tions, he discharged his duties with distinguished abil- 
 
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 ANDREW JOHNSON. 
 
 ity, and proved himself the warm friend of the work- 
 ing classes. In 1857, Mr. Johnson was elected 
 United States Senator. 
 
 Years before, in 1845, he had warmly advocated 
 the annexation of Texas, stating however, as his 
 reason, that he thought this annexation would prob- 
 ably prove " to be the gateway out of which the sable 
 sons of Africa are to pass from bondage to freedom, 
 and become merged in a population congenial to 
 themselves." In 1850, he also supported the com- 
 promise measures, the two essential features of which 
 were, that the white people of the Territories should 
 be permitted to decide for themselves whether they 
 would enslave the colored people or not, and that 
 the free States of the North should return to the 
 South persons who attempted to escape from slavery. 
 
 Mr. Johnson was never ashamed of his lowly origin: 
 on the contrary, he often took pride in avowing that 
 he owed his distinction to his own exertions. "Sir," 
 said he on the floor of the Senate, " I do not forget 
 that I am a mechanic ; neither do I forget that Adam 
 was a tailor and sewed fig-leaves, and that our Sav- 
 ior was the son of a carpenter." 
 
 In the Charleston-Baltimore convention of i860, he 
 was the choice of the Tennessee Democrats for the 
 Presidency. In 1861, when the purpose of the South- 
 ern Democracy became apparent, he took a decided 
 stand in favor of the Union, and held that " slavery 
 must be held subordinate to the Union at whatever 
 cost." He returned to Tennessee, and repeatedly 
 imperiled his own life to protect the Unionists of 
 Tennesee. Tennessee having seceded from the 
 Union, President Lincoln, on March 4th, 1862, ap- 
 pointed him Military Governor of the State, and he 
 established the most stringent military rule. His 
 numerous proclamations attracted wide attention. In 
 
 1864, he was elected Vice-President of the United 
 States, and upon the death of Mr. Lincoln, April 15, 
 
 1865, became President. In a speech two days later 
 he said, " The American people must be taught, if 
 they do not already feel, that treason is a crime and 
 must be punished ; that the Government will not 
 always bear with its enemies ; that it is strong not 
 only to protect, but to punish. * * The people 
 must understand that it (treason) is the blackest of 
 crimes, and will surely be punished." Yet his whole 
 administration, the history of which is so well known, 
 was in utter inconsistency with, and the most violent 
 
 opposition to, the principles laid down in that speech. 
 
 In his loose policy of reconstruction and general 
 amnesty, he was opposed by Congress ; and he char- 
 acterized Congress as a new rebellion, and lawlessly 
 defied it, in everything possible, to the utmost. In 
 the beginning of 1868, on account of "high crimes 
 and misdemeanors," the principal of which was the 
 removal of Secretary Stanton, in violation of the Ten- 
 ure of Office Act, articles of impeachment were pre- 
 ferred against him, and the trial began March 23. 
 
 It was very tedious, continuing for nearly three 
 months. A test article of the impeachment was at 
 length submitted to the court for its action. It was 
 certain that as the court voted upon that article so 
 would it vote upon all. Thirty-four voices pronounced 
 the President guilty. As a two-thirds vote was neces- 
 sary to his condemnation, he was pronounced ac- 
 quitted, notwithstanding the great majority against 
 him. The change of one vote from the not guilty 
 side would have sustained the impeachment. 
 
 The President, for the remainder of his term, was 
 but little regarded. He continued, though im potently, 
 his conflict with Congress. His own party did not 
 think it expedient to renominate him for the Presi- 
 dency. The Nation rallied, with enthusiasm unpar- 
 alleled since the days of Washington, around the name 
 of Gen. Grant. Andrew Johnson was forgotten. 
 The bullet of the assassin introduced him to the 
 President's chair. Notwithstanding this, never was 
 there presented to a man a better opportunity to im- 
 mortalize his name, and to win the gratitude of a 
 nation. He failed utterly. He retired to his home 
 in Greenville, Tenn., taking no very active part in 
 politics until 1875. ° n J an ' 2 6, after an exciting 
 struggle, he was chosen by the Legislature of Ten- 
 nessee, United States Senator in the forty-fourth Con- 
 gress, and took his seat in that body, at the special 
 session convened by President Grant, on the 5th of 
 March. On the 27 th of July, 1875, the ex-President 
 made a visit to his daughter's home, near Carter 
 Station, Tenn. When he started on his journey, he was 
 apparently in his usual vigorous health, but on reach- 
 ing the residence of his child the following day, was 
 stricken with paralysis, rendering him unconscious. 
 He rallied occasionally, but finally passed away at 
 2 a.m., July 31, aged sixty-seven years. His fun- 
 eral was attended at Geenville, on the 3d of August, 
 with every demonstration of respect. 
 
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 EIGHTEENTH PRESIDENT. 
 
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 LYSSES S. GRANT, the 
 eighteenth President of the 
 IpUnited States, was born on 
 the 29th of April, 1822, of 
 Christian parents, in a humble 
 home, at Point Pleasant, on the 
 banks of the Ohio. Shortly after 
 his father moved to George- 
 town, Brown Co., O. In this re- 
 :mote frontier hamlet, Ulysses 
 received a common-school edu- 
 cation. At the age of seven- 
 teen, in the year 1839, he entered 
 the Military Academy at West 
 Point. Here he was regarded as a 
 solid, sensible young man of fair abilities, and of 
 sturdy, honest character. He took respectable rank 
 as a scholar. In June, 1843, he graduated, about the 
 middle in his class, and was sent as lieutenant of in- 
 fantry to one of the distant military posts in the Mis- 
 souri Territory. Two years he past in these dreary 
 solitudes, watching the vagabond and exasperating 
 Indians. 
 
 The war with Mexico came. Lieut. Grant was 
 sent with his regiment to Corpus Christi. His first 
 battle was at Palo Alto. There was no chance here 
 for the exhibition of either skill or heroism, nor at 
 Resaca de la Palma, his second battle. At the battle 
 of Monterey, his third engagement, it is said that 
 he performed a signal service of daring and skillful 
 horsemanship. His brigade had exhausted its am- 
 munition. A messenger must be sent for more, along 
 a route exposed to the bullets of the foe. Lieut. 
 Grant, adopting an expedient learned of the Indians, 
 grasped the mane of his horse, and hanging upon one 
 
 From Monterey he was sent, with the fourth infantry, 
 to aid Gen. Scott, at the siege of Vera Cruz. In 
 preparation for the march to the city of Mexico, he 
 was appointed quartermaster of his regiment. At the 
 battle of Molino del Rey, he was promoted to a 
 first lieutenancy, and was brevetted captain at Cha- 
 pultepec. 
 
 At the close of the Mexican War, Capt. Grant re- 
 turned with his regiment to New York, and was again 
 sent to one of the military posts on the frontier. The 
 discovery of gold in California causing an immense 
 tide of emigration to flow to the Pacific shores, Capt. 
 Grant was sent with a battalion to Fort Dallas, in 
 Oregon, for the protection of the interests of the im- 
 migrants. Life was wearisome in those wilds. Capt. 
 Grant resigned his commission and returned to the 
 States ; and having married, entered upon the cultiva- 
 tion of a small farm near St. Louis, Mo. He had but 
 little skill as a farmer. Finding his toil not re- 
 munerative, he turned to mercantile life, entering into 
 the leather business, with a younger brother, at Ga- 
 lena, III. This was in the year i860. As the tidings 
 of the rebels firing on Fort Sumpter reached the ears 
 of Capt. Grant in his counting-room, he said, — 
 "Uncle Sam has educated me for the army; though 
 I have served him through one war, I do not feel that 
 I have yet repaid the debt. I am still ready to discharge 
 my obligations. I shall therefore buckle on my sword 
 and see Uncle Sam through this war too." 
 
 He went into the streets, raised a company of vol- 
 unteers, and led them as their captain to Springfield, 
 the capital of the State, where their services were 
 offered to Gov. Yates. The Governor, impressed by 
 the zeal and straightforward executive ability of Capt. 
 Grant, gave him a desk in his office, to assist in the 
 volunteer organization that was being formed in the 
 State in behalf of the Government. On the 15th of 
 
 side of the animal, ran the gauntlet in entire safety 
 
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 UL YSSES S. GRA NT. 
 
 June, 1 86 1, Capt. Grant received a commission as 
 Colonel of the Twenty-first Regiment of Illinois Vol- 
 unteers. His merits as a West Point graduate, who 
 had served for 15 years in the regular army, were such 
 that he was soon promoted to the rank of Brigadier- 
 General and was placed in command at Cairo. The 
 rebels raised their banner at Paducah, near the mouth 
 of the Tennessee River. Scarcely had its folds ap- 
 peared in the breeze ere Gen. Grant was there. The 
 rebels fled. Their banner fell, and the star and 
 stripes were unfurled in its stead. 
 
 He entered the service with great determination 
 and immediately began active duty. This was the be- 
 ginning, and until the surrender of Lee at Richmond 
 he was ever pushing the enemy with great vigor and 
 effectiveness. At Belmont, a few days later, he sur- 
 prised and routed the rebels, then at Fort Henry 
 won another victory. Then came the brilliant fight 
 at Fort Donelson. The nation was electrified by the 
 victory, and the brave leader of the boys in blue was 
 ffi immediately made a Major-General, and the military 
 district of'Tennessee was assigned to him. 
 
 Like all great captains, Gen. Grant knew well how 
 to secure the results of victory. He immediately 
 pushed on to the enemies' lines. Then came the 
 terrible battles of Pittsburg Landing, Corinth, and the 
 (fa siege of Vicksburg, where Gen. Pemberton made an 
 unconditional surrender of the city with over thirty 
 thousand men and one-hundred and seventy-two can- 
 non. The fall of Vicksburg was by far the most 
 severe blow which the rebels had thus far encountered, 
 and opened up the Mississippi from Cairo to the Gulf. 
 Gen. Grant was next ordered to co-operate with 
 Gen. Banks in a movement upon Texas, and pro- 
 ceeded to New Orleans, where he was thrown from 
 his horse, and received severe injuries, from which he 
 was laid up for months. He then rushed to the aid 
 of Gens. Rosecrans and Thomas at Chattanooga, and 
 by a wonderful series of strategic and tactical meas- 
 ures put the Union army in fighting condition. Then 
 followed the bloody battles at Chattanooga, Lookout 
 Mountain and Missionary Ridge, in which the rebels 
 were routed with great loss. This won for him un- 
 bounded praise in the North. On the 4th of Febru- 
 ary, 1864, Congress revived the grade of lieutenant- 
 general, and the rank was conferred on Gen. Grant. 
 (^ He repaired to Washington to receive his credentials 
 ,JLand enter upon the duties of his new office. 
 
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 Gen. Grant decided as soon as he took charge of 
 the army to concentrate the widely-dispersed National 
 troops for an attack upon Richmond, the nominal 
 capital of the Rebellion, and endeavor there to de- 
 stroy the rebel armies which would be promptly as- 
 sembled from all quarters for its defence. The whole 
 continent seemed to tremble under the tramp of these 
 majestic armies, rushing to the decisive battle field. 
 Steamers were crowded with troops. Railway trains 
 were burdened with closely packed thousands. His 
 plans were comprehensive and involved a series of 
 campaigns, which were executed with remarkable en- 
 ergy and ability, and were consummated at the sur- 
 render of Lee, April 9, T865. 
 
 The war was ended. The Union was saved. The 
 almost unanimous voice of the Nation declared Gen. 
 Grant to be the most prominent instrument in its sal- 
 vation. The eminent services he had thus rendered 
 the country brought him conspicuously forward as the 
 Republican candidate for the Presidential chair. 
 
 At the Republican Convention held at Chicago, 
 May zi, 1868, he was unanimously nominated for the 
 Presidency, and at the autumn election received a 
 majority.of the popular vote, and 214 out of 294 
 electoral votes. 
 
 The National Convention of the Republican party 
 which met at Philadelphia on the 5th of June, 1872, 
 placed Gen. Grant in nomination for a second term 
 by a unanimous vote. The selection was emphati- 
 cally indorsed by the people five months later, 292 
 electoral votes being cast for him. 
 
 Soon after the close of his second term, Gen. Grant 
 started upon his famous trip around the world. He 
 visited almost every country of the civilized world, 
 and was everywhere received with such ovations 
 and demonstrations of respect and honor, private 
 as well as public and official, as were never before 
 bestowed upon any citizen of the United States. It 
 is not too much to say that his modest, courteous, and 
 dignified demeanor in the presence of the most dis- 
 tinguished men in the different nations in the world, 
 reflected honor upon the Republic which he so long 
 and so faithfully served. The country felt a great 
 pride in his reception. Upon his arrival in San Fran- 
 cisco, Sept. 20, 1879, the city authorities gave him a 
 fine reception. After lingering in the Golden State 
 for a while, he began his tour through the States, 
 which extended North and South, everywhere mark- 
 ed by great acclamation and splendid ovations 
 
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 NINETEENTH PRESIDENT. 
 
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 UTHERFORD B. HAYES, 
 the nineteenth President of 
 the United States, was bom in 
 Delaware, O., Oct. 4, 1822, al- 
 most three months after the 
 death of his father, Rutherford 
 Hayes. His ancestry on both 
 the paternal and maternal sides, 
 was of the most honorable char- 
 acter. It can be traced, it is said, 
 as far back as 1280, when Hayes and 
 Rutherford were two Scottish chief- 
 tains, fighting side by side with 
 Baliol, William Wallace and Robert 
 Bruce. Both families belonged to the 
 nobility, owned extensive estates, 
 and had a large following. Misfor- 
 tune overtaking the family, George Hayes left Scot- 
 land in 1680, and settled in Windsor, Conn. His son 
 George was born in Windsor, and remained there 
 during his life. Daniel Hayes, son of the latter, mar- 
 lied Sarah Lee, and lived from the time of his mar- 
 riage until his death in Simsbury, Conn. Ezekiel, 
 son of Daniel, was born in 1724, and was a manufac- 
 turer of scythes at Bradford, Conn. Rutherford Hayes, 
 son of Ezekiel and grandfather of President Hayes, was 
 born in New Haven, in August, 1756. He was a farmer, 
 blacksmith and tavern-keeper. He emigrated to 
 Vermont at an unknown date, settling in Brattleboro, 
 where he established a hotel. Here his son Ruth- 
 erford Hayes, the father of President Hayes, was 
 
 born. He was married, in September, 1813, to Sophia 
 Birchard, of Wilmington, Vt., whose ancestors emi- 
 grated thither from Connecticut, they having been 
 among the wealthiest and best famlies of Norwich. 
 Her ancestry on the male side are traced back to 
 1635, to John Birchard, one of the principal founders 
 of Norwich. Both of her grandfathers were soldiers 
 in the Revolutionary War. 
 
 The father of President Hayes was an industrious, 
 frugal and opened-hearted man. He was of a me- 
 chanical turn, and could mend a plow, knit a stock- 
 ing, or do almost anything else that he choose to 
 undertake. He was a member of the Church, active 
 in all the benevolent enterprises of the town, and con- 
 ducted his business on Christian principles. After 
 the close of the war of 181 2, for reasons inexplicable 
 to his neighbors, he resolved to emigrate to Ohio. 
 
 The journey from Vermont to Ohio in that day, 
 when there were no canals, steamers, nor railways, 
 was a very serious affair. A tour of inspection was 
 first made, occupying four months. Mr. Hayes deter- 
 mined to move to Delaware, where the family arrived 
 in 1817. He died July 22, 1822, a victim of malarial 
 fever, less than three months before the birth of the 
 son,of whom we now write. Mrs. Hayes, in her sore be- 
 reavement, found the support she so much needed in 
 her brother Sardis, who had been a member of the 
 household from the day of its departure from Ver- 
 mont, and in an orphan girl whom she had adopted 
 some time before as an act of charity. 
 
 Mrs. Hayes at this period was very weak, and the 
 
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RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 
 
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 subject of this sketch was so feeble at birth that he 
 was not expected to live beyond a month or two at 
 most. As the months went by he grew weaker and 
 weaker, so that the neighbors were in the habit of in- 
 quiring from time to time " if Mrs. Hayes' baby died 
 last night." On one occasion a neighbor, who was on 
 familiar terms with the family, after alluding to the 
 boy's big head, and the mother's assiduous care of 
 him, said in a bantering way, " That's right ! Stick to 
 him. You have got him along so far, and I shouldn't 
 wonder if he would really come to something yet." 
 
 " You need not laugh," said Mrs. Hayes. " You 
 wait and see. You can't tell but I shall make him 
 President of the United States yet." The boy lived, 
 in spite of the universal predictions of his speedy 
 death; and when, in 1825, his older brother was 
 drowned, he became, if possible, still dearer to his 
 mother. < 
 
 The boy was seven years old before he went to 
 school. His education, however, was not neglected. 
 He probably learned as much from his mother and 
 sister as he would have done at school. His sports 
 were almost wholly within doors, his playmates being 
 his sister and her associates. These circumstances 
 tended, no doubt, to foster that gentleness of dispo- 
 sition, and that delicate consideration for the feelings 
 of others, which are marked traits of his character. 
 His uncle Sardis Birchard took the deepest interest 
 in his education ; and as the boy's health had im- 
 proved, and he was making good progress in his 
 studies, he proposed to send him to college. His pre- 
 paration commenced with a tutor at home ; but he 
 was afterwards sent for one year to a professor in the 
 Wesleyan University, in Middletown, Conn. He en- 
 tered Kenyon College in 1838, at the age of sixteen, 
 and was graduated at the head of his class in 1842. 
 Immediately after his graduation he began the 
 study of law in the office of Thomas Sparrow, Esq., 
 in Columbus. Finding his opportunities for study in 
 Columbus somewhat limited, he determined to enter 
 the Law School at Cambridge, Mass., where he re- 
 mained two years. 
 
 In 1845, after graduating at the Law School, he was 
 admitted to the bar at Marietta, Ohio, and shortly 
 afterward went into practice as an attorney-at-law 
 with Ralph P. Buckland, of Fremont. Here he re- 
 mained three years, acquiring but a limited practice, 
 and apparently unambitious of distinction in his pro- 
 fession. 
 
 In T849 he moved to Cincinnati, where his ambi- 
 tion found a new stimulus. For several years, how- 
 ever, his progress was slow. Two events, occurring at 
 this period, had a powerful influence upon his subse- 
 quent life. One of these was his marrage with Miss 
 Lucy Ware Webb, daughter of Dr. James Webb, of 
 Chilicothe ; the other was his introduction to the Cin- 
 cinnati Literary Club, a body embracing among its 
 members such men as Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase 
 
 ^ y q/^ hm 
 
 Gen. John Pope, Gov. Edward F. Noyes, and many 
 others hardly less distinguished in after life. The 
 marriage was a fortunate one in every respect, as 
 everybody knows. Not one of all the wives of our 
 Presidents was more universally admired, reverenced 
 and beloved than was Mrs. Hayes, and no one did 
 more than she to reflect honor upon American woman- 
 hood. The Literary Club brought Mr. Hayes into 
 constant association with young men of high char- 
 acter and noble aims, and lured him to display the 
 qualities so long hidden by his bashfulness and 
 modesty. 
 
 In 1856 he was nominated to the office of Judge of 
 the Court of Common Pleas ; but he declined to ac- 
 cept the nomination. Two years later, the office of 
 city solicitor becoming vacant, the City Council 
 elected him for the unexpired term. 
 
 In 1 861, when the Rebellion broke out, he was at 
 the zenith of his professional life. His rank at the 
 bar was among the the first. But the news of the 
 attack on Fort Sumpter found him eager to take up 
 arms for the defense of his country. 
 
 His military record was bright and illustrious. In 
 October, 1861, he was made Lieutenant-Colonel, and 
 in August, 1862, promoted Colonel of the 79th Ohio 
 regiment, but he refused to leave his old comrades 
 and go among strangers. Subsequently, however, he 
 was made Colonel of his old regiment. At the battle 
 of South Mountain lie received a wound, and while 
 faint and bleeding displayed courage and fortitude 
 that won admiration from all. 
 
 Col. Hayes was detached from his regiment, after 
 his recovery, to act as Brigadier-General, and placed 
 111 command of the celebrated Kanawha division, 
 and for gallant and meritorious services in the battles 
 of Winchester, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek, he was 
 promoted Brigadier-General. He was also brevetted 
 Major-General, "forgallant and distirguished services 
 during the campaigns of 1864, in West Virginia." In 
 the course of his arduous services, four horses were 
 shot from under him, and he was wounded four times. 
 In 1864, Gen. Hayes was elected to Congress, from 
 the Second Ohio District, which had long been Dem- 
 ocratic. He was not present during the campaign, 
 and after his election was importuned to resign his 
 commission in the army ; but he finally declared, " I 
 shall never come to Washington until I can come by 
 the way of Richmond." He was re-elected in r866. 
 
 In 1867, Gen Hayes was elected Governor of Ohio, 
 over Hon. Allen G. Thurman, a popular Democrat. 
 In r869 was re-elected over George H. Pendleton. 
 He was elected Governor for the third term in 1875. 
 In 1876 he was the standard bearer of the Repub- 
 lican Party in the Presidential contest, and after a 
 hard long contest was chosen President, and was in 
 augurated Monday, March 5, 1875. He served his 
 full term, not, hcwever, with satisfaction to his party, 
 but his administration was an average one. 
 
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 TWENTIETH PRESIDENT. 
 
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 AMES A. GARFIELD, twen- 
 tieth President of the United 
 States, was born Nov. ig, 
 1831, in the woods of Orange, 
 Cuyahoga Co., His par- 
 ents were Abram and Eliza 
 (Ballou) Garfield, both of New 
 England ancestry and from fami- 
 lies well known in the early his- 
 tory of that section of our coun- 
 try, but had moved to the Western 
 Reserve, in Ohio, early in its settle- 
 ment. 
 
 The house in which James A. was 
 bom was not unlike the houses of 
 poor Ohio farmers of that day. It 
 was about 20x30 feet, built of logs, with the spaces be- 
 tween the logs filled with clay. His father was a 
 hard working farmer, and he soon had his fields 
 cleared, an orchard planted, and a log bam built. 
 The household comprised the father and mother and 
 their four children — Mehetabel, Thomas, Mary and 
 James. In May, 1823, the father, from a cold con- 
 tracted in helping to put out a forest fire, died. At 
 this time James was about eighteen months old, and 
 Thomas about ten years old. No one, perhaps, can 
 tell how much James was indebted to his biother's 
 toil and self-sacrifice during the twenty years suc- 
 ceeding his father's death, but undoubtedly very 
 much. He now lives in Michigan, and the two sis- 
 ters live in Solon, O., near their birthplace. 
 
 The early educational advantages young Garfield 
 enjoyed were very limited, yet he made the most of 
 them. He labored at farm work for others, did car- 
 penter work, chopped wood, or did anything that 
 would bring in a few dollars to aid his widowed 
 mother in her struggles to keep the little family to- 
 
 gether. Nor was Gen. Garfield ever ashamed of his 
 origin, and he never forgot the friends of his strug- 
 gling childhood, youth and manhood, neither did they 
 ever forget him. When in the highest seats of honor, 
 the humblest friend of his boyhood was as kindly 
 greeted as ever. The poorest laborer was sure of the 
 sympathy of one who had known all the bitterness 
 of want and the sweetness of bread earned by the 
 sweat of the brow. He was ever the simple, plain, 
 modest gentleman. 
 
 The highest ambition of young Garfield until he 
 was about sixteen years old was to be a captain of 
 a vessel on Lake Erie. He was anxious to go aboard 
 a vessel, which his mother strongly opposed. She 
 finally consented to his going to Cleveland, with the 
 understanding, however, that he should try to obtain 
 some other kind of employment. He walked all the 
 way to Cleveland. This was his first visit to the city. 
 After making many applications for work, and trying 
 to get aboard a lake vessel, and not meeting with 
 success, he engaged as a driver for his cousin, Amos 
 Letcher, on the Ohio & Pennsylvania Canal. He re- 
 mained at this work but a short time when he went 
 home, and attended the seminary at Chester for 
 about three years, when he entered Hiram and the 
 Eclectic Institute, teaching a few terms of school in 
 the meantime, and doing other work. This school 
 was started by the Disciples of Christ in 1850, of 
 which church lie was then a member. He became 
 janitor and bell-ringer in order to help pay his way. 
 He then became both teacher and pupil. He soon 
 " exhausted Hiram " and needed more ; hence, in the 
 fall of 1854, he entered Williams College, from which 
 he graduated in 1856, taking one of the highest hon- 
 ors of his class. He afterwards returned to Hiram 
 College as its President. As above stated, he early 
 united with the Christian or Diciples Church at 
 Hiram, and was ever after a devoted, zealous mem- 
 ber, often preaching in its pulpit and places where 
 he happened to be. Dr. Noah Porter, President of 
 Yale College, says of him in reference to his religion : 
 
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 " President Garfield was more than a man of 
 strong moral and religious convictions. His whole 
 history, from boyhood to the last, shows that duty to 
 man and to God, and devotion to Christ and life and 
 faith and spiritual commission were controlling springs 
 of his being, and to a more than usual degree. In 
 my judgment there is no more interesting feature of 
 his character than his loyal allegiance to the body of 
 Christians in which he was trained, and the fervent 
 sympathy which he ever showed in their Christian 
 communion. Not many of the few 'wise and mighty 
 and noble who are called ' show a similar loyalty to 
 the less stately and cultured Christian communions 
 in which they have been reared. Too often it is true 
 that as they step upward in social and political sig- 
 nificance they step upward from one degree to 
 another in some of the many types of fashionable 
 Christianity. President Garfield adhered to the 
 church of his mother, the church in which he was 
 trained, and in which he served as a pillar and an 
 evangelist, and yet with the largest and most unsec- 
 tarian charity for all 'who loveourLord in sincerity.'" 
 Mr. Garfield was united in marriage with Miss 
 Lueretia Rudolph, Nov. n, 1858, who proved herself 
 worthy as the wife of one whom all the world loved and 
 mourned. To them were born seven children, five of 
 whom are still living, four boys and one girl. 
 
 Mr. Garfield made his first political speeches in 1856, 
 in Hiram and the neighboring villages, and three 
 years later he began to speak at county mass-meet- 
 ings, and became the favorite speaker wherever he 
 was. During this year he was elected to the Ohio 
 Senate. He also began to study law at Cleveland, 
 and in i86r was admitted to the bar. The great 
 Rebellion broke out in the early part of this year, 
 and Mr. Garfield at once resolved to fight as he had 
 talked, and enlisted to defend the old flag. He re- 
 ceived his commission as Lieut.-Colonel of the Forty- 
 second Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Aug. 
 14, i86r. He was immediately put into active ser- 
 vice, and before he had ever seen a gun fired in action, 
 was placed in command of four regiments of infantry 
 and eight companies of cavalry, charged with the 
 work of driving out of his native State the officer 
 (Humphrey Marshall) reputed to be the ablest of 
 those, not educated to war whom Kentucky had given 
 to the Rebellion. This work was bravely and speed- 
 ily accomplished, although against great odds. Pres- 
 ident Lincoln, on his success commissioned him 
 Brigadier-General, Jan. to, 1862; and as "he had 
 been the youngest man in the Ohio Senate two years 
 before, so now he was the youngest General in the 
 army." He was with Gen. Buell's army at Shiloh, 
 in its operations around Corinth and its march through 
 Alabama. He was then detailed as a member of the 
 General Court-Martial for the trial of Gen. Fitz-John 
 Porter. He was then ordered to report to Gen. Rose- 
 crans, and was assigned to the " Chief of Staff." 
 
 The military history of Gen. Garfield closed with 
 
 his brilliant services at Chickamauga, where he won 
 the stars 01 the Major-General. 
 
 Without an effort on his part Gen. Garfield was 
 elected to Congress in the fall of 1862 from the 
 Nineteenth District of Ohio. This section of Ohio 
 had been represented in Congress for sixty years 
 mainly by two men — Elisha Whittlesey and Joshua 
 R. Giddings. It was not without a struggle that he 
 resigned his place in the army. At the time he en- 
 tered Congress he was the youngest member in that 
 body. There he remained by successive re- 
 elections until he was elected President in r88o. 
 Of his labors in Congress Senator Hoar says : " Since 
 the year T864 you cannot think of a question which 
 has been debated in Congress, or discussed before a 
 tribunel of the American people, in regard to which 
 you will not find, if you wish instruction, the argu- 
 ment on one side stated, in almost every instance 
 better than by anybody else, in some speech made in 
 the House of Representatives or on the hustings by 
 Mr. Garfield." 
 
 Upon Jan. 14, r88o, Gen. Garfield was elected to 
 the U. S. Senate, and on the eighth of June, of the 
 same year, was nominated as the candidate of his 
 party for President at the great Chicago Convention. 
 He was elected in the following November, and on 
 March 4, r88i, was inaugurated. Probably no ad- 
 ministration ever opened its existence under brighter 
 auspices than that of President Garfield, and every 
 day it grew in favor with the people, and by the first 
 of July he had completed all the initiatory and pre- 
 liminary work of his administration and was prepar- 
 ing to leave the city to meet his friends at Williams 
 College. While on his way and at the depot, in com- 
 pany with Secretary Blaine, a man stepped behind 
 him, drew a revolver, and fired directly at his back. 
 The President tottered and fell, and as he did so the 
 assassin fired a second shot, the bullet cutting the 
 left coat sleeve of his victim, but inflicting no further 
 injury. It has been very truthfully said that this was 
 " the shot that was heard round the world " Never 
 before in the history of the Nation had anything oc- 
 curred which so nearly froze the blood of the people 
 for the moment, as this awful deed. He was smit- 
 ten on the brightest, gladdest day of all his life, and 
 was at the summit of his power and hope. For eighty 
 days, all during the hot months of July and August, 
 he lingered and suffered. He, however, remained 
 master of himself till the last, and by his magnificent 
 bearing was teaching the country and the world the 
 noblest of human lessons — how to live grandly in the 
 very clutch of death. Great in life, he was surpass- 
 ingly great in death. He passed serenely away Sept. 
 19, 1883, at Elheron, N. J , on the very bank of the 
 ocean, where he had been taken shortly previous. The 
 world wept at his death, as it never had done on the 
 death of any other man who had ever lived upon it. 
 The murderer was duly tried, found guilty and exe- 
 cuted, in one year after he committed the foul deed. 
 
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 T WEN T Y- F/RS T PRESIDENT. 
 
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 HESTER A. ARTHUR, 
 
 twenty-first President of the 
 
 United States, was born in 
 
 F ranklin County, Vermont, on 
 
 the fifthof October, 1830, arid is 
 
 the oldest* of a family of two 
 
 sons and five daughters. His 
 
 father was the Rev. Dr. William 
 
 Arthur, a Baptist clergyman, who 
 
 emigrated to this country from 
 
 the county Antrim, Ireland, in 
 
 his 18th year, and died in 1875, in 
 
 Newtonville, near Albany, after a 
 
 long and successful ministry. 
 
 "Young Arthur was educated at 
 Union College, Schenectady, where 
 he excelled in all his studies. Af- 
 ter his graduation he taught school 
 in Vermont for two years, and at 
 the expiration of that time came to 
 New York, with $500 in his pocket, 
 and entered the office of ex- Judge 
 E. D. Culver as student. After 
 being admitted to the bar he formed 
 a partnership with his intimate friend and room-mate, 
 Henry D. Gardiner, with the intention of practicing 
 in the West, and for three months they roamed about 
 in the Western States in search of an eligible site, 
 but in the end returned to New York, where they 
 hung out their shingle, and entered upon a success- 
 ful career almost from the start. General Arthur 
 soon afterward married the daughter of Lieutenant 
 
 Herndon, of the United States Navy, who was lost at 
 sea. Congress voted a gold medal to his widow in 
 recognition of the bravery he displayed on that occa- 
 sion. Mrs. Arthur died shortly before Mr. Arthur's 
 nomination to the Vice Presidency, leaving two 
 children. 
 
 Gen. Arthur obtained considerable legal celebrity 
 in his first great case, the famous Lemmon suit, 
 brought to recover possession of eight slaves who had 
 been declared free by Judge Paine, of the Superior 
 Court of New York City. It was in 1852 that Jon. 
 athan Lemmon, of Virginia, went to New York with 
 his slaves, intending to ship them to Texas, when 
 they were discovered and freed. The Judge decided 
 that they could not be held by the owner under the 
 Fugitive Slave Law. A howl of rage went up from 
 the South, and the Virginia Legislature authorized the 
 Attorney General of that State to assist in an appeal. 
 Wm. M. Evarts and Chester A. Arthur were employed 
 to represent the People, and they won their case, 
 which then went to the Supreme Court of the United 
 States. Charles O'Conor here espoused the cause 
 of the slave-holders, but he too was beaten by Messrs 
 Evarts and Arthur, and a long step was taken toward 
 the emancipation of the black race. 
 
 Another great service was rendered by General 
 Arthur in the same cause in 1856. Lizzie Jennings, 
 a respectable colored woman, was put off a Fourth 
 Avenue car with violence after she had paid her fare. 
 General Arthur sued on her behalf, and secured a 
 verdict of $500 damages. The next day the compa- 
 ny issued an order to admit colored persons to ride 
 on their cars, and the other car companies quickly 
 
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 followed their example. Before that the Sixth Ave- 
 nue Company ran a few special cars for colored per- 
 sons and the other lines refused to let them ride at all. 
 
 General Arthur was a delegate to the Convention 
 at Saratoga that founded the Republican party. 
 Previous to the war he was Judge-Advocate of the 
 Second Brigade of the State of New York, and Gov- 
 ernor Morgan, of that State, appointed him Engineer- 
 in-Chief of his staff. In 1861, he was made Inspec- 
 tor General, and soon afterward became Quartermas- 
 ter-General. In each of these offices he rendered 
 great service to the Government during the war. At 
 the end of Governor Morgan's term he resumed the 
 practice of the law, forming a partnership with Mr. 
 Ransom, and then Mr. Phelps, the District Attorney 
 of New York, was added to the firm. The legal prac- 
 tice of this well-known firm was very large and lucra- 
 tive, each of the gentlemen composing it were able 
 lawyers, and possessed a splendid local reputation, if 
 not indeed one of national extent. 
 
 He always took a leading part in State and city 
 politics. He was appointed Collector of the Port of 
 New York by President Grant, Nov. 21 r872, to suc- 
 ceed Thomas Murphy, and held the office until July, 
 20, T878, when he was succeeded by Collector Merritt. 
 
 Mr. Arthur was nominated on the Presidential 
 ticket, with Gen. James A. Garfield, at the famous 
 National Republican Convention held at Chicago in 
 June, 1880. This was perhaps the greatest political 
 convention that ever assembled on the continent. It 
 was composed of the leading politicians of the Re- 
 publican party, all able men, and each stood firm and 
 fought vigorously and with signal tenacity for their 
 respective candidates that were before the conven- 
 tion for the nomination. Finally Gen. Garfield re- 
 ceived the nomination for President and Gen. Arthur 
 for Vice-President. The campaign which followed 
 was one of the most animated known in the history of 
 our country. Gen. Hancock, the standard-bearer of 
 the Democratic party, was a popular man, and his 
 party made a valiant fight for his election. 
 
 Finally the election came and the country's choice 
 was Garfield and Arthur. They were inaugurated 
 March 4, r88i, as President and Vice-President. 
 A few months only had passed ere the newly chosen 
 President was the victim of the assassin's bullet. Then 
 came terrible weeks of suffering, — those moments of 
 anxious suspense, when the hearts of all civilized na- 
 
 tions were throbbing in unison, longing for the re- 
 covery of the noble, the good President. The remark- 
 able patience that he manifested during those hours 
 and weeks, and even months, of the most terrible suf- 
 fering man has often been called upon to endure, was 
 seemingly more than human. It was certainly God- 
 like. During all this period of deepest anxiety Mr. 
 Arthur's every move was watched, and be it said to his 
 credit that his every action displayed only an earnest 
 desire that the suffering Garfield might recover, to 
 serve the remainder of the term he had so auspi- 
 ciously begun. Not a selfish feeling was manifested 
 in deed or look of this man, even though the most 
 honored position in the world was at any moment 
 likely to fall to him. 
 
 At last God in his mercy relieved President Gar- 
 field from further suffering, and the world, as never 
 before in its history over the death of any other 
 man, wept at his bier. Then it became the duty of 
 the Vice President to assume the responsibilities of 
 the high office, and he took the oath in New York, 
 Sept. 20, 1881. The position was an embarrassing 
 one to him, made doubly so from the facts that all 
 eyes were on him, anxious to know what he would do, 
 what policy he would pursue, and who he would se- 
 lect as advisers. The duties of the office had been 
 greatly neglected during the President's long illness, 
 and many important measures were to be immediately 
 decided by him ; and still farther to embarrass him he 
 did not fail to realize under what circumstances he 
 became President, and knew the feelings of many on 
 this point. Under these frying circumstances President 
 Arthur took the reins of the Government in his own 
 hands ; and, as embarrassing as were the condition of 
 affairs, he happily surprised the nation, acting so 
 wisely that but few criticised his administration. 
 He served the nation well and faithfully, until the 
 close of his administration, March 4, 1885, and was 
 a popular candidate before his party for a second 
 term. His name was ably presented before the con- 
 vention at Chicago, and was received with great 
 favor, and doubtless but for the personal popularity 
 of one of the opposing candidates, he would have 
 been selected as the standard-bearer of his party 
 for another campaign. He retired to private life car- 
 rying with him the best wishes of the American peo- 
 ple, whom he had served in a manner satisfactory 
 to them and with credit to himself. 
 
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 TEPHEN GROVER CLEVE- 
 LAND, the twenty- second Pres- 
 ident of the United States, was 
 born in 1837, in the obscure 
 town of Caldwell, Essex Co., 
 N. J., and in a little two-and-a- 
 half-story white house which is still 
 standing, characteristically to mark 
 the humble birth-place of one of 
 America's great men in striking con - 
 trast with the Old World, where all 
 men high in office must be high in 
 origin and born in the cradle of 
 wealth. When the subject of this 
 sketch was three years of age, his 
 father, who was a Presbyterian min- 
 ister, with a large family and a small salary, moved, 
 by way of the Hudson River and Erie Canal, to 
 Fayetteville, in search of an increased income and a 
 larger field of work. Fayetteville was then the most 
 straggling of country villages, about five miles from 
 Pompey Sill, where Governor Seymour was born. 
 
 At the last mentioned place young Grover com- 
 menced going to school in the " good, old-fashioned 
 way," and presumably distinguished himself after the 
 manner of all village boys, in doing the things he 
 ought not to do. Such is the distinguishing trait of 
 all geniuses and independent thinkers. When he 
 arrived at the age of 14 years, he had outgrown the 
 capacity of the village school and expressed a most 
 
 emphatic desire to be sent to an academy. To this 
 his father decidedly objected. Academies in those 
 days cost money; besides, his father wanted him to 
 become self-supporting by the quickest possible 
 means, and this at that time in Fayetteville seemed 
 to be a position in a country store, where his father 
 and the large family on his hands had considerable 
 influence. Grover was to be paid $50 for his services 
 the first year, and if he proved trustworthy he was to 
 receive $100 the second year. Here the lad com- 
 menced his career as salesman, and in two years he 
 had earned so good a reputation for trustworthiness 
 that his employers desired to retain him for an in- 
 definite length of time. Otherwise he did not ex- 
 hibit as yet any particular " flashes of genius " or 
 eccentricities of talent. He was simply a good boy. 
 But instead of remaining with this firm in Fayette- 
 ville, he went with the family in their removal to 
 Clinton, where he had an opportunity of attending a 
 high school. Here he industriously pursued his 
 studies until the family removed with him to a point 
 on Black River known as the " Holland Patent," a 
 village of 500 or 600 people, 15 miles north of Utica, 
 N. Y. At this place his father died, after preaching 
 but three Sundays. This event broke up the family, 
 and Grover set out for New York City to accept, at a 
 small salary, the position of '' under-teacher " in an 
 asylum for the blind. He taught faithfully for two 
 years, and although he obtained a good reputation in 
 this capacity, he concluded that teaching was not his 
 
 
 
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 S. GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
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 calling for life, and, reversing the traditional order, 
 he left the city to seek his fortune, instead of going 
 to a city. He first thought of Cleveland, Ohio, as 
 there was some charm in that name for him; but 
 before proceeding to that place he went to Buffalo to 
 ask the advice of his uncle, Lewis F. Allan, a noted 
 stock-breeder of that place. The latter did not 
 speak enthusiastically. " What is it you want to do, 
 my boy ? " he asked. " Well, sir, I want to study 
 law," was the reply. " Good gracious ! " remarked 
 the old gentleman ; " do you, indeed ? What ever put 
 that into your head? How much money have you 
 got?" "Well, sir, to tell the truth, I haven't got 
 any. 
 
 After a long consultation, his uncle offered him a 
 place temporarily as assistant herd-keeper, at $50 a 
 year, while he could "look around." One day soon 
 afterward he boldly walked into the office of Rogers, 
 Bowen & Rogers, of Buffalo, and told them what he 
 wanted. A number of young men were already en- 
 gaged in the office, but Grover's persistency won, and 
 he was finally permitted to come as an office boy and 
 have the use of the law library, for the nominal -sum 
 of $3 or $4 a week. Out of this he had to pay for 
 his board and washing. The walk to and from his 
 uncle's was a long and rugged one ; and, although 
 the first winter was a memorably severe one, his 
 shoes were out of repair and his overcoat — he had 
 none — yet he was nevertheless prompt and regular. 
 On the first day of his service here, his senior em- 
 ployer threw down a copy of Blackstone before him 
 with a bang that made the dust fly, saying "That's 
 where they all begin." A titter ran around the little 
 circle of clerks and students, as they thought that 
 was enough to scare young Grover out of his plans ; 
 but in due time he mastered that cumbersome volume. 
 Then, as ever afterward, however, Mr. Cleveland 
 exhibited a talent for executiveness rather than few- 
 chasing principles through all their metaphysical 
 possibilities. " Let us quit talking and go and do 
 it," was practically his motto. 
 
 The first public office to which Mr. Cleveland was 
 elected was that of Sheriff of Erie Co., N. Y., in 
 which Buffalo is situated; and in such capacity it fell 
 to his duty to inflict capital punishment upon two 
 criminals. In 1881 he was elected Mayor of the 
 City of Buffalo, on the Democratic ticket, with es- 
 pecial reference to the bringing about certain reforms 
 
 in the administration of the municipal affairs of that 
 city. In this office, as well as that of Sheriff, his 
 performance of duty has generally been considered 
 fair, with possibly a few exceptions which were fer- 
 reted out and magnified during the last Presidential 
 campaign. As a specimen of his plain language in 
 a veto message, we quote from one vetoing an iniqui- 
 tous street-cleaning contract: "This is a. time for 
 plain speech, and my objection to your action shall 
 be plainly stated. I regard it as the culmination of 
 a most bare-faced, impudent and shameless scheme 
 to betray the interests of the people and to worse 
 than squander the people's money." The New York 
 Sun afterward very highly commended Mr. Cleve- 
 land's administration as Mayor of Buffalo, and there- 
 upon recommended him for Governor of the Empire 
 State. To the latter office he was elected in 1882, 
 and his administration of the affairs of State was 
 generally satisfactory. The mistakes he made, if 
 any, were made very public throughout the nation 
 after he was nominated for President of the United 
 States. For this high office he was nominated July 
 n, 1884, by the National Democratic Convention at 
 Chicago, when other competitors were Thomas F. 
 Bayard, Roswell P. Flower, Thomas A. Hendricks, 
 Benjamin F. Butler, Allen G. Thurman, etc.; and he 
 was elected by the people, by a majority of about a 
 thousand, over the brilliant and long-tried Repub- 
 lican statesman, James G. Blaine. President Cleve- 
 land resigned his office as Governor of New York in 
 January, 1885, in order to prepare for .his duties as 
 the Chief Executive of the United States, in which 
 capacity his term commenced at noon on the 4th of 
 March, 1885. For his Cabinet officers he selected 
 the following gentlemen: For Secretary of State, 
 Thomas F. Bayard, of Delaware ; Secretary of the 
 Treasury, Daniel Manning, of New York ; Secretary 
 of War, William C. Endicott, of Massachusetts ; 
 Secretary of the Navy, William C. Whitney, of New 
 York ; Secretary of the Interior, L. Q. C. Lamar, of 
 Mississippi; Postmaster-General, William F. Vilas, 
 of Wisconsin ; Attorney-General, A. H. Garland, of 
 Arkansas. 
 
 The silver question precipitated a controversy be- 
 tween those who were in favor of the continuance of 
 silver coinage and those who were opposed, Mr. 
 Cleveland answering for the latter, even before his 
 inauguration, 
 
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 HADRACH BOND, the first 
 Governor of Illinois after its 
 organization as a State, serving 
 from 1818 to 1822, was born in 
 Frederick County, Maryland, 
 in the year 1773, and was 
 raised a farmer on his father's 
 plantation, receiving only a plain 
 English education. He emigrated 
 to this State in 1794, when it was a 
 part of the "Northwest Territory," 
 continuing in the vocation in which 
 he had been brought up in his native 
 State, in the " New Design," near 
 Eagle Creek, in what is now Monroe 
 County. He served several terms as 
 a member of the General Assembly 
 of Indiana Territory, after it was organized as such, 
 and in 1812-14 he was a Delegate to the Twelfth 
 and Thirteenth Congresses, taking his seat Dec. 3, 
 1812, and serving until Oct. 3, 1814. These were 
 the times, the reader will recollect, when this Gov- 
 ernment had its last struggle with Great Britain. 
 The year 1812 is also noted in the history of this 
 State as that in which the first Territorial Legislature 
 was held. It convened at Kaskaskia, Nov. 25, and 
 adjourned Dec. 26, following. 
 
 While serving as Delegate to Congress, Mr. Bond 
 was instrumental in procuring the right of pre-emp- 
 tion on the public domain. On the expiration of his 
 term at Washington he was appointed Receiver of 
 Public Moneys at Kaskaskia, then the capital of the 
 Territory. In company with John G. Comyges, 
 
 Thomas H. Harris, Charles Slade, Michael Jones, 
 Warren Brown, Edward Humphries and Charles W. 
 Hunter, he became a proprietor of the site of the 
 initial city of Cairo, which they hoped, from its favor- 
 able location at the junction of the two great 
 rivers near the center of the Great West, would 
 rapidly develop into a metropolis. To aid the enter- 
 prise, they obtained a special charter from the Legis- 
 lature, incorporating both the City and the Bank of 
 Cairo. 
 
 In i8r8 Mr. Bond was elected the first Governor 
 of the State of Illinois, being inaugurated Oct. 6, 
 that year, which was several weeks before Illinois 
 was actually admitted. The facts are these: In 
 January, 1818, the Territorial Legislature sent a peti- 
 tion to Congress for the admission of Illinois as a 
 State, Nathaniel Pope being then Delegate. The 
 petition was granted, fixing the northern line of the 
 State on the latitude of the southern extremity of 
 Lake Michigan ; but the bill was afterward so amend- 
 ed as to extend this line to its present latitude. In 
 July a convention was called at Kaskaskia to draft a 
 constitution, which, however, was not submitted to 
 the people. By its provisions, supreme judges, pros- 
 ecuting attorneys, county and circuit judges, record- 
 ers and justices of the peace were all to be appointed 
 by the Governor or elected by the Legislature. This 
 constitution was accepted by Congress Dec. 30. At 
 that time Illinois comprised but eleven counties, 
 namely, Randolph, Madison, Gallatin, Johnson, 
 Pope, Jackson, Crawford, Bond, Union, Washington 
 and Franklin, the northern portion of the State be- 
 ing mainly in Madison County. Thus it appears 
 that Mr, Bond was honored by the naming of -a, 
 
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 SHADRACH BOND. 
 
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 county before he was elected Governor. The present 
 county of Bond is of small limitations, about 60 to 80 
 miles south of Springfield. For Lieutenant Governor 
 the people chose Pierre Menard, a prominent and 
 worthy Frenchman, after whom a county in this State 
 is named. In this election there were no opposition 
 candidates, as the popularity of these men had made 
 their promotion to the chief offices of the Slate, even 
 before the constitution was drafted, a foregone con- 
 clusion. 
 
 The principal points that excited the people in 
 reference to political issues at this period were local 
 or "internal improvements," as they were called, 
 State banks, location of the capital, slavery and the 
 personal characteristics of the proposed candidates. 
 Mr. Bond represented the " Convention party," for 
 introducing slavery into the State, supported by Elias 
 Kent Kane, his Secretary of State, and John Mc- 
 Lean, while Nathaniel Pope and John P. Cook led 
 the anti-slavery element. The people, however, did 
 not become very much excited over this issue until 
 1820, when the famous Missouri Compromise was 
 adopted by Congress, limiting slavery to the south 
 of the parallel of 36° 30' except in Missouri. While 
 this measure settled the great slavery controversy, 
 so far as the average public sentiment was tempor- 
 arily concerned, until 1854, when it was repealed 
 under the leadership of Stephen A. Douglas, the issue 
 as considered locally in this State was not decided 
 until 1824, after a most furious campaign. (See 
 sketch of Gov. Coles.) The ticket of 181 8 was a 
 compromise one, Bond representing (moderately) the 
 pro-slavery sentiment and Menard the' anti-slavery. 
 An awkward element in the State government 
 under Gov. Bond's administration, was the imperfec- 
 tion of the State constitution. The Convention 
 wished to have Elijah C. Berry for the first Auditor 
 of Public Accounts, but, as it was believed that the 
 new Governor would not appoint him to the office, 
 the Convention declared in a schedule that "an 
 auditor of public accounts, an attorney general and 
 such other officers of the State as may be necessary, 
 may be appointed by the General Assembly." The 
 Constitution, as it stood, vested a very large appoint- 
 ing power in the Governor ; but for the purpose of 
 getting one man into office, a total change was made, 
 and the power vested in the Legislature. Of this 
 provision the Legislature took advantage, and de- 
 
 
 clared that State's attorneys, canal commissioners, 
 bank directors, etc., were all " officers of the State " 
 and must therefore be appointed by itself independ- 
 ently of the Governor. 
 
 During Gov. Bond's administration a general law 
 was passed for the incorporation of academies and 
 towns, and one authorizing lotteries. The session of 
 1822 authorized the Governor to appoint commis- 
 sioners, to act in conjunction with like commissioners 
 appointed by the State of Indiana, to report on the 
 practicability and expediency of improving the navi- 
 gation of the Wabash River; also inland navigation 
 generally. Many improvements were recommended, 
 some of which have been feebly worked at even till 
 the present day, those along the Wabash being of no 
 value. Also, during Gov. Bond's term of office, the 
 capital of the State was removed from Kaskaskia to 
 Vandalia. In 1820 a law was passed by Congress 
 authorizing this State to open a canal through the 
 public lands. The State appointed commissioners 
 lo explore the route and prepare the necessary sur- 
 veys and estimates, preparatory to its execution; 
 but, being unable out of its own resources to defray 
 the expenses of the undertaking, it was abandoned xd? 
 until some time after Congress made the grant of 
 land for the purpose of its construction. 
 
 On the whole, Gov. Bond's administration was 
 fairly good, not being open to severe criticism from 
 any party. In 1824, two years after the expiration 
 of his term of office, he was brought out as a candi- 
 date for Congress against the formidable John P. 
 Cook, but received only 4,374 votes to 7,460 for the 
 latter. Gov. Bond was no orator, but had made 
 many fast friends by a judicious bestowment of his 
 gubernatorial patronage, and these worked zealously 
 for him in the campaign. 
 
 In 1827 ex-Gov. Bond was appointed by the Leg- 
 islature, with Wm. P. McKee and Dr. Gershom 
 Jayne, as Commissioners to locate a site for a peni- 
 tentiary on the Mississippi at or near Alton. 
 
 Mr. Bond was of a benevolent and convivial dis- 
 position, a man of shrewd observation and clear ap- y 
 preciation of events. His person was erect, stand- 
 ing six feet in height, and after middle life became 
 portly, weighing 200 pounds. His features were 
 strongly masculine, complexion dark, hair jet and 
 eyes hazel ; was a favorite with the ladies. He died 
 April ir, r83o, in peace and contentment. 
 
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 GO VERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 
 
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 DWARD COLES, second 
 Governor of Illinois, 1823- 
 6, was born Dec. 15, 1786, 
 in Albemarle Co., Va., on 
 the old family estate called 
 "Enniscorthy," on the 
 Green Mountain. His fath- 
 er, John Coles, was a Colonel in the 
 Revolutionary War. Having been fit- 
 ted for college by private tutors, he 
 was sent to Hampden Sidney, where 
 he remained until the autumn of 1805, 
 when he was removed to William and 
 Mary College, at Williamsburg, Va. 
 This college he left in the summer of 
 1807, a short time before the final and graduating 
 examination. Among his classmates were Lieut. 
 Gen. Scott, President John Tyler, Wm. S. Archer, 
 United States Senator from Virginia, and Justice 
 Baldwin, of the United States Supreme Court. The 
 President of the latter college, Bishop Madison, was 
 a cousin of President James Madison, and that cir- 
 cumstance was the occasion of Mr. Coles becoming 
 personally acquainted with the President and re- 
 ceiving a position as his private secretary, 1809-15. 
 The family of Coles was a prominent one in Vir- 
 ginia, and their mansion was the seat of the old- 
 fashioned Virginian hospitality. It was visited by 
 such notables as Patrick Henry, Jefferson, Madison, 
 Monroe, the Randolphs, Tazewell, Wirt, etc. At the 
 age of 23, young Coles found himself heir to a plant- 
 ation and a considerable number of slaves. Ever 
 since his earlier college days his attention had been 
 drawn to the question of slavery. He read every- 
 
 thing on the subject that came in his way, and 
 listened to lectures on the rights of man. The more 
 he reflected upon the subject, the more impossible 
 was it for him to reconcile the immortal declaration 
 "that all men are born free and equal " with the 
 practice of slave-holding. He resolved, therefore, to 
 free his slaves the first opportunity, and even remove 
 his residence to a free State. One reason which der 
 termined him to accept the appointment as private 
 secretary to Mr. Madison was because he believed 
 that through the acquaintances he could make at 
 Washington he could better determine in what part 
 of the non-slaveholding portion of the Union he would 
 prefer to settle. 
 
 The relations between Mr. Coles and President 
 Madison, as well as Jefferson and other distinguished 
 men, were of a very friendly character, arising from 
 the similarity of their views on the question of slavery 
 and their sympathy for each other in holding doc- 
 trines so much at variance with the prevailing senti- 
 ment in their own State. 
 
 In 1857, he resigned his secretaryship and spent a 
 portion of the following autumn in exploring the 
 Northwest Territory, for the purpose of finding a lo- 
 cation and purchasing lands on which to settle his 
 negroes. He traveled with a horse and buggy, with 
 an extra man and horse for emergencies, through 
 many parts of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, 
 determining finally to settle in Illinois. At this time, 
 however, a misunderstanding arose between our 
 Government and Russia, and Mr. Coles was selected 
 to repair to St. Petersburg on a special mission, bear- 
 ing important papers concerning the matter at issue. 
 The result was a conviction of the Emperor (Alex- 
 
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 116. 
 
 EDWARD COLES. 
 
 ander) of the error committed by his minister at 
 Washington, and the consequent withdrawal of the 
 the latter from the post. On his return, Mr. Coles 
 visited other parts of Europe, especially Paris, where 
 he was introduced to Gen. Lafayette. 
 
 In the spring of 1819, he removed with all his 
 negroes from Virginia to Edwardsville, 111., with the 
 intention of giving them their liberty. He did not 
 make known to them his intention until one beautiful 
 morning in April, as they were descending the Ohio 
 River.- He lashed all the boats together and called 
 all the negroes on deck and made them a short ad- 
 dress, concluding his remarks by so expressing him- 
 self that by a turn of a sentence he proclaimed in 
 the shortest and fullest manner that they were no 
 longer slaves, but free as he was and were at liberty 
 to proceed with him or go ashore at their pleas- 
 ure. A description of the effect upon the negroes is 
 best desciibed in his own language : 
 
 " The effect upon them was electrical. They stared 
 at me and then at each other, as if doubting the ac- 
 curacy or reality of what they heard. In breathless 
 /+> silence they stood before me, unable to utter a word, 
 \ but with countenances beaming with expression which 
 > no words could convey, and which no language 
 ^Qs can describe. As they began to see the truth of 
 i=i what they had heard, and realize their situation, there 
 5? came on a kind of hysterical, giggling laugh. After 
 *a; a pause of intense and unutterable emotion, bathed 
 rat in tears, and with tremulous voices, they gave vent to 
 \£b their gratitude and implored the blessing of God 
 
 ^ on me." 
 C n Before landing he gave them a general certificate 
 
 of freedom, and afterward conformed more particu- 
 larly with the law of this State requiring that each 
 individual should have a certificate. This act of 
 Mr. Coles, all the more noble and heroic considering 
 the overwhelming pro-slavery influences surrounding 
 him, has challenged the admiration of every philan- 
 thropist of modern times. 
 
 March 5, 1819, President Monroe appointed Mr. 
 Coles Registrar of the Land Office at Edwardsville, 
 at that time one of the principal land offices in the 
 State. While acting in this, capacity and gaining 
 many friends by his politeness and general intelli- 
 gence, the greatest struggle that ever occurred in 
 Illinois on the slavery question culminated in the 
 furious contest characterizing the campaigns and 
 elections of 1822-4. I n tne summer of 1823, when a 
 new Governor was to be elected to succeed Mr. 
 Bond, the pro-slavery element divided into factions, 
 putting forward for the executive office Joseph 
 Phillips, Chief Justice of the State, Thomas C. 
 Browne and Gen. James B. Moore, of the State Mil- 
 itia. The anti-slavery element united upon Mr. 
 Coles, and, after one of the most bitter campaigns, 
 succeeded in electing him as Governor. His plural- 
 ity over Judge Phillips was only 59 in a total vote of 
 
 over 8,000. The Lieutenant Governor was elected 
 by the slavery men. Mr. Coles' inauguration speech 
 was marked by calmness, deliberation and such a 
 wise expression of appropriate suggestions as to 
 elicit the sanction of all judicious politicians. But 
 he compromised not with evil. In his message to 
 the Legislature, the seat of Government being then 
 at Vandalia, he strongly urged the abrogation of the 
 modified form of slavery which then existed in this 
 State, contrary to the Ordinance of 1787. His posi- 
 tion on this subject seems the more remarkable, when 
 it is considered that he was a minority Goverrjor, the 
 population of Illinois being at that time almost ex- 
 clusively from slave-holding States and by a large 
 majority in favor of the perpetuation of that old relic 
 of barbarism. The Legislature itself was, of course, 
 a reflex of the popular sentiment, and a majority of 
 them were led on by fiery men in denunciations of 
 the conscientious Governor, and in curses loud and 
 deep upon him and all his friends. Some of the 
 public men, indeed, went so far as to head a sort of 
 mob, or " shiveree " party, who visited the residence 
 of the Governor and others at Vandalia and yelled 
 and groaned and spat fire. 
 
 The Constitution, not establishing or permitting 
 slavery in this State, was thought therefore to be 
 defective by the slavery politicians, and they desired 
 a State Convention to be elected, to devise and sub- 
 mit a new Constitution; and the dominant politics 
 of the day was " Convention " and " anti-Conven- 
 tion." Both parties issued addresses to the people, 
 Gov. Coles himself being the author of the address 
 published by the latter party. This address revealed 
 the schemes of the conspirators in a masterly man- 
 ner. It is difficult for us at this distant day to esti- 
 mate the critical and extremely delicate situation in 
 which the Governor was placed at that time. 
 
 Our hero maintained himself honorably and with 
 supreme dignity throughout his administration, and 
 in his honor a county in this State is named. He 
 was truly a great man, and those who lived in 
 this State during his sojourn here, like those who 
 live at the base of the mountain, were too near to see 
 and recognize the greatness that overshadowed them. 
 
 Mr. Coles was married Nov. 28, 1833, by Bishop 
 De Lancey, to Miss Sally Logan Roberts, a daughter 
 of Hugh Roberts, a descendant of Welsh ancestry, 
 who came to this country with Wm. Penn in 1682. 
 
 After the expiration of his term of service, Gov. 
 Coles continued his residence in Edwardsville, sup- 
 erintending his farm in the vicinity. He was fond 
 of agriculture, and was the founder of the first agri- 
 cultural society in the State. On account of ill 
 health, however, and having no family to tie him 
 down, he spent much of his time in Eastern cities. 
 About 1832 he changed his residence to Philadel- 
 phia, where he died July 7, 1868, and is buried at. 
 Woodland, near that city. 
 
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 INIAN EDWARDS, Governor 
 from 1827 to 1830, was a son 
 of Benjamin Edwards, and 
 was born in Montgomery 
 County, Maryland, in March, 
 1775. His domestic train- 
 ing was well fitted to give 
 his mind strength, firmness and 
 honorable principles, and a good 
 foundation was laid for the elevated 
 character to which he afterwards 
 attained. His parents were Bap- 
 tists, and very strict in their moral 
 principles. His education in early 
 youth was in company with and 
 partly under the tuition of Hon. Wm. 
 Wirt, whom his father patronized 
 and who was more than two years 
 older. An intimacy was thus 
 formed between them which was lasting for life. He 
 was further educated at Dickinson College, at Car- 
 lisle, Pa. He next commenced the study of law, but 
 before completing his course he moved to Nelson 
 County, Ky., to open a farm for his father and to 
 purchase homes and locate lands for his brothers and 
 sisters. Here he fell in the company of dissolute 
 companions, and for several years led the life of a 
 spendthrift. He was, however, elected to the Legis- 
 lature of Kentucky as the Representative of Nelson 
 County before he was 2 1 years of age, and was re- 
 elected by an almost unanimous vote. 
 
 
 
 In 1798 he was licensed to practice law, and the 
 following year was admitted to the Courts of Tennes- 
 see. About this time he left Nelson County for 
 Russellville, in Logan County, broke away from his 
 dissolute companions, commenced a reformation and 
 devoted himself to severe and laborious study. He 
 then began to rise rapidly in his profession, and soon 
 became an eminent lawyer, and inside of four years 
 he filled in succession the offices of Presiding Judge 
 of the General Court, Circuit Judge, fourth Judge of 
 the Court of Appeals and Chief Justice of the State, 
 — all before he was 32 years of age ! In addition, in 
 r8o2, he received a commission as Major of a battal- 
 ion of Kentucky militia, and in 1 804 was chosen a 
 Presidential Elector, on the Jefferson and Clinton 
 ticket. In 1806 he was a candidate for Congress, 
 but withdrew on being promoted to the Court of 
 Appeals. 
 
 Illinois was organized as a separate Territory in 
 the spring of 1809, when Mr. Edwards, then Chief 
 Justice of the Court of Appeals in Kentucky, received 
 from President Madison the appointment as Gover- 
 nor of the new Territory, his commission bearing date 
 April 24, r8o9. Edwards arrived at Kaskaskia in 
 June, and on the 1 ith of that month took the oath of 
 office. At the same time he was appointed Superin 
 tendent of the United States Saline, this Government ! ! 
 interest then developing into considerable proportions » - 
 in Southern Illinois. Although during the first three fr "j 
 years of his administration he had the power to make \ 
 new counties and appoint all the officers, yet he always (9) 
 allowed the people of each county, by an informal ^ 
 
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 NINIAN ED WARDS. 
 
 
 
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 vote, to select their own officers, both civil and mili- 
 tary. The noted John J. Crittenden, afterward 
 United States Senator from Kentucky, was appointed 
 by Gev. Edwards to the office of Attorney General of 
 the Territory, which office was accepted for a short 
 time only. 
 
 The Indians in 1810 committing sundry depreda- 
 tions in the Territory, crossing the Mississippi from 
 the Territory of Louisiana, a long correspondence fol- 
 lowed between the respective Governors concerning 
 the remedies, which ended in a council with the sav- 
 ages at Peoria in 1812, and a fresh interpretation of 
 the treaties. Peoria was depopulated by these de- 
 predations, and was not re-settled for many .years 
 afterward. 
 
 As Gov. Edwards' term of office expired by law in 
 1812, he was re-appointed for another term of three 
 years, and again in i8r5 for a third term, serving 
 until the organization of the State in the fall of 1818 
 and the inauguration of Gov. Bond. At this time 
 ex-Gov. Edwards was sent to the United States 
 Senate, his colleague being Jesse B. Thomas. As 
 Senator, Mr. Edwards took a conspicuous part, and 
 acquitted himself honorably in all the measures that 
 came up in that body, being well posted, an able de- 
 bater and a conscientious statesman. He thought 
 seriously of resigning this situation in i82r, but was 
 persuaded by his old friend, Wm. Wirt, and others to 
 continue in office, which he did to the end of the 
 term. 
 
 He v was then appointed Minister to Mexico by 
 President Monroe. About this time, it appears that 
 Mr. Edwards saw suspicious signs in the conduct of 
 Wm. H. Crawford, Secretary of the United States 
 Treasury, and an ambitious candidate for the Presi- 
 dency, and being implicated by the latter in some of 
 his statements, he resigned his Mexican mission in 
 order fully to investigate the charges. The result 
 was the exculpation of Mr. Edwards. 
 
 Pro-slavery regulations, often termed "Black Laws," 
 disgraced the statute books of both the Territory and 
 the State of Illinois during the whole of his career in 
 this commonwealth, and Mr. Edwards always main- 
 tained the doctrines of freedom, and was an important 
 actor in the great struggle which ended in a victory 
 for his party in 1824. 
 
 In 1826-7 the Winnebago and other Indians com- 
 mitted some depredations in the northern part of the 
 
 State, and the white settlers, who desired the lands 
 and wished to exasperate the savages into an evacu- 
 ation of the country, magnified the misdemeanors of 
 the aborigines and thereby produced a hostility be- 
 tween the races so great as to precipitate a little war, 
 known in history as the "Winnebago War." A few 
 chases and skirmishes were had, when Gen. Atkinson 
 succeeded in capturing Red Bird, the Indian chief, 
 and putting him to death, thus ending the contest, at 
 least until the troubles commenced which ended in 
 the " Black Hawk War " of 1832. In the interpre- 
 tation of treaties and execution of their provisions 
 Gov. Edwards had much vexatious work to do. The 
 Indians kept themselves generally within the juris- 
 diction of Michigan Territory, and its Governor, 
 Lewis Cass, was at a point so remote that ready cor- 
 respondence with him was difficult or impossible. 
 Gov. Edwards' administration, however, in regard to 
 the protection of the Illinois frontier, seems to have 
 been very efficient and satisfactory. 
 
 For a considerable portion of his time after his re- 
 moval to Illinois, Gov. Edwards resided upon his 
 farm near Kaskaskia, which he had well stocked with 
 horses, cattle aud sheep from Kentucky, also with 
 fruit-trees, grape-vines and shrubbery. He estab- 
 lished saw and grist-mills, and engaged extensively 
 in mercantile business, having no less than eight or ten 
 stores in this State and Missouri. Notwithstanding 
 the arduous duties of his office, he nearly always pur- 
 chased the goods himself with which to supply the 
 stores. Although not a regular practitioner of medi- 
 cine, he studied the healing art to a considerable ex- 
 tent, and took great pleasure in prescribing for, and 
 taking care of, the sick, generally without charge. 
 He was also liberal to the poor, several widows and 
 ministers of the gospel becoming indebted to him 
 even for their homes. 
 
 He married Miss Elvira Lane, of Maryland, in 
 1803, and they became the affectionate parents of 
 several children, one of whom, especially, is well 
 known to the people of the " Prairie State," namely, 
 Ninian Wirt Edwards, once the Superintendent of 
 Public Instruction and still a resident of Springfield. 
 Gov. Edwards resided at and in the vicinity of Kas_- 
 kaskiafrom 180910 1818; in Edwardsville (named 
 after him) from that time to 1824; and from the lat- 
 ter date at Belleville, St. Clair County, until his 
 death, July 20, 1833, of Asiatic cholera. Edwards 
 County is also named in his honor. 
 
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 GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 
 
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 ' 3 :OHN REYNOLDS, Governor 1831- 
 
 4, was born in Montgomery Coun- 
 ty, Pennsylvania, Feb. 26, 1788. 
 His father, Robert Reynolds and 
 his mother, nee Margaret Moore, 
 were both natives of Ireland, from 
 which country they emigrated to 
 the United States in 1785, land- 
 ing at Philadelphia. The senior 
 Reynolds entertained an undying 
 hostility to the British Govern- 
 ment. When the subject of this 
 sketch was about six months old, 
 his parents emigrated with him to 
 Tennessee, where many of their 
 relatives had already located, at the base of the 
 Copper Ridge Mountain, about 14 miles northeast of 
 the present city of Knoxville. There they were ex- 
 posed to Indian depredations, and were much molest- 
 ed by them. In 1794 they moved into the interior 
 of the State. They were poor, and brought up their 
 children to habits of manual industry. 
 
 In 1800 the family removed to Kaskaskia, 111., with 
 eight horses and two wagons, encountering many 
 hardships on the way. Here young Reynolds passed 
 the most of his childhood, while his character began 
 to develop, the most prominent traits of which were 
 ambition and energy. He also adopted the principle 
 and practice of total abstinence from intoxicating 
 liquors. In 1807 the family made another removal, 
 
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 this time to the " Goshen Settlement," at the foot of 
 the Mississippi bluffs three or four miles southwest 
 of Edwardsville. 
 
 On arriving at his 20th year, Mr. Reynolds, seeing 
 that he must look about for his own livelihood and 
 not yet having determined what calling to pursue, 
 concluded first to attend college, and he accordingly 
 went to such an institution of learning, near Knox- 
 ville, Tenn., where he had relatives. Imagine his 
 diffidence, when, after passing the first 20 years of 
 his life without ever having seen a carpet, a papered 
 wall or a Windsor chair, and never having lived in a 
 shingle-roofed house, he suddenly ushered himself 
 into the society of the wealthy in the vicinity of 
 Knoxville! He attended college nearly two years, 
 going through the principal Latin authors; but it 
 seems that he, like the rest of the world in modern 
 times, had but very little use for his Latin in after 
 life. He always failed, indeed, to exhibit any good 
 degree of literary discipline. He commenced the 
 study of law in Knoxville, but a pulmonary trouble 
 came on and compelled him to change his mode 
 of life. Accordingly he returned home and re- 
 cuperated, and in 1812 resumed his college and 
 law studies at Knoxville. In the fall of 1 812 he was 
 admitted to the Bar at Kaskaskia. About this time 
 he also learned the French language, which he 
 practiced with pleasure in conversation with his 
 family for many years. He regarded this language 
 as being superior to all others for social intercourse. 
 
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 124 
 
 JOHN REYNOLDS. 
 
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 From his services in the West, in the war of 18 12, 
 he obtained the sobriquet of the " Old Ranger." He 
 was Orderly Sergeant, then Judge Advocate. 
 
 Mr. Reynolds opened his first law office in the 
 winter and spring of 1814, in the French village of 
 Cahokia, then the capital of St. Clair County. 
 
 In the fall of 18 1 8 he was elected an Associate 
 Justice upon the Supreme Bench by the General 
 Assembly. In 1825 he entered more earnestly than 
 ever into the practice of law, and the very next year 
 was elected a member of the Legislature, where he 
 acted independently of all cliques and private inter- 
 ests. In 1828 the Whigs and Democrats were for 
 the first time distinctively organized as such in Illi- 
 nois, and the usual party bitterness grew up and 
 raged on all sides, while Mr. Reynolds preserved a 
 judicial calmness and moderation. The real animus 
 of the campaign was " Jackson " and " anti- Jackson," 
 the former party carrying the State. 
 
 In August, 1830, Mr. Reynolds was elected Gov- 
 ernor, amid great excitement. Installed in office, he 
 did all within his power to advance the cause of edu- 
 cation, internal improvements, the Illinois & Mich- 
 igan Canal, the harbor at Chicago, settling the coun- 
 try, etc.; also recommended the winding up of the 
 State Bank, as its affairs had become dangerously 
 complicated. In his national politics, he was a 
 moderate supporter of General Jackson. But the 
 most celebrated event of his gubernatorial admin- 
 istration was the Black Hawk War, which occurred 
 in 1832. He called out the militia and prosecuted 
 the contest with commendable diligence, appearing 
 in person on the battle-grounds during the most 
 critical periods. He was recognized by the President 
 as Major-General, and authorized by him to make 
 treaties with the Indians. By the assistance of the 
 general Government the war was terminated without 
 much bloodshed, but after many serious fights. This 
 war, as well as everything else, was materially re- 
 tarded by the occurrence of Asiatic cholera in the 
 West. This was its first appearance here, and was 
 the next event in prominence during Gov. Reynolds' 
 term. 
 
 South Carolina nullification coming up at this time, 
 it was heartily condemned by both President Jackson 
 and Gov. Reynolds, who took precisely the same 
 grounds as the Unionists in the last war. 
 
 On the termination of his gubernatorial term in 
 1834, Gov. Reynolds was elected a Member of Con- 
 gress, still considering himself a backwoodsman, as 
 he had scarcely been outside of the State since he 
 became of age, and had spent nearly all his youthful 
 days in the wildest region of the frontier. His first 
 move in Congress was to adopt a resolution that in 
 all elections made by the House for officers the votes 
 should be given viva voce, each member in his place 
 naming aloud the person for whom he votes. This 
 created considerable heated discussion, but was es- 
 
 ^£ — -©a^hk 
 
 sentially adopted, and remained the controlling prin- 
 ciple for many years. The ex-Governor was scarcely 
 absent from his seat a single day, during eight ses- 
 sions of Congress, covering a period of seven years, 
 and he never vacillated in a party vote; but he failed 
 to get the Democratic party to foster his " National 
 Road" scheme. He says, in "My Own Times" (a 
 large autobiography he published), that it was only 
 by rigid economy that he avoided insolvency while in 
 Washington. During his sojourn in that city he was 
 married, to a lady of the place. 
 
 In 1837, while out of Congress, and in company 
 with a few others, he built the first railroad in the 
 Mississippi Valley, namely, one about six miles long, 
 leading from his coal mine in the Mississippi bluff to 
 the bank of the river opposite St. Louis. Having not 
 the means to purchase a locomotive, they operated it 
 by horse-power. The next spring, however, the com- 
 pany sold out, at great sacrifice. 
 
 In T839 the ex-Governor was appointed one of the 
 Canal Commissioners, and authorized to borrow 
 money to prosecute the enterprise. Accord'ngly, he 
 repaired to Philadelphia and succeeding in obtaining 
 a million dollars, which, however, was only a fourth 
 of what was wanted. The same year he and his 
 wife made at our of Europe. This year, also, Mr. 
 Reynolds had the rather awkward little responsibility 
 of introducing to President Van Buren the noted 
 Mormon Prophet, Joseph Smith, as a " Latter-Day 
 Saint!" 
 
 In 1846 Gov. Reynolds was elected a member of 
 the Legislature from St. Clair County, more particu- 
 larly for the purpose of obtaining a feasible charter 
 for a macadamized road from Belleville to St. Louis, 
 a distance of nearly 14 miles. This was immediately 
 built, and was the first road of the kind in the State. 
 He was again elected to the Legislature in 1852, when 
 he was chosen Speaker of the House. In i860, aged 
 and infirm, he attended the National Democratic 
 Convention at Charleston, S. C, as an anti-Douglas 
 Delegate, where he received more attention from the 
 Southern Delegates than any other member. He 
 supported Breckenridge for the Presidency.- After 
 the October elections foreshadowed the success of 
 Lincoln, he published an address urging the Demo- 
 crats to rally to the support of Douglas. Immedi- 
 ately preceding and during the late war, his corre- 
 spondence evinced a clear sympathy for the Southern 
 secession, and about the first of March, 1861, he 
 urged upon the Buchanan officials the seizure of the 
 treasure and arms in the custom-house and arsenal 
 at St. Louis. Mr. Reynolds was a rather talkative 
 man, and apt in all the Western phrases and catch- 
 words that ever gained currency, besides many cun- 
 ning and odd ones of his own manufacture. 
 
 He was married twice, but had no children. He 
 died in Belleville, in May, 1865, just after the close 
 of the war. 
 
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GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 
 
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 ILLIAM LEE D. EWING, 
 Governor of Illinois Nov. 3 
 to 17, 1834, was a native 
 of Kentucky, and probably 
 of Scotch ancestry. He had 
 a fine education, was a gentle- 
 man of polished manners and 
 refined sentiment. In 1830 John Rey- 
 nolds was elected Governor of the State, 
 and Zadok Casey Lieutenant Governor, 
 and for the principal events that followed, 
 and the characteristics of the times, see 
 sketch of Gov. Reynolds. The first we 
 see in history concerning Mr. Ewing, in- 
 forms us that he was a Receiver of Public 
 Moneys at Vandalia soon after the organization of 
 this State, and that the public moneys in his hands 
 were deposited in various banks, as they are usually 
 at the present day. In 1823 the State Bank was 
 robbed, by which disaster Mr. Ewing lost a thousand- 
 dollar deposit. 
 
 The subject of this sketch had a commission as 
 Colonel in the Black Hawk War, and in emergencies 
 he acted also as Major. In the summer of 1832, 
 when it was rumored among the whites that Black 
 Hawk and his men had encamped somewhere on 
 Rock River, Gen. Henry was sent on a tour of 
 reconnoisance, and with orders to drive the Indians 
 from the State. After some opposition from his 
 subordinate officers, Henry resolved to proceed up 
 Rock River in search of the enemy. On the 19th of 
 July, early in the morning, five baggage wagons, 
 
 camp equipage and all heavy and cumbersome arti- 
 cles were piled up and left, so that the army might 
 make speedy and forced marches. For some miles 
 the travel was exceedingly bad, crossing swamps 
 and the worst thickets; but the large, fresh trail 
 gave life and animation to the Americans. Gen. 
 Dodge and Col. Ewing were both acting as Majors, 
 and composed the " spy corps " or vanguard of the 
 army. It is supposed the army marched nearly 50 
 miles this day, and the Indian trail they followed 
 became fresher, and was strewed with much property 
 and trinkets of the red-skins that they had lost or 
 thrown away to hasten their march. During the 
 following night there was a terrific thunder-storm, and 
 the soldiery, with all their appurtenances, were thor- 
 oughly drenched. 
 
 On approaching nearer the Indians the next day. 
 Gen. Dodge and Major Ewing, each commanding a 
 battalion of men, were placed in front to bring on the 
 battle, but the savages were not overtaken this day 
 Forced marches were continued until they reached. 
 Wisconsin River, where a veritable battle ensued, 
 resulting in the death of about 68 of Black Hawk's 
 men. The next day they continued the chase, and 
 as soon as he discovered the trail of the Indians 
 leading toward the Mississippi, Maj. Ewing formed 
 his battalion in order of battle and awaited the order 
 of Gen. Henry. The latter soon appeared on the 
 ground and ordered a charge, which directly resulted 
 in chasing the red warriors across the great river. 
 Maj. Ewing and his command proved particularly 
 efficient in war, as it seems they were the chief actors 
 in driving the main body of the Sacs and Foxes, in- 
 
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 z^- @7«<?llfl®llllf^9 ^y 2 
 
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 WILLIAM L. D. EWING. 
 
 1 
 
 
 eluding Black Hawk himself, across the Mississippi, 
 while Gen. Atkinson, commander-in-chief of the ex- 
 pedition, with a body of the army, was hunting for 
 them in another direction. 
 
 In the above affair Maj. Ewing is often referred to 
 as a " General," which title he had derived from his 
 connection with the militia. 
 
 It was in the latter part of the same year (1832) 
 that Lieutenant Governor Casey was elected to Con- 
 gress and Gen. Ewing, who had been elected to the 
 Senate, was chosen to preside over that body. At 
 the August election of 1834, Gov. Reynolds was also 
 elected to Congress, more than a year ahead of the 
 time at which he could actually take his seat, as was 
 then the law. His predecessor, Charles Slade, had 
 just died of Asiatic cholera, soon after the elec- 
 tion, and Gov. Reynolds was chosen to serve out his 
 unexpired term. Accordingly he set out for Wash- 
 ington in November of that year to take his seat in 
 Congress, and Gen. Ewing, by virtue of his office as 
 President of the Senate, became Governor of the 
 State of Illinois, his term covering only a period of 
 15 days, namely, from the 3d to the 17th days, in- 
 clusive, of November. On the 17th the Legislature 
 met, and Gov. Ewing transmitted to that body his 
 message, giving a statement of the condition of the 
 affairs of the State at that time, and urging a contin- 
 uance of the policy adopted by his predecessor ; and 
 on the same day Governor elect Joseph Duncan 
 was sworn into office, thus relieving Mr. Ewing from 
 
 the responsible situation. This is the only time that 
 such a juncture has happened in the history of Illi- 
 nois. 
 
 On the 29th of December, 1835, Gen. Ewing was 
 elected a United States Senator to serve out the 
 unexpired term of Elias Kent Kane, deceased. The 
 latter gentleman was a very prominent figure in the 
 early politics of Illinois, and a county in this State is 
 named in his honor. The election of Gen. Ewing to 
 the Senate was a protracted struggle., His competi- 
 tors were James Semple, who afterwards held several 
 important offices .in this State, and Richard M. 
 Young, afterward a United States Senator and a 
 Supreme Judge and a man of vast influence. On 
 the first ballot Mr. Semple had 25 votes, Young 19 
 and Ewing 18. On the eighth ballot Young was 
 dropped ; the ninth and tenth stood a tie ; but on 
 the 1 2th Ewing received 40, to Semple 37, and was 
 accordingly declared elected. In 1837 Mr. Ewing 
 received some votes for a continuance of his term in 
 Congress, when Mr. Young, just referred to, was 
 elected. In 1842 Mr. Ewing was elected State 
 Auditor on the ticket with Gov. Ford. 
 
 Gen. Ewing was a gentleman of culture, a lawyer 
 by profession, and was much in publicjife. In person 
 he was above medium hefght and of heavy build, 
 with auburn hair, blue eyes, large-sized head and 
 short face. He was genial, social, friendly and 
 affable, with fair talent, though of no high degree of 
 originality. He died March 25, 1846. 
 
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 OSEPH DUNCAN, Governor 
 1834-8, was born at Paris, 
 Ky., Feb. 23, 1794. At. the 
 tender age of 19 years he en- 
 listed in the war against Great 
 Britain, and as a soldier he 
 acquitted himself with credit. He 
 was an Ensign under the daunt- 
 less Croghan at Lower Sandusky, 
 or Fort Stephenson. In Illinois 
 he first appeared in a public capa- 
 city as Major-General of the Militia, 
 a -position which his military fame 
 had procured him. Subsequently 
 he became a State Senator from 
 Jackson County, and is honorably 
 mentioned for introducing the first bill providing for 
 a free-school system. In 1826, when the redoubt- 
 able John P. Cook, who had previously beaten such 
 men as John McLean, Elias Kent Kane and ex- 
 Gov. Bond, came up for the fourth time for Congress, 
 Mr. Duncan was brought forward against him by his 
 friends, greatly to the surprise of all the politicians. 
 As yet he was but little known in the State. He was 
 an original Jackson man at that time, being attached 
 to his political fortune in admiration of the glory of 
 his military achievements. His chances of success 
 against Cook were generally regarded as hopeless, 
 but he entered upon the campaign undaunted. His 
 speeches, though short' and devoid of ornament, were 
 full of good sense. He made a diligent canvass of 
 the State, Mr. Cook being hindered by the condition of 
 his health. The most that was expected of Mr. 
 Duncan, under the circumstances, was that he would 
 
 obtain a respectable vote, but without defeating Mr. 
 Cook. The result of the campaign, however, was a 
 source of surprise and amazement to both friends 
 and foes, as Mr. Duncan came out 641 votes ahead! 
 He received 6,32 r votes, and Mr. Cook 5,680. Un- 
 til this denouement, the violence of party feeling 
 smoldering in the breasts of the people on account 
 of the defeat of Jackson, was not duly appreciated. 
 Aside from the great convention struggle of 1824, no 
 other than mere local and personal considerations 
 had ever before controlled an election in Illinois. 
 
 From the above date Mr. Duncan retained his 
 seat in Congress until his election as Governor in 
 August, 1834. The first and bloodless year of the 
 Black Hawk War he was appointed by Gov. Rey- 
 nolds to the position of Brigadier-General of the 
 volunteers, and he conducted his brigade to Rock 
 Island. But he was absent from the State, in Wash- 
 ington, during the gubernatorial campaign, and did 
 not personally participate in it, but addressed circu- 
 lars to his constituents. His election was, indeed, 
 attributed tq the circumstance of his absence, be- 
 cause his estrangement from Jackson, formerly his 
 political idol, and also from the Democracy, largely 
 in ascendency in the State, was complete ; but while 
 his defection was well known to his Whig friends, 
 and even to the leading Jackson men of this State, 
 the latter were unable to carry conviction of that fact 
 to the masses, as mail and newspaper facilities at 
 that day were far inferior to those of the present 
 time. Of course the Governor was much abused 
 afterward by the fossilized Jackson men who re- 
 garded party ties and affiliations as above all 
 other issues that could arise; but he was doubtless 
 
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 JOSEPH DUNCAN. 
 
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 sincere in his opposition to the old hero, as the latter 
 had vetoed several important western measures 
 which were dear to Mr. Duncan. In his inaugural 
 message he threw off the mask and took a bold stand 
 against the course of the President. The measures 
 he recommended in his message, however, were so 
 desirable that the Legislature, although by a large 
 majority consisting of Jackson men, could not refrain 
 from endorsing them. These measures related 
 mainly to banks and internal improvements. 
 
 It was while Mr. Duncan was Governor that the 
 people of Illinois went whirling on with bank and in- 
 ternal improvement schemes that well nigh bank- 
 rupted the State. The hard times of 1837 came on, 
 and the disasters that attended the inauguration of 
 these plans and the operation of the banks were mu- 
 tually charged upon the two political parties. Had 
 any one man autocratic power to introduce and 
 carry on any one of these measures, he would proba- 
 bly have succeeded to the satisfaction of the public ; 
 but as many jealous men had hold of the same plow 
 handle, no success followed and each blamed the other 
 for the failure. In this great vortex Gov. Duncan 
 was carried along, suffering the like derogation of 
 character with his fellow citizens. 
 
 At the height of the excitement the Legislature 
 " provided for " railroads from Galena to Cairo, Alton 
 to Shawneetown, Alton to Mount Carmel, Alton to the 
 eastern boundary of the State in the direction of 
 Terre Haute, Quincy via Springfield to the Wabash, 
 Bloomington to Pekin, and Peoria to Warsaw, — in all 
 about 1,300 miles of road. It also provided for the 
 improvement of the navigation of the Kaskaskia, 
 Illinois, Great and Little Wabash and Rock Rivers ; 
 also as a placebo, $200,000 in money were to be dis- 
 tributed to the various counties wherein no improve- 
 ments were ordered to be made as above. The 
 estimate for the expenses for all these projects was 
 placed at a little over $10,000,000, which was not 
 more than half enough ! That would now be equal to 
 saddling upon the State a debt of $225,000,000 ! It 
 was sufficient to bankrupt the State several times 
 over, even counting all the possible benefits. 
 
 One of the most exciting events that ever occurred 
 in this fair State was the murder of Elijah P. Love- 
 joy in the fall of 1837, at Alton, during Mr. Duncan's 
 term as Governor. Lovejoy was an " Abolitionist," 
 editing the Observer at that place, and the pro- 
 slavery slums there formed themselves into a mob, 
 
 and after destroying successively three presses be- 
 longing to Mr. Lovejoy, surrounded the warehouse 
 where the fourth press was stored away, endeavoring 
 to destroy it, and where Lovejoy and his friends 
 were entrenching themselves, and shot and killed the 
 brave reformerJ 
 
 About this time, also, the question of removing the 
 State capital again came up, as the 20 years' limit for 
 its existence at Vandalia was drawing to a close. 
 There was, of course, considerable excitement over 
 the matter, the two main points competing for it be- 
 ing Springfield and Peoria. The jealousy of the lat- 
 ter place is not even yet, 45 years afterward, fully 
 allayed. 
 
 Gov. Duncan's term expired in 1838. In 1842 
 he was again proposed as a candidate for the Execu- 
 tive chair, this time by the Whig party, against Adam 
 W. Snyder, of St. Clair County, the nominee of the 
 Democrats. Charles W. Hunter was a third candi- 
 date for the same position. Mr. Snyder, however, died 
 before the campaign had advanced very far, and his 
 party substituted Thomas Ford, who was elected, 
 receiving 46,901 votes, to 38,584 for Duncan, and 
 909 for Hunter. The cause of Democratic success 
 at this time is mainly attributed to the temporary 
 support of the Mormons which they enjoyed, and the 
 want of any knowledge, on the part of the masses, 
 that Mr. Ford was opposed to any given policy en- 
 tertained in the respective localities. 
 
 Gov. Duncan was a man of rather limited educa- 
 tion, but with naturally fine abilities he profited 
 greatly by his various public services, and gathered 
 a store of knowledge regarding public affairs which 
 served him a ready purpose. He possessed a clear 
 judgment, decision, confidence in himself and moral 
 courage to carry out his convictions of right. In his 
 deportment he was well adapted to gain the admira- 
 tion of the people. His intercourse with them was 
 both affable and dignified. His portrait at the Gov- 
 ernor's mansion, from which the accompanying was 
 made, represents him as having a swarthy complex- 
 ion, high cheek bones, broad forehead, piercing black 
 eyes and straight black hair. 
 
 He was a liberal patron of the Illinois College at 
 Jacksonville, a member of its Board of Trustees, and 
 died, after a short illness, Jan. 15, r844, a devoted 
 member of the Presbyterian Church, leaving a wife 
 but no children. Two children, born to them, had 
 died in infancy. 
 
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 HOMAS CARLIN, the sixth 
 Governor of the State of 
 Illinois, serving from 1838 
 to 1842, was also a Ken- 
 tuckian, being born near 
 Frankfort, that State, July 
 18, 1789, of Irish paternity. 
 The opportunities for an education 
 being very meager in his native 
 place, he, on approaching years of 
 judgment and maturity, applied 
 himself to those branches of learn- 
 ing that seemed most important, 
 and thus became a self-made man ; 
 and his taste for reading and 
 study remained with him through 
 life. In 1803 his father removed 
 to Missouri, then a part of " New Spain," where he 
 died in 1810. 
 
 In 181 2 young Carlin came to Illinois and partici- 
 pated in all the "ranging" service incident to the 
 war of that period, proving himself a soldier of un- 
 daunted bravery. In 1814 he married Rebecca 
 Huitt, and lived for four years on _the bank of the 
 Mississippi River, opposite the mouth of the Mis- 
 souri, where he followed farming, and then removed 
 to Greene County. He located the town site of Car- 
 rollton, in that county, and in 1825 made a liberal 
 donation of land for county building purposes. He 
 was the first Sheriff of that county after its separate 
 organization, and afterward was twice elected, as a 
 Jackson Democrat, to the Illinois Senate. In the 
 Black Hawk War he commanded a spy battalion, a 
 post of considerable danger. In 1834 he was ap- 
 pointed by President Jackson to the position of 
 Receiver of Public Moneys, and to fulfill the office 
 
 more conveniently he removed to the city of Quincy. 
 
 While, in 1838, the unwieldy internal improvement 
 system of the State was in full operation, with all its 
 expensive machinery, amidst bank suspensions 
 throughout the United States, a great stringency in 
 the money market everywhere, and Illinois bonds 
 forced to sale at a heavy discount, and the " hardest 
 times" existing that the people of the Prairie State 
 ever saw, the general election of State officers was 
 approaching. Discreet men who had cherished the 
 hope of a speedy subsidence of the public infatua- 
 tion, met with disappointment. A Governor and 
 Legislature were to be elected, and these were now 
 looked forward to for a repeal of the ruinous State 
 policy. But the grand scheme had not yet lost its _ 
 dazzling influence upon the minds of the people. 
 Time and experience had not yet fully demonstrated 
 its utter absurdity. Hence the question of arresting 
 its career of profligate expenditures did not become 
 a leading one with the dominant party during the 
 campaign, and most of the old members of the Leg- 
 islature were returned at this election. 
 
 Under these circumstances the Democrats, in State 
 Convention assembled, nominated Mr. Carlin for the 
 office of Governor, and S. H. Anderson for Lieuten- 
 ant Governor, while the Whigs nominated Cyrus Ed- 
 wards, brother of Ninian Edwards, formerly Governor, 
 and W. H. Davidson. Edwards came out strongly 
 for a continuance of the State policy, while Carlin 
 remained non-committal. This was the first time 
 that the two main political parties in this State were 
 unembarrassed by any third party in the field. The 
 result of the election was: Carlin, 35,573; Ander- 
 son, 30,335 ; Edwards, 29,629 ; and Davidson, 28,- 
 
 Upon the meeting of the subsequent Legislature 
 (1839), the retiring Governor (Duncan) in his mes- 
 
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 THOMAS CARLIN. 
 
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 sage spoke in emphatic terms of the impolicy of the 
 internal improvement system, presaging the evils 
 threatened, and uiged that body to do their utmost 
 to correct the great error ; yet, on the contrary, the 
 Legislature not only decided to continue the policy 
 but also added to its burden by voting more appro- 
 priations and ordering more improvements. Although 
 the money market was still stringent, a further loan 
 of $4,000,000 was ordered for the Illinois & Mich- 
 igan Canal alone. Chicago at that time began to 
 loom up and promise to be an important city, even 
 the great emporium of the West, as it has since in- 
 deed came to be. Ex-Gov. Reynolds, an incompe- 
 tent financier, was commissioned to effect the loan, 
 and accordingly hastened to the East on this respons- 
 ible errand, and negotiated the loans, at considera- 
 ble sacrifice to the State. Besides this embarrassment 
 to Carlin's administration, the Legislature also de- 
 clared that he had no authority to appoint a Secretary 
 of State until a vacancy existed, and A. P. Field, a 
 Whig, who had already held the post by appointment 
 through three administrations, was determined to 
 keep the place a while longer, in spite of Gov. Car- 
 lin's preferences. The course of the Legislature in 
 this regard, however, was finally sustained by the 
 Supreme Court, in a quo warranto case brought up 
 before it by John A. McClernand, whom the Gov- 
 ernor had nominated for the office. Thereupon that 
 dignified body was denounced as a "Whig Court!" 
 endeavoring to establish the principle of life-tenure 
 of office. 
 
 A new law was adopted re-organizing the Judici- 
 ary, and under it five additional Supreme Judges 
 were elected by the Legislature, namely, Thomas 
 Ford (afterward Governor), Sidney Breese, Walter B. 
 Scates, Samuel H. Treat and Stephen A. Douglas — 
 all Democrats. 
 
 It was during Cov. Carlin's administration that the 
 noisy campaign of " Tippecanoe and Tyler too " oc- 
 curred, resulting in a Whig victory. This, however, 
 did not affect Illinois politics very seriously. 
 
 Another prominent event in the West during Gov. 
 Carlin's term of office was the excitement caused by 
 the Mormons and their removal from Independence, 
 Mo., to Nauvoo, 111., in 1840. At the same time 
 they began to figure somewhat in State politics. On 
 account of their believing — as they thought, accord- 
 ing to the New Testament — that they should have 
 
 " all things common," and that consequently " all 
 the earth " and all that is upon it were the" Lord's " 
 and therefore the property of his " saints," they 
 were suspected, and correctly, too, of committing 
 many of the deeds of larceny, robbery, etc., that 
 were so rife throughout this country in those days. 
 Hence a feeling of violence grew up between the 
 Mormons and "anti-Mormons." In the State of 
 Missouri the Mormons always supported the Dem- 
 ocracy until they were driven out by the Democratic 
 government, when they turned their support to the 
 Whigs. They were becoming numerous, and in the 
 Legislature of 1840-r, therefore, it became a matter 
 of great interest with both parties to conciliate these 
 people. Through the agency of one John C. Ben- 
 nett, a scamp, the Mormons succeeded in rushing 
 through the Legislature (both parties not daring to 
 oppose) a charter for the city of Nauvoo which vir- 
 tually erected a hierarchy co-ordinate with the Fed- 
 eral Government itself. In the fall of 1841 the 
 Governor of Missouri made a demand upon Gov. 
 Carlin for the body of Joe Smith, the Mormon leader, 
 as a fugitive from justice. Gov. Carlin issued the 
 writ, but for some reason it was returned unserved. 
 It was again issued in T842, and Smith was arrested, 
 but was either rescued by his followers or discharged 
 by the municipal court on a writ of habeas corpus. 
 
 In December, 1841, the Democratic Convention 
 nominated Adam W. Snyder, of Belleville, for Gov- 
 ernor. As he had been, as a member of the Legisla- 
 ture, rather friendly to the Mormons, the latter 
 naturally turned their support to the Democratic 
 party. The next spring the Whigs nominated Ex- 
 Gov. Duncan for the same office. In the meantime 
 the Mormons began to grow more odious to the 
 masses of the people, and the comparative prospects 
 of the respective parties for success became very 
 problematical. Mr. Snyder died in May, and 
 Thomas Ford, a Supreme Judge, was substituted as 
 a candidate, and was elected. 
 
 At the close of his gubernatorial term, Mr. Carlin 
 removed back to his old home at Carrollton, where 
 he spent the remainder of his life, as before his ele- 
 vation to office, in agricultural pursuits. In 1849 
 he served out the unexpired term of J. D. Fry in the 
 Illinois House of Representatives, and died Feb. 4, 
 1852, at his residence at Carrollton, leaving a wife 
 and seven children. 
 
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 JHOMAS FORD, Governor 
 from 1842 to 1846, and au- 
 thor of a very interesting 
 history of Illinois, was born 
 at Uniontown, Pa., in the 
 year 1 800. His mother, after 
 the death of her first hus- 
 band (Mr. Forquer), married Rob- 
 ert Ford, who was killed in 1802, 
 by the Indians in the mountains 
 of Pennsylvania. She was conse- 
 quently left in indigent circum- 
 stances, with a large family, mostly 
 girls. With a view to better her 
 condition, she, in 1804, removed to 
 Missouri, where it had been cus- 
 tomary by the Spanish Govern- 
 ment to give land to actual settlers ; but upon her 
 arrival at St. Louis she found the country ceded to 
 the United States, and the liberal policy toward set- 
 tlers changed by the new ownership. After some 
 sickness to herself and family, she finally removed to 
 Illinois, and settled some three miles south of Water- 
 loo, but the following year moved nearer the Missis- 
 sippi ^bluffs. Here young Ford received his first 
 
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 schooling, under the instructions of a Mr. Humphrey, 
 for which he had to walk three miles. His mother, 
 though lacking a thorough education, was a woman 
 of superior mental endowments, joined to energy 
 and determination of character. She inculcated in 
 her children those high-toned principles which dis- 
 tinguished her sons in public life. She exercised a 
 rigid economy to provide her children an education ; 
 but George Forquer, her oldest son (six years older 
 than Thomas Ford), at an early age had to quit 
 school to aid by his labor in the support of the family. 
 He afterward became an eminent man in Illinois 
 affairs, and but for his early death would probably 
 have been elected to the United States Senate. 
 
 Young Ford, with somewhat better opportunities, 
 received a better education, though limited to the 
 curriculum of the common school of those pioneer 
 times. His mind gave early promise of superior en- 
 dowments, with an inclination for mathematics. His 
 proficiency attracted the attention of Hon. Daniel P. 
 Cook, who became his efficient patron and friend. 
 The latter gentleman was an eminent Illinois states- 
 man who, as a Member of Congress, obtained a grant 
 of 300,000 acres of land to aid in completing the 
 Illinois & Michigan Canal, and after whom the 
 county of Cook was named. Through the advice of 
 
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 THOMAS FORD. 
 
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 this gentleman, Mr. Ford turned his attention to the 
 study of law; but Forquer, then merchandising, re- 
 garding his education defective, sent him to Transyl- 
 vania University, where, however, he remained but 
 one term, owing to Forquer's failure in business. On 
 his return he alternated his law reading with teach- 
 ing school for support. 
 
 In 1829 Gov. Edwards appointed him Prosecuting 
 Attorney, and in 1831 he was re-appointed by Gov. 
 Reynolds, and after that he was four times elected a 
 Judge by the Legislature, without opposition, twice a 
 Circuit Judge, once a Judge of Chicago, and as As- 
 sociate Judge of the Supreme Court, when, in 184.T, 
 the latter tribunal was re-organized by the addition 
 of five Judges, all Democrats. Ford was assigned to 
 the Ninth Judicial Circuit, and while in this capacity 
 he was holding Court in Ogle County he received a 
 notice of his nomination by the Democratic Conven- 
 tion for the office of Governor. He immediately re- 
 signed his place and entered upon the canvass. In 
 August, 1842, he was elected, and on the 8th of De- 
 cember following he was inaugurated. 
 
 All the offices which he had held were unsolicited 
 by him. He received them upon the true Jefferson- 
 ian principle, — Never to ask and never to refuse 
 office. Both as a lawyer and as a Judge he stood 
 deservedly high, but his cast of intellect fitted him 
 rather for a writer upon law than a practicing advo- 
 cate in the courts. In the latter capacity he was void 
 of the moving power of eloquence, so necessary to 
 success with juries. As a Judge his opinions were 
 sound, lucid and able expositions of the law. In 
 practice, he was a stranger to the tact, skill and in- 
 sinuating address of the politician, but he saw through 
 the arts of demagogues as well as any man. He was 
 plain in his demeanor, so much so, indeed, that at 
 one time after the expiration of his term of office, 
 during a session of the Legislature, he was taken by 
 a stranger to be a seeker for the position of door- 
 keeper, and was waited upon at his hotel near mid- 
 night by a knot of small office-seekers with the view 
 of effecting a " combination ! " 
 
 Mr. Ford had not the " brass " of the ordinary 
 politician, nor that impetuosity which characterizes a 
 political leader. He cared little for money, and 
 hardly enough for a decent support. In person he 
 was of small stature, slender, of dark complexion, 
 with black hair, sharp features, deep-set eyes, a 
 pointed, aquiline nose having a decided twist to one 
 side, and a small mouth. 
 
 The three most important events in Gov. Ford's 
 administration were the establishment of the high 
 financial credit of the State, the " Mormon War "and 
 the Mexican War. 
 
 In the first of these the Governor proved himself 
 to be eminently wise. On coming into office he found 
 the State badly paralyzed by the ruinous effects of 
 the notorious "internal improvement" schemes of 
 
 the preceding deca.de, with scarcely anything to 
 show by way of "improvement." The enterprise 
 that seemed to be getting ahead more than all the 
 rest was the Illinois & Michigan Canal. As this 
 promised to be the most important thoroughfare, 
 feasible to the people, it was well under headway in 
 its construction. Therefore the State policy was 
 almost concentrated upon it, in order to rush it on to 
 completion. The bonded indebtedness of the State 
 was growing so large as to frighten the people, and 
 they were about ready to entertain a proposition for 
 repudiation. But the Governor had the foresight to 
 recommend such measures as would maintain the 
 public credit, for which every citizen to-day feels 
 thankful. 
 
 But perhaps the Governor is remembered more for 
 his connection with the Mormon troubles than for 
 anything else; for it was during his term of office 
 that the " Latter-Day Saints " became so strong at 
 Nauvoo, built their temple there, increased their num- 
 bers throughout the country, committed misdemean- 
 ors, taught dangerous doctrines, suffered the loss of 
 their leader, Jo Smith, by a violent death, were driven 
 out of Nauvoo to the far West, etc. Having been a 
 Judge for so many years previously, Mr. Ford of 
 course was non-committal concerning Mormon affairs, 
 and was therefore claimed by both parties and also 
 accused by each of sympathizing too greatly with the 
 other side. Mormonism claiming to be a system of 
 religion, the Governor no doubt was "between two 
 fires," and felt compelled to touch the matter rather 
 " gingerly," and doubtless felt greatly relieved when 
 that pestilential people left the State. Such compli- 
 cated matters, especially when religion is mixed up 
 with them, expose every person participating in 
 them to criticism from all parties. 
 
 The Mexican War was begun in the spring of 
 1845, and was continued into the gubernatorial term 
 of Mr. Ford's successor. The Governor's connection 
 with this war, however, was not conspicuous, as it 
 was only administrative, commissioning officers, etc. 
 
 Ford's " History of Illinois " is a very readable and 
 entertaining work, of 450 small octavo pages, and is 
 destined to increase in value with the lapse of time. 
 It exhibits a natural flow of compact and forcible 
 thought, never failing to convey the nicest sense. In 
 tracing with his trenchant pen the devious operations 
 of the professional politician, in which he is inimit- 
 able, his account is open, perhaps, to the objection 
 that all his contemporaries are treated as mere place- 
 seekers, while many of them have since been judged 
 by the people to be worthy statesmen. His writings 
 seem slightly open to the criticism that they exhibit 
 a little splenetic partiality against those of his con- 
 temporaries who were prominent during his term of 
 office as Governor. 
 
 The death of Gov. Ford took place at Peoria, 111., 
 Nov. 2, 1850. 
 
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GO VERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 
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 Augustus c. French, 
 
 Governor of Illinois from 
 1846 to 1852, was born in 
 the town of Hill, in the 
 State of New Hampshire, 
 Aug. 2, 1808. He was a 
 descendant in the fourth 
 generation of Nathaniel 
 French, who emigrated from England 
 in 1687 and settled in Saybury, Mass. 
 In early life young French lost his 
 father, but continued to receive in- 
 struction from an exemplary and 
 Christian mother until he was 19 years 
 old, when she also died, confiding to 
 his care and trust four younger broth- 
 ers and one sister. He discharged his trust with 
 parental devotion. His education in early life was 
 such mainly as a common school afforded. For a 
 brief period he attended Dartmouth College, but 
 from pecuniary causes and the care of his brothers 
 and sister, he did not graduate. He subsequently 
 read law, and was admitted to the Bar in 1831, and 
 shortly afterward removed to Illinois, settling first at 
 Albion, Edwards County, where he established him- 
 self in the practice of law. The following year he 
 removed to Paris, Edgar County. Here he attained 
 eminence in his profession, and entered public life 
 by representing that county in the Legislature. A 
 strong attachment sprang up between him and Ste- 
 phen A. Douglas. 
 
 In 1839, Mr. French was appointed Receiver of 
 the United States Land Office at Palestine, Craw- 
 ford County, at which place he was a resident when 
 
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 elevated to the gubernatorial chair. In 1 844 he was 
 a Presidential Elector, and as such he voted for 
 • James K. Polk. 
 
 The Democratic* State Convention of 1846, meet- 
 ing at Springfield Feb. 10, nominated Mr. French 
 for Governor. Other Democratic candidates were 
 Lyman Trumbull, John Calhoun (subsequently of 
 Lecompton Constitution notoriety), Walter B. Scates, 
 Richard M. Young and A. W. Cavarly, — an array of 
 very able and prominent names. Trumbull was per- 
 haps defeated in the Convention by the rumor that 
 he was opposed to the Illinois and Michigan Canal, 
 as he had been a year previously. For Lieutenant 
 Governor J. B. Wells was chosen, while other candi- 
 dates were Lewis Ross, Win. McMurtry, Newton 
 Cloud, J. B. Hamilton and W. W. Thompson. The 
 resolutions declared strongly against the resuscita- 
 tion of the old State Banks. 
 
 The Whigs, who were in a hopeless minority, held 
 their convention June 8, at Peoria, and selected 
 Thomas M. Kilpatrick, of Scott County, for Governor, 
 and Gen. Nathaniel G. Wilcox, of Schuyler, for 
 Lieutenant Governor. 
 
 In the campaign the latter exposed Mr. French's 
 record and connection with the passage of the in- 
 ternal improvement system, urging it against his 
 election ; but in the meantime the war with Mexico 
 broke out, regarding which the Whig record was un- 
 popular in this State. The war was the absorbing 
 and dominating question of the period, sweeping 
 every other political issue in its course. The elec- 
 tion in August gave Mr. French 58,700 votes, and 
 Kilpatrick only 36,775. Richard Eells, Abolitionist 
 candidate for the same office, received 5,152 votes, 
 
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 AUGUSTUS C. FRENCH. 
 
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 By the new Constitution of 1848, a new election for 
 State officers was ordered in November of that year, 
 before Gov. French's term was half out, and he was 
 re-elected for the term of four years. He was there- 
 fore the incumbent for six consecutive years, the 
 only Governor of this State who has ever served in 
 that capacity so long at one time. As there was no 
 organized opposition to his election, he received 67,- 
 453 votes, to 5,639 for Pierre Menard (son of the 
 first Lieutenant Governor), 4,748 for Charles V. 
 Dyer, 3,834 for W. L. D. Morrison, and 1,361 for 
 James L. D. Morrison. But Wm. McMurtry, of 
 Knox County, was elected Lieutenant Governor, in 
 place of Joseph B. Wells, who was before elected 
 and did not run again. 
 
 Governor French was inaugurated into office dur- 
 ing the progress of the Mexican War, which closed 
 during the summer of 1847, although the treaty of 
 Guadalupe Hidalgo was not made until Feb. 2, 
 1848. The policy of Gov. French's party was com- 
 mitted to that war, but in connection with that affair 
 he was, of course, only an administrative officer. 
 During his term of office, Feb. 19, 1847, the Legisla- 
 ture, by sp'ecial permission of Congress, declared *hat 
 all Government lands sold to settlers should be im- 
 mediately subject to State taxation ; before this they 
 were exempt for five years after sale. By this ar- 
 rangement the revenue was materially increased. 
 About the same lime, the distribution of Government 
 land warrants among the Mexican soldiers as bounty 
 threw upon the market a great quantity of good 
 lands, and this enhanced the settlement of the State. 
 The same Legislature authorized, with the recom- 
 mendation of the Governor, the sale of the Northern 
 Cross Railroad (from Springfield to Meredosia, the 
 first in the State and now a section of the Wabash, 
 St. Louis & Pacific) It sold for $100,000 in bonds, 
 although it had cost the State not less than a million. 
 The salt wells and canal lands in the Saline reserve 
 in Gallatin County, granted by the general Govern- 
 ment to the State, were also authorized by the 
 Governor to be sold, to apply on the State debt. In 
 r85o, for the first time since 1839, the accruing State 
 revenue, exclusive of specific appropriations, was 
 sufficient to meet the current demands upon the 
 treasury. The aggregate taxable property of the 
 State at this time was over $100,000,000, and the 
 population 851,470. 
 
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 In 1849 the Legislature adopted the township or- 
 ganization law, which, however, proved defective, 
 and was properly amended in 185 1. At its session 
 in the latter year, the General Assembly also passed 
 a law to exempt homesteads from sale on executions. 
 This beneficent measure had been repeatedly urged 
 upon that body by Gov. French. 
 
 In 1850 some business men in St. Louis com- 
 menced to build a dike opposite the lower part of 
 their city on the Illinois side, to keep the Mississippi 
 in its channel near St. Louis, instead of breaking 
 away from them as it sometimes threatened to do. 
 This they undertook without permission from the 
 Legislature or Executive authority of this State ; and 
 as many of the inhabitants there complained that 
 the scheme would inundate and ruin much valuable 
 land, there was a slight conflict of jurisdictions, re- 
 sulting in favor of the St. Louis project ; and since 
 then a good site has existed there for a city (East St. 
 Louis), and now a score of railroads center there. 
 
 It was in September, 1850, that Congress granted 
 to this State nearly 3,000,000 acres of land in aid of 
 the completion of the Illinois Central Railroad, 
 which constituted the most important epoch in the 
 railroad — we might say internal improvement — his- 
 tory of the State. The road was rushed on to com- 
 pletion, which accelerated the settlement of the in- 
 terior of the State by a good class of industrious citi- 
 zens, and by the charter a good income to the State 
 Treasury is paid in from the earnings of the road. 
 
 In 1 85 1 the Legislature passed a law authorizing 
 free stock banks, which was the source of much leg- 
 islative discussion for a number of years. 
 
 But we have riot space further to particularize 
 concerning legislation. Gov. French's administra- 
 tion was not marked by any feature to be criticised, 
 while the country was settling up as never before. 
 
 In stature, Gov. French was of medium height, 
 squarely built, light complexioned, with ruddy face 
 and pleasant countenance. In manners he was 
 plain and agreeable. By nature he was somewhat 
 diffident, but he was often very outspoken in his con- 
 victions of duty. In public speech he was not an 
 orator, but was chaste, earnest and persuasive. In 
 business he was accurate and methodical, and in his 
 administration he kept up the credit of the State. 
 
 He died in 1865, at his home in Lebanon, St. 
 Clair Co., 111. 
 
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 GO VERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 
 
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 3:0EL A. MATTESON, Governor 
 1853-6, was born Aug. 8, 1808, 
 in Jefferson County, New York, 
 to which place his father had re- 
 moved from Vermont three years 
 before. His father was a farmer 
 in fair circumstances, but a com- 
 mon English education was all 
 that his only son received. Young 
 Joel first tempted fortune as a 
 small tradesman in Prescott, 
 Canada, before he was of age. 
 He returned from that place to 
 his home, entered an academy, 
 taught school, visited the prin- 
 cipal Eastern cities, improved a farm his father had 
 given him, made a tour in the South, worked there 
 in building railroads, experienced a storm on the 
 Gulf of Mexico, visited the gold diggings of Northern 
 Georgia, and returned via Nashville to St. Louis and 
 through Illinois to his father's home, when he mar- 
 ried. In 1833, having sold his farm, he removed, 
 with his wife and one child, to Illinois, and entered 
 a claim on Government land near the head of A11 
 Sable River, in what is now Kendall County. At 
 that time there were not more than, two neighbors 
 within a range of ten miles of his place, and only 
 three or four houses between him and Chicago. He 
 opened a large farm. His family was boarded 1 2 
 
 miles away while he erected a house on his claim, 
 sleeping, during this time, under a rude pole shed. 
 Here his life was once placed in imminent peril by 
 a huge prairie rattlesnake sharing his bed. 
 
 In 1835 he bought largely at the Government land 
 sales. During the speculative real-estate mania which 
 broke out in Chicago in 1836 and spread over the State, 
 he sold his lands under the inflation of that period 
 and removed to Joliet. In 1838 he became a heavy 
 contractor on the Illinois & Michigan Canal. Upon 
 the completion of his job in 1841, when hard times 
 prevailed, business at a stand, contracts paid in State 
 scrip; when all the public works except the canal 
 were abandoned, the State offered for sale 700 tons 
 of railroad iron, which was purchased by Mr. Mat- 
 teson at a bargain. This he accepted, shipped and 
 sold at Detroit, realizing a very handsome profit, 
 enough to pay off all his canal debts and leave him a 
 surplus of several thousand dollars. His enterprise 
 next prompted him to start a woolen mill at Joliet, 
 in which he prospered, and which, after successive 
 enlargements, became an enormous establishment. 
 
 In 1842 he was first elected a State Senator, but, 
 by a bungling apportionment, John Pearson, a Senator 
 holding over, was found to be in the same district, 
 and decided to be entitled to represent it. Mat- 
 teson's seat was declared vacant. Pearson, however, 
 with a nobleness difficult to appreciate in this day of 
 
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 JOEL A. MATTESON. 
 
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 greed for office, unwilling to represent his district 
 under the circumstances, immediately resigned his 
 unexpired term of two years. A bill was 'passed in a 
 few hours ordering a new election, and in ten days' 
 time Mr. Matteson was returned re-elected and took 
 his seat as Senator. From his well-known capacity 
 as a business man, he was made Chairman of the 
 Committee on Finance, a position he held during 
 this half and two full succeeding Senatorial terms, 
 discharging its important duties with ability and faith- 
 fulness. Besides his extensive woolen-mill interest, 
 when work was resumed on the canal under the new 
 loan of $r, 600,000 he again became a heavy con- 
 tractor, and also subsequently operated largely in 
 building railroads. Thus he showed himself a most 
 energetic and thorough business man. 
 
 He was nominated for Governor by the Demo- 
 cratic State Convention which met at Springfield 
 April 20, 1852. Other candidates before the Con- 
 vention were D. L. Gregg and F. C. Sherman, of 
 Cook ; John Dement, of Lee ; Thomas L. Harris, of 
 Menard ; Lewis W. Ross, of Fulton ; and D. P. Bush, 
 of Pike. Gustavus Koerner, of St. Clair, was nom- 
 inated for Lieutenant Governor. For the same offices 
 the Whigs nominated Edwin B. Webb and Dexter A. 
 Knowlton. Mr. Matteson received 80,645 votes at 
 the election, while Mr. Webb received 64,408. Mat- 
 teson's forte was not on the stump; he had not cul- 
 tivated the art of oily flattery, or the faculty of being 
 all things to all men. His intellectual qualities took 
 rather the direction of efficient executive ability. His 
 turn consisted not so much in the adroit manage- 
 ment of party, or the powerful advocacy of great gov- 
 ernmental principles, as in those more solid and 
 enduring operations which cause the physical devel- 
 opment and advancement of a State, — of commerce 
 and business enterprise, into which he labored with 
 success to lead the people. As a politician he was 
 just and liberal in his views, and both in official and 
 private life he then stood untainted and free from 
 blemish. As a man, in active benevolence, social 
 virtues and all the amiable qualities of neighbor or 
 citizen, he had few superiors. His. messages present 
 a perspicuous array of facts as to the condition of the 
 State, and are often couched in forcible and elegant 
 diction. 
 
 The greatest excitement during his term of office 
 was the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, by Con- 
 
 gress, under the leadership of Stephen A. Douglas in 
 1854, when the bill was passed organizing the Terri- 
 tory of Kansas and Nebraska. A large portion of 
 the Whig party of the North, through their bitter op- 
 position to the Democratic party, naturally drifted 
 into the doctrine of anti-slavery, and thus led to what 
 was temporarily called the " Anti-Nebraska " party, 
 while the followers of Douglas were known as " Ne- 
 braska or Douglas Democrats." It was during this 
 embryo stage of the Republican party that Abraham 
 Lincoln was brought forward as the "Anti-Nebraska" 
 candidate for the United States Senatorship, while 
 Gen. James Shields, the incumbent, was re-nom- 
 inated by the Democrats. But after a few ballotings 
 in the Legislature,(i85s), these men were dropped, 
 and Lyman Trumbull, an Anti-Nebraska Democrat, 
 was brought up by the former, and Mr. Matteson, 
 then Governor, by the latter. On the nth ballot 
 Mr. Trumbull obtained one majority, and was ac- 
 cordingly declared elected. Before Gov. Matteson's 
 term expired, the Republicans were fully organized 
 as a national party, and in 1856 put into the field a 
 full national and State ticket, carrying the State, but 
 not the nation. 
 
 The Legislature of 1855 passed two very import- 
 ant measures, — the present free-school system and a 
 submission of the Maine liquor law to a vote of the 
 people. The latter was defeated by a small majority 
 of the popular vote. 
 
 During the four years of Gov. Matteson's admin- 
 istration the taxable wealth of the State was about 
 trebled, from $137,818,079 to $349,951,272; the pub- 
 lic debt was reduced from $17,398,985 to $^,843,- 
 144; taxation was at the same time reduced, and the 
 State resumed paying interest on its debt in New 
 York as fast as it fell due ; railroads were increased 
 in their mileage from something less than 400 to 
 about 3,000; and the population of Chicago was 
 nearly doubled, and its commerce more than quad- 
 rupled. 
 
 Before closing this account, we regret that we have 
 to say that Mr. Matteson, in all other respects an 
 upright man and a good Governor, was implicated 
 in a false re-issue of redeemed canal scrip, amount- 
 ing to $224,182.66. By a suit in the Sangamon Cir- 
 cuit Court the State recovered the principal and all 
 the interest excepting $27,500. 
 
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 He died in the winter of 1872-3, at Chicago. 
 
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 ILLIAM H. BISSELL, Gov- 
 ernor 1857-60, was born 
 April 25, 181 1, in the 
 State of New York, near 
 Painted Post, Yates County. 
 His parents were obscure, 
 honest, God-fearing people, 
 who reared their children under the daily 
 example of industry and frugality, accord- 
 ing to the custom of that class of Eastern 
 society. Mr. Bissell received a respecta- 
 ble but not thorough academical education. 
 By assiduous application he acquired a 
 knowledge of medicine, and in his early 
 manhood came West and located in Mon- 
 roe County, this State, where he engaged in the 
 practice of that profession. But he was not enam- 
 ored of his calling: he was swayed by a broader 
 ambition, to such an extent that the mysteries of the 
 healing art and its arduous duties failed to yield him 
 further any charms. In a few years he discovered 
 his choice of a profession to be a mistake, and when 
 he approached the age of 30 he sought to begin 
 anew. Dr. Bissell, no doubt unexpectedly to him- 
 self, discovered a singular facility and charm of 
 speech, the exercise of which acquired for him a 
 ready local notoriety. It soon came to be under- 
 
 stood that he desired to abandon his profession and 
 take up that of the law. During terms of Court he 
 would spend his time at the county seat among the 
 members of the Bar, who extended to him a ready 
 welcome. 
 
 It was not strange, therefore, that he should drift 
 into public life. In 1840 he was elected as a Dem- 
 ocrat to the Legislature from Monroe County, and 
 was an efficient member of that body. On his re- 
 turn home he qualified himself for admission to the 
 Bar and speedily rose to the front rank as an advo- 
 cate. His powers of oratory were captivating. With a 
 pure diction, charming and inimitable gestures, 
 clearness of statement, and a remarkable vein of sly 
 humor, his efforts before a jury told with irresistible 
 effect. He was chosen by the Legislature Prosecut- 
 ing Attorney for the Circuit in which he lived, and 
 in that position he fully discharged his duty to the 
 State, gained the esteem 0/ the Bar, and seldom 
 failed to convict the offender of the law. 
 
 In stature he was somewhat tall and slender, and 
 with a straight, military bearing, he presented a dis- 
 tinguished appearance. His complexion was dark, 
 his head well poised, though not large, his address 
 pleasant and manner winning. He was exemplary 
 in his habits, a devoted husband and kind parent. 
 He was twice married, the first time to Miss James, 
 
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 of Monroe County, by whom he had two children, 
 both daughters. She died soon after the year 1840, 
 and Mr. B. married for his second wife a daughter 
 of Elias K. Kane, previously a United States Senator 
 from this State. She survived him but a short time, 
 and died without issue. 
 
 When the war with Mexico was declared in 1846, 
 Mr. Bissell enlisted and was elected Colonel of his 
 regiment, over Hon. Don Morrison, by an almost 
 unanimous vote, — 807 to 6. Considering the limited 
 opportunities he had had, he evinced a high order of 
 military talent. On the bloody field of Buena Vista 
 he acquitted himself with intrepid and distinguished 
 ability, contributing with his regiment, the Second 
 Illinois, in no small degree toward saving the waver- 
 ing fortunes of our arms during that long and fiercely 
 contested battle. 
 
 After his return home, at the close of the war, he 
 was elected to Congress, his opponents being the 
 Hons. P. B. Fouke and Joseph Gillespie. He served 
 two terms in Congress. He was an ardent politician. 
 During the great contest of 1850 he voted in favor 
 of the adjustment measures ; but in 1854 he opposed 
 the repeal of the Missouri Compromise act and 
 therefore the Kansas-Nebraska bill of Douglas, and 
 thus became identified with the nascent Republican 
 party. 
 
 During his first Congressional term, while the 
 Southern members were following their old practice 
 of intimidating the North by bullying language, 
 and claiming most of the credit for victories in the 
 Mexican War, and Jefferson Davis claiming for the 
 Mississippi troops all the credit for success at Buena 
 Vista, Mr. Bissell bravely defended the Northern 
 troops ; whereupon Davis challenged Bissell to a duel, 
 which was accepted. This matter was brought up 
 against Bissell when he was candidate for Governor 
 and during his term of office, as the Constitution of 
 this State forbade any duelist from holding a State 
 office. 
 
 In 1856, when the Republican party first put forth 
 a candidate, John C. Fremont, for President of the 
 United States, the same party nominated Mr. Bissell 
 for Governor of Illinois, and John Wood, of Quincy, 
 for Lieutenant Governor, while the Democrats nomi- 
 nated Hon. W. A. Richardson, of Adams County, 
 for Governor, and Col. R. J. Hamilton, of Cook 
 County, for Lieutenant Governor. The result of the 
 
 election was a plurality of 4,729 votes over Richard- 
 son. The American, or Know-Nothing, party had a 
 ticket in the field. The Legislature was nearly bal- 
 anced, but was politically opposed to the Governor. 
 His message to the Legislature was short and rather 
 ordinary, and was criticised for expressing the sup- 
 posed obligations of the people to the incorporators 
 of the Illinois Central Railroad Company and for re- 
 opening the slavery question by allusions to the 
 Kansas troubles. Late in the session an apportion- 
 ment bill, based upon the State census of 1855, was 
 passed, amid much partisan strife. The Governor 
 at first signed the bill and then vetoed it. A furious 
 debate followed, and the question whether the Gov- 
 ernor had the authority to recall a signature was 
 referred to the Courts, that of last resort deciding in 
 favor of the Governor. Two years afterward another 
 outrageous attempt was made for a re-apportionment 
 and to gerrymander the State, but the Legislature 
 failed to pass the bill over the veto of the Governor. 
 
 It was during Gov. Bissell's administration that 
 the notorious canal scrip fraud was brought to light, 
 implicating ex-Gov. Matteson and other prominent 
 State officials. The principal and interest, aggregat- 
 ing $255,500, was all recovered by the State except- 
 ing $27,500. (See sketch of Gov. Matteson.) 
 
 In 1859 an attempt was discovered to fraudu- 
 lently refund the Macalister and Stebbins bonds and 
 thus rob the State Treasury of nearly a quarter of a 
 million dollars. The State Government was impli- 
 cated in this affair, and to this day remains unex- 
 plained or unatoned for. For the above, and other 
 matters previously mentioned, Gov. Bissell has been 
 severely criticised, and he has also been most shame- 
 fully libelled and slandered. 
 
 On account of exposure in the army, the remote 
 cause of a nervous form of disease gained entrance 
 into his system and eventually developed paraplegia, 
 affecting his lower extremities, which, while it left 
 his body in comparative health, deprived him of loco- 
 motion except by the aid of crutches. While he was 
 generally hopeful of ultimate recovery, this myste- 
 rious disease pursued him, without once relaxing its 
 stealthy hold, to the close of his life, March 18, 
 i860, over nine months before the expiration of his 
 gubernatorial term, at the early age of 48 years. He 
 died in the faith of the Roman Catholic Church, of 
 which he hart been a member since 1854. 
 
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 GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 
 
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 J : OHN WOOD, Governoir 1860-1, and 
 the first settler of Quincy, 111., 
 was born in the town of Sempro- 
 nius (now Moravia), Cayuga Co., 
 N. Y., Dec. 20, 1798. He was 
 the second child and only son of 
 Dr. Daniel Wood. His mother, 
 nee Catherine Crause, was of 
 German parentage, and died 
 while he was an infant. Dr. 
 Wood was a learned and skillful 
 physician, of classical attain- 
 ments and proficient in several 
 modern languages, who, after 
 serving throughout the Revolu- 
 tionary War as a Surgeon, settled on the land granted 
 him. by the Government, and resided there a re- 
 spected and leading influence in his section until his 
 death, at the ripe age of 92 years. 
 
 The subject of this sketch, impelled by the spirit 
 of Western adventure then pervading everywhere, 
 left his home, Nov. 2, 18 18, and passed the succeed- 
 ing winter in Cincinnati, Ohio. The following sum- 
 mer he pushed on to Illinois, landing at Shawneetown, 
 and spent the fall and following winter in Calhoun 
 County. In r82o, in company with Willard Keyes, 
 he settled in Pike County, about 30 miles southeast 
 of Quincy, where for the next two years he pursued 
 farming. In 182T he visited "the Bluffs" (as the 
 present site of Quincy was called, then uninhabited) 
 and, pleased with its prospects, soon after purchased 
 a quarter-section of land near by, and in the follow- 
 ing fall (1822) erected near the river a small cabin, 
 
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 18 x 20 feet, the first building in Quincy, of which 
 he then became the first and for some months the 
 only occupant. 
 
 About this time he visited his old friends in Pike 
 County, chief of whom was William Ross, the lead- 
 ing man in building up the village of Atlas, of that 
 county, which was thought then to be the possible TJ? 
 commencement of a city. One day they and others 
 were traveling together over the country between the 
 two points named, making observations on the com- 
 parative merits of the respective localities. On ap- 
 proaching the Mississippi near Mr. Wood's place, 
 the latter told his companions to follow him and he 
 would show them where he was going to build a city. 
 They went about a mile off the main trail, to a high 
 point, from which the view in every direction was 
 most magnificent, as it had been for ages and as yet 
 untouched by the hand of man. Before them swept 
 by the majestic Father of Waters, yet unburdened by 
 navigation. After Mr. Wood had expatiated at 
 length on the advantages of the situation, Mr. Ross 
 replied, " But it's too near Atlas ever to amount to 
 anything!" 
 
 Atlas is still a cultivated farm, and Quincy is a 
 city of over 30,000 population. 
 
 In 1824 Mr. Wood gave a newspaper notice, 
 as the law then prescribed, of his intention to apply 
 to the General Assembly for the formation of a new 
 county. This was done the following winter, result- 
 ing in the establishment of the present Adams 
 County. During the next summer Quincy was se- 
 lected as the county seat, it and the vicinity then 
 containing but four adult male residents and half 
 
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 that number of females. Sinoe that period Mr. 
 Wood resided at the place of his early adoption un- 
 til his death, and far more than any other man was 
 he identified with every measure of its progress and 
 history, and almost continuously kept in public posi- 
 tions. 
 
 He was one of the early town Trustees, and after 
 the place became a city he was often a member of 
 the City Council, many times elected Mayor, in the 
 face of a constant large opposition political majority. 
 In 1850 he was elected to the State Senate. In 1856, 
 on the organization of the Republican party, he was 
 chosen Lieutenant Governor of the State, on the 
 ticket with Wm. H. Bissell for Governor, and on the 
 death of the latter, March 18, i860, he succeeded to 
 the Chief Executive chair, which he occupied until 
 Gov. Yates was inaugurated nearly ten months after- 
 ward. 
 
 Nothing very marked characterized the adminis- 
 tration of Gov. Wood. The great anti-slavery cam- 
 paign of i860, resulting in the election of the honest 
 Illinoisan, Abraham Lincoln, to the Presidency of the 
 United States, occurred during the short period 
 while Mr. Wood was Governor, and the excitement 
 and issues of that struggle dominated over every 
 other consideration, — indeed, supplanted them in a 
 great measure. The people of Illinois, during all 
 that time, were passing the comparatively petty strifes 
 under Bissell 's administration to the overwhelming 
 issue of preserving the whole nation from destruction. 
 
 In 1 86 1 ex-Gov. Wood was one of the five Dele- 
 gates from Illinois to the " Peace Convention " at 
 Washington, and in April of the same year, on the 
 breaking out of the Rebellion, he was appointed 
 
 Quartermaster-General of the State, which position 
 he held throughout the war. In 1864 he took com- 
 mand as Colonel of the 137 th 111. Vol. Inf., with 
 whom he served until the period of enlistment ex- 
 pired. 
 
 Politically, Gov. Wood was always actively identi- 
 fied with the Whig and Republican parties. Few 
 men have in personal experience comprehended so 
 many surprising and advancing local changes as 
 vested in the more than half century recollections of 
 Gov. Wood. Sixty-four years ago a solitary settler 
 on the "Bluffs, - ' with no family, and no neighbor 
 within a score of miles, the world of civilization away 
 behind him, and the strolling red-man almost his 
 only visitant, he lived to see growing around him, 
 and under his auspices and aid, overspreading the 
 wild hills and scraggy forest a teaming city, second 
 only in size in the State, and surpassed nowhere in 
 beauty, prosperity and promise ; whose people recog- 
 nize as with a single voice the proverbial honor and 
 liberality that attach to the name and lengthened 
 life of their pioneer settler, "the old Governor." 
 
 Gov. Wood was twice married, — first in January, 
 1826, to Ann M. Streeter, daughter of Joshua Streeter, 
 formerly of Salem, Washington Co., N. Y. They had 
 eight children. Mrs. W. died Oct. 8, 1863, and in 
 June, 1865, Gov. Wood married Mrs. Mary A., widow 
 of Rev. Joseph T. Holmes. Gov. Wood died June 4, 
 1880, at his residence in Quincy. Four of his eight 
 children are now living, namely: Ann E., wife of 
 Gen. John Tillson; Daniel C, who married Mary J. 
 Abernethy; John, Jr., who married Josephine Skinner, 
 and Joshua S., who married Annie Bradley. The 
 last mentioned now resides at Atchison, Kansas, and 
 all the rest are still at Quincy. 
 
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 GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 
 
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 ICHARD YATES, the "War 
 Governor," 1 86 1-4, was born 
 Jan. 18, 1818, on the banks of 
 the Ohio River, at Warsaw, 
 Gallatin Co., Ky. His father 
 moved in 1831 to Illinois, and ( 
 after stopping for a time in 
 Springfield, settled at Island 
 Grove, Sangamon County. Here, 
 after attending school, Richard joined 
 the family. Subsequently he entered 
 Illinois College at Jacksonville, 
 where, in 1837, he graduated with 
 first honors. He chose for his pro- 
 fession the law, the Hon. J. J. Har- 
 din being his instructor. After ad- 
 mission to the Bar he soon rose to distinction as an 
 advocate. 
 
 Gifted with a fluent and ready oratory, he soon 
 appeared in the political hustings, and, being a 
 passionate admirer of the great Whig leader of the 
 West, Henry Clay, he joined his political fortunes to 
 the party of his idol. In 1840 he engaged with great 
 ardor in the exciting " hard cider " campaign for 
 Harrison. Two years later he was elected to the 
 Legislature from Morgan County, a Democratic 
 stronghold. He served three or four terms in the 
 Legislature, and such was the fascination of his ora- 
 tory that by 1850 his large Congressional District, 
 extending from Morgan and Sangamon Counties 
 north to include LaSalle, unanimously tendered him 
 the Whig nomination for Congress. His Democratic 
 opponent was Maj. Thomas L. Harris, a very pop- 
 ular man who had won distinction at the battle of 
 Cerro Gordo, in the Mexican War, and who had 
 beaten Hon. Stephen T. Logan for the same position, 
 
 two years before, by a large majority. Yates was 
 elected. Two years later he was re-elected, over 
 John Calhoun. 
 
 It was during Yates' second term in Congress that 
 the great question of the repeal of the Missouri Com- 
 promise was agitated, and the bars laid down for re- 
 opening the dreaded anti-slavery question. He took 
 strong grounds against the repeal, and thus became 
 identified with the rising Republican party. Conse- 
 quently he fell into the minority in his district, which 
 was pro-slavery. Even then, in a third contest, he 
 fell behind Major Harris only 200 votes, after the 
 district had two years before given Pierce 2,000 
 majority for President. 
 
 The Republican State Convention of 1 860 met at 
 Decatur May 9, and nominated for the office of Gov- 
 ernor Mr. Yates, in preference to Hon. Norman B. 
 Judd, of Chicago, and Leonard Swett, of Blooming- 
 ton, two of the ablest men of the State, who were 
 also candidates before the Convention. Francis A. 
 Hoffman, of DuPage County, was nominated for 
 Lieutenant Governor. This was the year when Mr. 
 Lincoln was a candidate for President, a period re- 
 membered as characterized by the great whirlpool 
 which precipitated the bloody War of the Rebellion. 
 The Douglas Democrats nominated J. C. Allen of 
 Crawford County, for Governor, and Lewis W. Ross, 
 of Fulton County, for Lieutenant Governor. The 
 Breckenridge Democrats and the Bell-Everett party 
 had also full tickets in the field. After a most fear- 
 ful campaign, the result of the election gave Mr. 
 Yates 172,196 votes, and Mr. Allen 159,253. Mr. 
 Yates received over a thousand more votes than did 
 Mr. Lincoln himself. 
 
 Gov. Yates occupied the chair of State during the 
 
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 1 60 
 
 RICHARD YATES. 
 
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 most critical period of our country's history. In the 
 fate of the nation was involved that of each State. 
 The life struggle of the former derived its sustenance 
 from the loyalty of the latter; and Gov. Yates 
 seemed to realize the situation, and proved himself 
 both loyal and wise in upholding the Government. 
 He had a deep hold upon the affections of the 
 people, won by his moving eloquence and genial 
 manners. Erect and symmetrical in person, of pre- 
 possessing appearance, with a winning address and a 
 magnetic power, few men possessed more of the ele- 
 ments of popularity. His oratory was scholarly and 
 captivating, his hearers hardly knowing why they 
 were transported. He was social and convivial. In 
 the latter respect he was ultimately carried too far. 
 
 The very creditable military efforts of this State 
 during the War of the Rebellion, in putting into the 
 field the enormous number of about 200,000 soldiers, 
 were ever promptly and ably seconded by his excel- 
 lency ; and the was ambitious to deserve the title of 
 "the soldier's friend." Immediately after the battle of 
 Shiloh he repaired to the field of carnage to look 
 after the wounded, and his appeals for aid were 
 promptly responded to by the people. His procla- 
 mations calling for volunteers were impassionate 
 appeals, urging upon the people the duties and re- 
 quirements of patriotism ; and his special message 
 in 1863 to the Democratic Legislature of this State 
 pleading for material aid for the sick and wounded 
 soldiers of Illinois regiments, breathes a deep fervor 
 of noble sentiment and feeling rarely equaled in 
 beauty or felicity of expression. Generally his mes- 
 sages on political and civil affairs were able and com- 
 prehensive. During his administration, however, 
 there were no civil events of an engrossing character, 
 although two years of his time were replete with 
 partisan quarrels of great bitterness. Military ar- 
 rests, Knights of the Golden Circle, riot in Fulton 
 County, attempted suppression of the Chicago Times 
 and the usurping State Constitutional Convention of 
 1862, were the chief local topics that were exciting 
 during the Governor's term. This Convention assem- 
 bled Jan. 7, and at once took the high position that 
 the law calling it was no longer binding, and that it 
 had supreme power; that it represented a virtual 
 assemblage of the whole people of the State, and was 
 sovereign in the exercise of all power necessary to 
 effect a peaceable revolution of the State Government 
 
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 and to the re-establishment of one for the "happiness, 
 prosperity and freedom of the citizens," limited only 
 by the Federal Constitution. Notwithstanding the 
 law calling the Convention required its members to 
 take an oath to support the Constitution of the State 
 as well as that of the general Government, they 
 utterly refused to take such oath. They also as- 
 sumed legislative powers and passed several import- 
 ant "laws!" Interfering with the (then) present 
 executive duties, Gov. Yates was provoked to tell 
 them plainly that " he did not acknowledge the right 
 of the Convention to instruct him in the performance 
 of his duty." 
 
 In 1863 the Governor astonished the Democrats 
 by " proroguing " their Legislature. This body, after 
 a recess, met June 2, that year, and soon began to 
 waste time upon various partisan resolutions ; and, 
 while the two houses were disagreeing upon the 
 question of adjourning sine die, the Governor, having 
 the authority in such cases, surprised them all by 
 adjourning them " to the Saturday next preceding the 
 first Monday in January, 1865 ! " This led to great 
 excitement and confusion, and to a reference of the 
 Governor's act to the Supreme Court, who decided in 
 his favor. Then it was the Court's turn to receive 
 abuse for weeks and months afterward. 
 
 During the autumn of 1864 a conspiracy was de- 
 tected at Chicago which had for its object the liber- 
 ation of the prisoners of war at Camp Douglas, the 
 burning of the city and the inauguration of rebellion 
 in the North. Gen. Sweet, who had charge of the 
 camp at the time, first had his suspicions of danger 
 aroused by a number of enigmatically worded letters 
 which passed through the Camp postoffice. A de- 
 tective afterward discovered that the rebel Gen. 
 Marmaduke was in the city, under an assumed 
 name, and he, with other rebel officers — Grenfell, 
 Morgan, Cantrell, Buckner Morris, and Charles 
 Walsh — was arrested, most of whom were convicted 
 by a court-martial at Cincinnati and sentenced to 
 imprisonment, — Grenfell to be hung. The sentence 
 of the latter was afterward commuted to imprison- 
 ment for life, and all the others, after nine months' 
 imprisonment, were pardoned. 
 
 In March, 1873, Gov. Yates was appointed a Gov- 
 ernment Director of the Union Pacific Railroad, in 
 which office he continued until his decease, at St. 
 Louis, Mo., on the 27th of November following. 
 
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GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 
 
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 Michard J. Ogles 
 
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 -•M* *- 
 
 ICHARD J. OGLESBY, Gov- 
 ernor 1865-8, and re-elected 
 in 1872 and 1884, was born 
 July 25, 1824, in Oldham Co., 
 Ky., — the State which might 
 be considered the " mother of 
 Illinois Governors." Bereft of 
 his parents at the tender age 
 of eight years, his early education 
 was neglected. When 12 years of 
 age, and after he had worked a year 
 and a half at the carpenter's trade, 
 he removed with an uncle, Willis 
 Oglesby, into whose care he had 
 been committed, to Decatur, this 
 State, where he continued his ap- 
 prenticeship as a mechanic, working six months for 
 Hon. E. O. Smith. 
 
 In 1844 he commenced studying law at Spring- 
 field, with Judge Silas Robbins, and read with him 
 one year. He was admitted to the Bar in 1845, and 
 commenced the practice of his chosen profession at 
 Sullivan, the county seat of Moultrie County. 
 
 The next year the war with Mexico was com- 
 menced, and in June, 1846, Mr. Oglesby volunteered, 
 was elected First Lieutenant of Co. C, Fourth Illinois 
 Regiment of Volunteers, and participated in the bat- 
 tles of Vera Cruz and Cerro Gordo. 
 
 On his return he sought to perfect his law studies 
 by attending a course of lectures at Louisville, but 
 on the breaking out of the California "gold fever " in 
 1849, he crossed the plains and mountains to the 
 new Eldorado, driving a six-mule team, with a com- 
 
 pany of eight men, Henry Prather being the leader. 
 
 In 1852 he returned home to Macon County, and 
 was placed that year by the Whig party on the ticket 
 of Presidential Electors. In 1856 he visited Europe, 
 Asia and Africa, being absent 20 months. On his 
 return home he resumed the practice of law, as a 
 member of the firm of Gallagher, Wait & Oglesby. 
 In 1858 he was the Republican nominee for the 
 Lower House of Congress, but was defeated by the 
 Hon. James C. Robinson, Democrat. In i860 he 
 was elected to the Illinois State Senate ; and on the 
 evening the returns of this election were coming in, 
 Mr. Oglesby had a fisticuff encounter with " Cerro 
 Gordo Williams," in which he came out victorious, 
 and which was regarded as " the first fight of the 
 Rebellion." The following spring, when the war 
 had commenced in earnest, his ardent nature 
 quickly responded to the demands of patriotism and 
 he enlisted. The extra session of the Legislature 
 elected him Colonel of the Eighth Illinois Infantry, 
 the second one in the State raised to suppress the 
 great Rebellion. 
 
 He was shortly entrusted with important com- 
 mands. For a time he was stationed at Bird's Point 
 and Cairo ; in April he was promoted Brigadier Gen- 
 eral ; at Fort Donelson his brigade was in the van, 
 being stationed on the right of General Grant's army 
 and the first brigade to be attacked. He lost 500 
 men before re-inforcements arrived. Many of these 
 men were from Macon County. He was engaged in 
 the battle of Corinth, and, in a brave charge at this 
 place, was shot in the left lung with an ounce ball, 
 and was carried from the field in expectation of im- 
 
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 164 
 
 RICHARD J. OGLESBY. 
 
 mediate death. That rebel ball he carries to this 
 day. On his partial recovery he was promoted as 
 Major General, for gallantry, his commission to rank 
 from November, 1862. In the spring of 1863 he 
 was assigned to the command of the 16th Army 
 Corps, but, owing to inability from the effects of his 
 wound, he relinquished this command in July, that 
 year. Gen. Grant, however, refused to accept his 
 resignation, and he was detailed, in December follow- 
 ing, to court-martial and try the Surgeon General of 
 the Army at Washington, where he remained until 
 May, 1864, when he returned home. 
 
 The Republican, or Union, State Convention of 
 
 1864 was held at Springfield, May 25, when Mr. 
 Oglesby was nominated for the office of Governor, 
 while other candidates before the Convention were 
 Allen C. Fuller, of Boone, Jesse K. Dubois, of Sanga- 
 mon, and John M. Palmer, of Macoupin. Wm. 
 Bross, of Chicago, was nominated for Lieutenant 
 Governor. On the Democratic State ticket were 
 James C. Robinson, of Clark, for Governor, and S. 
 Corning Judd, of Fulton, for Lieutenant Governor. 
 The general election gave Gen. Oglesby a majority 
 of about 31,000 votes. The Republicans had also a 
 majority in both the Legislature and in the repre- 
 sentation in Congress. 
 
 Gov. Oglesby was duly inaugurated Jan. 17, r865. 
 The day before the first time set for his installation 
 death visited his home at Decatur, and took from it 
 his only son, an intelligent and sprightly lad of six 
 years, a great favorite of the bereaved parents. This 
 caused the inauguration to be postponed a week. 
 
 The political events of the Legislative session of 
 
 1865 were the election of ex-Gov. Yates to the 
 United States Senate, and the ratification of the 13th 
 amendment to the Constitution of the United States, 
 abolishing slavery. This session also signalized 
 itself by repealing the notorious "black laws," part 
 of which, although a dead letter, had held their place 
 upon the statute books since 181 9. Also, laws re- 
 quiring the registration of voters, and establishing a 
 State Board of Equalization, were passed by this Leg- 
 islature. But the same body evinced that it was cor- 
 ruptly influenced by a mercenary lobby, as it adopted 
 some bad legislation, over the Governor's veto, nota- 
 bly an amendment to a charter for a Chicago horse 
 railway, granted in 1859 for 25 years, and now 
 sought to be extended 99 years. As this measure 
 was promptly passed over his veto by both branches 
 of the Legislature, he deemed it useless further to 
 attempt to check their headlong career. At this 
 session no law of a general useful character or public 
 interest was perfected, unless we count such the 
 turning over of the canal to Chicago to be deepened. 
 The session of 1867 was still more productive of 
 private and special acts. Many omnibus bills were 
 proposed, and some passed. The contests over the 
 location of the Industrial College, the Capital, the 
 
 Southern Penitentiary, and the canal enlargement 
 and Illinois River improvement, dominated every- 
 thing else. 
 
 During the year 1872, it became evident that if 
 the Republicans could re-elect Mr. Oglesby to the 
 office of Governor, they could also elect him to the 
 United States Senate, which they desired to do. 
 Accordingly they re-nominated him for the Execu- 
 tive chair, and placed upon the ticket with him for 
 Lieutenant Governor, John L. Beveridge, of Cook 
 County. On the other side the Democrats put into 
 the field Gustavus Koemer for Governor and John 
 C. Black for Lieutenant Governor. The election 
 gave the Republican ticket majorities ranging from 
 35,334 to 56,174, — the Democratic defection being 
 caused mainly by tbeir having an old-time Whig and 
 Abolitionist, Horace Greeley, on the national ticket 
 for President. According to the general understand- 
 ing had beforehand, as soon as the Legislature met 
 it elected Gov. Oglesby to the United States Senate, 
 whereupon Mr. Beveridge became Governor. Sena- 
 tor Oglesby 's term expired March 4, 1879, having 
 served his party faithfully and exhibited an order of 
 statesmanship beyond criticism. 
 
 During the campaign of 1884 Mr. Oglesby was 
 nominated for a "third term" as Executive of the 
 State of Illinois, against Carter H. Harrison, Mayor 
 of Chicago, nominated by the Democrats. Both 
 gentlemen " stumped " the State, and while the peo- 
 ple elected a Legislature which was a tie on a joint 
 ballot, as between the two parties, they gave the 
 jovial " Dick" Oglesby a majority of i5,or8 for Gov- 
 ernor, and he was inaugurated Jan. 30, 1885. The 
 Legislature did not fully organize until this date, on 
 account of its equal division between the two main 
 parties and the consequent desperate tactics of each 
 party to checkmate the latter in the organization of 
 the House. 
 
 Gov. Oglesby is a fine-appearing, affable man, with 
 regular, well defined features and rotund face. In 
 stature he is a little above medium height, of a large 
 frame and somewhat fleshy. His physical appear- 
 ance is striking and prepossessing, while his straight- 
 out, not to say bluff, manner and speech are well 
 calculated favorably to impress the average masses. 
 Ardent in feeling and strongly committed to the pol- 
 icies of his party, he intensifies Republicanism 
 among Republicans, while at the same time his jovial 
 and liberal manner prevents those of the opposite 
 party from hating him. 
 
 He is quite an effective stump orator. With vehe- 
 ment, passionate and scornful tone and gestures, 
 tremendous physical power, which in speaking he 
 exercises to the utmost; with frequent descents to 
 the grotesque; and with abundant homely compari- 
 sons or frontier figures, expressed in the broadest 
 vernacular and enforced with stentorian emphasis, 
 he delights a promiscuous audience beyond measure. 
 
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GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 
 
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 John M. -Pal mem 
 
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 OHN Mc AULEY PALMER, Gov- 
 ernor 1869-72, was born on 
 Eagle Creek, Scott Co., Ky., 
 Sept. 13, 1817. During his in- 
 fancy, his father, who had been 
 a soldier in the war of 181 2, re- 
 moved to Christian Co., Ky., 
 where lands were cheap. Here 
 the future Governor of the great 
 Prairie State spent his childhood 
 and received such meager school- 
 ing as the new and sparsely set- 
 tled country afforded. To this 
 he added materially by diligent 
 reading, for which he evinced an 
 early aptitude. His father, an ardent Jackson man, 
 was also noted for his anti-slavery sentiments, which 
 he thoroughly impressed upon his children. In 183 1 
 he emigrated to Illinois, settling in Madison County. 
 Here the labor of improving a farm was pursued for 
 about two years, when the death of Mr. Palmer's 
 mother broke up the family. About this time Alton 
 College was opened, on the "manual labor " system, 
 and in the spring of 1834 young Palmer, with his 
 elder brother, Elihu, entered this school and remained 
 18 months. Next, for over three years, he tried 
 variously coopering, peddling and school-teaching. 
 
 During the summer of 1838 he formed the ac- 
 quaintance of Stephen A. Douglas, then making his 
 
 first canvass for Congress. Young, eloquent and in 
 political accord with Mr. Palmer, he won his confi- 
 dence, fired his ambition and fixed his purpose. The 
 following winter, while teaching near Canton, he be- 
 gan to devote his spare time to a desultory reading 
 of law, and in the spring entered a law office at Car- 
 linville, making his home with his elder brother, 
 Elihu. (The latter was a learned clergyman, of con- 
 siderable orginality of thought and doctrine.) On 
 the next meeting of the Supreme Court he was ad- 
 mitted to the Bar, Douglas being one of his examiners. 
 He was not immediately successful in his profession, 
 and would have located elsewhere than Carlinville 
 had he the requisite means. Thus his early poverty 
 was a blessing in disguise, for to it he now attributes 
 the success of his life. 
 
 From 1839 on, while he diligently pursued his 
 profession, he participated more or less in local 
 politics. In 1843 he became Probate Judge. In 
 1847 he was elected to the State Constitutional Con- 
 vention, where he took a leading part. In 1852 he 
 was elected to the State Senate, and at the special 
 session of February, 1854, true to the anti-slavery 
 sentiments bred in him, he took a firm stand in op- 
 position to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise; 
 and when the Nebraska question became a party 
 issue he refused to receive a re-nomination for the 
 Senatorship at the hands of the Democracy, issuing 
 a circular to that effect. A few weeks afterward, 
 
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 168 
 
 /0.ffW MC AULEY PALMER. 
 
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 however, hesitating to break with his party, he par- 
 ticipated in a Congressional Convention which nomi- 
 T. L. Harris against Richard Yates, and which 
 unqualifiedly approved the principles of the Kansas- 
 Nebraska act. But later in the campaign he made 
 the plunge, ran for the Senate as an Anti-Nebraska 
 Democrat, and was elected. The following winter 
 he put in nomination for the '.United States Senate 
 Mr. Trumbull, and was one of the five steadfast men 
 who voted for him until all the Whigs came to their 
 support and elected their man. 
 
 In 1856 he was Chairman of the Republican State 
 Convention at Bloomington. He ran for Congress in 
 1859, but was defeated. In i860 he was Republican 
 Presidential Elector for the State at large. In 1861 
 he was appointed one of the five Delegates (all Re- 
 publicans) sent by Illinois to the peace congress at 
 Washington. 
 
 When the civil conflict broke out, he offered his 
 services to his country, and was elected Colonel of the 
 14th 111. Vol. Inf., and participated in the engagements 
 at Island No. 10 ; at Farmington, where he skillfully 
 extricated his command from a dangerous position ; 
 at Stone River, where his division for several hours, 
 Dec. 31, 1862, held the advance and stood like a 
 rock, and for his gallantry there he was made Major 
 General ; at Chickamauga, where his and Van Cleve's 
 divisions for two hour.s maintained their position 
 when they were cut off by overpowering numbers. 
 Under Gen. Sherman, he was assigned to the 14th 
 Army Corps and participated in the Atlanta campaign. 
 At Peach-Tree Creek his prudence did much to avert 
 disaster. In February, 1865, Gen. Palmer was as- 
 signed to the military administration of Kentucky, 
 which was a delicate post. That State was about 
 half rebel and half Union, and those of the latter 
 element were daily fretted by the loss of their slaves. 
 He, who had been bred to the rules of common law, 
 trembled at the contemplation of his extraordinary 
 power over the persons and property of his fellow 
 men, with which he was vested in his capacity as 
 military Governor ; and he exhibited great caution in 
 the execution of the duties of his post. 
 
 Gen. Palmer was nominated for Governor of Illi- 
 nois by the Republican State Convention which met 
 at Peoria May 6, 1868, and his nomination would 
 probably have been made by acclamation had he not 
 persistently declared that he could not accept a can- 
 
 didature for the office. The result of the ensuing 
 election gave Mr. Palmer a majority of 44,707 over 
 John R. Eden, the Democratic nominee. 
 
 On the meeting of the Legislature in January, 
 1869, the first thing to arrest public attention was 
 that portion of the Governor's message which took 
 broad Slate's rights ground. This and some minor 
 points, which were more in keeping with the Demo- 
 cratic sentiment, constituted the entering wedge fjr 
 the criticisms and reproofs he afterward received 
 from the Republican party, and ultimately resulted 
 in his entire aleniation from the latter element. The 
 Legislature just referred to was noted for the intro- 
 duction of numerous bills in the interest of private 
 parties, which were embarrassing to the Governor. 
 Among the public acts passed was that which limited 
 railroad charges for passenger travel to a maximum 
 of three cents per mile ; and it was passed over the 
 Governor's veto. Also, they passed, over his veto, 
 the " tax-grabbing law " to pay railroad subscriptions, 
 the Chicago Lake Front bill, etc. The new State 
 Constitution of 1870, far superior to the old, was a 
 peaceful " revolution " which took place during Gov. 
 Palmer's term of office. The suffering caused by the 
 great Chicago Fire of October, 187 1, was greatly 
 alleviated by the prompt responses of his excellency. 
 
 Since the expiration of Gov. Palmers 's term, he has 
 been somewhat prominent in Illinois politics, and 
 has been talked of by many, especially in the Dem- 
 ocratic party, as the best man in the State for a 
 United States Senator. His business during life has 
 been that of the law. Few excel him in an accurate 
 appreciation of the depth and scope of its principles. 
 The great number of his able veto messages abun- 
 dantly testify not only this but also a rare capacity to 
 point them out. He is a logical and cogent reasoner 
 and an interesting, forcible and convincing speaker, 
 though not fluent or ornate. Without brilliancy, his 
 dealings are rather with facts and ideas than with 
 appeals to passions and prejudices. He is a patriot 
 and a statesman of very high order. Physically he is 
 above the medium height, of robust frame, ruddy 
 complexion and sanguine-nervous temperament. He 
 has a large cranial development, is vivacious, social 
 in disposition, easy of approach, unostentatious in his 
 habits of life, democratic in his habits and manners 
 and is a true American in his fundamental principles 
 of statesmanship. 
 
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 OHN LOWRiE BEVER- 
 IDGE, Governor 1873-6, was 
 born in the town of Green- 
 wich, Washington Co., N. Y., 
 July 6, 1824. His parents 
 were George and Ann Bever- 
 idge. His father's parents, An- 
 drew and Isabel Beveridge, be- 
 fore their marriage emigrated 
 from Scotland just before the 
 Revolutionary War, settling in 
 Washington County. His father 
 was the eldest of eight brothers, the 
 youngest of whom was 60 years of 
 age when the first one of the num- 
 ber died. His mother's parents, 
 James and Agnes Hoy, emigrated 
 from Scotland at the close of the 
 Revolutionary War, settling also in 
 Washington Co., N. Y., with their 
 first-born, whose " native land "was 
 the wild ocean. His parents and 
 grandparents lived beyond the time 
 allotted to man, their average age 
 being-over 80 years. They belonged to the " Asso- 
 ciate Church," a seceding Presbyterian body of 
 
 America from the old Scotch school ; and so rigid 
 was the training of young Beveridge that he never 
 heard a sermon from any other minister except that 
 of his own denomination until he was in his 19th 
 year. Later in life he became a member of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, which relation he still 
 holds. 
 
 Mr. Beveridge received a good common-school ed- 
 ucation, but his parents, who could obtain a livelihood 
 only by rigid economy and industry, could not send 
 him away to college. He was raised upon a farm, 
 and was in his 18th year when the family removed 
 to De Kalb County, this State, when that section was 
 very sparsely settled. Chicago had less than 7,000 
 inhabitants. In this wild West he continued as a 
 farm laborer, teaching school during the winter 
 months to supply the means of an education. In the 
 fall of 1842 he attended one term at the academy at 
 Granville, Putnam Co., 111., and subsequently several 
 terms at the Rock River Seminary at Mount Morris, 
 Ogle Co., 111., completing the academic course. At 
 this time, the fall of 1845, his parents and brothers 
 were anxious to have him go to college, even though 
 he had not money sufficient; but, njt willing to bur- 
 den the family, he packed his trunk and with only 
 $40 in money started South to seek his fortune. 
 
 
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 JOHN L. BEVERIDGE, 
 
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 Poor, alone, without friends and influence, he thus 
 entered upon the battle of life. 
 
 First, he taught school in Wilson, Overton and 
 Jackson Cos., Tenn., in which experience he under- 
 went considerable mental drill, both in book studies 
 and in the ways of the world. He read law and was 
 admitted to the Bar, in the South, but did not learn 
 to love the institution of slavery, although he ad- 
 mired many features of Southern character. In De- 
 cember, 1847, he returned North, and Jan. zo, 1848, 
 he married Miss Helen M. Judson, in the old Clark- 
 Street M. E. church in Chicago, her father at thai 
 time being Pastor of the society there. In the spring 
 of 1848 he returned with his wife to Tennessee, 
 where his two children, Alia May and Philo Judson, 
 were born. 
 
 In the fall of 1849, through the mismanagement 
 of an associate, he lost what little he had accumu- 
 lated and was left in debt. He soon managed to 
 earn means to pay his debts, returned to De Kalb 
 Co., 111., and entered upon the practice of his pro- 
 fession at Sycamore, the county seat. On arrival 
 from the South he had but one-quarter of a dollar in 
 money, and scanty clothing and bedding for himself 
 and family. He borrowed a little money, practiced 
 law, worked in public offices, kept books for some of 
 the business men of the town, and some railroad en- 
 gineering, till the spring of 1854, when he removed 
 to Evanston, 12 miles north of Chicago, a place then 
 but recently. laid out, under the supervision of the 
 Northwestern University, a Methodist institution. 
 Of the latter his father-in-law was then financial 
 agent and business manager. Here Mr. Beveridge 
 prospered, and the next year (1855) opened a law 
 office in Chicago, where he found the battle some- 
 what hard; but he persevered with encouragement 
 and increasing success. 
 
 Aug. 12, 1861, his law partner, Gen. John F. 
 Farnsworth, secured authority to raise a regiment of 
 cavalry, and authorized Mr. Beveridge to raise a 
 company for it. He succeeded in a few days in rais- 
 ing the company, of course enlisting himself along 
 with it. The regiment rendezvoused at St. Charles, 
 111., was mustered in Sept. 18, and on its organiza- 
 tion Mr. B. was elected Second Major. It was at- 
 tached, Oct. 11, to the Eighth Cavalry and to the 
 Army of the Potomac. He served with the regiment 
 until November, 1863, participating in some 40 bat- 
 
 tles and skirmishes : was at Fair Oaks, the seven days' 
 fight around Richmond, Fredericksburg, Chancellors- 
 ville and Gettysburg. He commanded the regiment 
 the greater part of the summerof 1863, and it was while 
 lying in camp this year that he originated the policy 
 of encouraging recruits as well as the fighting capac- 
 ity of the soldiery, by the wholesale furlough system. 
 It worked so well that many other officers adopted 
 it. In the fall of this year he recruited another com- 
 pany, against heavy odds, in January, 1864, was 
 commissioned Colonel of the 17th 111. Cav., and 
 skirmished around in Missouri, concluding with the 
 reception of the surrender of Gen. Kirby Smith's 
 army in Arkansas. In 1865 he commanded various 
 sub-districts in the Southwest. He was mustered 
 out Feb. 6, 1866, safe from the casualties of war and 
 a stouter man than when he first enlisted. His men 
 idolized him. 
 
 He then returned to Chicago, to practice law, with 
 no library and no clientage, and no political experi- 
 ence except to help others into office. In the fall of 
 1866 he was elected Sheriff of Cook County, serving 
 one term; next, until November, 1870, he practiced 
 law and closed up the unfinished business of his 
 office. He was then elected State Senator; in No- 
 vember, 187 1, he was elected Congressman at large; 
 in November, 1872, he was elected Lieutenant Gov- 
 ernor on the ticket with Gov. Oglesby ; the latter be- 
 ing elected to the U. S. Senate, Mr. Beveridge became 
 Governor, Jan. 21, 1873. Thus, inside of a few 
 weeks, he was Congressman at large, Lieutenant 
 Governor and Governor. The principal events oc- 
 curring during Gov. Beveridge's administration were: 
 The completion of the revision of the statutes, begun 
 in 1869; the partial success of the "farmers' move- 
 ment;" " Haines' Legislature " and Illinois' exhibit at 
 the Centennial. 
 
 Since the close of his gubernatorial term ex-Gov. 
 Beveridge has been a member of the firm of Bever- 
 idge & Dewey, bankers and dealers in commercial 
 paper at 7 1 Dearborn Street (McCormick Block), 
 Chicago, and since November, 1881, he has also been 
 Assistant United States Treasurer: office in the 
 Government Building. His residence is still at Ev- 
 anston. 
 
 He has a brother and two sisters yet residing in 
 De Kalb County — James H. Beveridge, Mrs. Jennet 
 Henry and Mrs. Isabel French. 
 
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 HELBY M. CULLOM, Gover- 
 nor 1877-83, is the sixth child 
 of the late Richard N. Cullom, 
 and Was bom Nov. 22, 1829, in 
 Wayne Co., Ky., where his fa- 
 ther then resided, and whence 
 both the Illinois and Tennessee 
 branches of the family originated. In 
 the following year the family emi- 
 grated to the vicinity of Washington, 
 Tazewell Co., 111., when that section 
 was very sparsely settled. They lo- 
 cated on Deer Creek, in a grove at 
 the time occupied by a party of In- 
 dians, attracted there by the superior 
 hunting and fishing afforded in that 
 vicinity. The following winter was 
 known as the " hard winter," the snow [being very 
 deep and lasting and the weather severely cold ; and 
 the family had to subsist mainly on boiled corn or 
 hominy, and some wild game, for several weeks. In 
 the course of time Mr. R. N. Cullom became a prom- 
 inent citizen and was several times elected to the 
 Legislature, both before and after the removal of the 
 capital from Vandalia to Springfield. He died about 
 
 i873- 
 
 Until about 19 years of age young Cullom grew up 
 to agricultural pursuits, attending school as he had 
 opportunity during the winter. Within this time, 
 however, he spent several months teaching school, 
 
 4 — 
 
 and in the following summer he "broke prairie "with 
 an ox team for the neighbors. With the money ob- 
 tained by these various ventures, he undertook a 
 course of study at the Rock River Seminary, a 
 Methodist institution at Mt. Morris, Ogle County; 
 but the sudden change to the in-door life of a stu- 
 dent told severely upon his health, and he was taken 
 home, being considered in a hopeless condition. While 
 at Mt. Morris he heard Hon. E. B. Washburne make 
 his first speech. 
 
 On recovering health, Mr. Cullom concluded to 
 study law, under the instruction of Abraham Lincoln, 
 at Springfield, who had by this time attained some 
 notoriety as an able lawyer ; but the latter, being ab- 
 sent from his office most of the time, advised Mr. 
 Cullom to enter the office of Stuart & Edwards. 
 After about a year of study there, however, his health 
 failed again, and he was obliged to return once more 
 to out-door life. Accordingly he bought hogs for 
 packing, for A. G. Tyng, in Peoria, and while he re- 
 gained his health he gained in purse, netting $400 in 
 a few weeks. Having been admitted to the Bar, he 
 went to Springfield, where he was soon elected City 
 Attorney, on the Anti-Nebraska ticket. 
 
 In 1856 he ran on the Fillmore ticket as a Presi- 
 dential Elector, and, although failing to be elected as 
 such, he was at the same time elected a Representa- 
 tive in the Legislature from Sangamon County, by a 
 local coalition of the American and Republican par- 
 ties. On the organization of the House, he received 
 the vote of the Fillmore men for Speaker. Practicing 
 
 
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 SHELB Y M. CULLOM. 
 
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 law until 1 860, he was again elected to the Legisla- 
 ture, as a Republican, while the county went Demo- 
 cratic on the Presidential ticket. In January follow- 
 ing he was elected Speaker, probably the youngest 
 man who had ever presided over an Illinois Legis- 
 lature. After the session of 186 1, he was a candidate 
 for the State Constitutional Convention called for 
 that year, but was defeated, and thus escaped the 
 disgrace of being connected with that abortive party 
 scheme to revolutionize the State Government. In 
 1862 he was a candidate for the State Senate, but 
 was defeated. The same year, however, he was ap- 
 pointed by President Lincoln on a Government 
 Commission, in company with Gov. Boutwell of 
 Massachusetts and Charles A. Dana, since of the 
 New York Sun, to investigate the affairs of the 
 Quartermaster's and Commissary Departments at 
 Cairo. He devoted several months to this duty. 
 
 In 1864 he entered upon a larger political field, 
 being nominated as the Republican candidate for 
 Congress from the Eighth (Springfield) District, in 
 opposition to the incumbent, John T. Stuart, who had 
 been elected in 1862 by about 1,500 majority over 
 Leonard Swett, then of Bloomington, now of Chicago. 
 The result was the election of Mr. Cullom in Novem- 
 ber following by a majority of 1,785. In 1866 he 
 was re-elected to Congress, over Dr. E. S. Fowler,"by 
 the magnificent majority of 4,103! In 1868 he'was 
 again a candidate, defeating the Hon. B. S. Edwards, 
 another of his old preceptors, by 2,884 votes. 
 
 During his first term in Congress he served on the 
 Committee on Foreign Affairs and Expenditures in 
 the Treasury Department; in his second term, on 
 the Committees on Foreign Affairs and on Territories ; 
 and in his third term he succeeded Mr. Ashley, of 
 Ohio, to the Chairmanship of the latter. He intro- 
 duced a bill in the House, to aid in the execution of 
 law in Utah, which caused more consternation among 
 the Mormons than any measure had previously, but 
 which, though it passed the House, failed to pass the 
 Senate. 
 
 The Republican Convention which met May 25, 
 1876, nominated Mr. Cullom for Governor, while the 
 other contestant was Gov. Beveridge. For Lieuten- 
 ant-Governor they nominated Andrew Shuman, editor 
 of the Chicago Journal. For the same offices the 
 Democrats, combining with the Anti-Monopolists, 
 placed in nomination Lewis Steward, a wealthy 
 
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 farmer and manufacturer, and A. A. Glenn. The 
 result of the election was rather close, Mr. Cullom 
 obtaining only 6,800 majority. He was inaugurated 
 Jan. 8, 1877. 
 
 Great depression prevailed in financial circles at 
 this time, as a consequence of the heavy failures of 
 1873 and afterward, the effect of which had seemed 
 to gather force from that time to the end of Gov. 
 Cullom's first administration. This unspeculative 
 period was not calculated to call forth any new 
 issues, but the Governor's energies were at one time 
 put to task to quell a spirit of insubordination that 
 had been begun in Pittsburg, Pa., among the laboring 
 classes, and transferred to Illinois at Chicago, East 
 St. Louis and Braidwood, at which places laboring 
 men for a short time refused to work or allow others 
 to work. These disturbances were soon quelled and 
 the wheels of industry again set in motion. 
 
 In May, 1880, Gov. Cullom was re-nominated by 
 the Republicans, against Lyman Trumbull, by the 
 Democrats; and although the former party was some- 
 what handicapped in the campaign by a zealous 
 faction opposed to Grant for President and to Grant 
 men for office generally, Mr. Cullom was re-elected 
 by about 3 14,565, to 277,532 for the Democratic State 
 ticket. The Greenback vote at the same time was 
 about 27,000. Both Houses of the Legislature again 
 became Republican, and no representative of the 
 Greenback or Socialist parties were elected. Gov. 
 Cullom was inaugurated Jan. 10, 1881. In his mes- 
 sage he announced that the last dollar of the State 
 debt had been provided for. 
 
 March 4, 1883, the term of David Davis as United 
 States Senator from Illinois expired, and Gov. Cul- 
 lom was chosen to succeed him. This promoted 
 Lieutenant-Governor John M. Hamilton to the Gov- 
 ernorship. Senator Cullom's term in the United 
 States Senate will expire March 4, 1889. 
 
 As a practitioner of law Mr. C. has been a member 
 of the firm of Cullom, Scholes & Mather, at Spring- 
 field ; and he has also been President of the State 
 National Bank. 
 
 He has been married twice,— the first time Dec. 
 12, 1855, to Miss Hannah Fisher, by whom he had 
 two daughters ; and the second time May 5, 1863, 
 to Julia Fisher. Mrs. C is a member of the Method- 
 ist Episcopal Church, with which religious body Mr. 
 C. is also in sympathy. 
 
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 GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 
 
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 OHN MARSHALL HAMIL- 
 TON, Governor 1883-5, was 
 born May 28, 1847, in a log 
 house upon a farm about two 
 miles from Rich wood, Union 
 County, Ohio. His father was 
 Samuel Hamilton, the eldest son 
 of Rev. Win. Hamilton, who, to- 
 gether with his brother, the Rev. 
 Samuel Hamilton, was among the 
 early pioneer Methodist preachers in 
 Ohio. The mother of the subject of 
 this sketch was, before her marriage, 
 Mrs. Nancy McMorris, who was 
 born and raised in Fauquier or Lou- 
 doun County, Va., and related to the 
 two large families of Youngs and Marshalls, well 
 known in that commonwealth ; and from the latter 
 family name was derived the middle name of Gov. 
 Hamilton. 
 
 In March, 1854, Mr. Hamilton's father sold out 
 his little pioneer forest home in Union County, O., 
 and, loading his few household effects and family 
 (of six children) into two emigrant covered wagons, 
 moved to Roberts Township, Marshall Co., 111., being 
 21 days on the route. Swamps, unbridged streams 
 and innumerable hardships and privations met them 
 on their way. Their new home had been previously 
 selected by the father. Here, after many long years 
 of toil; they succeeded in paying for the land and 
 making a comfortable home. John was, of course, 
 
 brought up to hard manual labor, with no schooling 
 except three or four months in the year at a common 
 country school. However, he evinced a capacity 
 and taste for a high order of self-education, by 
 studying or reading what books be could borrow, as 
 the family had but very few in the house. Much of 
 his study he prosecuted by the light of a log fire in 
 the old-fashioned chimney place. The financial 
 panic of 1857 caused the family to come near losing 
 their home, to pay debts ; but the father and two 
 sons, William and John, "buckled to" and perse- 
 vered in hard labor and economy until they redeemed 
 their place from the mortgage. 
 
 When the tremendous excitement of the political 
 campaign of i860 reached the neighborhood of Rob- 
 erts Township, young Hamilton, who had been 
 brought up in the doctrine of anti-slavery, took a zeal- 
 ous part in favor of Lincoln's election. Making special 
 efforts to procure a little money to buy a uniform, he 
 joined a company of Lincoln Wide-Awakes at Mag- 
 nolia, a village not far away. Directly after the 
 ensuing election it became evident that trouble 
 would ensue with the'South, and this Wide-Awake 
 company, like many others throughout the country, 
 kept up its organization and transformed itself into a 
 military company. During the ensuing summer they 
 met often for drill and became proficient ; but when 
 they offered themselves for the war, young Hamilton 
 was rejected on account of his youth, he being then 
 but 14 years of age. During the winter of 1863-4 he 
 attended an academy at Henry, Marshall County, 
 
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 JOHN MARSHALL HAMILTON. 
 
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 and in the following May he again enlisted, for the 
 fourth time, when he was placed in the 141st 111. 
 Vol. Inf., a regiment then being raised at Elgin, 111., 
 for the 100-day service. He took with him 13 other 
 lads from his neighborhood, for enlistment in the 
 service. This regiment operated in Southwestern 
 Kentucky, for about five months, under Gen. Paine. 
 
 The following winter, 1864-5, Mr. Hamilton taught 
 school, and during the two college years 1865-7, he 
 went through three years of the curriculum of the 
 Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio. The 
 third year he graduated, the fourth in a class of 46, 
 in the classical department. In due time he received 
 the degree of M. A. For a few months he was the 
 Principal of Marshall " College " at Henry, an acad- 
 emy under the auspices of the M. E. Church. By 
 this time he had commenced the study of law, and 
 after earning some money as a temporary Professor 
 of Latin at the Illinois Wesleyan University at 
 B'.oomington, he entered the law office of Weldon, 
 Tipton & Benjamin, of that city. Each member of 
 this firm has since been distinguished as a Judge. 
 Admitted to the Bar in May, 1870, Mr. Hamilton 
 was given an interest in the same firm, Tipton hav- 
 ing been elected Judge. In October following he 
 formed a partnership with J. H. Rowell, at that time 
 Prosecuting Attorney. Their business was then 
 small, but they increased it to very large proportions, 
 practicing in all grades of courts, including even the 
 U. S. Supreme Court, and this partnership continued 
 unbroken until Feb. 6, 1883, when Mr. Hamilton 
 was sworn in as Executive of Illinois. On the 4th 
 of March following Mr. Rowell took his seat in Con- 
 gress. 
 
 In July, T871, Mr. Hamilton married Miss Helen 
 M. Williams, the daughter of Prof. Win. G. Williams, 
 Professor of Greek in the Ohio Wesleyan University. 
 Mr. and Mrs. H. have two daughters and one son. 
 
 In 1876 Mr. Hamilton was nominated by the Re- 
 publicans for the State Senate, over other and older 
 competitors. He took an active pait " on the stump " 
 in the campaign, for the success of his party, and was 
 elected by a majority of r,640 over his Democratic- 
 Greenback opponent. In the Senate he served on 
 the Committees on Judiciary, Revenue, State Insti- 
 tutions, Appropriations, Education, and on Miscel- 
 lany ; and during the contest for the election of a 
 U. S. Senator, the Republicans endeavoring to re- 
 
 elect John A. Logan, he voted for the war chief on 
 every ballot, even alone when all the other Republi- 
 cans had gone over to the Hon. E. B. Lawrence and 
 the Democrats and Independents elected Judge 
 David Davis. At this session, also, was passed the 
 first Board of Health and Medical Practice act, of 
 which Mr. Hamilton was a champion, against so 
 much opposition that the bill was several times 
 " laid on the table." Also, this session authorized 
 the location and establishment of a southern peni- 
 tentiary, which was fixed at Chester. In the session 
 of 1879 Mr. Hamilton was elected President //v tern. 
 of the Senate, and was a zealous supporter of John 
 A. Logan for the U. S. Senate, who was this time 
 elected without any trouble. 
 
 In May, 1880, Mr. Hamilton was nominated on 
 the Republican ticket for Lieutenant Governor, his 
 principal competitors before the Convention being 
 Hon. Wm. A. James, ex-Speaker of the House of 
 Representatives, Judge Robert Bell, of Wabash 
 County, Hon. T. T. Fountain, of Perry County, and 
 Hon. M. M. Saddler, of Marion County. He engaged 
 actively in the campaign, and his ticket was elected 
 by a majority of 41,200. As Lieutenant Governor, 
 he presided almost continuously over the Senate in 
 the 32d General Assembly and during the early days 
 of the 33d, until he succeeded to the Governorship. 
 When the Legislature of 1883 elected Gov. Cullom 
 to the United States Senate, Lieut. Gov. Hamilton 
 succeeded him, under the Constitution, taking the 
 oath of office Feb. 6, 1883. He bravely met all the 
 annoyances and embarrassments incidental upon 
 taking up another's administration. The principal 
 events with which Gov. Hamilton was connected as 
 the Chief Executive of the State were, the mine dis- 
 aster at Braidwood, the riots in St. Clair and Madison 
 Counties in May, 1883, the appropriations for the 
 State militia, the adoption of the Harper high-license 
 liquor law, the veto of a dangerous railroad bill, etc. 
 
 The Governor was a Delegate at large to the 
 National Republican Convention at Chicago in June, 
 
 1884, where his first choice fof President was John 
 A. Logan, and second choice Chester A. Arthur; but 
 he afterward zealously worked for the election of Mr. 
 Blaine, true to his party. 
 
 Mr. Hamilton's term as Governor expired Jan. 30, 
 
 1885, when the great favorite "Dick" Oglesby was 
 inaugurated. 
 
 
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 HE time has arrived when it 
 becomes the duty of the 
 people of this county to per- 
 petuate the names of their 
 pioneers, to furnish a record 
 of their early settlement, 
 and relate the story of their 
 progress. The civilization of our 
 day, the enlightenment of the age 
 and the duty that men of the pres- 
 ent time owe to their ancestors, to 
 themselves and to their posterity, 
 demand that a record of their lives 
 and deeds should be made. In bio- 
 graphical history is found a power 
 to instruct man by precedent, to 
 enliven the mental faculties, and 
 to waft down the river of time a 
 safe vessel in which the names and actions of the 
 people who contributed to raise this country from its 
 primitive state may be preserved. Surely and rapidly 
 the great and aged men, who in their prime entered 
 the wilderness and claimed the virgin soil as their 
 heritage, are passing to their graves. The number re- 
 maining who can relate the incidents of the first days 
 of settlement is becoming small indeed, so that an 
 actual necessity exists for the collection and preser- 
 vation of events without delay, before all the early 
 settlers are cut down by the scythe of Time. 
 
 To be forgotten has been the great dread of mankind 
 from remotest ages. All will be forgotten soon enough, 
 in spite of their best works and the most earnest 
 efForts of their friends to perserve the memory of 
 their lives. The means employed to prevent oblivion 
 and to perpetuate their memory has been in propor- 
 tion to the amount of intelligence they possessed. 
 The pyramids of Egypt were built to perpetuate the 
 names and deeds of their great rulers. The exhu- 
 mations made by the archeologists of Egypt from 
 buried Memphis indicate a desire of those people 
 
 to perpetuate the memory of their achievements. 
 The erection of the great obelisks were for the same 
 purpose. Coming down to a later period, we find the 
 Greeks and Romans erecting mausoleums and monu- 
 ments, and carving out statues to chronicle their 
 great achievements and carry them down the ages. 
 It is also evident that the Mound-builders, in piling 
 up their great mounds of earth, had but this idea — 
 to leave something to show that they had lived. All 
 these works, though many of them costly in the ex- 
 treme, give but a faint idea of the lives and charac- 
 ters of those whose memory they were intended to 
 perpetuate, and scarcely anything of the masses of 
 the people that then lived. The great pyramids and 
 some of the obelisks remain objects only of curiosity; 
 the mausoleums, monuments and statues are crum- 
 bling into dust. 
 
 It was left to modern ages to establish an intelli- 
 gent, undecaying, immutable method of perpetuating 
 a full history — immutable in that it is almost un- 
 limited in extent and perpetual in its action ; and 
 this is through the art of printing. 
 
 To the present generation, however, we are in- 
 debted for the introduction of the admirable system 
 of local biography. By this system every man, though 
 he has not achieved what the world calls greatness, 
 has the means to perpetuate his life, his history, 
 through the coming ages. 
 
 The scythe of Time cuts down all ; nothing of the 
 physical man is left. The monument which his chil- 
 dren or friends may erect to his memory in the ceme- 
 tery will crumble into dust and pass away ; but his 
 life, his achievements, the work he has accomplished, 
 which otherwise would be forgotten, is perpetuated 
 by a record of this kind. 
 
 To preserve the lineaments of our companions we 
 engrave their portraits, for the same reason we col- 
 lect the attainable facts of their history. Nor do we 
 think it necessary, as we speak only truth of them, to 
 wait until they are dead, or until those who know 
 them are gone : to do this we are ashamed only to 
 publish to the world the history of those whose lives 
 are unworthy of public record. 
 
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 homas Fitch Davenport, of 
 
 Cambridge, came to Henry 
 County in 1837, and has 
 been since a continuous resi- 
 dent within its borders. In 
 1836 the agent of an organiza- 
 tion called "The New York 
 Colony " came to the county and 
 made a selection of the lands 
 in the interest of what was des- 
 ignated after their settlement in 
 Henry County as the " Mor- 
 ristown Colony." The location was 
 made in June, and the same year 
 five of the members came. They 
 were in all eventually about ten families, and among 
 them was that of the father of Mr. Davenport, who, 
 with his entire household, made a permanent settle- 
 ment in what is now Cambridge Township. 
 
 The name of Davenport is prominently associated 
 with the Colonial history of this country. This 
 branch of the family is a lineal descendant of the 
 Rev. John Davenport, who settled in Massachu- 
 setts soon after the coming of the Pilgrim Fathers. 
 The inscription on the tomb of Rev. John Daven- 
 port is inserted below. The slab contains, besides 
 the lettering, the family coat of arms, which is a 
 shield surmounted by the head of an animal " se- 
 jant " (sitting), above a tripartite inner shield, each 
 
 division having a cross inscribed. The inscription 
 
 reads : — , /- 
 
 " At honorary distance keep, 
 Nor dare disturb the peaceful sleep 
 
 Of Rev. Davenport. 
 None but his sons, the sacred tribes, 
 Or those whom heavenly wisdom guides, 
 May to his urn resort. 
 
 Religion, while he dwelt below, 
 
 Its sacred influence on him shed ; 
 Learning and grace adorned his brow, 
 
 And round their balmy odors spread. 
 
 Unfading honors shall his tomb surround, 
 To guard and wait the Prophet's sleeping clay, 
 
 Till the last trumpet raise him from the ground 
 To join the triumphs of the important day. 
 
 Rev. John Davenport departed this life on the 5th 
 day of February, 1730, & in the 36th of his ministry." 
 
 Perhaps the best known of the members of the 
 Davenport family is Abraham Davenport, who has 
 been immortalized in verse by John G. Whittier, the 
 Quaker poet. He was the son of the sturdy Puri- 
 tan preacher, and in 1780 was a member of the 
 Colonial Assembly, and was one of the Connecticut 
 "Councillors." That body was in session when the 
 still unaccountable event of the "dark day " trans- 
 pired. As the somber shadows, that were like no 
 other darkness within the remembrance of those 
 who witnessed them, came on, terror took possession 
 of the men composing the legislative body. Clamor- 
 ous cries for adjournment arose, but the imperturb- 
 able Abraham remarked that it was his opinion that 
 if the Lord was coming he would be better satisfied 
 
 
 
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 to find his followers in the fulfillment of their duty, 
 and gave a peremptory order to " bring in the can- 
 dles." 
 
 The grandfather of Thomas F. Davenport, whose 
 name was Silas Davenport, was a native of Con- 
 necticut and was a merchant. He passed his entire 
 life in the State of his nativity, and died there. He 
 reared a family of five children, and his son, Charles 
 W., was one of the members of the Morristown Col- 
 ony in Henry County, in 1837. The latter was born 
 in Stamford, Conn. He followed the profession of 
 his father, and his business relations were very ex- 
 tensive for the period in which he operated. He 
 established branches of his business in the city of 
 New York, in Washington, D. C, and in Mobile, 
 Ala. In the year 1824 he engaged in the prosecu- 
 tion of his interests in the several places mentioned. 
 His wife was, before her marriage, Mary E. Fitch, a 
 member of one of the best of the Connecticut fami- 
 lies. Her earliest known progenitor was Governor 
 Thomas Fitch, of Colonial times. She was the 
 daughter of Thomas and Amelia (Lewis) Fitch, and 
 her parents were natives respectively of Connect- 
 ticut and Long Island, New York. She was born in 
 Norwalk, Ct., June 22, 1796, and became the mother 
 of seven children — Charles W., Jr., Thomas F., Mrs. 
 Amelia Lloyd, Mrs. Mary Hannaman (deceased), 
 Adolphus (deceased), Theodore, who resides in 
 Nevada, is a miner in the Rocky Mountains and 
 unmarried; and Edward; the latter is a citizen of 
 Chicago, and is a member of the Board of Trade. 
 Charles W. Davenport, Sr., died in Morristown, Dec. 
 20, 1841; his wife died in Cambridge, Oct. 24, 1858. 
 At the date of their settlement in the county their 
 nearest neighbors on the north were five miles dis- 
 tant, and on the south 35 miles intervened between 
 them and the white settlers. 
 
 When Mr. Davenport was a boy his parents re- 
 moved to the city of New York, where he obtained 
 the greater part of his education. The history of 
 his business career in Henry County includes a wide 
 range of interests. He was engaged in farming in 
 Morristown until 1846, when he removed to Cam- 
 bridge, and there officiated as Deputy Circuit and 
 County Clerk at various times until 1850, when he 
 was elected to the position of County Clerk on the 
 Whig ticket; in 1854 he was elected Sheriff, and 
 discharged the duties of the office two years; in 
 1857 he was appointed to fill a vacancy as County 
 
 Treasurer, in which capacity he acted one year; in 
 1858 he went to Oakley, now Green River Station, 
 situated on the line of the Chicago & Rock Island 
 Railroad, and there conducted the affairs of the 
 station, and also operated as a miller and merchant. 
 Mr. Davenport was the actual founder of the town. 
 He says : " I ran the town. I built the depot, pre- 
 sented it to the railroad company, and gave them the 
 grounds and the right of way for the track." The 
 place had the brightest prospects, but a week after 
 the cyclone destroyed the village of Camanche, Iowa, 
 a tornado struck Oakley, and in the space of five 
 minutes Mr. Davenport was a poor man! Nearly 
 the whole village was in ruins. The mill, depot, 
 store and dwelling in which he carried on his busi- 
 ness and lived were destroyed, and " Othello's occu- 
 pation " had taken French leave, with the facilities 
 therefor. But " man proposes and God disposes/' 
 and there is no more forcible truism in the language. 
 Mr. Davenport can testify to its accuracy in his case. 
 
 He came from the scene of his losses to Cam- 
 bridge, and commenced mercantile operations in 
 such a manner as was possible in his circumstances. 
 He was getting a fair start once more, when, in the 
 spring of 1862, a disastrous fire again swept his 
 hopes and business out of existence. There was, 
 however, a chance. The issues of the Civil War 
 were in the balance, and the nation needed men in 
 her extremity. In August of the year in which his 
 latest business venture disappeared in the remorse- 
 less flames, he enlisted in the 112th Reg. 111. Vol. 
 Inf., under Col. T. J. Henderson. On the organiza- 
 tion of the company he was unanimously made First 
 Lieutenant, and acted in that capacity until the 
 close of the war. He enlisted Sept. 20, 1862, and 
 was mustered out of the military service of the 
 United States June 20, 1865. He was in the sev- 
 eral actions in which his company participated, with 
 the exception of a period of 1 8 months, during which 
 time he acted as Brigade Commissary and Quarter- 
 master. 
 
 After his return to Henry County he interested 
 himself in farming for a short time. In 1866 he 
 received an appointment as Assessor of Internal 
 Revenue for Henry County, and served one year. 
 Since the expiration of that appointment he has 
 been engaged chiefly in farming. He made one 
 further effort to amend his waning fortunes by a 
 business venture, and in 1870 went to Chicago to 
 
 
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 enter into a project under the management of a 
 stock company for the purpose of smelting gold and 
 silver ore. Mr. Davenport became the Secretary 
 of the well-known Balbach Smelting and Refining 
 Company, which had a capital of $100,000, and was 
 building up a fine business, taking out an average 
 of $1,000 per day from the ores. The memorable 
 fire of October, 187 1, was the ruin of the affairs of 
 the concern, and a sale to Stephen P. Lunt, of the 
 business house of Lunt, Prescott & Kean, took 
 place, in the vain hope to save the existence of the 
 incorporation. The firm were obliged to go into 
 liquidation, and in 1874 Mr. Davenport returned to 
 his home in Cambridge. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Davenport to Elizabeth 
 Lloyd took place June 22, 1848. She was born in 
 Bucks Co., Pa. Her birth occurred Jan. 31, 1822, 
 She has been the mothe# of five children, two of 
 whom died in their infancy : Anna M. is the eldest 
 of the survivors ; Mrs. Fannie S. Rockwell is the 
 next in order of birth, and has one child, Iva; 
 Charles E. married Sarah J. Fullmer, and they have 
 one child, Sylvester. Mrs. Davenport is a member 
 of the Society of Friends. 
 
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 illiam Gradert, a farmer of the township 
 of Munson, is a citizen of the United 
 States, of German birth. He is a native 
 of Holstein, and was born April 28, 1848. 
 He is the son of Gustav and Christina Gra- 
 dert, who were born in the same province where 
 their son first saw the light of day. They are still 
 living there (1885). 
 
 From the age of six to fourteen, Mr. Gradert was 
 sent to school, as the laws of Germany provide that 
 all male children should be educated between those 
 ages. After reaching the latter age, he was employed 
 on the farm. He was 20 when he came to America. 
 In 1868 he landed at New York, and proceeded to 
 the city of Davenport without delay. He went into 
 the country in the vicinity of the city and obtained 
 work on a farm eight miles distant, where he re- 
 mained six months. He then came to Henry 
 County, and engaged as an assistant on the farm of 
 John Redus, of whom a sketch may be found else- 
 
 where in this volume. He passed two years in the 
 capacity of a farm hand in the employment of various, 
 individuals. 
 
 In the fall of 1870 he was married to Lena Gra- 
 dert. She was born in the same German province as 
 her husband. After his marriage he rented land for 
 a time, and in 1876 bought 80 acres on section 13, of 
 Munson Township. There was a house of humble 
 pretensions on the place, which has been rebuilt, and 
 other good farm structures have been erected, among 
 which is a large stock and hay barn. Mr. Gradert 
 has bought additional land, and is now the owner of 
 183 acres, which is all in advanced agricultural con- 
 dition. 
 
 The children of the household are Dora, Nettie, 
 Minnie, Lewis, Henry and William. 
 
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 aertes F. Dinnick, a prominent business 
 man of Henry County, resident at Cam- 
 bridge, was born Sept. 17. 1838, in Mercer 
 Co., 111. His parents, Lucius D. and Julia 
 (Langford) Dinnick, were born respectively in 
 the State of New York and Pennsylvania, and 
 removed from there to Berlin (now Swedona), Mercer 
 Co., 111., in the spring of the year in which their son 
 was born. The senior Dinnick attained prominence 
 as an agriculturist of extended relations in Mercer 
 County, and later he removed to Rock Island, where 
 he died in October, 1866, aged 60 years and "some 
 months. He was a member of the City Council of 
 Rock Island at the time of his death. The mother 
 of Mr. Dinnick died Oct. 8, 1885. Following is the 
 list of children's names in the order in which they 
 were born : Laura, Otis J., Laurin and Delavan (de- 
 ceased), Chauncey, Laertes F., Emily, Ellen and 
 Luella. 
 
 Mr. Dinnick was educated wholly in his native 
 State. He was among those who were prompt to re- 
 spond to the summons of an assaulted nationality 
 while yet the echo from Rebel balls on Sumter's 
 walls filled the land with surprised dismay. He en- 
 listed in April, r 861, for three months' service. On 
 the organization of his regiment and company he 
 was made Second Sergeant, and previous to the ex- 
 piration of his term of enlistment he was promoted 
 to the rank of Second Lieutenant. In the fall of 
 
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 1862, with W. D. Williams, of Rock Island, he was 
 instrumental in raising Company F, of the 89th Illi- 
 nois Volunteer Infantry. The former was made 
 Captain and the latter First Lieutenant. In the sum- 
 mer of 1863 Mr. Dinnick was promoted to the rank 
 of Captain, which he held until he was disabled. At 
 the battle of New Hope Church, Ga., Capt. Dinnick 
 was wounded. After spending two months in vari- 
 ous hospitals he returned home. 
 
 In the spring of 1865 he came to Cambridge and 
 has since been engaged without intermission as a 
 buyer and shipper of stock. He has also been em- 
 ployed in general farming and is the owner of a valu- 
 able farm of 240 acres adjoining the village of 
 Cambridge on the northwest. He owns also 400 
 acres near Sioux Falls, Dakota. 
 
 Mr. Dinnick was married Jan. 18, 1864, in An- 
 dover, 111., to Miss E. Genevieve, daughter of Morri- 
 son and Mary E. Francis. Her parents were among 
 the pioneers of Henry County, and an extended ac- 
 count of them is to be found on other pages of this 
 work. The children of Mr. Dinnick and his wife 
 are named Francis J., Clyde W., Hallie Lee and 
 Morrison. 
 The parents are members of the Christian Church. 
 In political bias and affiliation, Mr. Dinnick is a 
 Democrat. 
 
 - 000 - 
 
 obert Atwater, son of Elisha Atwater, a 
 pioneer of Henry County, was born in 
 Rock Island, Sept. 5, 1854. His father 
 was born in New Haven Co., Conn., Dec. 18 
 18 10. He passed the time of his boyhood 
 and youth in the place of his nativity, and 
 learned the business of a cabinet-maker. He had a 
 natural understanding of the use of tools, and after 
 acquiring a complete knowledge of the trade, which 
 he had chosen, he worked in the city of New Haven 
 until 1840. That was the year in which he came to 
 Illinois, and he located in the city of Rock Island. It 
 was then in its embryo state, and contained but a 
 few houses. Not long after he came to Henry 
 County, and located at Andover. He was occupied 
 therein the prosecution of his trade for a few years, 
 and then removed to what is now the township of 
 Cambridge, and was then designated town 15 in the 
 Government reports. He secured a claim on section 
 
 6, and proceeded to the work of making ready to 
 found a home. He built a log house and a log shop 
 for the prosecution of his trade. He operated as a 
 farmer, and at the same time as cabinei-maker. He 
 sold his earliest crops, and the first pork fatted on 
 his farm at Chicago. That city had then 5,000 in- 
 habitants, and was 160 miles distant. The pro- 
 duce was all drawn there with teams. This would 
 seem an interminable operation in these latter days. 
 Mr. Atwater sometimes worked at his business of 
 cabinet-making at Moline, and returned to his home 
 on Saturday nights on horseback. He always re- 
 turned to his work on Sunday evening. His wife 
 and children lived on the farm in Cambridge, and at 
 the time their nearest neighbors were three miles dis- 
 tant. 
 
 In 1857 Mr. Atwater bought a farm on section 19, 
 in the township of Munsfn, and entered almost ex- 
 clusively into the business of a farmer. In the 
 second year of the Civil War, he entered the military 
 service of his country. He enlisted in 1862 in Co. 
 H, ii2thRegt. 111. Vol. Inf., and when the com- 
 mand was organized he was made Second Lieu- 
 tenant. He was in active service one year, when he 
 was discharged for disability. He returned to his 
 home, and resumed the duties of his farm. He was 
 instrumental in the improvement of a large tract of 
 land, on which he erected a good class of farm 
 structures, and he also set out a large number of 
 trees. He died on the homestead estate Jan. r5, 
 1884. 
 
 His marriage to Margaret Wright took place May 
 18, 1838. Her birth occurred in Harrisburg, Pa., 
 Feb. 28, 1 82 1. She became the mother of ir chil- 
 dren. Eli B. was born April 10, 1839. He was 
 just past his majority when the call for soldiers came, 
 and he enlisted. He was enrolled in the 9th 111. 
 Cav., and after a service of two and a half years was 
 discharged for disability. He returned to his home, 
 but never recovered his health. He died Jan. 24, 
 1872. 
 
 Thomas was born Oct. 5, 1841. He enlisted in 
 the same regiment as his father, and served two 
 years. He received a severe wound at the battle of 
 Knoxville, Tenn., and was taken from the field by 
 the rebels. He underwent amputation while in 
 their hands. During the time he lay in the rebel 
 hospital his other leg was badly frozen. His father 
 went after him and brought him home. He had an 
 
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 uncommon degree of pluck and courage, and they 
 carried him through all, and after he returned to his 
 home he partially recovered his health. He was 
 elected Circuit Clerk, and was serving his term at 
 the time of his death. George was born Aug. 10, 
 1843, and lives in Webster City, Iowa. Elnora was 
 born Sept. 23, 1848, and is married to N. R. Penny, 
 a resident of Salt Lake City, Utah. William C. was 
 born June 5, 1850, and lives in Munson Township. 
 Mary E. is the wife of Horatio Boyd, of Freeman, 
 Phillips Co., Kan. The latter is an editor. Mrs. 
 Boyd was born Sept. 25, 1852. Douglass was born 
 Dec. 6, 1858. Robert W., who was his predecessor 
 in the order of birth, was born Sept. 5, 1854. The 
 two brothers last named live on the homestead. 
 Frank, born Oct. 18, i860, is a clerk in a clothing 
 store in Rock Island. The demise of the mother 
 dccurred May 12, 1885. Emma, born Oct. 5, 1856, 
 died at two years of age. 
 
 Robert W. was brought up on the place where he 
 is now living. It has been his home all his life. He 
 was joined in marriage to Belle McNorton, Dec. 14, 
 1 88 1. She is a native of Ann a wan, and she and her 
 husband are the parents of a son named Earl. 
 
 ndrew Blose Laflferty, a hardware mer- 
 chant at Cambridge, was born March 29, 
 1840, in Armstrong Co., Pa. His paternal 
 grandfather, John Lafferty, was born in 
 County Derry, Ireland, in the town of Pullen, 
 and was Scotch-Irish by descent. He came 
 thence to America in 1801, and landed at Philadel- 
 phia. He proceeded to the frontier of the State of 
 Pennsylvania, and bought a farm in the vicinity of 
 Saltsburg, in Indiana County. There both himself 
 and his wife passed the remaining years of their life. 
 Her name hefore marriage was Martha McElmoyel. 
 His son was born Oct. 19, 1802. He was a farmer, 
 and also a teacher. In his early life he studied law, 
 and during the period of his active business career 
 he served his county in several official capacities. 
 He was twice married. Margaret (Long) Lafferty, 
 his first wife, bore him four children : John, Jacob, 
 Robert and Rachel. His second wife, nee Susanna 
 Blose, was the mother of four children : Martha, 
 Margaret, Andrew B. and James D. She died April 
 
 30, 1881. Her husband's decease took place Dec. 
 
 31, 1880. 
 
 Mr. Lafferty, of this account, came with his par- 
 ents to Illinois in 1856. He was then 16 years of 
 age, and he remained in Rock Island County until 
 the fall of the same year in which they came to the 
 State, when he came to Henry County. He inter- 
 ested himself in farming, and continued the prose- 
 cution of his interests in that line of business until 
 he decided to enter the military service of the United 
 States. July n, 1862, he enlisted in the 112th 
 Regt. 111. Vol. Inf., and became a member of Com- 
 pany D. He was in all the actions in which his 
 regiment was involved, with one exception, when he 
 was in the hospital. He had been disabled at the 
 battle of Knoxville, by the shock from a cannon ball 
 which entered the ground at his feet. He received 
 honorable discharge, and was mustered out June 20, 
 1865. 
 
 Mr. Lafferty was married Dec. 27, 1866, at Clay- 
 ton, Adams Co., 111., to Amanda M. Lafferty, a na- 
 tive of Indiana Co., Pa. She is the mother of six 
 children : Vernie L., Leon M., Andrew Bertram, 
 Sue A., Maude, Lora, Gertrude and Charles Loris. 
 The second son died Jan. n, 1877, at the age of two 
 and a half years; and Loris die"d Sept. 17, 1885, 
 aged 19 months. Mr. and Mrs. Lafferty are mem- 
 bers of the Congregational Church, and of the Order 
 of Good Templars. They are also connected in 
 membership with the Orders of E. S. A. and the 
 " Golden Rule." Mr. Lafferty belongs to the A. O. 
 U. W., and to the G. A. R. Post, and in political ad- 
 herence is a straight Prohibitionist. He is a man of 
 sanguine temperament and strong convictions, and is 
 an earnest worker in the temperance cause, and is 
 also an active business man. 
 
 In the fall of 1868 he removed to Cambridge, and 
 was associated with his brothei in the livery busi- 
 ness. They run two daily hack lines from Cambridge 
 to Galva and to Geneseo, carrying mail, _ passengers 
 and express. After a few years he purchased the 
 interest of his brother, and for some time continued 
 the business alone. In 18 — he sold out to embark 
 in the sale of agricultural implements, and to the lat- 
 ter he afterwards added the sale of hardware, and 
 the firm style became Lafferty & Wright. A year 
 later Mr. Lafferty became by purchase the sole own- 
 er of the business and its relations, and continued 
 
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 for some time to operate alone, until he enlarged" its 
 scope and took in his present partner, J. P. Woolsey 
 (see sketch). 
 
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 obert M. Garrison, a citizen of Cambridge, 
 
 was bom April 10, 1833, in Park Co., Ind. 
 
 1 John Garrison, his grandfather, was a na- 
 
 \$ tive of Wilson County, in Central Tennessee, 
 and was the husband of Elizabeth, sister of 
 John C. Calhoun. She was born in Tennes- 
 see and lived there most of her life, dying in 1843, 
 when about 70, in Park Co., Ind. She was a lady of 
 brilliant mind and forcible character, and she bore 
 nine children: John, Milton, Samuel, Nancy, Thomas, 
 James, Eliza, Caroline and Lemuel. 
 
 Milton Garrison was born June 17, 1802, in Ten- 
 nessee, and in 1820 removed to Park Co., Ind. He 
 was an ordained minister in the Cumberland Presby- 
 terian Church, and he followed his religious calling 
 in Indiana, and was engaged in the discharge of its 
 duties until he was 65 years old. In 1848 he came 
 to Henry Co., 111., and settled in Munson Township, 
 where he became a successful farmer and died 
 March 18, 1882, at 80 years of age. He was a man 
 of fine character and wielded a strong influence for 
 good in his day and generation. He was married 
 about 18 jo to Rebecca, daughter of Robert and Pris- 
 cilla (Harris) McCord. Her parents were born in 
 North Carolina, and they were descendants of pio- 
 neers, who later in life bore the same relation to the 
 State of Kentucky, where they settled near its capital 
 city. The nine children of Milton Garrison and his 
 wife were Elizabeth (deceased), Robert M., John 
 M., James (deceased), William (deceased), an infant 
 who died unnamed, Sarah, Margaret and Garrett G. 
 
 Mr. Garrison was next to the oldest child of his 
 parents, and he was the first-born son . consequently 
 upon him fell the burdens of the family, while his 
 father was attending to his religious calling. He was 
 brought up on a farm and had but a little regular 
 schooling. 
 
 He came to Henry County in 1848 with his pa- 
 rents, and has since that time been occupied in farm- 
 ing in Munson Township until 1884, when he 
 removed to Cambridge. He still owns his fine farm 
 
 srael 6. Heaps, Supervisor of Annawan 
 Township, resident on section 23, has lived 
 in Henry County since 1848, when his 
 father, the now venerable William G. Heaps, 
 cast his lot with that of, the pioneers of this 
 part of the noble prairie State. Mr. Heaps 
 was born Nov. 13, 1840, in Lancaster Co., Pa. His 
 parents removed in his infancy to Adams Co., 111. 
 They went- thence to Wisconsin in order to improve 
 their circumstances, but not finding so congenial a 
 climate as they had anticipated, another removal to 
 Illinois was effected in the autumn of 1848. They 
 settled on the farm which was for many years the 
 homestead, and on which the father is at present a 
 resident in the family of his youngest son. The 
 senior Mr. Heaps was in straitened circumstances 
 and had a large family of small children to support 
 without aid, and when they became residents of 
 Henry County were almost entirely without money. 
 During the winter of 1848-9 a letter arrived at the 
 nearest postoffice for a member of the family, for 
 which it was necessary to wait some time before 
 money enough to " lift" it could be obtained. The 
 postage was 12^ cents. The tract of land on which 
 a location was made was in its natural condition, not 
 a furrow had been turned, and a place of shelter had 
 to be erected. The struggle for a livelihood was 
 
 I 
 
 in the township named and is living in quiet retire- 
 ment. 
 
 He was a Democrat until the nomination of James 
 Buchanan for the chief office of the United States, 
 which effected his conversion to Free-Soil principles ; 
 and on the organization of the Republican party he 
 became one of its firmest adherents. 
 
 He was married Oct. 9, 1856, at Cambridge, to 
 Mary E., daughter of William and Lydia (Moriarty) 
 Cochrane. The former was born in Ireland and the 
 latter in Virginia. They settled in Fayette Co., 111., 
 in 1850, and in 1853 settled in the township of Mun- 
 son, in Henry County, where their lives ended. Mrs. 
 Garrison has borne four children: Mary J. married 
 Frank Cady ; Robert died in infancy ; Frank M. and 
 Effie B. are the youngest children. 
 
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 severe for a few years, but both parents worked 
 hard, practicing the strictest economy, and succeeded 
 in placing the family in comfort. 
 
 Mr. Heaps had small opportunity for obtaining 
 anything like what would at this day be considered 
 fair education from books. The schools were either 
 turn est altogether, or were of the same primitive 
 character as other surroundings ; and if there had 
 been the best opportunities, he could not have availed 
 himself of them, as in the summer seasons he drove 
 a breaking team, and in the winters he hauled rails 
 and timber for fencing. He drove a team of five 
 yoke of oxen, although he was not a dozen years old, 
 and for his labor for the neighbors received but 25 
 cents a day. He attended school in the winters 
 after reaching his 15th, 16th and 17th birthdays, and 
 by extra exertion succeeded in securing a knowledge 
 of the English branches taught in the district schools 
 that had been established in the neighborhood. Hav- 
 ing learned the way to study, he made meanwhile 
 considerable progress in the higher branches. In 
 1857 he entered the preparatory course at Lombard 
 University, and for several years he taught and 
 attended that institution alternately; and notwith- 
 standing the interruptions he was enabled to main- 
 tain his standing in his classes. In i860, when 
 Professor Standish was ill, Mr. Heaps was made 
 tutor to his classes. In the same year he entered 
 upon the studies of the junior year, and looked for- 
 ward confidently to the time when he should com- 
 plete his course and enter personally into the work 
 of the world ; but the war broke out and he enlisted 
 to defend his country. 
 
 April 22, 1861, a war meeting was called in the 
 Baptist Church at Annawan. Elder Hiram Petteys, 
 Major J. M. Allen, of Geneseo, and Elder McDer- 
 mond were present and participated in the discus- 
 sion of the emergency. At the termination of the 
 meeting, Mr. Heaps was the first man to place his 
 name on the list of enrollment and to call for Volun- 
 teers. He was thus the first enlisted man in Henry 
 County, and his name was followed by 53 others. 
 When the election of the company took place Mr. 
 Heaps was unanimously made Captain. Hiram Car- 
 rol and Richard Linehan were made First and 
 Second Lieutenants. It is a well-known fact that 
 the action of Governor Yates in raising' regiments 
 preceded the orders from the War Department • at 
 
 Washington, and when the first company from Henry 
 was offered it was rejected because every place was 
 already filled. After repeated efforts to obtain an 
 assignment the company partially disbanded. On 
 the second call for 300,000 troops, most of the mem- 
 bers went to Camp Butler and joined the 27th Regi- 
 ment of Volunteers. The command was soon sent 
 to Cairo, and thence to the field, where it was a par- 
 ticipant in the fight at Belmont, Mo., Nov. 7, 1861, 
 the first battle in which General Grant took part. 
 Mr. Heaps was under fire at Belmont, Island No. 10, 
 Farmington, Corinth, Columbia, siege- of Nashville 
 (1862), Lavergne, Stone River, Tullahoma, Chicka- 
 mauga, Mission Ridge, etc. At Stone River he was 
 severely wounded in the right arm and shoulder, and 
 at Chickamauga he was shot in the breast and left 
 on the field for dead. He recovered in time to par- 
 ticipate in the action at Mission Ridge, and after- 
 wards went with his command to East Tennessee to 
 the relief of Knoxville and the command of General 
 Burnside. 
 
 The months of January and February were passed 
 among the mountains of the State named, fighting 
 General Longstreet. When the call for veteran vol- 
 unteers was made, Mr. Heaps re-enlisted, and nearly 
 all the survivors of his company went with him. 
 Theirs was the sole company in the regiment that 
 re-enlisted, and it enrolled for three years or during 
 the war. On returning to the regiment with 
 others it was put in motion for Atlanta. The 
 company was a part of the force that stormed and 
 captured Rocky Faced Ridge, the key to Dalton. The 
 struggle there was terrific, and was acknowledged to 
 be one of the severest of the war. At Resaca, May 
 14, 1864, the regiment formed a part of the assault- 
 ing column that attacked and carried a part of the 
 rebel line. John B. Heaps, a brother, who was a 
 soldier in the 1 1 2th Illinois Infantry, was killed in 
 the action of that day, and after the shadows of 
 night had drawn a curtain over the bloody work, Mr. 
 Heaps sought and found the beloved body. He went 
 alone to the field where the forms and faces of those 
 who died that their homes might live were lying in 
 bewildering confusion, and by the feeble glimmer of 
 a single candle peered into the faces, cold and sol- 
 emn in the awful silence of death, until the one he 
 sought was found. In the darkness of the hour of 
 midnight the living brother dug the grave for the 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
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 dead, wrapped his own blanket about the still figure 
 and carried it in his arms to its final resting place in 
 the woods near by. 
 
 The regiment took part in all the actions in which 
 the command of General Sherman was engaged ; 
 and Mr. Heaps was in the actions at Kenesaw 
 Mountain, Mud Creek, Pumpkin Vine, Marietta, 
 Chattahoochie River and Peach-Tree Creek. July 
 20, 1864, his company was detached and sent 
 to the extreme left to guard creek crossings. The 
 handful of men repulsed three attacks by greatly 
 superior numbers, and held the line throughout the 
 entire day. For their action the command received 
 the thanks of the Division Commander in a special 
 order. Two days later the company was heavily en- 
 gaged, and July 28th following, swung around the 
 forts in the vicinity of Atlanta, and took part in the 
 battles of Jonesboro, Rough and Ready, and were 
 involved in the capture of Atlanta. When General 
 Sherman decided on his march to the sea, the Fourth 
 Army Corps, to which the company of Captain 
 Heaps was attached, was sent back under " Pap 
 Thomas " to attend to the settlement of the rebel 
 General Hood. The work was soon after accom- 
 plished, in one of the hardest-fought battles of the 
 entire war. Nov. 30, 1864, while on the advance 
 skirmish line, the company was captured by the reb- 
 els, who cut off the retreat. The men were sent 
 successively to Corinth, Jackson, Selma, Catawba 
 and finally to Andersonville. In March, 1865, they 
 were passed through the line at Vicksburg on parole 
 and from there to St. Louis. At that place Mr. 
 Heaps was placed in command of a battalion and 
 remained there until the termination of the war. He 
 received his discharge May 15, 1865, by reason of 
 the closing of the war. 
 
 Returning to Annawan, he was married to Miss 
 Rhoda A. Petteys, to whom he had long been en- 
 gaged. They settled on the homestead of her father 
 and have since resided thereon. For some years 
 Mr. Heaps was occupied as a teacher, but finally 
 abandoned that calling for the business of farming 
 and stock-raising. For a number of years he has 
 been the traveling correspondent of the Drover's 
 Journal, the organ of the Union Stock Yards in 
 Chicago. In that capacity he has visited every 
 State and Territory west of the Mississippi River, 
 with the exception of Washington Territory and Or- 
 
 egon. He traveled through the great Northwest 
 before the railroad lines were built, and at a time 
 when the Sioux Indians were the terror of every- 
 body, when " war to the knife and knife to the hilt " 
 was the watchword and reply. He has traversed 
 nearly every valley and mountain in the West, from 
 the summit of Pike's Peak to the bottom of the 
 " Grand Canon " of the Colorado. He has been 
 among the Indians of the Southwest and made a 
 study of their manners, habits and customs, and 
 collected a comprehensive knowledge of their 
 legendary lore. He has journeyed through a consid- 
 erable portion of Old Mexico, and has written 
 much about that country. His description of the 
 " Bad Lands " of Dakota attracted much attention 
 and comment. 
 
 He is a Republican in political opinions, and is a 
 stanch adherent of the " grand old party." He has 
 several times been elected to the official position in 
 this township which he is now filling: 
 
 Mr. Heaps is the son of William G. and Hester 
 (Green) Heaps. The former is a native of Mary- 
 land. The latter was born in Pennsylvania. 
 
 Mrs. Heaps was born Dec. 20, 1844, in Oneida 
 Co., N. Y. Hiram Petteys, her father, was born in 
 Montgomery Co., N. Y., and was a minister in the 
 Christian Church. He died in 1864, at the age of 
 59. He was married Oct. ro, r828, to Susan Brand. 
 She was born Aug. 17, 1804, in Charlotte, Montgom- 
 ery County. George, Sarah, John H. and Rhoda A. 
 were the names of their children. Peleg Petteys, the 
 grandfather of Mrs. Heaps, was born Dec. rr, T772, 
 and married Martha Brown. She was born in 
 Montgomery County March 10,1772. The ances- 
 tors of herself and husband were of German and 
 English origin. John Brand, the maternal grand- 
 father of Mrs. Heaps, was born May 25, 1765, in the 
 State of New York. He married Sarah Ross, who 
 was born Dec. 10, 1767, in the same State. Their 
 marriage took place Jan. 7, 1790. They had twelve 
 children : John B., Henry, Thomas, Sarah, Rhoda, 
 Lovina, Ross, Rogers, Susan, Hiram, Elizabeth and 
 Mary. The children of Peleg Petteys were Anna, 
 Richard, Hiram, Robert, James, Valentine and 
 George. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Heaps have six children, as follows: 
 Ervin P., Lillian V., Clarence E.. Merrill B., Ross 
 D. and Warren T. 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 197 
 
 Mrs. Heaps is the owner of 160 acres of land in 
 the township of Annawan, which is all in advanced 
 cultivation. She was educated at Knox Seminary, 
 Galesburg, 111. 
 
 
 
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 eorge W. Dunlap, M. D., medical prac- 
 titioner at Cambridge, was born Nov. 14, 
 : 1841, in Leesburg, Highland Co., Ohio. 
 His grandfather, Major James Dunlap, was of 
 Scotch-Irish extraction and was a native of 
 Pennsylvania. He was a man of influence 
 and lived at Dunlap's Creek, Washington Co., Pa., 
 where he kept the Dunlap House for many years. 
 He was prominent in the State militia and was for a 
 long period Brigade Inspector of Western Pennsyl- 
 vania. He died at the place named. He was mar- 
 ried there and reared a large family of children. His 
 son George, the father of Dr. Dunlap, was born in 
 Washington Co., Pa., and was there brought up, be- 
 came a physician and built up a large, successful 
 and popular practice in the county of which he was 
 a native. He came West in 1847, and in the winter 
 of that year settled in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. Ten 
 years later he removed to the city of Burlington, 
 where he remained in the practice of his profession 
 until the time of his death. He came to Knoxville, 
 111., on a visit to a brother, Dr. A. J. Dunlap, and 
 died while there. Susan P. (Beatty) Dunlap, his 
 wife, was born Dec. 25, 1813, in Cambridge, Guern- 
 sey Co., Ohio. She was reared in Wheeling, West 
 Virginia, and was the daughter of Zaccheus and 
 Margery (Metcalf) Beatty. Her father was a native 
 of Maryland and her mother of Virginia. Of their ten 
 children five are still living. Of the latter, Mrs. Mar- 
 gery Overman is the oldest ; Virginia R. is the wife 
 of Dr. Wm. Orris, and with her brothers, A. J. Dun- 
 lap and Dr. James Dunlap, is a resident of Victor, 
 Iowa. Mr. Dunlap of this account is the third in 
 order of birth of the survivors. 
 
 Mr. Dunlap received his elementary education at 
 Mount Pleasant, Iowa, and attended Jefferson Col- 
 lege in the city of Philadelphia. Soon after finishing 
 his course at that institution he was appointed .As- 
 sistant Surgeon in the Ninth Iowa Cavalry and was 
 attached to the Post at Camp Roberts, Davenport, 
 for nearly a year. He then joined the regiment. 
 
 He was in the service nearly three years and was 
 mustered out a little before the close of the war. 
 
 He located at Brooklyn, Iowa, where he entered 
 upon the regular practice of his profession, and con- 
 tinued to operate there five years. He then came 
 and settled in Hermon, Knox Co., 111., and after 
 establishing his business there remained about seven 
 years. He removed thence to Macomb, McDon- 
 ough County, where he remained two and a half 
 years. He came from there to Cambridge in Novem- 
 ber, 1873. He has succeeded in founding a sub- 
 stantial and prosperous business, and is considered 
 one of the most skillful and reliable in the capacities 
 of surgeon and physician in the vicinity. He has an 
 extensive country patronage. 
 
 Feb. 2, T865, he was married, in Knox County, to 
 Miss Martha F. Poff. She is a native of Highland 
 Co., Ohio, and was born Dec. 9, 1843. She is the 
 daughter of M. F. Poff. Of five children of which 
 she has been the mother there is only one survivor, 
 — George W., born Oct. 17, 1873. Dr. Dunlap and 
 his wife are members of the Christian Church. 
 
 He is Chairman of the Board of Health, and is 
 prominent in his connection with the Order of Odd 
 Fellows, the A. F. & A. M., the A. O. U. W. and 
 the G. A. R. He has filled the various chairs in 
 these organizations and has represented the I. O. O. 
 F. at the Grand Lodge. He is an adherent of the 
 Democratic party, but supported Abraham Lincoln 
 for the office of President. 
 
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 ndrew L. Anderson, although by birth a 
 native of a foreign nationality, is a worthy 
 ■* citizen of Henry County, whither he came 
 in i860. He has been connected with the 
 farming interests of the county since he came 
 hither, with the exception of the time passed 
 in the military service of his adopted country. 
 
 He was born in Westergotland in Sweden, Oct. 
 26, 1842. He was an inhabitant of the place where 
 he was born until he was 18. He was educated at 
 home and obtained a good education in the Swedish 
 language. In i860 he started for America, to seek 
 the privileges of a free government. After a voyage 
 of nine weeks on a sail vessel he landed at the 
 port of New York. He proceeded to Geneseo with- 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 out delay, and from there went to Andover Town- 
 ship, where he worked on a farm through the sum- 
 mer, and attended school the following winter. 
 
 In January, 1862, he enlisted in Battery H, First 
 Illinois Light Artillery. After a service of 18 months 
 he received honorable discharge for disability, and 
 returned to Henry County. He passed some months 
 in recruiting his health, and as soon as he was able 
 to labor he came to Munson Township and went to 
 work in the employ of P. P. Allen. The time he 
 passed in the recovery of his health was spent chief- 
 ly at school, perfecting his understanding of the lan- 
 guage of the people among whom he had cast his 
 fate. He remained in the employ of Mr. Allen seven 
 years. He was occupied the first two or three years 
 as a common farm-hand, and after that bought stock 
 for his employer, including horses, cattle and sheep. 
 He passed one year in Missouri in the interests of 
 Mr. Allen. After leaving the employ of that gentle- 
 man he rented land in Munson Township until 1880, 
 when he bought the farm which has since been his 
 field of operation. It is situated on section 3, and is 
 all under 'cultivation. It is well fenced and is pro- 
 vided with all necessary fixtures for a good stock 
 farm. 
 
 Mr. Anderson was married in 187 1 to Amanda 
 Wallin. She is a native of the same town in Swe- 
 den in which her husband was born. Hilda H., 
 Alvin E., deceased, John Albeit, Eugenia L., James 
 Elmer and Andrew Wendell are the names of the 
 children that have been added to the family. The 
 last named child died at the age of ten months. 
 
 Mr. Anderson is deeply interested in the affairs of 
 education in the township where he is a resident, and 
 has officiated several years as Director. He has 
 discharged the duties of Assessor twice. 
 
 
 ohn Redus is a citizen of the township of 
 Munson, and although he is a native of a 
 forejgn nationality, has discharged the du- 
 ties of his citizenship in a manner that reflects 
 the utmost credit on his character as a man, 
 and it also proves the genuineness of his regard 
 for the country which protects him in the privileges 
 
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 to which he must ever have remained a stranger in 
 the land of his birth. He left the home of his par- 
 ents to escape servitude in the army of his own 
 country, but volunteered to aid in the preservation of 
 the freedom he sought. He has been for nearly 20 
 years a farmer in Henry County. He is now the 
 proprietor of 200 acres of land, on which he is enjoy- 
 ing the prerogatives of an American citizen. 
 
 He was born in Holstein, Germany, Nov. 17, 1837, 
 and is the son of John and Johanna (Loehr) Redus. 
 He was kept in school from the age of 6 to 16 as 
 the law of his country provided, and in the intervals 
 of attendance there he acted as the assistant of his 
 father, who was a blacksmith. The latter was also a 
 farmer. 
 
 He was 17 when he left his native land to come 
 to America, and was six weeks making the passage on 
 a sail vessel, and landed at the port of New York. 
 He came from there with little delay to the city of 
 Davenport, and remained there until 1855. In the 
 spring of that year he came to Geneseo and was there 
 variously employed until 186 1. September 1st of the 
 first year of the war he enlisted in the 43d 111. Vol. 
 Cav. He was in the service a little more than three 
 years. He was in the actions at Shiloh.Fort Henry, 
 Fort Donelson, Corinth, Jackson, siege and capture 
 of Vicksburg, and after the latter he went to Arkan- 
 sas. He was transferred from the 43d to the 14th 
 Regiment of Veterans, Co. H, on account of injuries 
 which he had sustained, and served the remainder 
 of his time in that command. After his transfer he 
 was on duty in the city of Washington. On receiv- 
 ing his discharge he returned to Geneseo. 
 
 In the spring of 1867 he rented a farm in that 
 township, which he managed one year. In 1868 he 
 bought 80 acres in the township of Munson, which 
 he has since owned. It is situated on section 2, and 
 at the time he became its owner it had been plowed, 
 but no buildings had been erected. The farm struc- 
 tures he now uses in his 'operations he has built him- 
 self; also his house. The whole property now 
 includes 200 acres, which is all in excellent and prof- 
 itable condition. He is the owner also of a valuable 
 timber lot. 
 
 Mr. Redus was united in marriage to Miranda 
 Galenor Jan. 22, 1868. Their children are named 
 Hattie, Annie, Melvina, Henry, Ernest and Elva. 
 The mother was born in Boone Co., Ind. A daugh- 
 ter named Cora died at the age of two years. 
 
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 ■^v4>nn^(iiif^rcr 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 T. Hammond, residing on section 1 8, Ox- 
 ford Township, is one of the energetic 
 and progressive farmers of that township, 
 ^> as well as respected citizens and self-made 
 men of this county. He was born in Maine, 
 Nov. 10, 1821, his parents being George and 
 Elenor (Taylor) Hammond, natives of that State. 
 
 W. T. Hammond, whose biographical sketch we 
 write, remained with his parents until the death of 
 his father, which occurred when he was eight years 
 of age. He then went to live with his grandfather 
 Taylor, and remained with him until he was 14 
 years old. On reaching this age in life, he engaged 
 to learn the trade of a bricklayer and plasterer, at 
 which business he continued to labor until he 
 reached his 18th year, at which time he had thor- 
 oughly mastered the trade, and from thence on con- 
 tinued to work at it until 1849. 1° l %39 ne went to 
 Natchez, Miss., and remained there until 1840, when 
 he went to Burlington, Iowa, and worked at his 
 trade until the fall of that year. He then came to 
 this State, locating at Galesburg, where he followed 
 his trade, taking contracts and employing men to 
 assist him, having from 10 to 20 men in his employ 
 at a time. He remained in Galesburg until 1848, 
 when he purchased a farm in Mercer County, con- 
 sisting of 120 acres. He moved on this place, en- 
 gaged in its cultivation, and there resided until the 
 spring of 1850. 
 
 At that time the gold fever swept across the 
 American continent, and, becoming infected with the 
 " disease," he rented his place and went to California 
 in search of gold. He did not mine any, but erected 
 a hotel there, which he ran for about a year, when 
 he sold it, ani returned in the spring of 1852 to this 
 State. In 1856 he sold his farm, and soon thereafter 
 purchased another of 340 acres in Oxford and Ri- 
 vola Townships. Part of Windsor village is located 
 on his land in Mercer County. Mr. Hammond is 
 engaged in general farming and stock-raising, and 
 is meeting with success in his chosen vocation. He 
 has a farm, the land of which is under an advanced 
 state of cultivation, together with a good residence, 
 
 barn and outbuildings, and its appearance is indica> 
 tive of thrift, energy and economy on the part of the 
 proprietor. 
 
 Mr. Hammond was married June 9, 1846, to Miss 
 Sarah D. Edgar, a native of Kentucky. Six chil- 
 dren have been born of their union, — Franklin J., 
 Sarah E., William T., Lucinda T., James W. and 
 Edgar T. Franklin J. married Mary C. Bridger; 
 Sarah E. is the wife of James W. Bachus ; William 
 T. married Maud Blossom; and Lucinda is the wife 
 of E. P. Turner. 
 
 Mr. Hammond, politically, affiliates with the 
 Republican party, and is one of the respected 
 and honored citizens of his township. He has 
 done much for the building and improvement of 
 Windsor. In addition to his possessions in this 
 county, he has 600 acres of land in Kansas, 360 of 
 which is under fence. He has been shipping cattle 
 West to his farms in Butler County, that State. He 
 has a hotel, the "Commercial House," and three 
 private dwellings in Windsor village, Mercer County, 
 this State, and his accumulation of this world's goods 
 may be attributed to his own good judgment, indom-' 
 itable energy and perseverance. 
 
 Vk amuel I. Curry, residing at Woodhull, was 
 born in Knox Township, Knox Co., 111., 
 Nov. 18, 1852. His parents were Isaiah 
 B. and Mary (Vangilder) Curry, natives ot 
 Virginia and Indiana respectively, who came 
 to this State in 1849 and 1844. They were 
 married in 1851, in Knox County, and the issue of 
 their union was six children, — Samuel I., Sophia J., 
 Morey J., David V., Eslella and William B., all of 
 whom are yet living. 
 
 The subject of this notice was united in marriage 
 to Miss Ida M. Whitmore, March 13, 1876. She 
 was the daughter of David and Eliza J. (Booher) 
 Whitmore, of Clover Township, this county, and 
 their union has been blessed with two daughters, 
 Bessie M. and Jessie D; Sophia, second child in 
 order of birth of the parents' family, married Henry 
 Vail, a resident of Wataga, this State, and they have 
 two children, William and Harry ; Morey J. mar- 
 ried Josie Henwood, and two children have been 
 born of that union, — Ethel A. and Cleona P, 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 Mr. Curry of this notice received a good English 
 education at the Hedding College of Abingdon, 
 Knox County. After leaving school he lived with 
 his parents until he attained the age of 24 years, 
 when he was married, and afterward worked on his 
 father-in-law's land, in Clover Township, for eight 
 years. At the expiration of that time he came to 
 Woodhull, and engaged in the hardware and imple- 
 ment business with his father-in-law, and has con- 
 tinued in the same since Jan. 1, 1884. They are 
 doing a successful and constantly increasing busi- 
 ness, and by fair dealing are establishing a good 
 trade at that point. 
 
 Politically, Mr. Curry is a believer in the tenets 
 of the Democratic party. He and his wife are mem- 
 bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Although 
 a young man, Mr. Curry has obtained quite a promi- 
 nence in the community in which he resides as a 
 man of business, sterling worth and integrity. 
 
 -5 #W# 5- 
 
 ohn Billings. This gentleman, who is en- 
 f gaged in farming and in dealing in real 
 estate, and resides on section 29, Oxford 
 Township, is classed among the solid and sub- 
 stantial men of his township. He is a native 
 of New York State, where, in Washington 
 County, he was born on the 22d of April, 1834. His 
 parents, Elisha and Catherine (Perine) Billings, 
 were likewise natives of the Empire State. Both 
 passed their lives in that State, the former dying 
 July 19, 1876, and the latter in October, 1878. 
 
 John Billings remained under the care and counsel 
 of his lather until he was 20 years of age, receiving 
 quite a liberal education. After leaving home he 
 went to Maryland, and later to Virginia, spending 
 two years in those States, teaching school. He then 
 returned home and attended school the following 
 winter, and the next spring came West, and in June 
 of the same year (1856) stopped at Eldora, Hardin 
 Co., Iowa. Here he remained for six months, when 
 he moved to Algona, Kossuth Co., Iowa, where he 
 bought 171 acres of land, and also 160 acres in 
 Franklin County. He remained in Iowa until 
 December of 1858, when he came to Woodhull, this 
 county, and engaged in the mercantile business. 
 At this he was employed for two years, when his 
 
 store and stock were burned. He then secured 
 another stock of goods, and conducted the business 
 for one year longer, when he sold out and purchased 
 the farm upon which he now resides, consisting at 
 that time of 160 acres. Since then he has added 'k 
 to it 120 acres, and has also secured a quarter sec- 
 tion in Martin Co., Minn. 
 
 Mr. Billings and Miss Mattie E. Horn were united 
 in marriage December, 1859. The following nine 
 children have been born to them : John W., Mar- 
 shall N., Emily C, Henry M., Burton B., Roy H., 
 Pearl A., Lillian A. and Bessie A. Mr. Billings, 
 politically, is an independent. Socially, he belongs 
 to the Masonic Order, and is looked upon as one of 
 the representative men of Oxford Township. 
 
 ^ 
 
 D. Harkness, one of the energetic and 
 ^ progressive farmers of Oxford Township, 
 where on section 32 he resides, was born 
 in New York, April T4, 1819. The parents 
 of Mr. Harkness, William G. and Fannie (Hig- 
 gins) Harkness, were natives of Massachusetts 
 and Connecticut respectively. They moved to Ohio 
 in 1835 and settled at Clyde, Sandusky County, 
 where they purchased a small place. The father 
 was a physician and followed the practice of his pro- 
 fession in Ohio until his death. 
 
 D. D. Harkness, whose sketch we write, was an 
 inmate of the parental home until 30 years of age. 
 He received a good common-school education, and 
 was employed, on obtaining a suitable age, in his 
 father's office, together with that of clerking in a dry- 
 goods store. In 1849 he engaged in the grocery 
 business, and was thus occupied until 1855, when 
 he sold out and came to this State. On arrival here 
 he purchased 220 acres of land, located on section 
 32, Oxford Township, on which he settled and has 
 continued to reside until the present* time. He has 
 been successful through life, and has a good farm, 
 the appearance of which is indicative of a life of 
 effort combined with that of good judgment and per- 
 severance. 
 
 Mr. Harkness was united in marriage with Miss 
 Amanda S. Alexander, a native of Ohio, in 1847. 
 Of their union six cnildren have been born, — Dela- 
 van, Arthur J., Jennie, Eva, Prescott and Laura. 
 
 9 
 
 
 ^S®- 
 
 -^c^ — ^k^h n@nDf>A^ — s«$^ 
 
fl 7^ 4bewi> 
 
6v^nD@nn^^ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 Politically, Mr. H. is independent. He has held the 
 office of Commissioner of Highways, and carries on 
 general farming, together with that of stock-raising, 
 and is meeting with success in his chosen vocation. 
 
 -« <#■* »- 
 
 V 
 
 | 
 
 V') 
 
 ohn W. Horn, a retired farmer, residing on 
 section 30, Clover Township, is a native of 
 England, in which country he was born 
 May 1, 1813. At seven years of age Mr. 
 Horn was bound out to Thomas Cox by his 
 mother, and remained wi^h him two years. 
 The first year he was to receive one penny per day, 
 and the second year was to have three " happence " 
 per day. He then left Mr. Cox and worked with a 
 widow lady for two-pence per day for the first year 
 and three-pence per day for the second year. He 
 afterwards was a laborer for another farmer, from 
 whom he received four-pence a day for one year, af- 
 ter which he engaged to learn a trade, that of wagon- 
 making and blacksmithing. He engaged to learn 
 these trades when he was T2 years of age, and 
 worked at the same four years, when he worked for 
 another gentleman one year at mechanical labor. 
 
 At this period in his life's history, realizing that 
 the United States offered better facilities for the ac- 
 cumulation of property than his mother country, he 
 shipped as a sailor and came here. On arrival in 
 this country, with only 18 pence in his pocket and 
 nothing but the clothes on his back, he concluded to 
 remain and establish a home. He went by vessel 
 to Maine, and from Maine shipped to New York, 
 where he engaged in sawing timber for ships, which 
 occupation he continued for two months. He next 
 went to Kingston on the Hudson, and from there on 
 a canal-boat to Honesdale, Wayne Co., Pa., where 
 he worked on a tannery as a carpenter for one year. 
 He next went to New York, where he was engaged 
 in building another tannery, at Neversink Falls, Sul- 
 livan County, that State, and was there occupied for 
 one year. His next remove was to Greene County, 
 that State, where he worked as a carpenter and 
 builder on a church, and where he was engaged for 
 a year. During the. following year, in the same 
 county, he took a job of building a church, which he 
 finished, and the following winter attended school, 
 then being 22 years of age. From that county he 
 
 s- ^^^ — @7^BR 
 
 went to Ohio, stopped at Cleveland and there en- 
 gaged in the carpenter's trade, at which he continued 
 for six months. From Cleveland he went to Mau- 
 mee City, where he was employed as foreman in the 
 erection of buildings, and had some 40 men working 
 under him. He erected a block of buildings, five 
 stories in height and covering the entire block, upon 
 which job he was occupied for four years. Leaving 
 the latter place, Mr. Horn came to Chicago, the 
 date of his arrival in that city being 1839. Upon 
 his arrival there he helped erect a large building on 
 Water Street, which he completed during the same 
 year of his coming there, and then went to Galesburg, 
 Knox County, this State. On arrival in Galesburg, 
 he engaged in the cabinet-making business, and 
 worked at it during the winter of 1839. In the 
 spring of 1840 he engaged in the erection of houses 
 in Knox County, taking contracts for the same, and 
 followed that business for ten years, until 1850. 
 He erected the first church in Galesburg, and the 
 largest that has ever been erected in that city. 
 
 In 1850, Mr. Horn went to California, and on his 
 arrival in the Golden State he was taken sick. On 
 convalescing he engaged in the carpenter's trade, 
 and received for his labor the sum of $8 per day, 
 and remained in Portland, Oregon, four months. He 
 then went to Salem, same State, where he was en- 
 gaged in the same business nine months, and while 
 there erected a Methodist church. From that place 
 he went 400 miles overland to the gold fields of 
 Northern California, where he remained for two and 
 a half years. In 1853, Mr. Horn returned to Gales- 
 burg and engaged in building bridges for the Chi- 
 cago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, and erected 17 
 bridges for that company in the limited time of 115 
 days. In 1855, Mr. Horn purchased 320 acres of 
 land in Clover Township, this county, on which he 
 located and engaged actively and energetically in its 
 cultivation and improvement, and on which he has 
 since resided. The farm is located near the village 
 of Woodhull, and in fact the western part of that 
 village is located on his land. 
 
 Mr. Horn has been a widower for the last eight 
 years. Politically, he is a believer in and supporter 
 of the principles of the Republican party, and re- 
 ligiously is a member of the Congregational Church. 
 He has held different offices within the gift of the 
 people of the community in which he resides, and is 
 
 9- 
 
 
 4) 
 
i-S/'^^K 
 
 204 
 
 -s4$^ — 6V&RH 
 
 HENRY 
 
 COUNTY. 
 
 4*^»f 
 
 )■ , r = 
 
 * one of those gentlemen respected for their straight- 
 ? forward and manly dealings with their fellow men. 
 • m A portrait of him is of course given in connection 
 with this sketch, on a page just preceding. 
 
 ) 
 
 i 
 
 \ 
 
 oshua C. Edwards, residing on section 24, 
 Andover Township, is engaged in breeding 
 improved live stock and general farming, 
 his specialties being Short-horn cattle, Cots- 
 wold sheep, Poland-China swine and Ply- 
 mouth Rock fowls. He takes special interest 
 in all the improved breeds of farm stock. 
 
 Mr. Edwards was born near Parkesburg, Chester 
 Co., Pa., July 15, 1832. His father was a native of 
 the same county. The progenitors of the Edwards 
 family in America were William Edwards and two 
 brothers, who first came to the shores of America on 
 the 5th of May, 1682, from the parish of Cracy, near 
 Cardiff, Wales. The family of William and his de- 
 scendants have since been directly connected with 
 the history of the Quakers of Eastern Pennsylvania, 
 and the land upon which this branch of the Edwards 
 family first settled is still held by the descendants of 
 William Edwards. The parents of our subject, Zenas 
 P. and Mary Edwards, moved to Ohio in 1839, 
 settling in the timber near what is now the city of 
 Alliance, Stark County, where they still live. 
 
 Joshua C. Edwards lived at home with his parents 
 until he was 18 years of age, when he was inden- 
 tured for the term of three years, to S. C. Taylor, at 
 Salem, Ohio, to learn the machinists' trade. After 
 serving his full term as an apprentice, he was ap- 
 pointed foreman of the works of S. C. Taylor, which 
 position he held until December, 1855, when he 
 came West ; attended Knox College, at Galesburg, 
 111., one year. Worked at Rock Island, 111., and 
 Washington, Iowa, at his trade, and in 1858 settled 
 in Cambridge. Commenced farming in i860, and in 
 1866 bought the land on section 24 where he now 
 resides. 
 
 On Jan. 31, 1861, Mr. Edwards was married, in 
 Andover Township, to Mrs. Lucy B. Edwards, nee 
 Soule, daughter of Capt. Alfred and Harriet B. Soule, 
 of South Freeport, Minn. Mrs. Edwards was born 
 Dec. 15, 1 83 1. She is the mother of a daughter by 
 her first husband, Dr. O. H. Edwards. Mary L., the 
 
 daughter referred to, resides with Mr. Edwards. The 
 present family consists of five sons — Zenas P., "Jose 
 S., Alfred, Clement C. and Ralph R. Harriet B. 
 died in infancy. 
 
 In 1880 Mr. Edwards suffered the misfortune of 
 losing a large cattle barn and all his crops, by a tor- 
 nado and hailstorm. He has met many obstacles 
 and reverses, but with commendable energy has sur- 
 mounted difficulties and has accumulated a compe- 
 tency. He now has 22J acres of land, well improved, 
 with a good residence, commodious barns and other 
 out-buildings. He is one of the progressive, enter- 
 prising men of the county, and believes in keeping 
 posted upon the issues of the day, as well as to pro- 
 vide good literature for his family. He has a large 
 library and takes regularly a large list of newspapers 
 and magazines adapted to the use of the different 
 members of his family. He has served several terms 
 as Justice of the Peace and Road Commissioner of 
 his township, and has served as School Director 24 
 years ; was also an active and efficient officer of the 
 Henry County Agricultural Society for 22 years. 
 Politically, he is a strong and active Republican. 
 
 ames H. Cree. One of the wealthy repre- 
 sentative gentlemen of Oxford Township, 
 Henry County, is Mr. James H. Cree, a 
 , retired farmer of Alpha village, where he is 
 ^f at present residing. He was born in Ohio, in 
 the year 18 16, on the 31st of May, and is a 
 son of Robert and Ellen (Barkley) Cree, natives of 
 Pennsylvania and Kentucky respectively. The sub- 
 ject of this notice remained at home until 22 years 
 of age, assisting in the labors of the farm, and alter- 
 nating his labors thereon with attendance at the 
 district schools, where he received a fair education. 
 After leaving home he engaged in the occupation 
 of a farmer, which he continued for 20 years. In 
 1858 he sold his farm and came to Oxford Town- 
 ship, where he made a purchase of 80 acres on sec- 
 tion 13. On the latter he resided for 23 years, 
 in the meantime putting it under excellent cultiva- 
 tion, and of which he made one of the best farms 
 in the township. He next bought a house and three 
 lots in Alpha village, which he has made his home, 
 residing there ever since. 
 
 Miss Barbary Snyder, a native of Virginia, was 
 
 
 
 ■*@^ — &A$MI®M3>A©- 
 
^v^nn^niif^^- 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 united in marriage with Mr. Cree, and they have 
 raised three orphan children, taking them when 
 very young — Margaret A. Copner, William A. Sny- 
 der and Elizabeth A. Snyder. Margaret A. Copner 
 became the wife of George Brewer, and they are the 
 parents of four children : Effie J., Barbary, William 
 and Ira; William Snyder married Miss Ida Spivey, 
 and one child, Elias, has been born to them ; Eliza- 
 beth Snyder married Robert Knox, and they have 
 two children, viz. : Ora M. and Robert. 
 
 Mr. Cree is a Republican in his political views, 
 and belongs with his wife to the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church. He has held the office of School 
 Director in his township, and is a respected and 
 reliable man of Henry County. 
 
 -{3- 
 
 -«- 
 
 
 W* 
 
 mi 
 
 i> 
 
 i ' W. Grant, one of the energetic and pro- 
 gressive farmers of Oxford Township, re- 
 siding on section 17, is a native of Sweden, 
 
 having been born in that country July 9, 1 840. 
 
 He emigrated to the United States in 1864, 
 
 when 24 years of age, and came almost di- 
 rectly to Galesburg, Knox County, this State, where 
 he worked out for three years. He received a com- 
 mon-school education in his native country, and 
 assisted on the farm of his parents, Jonas B. and 
 Bristen (Olson) Grant, natives of Sweden, until 
 they came to this country, they having emigrated at 
 the same time as A. W., 1864, and settling in the 
 same city, Galesburg. 
 
 In 1867, Mr. Grant rented a farm near Woodhull, 
 Clover Township, Henry County, and was engaged 
 in its cultivation for eight years. At the expiration 
 of that time he purchased a farm consisting of 294 
 acres, and being located on the section where he at 
 present resides. By energetic labor, good judgment 
 and economy he has improved his property, until at 
 the present time it is valued at $25,000. His farm 
 presents the appearance of thrift and industrious la- 
 bor, and is indicative of what may be accomplished 
 by hard labor and perseverance. 
 
 Mr. Grant formed a matrimonial alliance with 
 Miss Christina Peterson, in 1869. She was a native 
 of Sweden and came to the United States in 1864. 
 Six children have been born of their union,— Martin 
 W., Adolph R., Edwin N., Oscar N., Luther E. and 
 
 Wolfred N. In politics Mr. Grant is independent 
 Religiously, he and his wife, together with his chil- 
 dren, are members of the Lutheran Church at Wind- 
 sor. He is Road Commissioner of his district and 
 also School Director. 
 
 In his vocation of life, agriculture, he has met 
 with more than ordinary success, which is to be at- 
 tributed not to chance, but to his hard labor and 
 economy. 
 
 arshall Johnson, a farmer of section 33, 
 Clover Township, was born Feb. 14, 
 1857, in the State of Massachusetts, and 
 is a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Holman) 
 Johnson, natives respectively of Vermont and 
 Massachusetts, who came to Illinois in 1859 
 and settled on section 23, the present homestead, 
 comprising then a quarter of the section. 
 
 Mr. Johnson has always lived at home with his 
 parents, receiving in his youth a common-school ed- 
 ucation and working upon the farm ; and when he 
 arrived at the age of legal majority he received from 
 his father 80 acres of land, as a present. To the 
 present time he has had charge of the homestead, 
 and is credited with being a careful and judicious 
 manager and an industrious and economical laborer. 
 As a citizen of the community his reputation is of 
 the first order. 
 
 He married Miss Margaret Willis, a daughter of 
 Dr. J. W. Willis, of Woodhull, in 1881. They have 
 two children, — Stella and Elsie. 
 
 Mr. Johnson is a Republican in his political sen- 
 timents, and he has served his township as Collector, 
 in 1884. 
 
 -*- 
 
 &-*• 
 
 jilliam Rutledge, a respected citizen and 
 progressive farmer of Oxford Township, 
 residing on section 28, was born in West- 
 y moreland Co., Pa., Dec. 21, 1822, his par- 
 ^ ents being George and Elizabeth (Shaw) 
 Rutledge, natives of Ireland, who came to this 
 country in 181 6, and whose family comprised seven 
 children. 
 
 William was the fourth child in order of birth of 
 
 9 
 
 
 1 
 
 -=*©*= ©A^P KIID&AS ^G^- 
 
®£^§- 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 his parents' family, and went to Jefferson Co., Ohio, 
 when ten years of age, where he was engaged in a 
 bakery and confectionery establishment for seven 
 and a half years. He then went back to Pennsyl- 
 vania and engaged in boating on the Pennsylvania 
 Canal, at which he was employed for 12 years. Leav- 
 ing that occupation, he engaged in farming in West- 
 moreland County, and followed that calling for eight 
 years. His next move was to Oil Creek, where he 
 was engaged in the oil works for two years, and 
 then again returned to the farm in Westmoreland 
 County, and followed that vocation for seven years 
 longer. At the expiration of this time, in October, 
 1872, he came West to this State, and the next year 
 after his arrival rented a farm, which he cultivated, 
 and in fact continued to farm on rented land for 
 nine years. In 1881 he purchased 160 acres of 
 land, located on section 28, Oxford Township, on 
 which he settled and has continued to reside until 
 the present time, meeting with no small degree of 
 success in his chosen vocation, agriculture. Mr. 
 Rutledge was married in 1847, to MissM. McCurdy, 
 a native of Pennsylvania. Of their union seven 
 children have been born, namely: Jennie, Eliza- 
 beth, Elenora, Laura E., Georgiana, Rockwell F. 
 and William. 
 
 Politically, Mr. Rutledge is a Prohibitionist. He, 
 together with his wife and children, are members of 
 the Baptist Church at Alpha. Mr. Rutledge is 
 School Director, Path Master and Trustee in his 
 township. His daughter, Jennie, is at present the 
 wife of John Weible; Elizabeth married John Toze; 
 Elenora was united in marriage with James West ; 
 Laura E. married L. F. Payton; Georgiana is the 
 wife of Frank Freeman; and Rockwell formed a 
 matrimonial union with Ella Jorden. 
 
 ^itep-*-~ 
 
 W. Johnson, a retired farmer residing 
 
 upon section 33, Clover Township, was 
 
 born Jan. 27, 1812, in the Green Mountain 
 
 State. His father, Samuel Johnson, was a 
 
 .native of England, and was a manufacturer of 
 
 woolen goods at Chester, Windsor Co., Vt.; 
 
 and his mother, nee Lucy Olcott, was also a native of 
 
 that State. 
 
 S. W. remained at his parental home until he was 
 
 22 years of age, receiving a fine education. Very 
 early in life he was also trained in the principles 
 and art of music, and at the age of 17 years he 
 taught his first singing school; this vocation he fol- 
 lowed as a business for a number of years. In 
 1858 he emigrated to the boundless West, settling 
 on section 33, Clover Township, this county, where 
 he purchased 160 acres of land, and which is now 
 his home. Until within about two years he has 
 been a teacher of vocal music. Mr. J. is a lively, 
 social, companionable man, sincere and solid, and 
 has been honored with a number of local offices in 
 his township. He is a Republican. 
 
 He was married in 1840 to Miss Elizabeth Hol- 
 man, a native of Millbury, Mass., and they have 
 three children, viz. : Ida W., who married Nehemiah 
 West, of Galesburg, 111.; Marshall, who married 
 Margaret Willis, of Woodhull ; and Ruth A. 
 
 '§'<fii xel Burgeson, a farmer of Lynn Township, 
 
 '1 
 
 K@5<§®*§« 
 
 came to the United States in 1849 with 
 his mother and brother, his father having 
 died in his native country when he (Axel) was 
 eight years old. The mother brought her two 
 children to Chicago, but Axel came direct to 
 Andover in the fall of 1 849 and set out to earn his 
 own living. Coming to Andover when 16 years old, 
 he commenced work for William Bellows at Orion, 
 for the small remuneration of $3 per month. He 
 then made his home for two years with Rev. Pills- 
 bury, at Princeton, 111., and then rented land for a 
 year south of Andover, in this county. After work- 
 ing as a common laborer in Knox County for two 
 years, he returned to Andover, where he was mar- 
 ried Nov. 15, 1854. His first pnrchase of land was 
 in 1853, of 80 acres unimproved, which he set about 
 cultivating and putting into a first-class condition 
 for a comfortable home. At that point he has now 
 90 acres, well improved. 
 
 He was born in Central Sweden, Aug. 10, 1833, 
 his father being Burg Lawson, a farmer. He was 
 married Nov. rs, 1854, to Miss Caroline C. Ander 
 son, who was born in Sweden, April 12, 1837, and 
 was eight years of age when her parents came with 
 her to this county. They are both now deceased. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Burgeson have had r2 children, five 
 
 
 <© 
 
 I 
 
 -Q-A 
 
 m n® w&*& — ^^-. — 
 
I 
 f 
 
 > 
 
 (f* 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 -^^m^^ 
 
 207 
 
 of whom are deceased. The living are Samuel D., 
 born Dec. 28, 1856; Carrie, Aug. 23, i860; Emily, 
 March 26, 1862; Sarah, Sept. 26, 1863; Elmer J., 
 Oct. 28, 1869; Edward R., March 8, 1873; and 
 Charles A. N., May 26, 1876. Mr. and Mrs. B. are 
 members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and 
 Mr. B. is a Republican in his political views. 
 
 erman H. Hillery, a farmer, carrying on 
 his agricultural pursuits on section 24, 
 Clover Township, was born Feb. 24, 185 1, 
 in Virginia. His parents were Joseph and 
 Elizabeth ^Sprouse) Hillery, natives respec- 
 tively of Germany and Virginia. He was but 
 18 months old when his father died ; and at the age 
 of three years and five months he was taken for 
 rearing and education by Philip Mauck; with him 
 he remained until he was of age, being" educated 
 and brought up to farm labor. 
 
 Commencing in life on his own account, he was a 
 renter of farms for ten years, when, in 1880, he pur- 
 chased 120 acres on the section where he now re- 
 sides and where he is setting a good example as an 
 honest and industrious farmer. 
 
 He was married in 1872 to Mrs. E. M. Ramsey, a 
 native of this State. She now has six children, two 
 of whom are by her former husband, namely, Ida 
 and Robert. By her present marriage are Viletia, 
 Mary E., Frank E. and Leroy. Ida is the wife of 
 Franklin Elliott, of Clover Township. 
 
 Mr. Hillery is in sympathy with the principles of 
 the Democratic party, and is an influential citizen in 
 his township. 
 
 enry E. Houghton, a farmer on section ^, 
 Clover Township, was born in Chester, 
 Windsor Co., Vt, June 16, 1849, and was 
 two years old when he came with his parents 
 to Illinois. His father, Calvin C. Houghton, 
 purchased 360 acres at the present homestead, 
 ^f* and was a resident there until his death, May 10, 
 1874. His widow, nee Lucy E. Johnson, is still liv- 
 ing at that place, with her daughter and son, the 
 subject of this sketch, who have had the manage- 
 ment of the place since the father's death. 
 
 Henry E. has a farm of 160 acres on section. 26, 
 and another farm of the same size on section 28 : the 
 former he leases. In his youth he received a com- 
 mon-school education: is now a township Super- 
 visor, a School Trustee, and is a citizen of high 
 standing in his community. He is engaged in gen- 
 eral farming and also deals in horses and cattle. He 
 has also purchased 100 tons of broom-corn for three 
 years, on commission, for a firm in Canada. When 
 he first became a resident here, his nearest neighbor 
 was six miles distant. There was then a great 
 plenty of small game. Mr. H. is yet unmarried. 
 
 E. Edgerton, residing in the village of 
 Woodhull, where he is living in retirement 
 from the active labors of life, the major 
 portion of his years having been spent in the 
 arduous toils of the farm, was born in New 
 York, in Essex County, Nov. 6, 1818, his par- 
 ents being Jacob and Mary (Stoddard) Edgerton, 
 natives of Vermont. 
 
 The parents of Mr. Edgerton came to Illinois in 
 1839 and located at Galesburg, Knox County. They 
 purchased a lot in that city and erected thereon a 
 residence, in which they resided until the date of 
 his death in 1843. The mother followed him to the 
 land of the hereafter, Nov. 5, 1858. The issue of 
 their union was six children. 
 
 S. E. Edgerton was the fourth child in order of 
 birth of a family of six children. He remained with 
 his parents until within one year of his majority, 
 having received the advantages afforded by the com- 
 mon schools and assisted his father in the labors of 
 the farm until that time. His father was a carpen- 
 ter, and young Edgerton learned that trade prior to 
 his leaving home. He came to this State in the 
 spring of 1838, and located at Galesburg, where he 
 worked at his trade until the spring of 1844. He 
 then rented a farm in Knox County, and was con- 
 tinually engaged in its cultivation until 1855, meet- 
 ing with some degree of success in that manner ot 
 farming. At the expiration of that time he removed 
 to Henry County, and purchased a farm of 105 
 acres, located on section 6, Clover Township. The 
 land was prairie and in its natural condition, and 
 
 
 ® 
 * 
 
 he at once entered upon the task of breaking and 
 
i 
 
 g; 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 H<^ 
 
 i) 
 
 improving it. He erected a residence thereon, to- 
 gether with barn, fences, etc., set out trees and 
 otherwise improved the place, and continued to re- 
 side there for 25 years, when, in 1879, he removed 
 into Woodhull village and purchased a fine residence 
 and lot, and has continued to reside there up to the 
 present time. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Edgerton to Miss Martha L. 
 Belding occurred April 6, 1842. She was the ac- 
 complished daughter of Stephen and Martha Beld- 
 ing, and was born in Windsor Co., Vt., May 2, 1822. 
 Three children, all daughters, have been born of 
 their union, viz. : Mary L., born April 6, 1843, mar- 
 ried Sidney Durston; Ethel A., born Aug. n, 1846, 
 ■wife of T. I. Hurd; Ida L., born Feb. n, 1857, mar- 
 ried Manning L. Spooner, with whom she lived 
 until her death, which occurred in Cincinnati, Ohio, 
 Sept. 12, 1880; and Clark E., an adopted son, born 
 Feb. 12, 1856, was united in marriage to Mintie A. 
 Gamble; and Phebe E„ an adopted daughter, born 
 Oct. 22, 1859, married Orion Durston. 
 
 Mr. Edgerton is a believer in and a supporter of 
 the principles advocated by the Republican party. 
 He is a gentleman whose accumulations are attrib- 
 utable to his own energy and good judgment, and is 
 a respected and honored citizen of the community 
 in which he resides. 
 
 > 
 ) 
 
 wSWi\\ eter B. Peterson, engaged as a general 
 
 IiRIh • f armer an d stock-raiser on section 23, Lynn 
 
 flj [S33S Township, is a native of Sweden, having 
 
 ifpj been born there Oct. 1, 1830. He emigrated 
 
 J/ji. to America in the fall of 1857, first locating in 
 
 Galesburg, Knox Co., 111., where he engaged 
 
 as a common laborer for 1 1 years, in the employ of 
 
 G. W. Brown, manufacturer of corn-planters. 
 
 Mr. Pelerson was united in marriage the 13th 
 day of May, 1865, while at Galesburg, the lady to 
 whom he was united being Miss Matilda Hegg, also 
 a native of Sweden, and who came to the United 
 States in 1852 with her parents, when only ten years 
 old. They located in Lynn Township, where they 
 they both died. Peter B. Peterson's parents are 
 both deceased, having died in Sweden. Mr. and 
 . Mrs. Peterson have become the parents of three 
 ^- children, namely: Emma Elida, Frank Edward and 
 
 Ellen Nell. Mr. P., on coming to Lynn Township, 
 rented land for the first three years, and finally pur- 
 chased the same; owning now, including his wife's 
 property, 90 acres of land, which is mostly improved 
 and under excellent cultivation. Mr. and Mrs. P., in 
 religious matters, attend the Lutheran Church. 
 
 -»- 
 
 -BH 
 
 -Ci-1 
 
 mm 
 
 J. Howell, a retired farmer, residing on 
 section 29, Clover Township, was born 
 in Orange County, N. Y., May 7, 1823. 
 His parents were Cadwallader and Catherine 
 (Wood) Howell, natives of New York, who 
 came to Illinois in 1860, and finally died in 
 this State, the former in 1877, and the latter in 1869. 
 Mr. Howell, our subject, made his home with an 
 uncle from the time he was 18 months old until the 
 year 1856, receiving a common-school education. 
 At the age of 30 years he left his uncle for one year, 
 and. engaged in the creamery business in Morris- 
 town, N. J. He then resided with his uncle again 
 for two years, from whom he received for his services 
 his farm and pers^jal effects. He came to Illinois 
 in 1856, settling in Woodhull, and building the first 
 house in the place. He purchased the half of sec- 
 tion 7, in company with his brother, George Howell. 
 He also bought 40 acres in the northern part of the 
 same section, a quarter of section 29, in 1859; also 
 no acres since then, and a quarter of section 24, 
 80 acres on section 12, and 80 acres on section 32. 
 At. the present time he occupies section 29 as a resi- 
 dence. In 1880 he became a member of the Farm- 
 ers' Bank firm, in company with Messrs. Woods & 
 Co. As a farmer and as a dealer in fine horses and 
 high-grade stock, Mr. Howell has been eminently 
 successful. He is a solid and representative citizen 
 of Henry County, worthy of any public trust. He 
 is a Republican in his political affiliation ; was the 
 first Republican surveyor of the township ot Clover. 
 For the past nineteen years he has been a Trustee 
 of the Presbyterian Church, to which body his wife 
 and daughter also belong. 
 
 Mr. Howell was married to Miss Matilda C. Post, 
 a native of Orange Co., N. Y., and the daughter of 
 the late Gen. P. S. Post, who was engaged in the 
 War of 181 2. He had the entire control of the 
 State Militia of Orange County. He married Miss 
 Mary D. Coe, a native of the State of New York, 
 
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 -^v^>im^tmf>^^ — ^»^- 
 
 4*§^ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 and a daughter of John B. Coe, a Representative of 
 Rockland County, that State. He came West with 
 his family in 1855, settling in Galesburg, where he 
 died in 1861 ; the mother still resides in Galesburg, 
 with her son, Gen. P. S. Post, who was a General in 
 the late war, was Consul to Austria 13 years, and is 
 at present living a retired life in Galesburg. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Howell have had two children, 
 namely: Carrie P., who married M. C. Brownlee, of 
 Monmouth, 111., in 1883; and Schuyler P., who died 
 in 1878, at the age of 17 years, at Rock Island, 111. 
 
 llp&2 ? R. Hayden. One of the representative and 
 
 worthy men of Henry County, is A. R. 
 * Hayden, a retired farmer, whose place of 
 
 residence is on section 25, Clover Township, 
 and who was born in Lewis Co., Ky., Oct. 20, 
 1819. His parents were Jonathan and Re- 
 becca (Taylor) Hayden, who were natives of Penn- 
 sylvania and New Jersey, respectively. In an early 
 day the father was engaged in mercantile business, 
 but later adopted the occupation of a farmer, and 
 came to Indiana in the year 1856, where he re- 
 mained until his death. 
 
 A. R., of this sketch, remained at home until he 
 attained the age of 22 years, enjoying such advan- 
 tages as were afforded by the common schools 
 of that early day, and then learned surveying. 
 After leaving home he followed the latter business, 
 that of a surveyor. Later, he commenced to work 
 part of the homestead which his father had given 
 him, and then sold it, coming to Illinois. He re- 
 mained in Fulton County for three years, and next 
 came on to Henry County and located on 1 60 acres 
 on section 25, Clover Township, which he had pur- 
 chased in 1853. By his industry and energy he 
 now has the same in an advanced state of cultiva- 
 tion, has set out trees, fenced it, erected suitable 
 buildings and a fine residence. He enlisted early 
 in the war in the 81st 111. Inf., served three years, 
 and was honorably discharged at Fort Donelson. 
 
 Mr. Hayden was married May 14, 1841, to Miss 
 Minerva Reeve, a native of Montgomery Co., Ind., 
 and their home circle has been blessed with the 
 birth of nine children, namely : Amanda, Cynthia, 
 Louisa, Rebecca, Joab, William H., Eveline, Sylva- 
 
 nus and Alfred M., all of them married except the 
 youngest. Mr. H. votes with the Republican party, 
 whose principles he espouses. He and his wife are 
 members of the Christian Church of Ontario, Knox 
 County, this State. 
 
 nomas Long, a general farmer and stock- 
 raiser, residing on section 15, Lynn Town- 
 ship, is a native of Pennsylvania, where, 
 in Indiana County, he was born, Jan. 10, 
 1833. For parental history of Mr. Long, see 
 biography of J. S. Long, in another part of the 
 work. Thomas Long resided on the parental home- 
 stead, and attended the district schools of his native 
 county, developing into manhood. He learned the 
 trade of a blacksmith in early life under the instruc- 
 tion of an older brother, Jacob, in Westmoreland 
 Co., Pa. He continued to labor with his brother 
 from the date of his majority until he was about 25 
 years of age, working at the blacksmith trade. In 
 the spring of 1858, realizing that better opportu- 
 nities were offered in the undeveloped West for the 
 accumulation of a competency, he came to Orion, 
 this county. He first engaged in breaking prairie, 
 at which vocation he labored for a time, and then 
 entered upon the occupation of a farmer for his own 
 individual profit. He and his brother, J. S. Long, 
 purchased 230 acres of land in Lynn Township, 
 which they own at the present time in partnership. 
 Mr. Long subsequently increased his landed in- 
 terests by the purchase of 160 acres additional, on 
 which he at present resides. He is one of the 
 energetic and progressive farmers as well as stock- 
 raisers of his township. He Has a pleasant home, 
 a good farm, and in addition to his agricultural 
 labors is engaged to a considerable extent in breed- 
 ing high-graded stock. Politically, he is a Repub- 
 lican, but has always declined the proffered offices 
 of his township. 
 
 Mr. Long formed a matrimonial alliance in Swe- 
 dona, Mercer Co., 111., at the residence of the bride's 
 parents, Feb. 6, 1878, with Euphemia B., daughter 
 of Alex, and Mary (Burns) Cook, natives of North 
 and South Scotland respectively. The father was a 
 son of a Highland Scotch farmer, Archie Cook, who 
 was united in marriage to Mary McKelvie, and who 
 was a farmer by occupation. They came to Canada 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 and settled in Inverness, Province of Quebec, about 
 1834, where they resided until their deaths, in 1852. 
 The mother of Mrs. Long (Mary Burns) was the 
 daughter of William and Mary (Tennock) Burns. 
 The grandfather, William Burns, was a second 
 cousin of Robert Burns, the famous Scottish poet, 
 and belonged to an old and prominent family of 
 Scotland, where he and his wife both died, she soon 
 after their marriage, and he in 1852. The parents 
 of Mrs. Burns had seven children, one of whom, 
 Peter F., is deceased. He was shot at the battle of 
 Resaca, Ga., while fighting in defense of his coun- 
 try's honor. The living are as follows : Archie, who 
 married Fanny Moore, and lives at Pre-emption, 
 Mercer Co., and is a wagon-maker ; Mary married 
 James Williamson, who resides at Creston, Iowa; 
 Lizzie married Dr. Williamson, a resident of Golden, 
 Adams Co., this State ; Jane resides with her father 
 in Swedona, Mercer Co., and has been a teacher of 
 long standing in the public schools of that county; 
 Belle was united in marriage to J. B. Dalles, who 
 resides in Philadelphia, Pa., and is engaged in iron 
 ore business. Mrs. Long was the fourth child of 
 her parents' family, having been born July 31, 1847, 
 in Govan, near the city of Glasgow, Scotland. 
 When in her 14th year she emigrated to the United 
 States with her parents, who settled in this county, 
 where the mother died, March 6, 1878. Her father 
 still survives, and resides at Swedona, Mercer Co. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Long are the parents of two chil- 
 dren: Bessie B., born Oct. 18, 1878, and Inez L, 
 Dec. 5, 1 88 1. They also have in their care for 
 bringing up a girl named Kittie, the daughter of 
 William and Catharine Farrell, of Geneseo. She 
 was born in that village, March 20, 1870, and was 
 in her eighth year wlien she was received into Mr. 
 Long's family. 
 
 L. Huffman, engaged as farmer on sec- 
 tion 9, Clover Township, is a native of 
 ;&- s this State, having been born Jan. 1, 1852, 
 Jfe in Peoria County. His parents, Herbert W. 
 VfiJ and Elizabeth (Creiger) Huffman, were na- 
 i tives of New Jersey. The parents came to 
 this State in 1845, and settled in Peoria County, 
 where they purchased 60 acres of land. Their son, 
 C. L. Huffman, of whom we write, remained with 
 
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 them until he had attained his majority, receiving 
 his education in the common schools and assisting 
 in the labors of the farm. On becoming his own 
 man in life, C. L. left the parental roof-tree, and 
 worked out by the month in Henry County — his 
 parents having moved to this county in 1865 — until 
 about 25 years of age. He then rented a farm in 
 Clover Township, located on section 35, which he 
 cultivated for his own individual benefit for two 
 years. He then rented the place on which he at 
 present resides, and cultivated the same for one 
 year, after which he bought it, and has since con- 
 tinued to reside thereon, occupied in its cultivation 
 and improvement. 
 
 Mr. Huffman was united in marriage to Clara A., 
 the daughter of Stephen J. Lighthizer, July 4, 1876. 
 She was born April it, r857, in Clover Township, 
 Henry County, and has borne to her husband one 
 child, — Edith C, born Nov. 30, 1879. Mr. Huff- 
 man, politically, is a believer in and a supporter of 
 the principles of the Republican party. He is a 
 worthy young man of Clover Township, and re- 
 spected in the community in which he resides for 
 his straightforward and manly dealings with his fel- 
 low men. 
 
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 R. Spivey, farmer and stock-raiser, resid- 
 ing on section 18, Oxford Township, was 
 born in Indiana, March 31, 1840, his par- 
 ents being John and Lusada (Alread) Spivey, 
 jF natives of Ohio and South Carolina respect- 
 ively, who came to this State in 1 848, and 
 located in Rock Island County, where the father 1 
 died one year later. 
 
 J. R. Spivey, subject of this biographical sketch, 
 remained with his parents until he attained his 
 majority, receiving during that time a moderate edu- 
 cation in the district schools, and spending the major 
 portion of his time in labor on the farm. On be- 
 coming his own man he left home and rented a farm 
 in Mercer County, and in 1864 he purchased 80 
 acres of land in that county. After cultivating the 
 same for one year he sold it and came to this 
 county, where he purchased 80 acres on section 17, 
 Oxford Township. This he kept and cultivated for 
 three years, when he sold it, and purchased 120 
 acres, where he at present resides. He moved on 
 flflf^A^ ^i»£ &Ma§£>&*^ him 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 211 
 
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 his land, and entered upon its cultivation and im- 
 provement, and was likewise engaged in the stock 
 business, which, together with agricultural pursuits, 
 continued to follow until 1883. Since that time he 
 has lived in retirement from the active labors of 
 life. 
 
 Mr. Spivey has been twice married. His first 
 wife, to whom he was united in marriage in Septem- 
 ber, 1861, was Miss Edith Duzenberry, a native of 
 Virginia, and four childreu were born of their union, 
 — James, Alice, John and Jane. Mrs. Spivey died 
 in 1874, and his second marriage was with Miss 
 Isadore Goodhue, a native of this State. Of the 
 latter union two children have been, born, — Elias, 
 Cass and Clark. Mr. S. politically, is a Prohibi- 
 tionist. Himself and wife and two children are 
 members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and 
 three of his children are members of the Congrega- 
 tional Church. 
 
 L. Woods, manufacturer, Woodhull, was 
 born in Perry Co., Pa., Feb. 22, 1834, and 
 came to Illinois in 1856, residing in Ot- 
 tawa until 1858, clerking in a hardware 
 store for Jackson & Lockwood. He returned 
 to Pennsylvania, and after the death of his 
 father, in 1859, he rented the homestead for two 
 years. The farm was then sold, by order of the 
 Court, and Mr. Woods bought the place and occu- 
 pied it for two years longer. He then sold out and 
 moved to Newport, and engaged in buying and sell- 
 ing horses for the army and also to farmers. He 
 next purchased a farm near New Broomfield, Perry 
 Co., Pa., consisting of 103 acres, and occupied the 
 same for three years ; selling out again, he came to 
 Woodhull, this county, and purchased 138 acres of 
 land on section 24, Oxford Township, which place 
 he still retains. He has since engaged extensively 
 in the manufacture of brooms, at Woodhull, now 
 employing 17 men. He is also a member of the 
 firm of Howell, Woods & Co., bankers, of Wood- 
 hull. He is also the proprietor of 500 acres of land 
 in Kansas and Nebraska. He holds the office of 
 School Treasurer, has been Road Commissioner, 
 etc., and is one of the leading and solid men of 
 Henry County. He votes the Democratic ticket. 
 
 n 
 
 Miss Susan A. Gamble, a native of Perry Co., Pa., 
 and Mr. Woods were married Feb. 22, i860, and 
 they have four children, — Carrie L., born Jan. 12, 
 t86i; Joseph W., who was born April 28, 1862; 
 Bell M., born June 1, 1865 ; and Laura M., Sept. 
 18, 1868; Carrie L. married A. A. Mackey, the 
 Postmaster of Woodhull. Mr. Wood's parents were 
 Joseph and Margaret (Adams) Woods, natives of 
 Pennsylvania. The former died in 1859, and the 
 latter in i860. 
 
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 ugust Anderson, of the firm of E. & A. 
 Anderson, general merchants, at Lynn 
 Center, this county, is a native of Sweden, 
 in which country he was born May 30, 1850. 
 His father, Andrew Anderson, was also born 
 in Sweden, a farmer by occupation, and mar- 
 ried Christina Nilson, a native of that country. 
 While they resided in Sweden seven children were 
 born to them, and August, subject of this notice, was 
 the youngest in order of birth. 
 
 August Anderson was brought by his parents 
 when two years of age to this country. They 
 located in Andover Township, Henry County, where 
 the father purchased 50 acres of land, on which he 
 has continually resided. There has been one child 
 born to them since they came to the United States, 
 and they reside on the old homestead on which they 
 settled when they came to this county, being among 
 the early settlers. August Anderson was reared on 
 the homestead spoken of, where he assisted in the 
 labors of the farm, and attended the public schools 
 at Andover until February, 1884. At that date he 
 connected himself with Mr. Edward Anderson in 
 mercantile trade in Lynn Center, since which time 
 he ha,s continued with him in partnership in the 
 business. 
 
 Mr. Anderson was united in marriage July 30, 
 1885, at Andover, with Miss Mary I. Peterson, who 
 was born in Sweden, Dec. 14, 1858. Her father 
 died in his native country before Mrs. Anderson of 
 this notice was a year old. Her mother afterward 
 married P. O. Anderson, and the family came to the 
 United States, Mrs. A. of this notice being at the 
 time of her mother's emigration to this country eight 
 years old. She was the eldest but two in order of 
 
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 9 
 
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 212 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 birth of a family of eight children, two of whom are 
 deceased. Her parents located in Andover Town- 
 ship, where the step- father died, Oct. 6, 1880. 
 Mrs. Anderson received her education in the dis- 
 trict schools of Andover and Clover Townships. 
 Her mother is at present residing in Andover, and 
 is 57 years old. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Anderson are members of the Swe- 
 dish Methodist Church at Andover, of which de- 
 nomination he is at present Treasurer. Politically, 
 he is a believer in and a supporter of the principles 
 advocated by the Republican party. 
 
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 P. Taylor, who resides on section 9, 
 Clover Township, was born in Cumberland 
 Co., Pa., Sept. 10, 1836. His parents were 
 Michael and Sally (Persing) Taylor, native of 
 that State. They moved to Ohio in 1844, 
 where his father was engaged in farming for 
 seven years. In 1851 he came to this State and lo- 
 cated on section 9, Clover Township, this county, 
 where he purchased 160 acres of land. On this land 
 he settled with his family, and has constantly jesided 
 thereon until the present time. His wife, mother of 
 the subject of this notice, died on the old homestead 
 in 1865. 
 
 O. P. Taylor, whose biographical sketch we write, 
 received a fair education in the district schools and 
 assisted his father in the labors of the farm until he 
 reached his 21st year. On becoming his own man 
 in life, he was given charge of the old homestead and 
 has continued to cultivate the same up to the pres- 
 ent time. By energetic labor and economy, he has 
 added 80 acres of land to the original 160 which the 
 homestead comprised. The 80 acres is located on 
 sections 4 and 9. Mr. T. has also purchased in con- 
 nection with a brother 80 acres on section 9, 80 
 acres on section 10, and 40 acres on section 4, and 
 also 10 acres of woodland in Andover Township. He 
 has a large stock of cattle and horses, and is en- 
 gaged in general farming, in which vocation he is 
 meeting with success. 
 
 He was married to Miss Lorina Downey, a native 
 of Illinois, in 1866, and of their union, two sons have 
 ^ een born, Charles and Willie. Politically, Mr. Tay- 
 
 lor is a Democrat. He has held the office of School 
 Director for 1 1 years, and is an energetic and pro- 
 gressive farmer, and respected citizen of the town- 
 ship and county in which he resides. 
 
 *<lr* 
 
 •also 
 
 illiam Boltenstern, engaged as a general 
 farmer and stock-raiser on section 24, 
 Lynn Township, where is located his resi- 
 dence, is a native of Pommern, Prussia, 
 in which country he was born Dec. 3T, 
 18 18. His father, Charles Boltenstern, was 
 a farmer and a native of Prussia. He was 
 married in that country to Minnie Nitz, she being a 
 native of the same place, and both were of old Ger- 
 man families, who had lived there when that part 
 of Prussia belonged to Sweden, before Napoleon. 
 The parents of our subject had always lived in 
 Germany, the date of the death of the father being 
 about the year 1846, and the mother 1858. 
 
 William Boltenstern, whose name heads this 
 sketch, was the third child in order of birth of a 
 family of r2 children, and resided under parental' 
 influence until about 19 years of age, in the mean- 
 time attending the public schools and acquiring a 
 good education. At the age mentioned he entered 
 the regular army of Prussia, where he remained for 
 about two years, and then engaged in the occupation 
 of a farmer, which he followed until his emigration 
 to America, in T852. Upon his arrival in the New 
 World, he located on a farm of 80 acres in Lynn 
 Township, which he begin immediately to improve 
 and put under excellent cultivation. In this he 
 succeeded, and later he added to his original acre- 
 age, until he is now the owner of over 1,000 acres, 
 the most of this large property being in a good state 
 of cultivation. It is distributed over the townships 
 of Lynn, Andover and Osco. His farm ranks 
 among the first of the township, and Mr. B. is one 
 of the most extensive land-owners in the same. 
 His stock-raising is immense, and he is looked upon 
 as a progressive, energetic and respected stockman. 
 
 The 27th of June, 1857, Mr. Boltenstern chose 
 for his companion, and with whom he was united, 
 Miss Mary Anderson, who was born in Sweden, in 
 1839. When 12 years of age she emigrated with 
 her mother to America, her father having died in 
 
 9 
 
 
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rj&xz — 6v^n u® n Df^r^ — ^a<€^ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 Sweden. They located at Andover, Henry County, 
 and there she lived until her marriage. The mother 
 still survives, making her home with her daughter, 
 Mrs. B. Mr. and Mrs. B. have had their home 
 circle blessed with the birth of five children, one of 
 whom is deceased : Theodore W., Morris A., Henry 
 E., and Victor F. are living, and Charles is 
 deceased. Mr. and Mrs. B. and family are mem- 
 bers of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. B. has served 
 in the minor offices of his township, and politically 
 he affiliates with the Republican party 
 
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 '§'«( D. Underwood, who is engaged as a farmer 
 on section 33, Oxford Township, was. born 
 in Oxford Township, Henry County, Dec. 
 11, 1839, and is a son of Almeron and Per- 
 melia (Coldgrove) Underwood, who were na- 
 tives of New York. They came to Illinois in 
 1836, and remained through the winter in Fulton 
 County. In the spring of the following year they 
 went to Oxford Township and " took up " land on 
 section 31, 160 acres, which they afterwards in- 
 creased by taking 160 more adjoining. This they 
 began work upon, and by their energy and industry 
 succeeded in the task of its improvement and culti- 
 vation. They were the first settlers in Oxford Town- 
 ship, where they lived until their deaths, occurring in 
 1868 and 1876 respectively. 
 
 A. D., our subject, attended the district schools, 
 and later the Galesburg Academy, thus receiving a 
 fine education; in the meantime he assisted his 
 father on the farm, remaining at home until he at- 
 tained the age of 21 years. In 1862, he enlisted in 
 Co. D, 83d 111. Vol. Inf., and was in the service for 
 about three years, at the end of which time he re- 
 ceived an honorable discharge. 
 
 March 31, 1870, Mr. Underwood was married to 
 Miss Ellen L. Sinden, a native of the State of Illi- 
 nois. Their home circle has been blessed by the 
 birth of four children, namely: Hester P., Bruce 
 A., Sidney R. and Mabel E. Mr. U. is a Republi- 
 can in political sentiments. He has been Assessor 
 and Justice of the Peace, and socially is a member 
 of the Order of Masons. Since his marriage he has 
 resided on 80 acres of land on section 33, his pres- 
 
 
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 elson Gustus, Supervisor of Lynn Town- 
 ship, residing on section 30, where he is 
 jjTH likewise engaged in the occupation of 
 farming and stock-raising, was born in Swe- 
 ,!(, den, Aug. 22, 1836. His father, Gustaf Nilson, 
 was also a native of Sweden, a farmer by occupation, 
 and was united in marriage in that country to Maria 
 H. Anderson, a daughter of a Swedish farmer and 
 a native of the same province as himself. The 
 issue of their union was four children, namely: 
 Carl M., who is married and resides on a farm in 
 his native province in Sweden ; Johanna G. is like- 
 wise married to a Swedish farmer ; Carl J. Dahlberg, 
 
 ent homestead, which he has improved and put under V[> 
 excellent cultivation, and 20 acres in Knox County. K 
 Mr. U. is one of the solid and prominent men of Ox- 
 ford Township. 
 
 ho mas Cain, a farmer of section 29, Clover 
 Township, was born on the Isle of Man, 
 Nov. 10, 1850, and in emigration to this 
 country he arrived in Altona, 111., April 29, 
 1868. He was brought up to agricultural 
 labor, received a common-school education, and 
 at Altona he commenced to work upon a farm for his 
 uncle, David Patty ; but after the expiration of about 
 five months he was severely attacked with typhoid 
 fever, which laid him up for ten weeks; the next 
 summer he worked for nine months upon a farm in 
 this county, and then went to Galva, where he was a 
 farm laborer for two years. In 1885 he purchased an 
 80-acre farm in Clover Township, upon section 29, 
 where he is now a resident. He has some very fine 
 horses and some grade cattle. 
 
 Mr. Cain is a Republican, is a School Director, 
 and has held other offices in his township. He is a 
 very benevolent man as well as enterprising, and 
 both himself and wife belong to the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church. 
 
 He was united in the bonds of matrimony in 1872, 
 to Miss Bathia E. Riner, a native of Ohio, and they 
 have six children: Elizabeth A., William T., 
 Martha J., Cora A , Blanche M. and Nellie G. 
 
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> 214 
 
 ■6v4>nn^iiti^ v^c) ^ k- 
 
 -*4*^% 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
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 who emigrated to this country after his marriage, 
 and is at present residing in retirement at Randolph, 
 Riley Co., Kan. ; Anna S., who married J. L. Lund, 
 also a native of Sweden; they emigrated to the 
 United States and settled near Orion, where her 
 husband died, and Mrs. L. at present resides in 
 McPherson, McPherson Co., Kan., in retirement. 
 
 Nelson Gustus, the subject of this notice, was the 
 youngest son of his parents' children. He resided 
 at home, assisting his father in the labors on the 
 farm and attending school, until he attained the age 
 of 17 years. At this period in his life's history, 
 hoping to better his. financial condition in life, he 
 emigrated to this, the land of promise and progress. 
 Soon after arriving in this country he located in 
 Henry County, where he engaged in general labor 
 on the railroad and on the farm for three years. At 
 the end of this time he rented land in Lynn Town- 
 ship, this county, and continued farming in that 
 manner for four years. In i860 he purchased 40 
 acres of land located on section 31, Lynn Township. 
 On this small farm, which was in its natural condi- 
 tion and on which the hand of civilization was not 
 to be seen, he entered upon the arduous and pro- 
 tracted task of establishing a home. By energetic 
 effort and economy he succeeded in placing his 40 
 acres under good methods of cultivation, and a few 
 years later he purchased 20 acres more. Having a 
 firm belief in the future development of the county, 
 he continued on his farm, and labored hard, and 
 the outcome of his good judgment and industry has 
 enabled him at the present time to be the owner of 
 329 acres of good land, in an advanced state of 
 cultivation. He has his farm in first-class con- 
 dition, well supplied with good farm buildings and 
 an elegant residence, and is enjoying the fruits of a 
 laborious life, and meeting with signal success in 
 his chosen vocation, agriculture. In addition to his 
 agricultural labors he is somewhat engaged in stock- 
 growing, and in breeding and selling it. 
 
 Mr. Gustus was united in marriage, Feb. 26, 
 1862, at Andover, Henry County, with Miss Clara 
 M. Magnusson, a native of Sweden. She was only 
 a small child when she came to the United States 
 with her parents, who settled in Lynn Townsnip, 
 this county. Her mother at present resides in Swe- 
 dona, with her daughter, Mrs. Johanna E. Esbjorn, 
 where her husband died, in 1877. She is in her 
 
 83d year. Mr. and Mr. Gustus are the parents of 
 three children, viz. : John E., who resides at Linds- 
 borg, Kan., is a professor of plain and ornament- 
 al penmanship, and Principal of the Business De- 
 partment of the Bethany Normal Institute ; Oscar 
 T., who is well educated, and possesses in a high 
 degree the art of portrait-drawing and journalism; 
 Hulda R. is a young lady, likewise possessed of a 
 good education, received in the district schools of 
 the county. 
 
 The family are all members of the Evangelical 
 Lutheran Swedish Church at Swedona. Mr. Gustus 
 was Assessor 12 years, Road Commissioner eight 
 years, and has held the position of Supervisor of his 
 township for five years ; has been President of the 
 Svea Mutual Fire Insurance Company ten years ; is a 
 staunch and active Republican, and takes consider- 
 able interest in the local politics of his township and 
 county, and is one of the respected and honored 
 citizens of Henry County. His wife has been for 
 the past eight years a confirmed invalid, yet bears 
 her pain with that fortitude characteristic of the 
 disposition she possesses. 
 
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 x«i— >*gfaWJ3OT» 
 
 D. Timberlake, retired farmer, residing 
 on section ^, Oxford Township, was born 
 in Green Co, Ky., Dec. 17, 1807. His 
 parents were Joseph and Anna (Douglas) 
 Timberlake, natives of Virginia. They were 
 occupied in farming in Kentucky, where they 
 remained until their deaths. The father was a 
 soldier in the Revolutionary War. 
 
 R. D., whose name heads this notice, remained at 
 home until ten years of age, the death of his mother 
 occurring at that time. From that time in life the 
 boy supported himself working out by the month or 
 year, and followed the same for 20 years. In 1833 
 he moved to Sangamon Co., 111., where he superin- 
 tended a large farm for Richard F. Barrett, for four 
 years; then, in 1837, he removed to Oxford Town- 
 ship, Henry County, and "took up" 240 acres of 
 land on section 33, his present residence, and later 
 added to his original purchase by buying 660 acres, 
 until he now has 900 acres, on which he entered vig- 
 orously and energetically upon the task of improve- 
 ment and cultivation. Upon his large and valuable 
 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 farm he carries on general farming, doing splendidly 
 and succeeding well. 
 
 R. D. Timberlake was united in marriage Nov. 
 13, 1834, with Miss Jemima Simms, who was born 
 in Kentucky and came when four years of age to 
 Sangamon Co., where she was married. Of this 
 union have been born nine children, viz. : Joseph, 
 William S., Ann, Robert and George (twins), Susan, 
 Delilah, Jeminah and Lucy. They are all married. 
 Mr. Timberlake has 27 grandchildren and three 
 great-grandchildren. He is a Democrat in political 
 views, and is one of the first settlers in Oxford 
 Township; -is thought of as a representative and 
 solid man. 
 
 jrs. C. C. Houghton, residing in Clover 
 Township, and the widow of Calvin C. 
 Houghton, came with her husband to this 
 State in 1852, and located in Clover Town 
 ship, on section ^^, where her husband " took 
 up" 160 acres of land, on which they resided 
 for three years. They then moved to Galesburg, 
 Knox County, this State, where they purchased ten 
 acres of land in that vicinity and on which they 
 lived two years. 
 
 Mr. Houghton, husband of the subject of this no- 
 tive, was born in Vermont in 1817. He received a 
 good common-school education in his native State, 
 and at the age of 16 years, left home and engaged in 
 the hardware business. In 1 845 he was united in 
 marriage with Lucy E. Johnson, a native of Chester, 
 Vt. They resided in that State for seven years and 
 then came to Illinois. The issue of their union was 
 six children — Curtis, Henry, Fred, Hugh, Winnifred 
 and Nellie. Curtis formed a matrimonial alliance 
 with Miss Frances Brooks, and the issue of their 
 union was two children — Hall and Glenn ; Fred 
 married Maggie Benn, and they are the parents of 
 two children — Inez M. and Hugh M.; Hugh married 
 Alice Remine, and to them have been born three 
 children — Fred and Mabel and one deceased; Win- 
 nifred married John Oliver and they also had two 
 children — Henry and Ned. Henry lives with his 
 mother and manages het business and is Supervisor 
 of the township of Clover. 
 
 The demise of Mr. Houghton occurred in 1874. 
 
 party. He was a farmer by occupation, and also an 
 extensive dealer in stock, and his life was one of ac- 
 tivity and energetic labor. He was a gentleman 
 always ready to aid in any good undertaking and 
 was calculated to benefit the community in which he 
 resided. His life of effort and economy, coupled 
 with the active co-operation of his good helpmeet, 
 was such as enabled him to leave his wife and chil- 
 dren a fine property. 
 
 
 % 
 
 Politically he was identified with the Republican 
 
 F. Beals, a farmer residing on section 35, 
 Clover Township, this county, was born 
 near Cleveland, O., Aug. 12, 1832, and is 
 a son of Abner S. and Jane (Shepard) Beals, 
 natives of New York and Pennsylvania re- 
 spectively. The parents of Mr. Beals came 
 to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1818, where they purchased a 
 farm of 50 acres, on which they resided for a time 
 and then sold the same. In 1868 they moved to 
 Michigan and settled in Cass County, where they 
 continued to reside until their deaths, that of the 
 father occurring Oct. 1 , 1 87 6, and the mother May 30, 
 of the same year. R. F. Beals, son of the parents 
 mentioned, was an inmate of their family for 19 years, 
 and during that time received an education in the 
 district schools and assisted in the labors of the farm. 
 Arriving at the age mentioned, he left home to make 
 his own way in the world, and engaged first in chop- 
 ping wood. He followed this occupation only a 
 short time, when he engaged to learn the carpenter 
 trade at Cleveland, Ohio. He soon mastered the 
 same and took contracts for the building of houses, 
 barns and all kinds of other buildings, and employed a 
 set of hands. In 1855, he left Ohio and came to this 
 State, where, in Oneida, Knox County, he was occu- 
 pied for a time and then came to Clover Township, 
 this county, the date of his arrival being 1856. Ar- 
 riving here he worked at his trade for two years, 
 taking contracts for the building of houses through- 
 out the township. 
 
 In 1858, Mr. Beals purchased 80 acres of land, on 
 which he located, and engaged in its cultivation and 
 improvement. He has subsequently increased his 
 landed interests by the purchase of 170 acres addi- 
 tional, lying partly in Knox and partly in this county, 
 making his aggregate of acres 250. He has bought 
 and sold other lands, but the latter acreage com- 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 prises his present farm. He has made many im- 
 provements upon his place, such as the erection of 
 his residence, barn, fences, the setting out of trees, 
 etc.; and the appearance of his farm is indicative 
 not only of good judgment, but of energetic and la- 
 borious toil. 
 
 Mr. Beals enlisted in the war for the Union in 
 August, 1862, joining Co. I, io2d 111. Vol. Inf., and 
 participated in all the battles of the Atlanta cam- 
 paign, prominent among which were Resaca, New 
 Hope Church, Peach-Tree Creek and siege of At- 
 lanta. He was slightly wounded while on the skir- 
 mish line, and served three years in defense of the 
 Union cause. He was with Sherman in his march 
 to the sea; was promoted as Orderly Sergeant, and 
 on several occasions commanded his company. He 
 received an honorable discharge at the close of the 
 war, and returned home, where, doffing his uni- 
 form, he again engaged in the peaceful pursuits of 
 life. 
 
 Mr. Beals formed a matrimonial alliance with 
 Miss Adeline H. McClellan in 1857. She wa> a 
 bride for only one short year and passed to the land 
 of the hereafter. Mr. Beals was again married in 
 1865, to Miss Amanda M. Hayden, who was the 
 daughter of A. R. Hayden, of Clover Township. 
 Politically, Mr. Beals is a believer in the tenets of 
 the Republican party. Socially, he is a member of 
 the I. O. O. F., the Masonic Order, and of the G. A. 
 R., and is Commander of Holden Post, of the latter 
 society. He has held the office of Supervisor 
 for four years, that of Justice of the Peace, and 
 other minor offices within the gift of the people of 
 his township, and is one of the respected and hon- 
 ored citizens of the same. 
 
 ames Bachus, residing on section 30, Ox- 
 ford Township, where he is engaged in the 
 occupation of farming, is a native of Ohio, 
 where, in Gallia County, that State, he was 
 born, Oct. 14, 1823. The parents of Mr. 
 Bachus were Jacob and Nancy (Long) Bachus, 
 with whom James resided until 1831. At that date 
 his mother died, and he was bound out to a farmer 
 until he should arrive at the age of majority. On be- 
 coming his own man in life he came to Oxford Town- 
 %&^° 2®$$Z @^fl ft 
 
 ship, and purchased 51 acres of land. Mr. B. is a 
 self-made man in every sense of the word. On com- 
 ing here he was very poor, and for many years 
 worked hard to procure a home. By energetic ef- 
 fort, economy and perseverance, he has been enabled 
 to purchase 59 acres additional, and now has a fine 
 farm of no acres. He has held the office of Trus- 
 tee of his township for 28 years, and is also School 
 Director of his district. Religiously, he is a member 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 In 1845, Mr. Bachus was united in marriage with 
 Miss Mary James. Of their union eight children 
 were born, seven of whom survive, namely: James, 
 Benjamin, Mary, Archibald, Charles, Foss and Jane. 
 Arvilla is deceased. Mrs. Bachus died in 1875, and 
 Mr. B. formed a second matrimonial alliance, with 
 Miss Catherine Maxy, in 1876. They have become 
 the parents of two children — Minnie B. and Leroy. 
 Mr. Bachus is a Prohibitionist in his political views, 
 and is one of the respected citizens of Oxford Town- 
 ship. 
 
 a 
 
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 & 
 
 arah Houghton, the wife of Thomas P. 
 Houghton, deceased, and whose maiden 
 name was Sarah Barton, is a resident 
 of Clover Township, residing on section 35. 
 Thomas P. Houghton, deceased, husband of 
 the subject of this notice, was born in Graf- 
 ton Township, Windham Co., Vt., in 1806, and died 
 on the old homestead in Clover Township, this 
 county, in May, 187 1. He remained with his par- 
 ents until 1855, when he came to this county and 
 rented land, and continued to farm in that manner 
 for six years. He then purchased 80 acres of land, 
 and by good judgment, energetic labor and economy 
 he subsequently added 200 acres to his original pur- 
 chase, the same being located on section 35, Clover 
 Township, on which he located with his family and 
 entered vigorously and energetically upon the task 
 of its improvement. He was a great worker during 
 his life-time, and was respected and honored for his 
 straightforward and honest dealings. He held num- 
 erous offices within the gift of the people of his town- 
 ship, and was at one time Postmaster. He was a 
 gentleman noted for his liberality, and always lent a 
 helping hand in time of need to the deserving. He 
 could be found interested in everything that was cal- 
 
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 S3 
 
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HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 ^«*££ 
 
 culated to benefit the community in which he resided, 
 and by his constant labor and good judgment, when 
 called to the hereafter, left a fine home and suffi- 
 ciency of this world's goods to his wife and children. 
 The marriage of Mr. Houghton to Miss Barton, 
 which occurred Dec. 3, 1840, in Massachusetts, was 
 blessed by the birth of five children, one of whom is 
 deceased. The record is as follows : John, Lucia, 
 Wilhelmina W., Charles E. and Martha, who died at 
 the age of two years. John was united in marriage 
 to Miss Harriet Deevolo; Lucia married Alexander 
 Maher; Wilhelmina married Lewis W. Slosson ; and 
 Charles was united in marriage with Lucinda 
 Clough. Charles E. runs the home farm, where the 
 mother resides, aged 77 years. 
 
 -E3- 
 
 
 "ohn J. Thorp, residing on section 26, Clover 
 Township, where he is engaged in the oc- 
 cupation of a farmer, was born in the town- 
 ship in which he at present resides, Sept. 12, 
 1853, his parents being John and Elizabeth 
 (Judy) Thorp. His parents were natives of 
 Indiana and Pennsylvania respectively, and came to 
 this State in 1852, settling in Clover Township, this 
 county, where his father purchased 165 acres of 
 land, located on section 26, and where the parents 
 resided until the death of the father, which occurred 
 Dec. 9, 1864. He was a soldier in* the late war, 
 and was with Sherman in his famous march from 
 Atlanta to the sea. During the march he was taken 
 sick with fever, and died, and was buried in Georgia. 
 He enlisted in 1864, in the 31st Regt. 111. Vol. Inf., 
 Co. B. 
 
 John J. Thorp, of whom we write, remained on 
 the parental homestead, and on attaining his ma- 
 jority he took the same, and has subsequently pur- 
 chased the interest of the other heirs. He received 
 an education in the common schools of his county, 
 and has devoted his entire life to agricultural pur- 
 suits. 
 
 He was married to Miss Lena E. Reeve, a native 
 of this county, Jan. 26, 1876. She was a daughter 
 of George Reeve, of this county, and has borne her 
 husband three children, — Charles E., Claude M. and 
 Orabelle. Mrs. Thorp died May 13, 1885, leaving 
 a husband and three children to mourn her loss. 
 
 Politically, Mr. Thorp is identified with the Re- 
 publican party. He has held the office of School 
 Director in his township, and, although a young man, 
 has bright prospects. In addition to his agricultural 
 duties on the farm, he has been engaged in running 
 an engine for threshing and shelling corn for the 
 past five years. 
 
 »OOC>C . " 
 
 amuel Pritchard. Though the early years 
 of his- life were not the most favorable for 
 a successful and prominent career, Mr. 
 Pritchard, who resides upon a farm on section 
 25, Oxford Township, has become a well-to- 
 do and representative man of his community. 
 He/was born in Rochester, N. Y., April 9, 1830. 
 His parents, Lucius and Sally (Sampson) Pritchard, 
 who were natives of Vermont and Connecticut re- 
 spectively, both died when Samuel was only five 
 years of age. The lonely orphan, thus bereft of 
 nature's guardians at so early an age, was taken 
 charge of by an aunt. He remained with her for 
 five years, attending school, which he did tolerably 
 regularly until he attained the age of 19 years. 
 
 After leaving the school-room he worked by the 
 month for a number of years, when, in 1852, he em- 
 barked in the hotel business at Rochester. He 
 remained as landlord at this place for three years, 
 when he sold out and came to Bureau Co., 111., in- 
 tending to make a purchase of real estate there. 
 He, however, returned to Rochester without making 
 any investment. In 1855 he made a .second visit to 
 Illinois, stopping where he now lives. Here he 
 purchased 80 acres of wild land, to which he subse- 
 quently added 40 adjoining. He has since made 
 purchases of land in Henry and Knox Counties, 
 amounting to 836 acres. He has made all the im- 
 provements on the home farm, and to-day has a 
 very pleasant and well-improved place. 
 
 Mr. Pritchard was married on the 1st of April, 
 i860, to Miss Edna Brown, a native of New York. 
 She has become the mother of two chiidren, — La- 
 Fayette E. and Forest T. The former married 
 Fannie Gamble, a native of Woodhull, this county, 
 and resides at that place. Mrs. Pritchard died Dec. 
 10, 1867, and Mr. Pritchard was subsequently mar- 
 ried Dec. 23. 1868, to Amanda J. Butts, daughter 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 of Frederick W. and Harriet Butts, natives of Ohio. 
 She was born July 14, 1834, and was brought to 
 Illinois by her parents the same year. Politically, 
 Mr. P. is a Democrat, and belongs to the Presby- 
 terian Church. His wife is connected with the 
 Christian Church. 
 
 The public will doubtless be pleased to find Mr. 
 Pritchard's portrait in this Album. 
 
 -*3- 
 
 -E3- 
 
 S. Thayer, an energetic and worthy 
 farmer of Clover Township, section 36 
 being the location of his residence, was 
 born in Livingston Co., N. Y., Aug. 19, 
 1832. He is a son of Harry and Elizabeth 
 (Hall) Thayer, also natives of New York State 
 and New Hampshire respectively. The subject of 
 this sketch remained at home under the influence of 
 his parents until he attained the age of 19 years, in 
 the meantime assisting on the farm and receiving an 
 education, attending the Lima Seminary. 
 
 After leaving home, he came to Knox Co., 111., and 
 engaged to work on a farm on shares for four years, at 
 the end of which time he left for Clover Township, 
 this county, where he purchased 80 acres on sec- 
 tion 36, his present residence, and later 20 acres 
 adjoining, which he has under excellent cultivation. 
 Miss Eliza Conners was the lady chosen to share 
 the joys and sorrows, successes and reverses of life 
 with Mr. Thayer, the event occurring in the year 
 1874. Of their union have been born three children 
 — Harry M., Alice C. and George Erving. Politi- 
 cally, Mr. Thayer is a Republican. 
 
 »»«ja££7©3©"— m 
 
 *§&S<OTa»» 
 
 ; illiam R. Tracy. The following is the 
 sketch of one cf the promising and enter- 
 prising young men of Oxford Township, 
 » who is engaged in general farming on sec- 
 Tn tion 20 : He is one of the very few farmers 
 or business men of the county who was born in 
 this section of the State. In reading over the per- 
 sonal sketches of the active men of the county of 
 to-day, one is impressed with the large number who 
 were born in the East or a foreign country, and the 
 
 fewness of those who are natives of Illinois. Mr. 
 Tracy was born in Richland Grove Township, Mercer 
 Co., 111., Jan. 26, 1852. His parents were Joab and 
 Mary J. (Coon) Tracy, natives of Montgomery Co., 
 Ind. They came to Illinois and located in Mercer 
 County in 1851. There the elder Tracy rented a 
 farm and for three years cultivated it. He then 
 came into Henry County and purchased 160 acres 
 of land in Lynn Township. He has subsequently 
 bought 1,200 acres, and is still living in Lynn. 
 
 William R. remained at home until 21 years of 
 age, enjoying excellent advantages for an education. 
 The winter previous to his leaving home, he taught 
 school. He then for six years had the use of one 
 of his father's farms. At the end of that period he 
 bought a farm in his native township, Mercer County, 
 of 160 acres. After living upon it for five years, he 
 sold out and came into Oxford Township, this 
 county, where he now lives and owns 300 acres of 
 land. Besides the farm work that he has done, he 
 has taught district schools for eight winters. Polit- 
 ically, he is identified with the Democratic party. 
 
 In 1873, April 17, he was married to Miss Mary 
 D. Barrett, a native of Henry County. To them 
 have been born two children, — Grace and Will- 
 iam R. 
 
 W. TUrner, a retired farmer residing on 
 section 29, Clover To,\ nship, is a native of 
 the Empire State, and a son of Isaac and 
 Matilda (Travise) Turner, natives also of that 
 ^ State. The senior Mr. Turner was a mechanic 
 by occupation. L. W., our subject, was born May 
 31, 1829, received in his boyhood and youth a com- 
 mon-school education, and at the age of 15 years he 
 left home and learned the carriage and wagon mak- 
 er's trade, serving an apprenticeship of three years. 
 He followed that trade three years longer, and then 
 he removed to Ohio, arriving there June 25, 1850, 
 and engaged in millwrighting, also in the manufac- 
 ture of wagons and carriages, for two years. Previous 
 to his removal to Ohio, however, he worked for two 
 years on the New York & Erie Railroad, building a 
 bridge. In 1855, he rented a farm, which he oc- 
 cupied and cultivated until 1861, when he came to 
 Woodhull, this county, and purchased a farm of 80 
 
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 ^^ — ©A^TOnilf^^g — =*©«= »§*a5sf 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 acres on section 29, Clover Township. To this he 
 has since added 40 acres, making a total of 120 
 acres. This farm he has greatly improved, building 
 upon it a fine residence, etc. 
 
 Mr. Turner and Julia A. Shoot, a native of Ohio, 
 were united in matrimony in 1853, and they have 
 had one son, Lucius A., who married Viola Peck, 
 and has three children, — Harvey O., Pearl I. and 
 Jennie O. 
 
 Mr. Turner has held various local offices in Clover 
 Township. He is a National Greenbacker in his 
 political doctrines, is a member of the Masonic and 
 Odd Fellows Orders, and a leading man in that 
 part of Henry County. 
 
 —J- 
 
 4«* 
 
 V<) 
 
 i 
 
 oab Traey. The gentleman whose name 
 heads this personal sketch resides on sec- 
 tion 32, Lynn Township, and is one of the 
 largest land-owners of the county. He was 
 born in Montgomery Co., Ind., May 26, 1831. 
 His father, Jesse Tracy, was a native of Ken- 
 tucky and of a family of four sons and four daugh- 
 ters, who lost their father when Jesse was quite 
 young. He lived in Kentucky until after his marri- 
 age, which event occurred in Mason County, and the 
 lady who joined her fortunes with his was Nancy 
 Hayden, also a Kentuckian by birth and ancestry. 
 After their marriage they went to Ohio, where, en- 
 gaged in farming, they lived for some years. During 
 their sojourn in the Buckeye State, four children were 
 born to them. From Ohio they came into Mont- 
 gomery Co., Ind., where Joab was born, as well as 
 another child, making a family of six children, all of 
 whom are living except the eldest, who was named 
 John. The second was Minerva, who lives in Iowa ; 
 Rachel resides in Montgomery County still; Cath- 
 erine resides in Champaign Co., 111. ; Joab, our sub- 
 ject ; and James, a farmer in Kansas. All of the 
 children are married excepting one, and are all well- 
 to-do apd prosperous farmers. 
 
 Joab was about 20 years of age when the family 
 moved to Peoria Co., 111., his father having previously 
 died in Montgomery County. He was born April 8, 
 1795, and died on the 16th of September, 1845, when 
 Joab was 14 years old. He lived with his mother in 
 
 Peoria County for some years, when they went to 
 Champaign Co. 111., where, Aug. 17, 1859, the mother 
 died. Our subject had not lived quite a year in 
 Peoria County, when he celebrated his marriage. 
 This event, however, took place in Montgomery 
 County, his old home. Miss Mary J., daughter of 
 Hiram and Nancy (LaV alley) Cpon, was the lady of 
 his choice. This important event in their lives oc- 
 curred Jan. s, 185 1. Mrs. Coon, the mother of Mrs. 
 Tracy, died when the latter was five years of age. 
 Between this period and her marriage, she lived with 
 strangers. 
 
 About one year subsequent to his marriage, Mr. T. 
 came to Mercer County, and for three years lived in 
 Richland Grove Township. In 1855, he came into 
 Lynn Township, and entered 160 acres of land upon 
 which he began to make improvements, and where 
 he intended to establish a home. This quarter sec- 
 tion, which he .still has in possession, was never 
 owned by any person save himself and " Uncle 
 Sam." He made improvements upon this place, and 
 soon began to add to first purchase. He has con- 
 tinued to make such accessions until he now owns 
 940 acres in Lynn Township, 320 acres in Osco 
 Township, 80 acres in Oxford and 17^ acres in 
 Richland Grove Township. His farms, as a whole, 
 are mostly under the plow, and upon his home place 
 he has first-class farm buildings, and a large and. 
 commodious residence. 
 
 Politically, Mr. T. is a Democrat of the first water, 
 and has been since he voted for Franklin Pierce. 
 He takes an active part in local politics, but declines 
 any official position. 
 
 The record of the ten children born to Mr. and 
 Mrs. T. is given as follows : William R. is married 
 and resides on a farm in Oxford Township, and is the 
 father of two children, Grace and William; James 
 A. is married and lives in Osco Township. The 
 former married Mary D. Barrett, and the latter Lena 
 Molthrope ; Willis married Orlena S. Reynolds, lives 
 in Lynn Township, and has two children — Edith 
 and Alvah ; Ellen is the wife of Charles Kinsey, and 
 lives in Richland Grove Township, and the mother 
 of two children — Emma and an infant ; Catherine is 
 the wife of Allen Sayre, of Rural Township, Rock 
 Island County, and is the mother of one child — 
 Harry T. ; Jesse lives in Osco ; Rachel, Joab, Minnie 
 and Jennie live at home. 
 
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 X, 222 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 M. Thayer, engaged in farming on section 
 36, Clover Township, was born in Livings- 
 ton Co., N. Y., May 3, 1830, and is a son 
 of Peter Thayer, a native of Massachusetts. 
 He left home at the age of 24 years, and, after 
 having received a common-school education, 
 and assisting on his father's farm, he came to this 
 county, locating upon 80 acres of section 34 ; at the 
 end of one year he moved to Iowa, where he resided 
 seven years, three years of which time, however, he 
 spent in the war of the Union. He enlisted in 1861 
 in Co. F, 5th Mo. Cav., under Col. Pennick, of St. 
 Joseph, Mo., and was engaged in many small battles, 
 as Lexington, Lone Jack, Springfield, Wilson Creek, 
 etc. He received one slight wound, and after a ser- 
 vice of three years he was honorably discharged. 
 Returning to this county, he rented a farm one year, 
 and then purchased the place which he now occu- 
 pies, consisting of 240 acres, all in a high state of cul- 
 tivation. 
 
 In the year 1865, Mr. Thayer married Elvira 
 Hamilton, a native of Lima, Livingston Co., N. Y. 
 Their three children are Inez H., Ernest N. and 
 Marcy L. 
 
 Mr. Thayer is a Republican in his political views, 
 is a worthy gentleman and a highly respected citi- 
 zen. Both himself and Mrs. Thayer are members of 
 the Christian Church in Knox County. 
 
 « 
 
 ohn H. Dean, dealer in grain at Atkinson, 
 came to Henry County in 1859. He was 
 born Feb. 26, 1822, in the town of Bath, in 
 Grafton Co., N. H, He is a descendant of 
 one of the Pilgrims of the Mayflower. He lost 
 his father in early childhood, and, as his mother 
 was left in indifferent circumstances, he began at the 
 age of nine years to take care of himself. His first 
 employ was at such labor on a farm as was suitable 
 for a child of his tender years. He had the good 
 fortune to secure a home with the same family until 
 he was 21. He came to the West in 1846 and lo- 
 cated in Rock Island County, where he was engaged 
 in the lumber and mercantile business. One memor- 
 
 able act in his career was the fact that he was the 
 first to plow the ground where was afterwards erected 
 the college in which Jefferson Davis finished his edu- 
 cation. He continued to operate there until he 
 came to Henry County. In 1859 he established his 
 present business at Atkinson, where he has been one 
 of the most valuable citizens of the place in its prog- 
 ress. His business is of extensive proportions. In 
 his political relations he is a Republican. He is a 
 member of the Order of Masonry. 
 
 Mr. Dean was married to Miss Eliza Butterfield, 
 Aug. 15, 1848. She was born in Bellows Falls, Vt., 
 and died at Moline, Nov. 9, 1849. In 1857, Mr. 
 Dean was married to Lora H. Gould, and she died 
 April 25, 1865. March 29, 1882, Mr. Dean was a 
 third time married, to' Nancy J. Gould, who is still 
 living. The family of Mr. Dean includes a son and 
 a daughter, who are both living in Dakota. 
 
 •*» 
 
 vS 
 
 amos Gilbraith, a farmer on -section 30, 
 ft Alba Township, has been a resident of 
 Henry County since 1863. He was born 
 in "the County Down, in the north of Ire- 
 land, in July, 1837. He came to the United 
 States at the age of 22, and landed at New 
 York. He came with the purpose of trying what the 
 application of his firm health and manly vigor would 
 accomplish under the privileges of a free form of 
 government, where every man is the controller of his 
 own accumulations. After he landed at New York 
 he proceeded forthwith to the county of Rock Island 
 and there obtained a situation as an assistant on a 
 farm at $12.50 per month, hiring out to remain a 
 year. He continued in the same service three years, 
 meanwhile renting land one season. In 1863, as has 
 been stated, he came to the township of Alba and 
 bought 80 acres on the section where he has since 
 resided. The correctness of the judgment which he 
 exercised in coming to the United States is manifest 
 from the fact that he is now the possessor of 440 
 acres of land, and his estate is in excellent condition 
 for successful farming, fitted with all necessary 
 buildings for the successful prosecution of the busi- 
 ness of a first-class farmer. The fine dwelling on the 
 farm is 32 x 26 feet in dimensions and a story and a 
 half in height. The barn is 28 x 32 feet in size, with 
 a granary 30 x 32 feet. The stock consists of graded 
 
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 4*§^C 
 
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 ■ i 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 Durham cattle, Poland-China swine and Norman 
 horses. The herds contain ioo head. Mr. Gil- 
 braith is the possessor of one two-year-old English 
 Draft horse of three-fourths blood. 
 
 His marriage to Sarah Morrison took place April 
 4, 1865. She was a native of the County Down, Ire- 
 land, born in 1832, and died March 28, 1879, leav- 
 ing five children — James, Joseph, Robert H., Sarah 
 J. and Elizabeth A. The second wife of Mr. Gil- 
 braith was Matilda Smith before her union with 
 him. Their marriage occurred Dec. 21, 1882. She 
 was born in Germany in 1848. Clarence E., born 
 May 29, 1885, is the name of their only child. The 
 heads of the household are members of the Congre- 
 gational Church. Mr. Gilbraith has served in the 
 capacities of Commissioner of Highways, as School 
 Director and Trustee. He is a Republican in his 
 political views. 
 
 -o* 
 
 i: obert D. Boiee, a citizen of prominence in 
 in business, social and religious relations 
 at Geneseo, has been a dealer in hardware 
 
 at that place since 1858. He was born Aug. 
 
 14, 1830, in the city of Pittsburg, Pa. His 
 
 parents, Eben and Nancy (De France) Boice, 
 were natives of Penn Manor, Franklin Co., Pa. The 
 father was a descendant from a family of Scotch-Irish 
 extraction, and the ancestry of the mother was of 
 French origin. 
 
 Mr. Boice was approaching manhood when, in 
 1848, his father made a transfer of his family and 
 business relations to Ashland, in the county of the 
 same name in Ohio. He there was first engaged in 
 the hardware trade, and there acquired a familiarity 
 with its details, and prosecuted his interests until, in 
 1858, he removed to Henry County, where he arrived 
 Jan. 25, of the year named. 
 
 The issues which resulted in the formation of the 
 Republican party were being agitated at the time Mr. 
 Boice arrived at the dignities of citizenship, and he 
 cast his first Presidential vote for John C. Fremont. 
 Since that time he has been an adherent of the 
 "grand old party" without shadow of change in prin- 
 ciple or acts. He has discharged the duties of sev- 
 eral minor official positions at Geneseo. He is 
 engaged in the prosecution of extensive farming in- 
 
 terests in Gage Co., Neb., and is in connection with 
 a banking enterprise at Cortland, in the same county. 
 He formed a matrimonial alliance with Lydia E. 
 Smith, at Geneseo, Jan 29, 1854, and they have one 
 child — Ollie S. Mrs. Boice is the daughter of John 
 and Rachel Smith and is a native of Ashland, Ohio. 
 With her husband, she is a member of the Congrega- 
 tional Church. 
 
 W. Howell, dealer in hardware and tin- 
 ware at Woodhull, this county, is a native 
 of New York, having been born in South- 
 ampton, Suffolk Co., that State, Sept. 3, 1810, 
 his parents being Obadiah and Beulah (White) 
 Howell, natives of New York. Mr. Howell 
 was an inmate of his parents' family until he was 16 
 years old, having received a good education in the 
 district schools. 
 
 On reaching his 16th year, with the consent of his 
 parents, he left home and for three years served as 
 apprentice at the carpenter's trade. In 1830 he 
 started on a whaling voyage on the good ship Felix, 
 H. Green, Captain. They sailed to the South Ameri- 
 can coast and landed at Falkland Island, where they 
 remained for two weeks, and during a voyage of ten 
 months and four days they were enabled to procure 
 2,413 barrels of oil, 160 of it being sperm oil, with 
 which they safely arrived home. After this voyage Mr. 
 Howell made several others, and was promoted Sec- 
 ond Mate and then Chief Mate. He followed the 
 sea for n years. He also visited the California gold 
 field, where he was engaged in mining for some five 
 months. In 1849 he came back to New York, but 
 again returned to California, where he remained for 
 four years, and then in 1854 came to this State and 
 purchased a farm of 170 acres in Andover Township, 
 Henry County, upon which he located|with his family 
 and entered actively and energetically upon the 
 task of its cultivation and improvement. He re- 
 mained on that farm for 15 years, then sold it and 
 went to Woodhull, where he erected a residence and 
 where he is at present residing. He engaged in the 
 hardware business at Woodhull in 1879 and is still 
 following the same at that place, meeting with suc- 
 cess by his straightforward and honest way of doing 
 business. In addition to his possessions at Wood- 
 
 9 
 
 
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 H?wmw>*r§r 
 
 
224 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 hull, together with his business at that place, Mr. 
 Howell has lands in Kansas and Iowa. 
 
 Mr. Howell was united in marriage with Miss 
 Susannah (Howell) Howell, a native of New York, 
 in 1854. They have seven living children — Emma 
 J., Sylvanus W., Edgar E., Leni Leoti, Charles C, 
 Allen S. and Martha A. 
 
 Politically, Mr. Howell is a believer in and sup- 
 porter of the principles of the Republican party. 
 
 *** 
 
 -> 
 
 |ajor Erastus G. Moderwell is an attor- 
 ney, and is engaged in the active pursuit 
 of his profession at Geneseo. He came 
 to Henry County in 1866. He brought 
 with him the prestige of an honorable record 
 in the service of his country, and the repute 
 of a leader in the arena of the law. His course 
 from first to last has eminently sustained the char- 
 acter he bore, and he has won a kindred distinction 
 in public affairs, and in the esteem of his compeers 
 in Henry County. 
 
 He was born at Bucyrus, Ohio, March 6, 1838. 
 His parents, John and Nessy (McCracken) Moder- 
 well, were natives of Pennsylvania, and were of 
 Scotch-Irish descent. They came from the Key- 
 stone Slate in an early day, and settled in Bucyrus. 
 Major Moderwell was educated primarily in the 
 schools of his native town, and entered the Fresh- 
 man Class of Jefferson College, in September, 1855. 
 He had been a boy of studious habits and proclivi- 
 ties, and had made good use of his time and advan- 
 tages in his early school days, and from the first he 
 took a fair rank among the leading students in his 
 college. He was skilled in mathematics, for which 
 he had a natural genius, and was a leader in the 
 classes in Latin. He was also gifted in the use of 
 language, and was pre-eminent as a speaker. His 
 scholarship gave him prominence, and at commence- 
 ment one of the positions of honor was accorded to 
 him. He represented his class in the delivery of 
 the English salutatory, and in one of the usual soci- 
 ety contests was made Philo-Orator. He had a 
 contestant of uncommon strength in debate, but he 
 won the honors of the contest. He was graduated 
 in the class of T859, and soon after went South to 
 teach. He was occupied in that capacity at Elkton, 
 
 Ky., one year, and at the expiration of that time he 
 went to Fairmont in West Virginia. There came an 
 eventful day in April, 1861, when his school came 
 to an unceremonious termination, and he hastened 
 to Washington, D. C, and he arrived there on the 
 same day on which the first shot of the Rebellion 
 was hurled at the walls of Fort Sumter. Major, 
 then plain Mr., Moderwell, enrolled in the Union 
 service on the day preceding that on which Presi- 
 dent Lincoln made the first call for troops. He 
 enlisted in the Cassius M. Clay Battalion, the first 
 volunteer company that enlisted for the War of the 
 Rebellion. The, enrollments were made on the 
 14th of April, i86r. For two months he was em- 
 ployed at the National Observatory in the city of 
 Washington, and in the summer of the same year he 
 returned to his native State. He was commissioned 
 Second Lieutenant in the 86th Ohio Vol. Inf., and 
 subsequently was made Captain of a company in the 
 same regiment. Later, he served as Captain in the 
 1 2th Ohio Cav., and was promoted to the rank of 
 Major. He was frequently in command of the regi- 
 ment which occupied that position, and on occasion 
 he commanded a brigade under Maj.-Gen. Upton. 
 His command was attached to the Cavalry Division 
 of General Stoneman during the last year of the 
 war. Major Moderwell distinguished himself in the 
 accomplishment of a special duty for which he was 
 detailed while in the division of General Stoneman, 
 in which he commanded an expedition to capture a 
 fort at Catawba in South Carolina. He was suc- 
 cessful in the undertaking, and captured the fort 
 with the garrison and stores. For this service he 
 was honorably mentioned in the report of Gen. 
 Thomas. The action is also mentioned in the his- 
 tory of the war by Lossing, in which that popular 
 and reliable historian states : " This expedition was 
 one of the most gallant little exploits of the war." 
 
 Major Moderwell sustained several injuries in the 
 course of his connection with the military service of 
 the United States. He was wounded three times ; 
 one minie-ball passed entirely through his body, 
 grazing the diaphragm and also touching the spine 
 in its passage. The surgeons pronounced the 
 wound mortal, and declared his chances of recovery 
 to be one in ten thousand. But the Major took the 
 one chance, and lives to give this account, although 
 he is frequently reminded of the experience by 
 lameness, difficult breathing, and the suffering inci 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 4^^vife 
 
 225 
 
 I. 
 
 dent to such a condition. He was mustered out 
 Nov. 24, 1865, after a service covering nearly the 
 entire period of the war — the most terrible experi- 
 ence that can be related in the history of our Re- 
 public. 
 
 On returning to civil life he located at Geneseo, 
 and interested himself in traffic in real estate, and 
 also entered upon a preparatory study for the pro- 
 fession of an attorney. He afterward became a 
 student of the Cincinnati Law School and was 
 graduated there with the class of 1869. The same 
 year he secured the privileges of the State Courts of 
 Illinois, and has since been engaged in the prosecu- 
 tion of the business of an attorney at Geneseo. 
 
 Major Moderwell's abilities are recognized and ap- 
 preciated by the community of which he is a mem- 
 ber, and he has been called to serve the interests of 
 the public in various capacities, which attests the 
 versatility of his powers. He has officiated several 
 times as City Attorney, and has occupied the posi- 
 tion of Mayor of that municipality. In 1874 he 
 was elected to the State Senate on the Republican 
 ticket, serving consecutively four years. 
 
 The characters of individuals in their relations to 
 their fellows become prominent, as a rule, more 
 through the discrimination of those with whom they 
 are connected in a common interest than through 
 their own acts. It is one of the safeguards of the 
 institutions of our form of Government that the intu- 
 itions of the people are trained to an understanding 
 of the characteristics required in their leaders, and 
 in such a multitude of instances are the right ones 
 put in the right places that the fact has come to be 
 regarded as somewhat marvelous. Hence it becomes 
 possible to place a man on record in a perfectly just 
 sense. He has a right to a fair representation to 
 the generations that are to follow and who will be 
 certain to investigate acts of which they are the 
 beneficiaries ; it also due to the justification of those 
 who select their representatives in the performance 
 of the world's work. In estimating the character of 
 Major Moderwell, no man can be aggrieved by the 
 statement that he is in the truest sense one of those 
 whose innate nobleness and worth honors not only 
 himself but his generation. What he was as a sol- 
 dier, his record proves. Meager as it is in statement 
 in this brief sketch, the facts of his course during 
 the war impart no uncertain significance. His sur- 
 
 roundings at the time of the initiation of active hos- 
 tilities, viewed in the light of his perceptions, " blown 
 crystal clear by Freedom's northern wind," brought 
 home to him with a terrible portent the full and dire 
 significance of all that Rebellion meant. He waited 
 not for the overt act; he made haste to meet the 
 emergency that he knew from long observation to be 
 imminent; he went to Washington and placed him- 
 self where the fanatics by whom he had been sur- 
 rounded had been arrayed for months and in some 
 nstances for years — in the van-guard. He knew 
 that there was no uncertainty in the matter ; he 
 foresaw that the end of the beginning that was so 
 close at hand would be reached only through a long 
 succession of events that would shake the founda- 
 tions of the Republic. The weary months that fol- 
 lowed proved the value of his judgment. The 
 strongest witness of his own part in the progress of 
 the war is the modesty of his own account of the 
 events in which he was a participant. In actual 
 service he came within one grade of the '' stars " of a 
 Major-General. If more need be said, he bears his 
 credentials in his shattered constitution and in the 
 suffering which will always remind him of the pang 
 of a more cruel need, — that of becoming a voluntary 
 target for a fratricidal bullet. Ages must roll away 
 before the memory fades that the Civil War was a 
 conflict between brothers. That is its enduring 
 sting ! 
 
 In his career as an official, entrusted with the in- 
 terests of others, he has operated in accordance with 
 the obligation conferred in his selection and never 
 with an ulterior purpose. His course as a member 
 of the State Senate was one that reflected the same 
 credit on his manhood and fitness for the place. 
 
 As an attorney he ranks with the leaders in the 
 county and in adjacent communities. 
 
 Major Moderwell is as far removed as is possible 
 from the ranks of aggressive politicians, but he is one 
 of the most inflexible Republicans and has wielded 
 a telling influence on the local and general interests 
 of that political organization. 
 
 In addition to the regular business of his profes- 
 sion, Major Moderwell is conducting extended rela- 
 tions in the cattle interests of the Indian Territory, 
 and real estate in Kansas. He is President of the 
 " Geneseo Cattle Company," and he bears the same 
 relation to the " Eagle Chief Pool," one of the larg- 
 
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 HENRY 
 
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 COUJVTY. 
 
 est cattle companies in the West. He became in- 
 terested in the enterprise through the advice of his 
 physician, who recommended his passing as much 
 time as possible in the open air; and in order to 
 adapt business to the enforced change of base, he 
 entered into the relations named. 
 
 He was married in Fairmont, W. Va., March 22, 
 1866, to Fannie R., daughter of Thomas Watson, 
 a prominent Southern planter. She was born in 
 Monongalia Co., Va., a portion of territory now in- 
 cluded in West Virginia. After 17 years of cloud- 
 less union in the affairs of their married life, the 
 husband and wife were severed by death. The 
 latter passed to the mysteries of the land of un- 
 broken silence in October, 1883. Three daugh- 
 ters and a son mourn their irreparable loss, and in 
 their lives of promise preserve the wholesomeness of 
 her influence and training, and in them " she still 
 lives." 
 
 Tohn Henderson. This gentleman is largely 
 W identified with the farming interests of 
 Henry County. His home farm is on sec- 
 tion 15, of Oxford Township. He was born in 
 Y Indiana Co., Pa., Sept. 9, 1831. Brice and' 
 
 1 ' Anna (Thomas) Henderson, his parents, were 
 natives of the Keystone State and by occupation 
 farmers. They passed their lives in their native 
 State, and at the above mentioned vocation. 
 
 John received a good ordinary education at com- 
 mon schools, and at the age of 20 bid farewell to the 
 old home and embarked in life for himself. For five 
 years he engaged in farming on shares. In 1 856,^16 
 came to Illinois and soon made a location at Orion, 
 Henry County, where he worked out by the month 
 until i860. He then purchased the place where he 
 is now living, which consisted of 80 acres at that 
 time. To this he has added 160 acres, and has 
 erected a fine residence, built barn, set out orchards 
 and shade -trees, built fences and improved his farm 
 until it to-day ranks among the valuable estates of 
 county, being worth $15,000. Politically, Mr. H. is 
 a Republican, and is recognized as one of the repre- 
 sentative men of his community. 
 
 In 1861, Jan. 10, our subject was married to Miss 
 Eliza Cox, a native of this State. To them have 
 been born five children, who are living and bear the 
 
 
 following names: Frank, William, T. S., Jennie and 
 Fannie. Frank married Anna Costello, and Annie is 
 deceased. 
 
 St-S- 
 
 ohn O. Anderson, farmer on section 12, 
 Lynn Township, was born at Jensping 
 Lan, Sweden, March 25, 1830. His 
 parents were Andrew Jacobson and Anna 
 Swanson, both of whom died in their native 
 country, Sweden. Mr. Anderson is the young- 
 est but one of a family of ten children. After living 
 at home until nearly 23 years of age, namely, in 
 1854, he emigrated to this country, settling in An- 
 dover, where he was married Aug. 5, same year, to 
 Miss Anna Youngquist. (For a sketch of her par- 
 ents see the biography of Augest Youngquist.) She 
 was born near the place of nativity of her husband, 
 Oct. 29, 1831, and was nearly 22 years of age when 
 she came to America. Her children now are John 
 W., who is married, and resides on a farm in Osco 
 Township, this county; Anna, Alfred, Albert, Amanda 
 and Cordelia. After his marriage, Mr. Anderson 
 rented a farm for five years in Andover Township? 
 he then purchased where he now lives and where he 
 owns 400 acres of good and well improved land; 
 here he has a good barn, farm residence, etc. The 
 family belongs to the Swedish Lutheran Church, 
 where Mr. A. has been Trustee. He is also a 
 staunch Republican. 
 
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 tent. 
 
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 ,„enry Mussey, a grain merchant at Atkin- 
 son, was born in Rutland, Vt, June 1, 
 1828. He was reared to the age of man- 
 hood under the care of his parents. In 1857, 
 he came from Vermont lo Wheatland, 111., 
 where he became a farmer of considerable ex- 
 He bought a farm of 290 acres, which he 
 placed in first-class agricultural condition, and con- 
 tinued its management until 1881, when he removed 
 to Atkinson. He sold his place in Will County, and 
 on his removal to Henry County he interested him- 
 self in the business which has since occupied his at- 
 tention. He is operating in grain of all kinds that 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 are grown in the vicinity of the place where he is 
 prosecuting his business relations. 
 
 Nov. 9, 1852, Mr. Mussey was married to Charlotte 
 E. Moulthrop. She was born in the State of Ver- 
 mont, Sept. 3, 1829. They have been the parents 
 of three children : Henry E. died in early infancy ; 
 Jennie was born Dec. n, 1855 ; Alice O. was born 
 Oct. 23, 1862, and is the wife of Wilbur F. Arnold, 
 an engraver in Chicago : they reside at Oak Park, in 
 the vicinity of the city. 
 
 Mr. Mussey is the owner of a large amount of real 
 estate in the village of Atkinson. He is a Republi- 
 can in political sentiment, and is a member of the 
 Congregational Church. His wife is a member of 
 the Episcopal Church. 
 
 *£3-3 
 
 orrison Francis, deceased, a pioneer of 
 Henry County of 1840, and for 33 years 
 a farmer of extensive relations in the 
 township of Andover, was born June 5, 
 1816, in Westmoreland Co., Pa. He was of 
 Irish lineage in the paternal line, and on his 
 mother's side was connected to the Lee family of 
 Virginia. 
 
 On coming to Henry County, Mr. Francis at once 
 entered upon the relations to the community which 
 he held during the remainder of his life. He bought 
 land on his arrival and founded a wide scope of 
 agricultural connections, operating in all the branches 
 of general farming, and adding to his estate until he 
 accumulated nearly 1,000 acres of land. He was 
 one of the first to become interested in the reports 
 from California, and in the spring of 1849, in com- 
 pany with two brothers-in-law, John and Dan Moore, 
 he crossed the plains to the land of gold. He oper- 
 ated there with success for 16 months, and returned 
 to Andover in the fall of 1850. In 1851, he went 
 again to the Pacific coast, taking with him a consid- 
 erable party with horses and other equipments. 
 
 Mr. Francis died in Andover Township, Oct. 28, 
 1873. He was universally esteemed and his loss 
 was bitterly mourned. He was composed of the 
 right material for a pioneer. The spirit of en- 
 ergy and enterprise with which he was imbued was 
 strongly marked. His frank, manly, generous and 
 honorable character secured for him a general pop- 
 
 ularity. He was always foremost in promoting the 
 interests of education, and he made the school at 
 Andover one of the best in the county. 
 
 He was a most decided Democrat, and the quality 
 of his politics was of the same stamp as his other 
 controlling traits. He hesitated at no sacrifice in 
 promoting the interests of the local element of his 
 party. As an illustration, it may be stated that in 
 1869, when the Cambridge Democrat, had been 
 abandoned by James S. Roock, in connection with 
 R. H. Hinman, he assumed the burden of its man- 
 agement and ran the paper two years, losing several 
 thousand dollars before he succeeded in placing it 
 upon a permanent basis. His popularity is manifest 
 from his successive re-elections to the position of 
 Supervisor of Andover, notwithstanding the fact that 
 the town was overwhelmingly Republican. He al- 
 ways ran far ahead of his ticket when placed in 
 nomination for any office. He was pre-eminently a 
 social man, and the hospitalities of his home were 
 always dispensed with a liberal hand. None, friend 
 or foe, ever appealed vainly to him for aid. He was 
 the owner and manager of one of the most extensive 
 mills in the county. The establishment was de- 
 stroyed by fire in the late fall of 187 1, and its rebuild- 
 ing was a complete exponent of the enterprise of its 
 owner. On the day on which the fire occurred, he 
 said he would have the mill rebuilt and in complete 
 running order within 60 days, and he kept his word, 
 although the engine and heavy machinery had to be 
 transported overland a distance of 30 miles, and the 
 remainder of the material was brought in the same 
 way 16 miles. The feat was accomplished in the 
 winter and at a time when the weather was un- 
 usually stormy. 
 
 One of the best and most lasting mementoes left 
 by Mr. Francis, was in the liberal educations he be- 
 stowed on his children. 
 
 Mrs. Mary C. (Moore) Francis was born Sept. 13, 
 r82o, in Lisbon, N. H. She is of Irish extraction, 
 and her grandfather, John Moore, was a native of 
 New Hampshire. He also married a lady of New 
 Hampshire birth, and they reared seven children. 
 John J. Moore, the father of Mrs. Francis, was born 
 in Bedford, Merrimac Co., N. H. He was a farmer 
 and married Deborah, daughter of Reuben Sherman. 
 She was born in New Hampshire and came with her 
 husband in the spring of 1836 to Hickory Creek, 
 
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 HENRY 
 
 srry 
 COUNTY. 
 
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 Will Co., 111. In 1840 they came to Henry County 
 and located in the township of Andover, where they 
 died. Their children were named Priscilla W., 
 Reuben S., Mary C, Electa S„ Eliza T., John and 
 Dan. 
 
 Mrs. Francis was 16 when her parents removed 
 to Illinois. She was married near Joliet, April 23, 
 1840, and not long after that event, came to Henry 
 County, where she was a faithful and efficient aid to 
 her husband in his labors as a pioneer and business 
 man. 
 
 The record of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Fran- 
 cis is as follows : Eveline is the wife of Capt. L. F. 
 Dimick, of whom a sketch is presented in this vol- 
 ume ; Lide A. married Thomas Keagy, of Cambridge ; 
 John F. was educated at Lombard University, Gales- 
 burg, 111., and studied law with his brother-in-law, 
 Jerome Carpenter: he was a talented young man, 
 and after he was admitted to the Bar of Illinois, he 
 established his practice at Cambridge, where he 
 died ; Emily, the oldest daughter, was noted for her 
 proficiency in music and for her vivacious, sprightly 
 character, which made her a prominent member of 
 society: she married Jerome Carpenter, an attorney 
 at Cambridge, and died Oct. 3, 1874; Frank F. is a 
 farmer in Grand Forks Co., D. T. ; Nellie A. resides 
 with her mother. 
 
 Mrs. Francis is the owner of 400 acres of land in 
 Andover Township. In the spring of 1882, she 
 fixed her permanent residence at Cambridge. She 
 is a member of the Christian -Church. 
 
 eorge F. Butzer, deceased, was a pioneer 
 of Henry County of 1838. He was born 
 K at Baden, Germany, in 1806, and in 1830 
 married Miss Louise Baltz. They had two 
 children, born in Germany. Jacob was born 
 Nov. 26, 1831, and died in the United States, 
 Nov. 26, 1883, leaving a widow and n children. The 
 daughter, Catherine C, is the wife of Dan'lHenney, 
 of whom a complete sketch is given on another page. 
 Mr. Butzer emigrated to the United States in 1835. 
 He passed three years in the city of Detroit, Mich., 
 and in ^38 came to Henry County. He located in 
 what is now Phenix Township, and engaged in farm- 
 ing. He endured many privations and hardships 
 
 incident to pioneer life, but succeeded in founding a 
 good home for his family, which included 160 acres 
 of land. His death occurred March r2, r85o. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Butzer had four children after their re- 
 moval to this country. One son — Louis — was born 
 in Michigan and married Miss Clara Licht, and set- 
 tled in Kansas. Two sons and a daughter were 
 born in Henry County. Caroline is the wife of Val- 
 entine Sieben, a farmer of Phenix Township. Mar- 
 cilli is married to Joseph Arnett, of Loraine Township. 
 Adam married Margaret Licht, and is a farmer in 
 the township of Phenix. Mr. and Mrs. Butzer were 
 members of the Evangelical Association. Mr. But- 
 zer was a Republican in political connection. Mrs. 
 Butzer survived her husband and died July 2, 1881. 
 
 ^jfHJKfces 
 
 r. J. Ii. Bryan, deceased, formerly of Cam- 
 
 .> bridge, was born in Monticello, Wayne 
 
 Co., Ky., not far from the Tennessee line. 
 
 He was the third child in a family of 15 sons 
 and daughters, of whom 1 1 grew to adult age. 
 His father, Dr. Edmund Bryan, was the son of 
 a Virginia farmer who settled in Southern Kentucky 
 at a very early day in its history, and whose name 
 and family history are unknown. Besides Dr. Ed- 
 mund, there were three other sons— William, John 
 and Albert, now deceased, who were physicians and 
 much esteemed as skillful and conscientious practi- 
 tioners. The youngest son, Algernon, went with 
 Bryant on his overland journey across the plains. 
 He afterwards went South and settled somewhere on 
 the Gulf coast. All traces of him are lost. Drs. 
 John and William died full of years in the neighbor- 
 hood of Louisville, Ky. Dr. Albert died in Indian- 
 apolis about 1877, and Dr. Edmund in Grayson Co., 
 Ky., in 1863. Mrs. Lettice Bryan, mother of Dr. J. 
 L. Bryan, was a Pierce, of Monticello, Wayne Co., 
 Ky. Her mother was a daughter of Walter Crow, a 
 wealthy land-owner of that section of the State. The 
 Crows were of Irish extraction ; the Pierces were of 
 French descent, but both families emigrated to Vir- 
 ginia long before the Revolutionary War. Mr. 
 Pierce had three children — Lettice, Sallie and Stan- 
 ton. The latter was a physician and a man of un- 
 usual culture and force of character. He was 
 connected by marriage with the Moores, well known 
 in Kentucky through the famous Perry Moore law- 
 
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HENR Y COUNT Y. 
 
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 suit, a Tichborne case on a small scale. The Pierces 
 were characterized by great personal beauty and in- 
 tellectual force and ability. Mrs. Lettice Bryan was 
 a woman of an unusually fine presence, and well 
 educated for a day and land when the schoolmaster 
 was not " abroad." She was the writer of two works 
 on religious subjects, and the writer and publisher of 
 the " Kentucky Housewife," a book in great request 
 50 years ago, but now out of print. She died in the 
 winter of 1877, at the residence of her son-in-law, 
 Dr. C. F. Burnett, of Bunker Hill, Macoupin Co., 111. 
 Of the six sons that reached manhood, Stanton, 
 John L. and Anthony studied medicine. Stanton 
 resides in Florida and Anthony in Evansville, Ind., 
 where he holds a professorship in the medical college. 
 
 John L. was a graduate of the University of Louis- 
 ville. At the beginning of the Civil War he was a 
 practicing physician of Washington Co., Ind., but 
 early answered the call for volunteers, enlisting at 
 Camp Morton, Indianapolis, in July, 1861. He had 
 gone there with a small company of young men ,warmly 
 attached friends of his, expecting that they would 
 form the nucleus of a company of which he would be 
 Captain, a position to which his education and stand- 
 ing would naturally entitle him; but, finding many 
 unfilled companies and skeleton regiments in camp, 
 and a call from the field most urgent, he immediate- 
 ly, with his young friends, joined a company whose 
 officers were already elected and only needed the 
 complement of men they furnished to go to|the front. 
 The regiment went at once to Jefferson City, Mo., 
 held by the brave Col. Mulligan. Dr. Bryan was 
 connected with the army three and one-half years, 
 acting most of the time in a medical capacity, as As- 
 sistant Surgeon of Post Hospital at Jefferson City, 
 where he was placed by Gen. Fremont, then com- 
 manding the Department of Missouri. He after- 
 wards became Assistant Surgeon of the " 26th 
 Missouri," commanded by Col. Boomer, and for 18 
 months he officiated as Surgeon of one the eruptive 
 hospitals of the^department of Louisville. 
 
 At the close of the war, Dr. Bryan removed to Illi- 
 nois, settling first in Marshall County, and after- 
 wards at Buda, in Bureau County, living for the last 
 13 years of his life in Cambridge, where he died, on 
 the 22d of January, 1884. Dr. Bryan was much 
 esteemed, both as a man and a physician, for he was 
 kind, skillful and conscientious, and his heart was al- 
 
 : ^ y Q/^ HH 
 
 ways open to the cry of the unfortunate. He was 
 of exceptionally fine physique, weighing at his best 
 state 230 pounds, and so proportioned as to at- 
 tract notice as a fine sample of manly development. 
 The arduous labors of his profession told heavily 
 upon him during the latter portion of his life. He be- 
 came much broken in health and spirits ; and, at the 
 time of his death, was but a wreck of his former self. 
 
 In 185 1, Dr. Bryan was married to Hannah M. 
 Dietz, of Blue Lick, Clark Co., Ind. She resides at 
 Cambridge with four sons — Oscar D., William S., 
 Edmund M. and John L. Charles E., third son, 
 lives in Dakota. The youngest, Bertram, died on 
 the 1 2th of April, 1883. 
 
 Mrs. Bryan is a lady of culture and uncommon in- 
 tellectual abilities. She is a poetess of signal merit, 
 and has won recognition as such in the arena of let- 
 ters. Her contributions to prominent periodicals 
 have given her genius a well-deserved celebrity, and 
 she has secured an enviable position in the estima- 
 tion of the reading public. In the spring of 1885 
 (current year), she acceded to the ownership by pur- 
 chase of the Local Reporter, a journal published at 
 Cambridge. She is assisted in its management by 
 her oldest son, O. D. Bryan, who acts as local editor. 
 
 (f ohn W. Goss", junior member of the firm 
 \ of John Goss & Co., lumber dealers at 
 Geneseo, was born in Lexington, Ky., July 
 24, 1847, and is the son of Charles and Mar- 
 garet Goss. On leaving his home to begin 
 the world on his own account, he went to the 
 State of Missouri, and there passed two years. At 
 the expiration of that time he came to Geneseo. 
 ' The first important act after his arrival in that place 
 was his enlistment in the military service of the 
 United States. In January, 1865, he enrolled in 
 Co. I, 112th 111. Inf., and served in, the capacity of 
 a soldier as long as the war continued. On return- 
 ing to Geneseo, the existing partnership was formed 
 with his uncle, John Goss, the pioneer lumber mer- 
 chant at Geneseo, and their relations have been in 
 existence 20 years. 
 
 Mr. Goss is a member of the present City Council 
 (1885). In political preference, he is in sympathy 
 with the Republican party. Mr. Goss was married 
 
 
 I 
 
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 ®MI<^§> 
 
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 •?sffi*r—j?~7<iM S II 0$ v 
 
 
 £ 
 
 ^ 
 
 $ 
 
 230 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 rrac 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 in the State of Maine, Sept. 3, 1876, to Miss Celeste, 
 daughter of Luther Chamberlain. She was born at 
 Fox Grove, in the Pine-Tree State, and was reared 
 in the Methodist faith. Three children have been 
 born to Mr. and Mrs. Goss, at Geneseo. They are 
 named William, John and Lutie. 
 
 >W\A,~\tj£j2£/@>S@ 
 
 vgJS/ZrZfjrjwwv* 
 
 was 
 
 |imos Gould, retired merchant and grain- 
 |[ dealer, real-estate and loan agent at Cam- 
 bridge, came to Henry County in 1856. 
 He was born June 6, 1823, ln Piedmont, 
 Grafton Co., N. H. His father, Amos Gould, 
 was born April 1, 1790, in Warner, N. H. He 
 a tanner and shoemaker by occupation, and 
 married Nancy H. Bartlett, who was born Aug. 8, 
 1796, in Canaan, N. H. They had ten children, of 
 whom eight survive. They were born in the follow- 
 ing order: John M., Amos, Lyfe Y., Nathaniel B., 
 Mrs. Nancy J. Dean, Dan W., George D. and Mrs. 
 Susie C. Burrows. The deaths of the parents 
 occurred respectively January, 1864, in Moline, 111., 
 and November, 1884, at Cambridge, 111. The fam- 
 ily removed to Henry County in 1858. 
 
 Mr. Gould in early life acquired a thorough knowl- 
 edge of the vocations of his father, and was in- 
 structed in the details of shoemaking by his uncle, 
 A. P. Gould. He followed the latter business 20 
 successive years. In 1854 he engaged in the prose- 
 cution of mercantile transactions and interests, in 
 which he continued to operate two years. March, 
 1856, he removed to Cambridge, where, associated 
 with his brother, N. B. Gould, he conducted the 
 affairs of the Cambridge House. He discharged 
 the duties of " mine host " until November, 1 860, 
 when he was elected Circuit Clerk, in which incum- 
 bency he served eight years. He became interested 
 in securing the advantages of a line of railroad 
 through Cambridge, and devoted his entire attention 
 for the three years succeeding his release from 
 official duties to the purpose of obtaining the pas- 
 sage of the line of the Rock Island & Peoria Rail- 
 road, and had the satisfaction of witnessing the 
 success of his efforts. In 1871 he became associated 
 with J. B. Hagin in traffic in grain, and subsequently 
 with W. B. Fee. The approximate period of time 
 which he passed in that enterprise was ten years. 
 
 Since 1881 he has engaged in the business relations 
 already named. 
 
 The political views of Mr. Gould were shaped by 
 the period in which he grew up and the circum 
 stances by which he was surrounded, and he was, 
 on arriving at the privileges of citizenship,. an adhe- >^ 
 rent of the Whig party, but with such decided prin- 
 ciples concerning slavery that, on the formation of 
 the Republican party in 1856, he fell into its ranks, 
 and has since been one of its most consistent adhe- 
 rents. In religious views he cherishes opinions of 
 his own, but is tolerant of those of others. He is 
 a member of Lodge No. 49, A. F. & A. M., at Cam- 
 bridge. 
 
 Aug. 3r, 1845, he was united in marriage in 
 Thetford, Vt, to Harriet N. Burnap. She was born 
 in that place April 10, 1826, and is the daughter of 
 Luther and Susan (Huston) Burnap, both natives 
 of Vermont. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Gould, 
 two in number, are both deceased. The first-born 
 died in infancy; Mary L., the younger, was born s 
 April 28, 1849. She married J. E. Ay res, and died ^ 
 July 3, r874, having given birth to two children, — ^ 
 Mary L. and Amos E. Ayres. &* 
 
 ( ) 
 
 --■<■&= 
 
 
 
 red Thompson, station agent at Lynn, this 
 county, also dealer in grain, etc., was born 
 in New York, Jan. 29, 1838. His par- 
 ents both died in his infancy, and he was 
 reared by foster parents, whose name he took. 
 At the age of nine, the breaking up of this 
 family through the death of his endeared foster 
 mother, left him practically without a home, though ' 
 under the supervision of the father until the age of 
 17, when, not securing the educational advantages 
 he craved, even at that age, he started out for him- 
 self, determined to obtain an education as rapidly 
 as possible by his own unaided efforts. He retains 
 a vivid impression of his first engagement, at the 
 munificent stipend of $5 per month ! 
 
 His success was such that he advanced from the 
 simple rudiments gained at a loving mother's knee 1 
 to the first classes in the High Schools of Princeton 
 and Dover, Bureau Co., 111., teaching in the common 
 schools winters to aid him in his object. 
 
 When the war became earnest and our martyred , 
 
 ^1 ^ *'*<'■ 
 
 
 A $iiiig» 
 
 £u- 
 
 -im^g/ei 
 
 *-&■• 
 
 m@M 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 ../C^,-. 
 
 >»'tw 
 
 233 
 
 President made his first call for brave hearts and 
 strong arms to enlist for three years, Fred Thomp- 
 son, the subject of this sketch, enlisted in Co. K, 
 51st 111. Inf., Col. L. P. Bradley, and served in the 
 campaign against Island No. 10 and New Madrid, 
 Mo., in the move on Corinth, Miss., after the battle 
 of Shiloh, and in the Army of the Cumberland, in 
 the Division of Gen. Sheridan, under Rosecrans at 
 Stone River and Chickamauga, Ga., where, on Sept. 
 19, 1863, he was incapacitated from further active 
 service in the ranks by a minie ball through the 
 right elbow. Three months in a Government hos- 
 pital at Nashville resulted in the saving of a crip- 
 pled right arm by a skillful German surgeon and 
 the first furlough home. 
 
 While there, upon the advice of an old army sur- 
 geon, the study of telegraphy was undertaken, for 
 which purpose a scholarship in Bryant & Stratton's 
 Commercial College, of Chicago, was procured, but 
 after a short attendance it was abandoned, as a 
 journey South became necessary to procure a proper 
 discharge from the army. His regiment being at 
 this time engaged with Sherman in the move on At- 
 lanta, papers could not be obtained ; and, not to be 
 unoccupied, he sought a detail in the telegraph ser- 
 vice, which he obtained, and thus gained the prac- 
 tice necessary to perfect him in his future profession. 
 He was finally^discharged, in February, 1865, at 
 Springfield, 111., under a general order. The recog- 
 nition of his service, of which he is justifiably proud, 
 is the fact of his standing at the head of the list 
 chosen by his company by vote to constitute a " Roll 
 of Honor " for meritorious service, ordered by Gen. 
 Rosecrans in June, 1863. 
 
 At the time of his discharge, places were not plen- 
 tiful in the line he had chosen, and, not willing to 
 be idle, he rented land and raised a crop of corn ; 
 but, finding himself unable to harvest the fruits of 
 his labor, he gave that up, and in the winter secured 
 labor as an operator, first on the Chicago, Burlington 
 & Quincy in Illinois, then on the Michigan Central 
 Railroad in Michigan. 
 
 Mr. Thompson was united in marriage, in Berrien 
 Co., Mich., Nov. 28, 1866, to Marinda A., daughter 
 of William and Samantha Soule. She was born in 
 Truxton, De Ruyter Co., N. Y., Sept. 19, 1841. 
 Her parents were natives of that State, of New Eng- 
 land parentage, and came to Aurora, 111., in 1848. 
 
 Her father died there two years later. Mrs. T. was 
 reared by a neighboring family till the year 1858, 
 when she went to the family of her elder sister in 
 Chicago, staying there two years and following them 
 to Michigan. Two years later, in April, 1863, she 
 was married to C. H. Topping, a member of the 42d 
 111. Inf., who died in January, 1865, of disease con- 
 tracted in the army, or at least greatly aggravated 
 by exposure in his country's service. A little son of 
 this union sopn followed his father. 
 
 In January, 187 1, Mr. Thompson came to Lynn, 
 where he has since been employed as station and 
 express agent and operator, being also a dealer in 
 grain and produce generally. He has filled the 
 offices of Township Clerk and School Director, and 
 is politically a liberal Republican. 
 
 Of the marriage union have been born four chil- 
 dren, as follows: Charles F., May 2, 1869; Alice 
 W., May 18, 1872; George Wm., July 26. 1874; 
 and Minnie Belle, March 9, 1877. 
 
 Mr. T. owns his substantial and comfortably furn- 
 ished residence, and has made some investment in 
 Nebraska land. 
 
 * -«- * 
 
 &J 
 * 
 
 *;iv 
 
 \k 
 
 &^[lfred P. Foster, a retired farmer and sur- 
 
 f veyor, residing in the village of Woodhull, 
 
 Hillsboro Co. 
 
 9 
 
 (!) 
 
 was born in Hillsboro Co., N. H., in 1818.. 
 He remained with his parents, Aaron and 
 Theodate (Chase) Foster, until one year after 
 he had attained his majority. After leaving 
 his parental homestead, Mr. Foster became a pioneer 
 in Wisconsin, then a Territory, settling in Racine 
 County, and was there engaged in the hydrographic 
 survey of the western coast of Lake Michigan, under 
 the late Col. T. J. Cram. Mr. Foster was engaged 
 to survey an 80-acre tract as an addition to the vil- 
 lage, now city, of Racine, and known as " Sage's Ad- 
 dition." In 1852 he removed to the (then) village of 
 Winona, a mere hamlet, in the sparsely settled Terri- 
 tory of Minnesota. He became interested in the 
 growth of his new place of residence, and was princi- 
 pal owner of the Winona Republican, a newspaper now 
 widely known. He was one of the first stockholders 
 and advocates of the Winona & St. Peters Railroad, 
 and labored, in his quiet way, in procuring a charter 
 for that road. While here, he was given the office of 
 
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 -Q- 
 
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 TST 
 
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 9 
 
 ^> 
 
 5 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 Probate Judge, but, as a rule, was too retiring to 
 mingle much in politics. 
 
 From this place he removed with his family to a 
 small farm near the city of Rochester, N. Y., where 
 he lived 1 1 years, improving, ornamenting and beau- 
 tifying his farm; and thence he removed, in 1868, to 
 Clover Township, in this county, adjacent to the vil- 
 lage of Woodhull, and purchased a small farm ; and 
 as usual, he made it blossom and smile, and now he 
 has retired within the village to spend the winter of 
 a long frontier life. 
 
 He was raised a Quaker, and his early instruction 
 has greatly aided in guiding his footsteps. Emphati- 
 cally a pioneer of the West, he has always been 
 ready with his labor and means to assist any and all 
 good works, and is respected for his honest and 
 square dealings with his fellow-man. 
 
 He has been married three times. By his first 
 wife two children were born to them — the eldest, a 
 daughter, now living in St. Paul, Minn., and a son, 
 at Berrien Springs, Mich. 
 
 Not only does Mr. Foster deserve the fullest rep- 
 resentation in this Album, but the public also will 
 naturally expect a likeness of his features to be pre- 
 sented in connection with the foregoing brief sketch. 
 
 lfred Stiekney, one of the energetic farm- 
 •j ers of Oxford Township, residing on section 
 25, was born in Windsor Co., Vt, July 3, 
 1840, and is a son of Henry and Mary A. 
 (Wood) Stiekney, natives of Vermont and New 
 Hampshire respectively. They came West in 
 the year 1853, locating in Clover Township, Henry 
 County, on section 27, and purchased 1,000 acres of 
 land in the vicinity. Here he remained until his 
 death, which occurred in 1866. 
 
 Alfred, of whom we write, attended the district 
 schools in his township in the acquisition of an edu- 
 cation, and assisted his father on the farm in his 
 leisure moments, remaining under parental influence 
 until he attained the age of 30 years. He is the 
 possessor and owner of 380 acres of land in Clover 
 Township, and seven in Oxford, on which he resides. 
 He rents his farms, which are all in excellent condi- 
 tion. 
 
 Mr. Stiekney was married in 1870, to Miss M. E. 
 
 Simmons, a native of Ohio, and they have become 
 the parents of one child, a daughter, Carrie A. Mr. 
 S. is a Republican in his political sentiments, and is 
 considered one of the representative and worthy 
 gentlemen of Henry County. 
 
 -S3=f= 
 
 A A 
 
 T~T 
 
 €3- 
 
 illiam K. Wight, general farmer and pro- 
 prietor of the Groveland Creamery, resid- 
 siding on section 13, Andover Township, 
 was born in Lake Co., Ohio, Feb. 25, 1833. 
 ^ His father, John Wight, a native of Canada 
 
 J and of New England ancestry, was a mechanic 
 and builder, and came to Ohio at an early day, 
 where he married Sarah A. Ballard, who was born 
 in the State of New York, of New England parent- 
 age. They came West in 1855, settling in Cam- 
 bridge Township, where William had come a year 
 previous. His mother died some years ago, in this 
 township, in February, 1875 and his father is yet 
 living, residing in Cambridge, aged 76 years. 
 
 Mr. Wight, our subject, was educated in Lake 
 Co., Ohio, and. came West when he arrived at the 
 age of majority, purchasing land at once in Lynn 
 Township, this county, and began to make improve- 
 ments. Subsequently, he returned to Ohio and 
 entered the Kingsville Academy, where he completed 
 his education in 1858. Returning to this State, he 
 began teaching and farming, which occupation he 
 followed for some time. 
 
 He enlisted in the United States volunteer army, 
 Aug. 22, 1862, in Co. H, 112th Regt. 111. Vol. Inf., 
 being under the command of Col. Henderson, and 
 Gens. Burnside and Scofield. He therefore partici- 
 pated in the battle of Franklin, Tenn., and siege of 
 Knoxville, and was wounded at Kelly's Ford, Jan. 
 28, 1864, by a gunshot from the enemy, the ball 
 striking the shin of his left leg. After lying in the 
 hospital at Knoxville for some time, and visiting 
 home and friends on a furlough, he went to the hos- 
 pital at Quincy, where he was honorably discharged, 
 June 22, 1865. 
 
 He then returned home, but, being unable to fol- 
 low any business requiring heavy manual labor, he 
 taught school about 20 terms. In 1868, he pur- 
 chased the farm where he now lives, consisting at 
 one time of 225 acres. He afterward sold 125, and 
 
 E3 
 
 V) 
 
 $ 
 
 •Asim-t*- 
 
 ■^A&DflM&A^ =*»« 
 
^^f^- 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 ^r 
 
 235 
 
 fa. 
 
 I 
 
 <& 
 
 I 
 
 bought in Buffalo Co., Neb., a half section of im- 
 proved land, and 800 acres of good unimproved land 
 in Keith County, same State. His home in this 
 county is well improved. In 1880 he established a 
 creamery, with a capacity of 1,000 pounds of butter 
 per day. In this line he is now operating exten- 
 sively and with characteristic success. He is also a 
 skillful fafmer, taking great interest in every point of 
 excellence in his methods of management. He has 
 been honored by his fellow citizens with the offices 
 of Road Commissioner and Township Collector. He 
 is a Republican, a member of the G. A. R., and also 
 of the Congregational Church, in which he holds the 
 offices of Deacon and Sunday-school Superintendent. 
 Mr. Wight was united in the bonds of matrimony, 
 Oct. 13, 1858, in Livingston Co., N. Y., with Miss 
 Sophia, daughter of Elias H. and Elizabeth (Gay- 
 lord) Eastman, natives of the States of New York 
 and Connecticut respectively. Her mother died in 
 New York State when she (Mrs. W.) was but a 
 small child, and her father, after residing with his 
 children a number of years, finally died in this State. 
 Mrs. W. was born in Livingston Co., N. Y.. Dec. 3, 
 1841, and has become the mother of eight children, 
 six of whom are living, namely: Louis A., born 
 Oct. 4, i860; Lucien E., March 5, 1862; May A., 
 May 4, 1865, and died April 26, 1883; Guy V., 
 born June 29, 1870; A. Earl, Nov. 14, i87r; Clar- 
 ence C, Dec. 30, 1876; W. Herald, Aug. 2, 1878; 
 and Edward E., who died when 13 months old. 
 Mis. W. attended school at the academy of Kings- 
 ville, Ashtabula Co., Ohio, and is a member of the 
 Congregational Church. 
 
 -*~-K 
 
 penry Hand, of Hanna Township, is a pio- 
 neer of Henry County of 1840. He was 
 born in the State of NewIYork, June 20, 
 1817. His parents were pioneers of Livingston 
 County, in that State, where his father bought a 
 considerable tract of timber land, and, after 
 clearing about 60 acres, found that no clear title 
 could be obtained, and, in 1825, when the son was 
 eight years of age, the parents with n children 
 started for Ohio, which was then the frontier of 
 civilization. They traveled to the " Far West," as 
 it was called, in a wagon drawn by two yokes of 
 oxen, taking with them all their household belong- 
 
 ings and maintaining the regular routine of their 
 domestic arrangements on the way, cooking and 
 living the lives of "' campers " while on their long 
 journey. In those days time was a smaller consid- 
 eration than money, and, besides, there were no 
 facilities for public travel. " Times change, and 
 men change with them." 
 
 They settled in Huron County, in the Buckeye 
 State, where the father bought a farm and erected a 
 frame house, and proceeded to improve a home- 
 stead. There he died, about six years later, his 
 demise occurring Dec. 6, 1831, at the age of 52. An 
 older son assumed the management of the farm, and 
 Mr. Hand was an inmate of the parental home until 
 he reached his 21st year, when he came to Illinois, 
 and bought land in McDonough County, where he 
 arrived in 1837. Moses T. Hand, his brother, had 
 preceded him, and he made his home with him on 
 his farm, which was situated on the line of Warren 
 County. He erected fencing around 40 acres, and 
 after he had broken up 25 acres he sold his claim. 
 That was accomplished in 1859, and in the year 
 ensuing he came to the county where he has since 
 lived, and at once located on what was then re- 
 corded as town 18 in range 2, and is now Hanna 
 Township. In the fall of the same year he was 
 married to Valeria Brittain, who was born in White 
 Co., 111. 
 
 Mr. Hand has obtained from the Legislature of 
 the State the right to establish and operate a ferry 
 across Rock River from Cleveland, and he was en- 
 gaged in its management for a year. In the spring 
 of 1841 he commenced farming on land which he 
 rented on section 20 of the township named. As 
 soon as the land lying north of the Indian boundary 
 came into market Mr. Hand, entered 97 acres situ- 
 ated on sections 28 and 33 of what is now Hanna 
 Township, and he also bought a tract lying adjoin- 
 ing that had been entered previously and on which 
 there had been built a double log cabin. This was 
 the home of his family nine years, and he then 
 bought a farm on section 32 of Hanna Township. 
 The new estate was wholly unimproved, and the 
 proprietor at once commenced to build a brick house 
 and a frame barn, and as soon as the place had 
 been put in suitable condition for occupancy the 
 family took possession of it, and it has since been 
 the homestead. The location is very attractive, 
 there being a natural grove in the immediate vicinity 
 
 
 
 &<?xmM&+& 
 
^ 
 
 <-jHH8nii&Y 
 
 236 
 
 7* 
 
 HENRY COUNTY 
 
 of the house. Mr. hand was then in a position to 
 pursue his agricultural purposes according to his 
 inclinations, and he entered with vigor into the work 
 of reclaiming the prairie, using a breaking plow 
 ©/ which cut 30 inches, and was drawn through the 
 obdurate soil by seven yokes of oxen, and the work 
 of placing the broad acres in a condition of ad- 
 vanced improvement was soon accomplished. 
 
 Mrs. Hand died March 2, 1849, leaving two chil- 
 dren : Sarah J. married Henry C. Brown, and they 
 reside at Kidder, Mo.; Olive is the wife of P. O. 
 Miles, residing four miles from Wyanet, Bureau Co., 
 111. Mr. Hand was a second time married, in 1850, 
 to Mary, daughter of John P. and Nancy (Dockery) 
 Hanna. She died Jan. 9, 1881, and left two chil- 
 dren. The Hon. John P. Hand, of Cambridge, who 
 is present Judge of Henry County, and of whom a 
 personal sketch is given on another page of this 
 work, is her oldest son. Henry Hand is the mana- 
 ger of the home estate. The latter was born Oct. 
 16, 1863, and married Maggie, daughter of John 
 and Agnes (Owen) Searl. They have one child, 
 who is named Mary A. 
 
 Mr. Hand, the father, has been a member of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church since 1841. Mrs. H. 
 was a member of the same religious denomination. 
 
 d> 
 
 & 
 
 
 b 
 
 ti 
 
 
 E. Loyd, who is prominently identified 
 with the farming interests of Oxford 
 Township, residing on section 19, is a 
 native of Washington Co., Va. His parents, 
 John F. and Elizabeth (Robinson) Loyd, were 
 also natives of Virginia, and were living in 
 that State at the time of the birth of their son, of 
 whom we write, which occurred April 28, 1835. In 
 1852, his parents came West to Indiana, where they 
 purchased a farm, upon which his father lived until 
 his death, which occurred in 1869. Mrs. Loyd at 
 present resides with her son, Samuel C, in Missouri. 
 The subject of this narrative remained at home 
 until 19 years of age, assisting his parents on the 
 farm and attending the schools of his neighborhood. 
 The four years following his departure from home 
 were spent in working out by the month. In 1857, 
 having accumulated a little means, he bought a 
 team and rented a farm in Indiana, which he worked 
 .i- r for some time. Upon the breaking out of the Re- 
 
 bellion, he joined Co. B, 30th Ind. Vol. Inf., and 
 was engaged in his first battle at Pulaski, Tenn., 
 and while participating in his fourth battle, he re- 
 ceived a shot which took off the first and second 
 fingers of his right hand. He, however, remained in 
 the service until the close of the war, when he was 
 honorably discharged. He soon found his way to 
 Illinois, where, in 1865, in -Mercer County, he pur- 
 chased 40 acres of land. He subsequently added 
 to this 105 acres, and remained there for seven 
 years. He then disposed of his property there and 
 came into Oxford Township, this county, and lo- 
 cated on a 159-acre farm, on section 19. To this 
 he has since added 130 acres adjoining. Politically, 
 he is a member of the Democratic party. 
 
 Mr. Loyd was married to Miss Harriet Dubre in 
 1859. She was a native of Indiana. The seven 
 children who have been born to them bear the fol- 
 lowing names . Eva J., Frances F. (deceased), Mary 
 A., Oscar C, Emma M., Maud B. and James A. 
 
 j^^^^-^^M 
 
 J^f; 
 
 oh.11 F. Mowers, banker at Atkinson, was 
 born in the State of New York, Jan. 20, 
 1837. He is the son of Thomas Nowers,of 
 whom an account is presented with the sketch 
 of Thomas Nowers, Jr., which may be found 
 elsewhere in this work. The family came West 
 in 1 849 and he accompanied the other members. They 
 made a location at Pre-emption in Mercer County and 
 there he was occupied as an assistant to his father 
 on the farm. His first independent employment was 
 in the capacity of agent for the agricultural machin- 
 ery of Cyrus H. McCormick, in whose interest he 
 was employed three years. In 1857 he came to this 
 county, where he has since been identified with its 
 prominent business interests. In 1881 the banking 
 enterprise in which he is now interested was estab- 
 lished. 
 
 Mr. Nowers formed a matrimonial alliance with 
 Lurena A. Wright, Feb. 3, T863. She was born in 
 the State of New York in 1839. They have no chil- 
 dren. H. E. Wright, the father of Mrs. Nowers, was 
 a native of the State of New York. Her mother was 
 born in Massachusetts. They were born respectively 
 in 1815 and 1818, and are still living, in Mercer Co- 
 lli. Their marriage took place in 1836, in the Empire 
 
 <a^3 ^^r: 4^§Nr( 
 
 1 
 
 VA 
 
 I 
 
 S3 
 
■&7®$mM{>&=> — ^&^- 
 
 -Ǥ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 I 
 
 (§\ 
 
 •.'» 
 
 I 
 
 State, and they are the parents of five daughters and 
 a son. They were born in the following order: Mary 
 M., Lorena A., Abbie G., George A., Harriet and 
 Ella. The son is the only one who remains unmar- 
 ried. 
 
 Mrs. Nowers is a member of the Congregational 
 Church. The political preferences of Mr. Nowers 
 are in accordance with the Republican party. 
 
 ansom Harrington, real- estate and loan 
 agent at Geneseo, has been a resident of 
 Henry County since September, 1856. He 
 came here in the previous autumn and made 
 purchases of. land. He was born at Hogans- 
 burg, Franklin Co., N. Y., Feb. 18, 1822, and 
 is the son of Amariah B. and Rebecca (Manning) 
 Harrington. His mother was a native of Alburgh, 
 Vt, and his father was born in Stanstead, Canada. 
 
 In 1837, the Patriot or McKenzie's War broke out 
 in Canada, and the troops of the United States sta- 
 tioned at Sackett's Harbor were ordered to Fort Cov- 
 ington on the border line between the Dominion and 
 Franklin County, to aid in preserving the neutrality 
 laws. At Ogdensburg they were fired on by the 
 English soldiery on the supposition that they were 
 reinforcements for the Patriots, and they were obliged 
 to change their course and make their way to the 
 fort across the land. This brought them to Hogans- 
 burg. The sight of men in uniform awakened an 
 enthusiasm in the mind of Mr. Harrington and the 
 day after they left his native town he followed them, 
 going on foot to Fort Covington. Arrived there, he 
 attempted to enlist, but was told by the Captain that 
 he must bring a certificate of permission from his 
 parents, and he returned to his home where he went 
 vigorously to work to secure the necessary document. 
 With a boy's persistency and a small mixture of boy's 
 strategy, he succeeded and went back in triumph. 
 Oct. 13, 1837, he enlisted in the Regular Army, en- 
 rolling in Co. K, English Regiment, U. S. I., under 
 the command of Colonel, afterwards General Worth. 
 The captain was W. R. Montgomery, of Reading, 
 Pa., and he at once took an interest in the young re- 
 cruit, which established friendship that never knew 
 change or diminution. 
 Soon after his enlistment the regiment was sent 
 
 $€$$- 
 
 back to Sackett's Harbor and the command remained 
 there until the spring of 1839. In the winter of 
 1838-9, Captain Montgomery and Mr. Harrington 
 went to Canandaigua, N. Y., where they passed the 
 winter in recruiting, and secured 102 men. In the 
 spring they resumed duty at Sackett's Harbor, whence 
 : the command was ordered to Green Bay, Wis., and 
 i and the route thithe? was made by Buffalo and the 
 ,- Lakes. Soon after they went to Port Winnebago 
 I (now Portage) and participated in the removal of 
 j the Winnebago Indians to Iowa. The regiment pro- 
 ceeded thence to Rock Island, where it remained 
 ! through the excitement of the " payment " to the In- 
 dians by the Government of the United States, and 
 went thence to St. Louis. 
 
 ' The stay there was short, the command going next 
 to New Orleans and crossing thence to Tampa Bay 
 across the Gulf of Mexico. One incident during the 
 stay at Tampa Bay illustrates the varieties that 
 broke the monotony of events. The Seminole War 
 was in progress and detailed duty was proportionately 
 dangerous. On one occasion two attempts had been 
 made to communicate with Fort King, a military 
 : post 100 miles distant, and had been frustrated by 
 the Indians who had in each instance murdered 
 : three men. At dress parade, volunteers had been 
 called for and Mr. Harrington and two others re- 
 sponded. There was a reward of $500 for those 
 who would accomplish the duty, which was to carry 
 the mail to the Government employes at Fort King. 
 As was afterwards learned the mail bags contained 
 $27,000 to pay the men there. The party were de- 
 layed by the death of the horse that Mr. Harrington 
 rode, and a band of skirmishers, who found the ani- 
 mal torn by buzzards, reported the whole party as 
 murdered, and accordingly Captain Montgomery sent 
 the tidings of the death of Mr. Harrington to his 
 home. Later, the officer sent out scouts to seek for 
 their remains and they met the successful volunteers 
 on their return. The scouts had sacrificed several 
 horses in their search. The regiment remained at 
 Tampa Bay until 1842. Mr. Harrington was dis- 
 charged after a service of five years, just in time to 
 escape the Mexican War which followed soon after. 
 He had gone into the military service for the money 
 he could obtain in order to be able to aid his parents, 
 and he returned to his home to find that his mother 
 and a sister had died during his absence, and that 
 only his father and two sisters were left., One brother 
 
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 238 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 had died previously. Jane A., his oldest sister, is 
 now deceased, and Mary M. (Mrs. Luce), is liv- 
 ing in the city of Lowell, Mass. 
 
 On his return, his first move was to buy a farm in 
 the town of Bombay, in his native county, to which 
 he removed "his father's family. The winter of 1843-4 
 he went to school. 
 
 The next event of importance* in his life was his 
 marriage to Martha E. Campbell, at Massena, St. 
 Lawrence Co., N. Y., Feb. 22, 1845. Mrs. Harring- 
 ton was born March 7, 1827, in Rockingham, Vt., 
 and she is the daughter of Hiram and Alvira (Low- 
 ell) Campbell. After his marriage, Mr. Harrington 
 engaged in farming in Bombay for a few years and 
 then sold out. He removed to Moira in the same 
 county, where he became interested in hotel-keeping. 
 In 1852 he built a hotel in the same town, which he 
 sold in the year he removed to Henry County. 
 
 When the Civil War convulsed the nation he be- 
 came interested in its issues and enlisted. He en- 
 rolled in Co. B, Ninth 111. Cav., Sept. 19, 1861. On 
 the organization of the company he was commis- 
 sioned Second Lieutenant. Eight days later he was 
 made First Lieutenant. He was promoted to rank 
 of Captain on the field during the action at Helena, 
 Ark., in the fall of 1862. The regiment left Chicago 
 for the front, Feb. 18, 1862. It was assigned to the 
 brigade of General Steele and to the 14th Army 
 Corps, under General Curtis. The command was 
 involved in the campaigns in Missouri, Arkansas, 
 Mississippi and Tennessee. Mr. Harrington was in 
 'the most of the cavalry service in those regions dur- 
 ing the time he was in the army. He resigned in 
 May, T863, on account of myopia, or nearness of 
 sight, which rendered military service almost im- 
 practicable. 
 
 On his return to Geneseo, he was appointed a 
 special agent by the Provost Marshal of his Congres- 
 sional District, and discharged the duties of the posi- 
 tion until the close of the war. 
 
 In political faith, Mr. Harrington is a Republican, 
 and has been since the organization of the party. 
 Although he has been active in the conduct of local 
 politics, he has never been an aspirant for official 
 honors. He has acted as a delegate to Senatorial 
 and Congressional Conventions and was an alternate 
 to the National Republican Convention at Chicago 
 in T884. 
 
 In 1883 the feasibility of establishing the Normal 
 
 School at Geneseo was broached, and Mr. Harring- 
 ton took an earnest interest in the question from the 
 stand-point of a public-spirited citizen who saw., in a 
 wholesome educational project, a permanent advant- 
 age to the general interests. He was one of the 
 most active in securing subscriptions for the repairs 
 necessary to be made to the building, in which it was 
 proposed to operate, and through his efforts, in addi- 
 tion to those of others equally interested in the proj- 
 ect, the needed funds were raised and the school 
 made a certainty. He is one of the Trustees of the 
 institution. . 
 
 The interests of Mr. Harrington in real estate are 
 extensive and include about 400 acres in Iowa, 2,700 
 in Kansas and 500 in Colorado. His business as a 
 loan agent is also heavy. The Harrington residence 
 at Geneseo is one of the finest structures in Henry 
 County. 
 
 The record of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Har- 
 rington is as follows: Clara P., born March 20, 
 1852, died Jan. 8, r865 ; Wm. H., bom Feb. 26, 
 1846, died Oct. r, 1868; Henry G., born Feb. 18, 
 1848; Frank R., born Aug. 25, 1850; Fred A., born 
 Jan. 8, 1866. 
 
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 ••o4o«* 
 
 
 Henderson, a farmer and stock-raiser of 
 section 28, Clover Township, was born in 
 !?* Fayette Co., Pa., April n, 1859, and his 
 parents were Stewart and Eliza A. (Rumsey) 
 Henderson, natives also of the Keystone State, 
 who came to Illinois in 1874, settling on the 
 present homestead of our subject. His father pur- 
 chased r4o acres here and resided upon it until his 
 death, which occurred on the 19th of September, 
 1881. He also bought 80 acres of land in Mercer 
 County, this State, and a house and six lots in the 
 village of Woodhull. 
 
 Mr. T. S. Henderson has always been an occu- 
 pant of the family homestead. He received a com- 
 mercial education, and graduated in penmanship and 
 book-keeping at Burlington, Iowa, in r88o. He now 
 owns half the homestead, and has the whole of it 
 under his judicious and successful management. 
 He also has half the 80 acres in Mercer Co., 111., and v 
 90 acres in Nebraska. As a farmer he carries on } \ 
 what is called " mixed husbandry," and he also deals 
 in thoroughbred cattle. He is a Republican in his 
 
 -C^k 
 
 ^[l!l«>4 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 $^%$T\A$$' 
 
 239 
 
 political views, is now acting as Path Master of his 
 township, and is counted as one of the solid men of 
 the county. 
 
 He was married Feb. 22, i88i,to\Miss Maggie 
 
 , Sesslar, a native of Ottawa, La Salle Co., 111., and 
 
 they have two children — Delia Luella and Gracie 
 
 Jane. Mr. Henderson's mother also makes her 
 
 home with him. 
 
 
 eft 
 
 ames Glenn, of Colona Township, is a resi- 
 dent on the same farm on which he settled 
 a half century ago, which is situated on 
 section 20 of what was then town 17. He is 
 the oldest of the earliest settlers now living in 
 the county, and he was the second man who 
 took up his permanent abode within the limits of 
 Henry County. Dr. Thomas Baker preceded him 
 by a few days, and at the time of the arrival of Mr. 
 Glenn he was living in the wagon in which he had 
 traveled. Mr. Glenn arrived in May, and within 
 the same month he built a house, the very first 
 which was erected for living purposes in the county. 
 It was of the most primitive character, being con- 
 structed entirely without nails or other means com- 
 mon to the builder's art. It was constructed of 
 poles and the roof was of clapboards. It had no 
 floor of any kind save the earth. Mr. Glenn was 
 the first man who turned the prairie soil of Henry 
 County with a plow. The date of this event, as 
 near as can be determined, was May 20, 1835, on 
 the southeast quarter of section 17, in Colona Town- 
 ship. His labors and trials were shared by his 
 brother Thomas, who came with him, and they lived 
 in their house without a door, as they had no facil- 
 ities for making one; and the aperture by which 
 they found ingress and egress in and out of their 
 place of shelter was barred with rails to keep out 
 cattle and the wild animals which were prowling 
 about. They had frequent calls from travelers, who 
 found welcome and entertainment at the humble 
 abode. Their house may therefore be considered 
 the pioneer tavern of Henry County. They occupied 
 it but a year, as in the next spring they built a 
 hewed-log house, 45 x 20 feet in dimensions; and as 
 soon as the stages began to run their place was made 
 a stage station. In the fall of the same year, 
 
 Thomas Glenn returned to Ohio and came back 
 with the parents and two younger brothers, — John 
 and Payton R., — and they brought a pair of horses, 
 whose value at that time can be estimated. 
 
 Mr. Glenn was born in Fayette Co., Ky., July 17, 
 1812, on the farm of Henry Clay at "Ashland," as 
 the country place of the statesman was called. At 
 the time of the birth of Mr. Glenn, his father was 
 the manager of the estate. The latter, James Glenn, 
 was born in Virginia, and he married Sarah Shoap- 
 stall, who was a native of Pennsylvania. In 18 16, 
 the elder Glenn removed his family to Washington 
 Co., Ky., where they lived four years. They then 
 went«to Ohio and resided some years in Clinton 
 County. There the sons attained to mature life, 
 and with it the ambition to make their way to a 
 legitimate claim to the advantages rightfully belong- 
 ing to the efforts and plans of manhood. Accord- 
 ingly, Mr. Glenn set out from home in October, 
 1834, and operated for a few months on a trading 
 boat on the Mississippi River. In the spring follow- 
 ing he came to Henry County, as has been stated. 
 
 The second house which has been mentioned was 
 the stage station of the Frink & Walker stages while 
 they continued to run. Mr. Glenn was a single 
 man when he came to Henry County. His father's 
 death occurred in 1849. The demise of his mother 
 occurred in 185 1. Thomas died in 1841, of con- 
 sumption; John died in 1852; Payton died in 1861; 
 another brother — Jacob — died in 1882. 
 
 Mr. Glenn was married to Nancy Kincaid, Jan. 
 16, 1837. She was born in Green Co., 111., and is 
 the daugter of James and Polly (Saunders) Kincaid. 
 Her parents were natives of Kentucky and came 
 thence to Rock Island Co., 111., in 1836. On the 
 day of their arrival in Rock Island the only store in 
 the place was destroyed by fire. After a residence 
 of a few years in that county they went ito Mercer 
 County in this State. The father of Mrs. Glenn 
 died at the residence of his son in Colona Township. 
 
 At the time of their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Glenn 
 settled on the farm on section 20, and they have 
 lived on the place 48 years (1885). They have six 
 children: William resides on section 31 of Colona 
 Township ; Mary A. is the wife of George Burke, of 
 Western Township; John is deceased; Eliza mar- 
 ried Charles Hugh, and they are living in Dakota ; 
 Ellen is the wife of Warren H. Stearns, who is a 
 
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 -2^ K gV &ll n@D P&' /c) ; a<g»Kr 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 citizen of Leadville, Col. ; Lucinda married Isaac 
 Hanna, and they are living in Poweshiek Co., Iowa. 
 In 1877, Mr. Glenn built the elegant house in 
 which his family now live, and it is, as it should be, 
 one of the finest farm residences in the county. His 
 farm is ranked as one of the best stock farms in the 
 county. It contains 330 acres, and is in the best 
 agricultural condition. 
 
 * -«- * 
 
 L. Clay. One of the prosperous and well- 
 to-do farmers in Oxford Township Ts W. 
 L. Clay, whose place of residence is on 
 section 35. He was born 1 831, in Chester, 
 ^ Windsor Co., Vt., and is a son of John L. 
 and Louisa M. (Balch) Clay, who were natives 
 of Vermont, and brought their family West, locating 
 in Galesburg in 1840. At this place he resided on 
 some land which the father had purchased three 
 years previous to their coming West, and where he 
 resided all the remaining years of his life, with the 
 exception of eight years, which were spent in the 
 city of Galesburg. He died on his farm in the year 
 1876; his widow still survives, living in Galesburg, at 
 the advanced age of 82 years 
 
 W. L. Clay, our subject, received a high-school 
 education, and assisted in the labors of the farm 
 while at home, where he remained until he reached 
 his 2 2d year, when he left home and came to Oxford 
 Township in 1854. Here he purchased a tract of 
 land of 320 acres, and entered upon its improve- 
 ment, remaining here until i860; then went back to 
 the old homestead and took charge of it until 1867, 
 when he next went to Galesburg and remained 
 there until 1869. He again returned to Oxford 
 Township, where he has since been a resident, carry- 
 ing on a stock and grain farm, in which he has been 
 eminently successful. Mr. C. is the owner of 240 
 acres in Knox County, 160 in Warren County, and 
 520 acres in Nebraska. 
 
 Harriet M. Davison was united in marriage with 
 Mr. W. L. Clay in 1854, and of this union were born 
 three children — Seth H., Mary and Harrold S. Mrs. 
 Clay died in i860, and Mr. C. formed another mat- 
 rimonial alliance, this time the lady being Anna M. 
 Johnson. They have become the parents of three 
 
 children — Fanny M., Warren L. and Eugenia M. 
 Mr. Clay is a Democrat in his political opinions, and 
 is one of the leading and worthy men of Oxford 
 Township. 
 
 -« : : <oc> c . <- 
 
 ; erry W. Beckwith, a merchant at Briar 
 Bluff, in Colona Township, is the present 
 
 flUP^ Postmaster at that place (1885). He was 
 mj born in the city of Rock Island, May 28, i860. 
 •fir He is the son of Chauncey J. and Ann (Ver- 
 narsdalle) Beckwith, who were born respect- 
 ively in Vermont and in the State of New York. 
 They were among the pioneer settlers in Rock Island. 
 In 1868 they removed to Carbon Cliff, in the same 
 county, and there their son obtained his education in 
 the public schools. When he was 15 he was em- 
 ployed in the pottery, and he remained there until 
 he had acquired a thorough knowledge of the busi- 
 ness. He worked there three years, and at the -end 
 of that time engaged as a clerk with M. G. Mills in 
 Rock Island. At a later date he entered the services 
 of C. Corbin & W. E. Chamberlain, at Carbon Cliff. 
 In 1879, he went to Colorado, and officiated as a 
 hotel clerk in the " Mountain View House " at Den- 
 ver, and went thence after three months to Hot Sul- 
 phur Springs, where he obtained a position in a store 
 as general clerk. He operated there two years and 
 returned to Illinois. In 1882 he purchased the 
 stock and interests of M. F. Wolcott, at Briar Bluff, 
 and has since continued the prosecution of his busi- 
 ness as a merchant in that place. His stock in- 
 cludes the lines of goods demanded in a country 
 trade. 
 
 Mr. Beckwith was appointed Postmaster in 1882. 
 
 -amuel Arnett, Supervisor of the township 
 of Loraine (r885), has been a resident of 
 Henry County from the period of infancy, 
 as he was in the first year of his life when his 
 parents joined the pioneer element of this sec- 
 tion of the State. He was born in Warren Co., 
 Pa., July 6, 1836, and is the ninth son of Lewis and' 
 Mary Clara Arnett. The family were among the 
 earliest settlers in the township and the son was reared 
 on the farm on which his parents located. He was 
 
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 -Ȥ>@S5 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 241 
 
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 educated in the pioneer log school-house, with its 
 benches made of slabs, and the educational facili- 
 ties were of the same stamp — such as the lime and 
 circumstances afforded. 
 
 In the spring of 1858 he' bought four pairs of oxen 
 and engaged in the work of breaking prairie, which 
 was then as profitable as any employment that could 
 be obtained in an unsettled locality, and passed one 
 season in that line of business. In the spring en- 
 suing he started with an ox team for Pike's Peak, 
 setting out in April. He reached his destination 
 June 20 following, and operated there in the capacity 
 of a teamster, packing goods into the mountains with 
 a mule train. He followed that method two years, 
 and passed six months in the transportation business 
 with wagons. 
 
 He then returned to the State of Illinois and en- 
 gaged in threshing, which he followed three seasons. 
 Meanwhile he rented a farm on which he passed the 
 intervals when his services as a thresher were not in 
 demand. In 1865 he bought 147 acres of land on 
 section 5 of the township where he was brought up. 
 He built a small frame house, which was the abode 
 of his household until 1883, when the commodious 
 residence they now occupy was erected. Mr. Arnett 
 is the owner now of 186 acres of land, which is all in 
 good agricultural condition. He has served nearly 
 r8 years as Road Commissioner. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Arnett and Catherine Urick 
 took place Nov. 15, 1863. She was born in Henry 
 County and is the daughter of Rudolph and Cath- 
 erine (Rapp) Urick. Annie C, David W., S. Edwin, 
 Libbie L. and George W. are the names of the chil- 
 dren that are now included in the household of Mr. 
 and Mrs. Arnett. 
 
 A. Fraser, a dealer in grain and broom- 
 corn at Woodhull, was born Feb. 12, 1837, 
 in New Haven, Conn., was brought up on 
 x> a farm and attended the district school until 
 r,> he reached the age of majority. His par- 
 ents were William and Dolly (Russell) Fraser, 
 natives respectively of Scotland and Connecticut; 
 her father died in 1841 and her mother in 1849. 
 
 Mr. Fraser went to Ashtabula County; Ohio, at 
 the age of 13 years and lived there with an uncle 
 
 until he was 2r years old, and then came to Knox 
 Co., this State, in 1858, where he worked 0:1 a farm 
 for two years ; and then, until some time in 1861, he 
 was in Kansas and Missouri, most of the time as a, 
 clerk in mercantile establishments. In the fall of 
 1 861 he went into the 42d 111. Vol. Inf. as sutler and • 
 photographer, and continued in that relation until 
 1865; then for one year he was engaged in a mer- 
 cantile business for himself in Alabama ; selling out, 
 he returned to the North and for a year was engaged 
 in grain business at Chenoa, McLean Co., 111.; in 
 1868 he was employed on a farm in Knox Co., Ilf; 
 then, in r86q, he came to Woodhull, where he has 
 since been engaged in the grain and broom-corn 
 trade. He is a successful manager, and a man with 
 whom it is a satisfaction to deal. He built a good 
 residence in Woodhull in 1875, and has a farm of 480 
 acres in Kansa&i He is a Republican, a Freemason 
 and Odd-fellow, and is a leading citizen of the com- 
 munity which he has selected for his place of resid- 
 ence. 
 
 Mr. Fraser and Miss Anna Kingdon were married 
 Dec. 29, 1869, and they have three children : George 
 H, born Feb. 20, 187 1; Nellie E., born Dec. 30, 
 1873; and Eva I., born Sept. 30, 1878. 
 
 -S3- 
 
 -£*- 
 
 
 < 
 
 A. Gamble. Among those prominently 
 jl|l|L identified with the agricultural interests of 
 Oxford Township, we note the subject of 
 this sketch, Mr. S. A. Gamble. His residence 
 is upon section 24, and, besides giving his at- 
 tention to general farming, he is engaged in 
 stock-raising. He was born in Franklin Co., Pa., 
 July 2r, 1838. His parents were also natives of 
 the Keystone State, and were Samuel and Isabella 
 B. (Wilson) Gamble. They came to Illinois as early 
 as 1857, and located upon the above mentioned sec- 
 tion, where they lived until called to their eternal 
 homes. Mrs. Gamble died Oct. 16, 1862, and the 
 elder Gamble, Feb. 10, 1870. 
 
 Our subject remained under the guidance and 
 counsel of his parents until 1865. During the days 
 of his boyhood and youth he not only had the ad- 
 vantages' of the common schools, but received an 
 academical education. Upon leaving home his first 
 business enterprise was the renting of a farm. He 
 
 s^ 2 — ^A^DD 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 -f^^f 
 
 continued farming, renting land for five years, when, 
 in 1870, he purchased the property where he now 
 lives, which at the time consisted of 80 acres, to 
 which he subsequently added 120 acres. Politically, 
 Mr. G. is a Republican, and, with his wife and four 
 ■eldest'children, he is a member of the Presbyterian 
 Church. 
 
 It was in 1865, April 13, that Mr. "Gamble and 
 Miss Anna E. Widney were united in marriage. Of 
 this union four children were born, who are living: 
 These are Fannie, Fred E., William M. and Nonnie. 
 In the spring of 1876, the husband and children 
 were called upon to mourn the loss of the wife and 
 mother. Mr. Gamble was subsequently married to 
 Mollie Rolofson, a native of Illinois. Of this union 
 three children have been born — Eddie, Samuel B. 
 and Edna. Of the former children, Fannie is the 
 wife of L. E.'Pritchard. 
 
 i 
 
 4*fr 
 
 -S— 
 
 Robert W. Milar, a mechanic of ! Atkinson, 
 has been a citizen of Henry County since 
 1855. He was born July 29, 1824, in 
 Somerset Co., Pa. His father"John Milar, 
 was lost to his family by death in 1833. The 
 latter was a native of Maryland and married 
 Isabella Fulton in 1812. Their births occurred re- 
 spectively in 1790 and in 1793. The mother was a 
 native of Pennsylvania. 
 
 In 1836 Mr. Milar came to the State of Ohio and 
 passed two years in acquiring a knowledge of the 
 business of a carpenter, which he has followed ever 
 since. He served an apprenticeship of two years; 
 and, in October, 1855, came to Henry County, set- 
 tling at Geneseo. He pursued his trade there only 
 about six months, when he came [to Atkinson. He 
 has been a continuous resident of that place about 
 30 years. He has managed his affairs with pru- 
 dence and good judgment, and is the owner of a 
 well improved farm of 80 acres in the township of 
 Atkinson, and owns the property which he occupies 
 in the village. He is also the proprietor of 80 acres 
 in Kansas, situated less than 20 miles from the city 
 of Topeka. 
 
 Mr. Milar is a Republican and has discharged the 
 duties of his citizenship in several official positions 
 in the place where he is a resident. He was Deputy 
 
 Sheriff of the county four years, and has acted in the 
 capacity of Justice of the Peace eight years. He has 
 also been "Constable 17 years. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Milar to Rebecca Kinsley 
 took place July 8, 1849, in the State of Ohio. The 
 ceremony was performed by Joshua Pepper, then a 
 magistrate, and who is still living, near Taylorsville, 
 111. Mrs. Milar was born Sept, 25, 1831, in New 
 Philadelphia, Tuscarawas Co., Ohio. Three of four 
 children born of this marriage are still living : Theo- 
 dore was born March 24, 1850; Leroy, Oct. 9, 1852 ; 
 Clara, Jan. 5, 1854; J. Kniseley, March 25, 1857. 
 The latter died Sept. n, 1883. The surviving chil- 
 dren are married. Mrs. Milar is a member of the 
 Congregational Church. 
 
 £aeob Frank, harness-maker at Geneseo, 
 and an extensive farmer of Henry County, 
 has been a business man of Geneseo 
 since Jan. 1, 1856. He was bom May 8, 
 1829, in Germany, near the city of Worms, 
 which will be celebrated throughout the ages 
 of the world as the place where the " Morning-Star'' 
 of the Reformation arose — Martin Luther. He is 
 the son of Leonard and Margaret (Boas) Frank, and 
 he was 21 years of age when he left his native land 
 to test fate in the New World. He landed in Amer- 
 ica in 1849, and settled in Hayes ville, Ashland Co., 
 Ohio. He at once entered into the work of prepa- 
 ration for the business which he has since pursued, 
 and served an apprenticeship of four years with a 
 harness-maker. He began to operate in that line in 
 his own behalf at Lucas, in that State, and remained 
 there three years. At the expiration of that time he 
 came to Geneseo, and established his business as 
 soon as he arrived. He has operated with success, 
 and in addition to his widespread relations as a 
 harness-maker, dealer in trunks and all goods com- 
 mon to the traffic, he is the owner of a fine estate of 
 ioo acres of land in the township of Cornwall. He 
 is also the proprietor of valuable city property. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Frank to Delilah Bowman 
 took place in Ohio, Sept. 5, 1854, and they have had 
 five children, three sons and two daughters : Leon- 
 ard D. was born in Ohio, and after he was married 
 he went to Oregon, where he died, in July, 1884, 
 aged 30 ; Alice is the wife of David McLaughlin, of 
 
 9 
 
 
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"6v^u n® ii n&^ — ?jt&hr 
 
 n 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 243 
 
 
 I 
 
 <5\ 
 
 •! * 
 
 Chicago ; Charles died at 1 2 years of age ; William 
 and Minnie are living. Mrs. Frank was born in 
 Ashland Co., Ohio. She died at her home in Gen- 
 eseo, on Thanksgiving Day, 1883. She was a mem- 
 ber of the Baptist Church. 
 
 Mr. Frank is connected by membership with the 
 German Lutheran Church, and is a member of the 
 Society of Odd Fellows. In political belief and con- 
 nection he is an adherent of the Democratic party. 
 
 James Duncan, of Geneseo,came to Henry 
 County in 1838, and has been a resident 
 of the State since 1837. He has been 
 prominent in the development of the resources 
 ] £ of the county from the beginning of his active 
 
 I and independent management of his own 
 affairs, and is at present the senior partner of the 
 firm of Duncan & White, hardware merchants, and 
 of the business house of Duncan & Martin. 
 
 He was born March 1, 1827, in Erie Co., Pa., and 
 is the son of William and Mary (Thomas) Duncan. 
 His father was of unmixed Scotch origin, his ances- 
 tors having been among the dissenters from the 
 Scottish "Kirk," who left their native land in 1619 
 to escape the persecutions of King James. They 
 encountered difficulties there which were scarcely 
 less perplexing and quite as hard to bear. From 
 the latter fact the purity of the race known as 
 Scotch-Irish was retained throughout a period of 
 exactly 100 years. In 17 19 the emigration of their 
 descendants to the United States commenced, and 
 from the settlement of Dunbarton, N. H., they 
 have scattered to all parts of this land, and every- 
 where form one of the best elements on which the 
 social, moral and religious structure of the country 
 is founded. The father of Mr. Duncan was the son 
 of a pioneer of the State of Pennsylvania, and there 
 several of their children were born, among them 
 their son William. The Thomas family, to which 
 the mother belonged, was of English extraction, and 
 were pioneers of the Dominion of Canada. Her 
 father's family went to the State of New York just 
 prior to her birth, and she was born in the Empire 
 State. 
 
 The parents removed to Crawford Co., Pa., when 
 
 1837 they came to Illinois. _They lived a year in 
 Knoxville, and in the spring of the following year 
 they made a final transfer of their affairs and inter- 
 ests to Henry County, where they arrived April 
 15th. The father became a farmer in the Township 
 of Phenix, and the children were there reared to 
 maturity. 
 
 The first event of marked importance in the life 
 of Mr. Duncan, of this sketch, was his marriage 
 to Sarah C. Browning, of Phenix, April 10, 1855. 
 Mrs. Duncan is the daughter of Joshua Browning, 
 and she is a native of Phenix Township, in Henry 
 County. Mr. Duncan continued the business in 
 which he had been reared after his marriage until 
 the spring of 1865. That was the date of his re- 
 moval to Geneseo, where he has since resided con- 
 tinuously. He at first interested himself in traffic 
 in grain and stock, and also made purchases and 
 shipments of horses. In 1870 he entered into a 
 partnership with E. M. Way, and they transacted a 
 business in the manufacture of soap and in render- 
 ing fats, under the style of Way & Duncan, which 
 was in operation until 1880 — a period of ten years. 
 At the expiration of that time Mr. Duncan bought 
 the claim of his partner, and within the same year 
 formed an association with Charles H. Martin, and 
 they have since managed their business affairs 
 jointly. In 1883 Messrs. Duncan & Martin have 
 been engaged solely in the line of rendering. In 
 some years they transact business in that avenue 
 amounting on an average to $12,000. In 1882 the 
 hardware house of Duncan & White was established, 
 and the firm have since done a prosperous business 
 in the lines of trade common to similar concerns, 
 dealing in stoves, tinware, general hardware steam- 
 fitting, metal-plate work, etc. The firm opened 
 their business April 5th of the year named. 
 
 In 1850 Mr. Duncan went to California. He set 
 out for that distant region on the 1st day of March, 
 traveling across the plains. He passed nearly three 
 years in the Golden Gate, and was engaged in min- 
 ing at various points. He returned by way of the 
 Isthmus to New York. At the time he was opera- 
 ting as a fanner the agricultural affairs of Henry 
 County were in their most primitive condition. He 
 found a market for his crops at no nearer point than 
 Chicago, and he hauled his grain there in a wagon 
 drawn by three yokes of oxen, being accustomed to 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 their son was seven years old, and in the spring of 
 
 
 !&>- 
 
^WlWi^S — ^&k 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 1 
 
 \& 
 
 **■ pass 21 days on the journey there and return. He 
 sold his wheat for 45 or 50 cents a bushel, and was 
 obliged from the small returns from his sales to 
 travel and camp in gypsy fashion. The distance he 
 
 (Oi was in the habit of traversing was 160 miles, or 320 
 miles going and coming. 
 
 Mr. Duncan is a Republican in political faith and 
 connections, and both himself and his wife are mem- 
 bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 *§fH- 
 
 
 S. Douglas, farmer and stock-raiser, re- 
 siding on section 34 of Oxford Township. 
 y> ^ and one of the large land-owners of the 
 county, is a native of Kentucky. He was 
 born in Greene County, that State, June 18, 
 1820, and is a son of Charles and Polly 
 (Smith) Douglas, natives of Virginia, where they 
 were farmers. They came into Lawrence Co., 111., 
 in 1834, where the elder Douglas bought 40 acres of 
 land, upon which he lived until his death, which oc- 
 curred in 1842. His wife survived for 40 years, 
 dying in Sangamon Co., 111., in T882. 
 
 Young Douglas came to Illinois with his parents 
 and remained with them, putting in his time at work 
 on the home farm and attending the district schools 
 a few months in a year, until he attained the age of 
 21 years. Immediately after reaching this impor- 
 tant period in the life of every young man, he moved 
 to Crawford Co., Ind., where he remained two years, 
 living on and working a rented farm. He then re- 
 turned to Illinois and located in Sangamon County, 
 where he remained until 1852; he next came into 
 Oxford Township, this county, and purchased 320 
 acres of land. Besides his property in this county, 
 he owns 400 acres in Iowa. Politically, he is a 
 Democrat, and is regarded as one of the solid and 
 representative men of Oxford Township. 
 
 Mr. Douglas was united in marriage with Mary A. 
 Bullock, who bore him one child — John. She died 
 in 1842, and for his second wife Mr. Douglas was 
 married to Anna Glennan. By this marriage he had 
 nine children, the following seven of whom are liv- 
 ing: Jane, Cornelia, Martha, Samuel, Fannie, Elvia 
 and Susan. In 1866, Mr. Douglas was left a widower, 
 by the death of Mrs. Douglas. He subsequently 
 married Margaret C. Warner. 
 
 . 000 
 
 eonard C. Campbell, City Clerk of Geneseo 
 and Justice of the Peace, has been a resi- 
 dent of the county since i860. He was 
 born Oct. 6, 1816, in Malone, Franklin Co. 
 N. Y. His father, the Hon. James Campbell, 
 was a native of Bellows Falls, Vt., being born 
 June 3, 1784, and died when within four months of 
 his 1 ooth birthday. He was of Scotch lineage, and 
 ireached distinction in military life and as an official 
 jin. prominent positions. He was an officer in the 
 jWar of 181 2, and served through the entire course 
 of that contest, becoming in his later life a pensioner 
 on account of the services he rendered. He was for- 
 a considerable number of years the Sheriff of Frank- 
 lin County, and was afterwards made Judge. He was 
 a prominent member of the New York Legislature in 
 the session of the winter of 1828-9. Politically, he 
 was a Whig until the days of Van Buren, and after 
 that period he was in sympathy with the Demo- 
 cratic element. In his habits he was a man of re- 
 markable simplicity, and his vigor was preserved 
 nearly to the close of his long life. He married 
 Maria Chapman, who was of Scotch-Irish origin. 
 
 Mr. CampbelJ was educated in his native county, 
 and one of his school-mates was the man who after- 
 ward became the Vice-President of the United 
 States, — Wm. A. Wheeler. On entering business 
 life he engaged in mercantile pursuits at Ogdensburg, 
 N. Y.,and operated there from 183410 1855. While 
 there he was married, June 20, 1841, to Sarah, 
 daughter of Isaac and Sally Wright. She was born 
 in Ogdensburg, Feb. 19, 18:9. Mr. and Mrs. Camp- 
 bell had two children, born in the city where the 
 birth of the mother occurred. Leonard W. is the 
 general traveling freight agent of the Chicago, Mil- 
 waukee & St. Paul Railroad; he married Frank E.. 
 Adams, and is a resident of Chicago ; James C. is in 
 the employment of the Northern Pacific Railroad. 
 
 In 1855 Mr. Campbell removed to Chicago, where 
 he was interested in the transportation and commis- 
 sion business about five years. In April, i860, he 
 came to Geneseo, in the interests of the Chicago 
 & Rock Island Railroad, and he acted in the capa- 
 city of agent for that corporation. He also operated 
 as a purchaser and shipper of grain, and continued 
 
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 E3 
 
 
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 $@&3 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 1; 
 
 
 
 <i 
 
 * St 
 
 his connection with both lines of business six years. 
 Meanwhile, the affairs at the jrailroad office at Joliet 
 had fallen into a perplexing tangle through the dis- 
 honest management of an agent, and he was sent 
 there as an adjuster and remained until he had 
 placed everything in good order. His next relation 
 was with the Chicago Stock-Yards as cashier and 
 disbursing agent during their construction ; and while 
 connected with the enterprise over a million dollars 
 passed through his hands. He was occupied there 
 about one year, and returned to Geneseo, where he 
 again operated as a dealer in grain. In the begin- 
 ning of his connection with politics Mr. Campbell 
 was what was then termed a " Silver-Grey Whig," 
 but through the evolutions of che political questions 
 from which the Republican party was evolved he be- 
 came an adherent of the new organization, amd has 
 since continued its devoted and constant ally. 
 
 In 1867 he was elected Police Magistrate at Gene- 
 seo, a position to which he was again elected until 
 he had discharged its duties, — an aggregate of nine 
 years. Since that time he has held the position of 
 Justice of the Peace nine years. In 1884 he was 
 elected City Clerk, and is the present incumbent. 
 
 One daughter was born after the removal of the 
 family to the West. She is the wife of George New- 
 land, a farmer of Osco Township. Mrs. Campbell is 
 a communicant in the Episcopal Church. 
 
 -J3- 
 
 -£$- 
 
 *r. J. H. Sale, physician and surgeon, resi- 
 & . dent at Cleveland, in Hanna Township, 
 of whom a portrait appears on the opposite 
 page, was born April 10, 1838, in La Porte, 
 Ind. He is the second son of John F. and 
 Jane G. (Sanford) Sale. His father was 
 born in Xenia, Greene Co., Ohio, June 14, 1814, and 
 was the son of John Sale, a preacher in the Method- 
 ist Church. The latter went to Ohio in the year 
 1803, and was one of the pioneers of the ministry in 
 the State. He organized and established the first 
 local body of the denomination to which he belonged 
 that was instituted in the city of Cincinnati. He 
 died at the house of a friend while he was still in 
 that place on the errand which he went there to ac- 
 complish. His death occurred in 1827. 
 
 The family of the mother of Dr. Sale were origin- 
 
 ally from Baltimore, Md. Hector Sanford, his grand- 
 father, was a pioneer of Chillicothe, in Ross Co., 
 Ohio, and he was also a Methodist preacher, oper- 
 ating in the method known in those days as " circuit- 
 riding." The scattered condition of the Methodist 
 societies, which sometimes consisted only of the 
 members of a single family, necessitated a traveling 
 minister, and to this state of affairs is due the prom- 
 inence of some of the most worthy characters in the 
 pioneer history of the country. Mr. Sanford retired 
 from the ministry some years before his death and 
 became interested in secular matters. He built a 
 mill at Chillicothe for the manufacture of cotton, and 
 was there engaged in business during the remainder 
 of his life. The parents of Dr. Sale were married in 
 Ohio, and went afterwards to La Porte, Ind. They 
 went in 1840 to Rock Co., Wis., and the father made 
 a purchase of land in Union Township. A portion 
 of the tract is now included in Evansville. 
 
 There the Doctor grew to manhood, and was a 
 pupil in the pioneer log school-house, which was 
 constructed in the common way with a puncheon 
 floor. The abode of the family was built in a similar 
 manner. The structure became historic from the 
 fact that in it was held the first meeting of the 
 Methodist society of Evansville, and it was also the 
 scene of the organization of that body. 
 
 The education of Dr. Sale was materially im 
 proved by several terms' attendance at the celebrated 
 seminary at Evansville, but his plans were tempor- 
 arily interrupted by the, advent of the struggle be- 
 tween the two sections of the United States, which 
 for a time seemed to threaten the destruction of all 
 that constituted the basis of all prosperity in the 
 land. 
 
 The temperament of Dr. Sale, the heritage of two 
 races of pioneers, could poorly brook the danger to 
 that which the generation of his ancestors had strug- 
 gled and suffered to create, and within the first year 
 of the war he entered the army. He enlisted Sept. 
 13, 1 86 1, in Co. H, r3th Wis. Vol. Inf. Before the 
 regiment went to the field he was transferred to the 
 band, and was in that connection as long as he re- 
 mained in the 13th regiment. He was discharged 
 Aug. 18, 1862, by special order of the War Depart- 
 ment, which terminated the duties of all regimental 
 bands. However, just previous to the promulgation 
 of the order, he was seized with illness, returned 
 home and was confined to his bed ir weeks; and 
 
 I 
 
 
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 -^&k — 6V<&H H&ll Hf >v r c) j ^hsr 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 after his recovery, Dec. 18, 1862, he enlisted in the 
 organization known as the Iron Brigade Band, and 
 remained a member of it as long as the war con- 
 tinued. He was discharged June 12, 1865, and 
 again returned to Evansville. 
 
 In August following, he came to Dayton, and 
 commenced the study of medicine with his brother, 
 Dr. R. R. Sale. After reading thoroughly under his 
 preceptorship, he attended lectures at Rush Medical 
 College in Chicago, and on leaving college he com- 
 menced his practice with his brother at Dayton. 
 Their joint operations continued until 187 1, at which 
 date the Doctor came to Cleveland. He has estab- 
 lished a popular and prosperous business in his pro- 
 fession, and is also conducting a drug-store, which 
 he established in r88o. In 1878 he was appointed 
 Postmaster, and has discharged the duties of the 
 position ever since. 
 
 Dr. Sale was married to Miss A. Eliza Fiedler, 
 Dec. 22, 187 1. She is a native of Baltimore, Fair- 
 field Co., Ohio, and is the daughter of Casper and 
 Sarah (Miles) Fiedler. Her father died in Rock 
 Island, in February, 1854. Her mother is still liv- 
 ing, at Peabody, Kan. They were among the pio- 
 neers of the county of Rock Island. The children 
 that have been added to the household of Dr. and 
 Mrs. Sale are named Freddie Fletcher and Francis 
 Joseph. The former was born May 12, 1873, and 
 the latter June ir, 1875. The father of Mrs. Sale 
 was a native of Germany. Her was born in Newark, 
 Licking Co., Ohio. Dr. Sale's father died Feb. 1, 
 1845, and his mother is still a resident of Evansville, 
 Wis. 
 
 
 ^aniel Henney, farmer, section i6,Geneseo 
 Township, has a farm of 150 acres in the 
 township in which he is a resident, and is 
 JvVr, also the owner of 263 acres in the township 
 of Phenix. He was born in Wayne Co., Ohio, 
 May 17, 1832, and is the son of Peter and Chris- 
 tina (Strayer) Henney, of whom a personal account 
 is given on another page. The father removed his 
 family to Henry County in the spring of 1853. Mr. 
 Henney was then 2 1 and he located with his parents 
 in the township of Phenix. He became himself the 
 head of a family in the following year, and then be- 
 gan actual contact with the question of making his 
 
 way in the world. When he was 22 his father gave 
 him every fourth bushel of the crop which he had 
 helped to raise, for his share, and with this, and a 
 colt of which he was the owner, he and his wife com- 
 menced their hand-to-hand contest with fate and 
 fortune. He had besides, as capital, a sound con- 
 stitution, and habits of frugality and industry. He 
 purchased 80 acres of land at $15 per acre, upon 
 which he could make only a small payment. The 
 method of operation pursued by Mr. Henney is of 
 great interest, and an account of it is n6t only perti- 
 nent to the purpose of these records, but may serve 
 to aid another to take heart when necessity seems 
 overpowering, and discouragement is likely to ob- 
 struct effort. In the first place he had no team, and 
 was without the means to purchase that most needed 
 auxiliary to a successful struggle with " Nature's 
 forces ;" but Mrs. Henney was the owner of an old 
 mare, with which her husband contrived to plow the 
 corn which he had planted. He had done his break- 
 ing with ox teams, which he had hired for the pur- 
 pose at a dollar an acre. While doing this, he was 
 in the habit of getting to the field to break prairie at 
 the hour of three in the morning, and would plow 
 until about six, when he " turned out " for breakfast. 
 At seven, he and the oxen resumed their labors, and, 
 with the exception of a short nooning, the work was 
 kept up until five o'clock in the afternoon. After 
 supper'he resumed work and did not quit until about 
 ten in the evening. This was the program through 
 the season, and at the end of the season for plowing 
 corn he had about 65 acres under tillage. 
 
 He continued to buy land, for which he went in 
 debt, until he was the proprietor of 263 acres. His 
 first crop of wheat comprised 1,400 bushels, and he 
 realized 1,700 bushels from the second, which he 
 harvested on his farm. When he made the last pay- 
 ment on his land, he sold wheat at 35 cents an acre 
 and corn at eight cents. He offered 1,000 bushels 
 of corn for a wagon. These statements are given as 
 affording a complete picture of the actual state of 
 affairs at the period referred to, from which it will be 
 an easy matter to gain an idea of the quantity and 
 quality of the perseverance and industry required to 
 make not only existence possible, but to accomplish 
 what was actually done — the achievement of success 
 in making progress in the acquirement of this world's 
 goods. In the case of Mr. Henney, release from 
 debt, the acquisition of farm-fixtures of a superior 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 ■^ y o/ &nn®pn<»^§ — »€^ 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 -« §»§£% 
 
 t 
 
 S3 
 
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 (i) 
 
 character, and a position among the leading farmers 
 in the county are the results of his labors and the 
 exercise of good judgment. Subsequently, Mr. Hen- 
 ney purchased 150 acres of land in the township of 
 Geneseo, and he removed from the place in Phenix 
 Township to the beautiful residence now occupied 
 by his family in the vicinity of the city of Geneseo, 
 and in which they took possession in January, 1875. 
 
 The marriage of Daniel Henney and Catherine 
 Butzer took place Dec. 28, 1854. She was born in 
 Germany, and is the daughter of George F. and 
 Louise (Baltz) Butzer. She was but two years old 
 when her parents removed from the " continent " to 
 the United States. She has borne five children : 
 Melvina M. is the widow of J. H. Drekmer; Peter 
 A. married Catherine West, and they live in Phenix 
 Township, where he is a farmer; Elma M. is mar- 
 ried to Edward Wilson, a farmer in the State of 
 Iowa; Grant A. married Jane Rapp, and is a citizen 
 of Geneseo; Alice M. lives with her parents. The 
 first-born child — George Albert — was killed when 17 
 by the kick of a horse. He was a young man of ex- 
 cellent character and was at the threshold of a prom- 
 ising- manhood. 
 
 Mr. Henney is an adherent of the Republican 
 party in political faith and acts. He has been con- 
 spicuous in his interest in educational matters, and 
 has been the incumbent of the various school offices. 
 He has also served in other local positions. He and 
 Mrs. Henney are members of the Evangelical Asso- 
 ciation. 
 
 F. Bell, a member of the firm of Bell, 
 Derby & Lagergren, merchants of Wood- 
 hull, was born in New Albany, Ind., Nov. 
 23, 1844. His parents were John and Sarah 
 C \ (Durnell) Bell, natives respectively of Eng- 
 land and Tennessee. He remained at home 
 until he attained the age of legal majority, receiving 
 1 a common-school education. In 1864 he came to 
 Illinois, and became a clerk and salesman in a gen- 
 ' eral store for his brother, at Swedona, Mercer Co., 
 1 111., remaining there two years. He then engaged 
 ,in mercantile business for himself in Blairstown, 
 Iowa. Seven years afterward he sold out his inter- 
 ests there, and in March, 1874, he came to Wood- 
 
 hull and clerked for a brother, J. D. Bell, four years; 
 then, in company with J. F. Derby and A. Lager- 
 gren, he bought out his brother, and the firm above 
 mentioned conducted the business until the death 
 of A. Lagergren, which occurred July 13, 1885. 
 The business then passed into the hands of Bell & 
 Derby. Besides his residence in Woodhull, Mr. 
 Bell is the owner of 160 acres of land in Kansas. 
 He is a Republican in his political views, and has 
 held the office of Town Councilman. He is one of 
 the leading business men of Woodhull and a repre- 
 sentative man of this cpunty. 
 
 He was married Nov. 9, 187 1, to Miss Eunice E. 
 Mayhew, a native of Iowa. Their two children are 
 Fred H., born Aug. 4, 1876, and Isola, born Dec. 22, 
 i88r. 
 
 -°—$- 
 
 -6>-«- 
 
 JC&.-.-gT. 
 
 a alvin S. Graves, druggist at Geneseo, was 
 born June 28, 1824, in Herkimer Co., N. 
 Y., and is the son of Ora and Polly (Fen- 
 r) Graves. ' All his immediate ancestors in 
 both lines of descent were natives of the State 
 of New York. His paternal grandfather was 
 a soldier of the Revolution and served through the 
 entire course of the struggle.. He was married while 
 it was in^ progress. 
 
 The parents of Mr. Graves removed to Penfield, 
 Monroe Co., N. Y., when he was but two "years of 
 age. They remained there until he was seven, when 
 they made another transfer of their home to Chau- 
 tauqua -County, in the same State. He there passed 
 the remaining years of his minority, and was married 
 in May, 1845,10 Miss Martha Kingsley. They have 
 a daughter and a son. Grace is the wife of J. -M. 
 Sweeney, of whom an account is given elsewhere in 
 this work ; Emery C. is the present City Attorney of 
 Geneseo. Mrs. Graves was born in Ellington, Chau- 
 tauqua Co., N. Y., and is the daughter of Orrin 
 Kingsley. 
 
 In April, 1853, Mr. Graves came to Illinois, and 
 to Henry County in November of the same year. He 
 took possession of a farm in Yorktown and was in- 
 terested in agriculture until 1866, when he sold out 
 his farming relations and removed to Geneseo. He 
 passed his time in various business connections until 
 
 v|2 
 
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 t 
 
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 I' 
 
 &®fa- 
 
 -a^Ki—^T^nn^niii^A^ — ^^ "** 
 
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 2) 
 
 ■eV£l»ll!If>^ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 1874, when he embarked in the business he has 
 since prosecuted. 
 
 In the days when he commenced his interest in 
 and connection with political issues, he was a Whig; 
 but on the formation of the Republican party he fell 
 into line with its adherents and has honored his col- 
 ors with consistency. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Graves are members of the Congre- 
 gational Church. 
 
 •teae7@i@» 
 
 $r~ >*^a/zf3a»* 
 
 1 illiam C. Stickney, engaged as a farmer 
 in Clover Township, where he resides on 
 section 27, was born Sept. 6, 1846, in 
 Cambridgeport, Mass. His parents were 
 Henry and Mary A. (Wood) Stickney, na- 
 tives respectively of Vermont and New Hamp- 
 shire, and settled with their family — Henry, Jr., 
 Alfred and William C. — in April, T853, on the place 
 now occupied by William C, whose father was acci- 
 dentally killed Nov. 16, 1866. His mother still 
 survives. 
 
 The subject of this sketch received a common- 
 school education in his early boyhood, and on the 
 13th day of April, 1870, was married to Miss Ida A. 
 Clark, a native of Connecticut. Of their union have 
 been born two children, viz. : William W. and M. 
 Grace. Mr. Stickney is one of the prosperous and 
 energetic men of Henry County, owning a farm of 
 260 acres, which is all improved and under excel- 
 lent cultivation. He is also a member of the firm 
 of Howell, Woods & Co., bankers, at Woodhull. 
 
 ohn McDermott. One of the energetic, 
 industrious and prosperous men of Oxford 
 Township, is Mr. John McDermott. He 
 is engaged in farming on section 26, and was 
 born in Ireland in 1831. Having enjoyed the 
 educational advantages of the schools of that 
 early day, besides assisting his parents in the farm 
 duties, in the year 1853 he emigrated to America, 
 and in New York city located and worked for some 
 months. From there he went into Monroe County, 
 same State, and engaged working there for about 
 
 two years, when he rented a farm and began work 
 for himself. He followed the latter for about a year ; 
 and, thinking that he could ameliorate his condition 
 by operating further West, he finally concluded to 
 try, which he did by coming into Illinois, where he 
 located in Oxford Township, and worked a year by 
 the month. In the year 1864 he made a purchase 
 of a team, then rented the land he is now residing 
 upon, being 80 acres, and remained as a renter of 
 the same for about six years. Buying the place at 
 the expiration of that time, he has since added to it, 
 until he now owns 320 acres in this township, and 
 \\d acres in Knox County. On his farm in Henry 
 County he carries on general farming and stock- 
 raising, doing a successful and constantly increasing 
 business. The land he has under excellent cultiva- 
 tion and improvement, which is all attributable to 
 his own hard labor and the assistance of his good 
 helpmeet. 
 
 In 1853 Mr. McDermott was married to Miss 
 Mary A. Paul, also a native of Ireland, and they «; 
 have become the parents of four children, — Peter, /» 
 Mary A., Ellen and John ; the eldest married Miss « 
 Nora Moran ; Mary A. has become the wife of John #fc 
 Murphy, and John is deceased. = 
 
 In political opinions Mr. McDermott affiliates 
 with the Democratic party, and, with his wife, be 
 longs to the Catholic Church of Woodhull. He is 
 considered one of the solid and representative men 
 of Henry County. 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 :SK©>@i*§ 
 
 *&<•>- 
 
 klias Curtiss Gilbert, a farmer on section 31, 
 Geneseo Township, was born in the town 
 of Richmond, Ontario Co., N. Y., Jan. 27, 
 1836. His father, Horace Gilbert, was the son 
 of Deacon Elias Gilbert, who settled in Rich- 
 mond, in Ontario County, in 1803. The latter 
 was a farmer, a tanner and a shoemaker. He made 
 each of his business interests successful, and was a 
 resident on his farm for a period of 50 years. About fp) 
 1853, he went to Iowa and located at Gilbertstown, 
 situated three miles from Davenport. He died « 
 there at the age of 95 years, and was, at the time of 
 his death, the senior member of the Order of Ma- 
 sonry in the United States. Horace Gilbert was 
 born in Richmond, in March, 1802, and was all his J 
 

 
 (Si 
 
 « SB 
 
 I 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 -»# 
 
 §*i^ 
 
 life a farmer. In his youth he connected himself in 
 membership with the Congregational Church, and 
 was for many years a Deacon. He married Ann E. 
 Carpenter. He died on the homestead in Rich- 
 mond, May 4, 1862. His widow still survives and 
 resides with her daughter in the State of New York. 
 
 Mr. Gilbert was brought up on the homestead of 
 the Gilbert family in Richmond, and was sent in his 
 boyhood to the common schools. He afterwards 
 went to the Genesee Wesleyan Collegiate Institute 
 at Lima, Livingston Co., N. Y., one year. He en- 
 gaged in teaching in the winter seasons and worked 
 on the farm alternately until 1857, when he started 
 for the West. He made his first settlement on the 
 farm which he now owns, and on which he has been 
 a continuous resident, in Henry County. At the 
 time of his purchase of the place, a few acres had 
 been broken and a small frame house built. The 
 entire place, containing 240 acres, is in a high state 
 of cultivation and is supplied with excellent frame 
 buildings. Mr. Gilbert has planted a variety of all 
 kinds of trees common to the locality. He is the 
 owner of valuable live stock, including horses, cattle 
 and swine: also makes a specialty of raising full- 
 blood Merino sheep, from the celebrated flocks of 
 Bissel; also the flock of Atwood, of Vermont. 
 
 He was married Feb. 23, 1857, to Florinda Beach, 
 and they have had six children. Four are living, 
 who are named Elon B., Horace S., Anna E. and 
 Laura C. The oldest son married Cora M. Thomas 
 and is a resident of Geneseo. Horace married Can- 
 dace Powell, and is a citizen of the same place. A 
 pair of twin daughters died at the age of six months. 
 They were named Mory and Mary. Mrs. Gilbert 
 was born in Bristol, Ontario Co., N. Y. and is the 
 daughter of Stephen and Sally (Clark) Beach. 
 
 =J ^ir^ — ^ 
 
 F. Derby, of the firm of Bell, Derby & 
 Lagergren, merchants, of VVoodhull, was 
 born in Cambridge, Henry Co., 111., Jan. 
 13, 1854. His parents were Benjamin and 
 Lydia J. (Pinckney) Derby, who were natives 
 of the State of New York, and came to the 
 Prairie State in pioneer times, settling at Cambridge, 
 this county. Mr. J. F. Derby, our subject, received 
 a fair education, having attended Hedding College, 
 at Abingdon, 111., for three years. In 1867 he com- 
 
 menced to make his home with J. D. Bell, his 
 brother-in-law, at Woodhull, and remained with him 
 until he was of age; then entered his employ as a 
 clerk, which position he filled until 1878, when he 
 became a partner in the business and the firm 
 named Bell, Derby & Lagergren. This relation he 
 now sustains. He is one of the leading business 
 men of Woodhull, a representative man of Henry 
 County, and is prosperous in his business. He 
 owns a half section of land in Kansas, besides his 
 residence here. He is a member of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church, one of the Village Trustees, and 
 in politics is a Republican. 
 
 Mr. Derby and Miss F. E. Black, a native of In- 
 diana, were joined in matrimony Sept. 2, 1877, and 
 they have two children, — Frances L., born Nov. 7, 
 1878, and Ernest F., born Nov. 25, 1880. 
 
 V© 
 
 -S3 
 
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 &~ 
 
 i,romwell K. Bartlett, deceased, was a 
 member of the Geneseo colony who set- 
 H?» u tied in Henry County in 1836. The col- 
 $ fo ony was organized in Western New York and 
 ^* consisted of seven members. Mr. Bartlett, 
 with Jghn C. Ward and Roderick R. Stewart, 
 came to Henry County on behalf of the association 
 to select land. They accomplished the duty and 
 secured that now included in the site of the city of 
 Geneseo. They returned to New York, and on 
 making their report the members of the organiza- 
 tion formed a resolution to come to Illinois the same 
 fall ; and five families did so. The party set out in 
 their own wagons, and, traveling across Canada, 
 Southern Michigan and Northern Indiana, arrived, 
 after a journey of seven weeks, at their destination. 
 The incidents of the route were such as might be 
 expected at that season of the year, over a country 
 which was itself in the earliest days of settlement, 
 and when the thoroughfares were in the same con- 
 dition. 
 
 Mr. Bartlett was the builder of the first hou%e that 
 was erected on the site where Geneseo now stands. 
 It was constructed of logs, and stood a little north 
 and east of the brewery, and across the creek. He 
 also built a saw-mill and a grist-mill. The date of 
 the arrival of the party, of which he and his family 
 were a part, was Nov. 4, 1836. 
 
 9 
 
 ty 
 
 &<m<®im*<s — ^^^ 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
 
 (!) 
 
 V 
 
 Mr. Bartlett was born in Ames, Montgomery Co., 
 N. Y., Nov. 29, 1793. He was a farmer, and was 
 also a tanner and currier. 
 
 He was married Sept. 28, 1 817, to Miss Catherine 
 Hess. The name of her father was George Hess, 
 and she was born in the township of Rush, in Mont- 
 gomery Co., N. Y., July 14, 1799. She bore nine 
 children, — four sons and five daughters : The first- 
 born was a son and died in childhood, as did Nor- 
 man, the second] in order' "of birth; William was 
 drowned in the Fraser River, in British America; 
 Hiram lives in Iowa; George died in 1854, in Gen- 
 eseo; Mary E. is the wife of Hiram J. Cady, of 
 Geneseo; Amanda married C. M. Taylor, of Nevada; 
 Lucinda was the wife of William Austin, of Edford 
 Township : she died in 1868 ; Julia married Silas 
 M. Cady, of Brooklyn, Iowa; Martha A. is Mrs. L. 
 Hicks, of Janesville, Cal. 
 
 Mr. Bartlett passed his life in the occupations of 
 of a miller and farmer. He operated in both these 
 lines of business from the date of his removal to 
 Henry County, and in 1837 and 1838 he was the 
 owner of an extensive dairy for that period, as it 
 comprised 30 cows. The herd was bought in Knox 
 County, and the milk was utilized in the manufac- 
 ture of butter and cheese. The former sold readily 
 at 38^ cents per pound, and the latter at 25 cents. 
 Mr. Bartlett died at Palestine, 111., March 4, 1844. 
 His widow still survives him, and for ten years has 
 been a member of the family of Mrs. Cady, at Gen- 
 eseo. She is 86 years of age. 
 
 
 eorge Brown, merchant in the township of 
 Colona, is the present Treasurer of the 
 ? K township, in which he has been a resident 
 since 1856. He was born in Durham, Eng- 
 land, and is the son of George and Ann 
 (Teasdale) Brown, who were both natives of 
 the shire of Durham, in the same country. He was 
 sent in his earliest childhood to the public schools, 
 and at the age of nine years was put to work in the 
 mines. Those who have investigated the manner of 
 conducting the English collieries can understand 
 what is required of the children who perform a 
 species of labor which cannot be done by those who 
 have attained to the size of adults. But it is, per- 
 
 haps, a wise regulation, as it enables the heads of 
 families to support their children in much greater 
 comfort than would otherwise be possible. The place 
 in which Mr. Brown worked necessitated his rising at 
 four o'clock in the morning, and he passed 12 hours 
 daily in a mine which was hundreds of feet below 
 the surface of the earth. With the exception of about 
 r8 months, which he passed at school, Mr. Brown 
 worked in the colliery until he was 2r years of age. 
 He had meanwhile obtained a fair education in the 
 evening schools, which were established for the bene- 
 fit of the children who were obliged to pass their 
 days in labor. He had a natural liking for books, 
 and he availed himself of the privilege the schools 
 afforded to indulge his tastes. 
 
 On attaining his majority he commenced the full 
 work of a miner, and continued the pursuit as a voca- 
 tion until 1854. In that year he left his native 
 land to test the promise of the New World. He came 
 to America in a sail vessel and landed at the port of 
 New York after a voyage of six weeks. He went to 
 Johnstown, Penn., and there sought employment at 
 the business to which he had been trained in his na- 
 tive land. He operated as a miner there for the 
 space of six weeks, and then went thence to West 
 Columbia, on the Ohio River, in West Virginia. He 
 passed six months in the mines at that place, and in 
 August, 1855, he made his way to Coaltown,in Rock 
 Island County. He was occupied in mining there a 
 year and came to Henry County. He again engaged 
 in mining at Minersville, in the township of Colona, 
 and was engaged in that business about six months. 
 At the end of that time he went to the city of Pitts- 
 burg, Pa. ; entered the mines at that place and soon 
 afterward sustained severe injuries from being burned 
 while at work in them. He was disabled until the 
 month of November, in the same year, and as soon 
 as he had sufficiently recovered he returned to Coal- 
 town, whither he had come in 1854. He there re- 
 sumed mining and operated until 1858, when he 
 came again to Minersville, and was employed in the 
 capacity of a miner three and a half years. At that 
 time he obtained the position of check weighman and 
 officiated therein three years. In 1865 he formed a 
 partnership with a man named Jacob Smith, and 
 opened a store for the sale of general merchandise in 
 Colona. They conducted their business jointly n 
 years, and since their dissolution in 1876 Mr. Brown 
 built a store and commenced in business himself, 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 with gratifying results. His stock of merchandise in- 
 cludes all lines of goods necessary to supply the de- 
 mands on a country store. 
 
 Mr. Brown has been elected to fill various official 
 positions in the local affairs of the township, among 
 which are those ,of Justice of the Peace and Clerk. 
 
 His marriage to Margaret Bell took place Sept. 20, 
 187 1. She was born in Durham, England, and died 
 at her home in Co'ona, July 3, 1881. She left no 
 children. An adopted daughter married John Allen, 
 and they live at Angus, Boone Co., Iowa. 
 
 ustaf Lindquist, who is engaged i»> farm- 
 ing upon section n, Lynn Township, is an 
 illustration of what many men of his nativ- 
 ity have accomplished in a few short years in 
 this country, and especially in Henry County, 
 which contains a large and respectable Swede 
 element. Mr. Lindquist was born in Kalmar Lan, 
 Sweden, Oct. 11,1832. His father, Jonas P. Jonson, 
 was a farmer in the same section of Sweden, and 
 there met and married Christina Johanson, who was 
 also born in Kalmar Lan. The elder Jonson was an 
 active, hard-working man, and died in his native land 
 in 1876, at about the age of 76 years. His widow, 
 now 81 years of age, lives in Sweden with one of her 
 children. Accompanying Gustaf to this country was 
 a sister, Louisa, and the two located in Jamestown, 
 N. Y., where his sister remained for about 14 years, 
 when she was married and with her husband moved 
 to Minnesota. His brother, Charles J., came to the 
 land of freedom in i860 ; and, ere he had been under 
 the flag of the stars and stripes a year, a herculean 
 effort was made by rebel hands to trail it in the dust. 
 The love for his adopted country so early enkindled 
 in his breast prompted him to go to its defense. 
 While at Vicksburg he died from exposure, as many 
 of the brave boys in blue also did. 
 
 In 1854, our subject came to Andover, this county, 
 where he engaged as a general laborer. On his ar- 
 rival here he had but $1 in his pocket. In 1857, he 
 embarked in a farming enterprise for himstlf. He 
 rented a farm, but owing to the bad crop he was left 
 in a worse condition financially than when he first 
 began. He was not, however, to be baffled, or to 
 abandon agricultural pursuits. He secured 20 acres 
 
 of wild land, and began its improvement, determin- 
 ing to make a home for himself. When one looks 
 upon the well improved and cultivated farm where 
 he now lives, the story of his success is told. 
 
 About the time he began farming for himself, he 
 and Miss Caroline Morse determined to unite their 
 fortunes and fight the battle of life together. This 
 union was consummated Dec. 28, 1857. The wife 
 was born July 8, 1840, in Sweden, and was brought 
 to America by her mother, who settled in the city of 
 Chicago, where the mother shortly afterward died. 
 Her father, who was a soldier, did not come across 
 the Atlantic to America until the following year. 
 He died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. L., in 
 1870, aged 57 years. After the death of her mother, 
 Mrs. L. came further West and lived with a stranger 
 until her father came, with whom she lived until her 
 marriage. The record of the children, who number 
 six, that have been born to Mr. and Mrs. L., is as 
 follows: Thomas T.,^born Sept. 23, 1867 ; Edward, 
 Feb. 23, 1870; Amanda, June 23, 1873, and three 
 who are dead. The three former are living at home 
 and attending the district school. The family are 
 connected with the Lutheran Church. Politically, 
 Mr. L. is a Republican, and has for many years 
 served as School Director. 
 
 ohn Wight, a citizen of Cambridge, has been 
 a resident of Henry County since 1854, a 
 * period of over 30 years. He was born 
 July 14, 1809, near Montreal, Canada, of 
 American parentage, they being natives of 
 Massachusetts, is the son of William W. and 
 Polly (Griswold) Wight. They were the parents of 
 nine children, and came to Henry County to spend 
 the closing years of their lives. Both are now de- 
 ceased. Mr. Wight was brought up and educated 
 in Ohio. He acquired a knowledge of the business 
 of carpenter and millwright in Lake County, in that 
 State, and followed it there 18 years, or from 1836 
 to 1854. 
 
 He was married March 1, 1832, in Lake County, 
 to Sarah A. Ballard, and they had five children — 
 William K., Lucien T., Charles Day (deceased) and 
 Reuben E. The mother died Feb. 5, 1875, in Cam- 
 bridge. The second marriage of Mr. Wight, to Mrs. 
 
 
 
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HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 -4*^ 
 
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 SN 
 
 
 Nancy E. (Ballard) Stickney, took place in Mus- 
 kegon Co., Mich. She had seven children by her 
 husband. 
 
 Mr. Wight reached Cambridge with his family 
 April ir, 1854. He spent the season ensuing in 
 breaking prairie, and then turned his attention to the 
 business in which he spent ij2 years, and which he 
 prosecuted with success. In the course of the time 
 named he moved 1,033 buildings and raised 147 
 others. 
 
 In early life Mr. Wight was actively interested in 
 political affairs. On becoming a voter he adopted 
 the principles of the Whig party. Succeeding events, 
 including the agitation of the slavery question, made 
 him an adherent of the Free-Soil element, and since 
 the organization of the Republican party he has been 
 its unswerving adherent. He has been a life-long 
 abstainer from the use of intoxicants, and has been 
 consistent in his advocacy of temperance principles. 
 Although he is 76 years of age, he is in firm, sound 
 health, and able to work if necessity required. He 
 reads without the aid of glasses. 
 
 He has spent three winters in Natchez, Miss., and 
 New Orleans, La., to avoid a pulmonary difficulty 
 which threatened. Mrs. Wight is a member of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 -~3- 
 
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 acob W. Winana, general farmer of An- 
 dover Township, residing on section 13, 
 was born in Union Co., N. J., July 16, 1857 . 
 His father, Nathan Winans, was the grandson 
 of one of three brothers who came to America 
 from Holland prior to the American Revolu- 
 tion. His grandfather, Aaron, as well as his own 
 father, was a farmer. Mr. Winans' parents are still 
 residents of New Jersey, in Union County. 
 
 Mr. Winans, the youngest of a family of seven 
 children, was brought up and educated in his native 
 State, residing at home until about 1881, when he 
 came to this State, and commenced working for his 
 uncle, E. M. Crane After his marriage, in 1884, 
 he purchased 127 acres of land on section 13, An- 
 dover Township, where he is now resident. He is a 
 breeder of thoroughbred cattle, making a specialty of 
 . Herefords. The bull is registered and called " Peace 
 
 Maker." Mr. Winans is a Republican in political 
 views, and both himself and wife are members of the 
 Presbyterian Church. 
 
 Feb. T3, 1884, is the date of Mr. Winans' marriage 
 to Sally M. Williamson (see sketch of R. William- 
 son). Mrs. W. was born in Mercer Co., N. J., Dec. 
 1, 1856, and was five months old when her parents 
 came to this county, settling in Munson Township, 
 where she was reared and educated in the public 
 schools. 
 
 rank G. Welton, County Clerk of Henry 
 County (1885), resident at Cambridge, 
 was born April 14, 1843, near Waterbury, 
 New Haven Co., Conn. His earliest progen- 
 itors in America were John and Mary (Upson) 
 Welton, who emigrated hither from England 
 about the year r667- Twelve years later, in 1679, 
 they settled in Waterbury. Mr. Welton belongs to 
 the seventh generation of their descendants, and the 
 following is the line of his succession : Richard, 
 Eliakim, Richard (2d), Noah, Miles and Albert. 
 Albert married Susan E. Bidwell and their children 
 were Frank G, Mary E., George W. and Clarence 
 W. In early life Mr. Albert Welton acquired a 
 knowledge of wood-turning and passed many years 
 in the pursuit of that vocation. He became a citi- 
 zen of Cambridge in r85r, and was principally en- 
 gaged in farming until 1879, when he removed to 
 Lancaster Co., Neb. 
 
 Frank G. Welton was eight years of age when his 
 parents removed to Illinois, and he has been since 
 1 85 1 a resident of the place where he is now dis- 
 charging the duties pertaining to the position of a 
 prominent county official. Two months after he 
 reached the age of 18 years, he entered the military 
 service of his cauntry, enlisting in July, 186 1, in Co. 
 B, 42d 111. Vol. Inf. His regiment was first com- 
 manded by Col. Wm. A. Webb, and was attached to 
 the Western Army. After the evacuation of Colum- 
 bus, Ky., the " 42d " was assigned to service con- 
 nected with the United States Squadron under the 
 command of Commodore Foote, and participated in 
 the siege of Island No. 10. After the capture of 
 that rebel stronghold, the regiment again became an 
 auxiliary of the army, in front of Corinth. Mr. Wei- 
 
 '1111$ \9 > $&*■ 
 
 
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 K 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 V 
 
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 ton was a participant in the campaign under Sher- 
 man until the battle of New Hope Church, Ga., on 
 May 29, 1864, m which he received five bullet 
 wounds. One struck the knee of his right leg, and 
 he afterwards underwent amputation. Jan. 1, 1865, 
 he was made Sergeant, and March 4 of the same 
 year he was honorably discharged. 
 
 He returned to Cambridge and obtained employ- 
 ment for a time in a drug-store. In 1868, he es- 
 tablished the same business in his own interest, at 
 Swedona, Mercer Co., 111. He was obliged to bring 
 his business to a close on account of the difficulties 
 attendant upon the loss of his leg, and he returned 
 to Cambiidge. He obtained a situation in the office 
 of the Circuit Clerk, which position he held a little 
 over one year. In November, 1 869, he was elected 
 County Clerk of Henry County as a Republican, and 
 has been his own successor at every recurring elec- 
 tion since. 
 
 April 30, 1866, Mr. Welton was married to Ella 
 M., daughter of Dr. Dexter G. Clark. Their mar- 
 riage occurred at Wheaton, Du Page Co., 111. Mrs. 
 Welton was born Dec. 13, 1849, in Rockford, 111. 
 The children now included in the household are five 
 in number : Albert D., Clarence W., Kate C, Ma- 
 bel E. and Susan B. 
 
 Mr. Welton belongs to the Masonic fraternity and 
 to Post No. 436, G. A. R. 
 
 -S- 
 
 illiam A. Mussey, a grain dealer at Atkin- 
 son, was born in Rutland, Vt., Jan. 22, 
 1839. He was brought up in his native 
 county, and had just passed his minority 
 
 Q\ 
 
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 when the Civil War made its unwelcome ap- 
 pearance, and in September, 1862, he en- 
 listed in the 12th Regt. Vt. Vol. Inf. He was in 
 the service but nine months, when his term of en- 
 rollment expired. 
 
 He returned to Rutland, and was there engaged 
 in business until his removal to Illinois, which oc- 
 curred in the fall of 1868. He located at Atkinson, 
 where he entered upon the prosecution of the enter- 
 prise in which he has since been engaged. He is 
 rated as among the most reliable and responsible 
 business men of ,the gounty. He is the owner of 
 
 160 acres of excellent land on section 23, in the 
 township of Atkinson, and he is considered one of 
 the model farmers, as is commonly the case when 
 the principles of the agriculture of the New England 
 States are put into practice on the fruitful acres of 
 the prairie. The grain business of the Brothers 
 Mussey is of extensive relations, and the elevator 
 which they own and operate has a capacity of 50,- 
 000 bushels. 
 
 Mr. Mussey was married to Louisa Nowers, March 
 31, 1868. She is a native of Oneida Co., N. Y., 
 and is the daughter of Thomas and Decima (Foster) 
 Nowers, who are natives of England and are resi- 
 dents of Atkinson! An extended sketch of the par- 
 ents of Mrs. Mussey is to be found elsewhere in this 
 work. Mrs. Mussey was born May 2, 1845. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Mussey have two children : Clara F. was 
 born Nov. 6, 1874. The birth of Henry-R. occurred 
 Dec. 7, 1875. 
 
 Mrs. Mussey is a member of the Congregational 
 Church. Mr. Mussey is a Republican in political 
 sentiment. 
 
 -* #*•# *~ 
 
 illiam Whitney, engaged as a farmer on 
 section 26, Clover Township, was born 
 May r3, 1823, in Washington Co., Ohio. 
 His parents, John and Sarah (Chapman) 
 Whitney, natives of Massachusetts, came to 
 Ohio in a very early day, where they engaged 
 in farming. The father died in 1849. 
 
 The subject of this sketch remained at home until 
 he attained the age of legal majority, receiving a dis- 
 trict-school education. He then worked as a com- 
 mon laborer, and rented a farm for a time, and in 
 1847 he purchased 40 acres of timber land, and 
 occupied it for six years, improving it and bending 
 all his energies toward making a good home. He 
 then sold out and came to DeKalb County, this 
 State ; and, after spending a winter there, he resided 
 two years in Winnebago Co., 111., upon a rented farm ; 
 likewise for three years he was a renter in Boone 
 Co., 111.; and in i860 he removed into this county 
 and purchased 40 acres on section 16, Clover Town- 
 ship; after remaining on the same for five years, he 
 sold it and bought 80 acres on section 17, and lived 
 there until 1882, when he purchased 120 acres on 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 sections 26 and 27, Clover Township, where he now 
 resides. Mr. W. is a successful agriculturist, is a 
 Greenbacker, a member of the Christian Church and 
 of the Masonic Order, and has served one term as 
 School Director, and one as Path Master. 
 
 Feb. 15, 1844, is the date of Mr. Whitney's mar- 
 riage to Miss Jane Cheffy, a native of Virginia. 
 They have had six children, as follows : George W., 
 who married Hattie Osborn, has five children — Anna 
 J., William S., Luella, Harvey S. and John ; Sarah 
 who married James Woodworth, has three children 
 — William H., Flora B. and Sarah M.; Charles E., 
 united in marriage to Lura Mosher; the other three 
 are deceased. Mrs. Whitney died* Aug. 28, 1885. 
 
 eorge Washington Bowe, a farmer in 
 Phenix Township, has been a resident of 
 Henry County since 1851. He was born 
 May 20, T825, in Bath, Steuben Co., N. Y., 
 and is the son of John Smith and Rachel 
 (Shearer) Rowe. In 1836 the family started from 
 Steuben County for Illinois. They traveled with 
 their own teams to Erie, Pa., where they took pass- 
 age on a steamboat on Lake Erie for Detroit. At the 
 time, the family included the father, mother and five 
 children. They started with three horses and a 
 wagon, and after leaving the boat at Detroit they re- 
 sumed their journey with their team. They were on 
 the road six weeks and settled in Whiteside County, 
 to which place the father had come the previous 
 year and had made a claim in the township of Port- 
 land. He had stayed long enough to build a log 
 house, and the househould found it a welcome re- 
 treat after the tedious journey in the wagon. The 
 stay of the father at the time he secured his claim 
 extended from the fall of 1835 until June, 1836. In 
 addition to the erection of a shelter for his family, he 
 broke a considerable portion of prairie and put in a 
 crop. 
 
 The house was covered with clapboards, which 
 were retained in their places by poles. The struc- 
 ture was 16 x 16 feet in dimensions. A barn of logs 
 was also built on the place, both of which were de- 
 stroyed in the tornado of June 5, 1844. The build- 
 ings were entirely demolished and the family were 
 the severest sufferers in the county. Two sons were 
 
 killed, and a daughter was so seriously injured that 
 she suffered all her after life from the consequences. 
 The father was also badly inured. A large 
 number of cattle belonging to the farm were de- 
 stroyed, and one cow was transported a half-mile 
 and set down on the top of a hot cook-stove ! The 
 animal had sufficient vitality left to administer a 
 severe kick to a son of the owner of the cook-stove. 
 The senior Rowe died in Portland, Dec. 9, 1852. 
 The mother is also now deceased. The names of 
 the sons who lost their lives in the tornado were 
 Delanson and William. The whole number of the 
 children were seven. George W., of this sketch, is 
 the oldest. Lavinia is the wife of La Fayette Cran- 
 dall, of Erie, Whiteside County. Eliza Ann married 
 Henry Kempster, of Portland Township, in the same 
 county. Mary is the wife of James Corkings, of 
 Whiteside Co., 111. 
 
 Mr. Rowe passed the remaining years of his min- 
 ority in the township of Portland, working on the 
 farm and attending the public schools, which were 
 of the pioneer variety. At the age of 25 years he be- 
 came the head of a family of his own. In 1850 he 
 was married to Julia, daughter of John and Lydia 
 (Hall) Kempster. Her parents were among the 
 pioneer settlers of Whiteside County. She was born 
 Aug. 25, 1826, in Oneida Co., N. Y. About the 
 time of his marriage, Mr. Rowe bought 40 acres of 
 land, and also made a Government claim of a simi- 
 lar amount in addition. He built a frame house and 
 improved his place in the best manner, fencing it in 
 good shape and setting out fruit, shade and other 
 trees, and small fruit in considerable variety. He 
 continued to own the place until 1851, when he sold 
 it preparatory to a removal to Henry County. He 
 here again set out in life in pioneer style, building a 
 log house on 160 acres of land, which he secured in 
 Phenix Township. After erecting the cabin of the 
 pioneer he set about the work of making improve- 
 ments, and soon after he built a good frame house. 
 He reaped the reward of the faithful and diligent 
 husbandman, and made further purchases until he 
 was the possessor of an aggregate of 700 acres. He 
 has since deeded a portion of the estate to his chil- 
 dren. Mr. and Mrs. Rowe have been the parents of 
 four children. The oldest and youngest, Ann Eliza 
 and Arthur, are deceased. The daughter died at the 
 age of three years, and the demise of the son took 
 place when he was three years and eight months old. 
 
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HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
 ZS7 
 
 Viola, the second in order of birth, is the wife of 
 John Guild, and lives in Gage Co., Neb. Edith, the 
 third in order of birth, is the wife of John Walker, of 
 Phenix. 
 
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 enry L. Kiner, editor and proprietor of the 
 Henry County News, published at Geneseo, 
 was born Feb. i, 1851, in Perry Co., Pa., 
 at the foot of the celebrated Mt. Nemo, in 
 Shafer's Valley. He comes of German stock 
 in the paternal line of descent, and is a mem- 
 ber of a'family who have been known in the literary 
 circles of the continent for many generations. The 
 well known German poet, Theodore Koerner, came of 
 the same race-tree, and the original orthography of 
 the patronymic, and that still preserved in Germany, 
 is what is made familiar by the distinguished relative 
 of Mr. Kiner. The latter is the son of William 
 Kiner. The father's ancestors came to the Western 
 Continent in the early days of its history, and they 
 came with the purpose of founding a permanent 
 home, which they fulfilled in every particular. They 
 helped bear the burden of the Revolutionary period, 
 and in that contest the grandfather of Mr. Kiner 
 served as a Captain. He was also a commissioned 
 officer of the War of 181 2. The mother of Mr. 
 Kiner, whose name before her marriage was Mar- 
 garet A. Calhoun, is a member of the same family to 
 which John C. Calhoun belonged. 
 
 While he was in early childhood, the parents of 
 Mr. Kiner removed their family and interests to 
 Illinois. »They settled in Ottawa, La Salle County, 
 and he there passed the days of later boyhood and 
 early youth. The greater part of his education he 
 obtained at Farm-Ridge Seminary in La Salle 
 County. He completed a full course of study, and 
 was graduated at the age of 17. 
 
 He came to Geneseo in the fall of 1869, and 
 entered the drug-store of Moderwell & Co. He re- 
 mained in that position one year, and on the ter- 
 mination of his relations with that firm he went to 
 Prophetstown, in Whiteside County, and bought a 
 drug-store there, in company with Dr. R. E. Barnes. 
 They continued its management jointly about a year. 
 The proclivities and tastes of Mr. Kiner were of an 
 entirely different character from those required by 
 
 the routine of business drudgery, and at the expira- 
 tien of the time named he relinquished his project of 
 winning fame and fortune in mercantile avenues, 
 and returned to Geneseo. 
 
 He at once entered upon the fulfillment of a long 
 cherished project to pass his life in a journalistic 
 pursuit, and established the newspaper to which he 
 is still devoting his energies and abilities. The 
 initial number of the News was issued in January, 
 1874, and was received from the outset with general 
 favor, which has never abated. On the contrary, 
 the journal has continued to increase in favor and 
 popularity, and has won a substantial recognition in 
 journalistic circles as a reliable, enterprising, wide- 
 awake sample of the modern newspaper. The lit- 
 erary style of Mr. Kiner is such as to ensure the 
 approval of the general class of readers, being of the 
 breezy, cheery character that should mark the 
 paper designed to meet the requirements of the 
 classes who are generally its patrons in a rural dis- 
 trict, and who depend almost wholly on the weekly 
 paper for their connection with the world at large. 
 The News has been in existence about 12 years, and 
 during that time has never missed an issue. In 
 political tendency it is independent. In size it is 
 attractive and seems to promise the subscriber a full 
 return for his investment, being a nine-column folio. 
 
 Mr. Kiner has won a modest fame as a poet, and 
 is the possessor of an autograph letter of Henry W. 
 Longfellow, expressing the kindest and heartiest ap- 
 preciation of the efforts of his namesake. The latter 
 was a contributor to the public prints before he had 
 reached the age of 17. In addition to his abilities, 
 he possesses the pluck and energy to push a project 
 to a successful issue. When he started the News 
 at Geneseo, he did so under the most discouraging 
 circumstances and with the prestige of assured fail- 
 ure. He was still a very young man, and there 
 were already on record the failures of a half-dozen 
 of similar enterprises. But he has made a different 
 showing, and has achieved a substantial success. 
 At the date of starting his paper he was in posses- 
 sion of a cash capital of $1,500, which has swelled 
 through his industry and perseverance to a property 
 of respectable dimensions. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Kiner to June Howard took 
 place at St. Louis, Mo., June 7, 1882. She was 
 born in Mendota, 111., and is the daughter of A. and 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 Ella M. (Hopple) Howard. In the opinion of Mr. 
 and Mrs. Kiner, their son, Henry Clyde Kiner, is 
 the finest sample of a boy in America. 
 
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 illiam S. Woolsey, a pioneer of Henry 
 County of 1835, living a retired life at 
 Cambridge, was born Feb. 4, 1807, at 
 Half Hollow Hills, Suffolk Co., L. I., N. Y. 
 The earliest recorded ancestor in the paternal 
 line came from England to the New World and 
 ^ located in Connecticut. He reared five children, all 
 of whom became heads of families in the States, with 
 one exception, in the case of a daughter who went 
 to St. Johns, Nova Scotia, as the wife of a British 
 officer. John Woolsey, one of the sons, father of Mr. 
 Woolsey of this personal narration, became a soldier 
 of the Revolution. He removed to Long Island, in 
 company with his brother Israel. He there married 
 Phebe Rogers, who was born on the island, of Eng- 
 lish parentage. She died there, after having given 
 birth to 12 sons: Gilbert, John, Jesse, Woodhull, 
 Zebulon, Daniel, Jarvis, Henry, Abel, Israel, Moses 
 and William S. ; 
 
 The latter is the only survivor. He came to Illi- 
 nois in company with his brothers, Jesse and Abel, 
 and the trio were the. only ones of the brotherhood 
 who came to the State. Mr. Woolsey made a short 
 stay at St. Louis, while Jesse Woolsey, with three 
 others, representing the interests of an incorporated 
 company styled the " New York Association," came 
 in June, 1835, to Henry County, to select a site for 
 the location of a colony. They had expected to set- 
 tle near the present site of the city of Galesburg, but 
 earlier prospectors had been there and they sought 
 another location. The names- of the committee were 
 Pillsbury, Slaughter and Pike, and they founded a 
 city on sections 8 and 17, of town 15 north, ranges 1 
 and 2 east, and named it Andover, that it might 
 have the prestige of the scholarly culture and learn- 
 ^ ing that had made the name prominent in the East. 
 Jesse and William S. Woolsey settled on land now 
 included in the site of Andover village. They were 
 stockholders in the association, and each was the 
 owner of 20 acres of timber, a village lot of two and 
 a half acres and a quarter section of farming land. 
 Jesse Woolsey was the first hotel-keeper at Andover, 
 
 and his brother worked at his trade as carpenter. 
 About the year 1842 he sold the land he held by 
 virtue of hk connection with the stock company, and 
 bought a quarter of section 15, which he placed in 
 profitable agricultural condition. In 1881 he re- 
 moved to Cambridge, where he has since been a 
 resident. He sold his farm in Andover, after his re- 
 moval thence. He is now the owner of 80 acres in 
 the same township. 
 
 After a residence of two years in Henry County, he 
 returned to Huntington, L. I., where, March 13, 
 1838, he was married to Sarah C. Piatt. She was 
 born at Huntington, Aug. 25, 1814, and is the 
 daughter of Gilbert and Maria (Conklin) Piatt. Both 
 her parents were natives of Long Island. Following 
 is the record of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Wool- 
 sey: William H. resides in Webster Co., Iowa. 
 The others who are living are : John Piatt, Sarah 
 M. and Ida N. Three older children died while 
 young. The parents and children are all, except 
 one, members of the Congregational Church. Mr. 
 Woolsey is a dyed-in-the-wool Republican. 
 
 John Piatt Woolsey was born June 29, 1839, in 
 the township of Andover, and he obtained his edu- 
 cation in the common schools. He engaged in 
 farming on arriving at independent manhood, in which 
 he was interested until November, 1883, when he 
 sold his farm and engaged in the sale of hardware 
 and agricultural implements at Cambridge, associ- 
 ated with A. B. Lafferty. 
 
 He was married Dec. 30, r87S, t0 Eliza Hammar, 
 a native of Westmoreland Co., Pa. Three of their 
 children are living — Sarah F., Carrie and Edward. 
 
 eorge Pomeroy, a farmer of Colona Town- 
 ship, was born Feb. 27, i82r, in Fairfieldi 
 s Herkimer Co., N. Y. He is the son of 
 
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 Pliny and Lavina (Mann) Pomeroy, and his 
 parents were born respectively in Northampton, 
 Conn., and in Fairfield, where the son was 
 born. In 1829 they removed to Leyden Hill, Lewis 
 Co., N. Y. The son was brought up to the business 
 of a farmer, and he obtained a fair education in the 
 common schools. When Mr. Pomeroy, of this sketch, 
 attained the age of legal freedom he entered into a 
 partnership with a man named Henry Winslow, and 
 they conducted a joint business in the manufacture 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY 
 
 261 
 
 of cement cisterns, which they prosecuted about 10 
 years, in the vicinity of Brockville. 
 
 In 1857 Mr. Pomeroy removed to Henry County 
 and bought a farm in Western Township, «It was all 
 wild land, and he gave his entire attention td the 
 labor of improving a homestead, erecting a good class 
 of buildings and planting an orchard. He was the 
 occupant of the place until his removal 14 years 
 later to Iowa, where he settled two miles from Kel- 
 logg, in Jasper County. He bought an improved 
 farm, and also invested in wild land. Between three 
 and four years later he sold out there and came, in 
 1870, to the township in which he has since resided. 
 He built the residence his family occupies in Colon a. 
 In 1842, Mr. Pomeroy was married to Nellie Sher- 
 man, a native of Brockville, Canada, and they have 
 six children — Lavina, wife of T. W. Beese; Ella, wife 
 of Perry Hanna; Amasa, Emery, Colonel Edward 
 and Charles A. 
 
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 t rank E. Kemmis, a farmer on section 10, 
 Loraine Township, was born on the same 
 section on which he is now living, June 9, 
 1862. He is the only son now living of Cor- 
 nelius and Adeline (Adams) Kemmis. His 
 father, of whom a portrait is presented on the 
 opposite page, was a pioneer settler of the county in 
 1836, and made his claim in Loraine Township be- 
 fore the land came into market. 
 
 The latter was born in the town of Cambridge, 
 Washington Co., N. Y., Feb. 15, 1808. He was 
 reared on the farm of his father, who died when he 
 was 18. He had two older brothers, who .were away 
 from home, and he remained with his mother and 
 sister and devoted himself to their care and support. 
 He had obtained his education as he could in the in- 
 tervals of farm labor, in which he was obliged to 
 assist while his father was still living, and he made a 
 business of studying evenings until he was the pos- 
 sessor of a fair education. 
 
 He was 28 when, in 1836, he came West to seek 
 a better opportunity to get on in the world, as the 
 East was already too full of hangers-on, and he was 
 hot of a temperament that could sit down tamely to 
 a life of small effort and results of corresponding size. 
 
 He came to Galena and passed a summer in the lead 
 mines. 
 
 In the fall ensuing he came to Henry County, 
 secured his claim on section 10, Loraine Township, 
 and prepared for the reception of his mother and sis- 
 ter, who joined him as soon as he was ready for them. 
 They took possession of a small log cabin, and Mr. 
 Kemmis proceeded with the work of putting his 
 property in profitable condition. As soon as the 
 land sales came on he purchased his claim, obtain- 
 ing the deed from the Government. In 1839 he 
 built a more suitable log house, which was 16 x 30 
 feet on the ground and a story and a half in height. 
 1 his constituted the family residence until 1868, 
 when he built a convenient and commodious frame 
 house. He pushed his business plans with success, 
 and improved 200 acres of land. At the time of his 
 death he was the owner of about 400 acres. 
 
 His marriage to Adeline Adams took place Nov. 
 27, 1854. She was a native of the township of 
 Aurora, in Erie Co., N. Y., and her parents, Luther 
 and Ruby Adams, were born respectively in Massa- 
 chusetts and Vermont. They were members of the 
 pioneer class in the western part of the State of New 
 York. The son whose name leads this personal nar- 
 ration is the youngest child and only son now living; 
 Addie E. is the wife of Harry Roberts, a farmer of 
 Sumner Co., Kan.; Quincy A., the oldest son, was 
 born in Loraine Township, Oct. 31, 1855, and died 
 in the same place Feb. 9, 1880. He was a finely 
 educated man, and was a popular teacher in the 
 public schools. He also served in the capacity of 
 Justice of the Peace. Sarah, the third child, was 
 born Dec. 12, 1858, and died April 23, 1862. 
 
 Cornelius H. Kemmis was a man in whom dwelt 
 the proper spirit for a genuine pioneer. He had the 
 sagacity to understand that the public weal was the 
 true foundation of the welfare of the individual, and 
 he had the generous nature that felt its best reward 
 in the well-being of those around him. He was 
 never unmindful of the relations he occupied to the 
 development of the municipality of which he was one 
 of the earliest founders, and he was ever ready to 
 lend the hand of assistance to promote the general 
 good. He donated land for the building of the 
 school-house and for the cemetery. He was a model 
 man in his personal habits, and in all his life was 
 never addicted to ihe use of spirituous liquors or 
 tobacco. He was the stanch friend of morality and 
 
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HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 good order in society. He served several years in 
 various township offices, among which were those of 
 Assessor, Collector of Taxes and Justice of the 
 Peace. He died Jan. 26, 1876, after having been for 
 many years a consistent member of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church. 
 
 Frank E. Kemmis was brought up on the home- 
 stead in Loraine Township, and acquired a fair 
 knowledge of the fundamental branches of an Eng- 
 lish education at the district school. He is the 
 owner and occupant of the farm on which his father 
 and mother settled and expended the best energies 
 of their lives. His mother is passing a calm and 
 serene old age under his care. 
 
 Mr. Kemmis was married July 16, 1884, to Emma 
 Reynolds. She was born July 8, 1866, in the town- 
 ship where she has passed the entiie course of her 
 life thus far. Mr. Kemmis is engaged in the prose- 
 cution of mixed husbandry. 
 
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 ^dward Anderson, Postmaster at Lynn 
 Center and dealer in general merchandise, 
 was born in Andover Township, this county, 
 Mj*. June 3, 1852. His parents were E. P. and 
 j. Catherine (Munson) Anderson, natives of 
 Sweden and farmers, who came from their 
 native country to the United States with their first 
 five children in 1846, resided in Buffalo, N. Y., two 
 years, and then settled in Lynn Township, this 
 county, after a short residence at Andover. The 
 senior Anderson died in Andover, July 20, 1854, dur- 
 ing the cholera epidemic, leaving a widow with five 
 children, some of whom were old enough to help 
 support her and the remaining chddren. She died 
 at her home in Lynn Township, Sept. 2, 1879. 
 
 After her death Mr. Anderson and his two sisters, 
 Laura and Louisa, came into possession of the home- 
 stead, and have since resided there. Their home 
 adjoins the village of Lynn Center. In 1880, Mr- 
 Anderson established a general merchandise store, 
 with stock of first quality, and the same time received 
 the appointment as Postmaster at that place. March 
 1, 1884, he formed a partnership with Aug. Ander- 
 son, of Andover, 111., and the firm are now carrying 
 on a prosperous trade. 
 
 Mr. Anderson is a member of the Swedish 
 
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 "ion. Bradbury H. Thomas, of the town- 
 ship of Munson, came to Henry County in 
 1870. He was born in Mt. Vernon, Ken- 
 nebec Co., Me., Oct. 17, 1812. His father, Na- 
 than Thomas, was born in Marshfield, Mass., 
 Aug. 2, 1787. The latter was the son of Na- 
 than Thomas, who was a native of the State of 
 Massachusetts, and was of English descent. The 
 family settled in that part of the Bay State which 
 was afterward called Maine, and were among the 
 pioneer element of Kennebec County. The grand- 
 father referred to bought and improved a farm in 
 the township of Mt. Vernon. 
 
 The Pine-Tree State was in its most primitive 
 condition, and of the experiences and hardships to 
 which the pioneers were subjected through the natu- 
 
 Methodist Church at Andover, and is a reliable Re- V[> 
 publican. Neither he nor any of his sisters men- fk 
 tioned is yet married except one sister, who is married 
 to A. Butgeson. 
 
 > lisha Cone, deceased, was one of the origi- 
 nal members of the Geneseo Colony, one 
 of the five who brought their families to 
 -?§*■ the county in 1836. A full account of the 
 operations of the little band are given in an- 
 3 other department of this work, and so far as 
 has been possible personal sketches of the other 
 members have been obtained and appear elsewhere. 
 Mr. Cone was born Jan. 1, 1803, in Wallingford, 
 Conn. In his early manhood he removed to West- 
 ern New York, and there, on the 1st of January, 
 1826, he was married to Eliza A. Hill. She was 
 born in West Bloomfield, Ontario County. Their 
 family included five children : Harriet M. married 
 William Miller ; Clarissa P. is the wife of E. M. 
 Stewart, of Kansas; Francis F. married Gabriella 
 Gilmore, and they live in Florida ; Ellen A. is the 
 wife of Peter Hill, M. D., of Florida ; Charles E. 
 was a soldier of the Eighth Kan. Vol. Inf., and died 
 in the hospital at Nashville, Tenn., March 29, 1863. 
 The death of Mr. Cone transpired in 1846. His 
 widow still survives. 
 
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 ral conditions of things, the first settlers in a prairie 
 country have no means of forming anything like an 
 adequate idea. Supplies were remote, and it was 
 necessary to traverse long distances on horseback 
 through a forest so dense that their darkness and 
 the difficulty of making way through them has be- 
 come typical of hardship. The closing days of the 
 ancestor of Mr. Thomas were passed in the city of 
 Augusta. He was a preacher in the Baptist Church, 
 and did pioneer duty in his profession in the State in 
 which he first located. The mother of Mr. Thomas, 
 of this narration, was born in Litchfield, Kennebec 
 Co., Jan. 3, 1789. Her parentage and descent were 
 of the same locality and nationality as those of her 
 husband, and they were also pioneers of the county 
 in which she was born. Nathan Thomas (2d) was 
 born and reared to manhood in Kennebec County, 
 on the farm of his father. He passed his entire life 
 in argicultural pursuits. Late in life he went to 
 New Portland in his native State, where his earthly 
 career terminated, Aug. 1, 1849. His wife died Jan. 
 24, 1871. They were the parents of ten children, 
 eight of whom are yet living : Seth is a resident of 
 Manchester, Me. ; Sarah is the widow of Rawson 
 Soper, and lives in the East with her children ; Wil- 
 liam lives in Manchester, in the same State where 
 be was born; Hannah is the widow of Benjamin 
 Morton, and is a resident of Phillips, Franklin Co., 
 Me. ; Martha survives her husband, Orrin Pitts, and 
 lives in Portland, Me. ; Mahala is the wife of Abra- 
 ham Morton, of the town of Phillips, already men- 
 tioned; Mary J. lives in Manchester, where the 
 other members of the family have located. 
 
 Mr. Thomas was brought up on the farm of his 
 father in Maine, and was a member of the household 
 until he was 18. At that age he became an appren- 
 tice to the trade of tanner, and also learned boot and 
 shoe making, as in those days both went together. 
 He remained in service until he was 21, when he 
 began to operate as a journeyman. May 29, 1838, 
 he was married to Sophia, daughter of Benjamin 
 and Eliza (Sargent) Melvin. She was born in Read- 
 field, Me., Feb. 13, 1813. Her parents were from 
 the State of New Hampshire. On preparing to set- 
 tle in life Mr. Thomas bought a farm in the town- 
 ship of New Portland, in Somerset Co., Me., and 
 carried on farming operations there for a period of 
 six years. He then sold out and took possession of 
 the homestead estate of the father of his wife. They 
 
 lived there until the death of the old people trans- 
 pired, when Mr. Thomas became by purchase the 
 proprietor of the well-known property of ex-Governor 
 Hubbard, in Readfield Township, which he owned 
 and occupied 12 years. He sold it in the year in 
 which he removed to Henry County. On removal 
 to this county he bought the farm on section 4 on 
 which he has since prosecuted the business of gen- 
 eral farmer. The place is pleasantly located three 
 miles south of the city of Geneseo, and is in good 
 condition for profitable farming. The residence is 
 finely located on a slight rise of ground and com- 
 mands a pleasant view. 
 
 Mr. Thomas was prominent in his connection with 
 public affairs in the State of which he is a native, and 
 represented his township in the State Assembly in 
 1868. He has been a valuable citizen in the town- 
 ship in which he has been a resident for 15 years, 
 and is much respected. Both himself and his wife 
 are members of the Methodist Church, and have 
 been a long time connected with that communion. 
 
 They have had six children, as follows: Charles 
 died in infancy; Henry C. lives in Minneapolis; 
 Helen married Gustavus Sanborn ; she and her hus- 
 band are both deceased, and left three children; 
 Augusta is the wife of William Rideout, who is a 
 citizen of Ottumwa, Iowa ; Eva J. married Frank 
 Melvin, and they live on the Thomas homestead; 
 and Melvin died in Maine, at the age of seven years. 
 
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 He came hither in 
 
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 Tj*V the fall of that year and settled in Annawan 
 Township, where he vigorously prosecuted the 
 duties ot his profession for a period of 17 years 
 without intermission, coming, at the expiration of 
 that time, to Geneseo, where he has established his 
 business and reputation. 
 
 He was born in Greensburg, Westmoreland Co., 
 Pa., Jan. 10, 1827, and is the son of Andrew and 
 Mary (Henderson) Machesney. He obtained a 
 thorough elementary education and later became a 
 student at Jefferson College at Canonsburg, Wash- 
 ington Co., Pa., where h'e was graduated in 1850. 
 He attended medical lectures at the Jefferson Medical 
 College at Philadelphia, and afterward matriculated 
 
 L. Machesney, A. M., M. D., has 
 
 a medical practitioner of Henry 
 County since 1853. 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 at the medical college at Castleton, Vt., and was 
 graduated from that institution in 1852. He began 
 the practice of his profession at Middlebury, Summit 
 Co., Ohio, and was in business at that place one 
 year. 
 
 He came thence to Annawan Township, as has 
 been stated, and in 187 1 he removed to Geneseo. 
 Dr. Machesney is one of the leading physicians of 
 Henry County in point of culture and also in expe- 
 rience. He is a thorough student of human nature 
 and is adapted by nature for the responsible position 
 he occupies. His course as a man and in his busi- 
 ness relations have been such as to secure the confi- 
 dence and esteem of the communities where he has 
 lived, and he is the possessor of a corresponding de- 
 gree of influence. He has kept pace'with the prog- 
 ress in the medical profession, and in i860 the 
 degree of M. A. was conferred upon him by his alma 
 mater, Jefferson College. 
 
 He was united in marriage at Geneseo, 111., May 
 28, 1862, to Martha E., daughter of Alfred Taylor. 
 Mrs. Machesney was born in Wardsboro, Windham 
 Co., Vt. Dr. and Mrs. Machesney have had two 
 sons : Andrew Grant has just arrived at man's es- 
 tate ; he was 21 years of age in 1885 ; Elmer D. died 
 when he was between four and five years old. The 
 parents are members of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church. The Doctor is. an inflexible Republican. 
 
 1 IE rank F. Johnson, a general farmer, resid- 
 p ing on section ir, Lynn Township, is a 
 Y » son of John F. and Margaret (Herman- 
 son) Johnson, having been born in Lynn 
 •^, Township, Feb. 14, 1859. His father was a 
 native of Sweden, where he was born on the 
 31st of August, 1 82 1, and a son of a farmer of that 
 country, in which place his father died. In the year 
 1853 our subject's father emigrated to America, and 
 located in Ontario, Knox Co., 111., where the year 
 following he was united in the bonds of matrimony 
 with Miss Margaret Helmanson. She was born in 
 Sweden in 1828, and emigrated to the New World in 
 1849 with a sister, locating in Knox County, where 
 she remained until her marriage. Some few years 
 after their marriage they came to Andover, Henry 
 County, where they remained for a while, afterward, 
 
 in 1858, moving to Lynn Township, where the father 
 was the owner of 240 acres of well improved land at 
 the time of his death, which occurred at his home in 
 Lynn Township June 11,1876. Since then Frank F., 
 our subject, has had the superintendency of the 
 homestead. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Johnson had a family consisting of 
 six children: Ida, who is married and resides in 
 Nebraska ; Louisa, also married, and a resident of 
 Osco Township; our -subject; Andrew J., Emma, 
 and Amanda, who lives at home with her mother. 
 The family are members of the Swedish Lutheran 
 Church in Andover, and in politics the gentlemen of 
 the family are stanch Republicans, as was their 
 father. 
 
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 ,enry A. White is the junior member of the 
 firm of Duncan & White at Geneseo. He 
 was bora in the city of New York, March 
 l^ 18, 1853. His parents, Henry and Jemima 
 (Barnhart) White, removed to Geneseo in 1856, 
 when he was but little more than an infant. 
 After he had passed the period of extreme youth 
 and obtained a fair education, he learned the trade 
 of tinner, and in April, 1882, he entered into his 
 present business relation with Mr. Duncan. (A full 
 account of their affairs as a business house may be 
 found in connection with the biographical sketch of 
 Mr. Duncan on other pages.) 
 
 Mr. White was married Jan. 21, 1875, to M. 
 Frances Foster. She is a native of Henry County, 
 and is the daughter of John P. Foster. The political 
 connections of Mr. White are with the Republican 
 party. 
 
 onas Westerlund, engaged as a general 
 farmer and stock-grower, on section 3, 
 Lynn Township, where is also his resi- 
 dence, was born in Gefleborg Lan, Sweden, 
 March 31, 1830. His father was Eric A. 
 Westerlund. (See sketch of Peter Wester- 
 lund.) 
 
 Jonas, whose name heads this notice, was the eld- 
 est but two of a family of nine children. He lived 
 at home and had but very little time to acquire 
 
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HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 265 
 
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 an education, assisting in the maintenance of the 
 family. At the age of 2 1 years, he came with his 
 parents to the United States, and located at Ando- 
 ver. Here our subject at once endeavored to earn 
 his own livelihood, by which he secured a position to 
 work in saw-mills up in the State of Minnesota, after 
 having remained for about eight or nine months in 
 Henry County. For about seven years he was en- 
 gaged in the lumber business and mills in the re- 
 gions of Minnesota. 
 
 He was married Aug. 29, 1 85 6, in Taylor Falls, 
 Minn., to Miss Ellen Nelson, daughter of Nelson 
 Oleson and Mary (Mangasson), both natives of Swe- 
 den. Mrs. Westerlund was born in Sweden, Dec. 
 23, 1835, and came with her brother when 18 years 
 of age to America. They located at Stillwater, 
 Minn., and after a short period she began to earn 
 her own livelihood. She lost her parents in the old 
 country, their deaths occurring there some time ago. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Westerlund have become the parents 
 of nine children, two having died in infancy. Lizzie 
 married J. W. Anderson, and resides in Osco Town- 
 ship; N. Henning, John E., Charlie E., Jonas N., 
 Joseph E. and Gilbert L. reside at home. 
 
 In the fall of 1856 Mr. W. came to Illinois, locat- 
 ing on an 80-acre farm in Lynn Township, on sec- 
 tion 2, which was his first purchase. By subsequent 
 purchases he is now the owner and proprietor of 382 
 acres of well improved land, all in one large farm. 
 Mr. Westerlund is one of the heaviest stock-breed- 
 ers in his township, besides being a .progressive and 
 respected farmer. Religiously, the family are con- 
 nected with the Swedish Lutheran Church, of which 
 Mr. W. has been both Trustee and Deacon. Of his 
 township he has held the position of Road Commis- 
 sioner. Politically, he affiliates with the Republican 
 party. 
 
 fob Gibson, a farmer of Atkinson Township, 
 ||- operating on section 15, was born in the 
 State of New York, Feb. 6, 1826. He was 
 a resident of the State of his nativity until 
 1856, when he came to Davenport, Iowa. He 
 passed three years there operating as a carpen- 
 ter, and in i860 he removed to Morristown in Henry 
 County, where he pursued the vocation of a farmer 
 six years ; he then went to Colona and operated as a 
 
 carpenter. In 1867 he bought 80 acres of land. It 
 was wh6lly uncultivated, and the owner has im- 
 proved it all in the best possible method. 
 
 Mr. Gibson was united in marriage with Margery 
 Kelley, in 1849. She was born in the State of New 
 York, June 24, 1828. The only child of Mr. and 
 Mrs. Gibson, Amanda H., was born June 3, 1854, 
 in the State of New York, and married L. D. Man- 
 kins, and died at Villisca, Iowa, May 25, 1882, leav- 
 ing two children: Allyn Lester was born in 1875, 
 and Mabel Clare was born in March, 1881. 
 
 In political views and connection Mr. Gibson is a 
 Republican. 
 
 evi Waterman, President of the Farmers' 
 National Bank atGeneseo, has been a busi- 
 ness man at that place since 1857, when 
 the firm of Herman and Waterman was estab- 
 lished. The house has conducted its transac- 
 tions under the same style 28 consecutive 
 years, and is the oldest mercantile firm in Henry 
 County. They maintain a fine trade in clothing and 
 in furnishing goods, and their business requires an 
 investment of about $10,000. 
 
 Mr. Waterman was born in Wurtemberg, Ger- 
 many, March 5, 1836, and is the son of Felix and 
 Sarah (Neuberger) Waterman. He came to the 
 United States in 1853, when he was 17 years of age, 
 and joined his brother in Charlesville, Ky. He re- 
 mained there until the spring of 1857, when he came 
 toGeneseo, and Mr. Herman founded their business 
 as already stated. 
 
 He was one of the founders of the Farmers' Na- 
 tional Bank in 1876, and was its first President. He 
 has held the position of chief official of the institu- 
 tion without intermission since. 
 
 In 1866 Messrs. Waterman and Herman bought 
 a third interest in the Geneseo Brewing Company, 
 and are now the owners of two-thirds of the stock. 
 The concern was incorporated in 1884, and Mr. 
 Waterman was elected its President. Since the be- 
 ginning of their operations the firm have been ex- 
 tensive dealers in wool. 
 
 Mr. Waterman has officiated six years as Supervi- 
 sor of the township of Geneseo, and as to political 
 affairs he advocates Democratic principles. 
 
 He was united in marriage Jan. 26, 1868, in the 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 city of New York to Matilda, daughter of Solomon 
 Dreyfus. She was bom in Wurtemberg, ahd came 
 from her native land to the United States in 1852. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Waterman have three children living. 
 They have lost two by death. The record is as fol- 
 lows: Felix, born Jan. 7, r86<j; Jennie, born Nov. 9, 
 1870, died July 12, 1876; Henry, born Sept. 1, 
 1872; Samuel, bom Sept. 29, 1875 ; and Sydney, born 
 April 1, 1877, died July 29 following. 
 
 ■&—°- 
 
 ared C. Kinsey, grocer at Cambridge, came 
 
 a- to Henry Co., 111., from Coshocton Co., 
 
 Ohio, in March, 1863. His family is from 
 
 Bucks Co., Pa., which is as far back as he has 
 
 fany knowledge. Ulysses Kinsey, grandfather 
 of Jared C, moved from Bucks County to 
 Coshocton Co., Ohio, about the year 1820. Uriah 
 Kinsey, son of Ulysses and father of Jared C, es- 
 tablished a woolen mill on Paddy's Fork of Lomica 
 shortly after moving to Ohio, the motive power of 
 which was a tread-wheel propelled by oxen. 
 
 He was married Aug. 17, 1824, to Margaret Chal- 
 fant, daughter of Mordecai and Mary Chalfant, the 
 latter being a sister of Jacob Strawn, for years the 
 famous Illinois cattle king. By this union seven 
 children were born, — four sons and three daughters. 
 Three of the children died in their infancy. Phoebe 
 died at the age of 82, unmarried. Lydia was mar- 
 ried twice. Her first husband ]was Wm. Smith, by 
 whom she had two children, named Phebe Francis 
 and George F. Her second husband was Isaac 
 Camp, by whom she had one child, Andrew D. She 
 died Dec. 27, r86r, aged 33 years. Jacob S. Kinsey 
 studied medicine under Dr. Benj. F. Lemert, of 
 Dresden, Ohio; graduated at the Ohio Medical Col- 
 lege in r8s9~6o; entered the volunteer service as 
 Surgeon of the gun-boat " Cincinnati ; " was in their 
 first engagement at Fort Donelson ; resigned on ac- 
 count of sickness in 1862 ; came to Cambridge and 
 commenced the practice of medicine in March, 1863. 
 He so continued filling a prominent place in the 
 medical fraternity till the time of his death, which 
 occurred May 3, T874, when he was 37 years of age. 
 The subject of this sketch, Jared C. Kinsey, was 
 born July T2, T834; was educated after leaving the 
 
 district school at West Bedford Academy, in Coshoc- 
 ton Co., Ohio. He read law with Judge Simmons, 
 of Coshocton, and was admitted to the Bar in June, 
 1859; removed with the family to Henry Co., 111., in 
 March, 1863. The war demoralizing the values of 
 almost everything, he tried his hand at farming for 
 three years, two and one-half miles west of Cam- 
 bridge. In December, 1866, he opened up a drug 
 and book store in Cambridge, which he continued 
 till July 17, T882, when he disposed of his stock and 
 entered upon a new field of labor, that of selling 
 goods on the road for a Chicago firm. Tiring of 
 this, he opened a grocery store in January, 1885, in 
 which he is now prosperously engaged. 
 
 Oct. 2, 1855, he was married to Miss Catherine 
 E. Keefer, of West Carlisle, Ohio, by whom he has 
 had six children, named respectively Addie H., 
 Osman Leigh, Alice May, Florence, Carroll B. and 
 Effie. His wife, Catherine E., having died in Jan- 
 uary, 1869, he married Miss Sarah A. Hawley, of 
 Mt. Vernon, Ohio, Oct. 18, 1869, by whom he has 
 had five children, viz. : Infant, dead-born; Kate, 
 Earl S., Emma Louise and Edith Clare, all of whom, 
 by both wives, are living at this writing (1885) ex- 
 cept the infant above noted. 
 
 Mr. Kinsey has been a believer in the Jefferson 
 school of politics, — that all powers not expressly 
 delegated to the general Government are reserved to 
 the States. 
 
 I 
 
 f 
 
 % 
 
 ~£--*/\/v\,£ 
 
 rof. Norbury W. Thornton, A. M., Princi- 
 pal of the Collegiate Institute at Geneseo, , 
 E3^ became the incumbent of the position ' 
 |~J which he is still occupying (1885) at the open- 
 ly ing of the institution. He was born Nov. 20, 
 1852, in Mercer Co., 111., and is the son of 
 Hiram W. and Elizabeth (Norbury) Thornton. His 
 father is of English lineage and a native of the State 
 of Pennsylvania. He was a pioneer of Mercer 
 County of 1838. His mother was born in the same 
 State and was of the same nationality. 
 
 Prof. Thornton obtained his literary education at 
 Monmouth College, in his native State, and was 
 graduated in the classical course in 1876, receiving 
 the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He prepared for the 
 ministry at the Presbyterian Theological Seminary at 
 
(!) 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 -•»# 
 
 H 
 
 267 
 
 Princeton, N. J., where he was graduated in 1879. 
 He entered upon his first pastorate in West Liberty, 
 Iowa, and officiated there five years. On the com- 
 pletion of the arrangements for the establishment of 
 the educational institution with which he is con- 
 nected he was called to take the chief position, and 
 assumed its charge, entering upon his duties Aug. 7, 
 1884. The initiatory term opened Sept. 16 follow- 
 ing. 
 
 Prof. Thornton was married in Monmouth, Aug. 
 14, 1879, to Elizabeth Garvin, who was born in 
 Wheeling, W. Va., and is the daughter of James 
 Garvin. She is the mother of two children — Eliza- 
 beth and Willett. 
 
 -*- 
 
 ',.wan P. Johnson, residing on section 12, 
 Lynn Township, where he follows the oc- 
 cupation of farmer and stock-raiser, is one 
 of the progressive and energetic farmers as 
 well as respected citizens of Lynn Township. 
 He was born in Kalmar Lan, Sweden, March 
 24, 1832. His father, Jonas Swanson Johnson, was 
 a native of the same country in which our subject 
 was born, and a farmer by occupation. He married 
 the daughter of a Swedish farmer, Mary Peterson," 
 and they were the parents of four children. Swan 
 P. was the eldest; Martha C. resides in Sweden; 
 Charles C. is a fanner in Lynn Township, this 
 County ; Anna S. (Olson) resides in Andover. 
 
 Swan P. Johnson, whose name heads this bio- 
 graphical notice, was not quite eight years of age 
 when his father died. He then resided with his 
 mother in his native country until her death, which 
 occurred about 1848. From the time he was ten 
 years of age, he worked as- a laborer in his native 
 country until he had attained the age of 21 years, 
 when, hoping to better his financial condition in life, 
 he emigrated to this, the land of progress. Soon af- 
 ter his arrival in this country, he came to Andover, 
 this county, which place he reached on Sept. 8, 
 1853, with the exceedingly large capital of 50 cents 
 in cash ! After spending the night at Andover, he 
 was compelled to pay the last cent he had in the 
 world for his lodging, and was left entirely penniless. 
 That same day he succeeded in getting work from a 
 Mr. Graham of that place, at a salary of $10 per 
 
 month, which to him at that time and under the 
 circumstances seemed a blessing. He had worked 
 for Mr. Graham only about 20 days when he was 
 taken sick, and after convalescing he worked at 
 threshing for- 35 cents per day. His next labor was 
 for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, with 
 whom he remained for some time, when he again 
 took sick. After recovery he went to Galesburg, 
 where he worked on the railroad for a while, when he 
 for a third time became ill, and spent all the savings 
 of his former labor, and placed his trust in Provi- 
 dence. Friends came to his aid and gave, him 
 credit, which enabled him to receive good medical 
 attention, and recover from his illness. He after- 
 wards procured work, and' paid back the last dollar 
 advanced to him in his time of need. 
 
 Mr. Johnson was united in marriage Dec. 14, 
 1856, at Andover, with Miss Christina Peterson. She 
 was born in Jonkoping Lan, Sweden, March 25, 
 1832, and was the daughter of a Swedish farmer. 
 Her parents both died when she was but a few 
 months old, and she afterward lived with relatives 
 until her marriage to Mr. Johnson,, having emi- 
 grated with them to this country in 1854, and re- 
 sided with them in Geneseo and Andover. Mrs. 
 Johnson has become the mother of eight children, 
 three of whom are deceased: George W. has a 
 biographical sketch in this book; John A; was united 
 in marriage to Ida Johnson and resides on a farm in 
 Andover Township; Ida M. married Frank Bank- 
 ston, who resides in Andover; Frank L. is living 
 with his parents, as likewise is Herbert J. The de- 
 ceased all died in infancy. 
 
 After marriage, Mr. Johnson settled oh a farm of 
 30 acres in Andover Township, located on section 
 33, which he had purchased in March, 1855, and a 
 few years later increased his farm to rto acres, but 
 which he sold in the year 1863. He then made a 
 purchase of 80 acres on section 12, Lynn Township, 
 which was partly improved, and since has put it un- 
 der excellent cultivation, being his permanent home. 
 Mr. Johnson is now the possessor and owner of 776 
 acres of land in this county, all under the plow. He 
 has it separated into six well improved and well 
 planned farms. He is one of the most extensive 
 broom-corn growers in the county and State, besides 
 being one of the most successful and progressive 
 stock-growers. 
 
 The family are members of the Lutheran Church, 
 
 
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 * 
 & 
 
 
 wx&^gr 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 1) 
 
 \ 
 
 9 
 
 s 
 
 DN 
 
 of which Mr. J. is Trustee; and he has also held 
 several minor offices in his township. Mr. Johnson 
 is identified with the Republican party, being a first- 
 class and enthusiastic Republican. 
 
 ■o-H" 
 
 ■H-o- 
 
 larles Smith, a farmer on section 4, Mun- 
 son Township, is a pioneer of Henry 
 County of 1851. Mr. Smith is a descendant 
 of^ families that were connected with the Colo- 
 nial history of this country, and his grandsires 
 on both sides were in the wars in the earliest 
 period of the nation's existence. The father of his 
 father was a native of Beverly, Essex Co., Mass., 
 and was a pioneer of New Gloucester, in the same 
 State. He was a soldier in the French and Indian 
 War, and died in Paris, Me. The father of the 
 mother of Mr. Smith was a Captain of a company of 
 militia under the command of General Washington 
 in the War of the Revolution. He was a native of 
 the State of Maine. 
 
 Mr. Smith of this personal account was born in 
 Paris, Oxford Co., Me., Aug. 2, 1806, and is the son 
 of Josiah and Deborah (Haskell) Smith. He was 
 reared on the farm of his father and was educated in 
 the public schools. He had for a classmate the dis- 
 tinguished Hannibal Hamlin. He remained in the 
 place of his nativity until the age of 22. He went 
 then to Penobscot County, and there became by pur- 
 chase the owner of a tract of timber land in the 
 township of Lincoln. He lived there to clear the 
 farm in part of the dense growth of timber with 
 which it was covered, and a few years later sold it. 
 He took up his abode in the place known as Lincoln 
 Center, and was there variously occupied until the 
 spring of 1845. He went next to Dexter, Me., where 
 he was the manager of the farm of his father-in-law 
 until 1851. That was the year in which he came to 
 Illinois. He entered a claim of land on section 4 in 
 the township of Munson, and bought a house which 
 he moved to his farm. In the spring of 1852 the 
 family removed to Geneseo, and were there resident 
 until the month of November following, when the 
 house on the farm was ready for their use. Mr. 
 Smith had secured a quarter section ; but, being with- 
 out money to stock the place profitably, he sold 80 
 
 acres, and with the proceeds bought a team and 
 stock. He did the first breaking on the place in the 
 spring of 1853. The farm is all under the best class 
 of improvements, and the good frame buildings, the 
 trim hedges and the trees speak volumes for the 
 thrift and enterprise of the owner. There are on the 
 place 50 black-walnut trees. In 1868, Mr. Smith 
 bought a residence in Geneseo Township, on which 
 his family resided four years. At the end of that 
 time they returned to the homestead, where they 
 have since continued to reside. 
 
 The first marriage of Mr. Smith occurred in 1837, 
 when Ellice F. Adams became his wife. She was 
 the daughter of Joseph Adams, who was a drummer 
 in the immediate command of General Washington, 
 and afterwards became a Baptist clergyman. She 
 died June 6, 1840, leaving one child — Charles E. 
 June 26, 1848, Mr. Smith was again married to 
 Annah Jordan. She was born Feb. 17, 181 1, at 
 Cape Elizabeth, Cumberland Co.^Me., and was the 
 daughter of Nathaniel and Catherine Jordan. Both 
 her grandsires were in the War of the Revolution. 
 Her paternal grandfather was a Lieutenant, and the 
 father of her mother was the Captain under whom he 
 served. They were both from Cape Ann, Mass. Of 
 the second marriage one child was the issue, who is 
 named Eveline C. She is still an inmate of the pa- 
 ternal home. The son was born at Lincoln Center, 
 Me., Aug. 2, 1838. He married Emma Peters, and 
 resides in Ida Co., Iowa, where he is engaged in 
 farming. 
 
 Mr. Smith is a liberalist in his religious convic- 
 tions, and is of the independent class in his political 
 views. 
 
 
 0> 
 
 -13- 
 
 -es- 
 
 arroll A. Shinn. Of the few active busi- 
 ness men one meets in Henry County, 
 ""** who are natives of the county, one is 
 Mr. C. A. Shinn. He is a prominent young 
 farmer residing on section 22, of Oxford 
 Township. Here he was born, Sept. 23, 
 1859, and is a son of Moses H. and Paulina H. 
 (Pease) Shinn, the former a native of West Virginia 
 and the latter of Vermont. Moses H. Shinn came 
 West and located in Illinois as early as 1 834, and 
 the lady who was destined to be his wife came two 
 
 $f^f. 
 
 -O-A 
 
 mmm^r^ — ^«^ 
 
*•-■ 
 
 •Z^ K ' (3\ &lltl®llll&' /e) sd &K- 
 
 
 
 & 
 
 « * 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
 years later. On Jan. 9, 1848, they were united in 
 marriage, and settled in Knbx County. For 14 years 
 the elder Shinn followed the trade of blacksmithing, 
 when he moved into Henry County and purchased 
 240 acres of land on section 22 of Oxford Township. 
 Here, in the quiet pursuit of a farmer's life, he re- 
 mained until his death, which occurred May 15, 
 1883. The result of his marriage to Miss Pease 
 was a family of six children, four of whom are still 
 living, — Sylvia A., Jennette _E., Carroll A. and Ber- 
 tha P. 
 
 Carroll A., after he had arrived at the age of 2 1 
 years, went further West and began life as a farmer. 
 Prior to that time, however, his parents had given 
 him excellent advantages for an education, closing 
 with sending him to a college located at Abingdon, 
 111. The farm referred to as a place of his first la- 
 bors after arriving at man's estate, was located in 
 Kansas, and consisted of 80 acres. His father also 
 presented him with 160 acres. He remained on 
 this place for three and a half years, but on the de- 
 mise of his father he came back to take charge of 
 the old homestead in Oxford Township. Here his 
 mother still resides. 
 
 Mr. Shinn is engaged in general farming and^ 
 stock-raising, making a specialty of Duroc or Jersey 
 Red hogs, and is one of the prominent, representa- 
 tive young men of Henry County, and is a strong 
 - advocate of reform in all the departments of social, 
 religious and political life. 
 
 Mr. Shinn and Miss Retta Kennedy were married 
 Nov. 2, 1881. Mrs. Shinn was born in Pike Co., 111. 
 Edith M., Theodore A. and Grace comprise their 
 family of children. 
 
 m . igt ■ 1 -f-^— — ^*» — » ft. 1 1 1 
 
 ^enry Pritchard, a farmer on section 19, 
 
 Alba Township, was born in the County 
 
 ^** Down, Ireland, March 21, 1843. He is the 
 
 f f son of Henry and Mary (VVarnock) Pritchard, 
 who removed with their family to the United 
 States in 1865. He passed the period of his 
 minority in the manner common to the sons of farm- 
 ers and obtained a fair education and a full and 
 comprehensive knowledge of the arts of farming. He 
 was married to Eliza Irvin, Dec. 25, 1868, and they 
 had five children — Sarah, Henry, John, Mary and 
 
 William. The mother died in February, 1878. Mr. 
 Pritchard was again married, Nov. 23, 1880, to 
 Catherine Moore. Their children are as follows : 
 Hugh, Samuel and Walter. 
 
 Mr. Pritchard is a successful farmer and is the 
 owner of a fine estate, including 520 acres of well 
 cultivated land. He is giving much attention to the 
 improvement of his stock, and owns a fine herd of 
 valuable grades, of which he is raising the standard 
 every year. He owns one thoroughbred Hereford, 
 and a full-blooded English Draft horse, for which he 
 paid $2,000. 
 
 In his political preference he is a Republican and 
 has filled the several school offices of his district. 
 
 sa Crook, of the township of Atkinson, is a 
 pioneer of the section of the State of Illi- 
 nois in which Henry County is located. He 
 settled in the county of Whiteside in 1854. 
 He was there a resident until the date of his 
 removal to the township where he has since been a 
 citizen. 
 
 He was born Jan. 27, 1827, in the town of Hol- 
 land, Erie Co., N. Y. His father, Asa Crook, was 
 born in the State of Vermont, in the year 1799. The 
 latter emigrated from the Green Mountain State 
 when he was 19 and settled in Erie County. He 
 was a resident there 24 years, and became prominent 
 in the local affairs. He served many years as Jus- 
 tice of the Peace, and was elected Supervisor in the 
 same year and held the offices while he continued a 
 resident there. The family removed to Whiteside 
 County in 1834 and settled in Prophetstown Town- 
 ship. The father died Oct. 22, 1853. The mother, 
 whose maiden name was Mary L. Dustin, was born 
 April 23, 1791, and died July 5, i88r. She was 90 
 years old, and lived to see the fourth generation of 
 her descendants. She bore 1 1 children. They were 
 born in the order given : Lydia, Mary, Theron W., 
 Timothy D., Charles, Cynthia, Lucy, Sarah, Asa, 
 James and Caroline. The mother saw before her 
 death 7 1 grandchildren, 64 great-grandchildren, and 
 two great-great-grandchildren ! 
 
 The fathers of both Mr. and Mrs. Crook were sol- 
 diers in the War of 181 2. 
 
 Mr. Crook was married Jan. 1, 1852, at Portland, 
 
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 eA^n n$niia \9" ^ €»^ 
 
 •$@£Kr@/ 
 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 £/ 
 
 4 
 
 1) 
 
 =7* 
 
 5) 
 
 in Whiteside County, tc Lucy Cole. She was born 
 in the town of Wales, in Erie Co., N. Y., and is the 
 daughter of John Cole. Her father was a. native of 
 New Hampshire, and was born July 12, 1783, in the 
 town of Alexander. He was married in 18 13 to 
 Hannah Fones, and they became the parents of ten 
 children, named Harry, Nelson H, William, Ma- 
 linda, Lucy A., Sarah, Dorcas, May, Cordelia and 
 Almon. The two oldest sons were soldiers in the 
 Union service during the Civil War, and the second 
 died in the stockade prison at Andersonville. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Crook have had seven children, 
 whose births are, recorded as follows : Nathat M., 
 Sept. 23, 1852; Julius, Oct. ir, 1855 ; Lilla L., Dec. 
 18, 1859; Albert B., Oct. n, i86r ; Asa S., Sept. 14, 
 1864; Eva L., March 18, 1867; John S., Jan. 24, 
 1869. Lilla L. died Nov. 9, 1863. 
 
 Mr. Crook is a prosperous farmer and owns 215 
 acres of excellent land in advanced cultivation. He 
 is engaged in the branches of farming common to 
 the locality. In his political relations he is an un- 
 mistakable Republican. Mrs. Crook is a member of 
 the United Brethren Church. 
 
 ■>~v\.«\«2£e^g^5 
 
 >*g§>g!/OT2r»x/>.-wx/>. 
 
 eter Henney, a pioneer settler of Henry 
 
 Jj| County, was born in Center Co., Pa., Sept. 
 
 Ep^v 4) 1790, and was the son of Adam Henney. 
 
 \ 
 
 ,-ij He was married in Pennsylvania, to Christina 
 jj^ Strayer, and in T817 moved to Ashland 
 County, and subsequently to Wayne Co., Ohio. 
 He made a claim on the Muddy Fork Creek, the 
 tract being in the midst of the dense, uncut wilder- 
 ness, and inhabited only by Indians and wild ani- 
 mals. The location was six miles from a settlement 
 and Mr. Henney made a clearing and built a log 
 cabin. He owned 240 acres and he cleared 140 
 acres and placed that acreage under the best quality 
 of cultivation. In the work of reclamation he had 
 only the assistance of his sons. Being desirous to 
 secure plenty of land for his children he removed, in 
 1853, to Henry County. He purchased an estate in 
 the township of Phenix. His family then included 
 his wife and three youngest sons. Daniel married 
 Catherine Butzer and is a resident of the city of 
 Geneseo. Joseph married Hannah Fuller, and is a 
 prominent farmer and stockman of Brown Co., Kan. 
 
 Jesse married Matilda Clouse. He is "a citizen of 
 the portion of Kansas last named. He is engaged 
 in the same occupation 'as his brother, and is wealthy 
 and influential. 
 
 Mr. Henney officiated in various local offices while 
 a resident of Ohio, and was for many years acting 
 Justice of the Peace, and is a member of the School 
 Board. He was a man of upright character, de- 
 voted to his family, and was generally held in high 
 esteem by a large circle of friends. He and his 
 family were all members of the Evangelical Associa- 
 tion. All the male members of the family were Re- 
 publicans of decided type. 
 
 Mr. Henney died Feb. 23, 1873, at the advanced 
 age of 83 years. His wife, who was a lady of most 
 estimable character, died Feb. 4, 1868. 
 
 -0-&- 
 
 -{$>— o- 
 
 U&rij 
 
 j u ODan ss . iiaima is a 
 j£ Township, and is the son of the pioneer 
 whose name and his own is perpetuated in 
 that of the township of which he has been a 
 resident since his birth. John P. Hanna, his. 
 father, was born Nov. 12, 1800, in Kentucky) 
 and he married Nancy Dockrey, who was a native of 
 North Carolina. The senior Hanna came to Henry 
 County in 1835 and entered a claim of land in what, 
 is now Hanna Township. He then returned to 
 White Co., 111., where he was a resident, and whence 
 he brought his family to Knox County. They passed 
 the winter there, and in the spring of 1836 made a 
 final removal to the land which Mr. Hanna had en- 
 tered on his first coming to the county. The father 
 was a participant in all the details of the organiza- 
 tion of the township, which was called after the name 
 he bore, and was a leader in the first religious so- 
 ciety that was instituted within the limits of Henry 
 County. He died Jan. 13, 1858. 
 
 To him and his wife 12 children were born; four 
 are now living: Elizabeth is the wife of James 
 Southvvorth and they are living in Todd Co., Kan.; 
 Rachel D. married J. H. Paddelford, a citizen of 
 Hanna Township ; Hobart N. is the next in order of 
 birth of those who are living; Harriet is the wife of 
 R. A. Smith and they live in Moline. 
 
 Hobart N. Hanna was born Jan. 7, 184 1. He is. 
 the youngest son of his parents and was reared and 
 
 obart N. Hanna is a farmer of Hanna - 
 
 <) 
 
 I 
 
 0) 
 
 **&*■ — feA^>n n®i$ \c) . ' > afe 
 
 -«e& 
 
zz^k — ©V^D D® B Df>^ — 3*€$*Kr 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 <3* 
 
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 I 
 
 received his education in the common schools of the 
 town in which he was botn. He was married Oct. 
 24, 1861, to Miss E. J. Hill, who was born in Wil- 
 liams Co., Ohio, and is the daughter of Thomas and 
 Elizabeth (Bender) Hill. The only child of Mr. and 
 Mrs. Hanna is Lillian, wife of Lloyd Kirkland, of 
 Chicago. 
 
 After his marriage Mr. Hanna settled on the 
 homestead of his father and there began farming. 
 Not long after he engaged, to a considerable extent, 
 in the purchase and shipment of stock to the Chi- 
 cago market, and placed his farm in the hands of 
 parties hired to attend to that business. 
 
 April 17, 1883, the farm-house on the estate was 
 destroyed by fire, and in the year following the owner 
 erected one of the most beautiful and valuable resi- 
 dences in the county. His farm contains 160 acres 
 of finely improved land. Mr. Hanna is a Republi- 
 can of most decided type. 
 
 He was joined in marriage to Mrs. Amelia How- 
 ard, at Rock Island, March 27, 1862. She was born 
 in Mercer Co., Pa., and is the daughter of John Mc- 
 Cord. She was the widow of L. P. Howard. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Garnett have three sons : Eugene A. mar- 
 ried Emma Young, and they live in the State of 
 Kansas ; Edwin L. married Stella Harrington, and 
 is the manager of the homestead estate ; and Albert 
 is still living with his parents. Mrs. Garnett is con- 
 nected with the Presbyterian Church in membership. 
 
 •«Cfir©^» 
 
 *®^a/ZOT»>» 
 
 obert Garnett, a retired farmer, living at 
 Geneseo, has been a citizen of the State of 
 "■ Illinois since 1838. He came to Henry 
 County in 1866. Mr. G. was born in Castle- 
 moor, Lincolnshire, England, April 1, 1814. 
 He is the son of Joseph and Alice (Fitten) 
 Garnett. The father emigrated to America with his 
 family in 18 18. They made a location in Chester 
 Co., Pa., where the son remained until 1838, when 
 he came to Illinois. He located in Quincy, where 
 he formed a business connection with James Blythe 
 in the manufacture of carriages. Their connection 
 was in existence until 1841. On its dissolution Mr. 
 Blythe came to Rock Island, where he is still in 
 business, and the subject of this sketch went to Wis- 
 consin, and passed eight years in the prosecution of 
 his lumber interest in that State. 
 
 In 1849 he came to Illinois and became interested 
 in farming in Rock Island County. In 1866 he 
 bought 225 acres of land in the vicinity of Geneseo, 
 and was there occupied in the prosecution of his 
 agricultural relations until 1884, when he removed 
 to the city, and where it is his intention to pass his 
 remaining years in the quiet enjoyment of the re- 
 sults of his years of effort. Mr. Garnett is a Demo- 
 crat in his political connection. 
 
 braham Countryman, a farmer on section 
 i 19, Yorktown Township, has owned the 
 farm on which he is a resident since 1854. 
 In that year he came to the county to pros- 
 pect, but did not take possession of the prop- 
 erty until 1867. He was born in Little Falls, 
 Herkimer Co., N. Y., Nov. 30, 1830, and he is the 
 eldest son of Henry and Catherine (Doxtater) Coun- 
 tryman. His father was a native of Montgomery 
 Co., in the Empire State, and his mother was a native 
 of the same county in which he was born. When the 
 latter was 14 his parents removed to the State of 
 Illinois. They came via the Erie Canal to Buffalo, 
 and from there by the lake route to Chicago. From 
 that city they went to Wheeling in Cook County. 
 They were among the pioneers of that region, and 
 there the father rented land and engaged in farming. 
 The son operated as the assistant of his father until 
 he was 19, when he entered upon an apprenticeship 
 to learn the business of a carpenter and joiner. He 
 served but three months as an apprentice, and then 
 commenced to operate as a " jour." He passed six 
 months in that capacity, and then began to take con- 
 tracts and carry on the business of a builder. He 
 continued to operate in that manner until 1865, when 
 he rented land in the township of Wheeling, and 
 passed the time until 1867. In that year he took 
 possession of 80 acres of land in the township where 
 he has since lived, and of which he became the 
 owner in 1854. The place had no improvements of 
 any character, and Mr. Countryman built a smMl 
 frame house and at once began to push the work of 
 placing the farm in a good and comfortable agricul- 
 tural condition. He has bought land on section 20, 
 adjoining his original purchase, and his estate now 
 
 -s^r: *f*^f 
 
 <» 
 
 * 
 & 
 
 © 
 
 « 
 
 <* 
 
 f© 
 
 1 
 
272 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
 includes 160 acres, all inclosed and in excellent con- 
 dition. He has erected good farm buildings and set 
 out a great number of trees of several varieties. 
 
 Mr. Countryman has been a Republican since the 
 formation of the party. He was married May 25, 
 1855, to Magdalena Miller, who is a native of Ba- 
 varia, Germany, and she is now the mother of five 
 children, — Mary A., Frank W., Edwin, William, Ad- 
 laid and George. The eldest daughter is the wife of 
 William Landwehr, of Yorktown Township. 
 
 -S3 
 
 A A 
 
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 A A 
 
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 £>- 
 
 genjamin I. Stafford, Supervisor of Colona 
 Township, was born in Wallingford, Vt., 
 Dec. 6, 1822. He is the son of Palmer 
 and Betsey (Paddock) Stafford, and the par- 
 ents were natives of the same State. The 
 family are of Puritan origin and date their 
 coming to America to the Mayflower period. 
 
 Mr. Stafford was raised on his father's farm in his 
 native State, and was educated in the district 
 schools. The knowledge he acquired of methods of 
 farming under the direction of his father has been of 
 the utmost value to him on the prairies, and Mr. 
 Stafford has the repute of being one of the leading 
 agriculturists in the county. After he attained to a 
 suitable age, he was,employed in the winter seasons 
 in Vermont, in teaming to Boston, a distance of 144 
 miles. There were then no railroads, and the trips 
 consumed about ten days on an average. 
 
 He was joined in marriage March 4, 1844, to 
 Cornelia, daughter of Jonas and Olive (Lee) Holden. 
 Her parents were born in Vermont. She was born 
 in Crown Point, Essex Co., N. Y. After his mar- 
 riage, Mr. Stafford settled on his father's farm and 
 was its manager eight years. He then went to 
 Franklin Co., N. Y., and bought a small farm in the 
 town of Dickinson. At that time he gave little 
 attention to farming, but devoted himself to the pur- 
 chase of cattle for the Massachusetts markets, prin- 
 cipally that of the city of Worcester. 
 
 In 1859, Mr. Stafford sold his interests in the 
 State of New York and came to Illinois. He came 
 to Henry County and at first rented land in Munson 
 Township. After operating in that method three 
 years he removed to the township in which he now 
 lives, and after a stay there of a year he went to 
 
 Geneseo. His stay in that place continued until 
 1866, when he bought a farm on section 24 in Col- 
 ona Township and has resided on and managed 
 the property. He has operated with success, and 
 has become by purchase the owner of 560 acres of 
 land, which is all in the finest agricultural condition 
 and is managed on the same principles as the farms 
 in the East. The family resided on section 24 un- 
 til 1882, when they took up their abode on the 
 southeast quarter of section 13. Mr. and Mrs. Staf- 
 ford have had three children : Palmer \«as born in 
 Vermont, Aug. 22, 1846. He married Marion, 
 daughter of Osmyn and Elizabeth (Bartlett) Gilbert, 
 of the township of Edford. A full sketch of Mr. 
 Gilbert appears elsewhere in this volume. The 
 children of Palmer Stafford and his wife are named 
 Betsey, Clinton and Clarence. They are the owners 
 of a farm on section 24 in Colona Township and one 
 on section 14. Joseph I. is the second son of Mr. 
 Stafford of this sketch. He was born Jan. 30, 1848, 
 and he married Iola, daughter of Stephen and Lo- 
 renza (Whitehorn) Cook. Their children are named 
 Cornelia, Lucy and Lavina. He died Oct. 2, 1882, 
 in Wilson Co., Kan., where his family still reside. 
 Jonas H. was born Oct. 29, r849, an ^ he married 
 Ella, daughter of Calvin and Armilda Sharp. The 
 name of their only child is Joseph. He lives on the 
 homestead on section 24, on which his parents first 
 settled. 
 
 In T879, Mr. Stafford was first elected to the office 
 of Supervisor. He was his own successor three 
 years, and in 1885 was again elected to the position. 
 He is the presiding official of the Union .Dairy Com- 
 pany at Green River. 
 
 s^-ss-nio^s^ 
 
 nomas Mowers, Jr., of the village of Atkin- 
 son, is a prominent business man of Henry 
 County, and is engaged in banking in the 
 place where he is a citizen. He is of English 
 origin, his father and mother having been born 
 in that country. Thomas Nowers, senior, came 
 from his native land to the United States in 1830. 
 He landed at the port of New York, and he was a 
 resident of that State until 1849, when he came to 
 Illinois. He located in Mercer County, and inter- 
 ested himself in the business of a farmer. He was 
 married in 1833 to Decima Foster. 
 
 S 
 
 
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^V^HMf^- 
 
 
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 VT 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 *4^^ 
 
 Mr. Nowers was born in Oneida Co., N. Y., Feb. 
 12, 1834. He was reared in his native State and in 
 his young manhood came to Henry County. He lo- 
 cated at Atkinson in 1856, and has since been prom- 
 inent in the development of the business element of 
 the place where he has been one of the most useful 
 and interested citizens. He has discharged the 
 duties of his citizenship in the several capacities in 
 which he has been called by the voters of his town- 
 ship to act for them and has served in the disinter- 
 ested and capable manner which was anticipated. 
 He has officiated 14 years as Supervisor, eight of 
 which were consecutive. In 1882 he was elected a 
 Representative to the Legislature of the State and 
 his constituency testified to their approval of the 
 quality of his services by making him his own suc- 
 cessor in 1884. In March, 1881, the banking busi- 
 ness which he has since conducted was established, 
 and its affairs have been managed in a manner 
 which makes the institution a leading benefit to the 
 community. Mr. Nowers is the owner of a fine 
 amount of real estate in the township of Atkinson. 
 In his political views he is a Republican. 
 
 He was united in marriage Nov. 18, 1861, with 
 Sarah A. Mussey. She was born in Rutland, Vt., 
 Sept. 15, 1834. A daughter, Kate F., was born to 
 Mr. and Mrs. Nowers, Dec. 7, 1870, and she is the 
 only child. 
 
 -13- 
 
 -es- 
 
 si^Wugustus E. Anderson. 
 
 There are in 
 if Henry County a large number of highly 
 ^i$WT'°"' res P ecte d an d at present well-to-do farm- 
 '~4w ers w ho came from Sweden, and under the 
 lijr most adyerse circumstances began to develop 
 j and improve many of the farms of the county. 
 Prominent among these is Mr. Augustus E. Ander- 
 son, who resides on section 1, Andover Township. 
 He was born in Hille Parish, district of Gefleborgs 
 Lan, Sweden, May 20, 1834. His father, Andrew, 
 was a native of the same parish, and by occupation 
 a farmer, and in his native place he married Anna 
 Jarnberg, a native of the same place and a descend- 
 ant of an old Swedish family. The parents of our 
 subject brought their family to America in 1849. 
 While passing through Chicago, on their way to 
 Henry County, the father died, being taken with a 
 
 disease similar to the cholera. The mother and 
 wife, thus bereft of her husband and in a strange 
 land, after many hardships made her way to Andover 
 village. It was a terrible hardship to the family to 
 be pioneers in a new country and in a foreign land 
 without a husband or father, but a month after the 
 death of the father the children were completely be- 
 reft of all natural watch-care and support by the 
 death of their mother, which occurred in November, 
 1849, from typhoid fever, occasioned by her hus- 
 band's decease. She had been the mother of six 
 children, five of whom were with her on the journey 
 to America, and of whom the following is a record: 
 Mrs. Christina Ward, who died in Hutchinson, Kan., 
 in December, 1880, leaving seven children ; the sec- 
 ond was Andrew, who married and resides at Viola, 
 Mercer Co., 111., and has retired from farm labors; 
 the third is our subject ; the next, Abraham, who mar- 
 ried and resides at Galesburg; next, Mrs. Regina 
 Woodward, who resides in Steward. 
 
 Our subject, after the death of his parents, lived 
 with Mr. H. G. Griffin, of Andover Township (see 
 sketch), until the fall of 1855, when he began to farm 
 on his own account. In 1856 he purchased 160 
 acres on section 27, of Cambridge Township, where 
 he lived for one year. He then purchased a quarter 
 of a section in Andover Township, and worked it 
 from 1858 to 1867, when he came to his present 
 home, consisting of T96 acres, all well improved, and 
 upon which he has a fine residence and splendid 
 farm buildings. He makes a specialty of Short-horn 
 cattle. 
 
 During these years of hard labor and accumula- 
 tion, Mr. A. did not forget the need of his adopted 
 country. During the time of her peril he enlisted in 
 its defense. On Sept. 1, 1861, he joined Co. B, 
 Capt. J. H. Humphrey, of the Ninth 111. Vol. Cav. 
 He participated in several battles, but only as a 
 skirmisher. He was honorably discharged at Jef- 
 ferson Barracks, Mo., Feb. 27, 1863, on account of 
 disability. After his return home, as soon as his re- 
 covery was accomplished, he again resumed work on 
 his farm. 
 
 Mr. Anderson was married Feb. 16, 1865, at the 
 residence of the bride's parents, Saybrook, Ashtabula 
 Co., Ohio, to Miss Mary E. Wright, daughter of 
 Cyrus and Mary E. (Smith) Wright. The former 
 was a native of Connecticut, and the latter of New 
 York, and by occupation were farmers. Both came 
 
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 -6V&I1 US II Df>^ ?*€»sr 
 
 ^^VH 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 5 
 
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 to Ohio when young, and were married in Ashtabula 
 County, where Mr. Anderson of this notice was born, 
 Dec. 11, 1842. She was the eldest but one of a 
 family of four children, all of whom are living and 
 married. Mrs. Gertrude Anderson resides at Viola, 
 Mercer Co., 111.; Cassius E. was married to Emma 
 Shepard, and resides at Austin, Minn.; Arthur mar- 
 ried Miss Agnes E. Clark, and resides at the same 
 place ; the second member of the family was Mrs. 
 Anderson. The family first came West in the spring 
 of 1856, and located in Andover Township, and the 
 parents now live in Cambridge. Mrs. Anderson was 
 educated at the academy of Kingsville, Ohio, and 
 taught school a short time previous to her marriage. 
 Four of her five children are deceased. Grace M. 
 was born Dec. 7, 1880; Ernest S., Carrie E., Herbert 
 and an infant are deceased. 
 
 The family are members of the Methodist Episco- 
 pal Church, of which Mr. A. has been Trustee for 25 
 years. He has also served as Road Commissioner, 
 and has been an earnest worker in his school dis- 
 trict, and Clerk of the School Board for many years. 
 He is a valuable worker in the interests of the Re 
 publican party of his township and county. 
 
 The public will doubtless be pleased to see a por- 
 trait of Mr. Anderson in this work. Accordingly, it 
 is given, in proximity to the above sketch. 
 
 ndrew Chinburg, mason, residing "at Orion, 
 was born in Ostergotland, Sweden, May 
 11, 1847. He was brought to the United 
 States by his parents when three years of age. 
 His father, Nelson T., was a farmer in his na- 
 tive country, and for two years after he came 
 to this county lived at Andover. From there the 
 family, then consisting of five children, went to 
 Galesburg. In that city the father, who now resides 
 with his son in Orion, followed the trade of wagon- 
 making for 16 years. His mother, Carrie, died while 
 the family were living at Galesburg, at about the age 
 of 40 years. Andrew received his education in the 
 common schools of Galesburg, at which city he 
 learned his trade. 
 
 Mr. Chinburg was married at Orion on the 30th 
 of May, 1874, to Miss Louisa C. Johnson, who is a 
 native of Sweden. She was brought to this country 
 
 by her parents, who now reside at Orion, when a girl 
 of three years of age. Her family first settled at 
 Andover, but subsequently came to Orion. After 
 the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. C. they settled on a 
 farm of 120 acres, which Mr. C. had purchased prior 
 to that event. This land was located on sections 16 
 and 17, Western Township. He now, however, 
 owns 160 acres on section 33 of the same township, 
 having sold his first farm. 
 
 Four children have been born to bless the home 
 of Andrew Chinburg and his wife. These they have 
 given the following names : Anna C, Tilda H., 
 Arthur and Frank J. Mrs. C. is a member of the 
 Lutheran Church, and Mr. C. is a Republican. 
 
 vi 
 
 »o+o» 
 
 iram J. Cady, a retired agriculturist, resi- 
 dent at Geneseo, is a pioneer of Henry 
 County of 1837. His father, John Cady, 
 in 1836, located 560 acres of land in the town- 
 ship of Geneseo, or rather in that portion of 
 Henry County which was named so: The son 
 came here to settle on the property, and located on 
 the southeast quarter of section 15. 
 
 He is a native of Alexander, Genesee Co., N. Y., 
 and was born Nov. 15, 1814. The maiden name of 
 his mother was Anna Johns. The farm still owned 
 by Mr. Cady contains 245 acres. It is a valuable 
 place, and is in excellent condition for profitable 
 farming. It is conducted by one of the sons of Mr. 
 Cady. He remained the occupant of the place until 
 March, 1881, when he removed to Geneseo, to pass 
 the sunset of his life in the quiet enjoyment of the 
 results of his years of effort. He has been an adhe- 
 rent of the Republican party since the days of its 
 organization. 
 
 Mr. Cady was united in marriage with Mary Bart- 
 lett, Aug. 19, 1841. Her father, Cromwell K. Bart- 
 lett, was a member of the Geneseo Colony, and one 
 of the committee that entered the land in behalf of 
 that organization. (An account of the operations of 
 that body is presented in another portion of this 
 work.) Mrs. Cady was born in Ames, Montgomery 
 Co., N. Y., and is the mother of three children, two 
 sons and a daughter: Allen.married Ella French, and 
 resides at Geneseo ; Carl M. married Clara Heffel- 
 finger, and they reside on the homestead ; and Nellie 
 C. is the wife of M. A. Greene, of Colorado ; the old 
 
 
 *<nw&*is — =»©^ 
 
■6v^nn®iit]^v^ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY 
 
 f 
 
 
 (!) 
 
 est child of Mr. and Mrs. Cady died Dec. 16, 1843 ; 
 she was born March 14, preceding. The parents 
 are members of the Congregational Church. The 
 oldest son and the daughter belong to the same 
 communion, and the younger son is connected with 
 the Methodist Church. 
 
 -»" 
 
 ohn Anderson is one of the citizens of 
 ;?■ Geneseo who are included in the term 
 prominent." He is a man of little pre- 
 tensions, quiet and unassuming. His judg- 
 j £ ment is considered sound and reliable, and in 
 I all his relations to the community of which he 
 has been a member since 185 1, he has manifested 
 the same unwavering spirit of uprightness and in- 
 tegrity. 
 
 He was born in Lancaster, Pa., Jan. 17, t8ii, and 
 is the son of William and Rebecca (Walker) Ander- 
 son. His father was a descendant of the people 
 known as Scotch-Irish, and his mother was of un- 
 mixed Scottish descent. His father transferred his 
 family to a farm when the son was a lad of five 
 years. There, in the vicinity of Pittsburg, the latter 
 grew to manhood. At zo he left the farm to learn 
 the trade of a tinner. He remained in the State of 
 his nativity, engaged in the business, of which he 
 acquired a thoroughly practical knowledge, until 
 1846, when he went to Bucyrus, Ohio. There he 
 became interested in the hardware, stove and tin- 
 ner's trade ; and, not long after his becoming settled, 
 he established a hotel, which he managed on tem- 
 perance principles. He entered into the promul- 
 gation of the general interests of the place and 
 the surrounding country, and was one of the first 
 to agitate the feasibiliiy of a railroad from Bucyrus 
 to Fort Wayne via Crestline, and he advocated the 
 scheme for the purpose of obtaining the passage of 
 a through line thence to Chicago via Fort Wayne. 
 Mr. A. appropriated much time and money to 
 the furtherance of the project, and was one of the 
 Board of Directors. He was a resident of Bucyrus 
 15 years, and while there was considered one of the 
 leading and one of the most public-spirited of its 
 citizens. He officiated in the leading positions of 
 honor and trust, and was active in the promotion of 
 
 K@5Ǥ^f*- 
 
 -^e ^ o/^ ronn&A^ — ^g^. 
 
 all schemes that seemed to bear a promise of being 
 of general benefit. 
 
 He finally became restless under the prolonged 
 delay of the plans he had cherished, and he resolved 
 to seek a new field of operation in the farther West. 
 In the spring of 185 1 he set out with a horse and 
 buggy for a trip of observation, in which he was ac- 
 companied by his wife. They set out for Galesburg, 
 111., as the first objective point, and came thence to 
 Geneseo. They were pleased with the appearance 
 of the country through which they passed, and all 
 things, so far as they were able to judge, promised 
 well for railroads eventually. In order to make 
 what seemed assurance doubly sure, they continued 
 to push on, and turning northward they traversed 
 the southern portion of Wisconsin. They decided 
 in favor of Geneseo, and Mr. Anderson drove to 
 Michigan City. There they separated — Mrs. Ander- 
 son to return to their home to make all things ready 
 for a transfer of their interests to Henry County, and 
 Mr. Anderson to retrace his steps to Geneseo. 
 
 He opened a hardware store, and spent some 
 time in the prosecution of that line of business. At 
 that time there were but few settlers in Geneseo, and 
 the price of land was but nominal. The termina- 
 tion of the construction of the railroad changed the 
 state of affairs in both these particulars, and the 
 business of the place and the surrounding country 
 took what would be called in these days of concen- 
 trated expression a "boom." The pioneer squatters 
 who had known the pangs of hope deferred were 
 surprised and delighted, as the boon which they had 
 hoped would follow close on their coming, and which 
 had proved as delusory as the will-o'-the-wisp, 
 seemed at last to have become an established fact. 
 Their crop's wye no longer worthless because there 
 was no transportation, and they took hold anew of 
 the plans and projects which they had suffered to 
 fall somewhat into arrears. Mr. Anderson continued 
 the transaction of business at Geneseo four years. 
 He had became largely interested in traffic in real 
 estate, and was the owner of several farms. In the 
 spring of 1855 he moved from the city to a farm 
 which he owned in the township of Geneseo, and he 
 passed the years until 1874 there, engaged in farm- 
 ing. He then returned to Geneseo, and has sold all 
 the real estate of which he had become the owner, 
 except the farm on which he was so many years a 
 
 ®4 
 
 y$ 
 
 
 (!) 
 
£<§§<§• 
 
 -^t ^k 6^ ' 
 
 HENRY 
 
 COUNTY. 
 
 i 
 
 b 
 
 ) 
 
 3 
 
 I 
 
 3 
 3 
 
 practical agriculturist in the township of Geneseo. 
 It contains 560 apres. 
 
 On taking leave of the East Mr. Anderson re- 
 solved to devote his time and energies to the benefit 
 of his private affairs, and he did so with the most 
 satisfactory results. He adhered to this resolve, 
 with the single exception of serving one term as 
 Supervisor of the township of Geneseo, and he also 
 discharged the duties of some of the minor school 
 offices. In his political proclivities Mr. Anderson 
 has passed the grades from Whig to Abolitionist and 
 to Republican. 
 
 The first marriage of Mr. Anderson occurred in 
 the State of Ohio. He was married in Fayette 
 County, Aug. 31, 1835, to Sarah Redburn. They 
 had two children : Mary is the wife of J. V. Thomp- 
 son, of Uniontown, Pa. ; James married Mary Car- 
 ter, and is a farmer of the township of Geneseo. 
 The wife and mother died in June, 1844. In the 
 summer of 1845 Mr. Anderson was again married to 
 Mary, daughter of Alanson and Sally (Gates) An- 
 drews. She was born in Ashland, Ohio. Their 
 children numbered five: L. Duval is a dealer in 
 pumps and windmills at Geneseo; he was a soldier 
 in the Union service, and enlisted in November, 
 1864, in Co. B, 9th 111. Cav., and served until the fall 
 of 1865; Sarah F. is the book-keeper and financial 
 agent of the Female Seminary at Rockford, 111. ; 
 Emily is the wife of W. A. Bickel, a merchant of 
 Geneseo; David P. married Julia C. Day, and lives 
 in Iowa; Frank L. married Stella Goff, and is a 
 resident of Palo Alto, Iowa. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Anderson are members of the Con- 
 gregational Church. 
 
 — <«3t- 
 
 Hlliam L. RobinfeoJ]^ of Alba Township, 
 is a pioneer in Western Illinois, whither 
 1^53^ he came in [840. He located in the 
 ^> county of Whiteside and there he became a 
 H land-holder by the purchase of 100 acres of 
 land, on which he was a resident about 12 
 years. Selling out at the expiration of that time, he 
 came to Henry County. In the same year (1854), 
 bought 240 acres of land in Alba Township, and he 
 is now the owner of 280 acres, which is in the best 
 condition for profitable farming, and has all suitable 
 
 farm buildings and fixtures. Mr. Robinson is inter- 
 ested in the breeding of fine horses for draught pur- 
 poses, including Normans and Clydesdales. He 
 owns valuable droves of Poland-China swine. In 
 his political connection he is a Republican. He is 
 a prominent Mason in his local relations, and was a 
 charter member pf the Annawan Lodge, No. 433. 
 
 Mr. Robinson was born July 5, 1826, in Gallia 
 Co., Ohio. He continued under the care and au- 
 thority of his parents until the period of his majority, 
 Oct. 25, 1848, when he was married to Eliza Mc- 
 Neill, who is a native of County Monahan, Ireland, 
 and was born April 11, 1828. John L. and Sanford 
 E. are the only survivors of the children of Mr. and 
 Mrs. Robinson. 
 
 -H$H&+ 
 
 W. Reese, druggist at Colona, was born in 
 Leyden, Lewis Co., N. Y., July 19, 1833. 
 He was the son of John and Rachel (Mat- 
 thews) Reese, and his parents were both na- 
 tives of Wales. They came to America after 
 their marriage and located in Lewis County, 
 where many of their countrymen found a home. The 
 father was a brick and stone mason by vocation, and 
 he made Lewis County his home, and there followed 
 the business to which he had been trained, as long 
 as he lived. 
 
 Mr. Reese is the only child of his parents, and he 
 was an inmate of the paternal home until the death 
 of his father. He left his mother in the care of a 
 half-brother and started to find his fortune, as there 
 seemed little prospect of its coming to find him. He 
 made bis way to Jo Daviess Co., 111., and there he 
 made his good education available in teaching. He 
 passed the first winter in that capacity and in the 
 spring of 1858 he came to Henry County. He ob- 
 tained employment on the farm of George Pomeroy, 
 in the township of Western, and passed the summer 
 of that year in farm labor. He spent the next win- 
 ter in teaching in the township of Osco. 
 
 In the ensuing spring (1859) he was married to 
 Lavina A. Pomeroy, the daughter of George and 
 Nellie (Blanchard) Pomeroy, of whom a sketch ap- 
 pears elsewhere in this volume. Mrs. Reese was 
 born in Canada. After he was married, Mr. Reese 
 rented a farm and operated as an agriculturist three 
 
 ^^ y q/ ^>h n@Dfl*^A^ — s^n 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 S3 
 
 years. In 1862 he went to the State of New York 
 and remained there one year. In 1863 he came 
 back to Henry County and engaged in the vocation 
 of a butcher in the vicinity of Orion one year. At 
 the expiration of that time he came to Colona and 
 became interested in the sale of provisions, in which 
 line of business he was engaged until 1870. In that 
 year he established the business in which he is at 
 present interested and which he at first carried on in 
 connection with his former calling of a provision 
 merchant. 
 
 In 1877 he bojught a tract of land on section 10 in 
 Colona Township, and he has since become the 
 owner of another farm on section 2, in the same 
 township. The two estates monopolize nearly all 
 his time in their management, and Mrs. Reese at- 
 tends to the mercantile portion of their interests. 
 The farms of Mr. Reese contain 293 acres. 
 
 The children of the family are three in number — 
 George B., Thomas W. and Nellie R. 
 
 (£> 
 
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 #>"# 
 
 ol. Anthony R. Mock, attorney at Cam- 
 bridge, has been a resident of Henry 
 County 30 years, having removed hither 
 4,h in I 8SS- He was then 19 years of age, and 
 ! |J he has since been identified with the general 
 interests of this section of the State of Illinois. 
 His birth occurred June 5, 1836, in Randolph Co. 
 Ind. 
 
 In May, 1855, he set out for Henry County, ar- 
 rived at Cambridge, and soon obtained employment 
 on the farm of Dr. Norton. ^During the ensuing 
 winter he attended the public school at Cambridge. 
 He was variously occupied through the next year, 
 and also assisted his father in his business as a 
 blacksmith. He attended school through the sum- 
 mer and winter of 1857, and in the winter of 1858 
 he taught a term of school, He next obtained the 
 position of Deputy Sheriff, undej P. H. Sniff, and 
 began the study of law, which he prosecuted until 
 the advent of of the Southern Rebellion, meanwhile 
 teaching at intervals. 
 
 In the fall of 1859, he went to Indiana to com- 
 plete the study of law under the supervision of Gen. 
 T. M. Browne and E. L. Watson, and in the autumn 
 of i860 he went to Cooper Co., Mo., where he en- 
 
 gaged in teaching. His location was within the 
 echo of the guns of the contending forces at Boone- 
 ville, in the same State. The defeated rebels 
 swarmed into the country, which became decidedly 
 uncomfortable for a Northern man, and Colonel 
 Mock, with difficulty, made his way into Union ter- 
 ritory. By the time he reached his home, his fervor 
 to enter the military service of his country was at 
 fever heat. 
 
 Sept. 19, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Co. C, 
 Ninth 111. Cav. Oct. 1, he was made Orderly Ser- 
 geant, and subsequently Second Lieutenant of Co. 
 H. Oct. 1, 1862, he was transferred back to Co. C, 
 and promoted First Lieutenant. Seven days later 
 (Oct. 8) he was ordered to assume charge of the 
 Quartermaster's Department of the regiment, which 
 position he held until Jan. 1 following. Jan. 5, he 
 was ordered to take command of Co. B, and he was 
 made its Captain May n, 1863. He held that rank 
 until March, 1864, when he veteranized with his 
 company, and on the re-organization he was elected 
 its Captain. Afterwards, he received a commission 
 as Major; and, still later, he was promoted Lieuten- 
 ant-Colonel of the regiment. At the battle of Nash- 
 ville he commanded his regiment, his ranking officer 
 being wounded early in the engagement ; and he 
 acted chiefly in the same capacity until the termin- 
 ation ot the war. He received his discharge and 
 was mustered out, Oct. 3T, 1865, at Selma, Ala. 
 
 Col. Mock resumed his connection with legal 
 studies on his return from the war, and in 1866 he 
 was admitted to the privileges of the Bar of Illinois, 
 and established his practice at Cambridge. His 
 election as State's Attorney for Rock Island and 
 Henry Counties occurred in r868. His term of ser- 
 vice continued four years, since which he has given 
 his whole attention to his professional duties at 
 Cambridge. Colonel Mock has been prominent in 
 political affairs, a>nd is a Republican of most pro- 
 nounced type. He was for many years Chairman of 
 Henry County Republican Committee. In 1876 he 
 represented his Congressional District as a Delegate 
 to the Republican National Convention at Cincin- 
 nati. In 1879 he was elected to the State Legisla- 
 ture from his district. In 188 r, he was re-nominated 
 by acclamation, and re-elected. 
 
 His marriage to Mary J. Vestal took place Dec. 
 7, 1865. She was born Feb. 10, 1839, in Putnam 
 
 ^ 
 
 &. 
 
 
 ■s^ y q^ 4?c asmii^s — s <©' e - 
 
 H 
 
 $m 
 
■zs^k 6V^IW&llH& '/c) J ^sr 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 #1^£ 
 
 
 fy 
 
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 b 
 
 £> 
 
 4* 
 
 Co., Ind., and is the daughter of William Vestal, of 
 Logansport, Ind. Two sons and a daughter have 
 been born to them, as follows : Horace J., Sept. 19, 
 i866;!]Ruth, Jan. 12, 1868; Edward A., June 2, 
 1871.. 
 
 Colonel Mock is a member of Cambridge Lodge 
 No. 49, A. F. & A. M. He also belongs to Post A. 
 A. Dunn, G. A. R., and to the A. O. U. W. 
 
 ~ 43*- 
 
 eorge McHenry, a pioneer of Henry 
 County, was born Sept. 26, 1799. ln War " 
 * ren Co., Ky. His father, Wm. McHenry, 
 was a soldier, and was engaged in the last 
 campaign under Anthony Wayne against the 
 Indians. During the War of 1812 he was 
 a " Ranger " and was at the head of a command in 
 that conflict. The maiden name of his mother was 
 Hannah Blackford. 
 
 The family removed to the Territory of Illinois in 
 1 810, when Mr. McHenry was a child of n years. 
 In 1808 they had taken up a residence in Hender- 
 son County, in Kentucky, and they came thence to 
 what is now the State of Illinois. The journey was 
 made here with teams. They first located in White 
 County, and there were but five white families in ad- 
 vance of them in that county. The father took up a 
 claim and became prominent in the affairs of the 
 public welfare. He was a member of the State Con- 
 stitutional Convention and served one term in the 
 Senate. He was a Representative in the Assembly 
 several terms. He died at Vandalia in 1834, while 
 there in attendance at the last term of the Legisla- 
 ture that was held there. His wife died about ten 
 years later. They were the parents of nine children, 
 and the son who is the subject of this sketch was the 
 second in order of birth. He was a member of the 
 paternal home throughout his mino'rity, and as soon 
 as he was of sufficient age and size he assisted his 
 father in clearing the homestead. 
 
 He was married April 25, 1825, to Lucinda Coun- 
 cil. She was born in Kentucky, Feb. 7, 1808. At 
 the time of that event he settled in the timber, as 
 was the custom with the earliest settlers, as the prai- 
 ries looked so far-reaching as to be forbidding to such 
 as had been reared in a timber country. He built 
 a double log house of hewn logs with a chimney of 
 
 clay and sticks. In 1835 he sold the place and re- 
 moved to Sangamon County. He there bought 80 
 acres of prairie and at the same time 40 acres of 
 timber. This remained in his possession until 1837, 
 when he sold out and came to Henry County, locat- 
 ing in the township now called Phenix. He bought 
 a claim and as soon as the land came into market in 
 1839 he secured 40 acres on section 14. His first 
 house was built of logs, and soon after he had set- 
 tled to the business of improving his place he pur- 
 chased a soldier's warrant and laid it on 160 acres 
 on the same section where he had already fixed his 
 home. Some years later he built the frame house in 
 which he has since lived. The estate now contains 
 400 acres and the greater part of it is in advanced 
 cultivation. When he came to the county he brought 
 with him eight horses, eight head of cattle and 12 
 hogs. This constituted the stock with which he 
 commenced farming in this county. To him and his 
 wife ri children were born, only five of whom are 
 now living. They are named Thomas J., Margaret, 
 Charles, Celia and George W. (For the detailed 
 history of the oldest son, see sketch of T. J. Mc- 
 Henry.) Margaret is the wife of George R. Chis- 
 holm, and they life in Phillips Co., Kan. Charles 
 entered the military service of his country during the 
 Civil War, enlisting in Co. H, 51st 111. Vol. Inf. He 
 afterwards veteranized and was in the service until 
 after the termination of the war. His home is in 
 Farmington, New Mexico. Celia is the wife of Tal- 
 bot Andrews, a resident of Warren Co., 111. The 
 youngest is in St. Joseph. Mo. 
 
 iPll! F - Shattuck is a farmer residing on sec- 
 \l tio 
 
 9 
 
 ft 
 
 .,,.. tion 15, Clover Township, and was born in 
 
 $Plf 0hio ' April 26 ' l83 °" The P arentsof Mr 
 *«jfe* Shattuck, Samuel and Mary (Foutz) Shattuck 
 
 Shattuck, Samuel and Mary (Foutz) Shattuck, 
 were natives of Massachusetts and Virginia 
 respectively, and his father followed the occu- 
 pation of a farmer, which vocation he continued un- , 
 til his death in 1877, his wife having preceded him »<°/ 
 to the realm of the unknown 2 6 years before, in 1851. 
 A. F. Shattuck, of whom we write, was an inmate of 
 his parent's family until he attained the age of 21 
 years, having received an education in the common 
 schools, and assisted his father on the farm until 
 that period in his life's history. 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 281 
 
 
 On becoming his "own man" Mr. Shattuck left 
 the parental roof-tree and went forth upon the sea of 
 life to battle against adversity and secure a com- 
 petency. After leaving home he rented a farm in 
 Ohio, which he cultivated for two years. He then 
 came to Knox County, this State, and rented a farm 
 in Sparta Township, which he cultivated for ten 
 years. At the expiration of that time he purchased 
 a farm in Clover Township, this county, consisting 
 of 96 acres, located on section 15. He moved on 
 his land and at once entered actively and energeti- 
 cally upon the task of its cultivation and improve- 
 ment. He has since added 80 acres on section 16 
 to his original purchase, and is at present the pro- 
 prietor of 176 acres. Mr. Shattuck has continued 
 to reside on his farm on section 15 ever since he first 
 settled there, and has improved the place by the 
 erection of a fine residence, good bam, and the set- 
 ting out of trees, etc. ; and the condition that his farm 
 presents to-day is truly indicative of good manage- 
 ment and energetic labor. 
 
 Mr. Shattuck and Miss Nancy Woolums were 
 united in marriage in 1852. She was a native of 
 Ohio, and their union has been blessed by the birth 
 of four children : John, Mary J., Sarah C. and Hat- 
 tie A. John formed a matrimonial alliance with 
 Rachel Petta ; Mary J. was married to S. W. Bowen, 
 and Sarah C. became the wife of G. H. McQueen. 
 
 Politically, Mr. S. espouses the principles of the 
 Republican party, with which he always casts his 
 vote. Religiously, he and his wife are members of 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which denom- 
 ination he is a Deacon. He has held the office of 
 Supervisor two terms, and at present is Road Com- 
 missioner of his district. 
 
 *»"- 
 
 E&Jiarles H. Martin, of the firm of Duncan 
 & Martin, at Geneseo, has been a resi- 
 n^** dent of Henry County since 1856, and 
 he has been a citizen of Geneseo for the 
 tw same length of time. He is a native of 
 \ Orleans Co., N. Y., and was born Jan. 18, 
 1832. His father, Samuel W. Martin, was of Irish 
 extraction and, like his wife, who before marriage 
 was Miss Emma Merry, was born in the same Sta'e 
 where their son was born. The ancestors of the 
 
 mother were of Massachusetts birth and of Puritan 
 origin. 
 
 On arriving at the age when he found it incum- 
 bent on him to engage in business he embarked L in 
 the lumber trade in his native Stale and operated 
 there until his removal to Illinois. He was similarly 
 occupied at Geneseo after his arrival there for a 
 period of two years, and in T858 he was elected Con- 
 stable. He officiated in that capacity five years. 
 About the year 1870 he engaged with Mr. Duncan 
 as an assistant in the business in which they are now 
 interested and of which he became one of the pro- 
 prietors by purchase in 1880. Their relations still 
 continue, and they are engaged in the transaction of 
 a prosperous business. 
 
 Mr. Martin has been a Republican since the or- 
 ganization of the party. 
 
 His marriage to Margaret Dillehay took place at 
 Geneseo, Sept. 9, 1858. She is a native of Guern- 
 sey Co., Ohio. Of three children that were born to 
 Mr. and Mrs. Martin but one is living. Owen S. 
 died at the age of 19. One child died in infancy. 
 Curtis C. was born Dec. 28, i86r. Mrs. Martin is a 
 member of the Unitarian Church. 
 
 ienjamin H. Goodell, Sheriff of Henry 
 County and resident at Cambridge, was 
 born in Galesburg, Knox Co., 111., Dec. 
 28, 1846. His parents, Cyrus and Elizabeth 
 (Holmes) Goodell, were born respectively in 
 the States of Massachusetts and Ohio, and 
 they had four children : Charles, Benjamin H., 
 Ruhama and Nancy. The oldest daughter is de- 
 ceased. The mother died in 185 1. The family re- 
 moved to Knox County about the year 1835. 
 
 Mr. Goodell obtained his education in his native 
 county ; and with it he acquired the love of his coun- 
 try, which made the American boy of that period a 
 national institution, as the initiation of the Civil War 
 proved to the satisfaction of one section of the coun- 
 try. Mr. Goodell was but a lad in years when the 
 opening gun of the Rebellion proclaimed the folly 
 which in its re-action brought such disaster to those 
 whose hot-headed haste involved their own ruin. He 
 made several fruitless attempts to enlist during the 
 first three years of the war, but he was thrown out 
 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 on account of his tender age. Early in 1864 he 
 went to Quincy, and there he succeeded in enroll- 
 ing as a soldier of the Union. He enlisted Feb. 23, 
 in Co. C, 10th 111. Inf., and continued in the mili- 
 tary service until the close of the war. His regiment 
 was assigned to the Army of the West and afterward 
 tg the command of General Sherman ; and he was a 
 participant in the varied experiences of the Atlanta 
 campaign and in the ever famous March to the Sea. 
 On obtaining his discharge he returned to the same 
 county in which he was born. He remained there 
 one year and in 1866 he came to Henry County. 
 
 He located in the village of Woodhull, in Clover 
 Township, and in the year following Josephine B. 
 Hill became his wife. Their marriage occurred at 
 Quincy, 111., Aug. 22, 1867. Mrs. Goodell was born 
 Feb. 15, 1849, in Athens Co., Ohio. To her and her 
 husband the following children have been born : Ger- 
 trude G., Lilly A., Pearl M. and Bessie H. Mrs. 
 Goodell is a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church. Mr. Goodell belongs to the Order of 
 Masonry, being a member of Cambridge Lodge. 
 
 After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Goodell set- 
 tled on a farm in Champaign Co., 111., on which 
 they were resident two years. They then removed 
 to Woodhull, and Mr. Gjodell established his busi- 
 ness as a liveryman. He had prosecuted his inter- 
 ests in that avenue but a short time when he sold 
 out. In 1880 he received his first election as Sher- 
 iff of the county of his adoption. On the expiration 
 of his term of service he was made his own successT 
 or, and is, at date of writing, filling the unexpired 
 term. 
 
 3000 C : '» 
 
 "aeob L. Deem, a resident on section 36, 
 |jj- Colona Township, 18 north and 1 east, is 
 a citizen of the United States by adoption. 
 He was born Feb. 17, 1830, in Bavaria, Ger- 
 many, and his parents, Alois and Ludovica 
 (Heckel) Dumm, as the name was spelled in 
 German, were also Bavarians by birth. (It may be 
 well in a biographical sketch to state that it is almost 
 impossible for the American tongue to givethe prop- 
 er pronunciation to a name which, as in this in- 
 stance, contains the umlaut letter u, as it is called in 
 German orthography. The name is pronounced 
 
 «*A^||||@ 
 
 £l (jerman ortrj 
 
 Deem in English, as that is the nearest approach 
 that can be made by English analogy.) 
 
 Mr. Deem passed his youth in his native land. 
 He was sent to school according to law from the age 
 of five until he was 12, and he was then apprenticed 
 to learn the trade of a maker of cord, laces, fringes 
 and tassels, and other manufactured articles of that 
 class. He served the terms of his indenture, which 
 included three years, and then set out to pass the 
 years that intervened before he was liable to military 
 duty in the operations that belong to the life of a 
 craftsman on the Continent, and in this country is 
 called "jour" work. After two years he reached the 
 age of 20 and he made it in his way to seek the ref- 
 uge and privileges of the New World. He came to 
 the United States in a sailing vessel and landed at 
 the port of Baltimore. There he obtained employ at 
 his trad«i which he followed two years in the City of 
 Monuments and in New York. At the expiration of 
 the time named he established himself in the busi- 
 ness of which he had a complete knowledge, and he 
 continued its prosecution in the city of New York 
 until 1858. He came in that year to Illinois, and 
 settled at once on the farm which he has since owned 
 and occupied. 
 
 It should have been stated that his brother pre- 
 ceded him to America one year, and also that the 
 cause of his removal to Illinois was the failure of his 
 health in the business to which he had given unre- 
 mitting attention since his arrival in this country. 
 He bought the farm on which he lives in the year 
 previous to his making a permanent removal to it. 
 
 In the fall of 1857 his brother Alois opened a coal- 
 bank on land adjoining, and in the same year in 
 which he took possession of his place he also started 
 a similar enterprise, and in company with his brother 
 continued its management two years. He then sold 
 his coal interest and applied himself to farming until 
 1866. In that year he began to operate as a car- 
 penter and joiner, and followed that line of business 
 until 1880, when he resumed his agricultural opera- 
 tions. He is the owner of 144 acres of land, which 
 is in excellent condition for profitable farming. The 
 place is supplied with all necessary buildings of a 
 good type and the residence is situated in a fine loca- 
 tion overlooking the Rock River. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Deem to Mary Ann Suhrman 
 took place in 1853. She was born in OldenLurg, 
 Germany. To them have been born ten children, 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 seven of which are now living. Their names are 
 Bernhard L., Lewis M., Mary A., Henry H., Mag- 
 gie K., Frank J. and Charlie F. The family are 
 Catholics in religious belief. 
 
 Mr. Deem has been active and prominent in the 
 local official management of the township in which 
 he is a citizen. He has served in the capacity of 
 Police Magistrate n years and acted in that of 
 Supervisor in 1883 and 1884. He has served in 
 other prominent positions. He is a Democrat in po- 
 litical connection. 
 
 His parents died in Germany. His brother, who 
 came to America, was named Alois, after their 
 father. He married and settled in Colona Town- 
 ship, and died in 1874, without children. There 
 were four sisters, namely : Ann married Nicholas 
 Maas, and they are living in Independence, Iowa ; 
 Ludovica is the wife of John Sehuge, of Colona 
 Township ; Barbara married Fred Stottmeister, who 
 is a resident in the same township, and Hannah is 
 unmarried and lives in Minnesota. 
 
 -*/N» . • * 
 
 
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 rf^lfred Whitman Perry, agriculturist, resi- 
 dent at Geneseo, is a pioneer of Henry 
 County of 1837. He was born Dec. 19, 
 1818, at Stockbridge, Berkshire Co., Mass., 
 and is the son of Dr. Alfred and Lucy (Ben- 
 jamin) Perry. He is of English extraction, his 
 earliest known ancestors on the paternal side having 
 settled in Derby, Conn., late in the 17th century, 
 where the family was represented by descendants 
 until the removal of David Perry thence to Berkshire 
 Co., Mass., in the closing years of the next century. 
 The latter died about 1815 in Richmond, Mass. 
 Jerusha (Lord) Perry, his wife, was a native of Con- 
 necticut, and became the mother of 1 1 children — 
 seven sons and four daughters. Her death occurred 
 in 183 1, at Lee, Mass. Alfred, third in order of 
 birth, was born in April, 1780, in Ricihmond, Mass. 
 He was a graduate of Williams College in his colle- 
 giate course, and of Rush Medical College in the 
 city of Philadelphia, when that institution was still 
 under the management of its founder, Dr. Rush. He 
 practiced medicine some years in the South, and 
 afterwards settled at Stockbridge, whence he re- 
 moved to Mercer Co., 111., in 1837. In the year suc- 
 
 ceeding, his family joined him there; and, although 
 he had cherished the intention of quitting his pro- 
 fession, physicians were few and the necessities of 
 the settlers pressing, arid in rare cases he attended 
 to the calls on his skill. He died in September of 
 the year 1838. His family included his wife and 
 eight children, five of whom joined him in Mercer 
 County. After his death his widow and children 
 came to Geneseo. In August, 1839, she and her 
 younger children returned to Williamstown, Mass., 
 where she remained till about i860; then she came 
 again to Geneseo, where her sons were then all living. 
 In 1881 she went to Kansas, and is still living in Ot- 
 tawa, aged 93. She is as actively interested in life 
 as ever, and it has been for a long time her custom 
 to write a letter every day throughout the year. She 
 represents aline of humanity remarkable for tenacity 
 of life. Four of her sons and two daughters are still 
 living. 
 
 Mr. Perry, of this sketch, was educated to the age 
 of 16 at an academy in his native State. In 1834 
 he went to Williams College, where he remained but 
 a short time, and he came thence to Marion College 
 in Missouri. He was a student there some months. 
 In the winter of 1835-6 he came to Illinois, and 
 passed a short time prospecting, returning in the 
 spring ensuing to his native county. He passed al- 
 most the whole of the year 1836 in the city of Al- 
 bany, N. Y. In the spring of 1837 he came to Mer- 
 cer Co., 111., where his father had previously entered 
 claims of land, and he settled there to enter upon 
 the work of improvement on land which had not 
 been broken, and also to manage a part of the prop- 
 erty on which some improvements had been made. 
 Within the same year he bought 245 acres of land in 
 the township of Geneseo, 80 of which are now in- 
 cluded in the site of the city. The remainder was 
 on section 10, township 17. ' In 1839 Mr. Perry sold 
 his land in Mercer County, and in the fall of the 
 same year, in company with W. H. Holcomb, he as- 
 sumed the management of a mail and stage route 
 from Peoria to Oquawka, and later the route was 
 extended to Flint Hills, now Burlington, Iowa. 
 Still later the route was extended to the north and 
 south in that State, and in 184 1 Mr. Perry estab- 
 lished a mail and stage route to Iowa City, which 
 then contained one log house. The business of 
 Messrs. Perry and Holcomb was managed in har- 
 mony with that of Frink and Walker, the two man- 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 agements exchanging facilities. In the summer of 
 1842 Mr. Perry closed his connection with the busi- 
 ness. 
 
 He came to Geneseo and interested himself in 
 farming, having held his land and made further pur- 
 chases of real estate. In the fall of 1843 he went to 
 Chicago to traffic in stock and horses, and was also 
 interested in a mercantile enterprise of considerable 
 extent. In this line of business he continued until 
 1848. In that year, in company with his brothers, 
 D. L. and N. B. Perry, he started with several loads 
 of dry goods for a westerly point, but was detained 
 by a storm in Kane County. The business pros- 
 pects of that place seemed to warrant a continued 
 stay there, and instead of pushing further on they 
 made a permanent stop. They established their 
 mercantile business there and remained two years. 
 In the fall of 1852, in connection with their other 
 affairs, they opened a private banking house at* 
 Geneseo, which was conducted in connection with 
 their commercial business, and they also engaged in 
 farming, in which line they had extended their opera- 
 tions until it became a heavy enterprise. In 1855 
 they detached the business of the bank, and asso- 
 ciated a Mr. Spaulding with themselves in that 
 branch of enterprise. This was conducted until 
 1864, when Mr. Perry secured a charter for the First 
 National Bank at Geneseo. He retained his in- 
 terest therein until he sold to the present owners. 
 In 1862 he closed his relations with mercantile mat- 
 ters, selling to his brothers. 
 
 In 1864 he and his brother Charles bought coal 
 and farming lands, and also lands for the purpose of 
 grazing. They continued to prosecute the business 
 of mining to a considerable extent until 1 884, when 
 Mr. Perry closed his interests in that line. He is 
 still the owner of the coal-fields and fixtures, which 
 are not now in active operation. 
 
 He has been continuously interested in farming 
 and in rearing stock of excellent grades. His acre- 
 age is extensive, and he has been one of the chief 
 factors in in the agricultural development of Henry 
 County. 
 
 In his political connections he is a Republican. 
 Although interested in local and general issues, he 
 has refrained from holding official positions. 
 
 March 31, 1841, Mr. Perry and Mary Boone were 
 united in marriage. She was born in Bloomsbury, 
 
 Columbia Co., Pa., and is the daughter of James 
 and Hannah (Barton) Boone. In the spring of 1835 
 she accompanied her parents to Fort Clark, now 
 Peoria. In the spring following another removal 
 was made, to Mercer County. Mr. and Mrs. Perry 
 have two children — Fannie L. P. and Clara B. The ^ 
 former is the wife of Marshall F. Wolcott, to whom 
 she was married May 9, 1866. She is the mother of 
 three sons : Alfred P. is 18, George E. died in in- 
 fancy, and Frank B. is 14 years of age. 
 
 ames M. Allan. The personal records of 
 this gentleman are inseparable from the 
 collated annals of Henry County, as he was 
 one of those who were a part of the days of 
 first things, and has borne a similar relation to 
 every step in the development of the resources 
 of the section of Illinois where he has been a con- 
 tinuous resident from the time when he came hither 
 to seek a suitable location for a home to the date of 
 this narration. Mr. Allan is a citizen of Loraine 
 Township, and is the proprietor of a large tract of 
 land located on section 29. 
 
 He was still in his minority when, like Captain 
 Underbill riding to Hilton Head on the same errand, 
 he came to Illinois on horseback. The doughty 
 Captain had shaken from his feet the dust of Massa- 
 chusetts Bay to seek freedom from the strictures 
 placed on the followers of Annie Hutchinson, and 
 Colonel Allan sought the privileges of that portion of 
 his native land that was free from the curse of 
 slavery. He had grown up under its evils, and pos- 
 sessed a temperament that led him to an intuitive 
 cpm prehension of all that is embodied in the princi- 
 ples of liberty, and he had a vague notion that the 
 North afforded opportunities for the exercise of his 
 inherent views. 
 
 He was born in Sumner Co., Tenn., Nov. 23, 1814. 
 His father, John Allrn, was a native Englishman by 
 birth, and was of mixed Scotch and English extrac- 
 tion. He came to the United States about 1800. 
 The mother of Mr. Allan, Nancy (Hodge) Allan, 
 came of a family of traditionary Irish origin in its 
 earlier history, and recorded at a later date as Eng- 
 lish. John Allan removed his family to Huntsville, 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 I 
 
 Ala., and there the son grew ro approximate man- 
 hood ; and, as has been stated, just previous to reach- 
 ing his majority, he left the South to escape the evils 
 of a State government that sustained slavery. 
 
 He came to Illinois in the fall of 1835. He passed 
 the first winter in Carrollton, Green County, and in 
 April, 1836, made his first entry into Henry County. 
 He made his first headquarters at the point now 
 called Dayton, and entered a considerable quantity 
 of land. The opportunity was fairly open, and he 
 availed himself of it. His abilities were recognized 
 as valuable to the interests of the country that was 
 entering upon its period of development, and he was 
 appointed County Clerk. He was also made Circuit 
 Clerk, and was the first incumbent of those positions 
 in the county. In that year he went on horseback 
 to Vandalia, then the capital of Illinois, and by his 
 exertions the separation of Henry from Knox County 
 was effected. Mr. Allan was appointed County 
 Clerk by the first Commissioners' Court for Henry 
 County on the 27th of June, and on the 7th of Au- 
 gust of the same year he was elected Circuit Clerk. 
 Five days later the election for choice of an officer 
 to command the battalion of the county was held, 
 and Mr. Allan was elected Major, and duly commis- 
 sioned by Governor Duncan. He had established 
 the county seat in the first summer after his arrival, 
 and he did it on this wise : With a sense of the 
 eternal fitness of things, he recognized that the seat 
 of government should have a location as near as 
 possible to the geographical center of the county, 
 and, by a process of his own, he fixed on a point 
 which he considered to be the practical center of 
 which he was in pursuit, bought the quarter section 
 and staked out a town, which he named Richmond, 
 and took the proper steps to secure its claims to the 
 distinction of county seat. He was successful an 
 his maneuvers, and Richmond became the govern- 
 ment center of the new county. Mr. Allan estab- 
 lished his headquarters there and held the fort until 
 the few buildings that had been erected were de- 
 stroyed by fire, in less than two years after. The 
 court-house was a temporary structure, 16 x 24 feet 
 in extent, and one and a half stories in height. The 
 entire town burned, only a stable and a hay-stack 
 being left to mark the site of the metropolis of Rich- 
 mond. Mr. Allan saved the county records and pa- 
 pers and conveyed them to Geneseo. 
 
 He owned large tracts of land in the neighborhood 
 
 of that place, and it was afterwards his home for 
 nearly 50 years. He erected a handsome and ex- 
 pensive residence, which is now the building occu- 
 pied by the Normal School. In 183- Mr. Allan was 
 elected County Judge. He has served three years 
 as a member of the Board of Supervisors, and has 
 had other offices of less importance. In the course 
 of the Civil War he took an active part in attention 
 to the interests of the county in raising men and 
 money, and was appointed Provost Marshal, in 
 which capacity he served two years. He was sent 
 to the Legislature in 185 1 to exert his influence to 
 secure the charter for the Chicago, Rock Island & 
 Pacific Railroad, and he succeeded in effecting the 
 purpose. The opposition to the project in the coun- 
 ties lying north and east of Henry County was de- 
 termined, as there was an apprehension that such a 
 road would shut out others ; but it was overruled. 
 The interest of Mr. Allan in the road was unmis- 
 takable, as he had been its untiring advocate for six 
 years, and had kept up an unceasing series of efforts 
 in its behalf. He first communicated with John 
 Thompson, of New York, in relation to running a 
 line of railroad through Henry County, and made the 
 proper representations concerning the advantages of 
 the location ; but his overtures were met with disap- 
 proval, on account of the credit of the State being in 
 a low condition. But continued agitation of the sub- 
 ject and unremitting effort finally accomplished the 
 desired end. From 1847 t0 I ^S° Mr. Allan was in- 
 terested in a mercantile enterprise at Geneseo. In 
 1837 he bought 80 acres of land situated about half- 
 way between Geneseo and Cambridge, for which he 
 paid $10. He was its owner until 1845, when he 
 traded it to Royal M. Wilcox for a one-horse wagon, 
 valued at $30. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Allan to Susannah D. Stew- 
 art occurred in 1839. She was born in Geneseo, N. 
 Y., and is the daughter of Roderick D. Stewart, one of 
 the Commissioners of the Geneseo Colony who came 
 here in 1836. Theirs was the first marriage in the 
 place, and Mrs. Allan was the teacher of the first 
 school in the county. Four children came to the 
 Allan household, one of whom died in infancy. Sarah 
 A. is the superintendent of the Kindergarten School 
 at Fort Collins, Col. Mary Amelia is the wife of 
 George West, of Geneseo. Frances married William 
 Pearsall, of the same place. Louise A. L. is the 
 wife of Frank Williams, of the township of Loraine. 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 Mrs. Allan is connected with the Congregational 
 Church by membership. 
 
 In early life Mr. Allan was a Whig. At a later 
 period he became a Republican and he has since pre- 
 served a uniform and unwavering consistency with 
 the principles of the party and has supported its is- 
 sues. 
 
 3#h£-»«e 
 
 . oscph A. Sawyer, of Geneseo, came to 
 Henry County in 1850, and from that date 
 to 1877 he was identified with its business 
 interests. He was born in the town of Sharon, 
 Hillsborough Co., N. H., April 10, 1812. Abial 
 and Sibyl (Buss) Sawyer, his father and mother, 
 were both natives of the " Old Granite State," and 
 were descendants of the Scoth-Irish who settled at 
 Dunbarton, N. H., in ^19. 
 
 Mr. Sawyer was reared to the business in which 
 he has principally passed his active life and in which 
 he commenced his preparatory as a clerk at the age 
 of 14. He came to Illinois in the fall of 1834 and 
 spent the following winter at Peoria. In the spring 
 of 1835 he went to Tremont, Tazewell County, where 
 he became a member of the colony located there, 
 and was engaged in the transaction of mercantile 
 business three years. He was associated with Mr. 
 James L. Wilson, who was so mysteriously mur- 
 dered at Winetka in 1884. He went thence to 
 Hampton in Rock Island County and operated there 
 as a merchant until 1850, when he removed his in- 
 terests to Henry County and located at Dayton. He 
 established his business at that place and was en- 
 gaged in its successful prosecution until his change 
 of base to Geneseo, which transpired in 1861. At 
 Geneseo he entered vigorously into the prosecution 
 of his commercial interests and established branch 
 stores, at Cleveland, Green River and Colona, where 
 he conducted his commercial affairs until 1877. He 
 then retired to private life at Geneseo, where he had 
 maintained his residence from the date named as 
 that of his removal there. 
 
 Mr. Sawyer has been actively interested in the es- 
 tablishment and progress of the Geneseo Collegiate 
 Institue since the inauguration of the project. He 
 was made one of the first Trustees, and has con- 
 tinued to discharge the duties of that position since. 
 
 He is of Democratic political views, and during his 
 residence at various points has served in different 
 official positions. Among the most prominent have 
 been those of Justice of the Peace, Postmaster and 
 as a member of Educational Boards. 
 
 He was united in marriage to Martha S. Rich- 
 mond, Dec. 3T, 1835, at Tremont. She was born in 
 the State of Rhode Island, and was the daughter of 
 Braddock Richmond. They became the parents of 
 two sons and two daughters. Edward S. entered the 
 military service of the United States during the 
 Civil War, and enlisted in the Ninth 111. Cav. Emma 
 E. is the widow of Lewis W. Hanna, a son of Prior 
 Hanna, one of the pioneer settlers of the county and 
 whose name is given in one of its townships. (A 
 sketch of Mr. Hanna may be found on other pages.) 
 Mrs. Hanna lives at Peabody, Kan.; Louisa is en- 
 gaged in the prosecution of a book, music and sta- 
 tionery business at Greeley, Col. Albert, who is the 
 third in order of birth, was also a soldier and be- 
 longed to the r46th III. Inf. The mother died Jan. 
 25, 1849. 
 
 Mr. Sawyer was a second time married in July 
 1850, to Lucy A., daughter of Elihu Wells. They 
 have three children : Laura A. is the wife of George 
 W. Dexter, who is a wholesale grocer in Chicago ; 
 Ella is the second child ; Henry W. married Cora L. 
 Phares and is a resident of Chicago. Mrs. Sawyer 
 is a native of Massena, St. Lawrence Co., N. Y., and 
 came to the county in 1836, at the age of r7, with 
 her father, mother and five sisters, in their own con- 
 veyance. 
 
 =*** — 
 
 obert F. Steele, Justice of the Peace, in- 
 surance agent and dealer in real estate at 
 Geneseo, came to Henry County in 1857. 
 He was born in Antrim, Hillsborough Co., 
 N. H., Jan. 10, T831, and he is the son of 
 Robert and Betsey (Temple) Steele. He was 
 reared on a farm and received a good common -school 
 education, and afterwards attended an academy until 
 he was liberally educated. After completing his 
 course of study he passed his summers on the farm 
 and his winters in teaching. 
 
 In 1856 he left his native State and went to New 
 York. In 1857 he came to Illinois. He located at 
 
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 Geneseo, and, in company with Elihu Bryant, he 
 embarked in a boot and shoe enterprise, under the 
 firm style of Bryant & Steele. Their relations were 
 in existence until May, i860. Mr. Steele enlisted 
 in the late war Aug. 12, 1862, enrolling in Co. I> 
 1 1 2th 111. Inf. On going to the field he was appoint- 
 ed Commissary of his regiment and was in the ser- 
 vice until July 5, 1865. He was then mustered out 
 at Chicago. He returned to Geneseo and com- 
 menced to operate in the insurance business and as 
 a loan agent, and also began his connection with 
 traffic in real estate. In 1869 the present firm of 
 Hosford & Steele was formed. The company rep- 
 resents the leading insurance companies, and are 
 doing an extensive business in loans and in real 
 estate. 
 
 In 1867, Mr. Steele was appointed Postmaster by 
 President Johnson and he held the office two years. 
 In 1866 he was elected City Clerk and continued to 
 discharge the duties of the position until 1873. He 
 was Mayor of Geneseo during the years 1874-5-6, 
 serving consecutively as his own successor. In 1873 
 he was elected Justice of the Peace. He has been 
 re-elected ever since, covering a period of 12 years. 
 He is also serving his third term as Assistant Super- 
 visor. He is a Republican of most decided stripe 
 and has been an earnest supporter of the principles 
 and issues of the party since its organization. 
 
 He was joined in marriage to Annie E. Hardy, 
 April 21, 1857, in Methuen, Mass. She is a native 
 of ^Westminster, Vt., and is the daughter of Silas 
 Hardy. Mr. and Mrs. Steele have one child — Abbie 
 F. The entire family are members of the Congre- 
 gational Church. 
 
 ichard Mascall, whose name has been for 
 more than 40 years connected with Henry 
 B County as a factor in its business develop- 
 ment, came hither in 1840. At that time, 
 this section of Illinois was in its primitive 
 condition, awaiting the application of the 
 forces needed to open its resources. The energy 
 and perseverance brought here by Mr. Mascall were 
 of the right stamp to win success, and in conse- 
 quence he is the owner of nearly 900 acres of land 
 in the county besides his property in the village of 
 Cambridge. He also owns 1,280 acres in VVilkins 
 
 Co., Minn., and a quarter-section in Adams Co., 
 Neb. The accumulations of Mr. Mascall are the 
 fruit of judicious business principles and unwavering 
 integrity. 
 
 He was born Feb. 1, 1812, 50 miles east of the 
 city of London, in East Kent, England, of which 
 shire his parents, John and Elizabeth (Neeves) 
 Mascall, were both natives. His mother bore 24 
 children. She was married twice, Mr. Mascall's 
 father being her second husband, and all the chil- 
 dren born of her first marriage died in early life. 
 Only five of her children reached mature life. Of 
 this number John, Mrs. Biddie Hopper and Mrs. 
 Mary A. Thurston are deceased. Richard and James, 
 third and fourth in order of birth, are the sole sur- 
 vivors. The family came to the United States in 
 1830 and located in Litchfield, Bradford Co., Pa. 
 He was there married June 14, 1832, to Abigail 
 Elston. She was born June 22, 1814, in Bradford 
 Co., Pa., and died April 8, 1873, after having be- 
 come the mother of six children: Ransford P. de- 
 ceased ; Annie, wife of Spaulding Cody ; John H. 
 and Moses, deceased; Martha M. (Mrs. M. Bristol); 
 and James P. Mr. Mascall contracted a second 
 matrimonial alliance, with Mary J., daughter of 
 'Squire Wm. G. Heaps, of Annawan Township. Her 
 mother's maiden name was Hester Green, and she 
 was born in Lancaster Co., Pa., and died in Annawan 
 Township April 12, 1885, aged 69. The family 
 came to Adams Co., 111., in 1842, where Mrs. Mas- 
 call was born May 28, 1846. Her marriage was 
 celebrated Aug. 18, 1874. She is one of n children 
 born to her parents, of whom nine are living. Her 
 father is a citizen of Annawan Township. 
 
 Mr. Mascall is a representative of a class of men 
 who made their generation distinguished for enter- 
 prise and achievement. Their natural ambition to 
 get on in the world, coupled with the rumored re- 
 sources of the undeveloped Western country, served 
 as an incentive to test the untried fields which fancy 
 painted, lying in broad beauty in the then trackless 
 West. Poor in purse but rich in the qualities which 
 are the equipment of the genuine pioneer, Mr. Mas- 
 call turned his energies to good account in the labor 
 of farmer in his native country and in Litchfield, 
 Pa., until about the date of his first marriage, and af- 
 ter that event he conducted a saw-mill in Bradford 
 Co., Pa., until 1836. In that year he yielded to the 
 
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 290 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 pressure, partly of ambition, partly of desire to judge 
 for himself of the value of the promises of the prairied 
 section of this, his country, and, accompanied by his 
 brother James, he started for what was then the bor- 
 der of civilization. They traveled in pioneer style, 
 in accordance with their circumstances and frugal 
 habits, journeying overland 140 miles to Olean Point, 
 on the Allegheny River in the State of New York. 
 Here he bought a quantity of dry lumber, for which 
 he paid $10, and secured assistance to build a, 
 "float," otherwise termed a raft. On this craft the 
 party embarked. The number included Mr. Mas- 
 call, his wife and two oldest children, James Mas- 
 call, William Stackhouse and another man whose 
 name is now unknown, Jesse Elston, wife and two 
 children, and Spencer Elston. The Elstons came 
 only to the city of Cincinnati, Ohio. In addition to 
 its load of humanity, the raft transported the house- 
 hold belongings of the families. The journey to 
 Pittsburg, Pa., was of six days' duration, and formed 
 an episode which will live forever in the remem- 
 brances of those who felt that it was a challenge to 
 fate and fortune, and they watched the tide which 
 bore them away from accustomed scenes with varied 
 emotions. At Pittsburg, Mr. Mascall sold the raft 
 for $40. The party took passage on a steamer at 
 that city which was to carry them to Peoria, 111., 
 via the Ohio, Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. 
 
 They arrived at their destination at the end of 
 three weeks. Mr. Mascall was seized by illness 
 at Peoria, which proved of a lingering character, 
 but in the latter part of August he went to Wyoming, 
 Stark County, where he rented a farm of J. W. 
 Agard, on which he was resident until the spring of 
 1837. At that date he rented a farm, which was 
 the property of Francis Grady, situated one mile 
 south of Toulon. After his engagement expired, at 
 the end of two years, he re-rented property of Mr. 
 Agard. 
 
 His father made an entry of 40 acres of land, and 
 informed him that he (the father) would give him 
 (the son) ten acres. Mr. Mascall relates that, 
 though he now counts his acres by the hundreds, he 
 has seen no moment so completely filled with con- 
 tent as that in which he learned that he was to be- 
 come the owner of ten acres of land ! On his taking 
 possession, his father deeded him 25 acres, and he 
 asserts that he would not then change places with 
 royalty itself. He had won the highest privilege a 
 
 man can possess, — a claim on God's fair heritage to 
 man. 
 
 In the spring of 1841, he came with his family to 
 Henry County, and located on a farm of 25 acres in 
 the eastern part of the township of Cambridge. He 
 there made a success of agricultural pursuits until 
 1850, when he removed his family to Bishop Hill, 
 where he operated as a buyer of grain and trader in 
 behalf of the Swedish colony at that place. He re- 
 mained there a year, and during that time performed 
 services in the interests of the foreigners of incalcul T 
 able advantage to them. He superintended the 
 American laborers employed by the colonists, and 
 exerted himself in protecting their property and their 
 lives from mob violence. They were the objects of 
 frenzied fury, and the most strenuous efforts were 
 made by the land sharks to expel thern from their 
 estates. The time when the exertions of Mr. Mas- 
 call were most effective, was at the period of the 
 struggle for social and religious liberty in the Swedish 
 colony, which is treated with graphic power in an- 
 other portion of this work. The murder of Mr. 
 Jansen left the Swedes practically without a leader, - 
 and they placed implicit reliance on the honor and 
 advice of Mr. Mascall. He advised that they enter 
 a quarter-section of land, on which extensive im- 
 provements had been made, and which was the 
 especial object of the greed of the land-sharks. 
 They sent him to the land office at Dixon to nego- 
 tiate in their interests, and he found that the tract 
 had been entered on a land warrant. He protested, 
 on the ground that it had been settled and was un- 
 der cultivation, and he deposited the Government 
 price of $200, and urged a request that the warrant 
 be removed, which was afterwards done. To Mr,- 
 Mascall and to John Piatt, Sr., who espoused: the 
 cause of the worthy foreigners, the Swedes owe' the 
 preservation of their land claims, and, no doubt*, in 
 some instances their lives, as lynching and exterm- 
 ination were frequently threatened. 
 
 The pioneer experiences of Mr. Mascall present a 
 history full of interesting novelty, even though such 
 would seem to gather a monotony through frequent 
 repetition. He once took his fattened hogs to 
 Peoria, where he sold them for a dollar each, and 
 often drew his grain and pork to Chicago, when he 
 slept on the ground from utter inability to secure 
 the shelter of the hotels, his small returns from his 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
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 yearly labors necessitating absolutely no expendi- 
 ture while on his trips ! The generation of to-day 
 would faint in view of such privations and hardships. 
 Verily, the pioneers are worthy all admiration, honor 
 and respect. They are the truly great, who proved 
 their title to the soil they came to till and to secure 
 as a heritage for their posterity. Mr. Mascall, now 
 in the evening of life, can look back with retrospect- 
 ive satisfaction on the course he has pursued. 
 
 In 1851, Mr. Mascall returned to the management 
 of his farm in Cambridge where he continued to 
 operate until his removal to the village of Cambridge, 
 which took place in December, 1873. He had spent 
 a year previously at that place, associated with his 
 brother, James Mascall, in a mercantile enterprise. 
 Since fixing his permanent abode there, he has been 
 connected with its active business prosperity and 
 development. 
 
 In November, 1881, on the organization of the 
 Farmers' National Bank, he was made its President, 
 and still (1885) continues its chief official. 
 
 In political connection, Mr. Mascall is a Demo- 
 crat, and he exerted the energies which have char- 
 acterized his whole life in the success of the late 
 Presidential campaign. In 1857, he was elected 
 Supervisor of Cambridge Township, and was the 
 first to occupy that official position after the organi- 
 zation of the township. He was subsequently re- 
 elected in 1858, i860, 1863, 1869 and 1875. 
 
 During the struggle for the removal of the county 
 seat from Cambridge to Geneseo, in 1877-8, he took 
 an active part in behalf of the opposition to the 
 movement. He was made a member of the com- 
 mittee constituted to visit Springfield, where he was 
 influential in the defeat of the project. While Su- 
 pervisor, he was a member of the Poor-house and 
 County Building Committee, and was Overseer of 
 the Poor under the county organization for several 
 years. He has always been prominent in his inter- 
 est and efforts in the diffusion of general education, 
 and has acted 2 1 years as School Director in School 
 District No. 1, of East Cambridge. 
 
 In religious opinions, Mr. Mascall does not en- 
 dorse the tenets of any denominational organization, 
 but believes in the fundamental principles which 
 underlie the system of Ghristianity. 
 
 The appreciative regard in which Mr. Mascall is 
 held by the people of Cambridge, is evidenced by 
 
 the cognomen " Uncle Dick," which is familiar to 
 the lips of every man, woman and child within the 
 scope of his acquaintance. The addition of his por- 
 trait to the collated annals of Henry County will 
 be warmly welcomed, inasmuch as it ensures a per- 
 manent shadow of a presence Jong familiar to trav- 
 elers on the thoroughfares of the municipality of 
 which he has been so faithful and disinterested a 
 friend. He is a representative of a class of foreign- 
 born citizens who bring the thrift and energy which 
 are their only heritage in their native land to this 
 country with its great possibilities, and accomplish 
 ■ the best results in their application under the influ- 
 ences of the institutions of America. 
 
 ames H. Mitchell, Mayor of Geneseo in 
 1885, is a prominent business man at that 
 place. He came to Henry County in 1872. 
 He is a native of Ireland, and was born Dec. 
 22, 1843. The names of his parents were 
 James and Ellen (Donlan) Mitchell. In the 
 spring of 1 849 the family came to the United States 
 and made a location at Madison, Ind. Mr. Mitchell 
 remained there until 1866, when he went to Shelby- 
 ville, 111., and there embarked in business. He was 
 occupied in the management of his affairs there 
 untM 1 868, when he went to Blairstown, in Iowa, and 
 was engaged in the drug business there until his re- 
 moval, in the year named, to Geneseo. He was a 
 druggist at the latter place until 1878, when he 
 closed his connection therewith and commenced 
 operations as a dealer in real estate. He operated 
 in that line until May 1, 1884, when he opened the 
 business of a boot and shoe merchant, in which he is 
 still interested. 
 
 Mr. Mitchell adopted the pains as well as the 
 privileges % of the country to which he came to enjoy 
 the benefits its form of government afforded, and 
 when the Nation was in the throes of a Civil War he 
 entered the military service. He enlisted Aug. 9, 
 1862, in the 67th Regt. of Vol. from Indiana, en- 
 rolling in Co. C. A month after going to the field he 
 was in the hands of the rebels, captured by General 
 Bragg in September, 1862, at Mumfordsville, Ky. 
 He was paroled and a little later was exchanged. In 
 
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 292 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 November of the same year he again found himself 
 in the service. He continued in the army until 
 February, 1863, when he was discharged for dis- 
 ability, having been seized with illness that pre- 
 cluded the discharge of military duty. Mr. Mitchell 
 is a Republican of decided type. He has served as 
 Alderman of Geneseo, and was elected to that posi- 
 tion in 1883. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Mitchell to Mary Sharon 
 took place at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Aug. 14, 1872. 
 They have six children, — four sons and two daugh- 
 ters. John P. was born Oct. 26, 1873 ; James, Sept. 
 13, 1875 ; Gertie, July 9, 1877 ; Julia, July 8, 1880; 
 Francis, July 27, 1883. The family are Catholics. 
 Mrs. Mitchell was born at St. Charles, 111., and is the 
 daughter of Frank Sharon. 
 
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 ' rasmus Knorr, retired farmer, resident in 
 Colona, is a citizen of the United Slates 
 by adoption. He was born July 16, 1824, 
 5$. in Oldenburg, in the province of Saxony, Ger- 
 many. He is the son of George and Eliza- 
 beth (Fleischer) Knorr. From the age of six 
 until he was 14, Mr. Knorr was an attendant at 
 the schools of the place in which he was born, and 
 after he had completed the time there required by 
 law he was apprenticed to learn the business of a 
 flour miller. He served in that capacity until he ac- 
 quired a thoroughly practical knowledge of the trade. 
 When he was 20 years of age he entered the army and 
 served four years. 
 
 In 1849 he came to the United States. He made 
 the voyage on a sail vessel and landed at the port of 
 New York after a passage of 72 days. He made no 
 stop until he reached Wisconsin, where he interested 
 himself in lead-mining. He passed three years in 
 that business, and in 1852 went to California. He 
 went in company with two friends. Mr. Knorr and 
 one of the others bought three Indian ponies, which 
 they loaded with provisions. They also procured a 
 hand -cart, to which they contrived to attach one of 
 the ponies, and the little procession made its way 
 across the plains. They stopped at Placerville, 
 where they engaged in mining for gold. With the 
 exception of the summer season of 1858 they re- 
 
 mained at the same place until 1862. The time 
 named they were in British Columbia. 
 
 In 1862 Mr. Knorr returned to the East. He 
 came via the Isthmus and ' proceeded to Henry 
 County. In 1863 he bought a farm on section 5, 
 in Hanna Township. It was unimproved and he 
 put it in thorough condition for profitable agricultural 
 operations. The buildings are of the best type for 
 the purposes for which they are needed and include 
 all that are required in general farming. Mr. Knorr 
 also set out a well assorted orchard. In 1879 the 
 place was sold, and Mr. Knorr bought a farm on 
 section 2, in Colona Township. This was in the 
 same state of nature as the other had been and the 
 proprietor put forth the same efforts to the same end 
 as in the first instance. The place is now in a condi- 
 tion that gives evidence of the- quality of the energy 
 and industry of the owner. In 1884 the farm was 
 rented and the family removed to the village of Co- 
 lona, where Mr. Knorr is the owner of a residence. 
 
 He was married in 1863 to Mrs. Amelia (Schultze) 
 Buckholz. She was born in Prussia, and was the 
 widow of Henry Buckholz. They were married in 
 their native land, and after their removal to the 
 United States the husband entered the army of the 
 Union. He enlisted in 1862 in the 112th 111. Vol. 
 Inf. as a member of Co. K. He died the same year, 
 while in the service. Their only child, T. Henry, is 
 deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Knorr have one child, — 
 Charles E. 
 
 eorge Wells, a retired merchant at Gene- 
 seo, was born in Shelburne, Franklin Co., 
 Mass., Jan. 14, 1814. He is of Puritan 
 stock, his ancestors having come from Eng- 
 land to the New England coast in the early 
 history of the country, and they were among 
 the most prominent in the exciting events of the 
 times that " troubled men's souls." David Wells, 
 his paternal grandfather, moved to Shelburne in 
 1872. He was an active participant in the War of 
 the Revolution, and was famous for his daring and 
 bravery. He was concerned in the entire course of 
 the struggle for independence, and was an eye- 
 witness of the surrender of Burgoyne. He was also 
 a member of the Continental Congress, and died in 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 his 91st year. His son, William Wells, was a Colo- 
 nel of militia, and became prominent as a legislator, 
 serving 30 sessions in the .State Assembly of the 
 Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He died at Shel- 
 burne, at the age of 81. He was born in the State 
 of Connecticut, which was also the native State of 
 his wife, who, previous to her marriage, was Pru- 
 dence May. Her family were distinguished for 
 learning, and were among the leaders in society and 
 in public affairs in the times in which they lived. 
 Her father and seven of his sons and sons-in-law 
 were graduates of Yale College. Prudence May 
 Wells died at 94. 
 
 Mr. Wells of this sketch received a common- 
 school education, and was brought up with a thor- 
 ough knowledge of farming. He did not take kindly 
 to the vocation of agriculture, and when he was 18 
 he went to Troy, N. Y., to accept a position as clerk 
 in a mercantile establishment. This was in 1832, 
 and he remained in the position until 1835. In 
 that year he embarked in trade himself, and con- 
 tinued to operate as a merchant there until his 
 removal to Illinois in 1856. He settled at Geneseo, 
 and opened a general store. He prosecuted his 
 commercial interests about nine years, and closed 
 his connections with active business about the time 
 of the termination of the war. 
 
 In the early days of his political relations he was 
 a Whig; but the issues that arose in which the 
 fundamental principles of that element were founded 
 caused him to adopt those of the Republican party, 
 and he became one of its most consistent adherents 
 on its organization. 
 
 Mr. Wells was married the first time Nov. 29, 
 1838, to Mary M. Coleman, at Greenfield, Mass., 
 and they had one child, William P. He was born 
 Jan. 6, 1839, and is now married, and a resident of 
 the city of New York. The mother died July 20, 
 r849, and Mr. Wells was a second time married, 
 April 15, 185 1, to Helen Van Alen, who died with- 
 out issue, Sept. 18, 1867. Her successor was Jane 
 E. Stowe, of Troy, N. Y., whom he married July 1, 
 1869, and died Oct. u, 1883 ; she left no children; 
 Mr. Wells was again married Nov. n, 1884, to Mrs. 
 Caroline E., widow of A. H. Barnes and daughter 
 of Isaac Foote. Her grandfather, Isaac Foote, was 
 a Major in the War of the Revolution. One of her 
 maternal great-uncles was Lyman Hall, one of the 
 
 signers of the Declaration of Independence. Her V> 
 
 family origin on both sides was of Puritan extraction. />? 
 
 She is a member of the Congregational Church, and *<■ 
 
 Mr. Wells is a man of tolerant religious views. I 
 
 'd'afiidrew Soliday has been a resident in 
 Henry County since 1854. He has lived 
 in the township of Yorktown since 1856. 
 He was born in Alsace, then a province of 
 France, since which time it fell into the pos- 
 session of Germany in the late war between 
 those two powers. His birth occurred Jan. 7, 1830, 
 and he is the son of Andrew and Margaret Soliday. 
 His father died in his infancy, and as he was the 
 only child his mother brought him up. 
 
 When he was six years old she came with him to 
 America. She remained in Pennsylvania a few 
 months after landing in the New World, and while 
 there was married to Jacob Grose, a native of Rhen- 
 ish Bavaria. In the February following, the new 
 family went to Allegany County, in the State of New 
 York, where the step-father died, five years later. 
 The son and his mother remained there and in Liv- 
 ingston County until 1853. He was her sole de- 
 pendence after the death of her second husband, 
 and he was also the maintainer of two half-sisters, 
 who were the children of the step-father. He worked 
 as a farm assistant to obtain the means needed for 
 the support of the household, and he worked by the 
 day. In the year named he came West to see if he 
 could discover any chance for a poor man to get 
 along in the world, and he determined to make a 
 a trial of what he considered conditions that prom- 
 ised the reward of effort and frugality. He returned 
 to New York, and in 1854 he came to Illinois 
 with his mother and two sisters. He rented the 
 farm of his uncle in the township of Loraine, on 
 which he operated two years. He was successful 
 in his efforts to save what he earned, and he took 
 possession of the land which he had bought the year 
 in which he came to the county. It was located on 
 section 19 of the township of Yorktown, and he built 
 a double hewed-log house, into which the family 
 moved in the month of January, 1856. Mr. Soliday 
 at once entered with characteristic vigor into the 
 work of improvement, and he made telling progress 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 with his old-country industry and thrift. He was 
 the owner of a yoke of oxen and two cows, and in a 
 very short time he exchanged the former for horses 
 and proceeded with his work of reclamation until he 
 had placed the entire acreage under tillage. In 
 1864 he sold the place and secured another on sec- 
 tion 3r of the same township. There was a small 
 frame house on the place, which was the first resi- 
 dence erected in the township, and was built by 
 Daniel Crist ; and 50 acres had been put under the 
 plow by him. Mr. Soliday is the proprietor of 276 
 acres, which is all in the best possible condition for 
 successful agriculture, and supplied with the kind of 
 farm buildings that show the quality of the efforts 
 that have been exercised in Henry County, that 
 have placed it in the ranks with those of older set- 
 tlement in the State. Mr. Soliday is engaged in 
 mixed husbandry. 
 
 In his political connection, he was at first a Whig. 
 On the formation of the Republican party he became 
 its adherent, and has been a consistent member of it 
 ever since. He has served as Assessor and as 
 Highway Commissioner, and has also filled the posi- 
 tions of Constable, etc. He has acted 19 years in 
 the capacity of School Director. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Soliday to Mary Baker took 
 place June 14, 1856. She was born in Warren Co., 
 Pa. They have seven children : Mary Ellen mar- 
 ried Henry Minch, of Yorktown Township; Jacob 
 E., Andrew J., Esther E., Ida S., Hannah A. and 
 Charles A. are those who are still at home. 
 
 The mother lived with her son as long as her life 
 was spared after coming to Illinois. She died at his 
 home, March s, 1875. His oldest sister is named 
 Elizabeth. Sophia married John Coplin, and they 
 removed to Denver, Col. 
 
 * +*&+ * 
 
 iberty Stimson, now deceased, was a former 
 resident of the township and city of Gene- 
 seo, and came to Henry County in 1836. 
 He was one of the most widely known and 
 {•) generally respected citizens of the section where 
 he made his home from the year named until his 
 death. 
 
 He was born at Weston, in Middlesex Co., Mass., 
 Feb. 9, 1 807 . Jeremiah Stimson, his father, was a 
 
 (J) 
 
 native of Massachusetts, and belonged to an old and 
 well-established family in that State. The maiden 
 name of his mother was Elizabeth Fuller, and she 
 was the daughter of a sister of Benjamin Franklin, 
 the philosopher and statesman. The father of Mr. 
 Stimson died when the latter was in his nth year, \^ 
 and he was brought up in the care of a family 
 named Brown, at Dedham, Mass. His early life was 
 passed on a farm, and subsequently he became in- 
 terested in the business of a trader. He remained 
 in the East until 1835, when he came to Illinois and 
 at first made a location in Bureau County. 
 
 In the year following he came to Henry County. 
 He located on section r5, in the township of Gene- 
 seo, and in 1837 began to make improvements on it. 
 In 1838 he built a log house and barn of substantial 
 character and had 40 acres broken. The house re- 
 ferred to occupied the site where the farm residence 
 now stands. He was the owner of 240 acres, one- 
 third of which was in timber. He continued the 
 purchase and sale of real estate for many years, and ^ 
 at the time of his death he was the possessor of only $ 
 96 acres, of which he was the owner originally, and a 
 for which he held the Government patent. ^ 
 
 Mr. Stimson was married three times. Leah s 
 Clark became his wife in Bureau County, Dec. 25, $$• 
 1837. She died Dec. ro, 1843, leaving two chil- * 
 dren, — a son and a daughter. The latter, who was 
 named' Elizabeth, was born Nov. 18, 1840, and 
 died Dec. n, 1843, one day subsequent to the de- 
 mise of the mother. Charles was born Nov. 30, 
 1843, and died Nov. 4, 1864. 
 
 Mr. Stimson married Mrs. Remembrance (Evans) 
 Ogden in 1844. She was a widow and the mother of 
 several children by her first husband. She died 
 Nov. 13, 1862. From the second matrimonial con- 
 nection there is no issue. Mr. Stimson was married 
 again at Rock Island Feb. 13, 1867, to Miss Hannah 
 E. Reynolds. She was born at Berlin, Washington 
 Co., Vt., July 4, 1824, and is the daughter of Elisha 
 P. and Betsey (Stuart) Reynolds. Her father was 
 of English extraction and was a lineal descendant of 
 the celebrated " Sir Joshua Reynolds," the most dis- 
 tinguished painter of his time. Her mother was a 
 " Stuart," and descended from the royal line of Scot- 
 land. 
 
 Mrs. Stimson is still the survivor of her husband. 
 She is a lady who preserves the distinctive traits of 
 
 (D 
 
 ai ©» = — g7°<-'Pii®pg3 \s ' *&**■ 
 
ft- 
 
 E3 
 
 i 
 
 > 
 
 I 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 295 
 
 the families in which she had her origin in strength 
 of character, stability of purpose and individuality. 
 She received educational advantages of the best type 
 in the East, and at 18 began the work of a teacher in 
 New England. After some years she went to the 
 State of New York and there continued the pursuit 
 of her occupation. In the winter of 1858-9 she 
 went to Texas to enter upon the duties of a planta- 
 tion teacher at Marshall, in Harrison County. She 
 made a success of the undertaking, and just prior to 
 the culmination of the Southern infatuation and fool- 
 hardiness she transferred her field of operation to the 
 Red River country of Louisiana. The consequences 
 of the rebellion did not affect her position materially 
 until the fall of 1862. 
 
 At that time the feeling of sectional bitterness be- 
 gan to penetrate to the remoter rural districts and 
 she prepared to make her way Northward. About 
 a dozen Northern women, who had been in the South 
 on the same business, found it expedient to seek a 
 return to their friends, and Miss Reynolds joined the 
 party. The Governors of Texas and Louisiana had 
 provided them with the credentials necessary to se- 
 cure their immunity from detention in the rebel 
 lines; and, after a series of adventures that would 
 make a chapter in the history of the experiences of 
 a life, she arrived at Vicksburg. The time was just 
 subsequent to the termination of the second bom- 
 bardment of that historic city. There the party were 
 treated as prisoners of war and were transferred to 
 the Federal authorities by the regular exchange. 
 This method of facilitating their progress to their 
 friends was an act of gentlemanly courtesy on the 
 part of Gen. Kirby Smith, the Confederate com- 
 mander. The ladies were placed on a Federal gun- 
 boat and transferred to transport. The latter belonged 
 to a flotilla of 1 r that.were being conveyed by two 
 gun-boats to the upper river. They carried a flag of 
 truce, but it was ineffectual to preserve from rebel 
 attack, and they were fired into twice by the guer- 
 rillas that infested the country on the Mississippi 
 side. One of these occasions was full of intense ex- 
 citement, as there was great danger of an invasion 
 from the shore. The " Yankee schoolma'ams" proved 
 themselves equal to the emergency, and at their own 
 urgent request were supplied with " munitions of 
 war " in the shape of shot-guns, wherewith to take 
 part in the fray if the occasion should demand. The 
 guerrillas held that discretion was, in their cases, the 
 
 better part of valor, and deferred their purpose. 
 Whether they knew that the young ladies were on 
 board and desisted from the instinct of their tradi- 
 tional chivalry, or whether they hesitated to risk their 
 precious persons in a double danger, is not certain ; 
 and there may have been a deterring consideration 
 in their susceptible hearts. Nobody knows, but more 
 strange things have happened. The young ladies 
 were landed safely at Cairo and again breathed the 
 air of liberty. 
 
 Mr. Stimson was engaged in the business of a 
 farmer and stockman in the township of Geneseo 
 until the time of his demise. That event occurred 
 July 26 t 1878. He was a man who commanded the 
 respect and esteem of his fellow citizens from the 
 uprightness of his character and the integrity in 
 which he discharged every known duty in his rela- 
 tions with them. He was a Democrat in his politi- 
 cal relations and views, and was a consistent 
 supporter of the tenets of that party. 
 
 ^SW 
 
 I5> 
 
 obert L. Pritehard, a farmer on section 
 30, Alba Township, is a native of the 
 pu?&. ' "Green Isle." He was born in County 
 }\$? Down, and accompanied his parents to the 
 United States in 1865. A full account of 
 their lives, both in this and in their native 
 country, is given with the sketch of their son, Hugh 
 W., the brother of Mr. Pritehard of this sketch. 
 The latter was born in 1850, and was therefore a 
 well-grown lad when he came to the county where 
 he has since resided. He remained under the pa- 
 rental care and authority until he had passed the 
 years of his minority, attending district schools and 
 working on the farm. 
 
 The first eventful act of his life was his marriage 
 to Sarah Fleming. She is the daughter of John 
 Fleming, of Geneseo, who is living in retirement in 
 that city, whither he removed from the township of 
 Cornwall, where he was for many years a prosperous 
 farmer. (See sketch of John Fleming.) Mr. and 
 Mrs. Pritehard have one child, a daughter, born 
 Aug. 16, 1885. 
 
 Mr. Pritehard is one of the leading farmers of the 
 township in which he lives. He is the half owner of 
 an undivided tract of land in company with his 
 
 f 
 
 v|i 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 '$\§&®fc- 
 
 .^gy: £/ - 4 ?ti ra n& \9 ^ gy 1 
 
 4>tX< 
 
*§—■ 
 
 -^k — 6v^>nti§im^ 
 
 296 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 brother who has been named, and they are interested 
 in the management of their joint estate, where each 
 is making a success of the business of stock-rearing 
 on an extensive scale. The herds of Mr. Pritchard 
 consist of full-blooded Short -horn cattle, of which he 
 owns about 200, and he is the possessor of a num- 
 ber of thorough-bred Norman and English Draft 
 horses, also Clydesdales. The swine on the place 
 are of the Poland-China variety. 
 
 Mr. Pritchard is a Republican in political connec- 
 tion and belongs to the Congregational Church. He 
 has served in several official capacities in the town- 
 ship. 
 
 — <&- 
 
 -e~ - 
 
 oseph Weir. One of the prosperous, en- 
 ergetic and respectable farmers of Henry 
 County is Joseph Weir, who resides on 
 section 26, Clover Township. He was born 
 in Guernsey Co., Ohio, Aug. 13, 1827, and is 
 a son of Andrew and Ann (Duland) Weir, na- 
 tives of Ireland and Pennsylvania respectively, who 
 were engaged in the occupation of farming until 
 they emigrated West. On arriving in Illinois they 
 came to Clover Township, where he purchased 160 
 acres on section 36, and resided on the same until 
 his death. 
 
 Joseph, our subject, remained at home under the 
 influence of his parents until he reached his legal 
 majority, in the meantime having received a com- 
 mon-school education. After leaving the parental 
 roof-tree he engaged in farming by purchasing 80 
 acres of land on section 26, and later made another 
 purchase on section 23, of 160 acres. By his ener- 
 getic and industrious labor he has since put the 
 same under the best cultivation, and has erected a 
 beautiful house on section 26, where he resides. 
 
 Miss Margaret Davis, a native of Pennsylvania, 
 was the lady chosen to share the joys and sorrows, 
 successes and reverses, of the future with Mr. Weir, 
 in the year 1848. They have become the parents 
 of seven children, six of whom are living, namely . 
 Julia A., James L., Ella, William, Carrie and John 
 W., all of whom are married except the youngest ; 
 Ida is deceased. 
 Mr. Weir affiliates with the Democratic party, and 
 
 |A^§§ff—- ^^^ ^-A^fll II 
 
 with his wife belongs to the Christian Church. He^> 
 is one of the representative and worthy men of^ 
 Henry County. 
 
 hbner Wilson is a well-to-do farmer in the 
 
 |£ township of Geneseo, and is located on 
 
 section 30. He was born in West Amwell, 
 
 Hunterdon Co., N. J., May 30, 1824. His 
 
 parents, Joseph and Sarah (Pitcock) Wilson, 
 
 were both natives of the same State where 
 
 their son was born. 
 
 Until the latter was 16 he remained on the farm, 
 and at that age he entered on an apprenticeship to 
 learn the business of a tanner. After passing foui 
 years in the business, and finding it altogether un- 
 congenial, he abandoned the project of making it the 
 pursuit of his life, and again turned his attention to ( J) 
 farming. He continued to operate in the capacity^ 
 of agriculturist until 1845, when he went from his^ 
 native place to Mercer County, where he rented ea 
 land and resumed the same business. He passed gift 
 three years on the place which he had rented, and== 
 in 1849 returned to the county in which he was^Y 
 born. In company with his brother William he 
 
 bought a farm in West Amwell, which they oper- . \ 
 -i._j • a. a*. *u« nvn ;-~»; n n «f *• ' 
 
 ated in common two years. At the expiration of 
 that time he bought the claim of his brother, and 
 was the resident owner of the place until 1856, 
 when he sold it. He paid at the rate of $27 per 
 acre, and sold it for $50 per acre. At the time he 
 effected the sale his wife was in impaired health, 
 and he thought it best to make a change in the 
 locality of their home. Accordingly, he determined 
 to come West, and located in the county where he 
 has since been a citizen. He first made a purchase 
 of 80 acres on section 32, Geneseo Township, where 
 he made some improvements, and on which he pur- 
 sued his business as a farmer three years. He then 
 sold, and removed to a tract of 80 acres, which he 
 bought in the township of Munson. It was situated"® 
 on section 6, and was in a wholly unimproved con- 
 dition. He built a frame house, planted trees, and* J 
 set out hedges. He occupied the place until i 8 74.^ 
 when he removed to a farm which he had previ-^ ^ 
 ously bought in the township of Geneseo, and which(& 
 has since been his field of operation. At the tinier 
 
 «&A£- 
 
M 
 
 -ev^HIII&DIH^^ — ^^k- 
 
 -f^^V^ 
 
 
 
 <5* 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 he took possession the place contained 80 acres, 
 all of which is in excellent condition for prosperous 
 farming. Mr. Wilson has set out fruit and shade 
 trees, and erected two sets of frame buildings. He 
 is interested in the growth of grain and live stock. 
 
 He was first married, in the State of New Jersey, 
 to Elizabeth La Rue, who was born in the town of 
 Delaware, in Hunterdon County. They have four 
 children now living, whose record is as follows : 
 Arabella is the wife of Thomas Clark; Rebecca 
 married William Duff; William and Albert are the 
 two younger. The first marriage of Mr. Wilson 
 took place Dec. 18, 1847. His wife died July 11, 
 1 88 1, and Mr. Wilson was again married in May, 
 1884, to Amanda, daughter of John D. Barnes, of 
 Geneseo. (See sketch.) 
 
 -*- 
 
 -*- 
 
 H. Simmons, residing on section 28, Clo- 
 ver Township, where he is engaged in the 
 occupation of a farmer, was born Jan. 4, 
 18 1 6, in Massachusetts, his parents being 
 Edward and Charity (Daggett) Simmons, 
 natives of Massachusetts, and where the father 
 followed the business of ship-carpenter. 
 
 W. H. Simmons was a resident of the parental 
 homestead until 1 2 years of age, having enjoyed the 
 advantages afforded by the common schools. After 
 leaving home he worked in a brick-yard for four 
 years. On attaining his 16th year he engaged to 
 learn the carpenter's trade, to master which he 
 served an apprenticeship for three years. Two 
 years after learning his trade he worked in Massa- 
 chusetts, and then went to Pennsylvania, where he 
 followed his trade for two years longer. His next 
 move was to Ohio, where he remained 12 years, all 
 the time engaged in working at his trade. In 1855 
 he came to this county and located at Kewanee, 
 where he worked at his trade for five years. He is 
 a skilled mechanic, and during the time that he has 
 been employed in the active prosecution of his trade 
 he has taken jobs that amounted to $10,000, and 
 has had in his employ as many as 40 hands at one 
 time. In i860 Mr. Simmons came to Clover Town- 
 ship, this county, and located on section 28, where 
 he had purchased 1 60 acres of land. He located on 
 this land, and by honest, energetic labor, good judg- 
 
 ment and economy he has added to his original pur- 
 chases, and now owns 20 acres adjoining his first 
 purchase of 160 ; also 160 acres on section 23, 60 on 
 section 24, 160 on section 20, 160 in Knox County, 
 320 acres in Kansas, and 240 acres in Iowa. His 
 accumulations of real estate is attributable to his 
 own indomitable energy and good judgment, coupled 
 with the active co-operation of his good helpmeet, 
 to whom he was united in marriage Dec. 9, 1839. 
 Her maiden name was Mary A. Briggs, and she was 
 a native of Massachusetts. 
 
 The issue of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Sim- 
 mons has been seven children, four of whom are 
 living : M. Eugenia, L. Alice, Evelinda A., and 
 Horace F.; M. Eugenia married Alfred Stickney, 
 and they have one child, Carrie A. ; L. Alice mar- 
 ried George A. Wood, at present residing in Boston, 
 Mass. Mr. Simmons, politically, is a supporter of 
 the tenets of the Democratic party. He has held 
 the different offices within the gift of the people of 
 his township, and is one of those gentlemen honored 
 and respected for their straightforward and manly 
 dealings with their fellow men. 
 
 9 
 
 & 
 
 -S3- 
 
 "<tt~- 
 
 -E3- 
 
 ,aptain Joseph B. Brush, a pioneer of 
 Henry County of 1838, was born in New 
 York city, June 10, 1807, and is the 
 son of Ebenezer Brush. At the age of 11 
 he went to sea. The ship on which he sailed 
 was in the merchant service, and he followed 
 a seafaring life for 20 years, gradually rising in his 
 profession until he became the master of a brig. 
 He operated nine years in the merchant service be- 
 tween China and the city of Boston. In 1837 he 
 lost his vessel in the Baltic sea, and therewith closed 
 his connection with the pleasures and perils of a 
 seafaring life. 
 
 In the following year he came to Henry County 
 and settled in Morristown, where he became inter- 
 ested in farming. He was also occupied in the 
 prosecution of other business relations, and was the 
 first mail-carrier between Geneseo and Morristown. 
 He was engaged in that capacity two years. 
 
 On the first of April, 1836, he became the husband 
 of Naomi, daughter of John Brush, of Long Island. 
 She was born on that historic ground of the early 
 
 (!) 
 
 - 3 "© e — @?*45l D® BR&AS — 3 »$&z- 
 

 ^V&UHSliUf>^ ^&^ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 career of this country. She is the mother of two 
 children, Henry E. and Naomi ; the latter is the 
 wife of William Hall, of Geneseo. 
 
 Captain Brash removed to Geneseo in 1856, and 
 has since been a citizen of that place. He was a 
 Whig in his early political relations, and in later 
 years has been independent. He has had an event- 
 ful life, and the detailed account of his adventures 
 by sea and land would fill a volume. He is in ad- 
 vanced life, but is passing his last years in cheerful 
 serenity. 
 
 i.amuel Pritchard, of the township of Alba, 
 became a citizen of Henry County in 1857. 
 He was born in County Down, Ireland, 
 Feb. 18, 1841, and when he was ten years of 
 age he came to the United States with his 
 brother William. They landed at the port of 
 New York and proceeded thence to the city of Phila- 
 delphia, where Samuel entered the employ of a flori- 
 culturist and remained in the same service six years. 
 At the end of that time he came to the township 
 where he is now a resident, and in company with 
 his brother he rented 75 acres of land, which they 
 managed jointly two years. 
 
 In the first year of the Civil War Mr. Pritchard en- 
 tered the military service of his adopted country. 
 He enlisted in Co. H, 126th 111. Vol. Inf., under 
 Capt. Thomas Martin. The regiment, commanded 
 by Col. Richmond, was mustered into service at 
 Alton, 111., and assigned to the 16th Army Corps, 
 General Hurlburt, Corps Commander. The com- 
 mand was ordered to Tennessee and thence to Vicks- 
 burg. After the successful termination of the siege 
 of that place the regiment was transferred to the 
 command of General Steele, of the Seventh Army 
 Corps, and was concerned in the prominent battles in 
 Arkansas while completing the term of enlistment. 
 Mr. Pritchard enlisted Aug. 9, 1862, and was honor- 
 ably discharged July 12, 1865, after the termination 
 of the war, at Pine Bluff, Ark. 
 
 He returned to Alba Township and entered upon 
 the career of a farmer, and has achieved the success 
 due to the quality of his efforts and the degree of his 
 industry. He deserves the reward of the patriot 
 who risks his life to secure the possession of a peace- 
 
 ful country, and the broad, well cultivated acres of 
 his beautiful farm show that Providence has approved 
 his course of action as well as the spirit in which 
 he has operated. He owns 440 acres of excellent 
 land, on which has been erected a fine dwelling- 
 house. The other buildings on the place are of a 
 suitable and useful character. In political faith, Mr. 
 Pritchard is a Republican, and has consistently sup- 
 ported the principles of his party. He is serving a 
 term as School Director. He is a member of the 
 Grand Army Post at Annawan, No. 290. 
 
 Dec. 3, 1868, he was married to Alice Pritchard, a 
 native of the County of Down, Ireland. Seven chil- 
 dren have been born to them, one of whom has 
 passed to the silence and mystery of the world of 
 the unseen. They were born in the following order : 
 Robert H., Mary J., William John, Elmer (died in 
 infancy), Alice G., David R. and Lizzie A. The 
 parents are connected in membership with the Con- 
 gregational Church. 
 
 — »j61- 
 
 . acob Smith, merchant at Colona, was born 
 in the county of Northumberland, England, 
 July 17, 1827. He is the oldest son of 
 Thomas and Jane (Robinson) Smith, and they 
 were residents in the colliery district in Eng- 
 land after 1833, when their son was six years of 
 they went then to the county of Durham and a 
 year later he went into the coal mines to work. He 
 was but seven years old ; but it is a well-known fact, 
 that in the English mines the smaller the child 
 who is placed there to work the better, in some par- 
 ticulars, as the veins of coal in some places are very 
 narrow. The labor he at first performed was that of 
 a pick-carrier. As he grew older he could do other 
 work and he operated in various capacities until he 
 reached the age of 19. He then commenced the 
 work of a regular miner. 
 
 During the earlier years of his life he had attended 
 the evening schools and had acquired a fair educa- 
 tion. He continued to work in the collieries of 
 Durham until 1853. In that year he came to America 
 and went at once to the State of Pennsylvania, 
 where there was an opportunity to obtain employ- 
 ment in the avenue in which he had spent the years 
 of his life thus far. He entered the coal mines at 
 
 age; 
 
 ft 
 
 C3 
 
 m\§&&&*- 
 
 ■^C ^ 0/ 31111®!!!!$ ^ ■ ^ y^ 
 
-^tifc: 6V4>HMllr>r^ >€^r 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 2 99 
 
 Johnstown and was there engaged from September, 
 1853, until July, 1854. He then came to Illinois 
 and located in the county of Rock Island. He oper- 
 ated as a miner there until Jan. 20, 1856, when he 
 came to Henry County. He engaged in mining in 
 Minersville, in Colona Township, where he continued 
 to work until his removal, in 1858, to the village 
 of Colona. He bought a building for the purpose of 
 engaging in mercantile affairs and put in a stock of 
 goods. He embarked in the enterprise in company 
 with James Bell, and they conducted their interests 
 jointly until they dissolved in 1861. In 1865 he 
 took in George Brown as a partner, who remained 
 with him until 1876. Since that date Mr. Smith has 
 pursued his business as a merchant alone. He keeps 
 a stock suited to the demands of a country trade, 
 and' is engaged in a popular and profitable business. 
 In 1851 he was married to Ann Smith, a native of 
 England. 
 
 I 
 
 athan B. Huntington, deceased, settled in 
 Henry County in 1854. From the date of 
 his removal hither to the time when fail- 
 ing health compelled his withdrawal from act- 
 ive participation in the affairs of the place, he 
 was a prominent factor in the furtherance of all 
 projects that seemed to bear a promise of permanent 
 benefit to the community with whose interests he 
 was identified. 
 
 He was a native of Ashford, Conn., and was born 
 Feb. 22, 1810. His father, Dr. Andrew Huntington, 
 was for a half century a practicing physician of Ash- 
 ford. The family is well known in New England, 
 and is of English Puritan descent. The original pro- 
 genitor on the American Continent was William 
 Huntington, who settled at Salisbury, Mass., in 1640. 
 Mr. Huntington came to the State in 1838, settling in 
 Tazewell Co., where he was engaged in farming un- 
 til his removal to Henry County. He made exten- 
 sive purchases of land, and became interested largely 
 in real estate, in the city and adjacent country. He 
 erected a considerable number of buildings, and 
 platted a tract of land in the southern portion of the 
 city, called " Huntington's Addition." In 1857 he 
 went to Elbridge, in the State of New York, where he 
 
 embarked in the wholesale manufacture of furniture 
 and owned a saw-mill. In 1862 Mr. Huntington 
 went from Elbridge to Galesburg, 111., and passed 
 the next ten years in farming in Knox County. At 
 the expiration of that time he returned to Geneseo to 
 pass the remaining years of his life. He was inter- 
 ested in the real-estate business during the time that 
 he was able to give his personal attention to his af- 
 fairs. His death occurred Aug. ro, 1885. 
 
 The character and influence of Mr. Huntington 
 were such in social and religious circles that his 
 death is a common loss. He was prominent in his 
 connection with the Congregational Church, in which 
 he was a Deacon for many years. He was a Re- 
 publican of decided opinions. 
 
 On the death of Deacon Huntington, one of the 
 local journals published the following memorial com- 
 ments on his character and influence, which are here 
 reproduced as eminently fitting, as coming from a 
 contemporary : " He strove to exemplify the princi- 
 ples of the Sacred Word in his own life. Careful in 
 arriving at conclusions, he sought always to be just 
 towards others, to find the right, then to maintain it 
 at whatever cost. Upon questions of principle there 
 was never a doubt where he would be found. In 
 business he was thorough, yet strictly honest, seek- 
 ing to observe the golden rule. In benevolence he 
 was large-hearted, having an open hand for every 
 deserving cause. The poor health of his last few 
 years was a great trial to him, in that it prevented 
 his attendance upon the services of the sanctuary 
 and his open participation in Christian labor. Still, 
 his interest in these things never flagged, nor did his 
 contributions thereto diminish." 
 
 The first wife of Mr. Huntington, to whom he was 
 joined in marriage May 16, 1833, was Matilda 
 Whiton previous to her union with him. She bore 
 three children — one daughter and two sons. John 
 married Harriet Smead and is a citizen of Sharon , 
 Iowa. Maria is the wife of Cornelius H. Van Nech- 
 ten, of Elbridge, N. Y. The mother died Oct. 1, 
 1841. Mr. Huntington was a second time married 
 Dec. 9, 1841, to Rebecca Willard, whose death took 
 place May 3, 1849. The_ third marriage of Mr. 
 Huntington occurred Oct. 6, 1849, when Jane Chare- 
 voy became his wife. She was born Jan. 2, 1805, 
 and died in April, 1870. In 1872 Mr. Huntington 
 I was married to Mrs. Dr. R. J. Stough. Mrs. Hunt- 
 
 ^ 
 
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 *§*> 
 
 9 
 
 
 x*^z @^<>I1 !M!]ft>A^ ^g^jK. 
 
 IS 
 
f^/@£«- ^&^ 6V^DI1@I1I1^^^- 
 
 300 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 \* ington was born at Harwich, Mass., and is the 
 (ji) daughter of Josiah and Deborah Smalley. Her an- 
 i%» cestors were Pilgrims and Puritans and the primal 
 T ancestor who came to America was on the May- 
 (%j flower. She came West in 1849 to accept a position 
 in Muscatine, Iowa, as tutor in a private family. 
 
 illiam Nowers, a farmer of extensive re- 
 lations, residing in the village of Atkinson, 
 came from the State of New York with his 
 parents to Illinois in 1847. His estate is 
 situated on sections 27 and 32, of the town- 
 I ' ship of Atkinson. He was born in the State of 
 New York, June 17, 1838, and is the son of Thomas 
 Nowers, an account of whose life and connection 
 with the business history of this section of Illinois is 
 given on other pages of this work. The son was 
 reared on a farm and has passed his life since he 
 ^^ reached the period of his independence as a citizen, 
 ^5 m l ' ie prosecution of that business. He had only 
 ij8j the advantages of the common schools in which to 
 *= secure an acquaintance with books, but he is natur- 
 ^JV ally observant and has at command all the acquisi- 
 ^ tions to be gained from intimate associations with 
 the world of men and business. He is a Democrat 
 in political persuasion. 
 
 Mr. Nowers was married in December, i860, to 
 Miss Helen S. Scott. Their three children are liv- 
 ing and are named Edward, John S. and Gertrude. 
 The mother was born in the State of New York in 
 1838 and died in 187 1. Mr. Nowers was again mar- 
 ried in 1872 to Elizabeth Roberts. Their union oc- 
 curred Nov. 7, of the year named. Their two children 
 were born as follows: Lurena S, June 2, 1876; 
 William A., Oct. 8, 188 1. 
 
 (P 
 
 <b 
 
 ■•o-C-o- 
 
 ohn M. Swanson, general farmer, on sec- 
 tion 1 , Lynn Township, is the son of Swan 
 Mangeson, who was a native of Sweden 
 and a farmer, and who was married in Jan- 
 spring Lan, to Sarah A. Larson. They are 
 both now deceased. Mr. Swanson was born 
 Dec. 21, 1820, and when 35 years of age, in 1856, he 
 came to America and settled in Opheim, Henry 
 
 County, where he first worked two years as a farm 
 laborer, and then rented for seven years. At the ex- 
 piration of this time he purchased 80 acres on sec- 
 tion 1, Lynn Township, about 1864, which was 
 unimproved prairie at the time. He has since pur- 
 chased 80 acres more, and on the whole tract he has 
 now a well improved farm and a thoroughly equipped 
 home ; he also is the proprietor of 90 acres of im- 
 proved land in Western Township. 
 
 He was married in his native country Dec. 28, 
 1845, to Anna E. Anderson, who was born in Jan- 
 spring Lan, Sept. 18, 1823; her parents both of 
 Swedish nativity, were farmers, and both now de- 
 ceased. Of the 1 1 children born in the family of 
 Mr. Swanson, four are deceased. The living are: 
 Christina, who married Valentine Miller, and lives 
 in Phillipsburg, N. J.; her husband is a manufac- 
 turer of gas-pipes, etc. ; Andrew is married and is a 
 skillful and reliable clerk in Cambridge; his wife's 
 name was Lena Carlson ; Charles resides in Wayne 
 Co., Neb., near Wayne City; Mary married Peter 
 Sundburg and resides in Osco Township, this 
 county; Tilla, Matilda, Joseph and Peter A. are at 
 home. The family are members of the Lutheran 
 Church at Andover, and the political views of Mr. 
 S. are in keeping with the principles of the Republi- 
 can party. 
 
 ilber F. Broughton, of Geneseo, has been 
 a resident in Henry County since 1858. 
 He was born Aug. 17, 1838, in Paines- 
 ville, Lake Co., Ohio, and is the son of John 
 and Sarah (Gundry) Broughton. He was 
 brought up on the homestead farm of his father, 
 and was 20 when he came to Illinois and located in 
 the county in which he has since lived, with the ex- 
 ceptions herein mentioned. In the spring of i860 
 he went to Pike's Peak, and returned in the fall of 
 the same year, fully satisfied with his trip. 
 
 He enlisted in the 112th Regt. 111. Vol. Inf. in 
 August, 1862. was one of the non-commissioned offi- 
 cers of Co. I, and was in the service about two years. 
 Aug. 8, 1864, he was severely wounded at the battle 
 of Eutaw Creek, near Atlanta. He came from the 
 field with four gunshot wounds, and his clothes 
 showed that seven balls had passed through them. 
 A musket ball carried away a part of his right hand, 
 
 3 
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 SoaJ ayifcAci^ 
 
 

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 rzr 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 and he has always since suffered from the conse- 
 quences of the action of that day. He received an 
 honorable discharge Nov. 25 following, on account 
 of disability caused by his injuries. After his return 
 to his home he became interested in the sale of ag- 
 ricultural implements, and in 187 1 established a 
 branch house at Oiion, in this county, meanwhile 
 maintaining his residence at Geneseo. He was con- 
 nected with the business there seven years. Since 
 1882 he has been operating in Nebraska. 
 
 Mr. Broughton is a Republican in political princi- 
 ples and connections, and in character is one whose 
 consistent and disinterested course has won for him 
 a permanent place in the esteem of those among 
 whom the later years of his career have been passed. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Broughton to Mary P. Cole 
 took place at Geneseo, July 3, 1859. Mrs. Brough- 
 ton was born in Erie Co., N. Y., and she is the 
 daughter of John Cole. She has borne three chil- 
 dren, all daughters. They are named Gertrude M., 
 Kittie A. and Ella D. Kittie was married Feb. 3, 
 1885, to J. F. Walsh, and they now reside at Lyons, 
 Rice Co., Kan. 
 
 arl P. Aldrich, deceased, was the second 
 settler in Henry County. He came here 
 in July, 1835, and located in Phenix 
 Township, or in that division of the county 
 which is now known by that name. He was 
 born Jan. 15, 1810, in Gloucester, Providence 
 Co., R. I., and was the youngest son of Samuel 
 I. and Eliza (Mann) Aldrich. His parents were 
 both natives of Rhode Island, and were of English 
 ancestry. They removed with their families to Tioga 
 Co., Pa., in 1817, and after a short residence there 
 they pushed on to Perry Co., Ohio. After a brief 
 tarry there, during which the mother died, they went 
 on to Pickaway Csunty, in the same State, where 
 they settled near Circleville. They were among the 
 earliest comers at every point they reached, but they 
 found so few attractions at the various stopping 
 places that they invariably pushed on to find a loca- 
 tion more satisfactory. After a brief stay in the 
 vicinity of Circleville, they made another removal 
 westward, and went to Tippecanoe Co., Ind. 
 
 There Mr. Aldrich was married, and he took his 
 
 wife to the home of his parents for a time. Soon 
 after he commenced life independently, and man- 
 aged as a renter until the year in which he settled in 
 Illinois. The journey was made overland, the family 
 traveling in a prairie schooner. The live stock they 
 owned was driven through, and included five yoke of 
 oxen, which were the draught power that brought the 
 quaint wagon that was home and shelter during the 
 trip across the country to Henry County. The party 
 consisted of Mr. Aldrich, and his wife and his father. 
 They carried with them their personal property and 
 provisions for the needed supplies on the route. 
 Their gipsy experience, while it had its" trials and 
 discomforts, was full of novelty and enjoyment of a 
 wholesome character. Their frequent removals pre- 
 viously had made them acquainted with inconveni- 
 ence, and they had learned to make the best of the 
 inevitable, which is the most useful lesson in life. 
 They came directly to Henry County, and settled at 
 first in Phenix Township. Mr. Aldrich entered a 
 claim on section 30, and with the assistance of his 
 wife and his father he built a loe; house. The roof 
 was covered with clapboards, and the floor was of 
 the kind called " puncheon." Until the structure 
 was completed the family lived in a camp and in 
 their wagon. Indians were plentiful, but they were 
 not troublesome, as the events of the Black Hawk 
 War were still fresh in their memory, and they pre- 
 ferred to conciliate their vanquishers and to live on 
 friendly terms. The wild game was abundant, and 
 included turkeys, hogs, deer and prairie-chickens. 
 The nearest posroffice was at Farmington, in Rock 
 Island County, which was then called Fort Stephen- 
 son. The only place of supplies was at the Govern- 
 ment store at Rock Island. 
 
 The house was built with the chimney on the out- 
 side. The latter was made of sods above the founda- 
 tion, and held together by sticks. The family had 
 at first no bedsteads, and slept on beds of hay on the 
 ground. In this building the first white child born 
 in Henry County first saw the light. This house was 
 the family abode three years. In 1838 Mr. Aldrich 
 built what was then called a double hewed-log 
 house, and it was of rather more aristocratic type 
 than the common structure of logs in which the pio- 
 neers made their first homes. It was two stories in 
 height, and was the residence of the household until 
 T856. In that year Mr. Aldrich bought a farm ad- 
 joining, and took possession of a brick house stand- 
 
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306 
 
 sdiiJ'~X*)\*j~' ^^ 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 ing thereon ; here he lived six years, then came back 
 to the old homestead and built a brick house, and 
 .this was his homestead until his death. 
 
 After arranging for the comfort of his family on his 
 removal to the county, Mr. Aldrich entered with 
 earnest vigor into the work of improving his farm. 
 He broke the land with the aid of ox teams, and he 
 sold his first crop of grain at Rock Island, and after- 
 ward sought a market at Chicago. The latter place 
 was 1 60- miles distant, and the wheat was sold there 
 for 50 cents a bushel. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Aldrich to Caroline Imel took 
 place Sept. 27, 1882. Her father, George Imel, was 
 born in Shenandoah Co., Va. He was an emigrant 
 from that State with his parents to Indiana when the 
 latter was a Territory. He married Elizabeth Dur- 
 ham, who was born in South Carolina. Mr. Aldrich 
 died Nov. 20, 1880, of typhoid pneumonia. To him 
 and his wife nine children were born, and of the 
 number five grew to mature life : Henry S. married 
 Mary Richmond, of Whiteside County, and they 
 have two children, — Ellis A. and Halcyon. Mar- 
 shall M. married Samantha Richmond. Their chil- 
 dren' are Marshall M., Robert Edmund Lee, Earl P., 
 Henry O., Mabel E. and an unnamed infant. Phila 
 N. married James L. Davies, a citizen of Phenix 
 Township. Commodore P. married Lucy G. Mc- 
 Henry, and died in 1878, leaving three children. 
 Silas W. married Emma McHenry, and died in May, 
 1882, leaving two children. 
 
 Mrs. Aldrich is still a resident on the homestead 
 where she settled in July, 1835, and is the oldest liv- 
 ing pioneer in this part of the county. She is a 
 member of the Christian Church. Mr. Aldrich was 
 a Democrat of conservative type. 
 
 The portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Aldrich are to be 
 found on other pages. None of more value to the 
 records of Henry County will be placed in this work. 
 Mrs. Aldrich is still the survivor of her husband. 
 The story of their pioneer experiences, told from a 
 woman's standpoint, is full of interest, and is given 
 with much satisfaction. She relates that their des- 
 tination was at first La Porte, Ind. They went 
 there early enough to get in a crop the year of their 
 removal; but the cold was unprecedented. June 
 20, everything froze. The prospects were most dis- 
 couraging, especially as the land was all held by 
 pre-emption rights and road -scrip, and none could 
 be entered. The frost coming at a time so unex- 
 
 pected settled the whole business and the family 
 came to the Rock River country, as has been told. 
 They camped at Prophetstown eight days, where 
 they remained until they could prospect sufficiently 
 to secure a suitable location. 
 
 July 28, the claim in the township of Phenix was 
 made. It was a squatters' claim, as the county sur- 
 vey had not yet been made. When the land sales 
 came on the title was secured, and the lady who 
 supplies these particulars is still in possession of the 
 original papers. About an acre of land was broken 
 at first, although it was too late to put in any kind of 
 a crop that year. But the proprietor busied himself 
 in constructing buildings and in cutting prairie hay 
 for the stock. The cooking was done out of doors. 
 They were obliged to go to Knoxville for all sup- 
 plies after the first, which were obtained from Fort 
 Stephenson, where the Rock Island Arsenal is now 
 located. The distance is 21 miles. The first mill- 
 ing was obtained at Le Claire, in Iowa. The mill 
 fixtures were of the primitive kind known as " nig- 
 ger-heads." This was in the fall of 1836, and three 
 men went at the same time to get some crushed 
 grain ; for it was little better. Mr. Aldrich took 
 with him about 12 bushels of wheat. The others had 
 their grists bolted, but he did not like to waste so 
 much as that process occasioned, and he brought 
 home the cracked wheat. The "bolt," so-called, 
 was only of thin factory cloth, and the waste was 
 enormous. The family had been four weeks with- 
 out bread, as there was no flour to be obtained at 
 Fort Stephenson. 
 
 The food of the pioneers was potatoes and " roast- 
 ing-ears " (generally pronounced " roas'n-ears "). 
 There was then a child in the Aldrich household, — 
 the first white male child born in the county, — and 
 he cried for bread. That made by Mrs. Aldrich 
 from the grist brought by her husband tasted too 
 strongly of bran. Her inventive resources were not 
 exhausted, and she took the crown of her wedding 
 cap, which was made of " bobinet lace, : ' and, stretch- 
 ing it in a hair sieve, she sifted the flour and made 
 bread that was the pride and boast of the travelers 
 who stopped at the pioneer home, for the hospitality 
 that was never withheld nor grudgingly bestowed. 
 From the first they kept open house. Two men 
 came and stayed all night the third night after their 
 arrival, and partook of the accommodations, sleep- 
 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 ing in the camp and eating on a chest. They did 
 not have a stove until 1840. 
 
 The first Fourth-of-July celebration in the county 
 was held at the Aldrich house. There was a dance, 
 which was attended by 30 couples. Everybody at- 
 tended, to look on or to dance. Those who danced 
 paid $2 a couple : the remainder were fed without 
 charge, as there was plenty for all. Mrs. Aldrich 
 brought with her all the fixtures and supplies for 
 cloth-making against a time of need. In the winter 
 of 1836-7 she spun the rolls of wool she had brought 
 on the spinning-wheel that traversed the route in 
 the prairie-wagon. Mr. Aldrich and his father cut 
 and hewed the timber needed to make a loom, in 
 which were placed the reeds and other mechan- 
 ical appliances necessary to the structure, and the 
 harness was made by Mrs. Aldrich. She wove 
 about a hundred yards of cloth, from which the 
 needed clothing was made, besides a pair of bed- 
 blankets. 
 
 Mr. Aldrich kept public house about \\ years. It 
 formed the first stage station between Rock Island 
 and Dixon, and the changes of horses were kept 
 there as long as the Frink & Walker stages run. 
 The Indians . were plentiful but very friendly, and 
 they were especially interested in the baby, the first 
 white child many of them had ever seen. The story 
 of the pioneer settler in any part of the country has 
 its own local interests, and- it matters not how many 
 times the tale is repeated ; it never grows tiresome 
 or stale. But a few more years will see the last of 
 the first settlers in Henry County, and the stories 
 then remaining untold will pass to the oblivion of 
 everlasting silence. 
 
 -* #-# S- 
 
 ■fcm ndrew E. Aldeen, of the firm of Engdahl 
 & Aldeen, at Geneseo, was born in Sweden, 
 wUsT Ap r 'l 1 Pi 1845. He was instructed in the 
 practical knowledge of the details of his busi- 
 ness in his native country, whence he came in 
 1868. On his arrival in the United States he 
 came immediately to Henry County. He came to 
 the city in which he is now in business in 1872, and 
 obtained a situation to work at his trade. The years 
 inclusive from 1875 to 1878 he passed at Ottawa. 
 At the expiration of that time he returned to Gen- 
 
 -^g^ — ©a^dhi 
 
 eseo and formed the partnership in which he has 
 since been interested. 
 
 His marriage to Anna Anderson took place at 
 Geneseo in 187 1. The young wife died 15 months 
 after she was married. In 1879, Mr. Aldeen was 
 again married, to Carrie Olson. They have two 
 children: - Stella L. was born Aug. 7, 1880; Delia 
 was born Oct. 5, 1883. 
 
 The parents are members of the Swedish Lutheran 
 Church. In political connection and action Mr. Al- 
 deen is a Republican. 
 
 eorge A. Carter, Supervisor of Edford 
 Township, has been a land-holder in 
 Henry County since 1865-6. He was 
 born March 1, 1845, i° Ashland Co., Ohio. 
 His parents, Leander and Nancy (Richison) 
 Carter, were natives of the State of Vermont, 
 and they settled soon after their marriage in the 
 Buckeye State. The date of their removal there was 
 1835. The father was a farmer, and he died on his 
 farm in Ohio, in 1878. The family included nine 
 children. Eight still survive. 
 
 Mr. Carter was reared to manhood in his native 
 county. In the days of his youth he was an attend- 
 ant at the public schools, and as soon as his size 
 and strength permitted he made himself useful on 
 the home farm. Just before he attained his majority 
 he came to Henry County, as has been stated. As- 
 sociated with P. H. Beveridge, he bought 400 acres 
 of land on sections 34 and 35 in Edford Township, 
 and has since been a resident of the same township. 
 Mr. Beveridge was for a time a resident of the town- 
 ship, but is now a business man in the city of 
 Chicago. Mr. Carter is the resident manager of the 
 estate. While living in Henry County, Mr. Bever- 
 idge was one of the ablest and most useful citizens, 
 and served as County Treasurer two terms. Mr. 
 Carter has been engaged to a considerable extent in 
 the business of a stock-grower and general farmer. 
 The property of 400 acres is all in improved condi- 
 tion and supplied with all suitable farm fixtures. 
 The buildings are ot excellent type and include all 
 that are necessary on a first-class stock-farm. 
 
 Mr. Carter was married Feb, 23, i88r, to Miss 
 Sarah Beveridge. Mrs. Carter was born in Ashland, 
 Ohio, was a daughter of Peter and Ann (Watt) Bev- 
 
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 eridge, and her parents were natives of Aberdeen, 
 Scotland. 
 
 In political faith, Mr. Carter is a Republican, and 
 he has been in active public life in the affairs of his 
 township for some years. He has served as Justice 
 of the Peace four years. 
 
 * -«- * 
 
 F. Sargent has been connected with the 
 |L business history of Geneseo since 1858, 
 the year in which he fixed his residence 
 there. He is the senior member of the manu- 
 facturing firm of D. F. Sargent & Son, who 
 engaged in the prosecution of one of the 
 most prominent industries at that place. 
 
 On coming to Henry County he opened a black- 
 smith shop, and, as he believed that the time and 
 place warranted the trial of a new business venture, 
 in 1861 he commenced the manufacture of wagons 
 in connection with his other business relations. In 
 1872, his son, A. F. Sargent, became interested in 
 the concern and they entered upon the exclusive 
 manufacture of carriages. Ten years later they be- 
 gan to make the Maple City Road Cart, of which 
 the junior member of the firm was the patentee. 
 This was succeeded in August, 1883, by the substi- 
 tution of the Geneseo Road Cart, as the article of 
 manufacture, and which is the joint product of the 
 inventive genius of A. F. Sargent and R. D. Farrell, 
 and they are the patentees. A. F. Sargent pur- 
 chased the claim of Mr. Farrell and the elder Sar- 
 gent became the owner of a proprietary interest in it 
 by purchase. The business has assumed extensive 
 proportions and the house is engaged in the prose- 
 cution of a popular trade. They manufacture about 
 800 carts annually and employ 14 assistants. They 
 find market chiefly in the West and South. Their 
 vehicles have won speedy and permanent recogni- 
 tion, and the reputation of being of the most desir- 
 able character as a road or business cart, and one 
 that is free from horse or shaft motion. 
 
 D. F. Sargent was born in New London, Merrimac 
 Co., N. H., May 23, 1825. His father, Daniel Sar- 
 gent, was a native of the same place. The son ac- 
 quired a knowledge of the trade of a blacksmith in 
 the city of Boston and he was engaged in it in that 
 city several years. He transferred his interests from 
 
 
 there to Sutton, N. H., and thence at a later date to 
 Mill Village. In 1858 he came to Geneseo, as has 
 been stated in connection with the account of his 
 business career. 
 
 In addition to a considerable amount of property 
 in Geneseo he owns a fine farm in the township of 
 Phenix, which contains 147 acres. . He also owns a 
 tract of land in Hamilton Co., Iowa. 
 
 Mr. Sargent is one of the most esteemed citizens 
 of Geneseo. His course of life and his interest in 
 the general welfare have amply testified to his pub- 
 lic spirit and the type of manhood that he represents, 
 and his value in the community of which he is a 
 member is fully recognized. 
 
 He has been in former years an adherent of the 
 Republican element in politics, but has 'adopted the 
 issues of the Prohibitionists. 
 
 Mr. Sargent has been twice married. Jane Foss 
 became his wife in the East. She was a native of 
 Bangor, Me., and died in Geneseo, April 3, 1862. 
 She was the mother of three children: Anzonettie 
 J. is the wife of Horace Ford, of Guthrie Co., Iowa; 
 Adaline is in the millinery business in Sheffield, 111., 
 and Adelbert F. married Vienna Huson and is in 
 business with his father. The second wife of Mr. 
 Sargent was, previous to her marriage, Miss Abra E. 
 Dunning. She was born in Weybridge, Vt. They 
 are the happy parents of four daughters — Lillie, 
 Jessie, Clara and Gertrude. Mr. and Mrs. Sargent 
 are members of the Methodist Church. 
 
 I 
 
 ■ww««*2a£rt5'$@ 
 
 b^^Q/JZrcrev* -vw* 
 
 ames Slater, a retired farmer occupying 
 sections 15 and 22, Clover Township, was 
 born Oct. 5, 1 801, in Pennsylvania. His 
 father, James Slater, was a native of England, 
 a farmer, and died in Pennsylvania ; his mother, 
 nee Mary Farmer, was born in Germany, and 
 died in the State of Ohio. 
 
 Arriving at the age of 16 years, and receiving a 
 common-school education, Mr. Slater left home and 
 struck out into the world as a laborer, in Ohio. At 
 the age of 20 years' he purchased a tract of timber 
 land, and commenced the work of clearing it and 
 laying the foundations for a comfortable and perma- 
 nent home ; but after a residence there of ten years, 
 he removed to a farm in Muskingum County, same 
 
 ■^ ^ q/ ^?im 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 — i* 
 
 (2; 
 
 « El 
 
 State, and resided there for 30 years ; but finally, in 
 1865, he sold out and purchased a quarter-section in 
 Clover Township, this county, where he now lives, 
 carrying on general farming, and also enjoying the 
 fruits of a well spent life and the result of the earn- 
 ings of many years of industrious toil. 
 
 His marriage to Rose Simmons, a native of Massa- 
 chusetts, occurred in 182 1, and by that union there 
 were four children, all of whom are now dead. For 
 his second wife Mr. Slater married Elizabeth. A. 
 Young, who was born in Loudoun Co., Va., in Feb^ 
 ruary, 1832 ; and of the eight children by this mar-r 
 riage five are living: George J., Isaac J., Martha 
 M., Susan and Christopher C. 
 
 Politically,. Mr. Slater is Democratic, and religious- 
 ly is a member of the Christian Church, while Mrs. 
 S. belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 „mery C. Graves, City Attorney of Gen- 
 eseo, established his business as an - attor- 
 ney at that place in 1876. He was born 
 I S. in the town of Cherry Creek, in Chautauqua 
 Co., N. Y., Jan. 19, 1853. The personal ac- 
 count of his parents, Calvin and Martha 
 (Kingsley) Graves, is presented on another page of 
 this volume. The family came to the State of Illi- 
 nois in the spring of the year in which the birth of 
 the son occurred. They settled on a farm in York- 
 town Township, where the young gentleman who 
 had seen but three months of existence passed his 
 boyhood. He was a youth of a good mental caliber 
 and made the most of the advantages afforded by the 
 primary schools, with a view to obtaining a more ex- 
 tended education in some institution of acknowledged 
 repute, and he accordingly matriculated at the Wis- 
 consin State University at Madison, and was gradu- 
 ated there with the class of 1874, when he had just 
 passed his majority. The_ degree of LL. D. was 
 conferred on him, and he entered upon his practice 
 in the city of Janesville, Wis.; and in July, 1876, he 
 commenced his business as an attorney at Geneseo. 
 The qualifications of Mr. Graves and his method of 
 practice have achieved for him a well-merited popu- 
 larity in his profession, and he has acquired a repu- 
 tation as an expounder of law and as an advocate 
 
 which have placed him in the front rank of his pro- 
 fession. 
 
 He has been twice elected to the position of City 
 Attorney, being re-elected in 1885 to a second term. 
 Mr. Graves is a Republican by inheritance and prin- 
 ciple, and he has cast his vote with that party since 
 he attained the privileges of his citizenship. He is 
 liberal in his religious views. 
 
 His marriage to Miss Flora Spurlock took place 
 Oct. 3, 1878. She was born in Abingdon, 111. Their 
 daughter is named Flora. She is their only child. 
 
 V© 
 
 ewis Slawson is one of the progressive and 
 energetic farmers of Henry County. He 
 resides on section 1 9, Clover Township, and 
 
 the date of his birth was Aug. 1, 1838, the 
 I 1 ) State of his nativity being New York. His 
 
 parents by name were Tryansel and Mary 
 (Tenyck) Slawson, natives of New York. His father 
 is yet living in Albany County, that State, his mother 
 having died in the same county in 1854. 
 
 Lewis Slawson, until he was T9 years of age, was 
 under the care of his parents, having been sent by 
 them to the common schools, in which he procured 
 a good English education. His years prior to the 
 age named, when not spent in school, were passed 
 on the farm, assisting the father in the labors there- 
 on. At an early age he left home and came to 
 Galesburg, this State, where he was engaged in labor 
 by the month for some 15 months. At the expira- 
 tion of that' time he came to this county, and soon 
 thereafter purchased a team, rented a farm, which 
 he cultivated for one year, and at the expiration of 
 that time was compelled to sell his team in order to 
 pay his rent. He again engaged in farm labor by 
 the month, at which he labored for nine months. In 
 i860 he again purchased a team, and again rented a 
 farm, which he cultivated for a time, and then worked 
 out again for nine months. Once more he rented a 
 fariu, and this time was successful in its cultivation, 
 making some money, and continued to work in that 
 manner until 1863. During that year he purchased 
 80 acres of land, located on section 35, Clover Town- 
 ship. In 1869 he sold this and purchased 160 acres 
 on section 19 of the same township. He moved on 
 the land and at once engaged in its cultivation and 
 
 
 ci) 
 
3i° 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 improvement, and has continued to reside thereon 
 until the present time, meeting with success in the 
 vocation which he has pursued all his life. In addi- 
 tion to his landed interests in this county, he is the 
 proprietor of 320 acres in Kansas. 
 
 Mr. Slawson's marriage to Miss Wilhelmina P. 
 Houghton, a native of Vermont, occurred Dec. 25, 
 1866. Four children have been born of their union 
 — Horace, Luella, Edith and Caroline. 
 
 Mr. Slawson, politically, is a Greenbacker, and 
 - socially is a member of the I. O. O. F. 
 
 soooe 
 
 \ hilip Sand, a prosperous farmer of Loraine 
 Township, has been a resident of Henry 
 
 f^? 5 County since 1847. He was born inHesse- 
 
 $J Darmstadt, Germany, April 17, 1815, and is 
 the son of George and Catherine Sand. He 
 passed the years of his minority in the manner 
 common in his native country, — in school from the 
 age of 6 to 14, and afterward was variously occupied 
 until he left Germany to seek a better opportunity 
 for himself than that afforded in his native land, 
 where the chances in life are under hereditary mo- 
 nopoly. He sailed from Germany to the United 
 States in 1836 and landed at the port of Baltimore 
 after a journey on the sea of 60 days. He was prac- 
 tically penniless and the first move he made was in 
 pursuit of work, which he had no difficulty in pro- 
 curing. He passed a few months on a farm in 
 Maryland and went thence to Ohio. There he ob- 
 tained a situation in a blacksmith shop at $14 per 
 month, but he was enabled to save little, as he had 
 his board to pay out of his wages. 
 
 A year later he came to Illinois and stopped at 
 Rock Island, where he learned to run a steam en- 
 gine in a saw-mill and continued to operate in that 
 capacity two years. At the expiration of that time, 
 in company with several others, he made a trip 
 down the Mississippi in a yawl-boat to the city of 
 New Orleans, in search of employment. Their quest 
 was unsuccessful, and they returned to Vicksburg, 
 There they found occupation in the way of chopping 
 cord-wood, in which line of business Mr. Sand was 
 but a short time interested, as he soon after obtained 
 a situation as engineer on a steam ferry-boat on the 
 river, a position he occupied five years. 
 
 In 1847, he came to Henry County, and at once 
 
 entered a claim on the west half of the southwest 
 quarter of section 21, Loraine Township, and for 
 three years ensuing he rented land of C. H. Kem- 
 mis, on section 10. He then built a log house on 
 his own property, of which he took possession when 
 it was completed, and entered into the work of a 
 farmer. He had a pair of horses, a cow and calf 
 and a litter of pigs. This constituted his live stock, 
 and he has since prosecuted the various branches of 
 mixed husbandry with the success due to well di- 
 rected efforts and untiring industry. He is now 
 (1885) the owner of 580 acres of land. The build- 
 ings are of the best and most approved character 
 for farm purposes, and the stock includes a large 
 herd of cattle, horses, hogs and poultry. 
 
 Mr. Sand was married in 1846 to Frances Rink, a 
 native of Germany. Their children are Joseph, 
 Felix, David, Francis, Albert, Charles, Sarah and 
 Philip. Joseph and Frances reside in Minnesota. 
 The latter is the wife of David Beers. 
 
 ^«^- 
 
 ohn Goss, one of the most respected and 
 honored citizens of Geneseo in the ca- 
 pacity of a business man, is the pioneer 
 lumber dealer at the place, where he estab- 
 lished his trade in that line in 1855. In 1865 
 he became associated with his nephew and 
 namesake, John W. Goss, and their commercial re- 
 lations are still maintained. The firm handle about 
 2,000,000 feet of lumber annually, and also sell a 
 yearly average of $1,500 tons of coal. 
 
 Mr. Goss was born May 26, 18 10, in Worcester 
 Co., Mass. He is the son of John and Rebecca 
 (White) Goss. He was trained in a complete knowl- 
 edge of the business of a bricklayer, and he was 
 known for the excellence of his work. At 19, he 
 went to Boston, where he operated in the line of his 
 trade until he came to Chicago, and there embarked 
 in mercantile life, and continued his relations therein 
 in that city until 1843. In that year he returned to 
 Boston and remained a citizen of " the Hub " ten 
 years. He then came to Chicago and passed one 
 year there.* In 1855 he made a permanent removal 
 to Geneseo; and at once embarked in the lumber 
 traffic, in which he has operated 30 consecutive 
 years. 
 
 He was married in Boston, March 28, 1837, to 
 
 I 
 
 E3 
 
 ■s^ r <5/ 'feU®|||j> a qg — a "€^* : 
 
■6v^na®nn&' /c) j &k- 
 
 — §^X h 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 Miss Geraldine Poole. They have two children, 
 both daughters : Maria L. is the wife of George A. 
 Kellogg, of Colorado : she was born in Boston ; and 
 Martha, Mrs. Frank Curtis, was born in Chicago : 
 they live in Colorado. Their mother died in 1843. 
 The marriage of Mr. Goss to Mrs. Rebecca Lein- 
 inger took place in January, 1874. She is the 
 daughter of M. Zerbie, and was the widow of B. S. 
 Leininger. She is a native of Pennsylvania. 
 
 In the days of his first political connections and 
 interest, Mr. Goss was a Whig, but he had imbibed 
 Free-Soil sentiments, and on the formation of the 
 Republican party he joined its ranks and has been 
 from that date one of its most consistent adherents. 
 The religious belief of Mr. Goss coincides with the 
 tenets of the Unitarian Church. 
 
 Lamuel B. Bandall, agent of the United 
 States Express Company, Police Magis- 
 trate, and insurance agent, resident at 
 Cambridge, was born April 1, 1831, in Wall- 
 ingford, Rutland Co., Vt. He is the son of 
 John and Rosalinda (Davidson) Randall. His 
 father was born in the same place in 1786, and was 
 the son of John Randall, a native of Rhode Island. 
 The latter was a soldier in the War of the Revolu- 
 tion, and was in the action at Monmouth, N. J., and 
 fought through the entire course of the war, with the 
 exception of a short time when he was held a prisoner 
 in Canada, having been captured at Fort Washing- 
 ton. In 1838 the family left Wallingford and went 
 to Litchfield, Bradford Co., Pa., and they were there 
 resident until 1851, when the father, mother, and a 
 brother and sister came with Mr. Randall to Cam- 
 bridge, settling on a farm on section ir. 
 
 Mr. Randall was educated primarily at the com- 
 mon schools, and as he was fond of books he made 
 the most of his leisure by study, and thus acquired 
 a mental training of the most practical value. After 
 coming to Henry County he taught about ten terms 
 of school. He bought a farm on the southwest quar- 
 ter of section 1 1 , on which he spent the agricultural 
 seasons in farming until 1865. He then established 
 a small mercantile enterprise at what was then East 
 Cambridge, and he also operated largely as a buyer 
 of wild game, poultry and furs, which he bought 
 
 chiefly of hunters, his traffic commonly averaging 
 $45 daily. On one day he shipped 1,200 quails, the 
 result of four days' purchase. He made shipments 
 to the city of New York. After three years' opera- 
 tions he came to Cambridge, where he bought the 
 mercantile interests of James Mascall and engaged 
 in business, in which he was interested until 1873. 
 His relations took extensive shape, and if the crisis 
 in the year named had not caused a fatal shrinkage 
 of values, the enterprise would have had a very dif- 
 ferent ending. The hasty action of a New York firm 
 caused the suspension of the business at a time when 
 none of its liabilities which had matured were un- 
 paid. 
 
 Mr. Randall was trained a Douglas Democrat, but 
 his conversion to the most radical Republicanism 
 was the work of but the shortest space of time possi- 
 ble, and was effected by the tidings that the rebels 
 had fired on the flag of the United States at Fort 
 Sumter. Mr. Randall was elected Justice of the 
 Peace in 1857 and served 12 years. In 1883 he was 
 elected Police Magistrate of Cambridge. 
 
 He has officiated as agent of the United States 
 Express Company since the establishment of their 
 office at Cambridge, in 1870. 
 
 He was married July 4, 1855, to Lucy A., daugh- 
 ter of Daniel and Lucy A. Williams. She was born 
 in Onondaga Co., N. Y., and was married in Daven- 
 port, Iowa. She died June 28, 1882, of cancer. Feb. 
 1, 1883, Mr. Randall was again married to Anna 
 Louisa Carlson, daughter of Carl Peter Samuelson. 
 The maiden name of her mother was Christine John- 
 son. Her parents both died when she was four 
 years old, their deaths occurring within the same 
 week. They had four children — two sons and two 
 daughters. Mrs. Randall was born Dec. 25, 1864, at 
 Hulsby, Fingard, Alsada, Sweden. She is the mother 
 of two children : Frank A., born Nov. 1, 1883 ; and 
 Samuel J., April 18, 1885. 
 
 The ancestors of Mr. Randall were remarkable for 
 tenacity of life. His paternal grandsire lived to the 
 age of 90, and his grandmother attained to great age. 
 Following is the record of his brothers and sisters: 
 Albert, born March 15, 1810, died May 14, 1864; 
 Edwin, born May 20, 1812, died March 31, 1813; 
 John O., born Jan. 12, 1815, died May 20, 1816; 
 Lucina M., born April 15, i8i7,died Feb. 23, 1840; 
 Edwin D., born Dec. 7, 1819, is still living: Abel M., 
 born Dec. 22, 1821, became a member of the 112th 
 
 
 !& 
 A 
 
 ^€ ^ Q/ -&H A® Mli^A^ s^g^n 
 
 -*&> 
 
 *@§Jf 
 
> 3 12 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 -«# 
 
 §*t^£ 
 
 I 
 
 & 
 
 * 
 
 > 
 
 v 
 
 & 
 
 111. Vol. Inf., and was killed in a military charge,' 
 May 14, 1864, at Resaca, Ga. ; John, born April 21, 
 1824, is living; Sarah E., born May 22, 1826, died 
 Feb. 17, 1833; Electa A., born June 1, 1829, died 
 Feb. 26, 1830; Samuel R is next in order of birth; 
 Sarah M., born Oct. 11, 1833. died about 1874. 
 John Randall, the father, was born Aug. 15, 1785, 
 and died Dec. 26, 1863. Rosalinda Randall, the 
 mother, was born Jan. 28, 1791, and died Dec. 26, 
 1866. 
 
 [lexander White, Superintendent of the 
 
 |( Water Works at Geneseo, is also a hard- 
 ■11 1=— - *M4 
 ©K^tsT ware merchant at that place, where he 
 
 Jpkk has prosecuted the latter business since 1879. 
 He was born March 1, 1829, in Washington 
 Co., N. Y., and is the son of James and Jane 
 (Hall) White. His father was a native of the north 
 of Ireland, and came to the United States in child- 
 hood. The mother was born in the State of New 
 York. 
 
 Mr. White passed the years of his boyhood and 
 youth in the State of his nativity, and there he ac- 
 quired a complete knowledge of the business of a 
 machinist, for which he had a natural genius. In 
 the fall of 1853 he came to |Illinois and settled in 
 the county of De Kalb. He came thence to Gene- 
 seo in the spring of 1855. He devoted the next few 
 years to the perfecting of an important invention 
 known as White's Steam Governor, and in 1859 he 
 erected a structure for the ^purpose of its manufac- 
 ture. In 1865 the firm of Hammond, White & Co. 
 was formed for the manufactureQof stoves at Gene- 
 seo, the members of the association being A. H. 
 Hammond, I. D. Ruggles and Mr. White. The 
 business of the house was managed at Geneseo until 
 1870, when the firm removed their relations to Rock 
 Island, and there were incorporated as the Rock 
 Island Stove Company. Mr. White was made su- 
 perintendent and for upwards of five years officiated 
 as secretary and superintendent. In r879 he, re- 
 moved again to Geneseo and established the busi- 
 ness of a hardware merchant, and has continued the 
 management of his relations therewith ever since. 
 
 The connection of Mr. White with the inventions 
 of the West has been of marked importance, as he 
 has made several which have had a local value, 
 
 notably those relating to the improvement of stoves 
 used in burning the soft coal, which is one of the 
 leading resources of Henry County. He invented a 
 self-feeding soft coal burner, whose value is obvious 
 to those who have used that article of fuel. His in- 
 vention was the first of its kind in the market. An- 
 other, of nearly equal practical utility, was that of a 
 perforated attachment in the rear of mica windows, 
 to prevent their becoming smoked, and which has 
 been widely adopted and has been in general use for 
 a period of 13 years. 
 
 Mr. White was a Democrat in the days of his 
 early citizenship, but when the evolutions of the 
 Whigs transformed the issues of the political ele- 
 ments he adopted those of the Free-Soil party, and 
 on the regular organization of the Republicans he fell 
 into line and has since been an inflexible supporter 
 of its principles. He has served two terms as Alder- 
 man of Geneseo. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. White to Edith M. Munson 
 occurred in Washington Co., N. Y., March ro, r8so. 
 She was a native of that county and is the daughter 
 of Nathaniel Munson, a prominent citizen of the 
 county. Mr. and Mrs. White have had three chil- 
 dren, only one of whom is living — Ella R. Two died 
 in infancy. The parents are members of the Pres- 
 byterian Church. 
 
 9 
 
 * 
 & 
 
 0) 
 
 -§3- 
 
 -€S- 
 
 bomas Nowers, Sr., a retired merchant of 
 Atkinson, was born in the parish of Len- 
 han, Kent Co., England, Aug. 24, 1805. In 
 1830 he came to the United States and located 
 at first in Oneida County, in the State of New 
 York. There is a portion of the beautiful lake 
 which bears the name of the county, which is called 
 the " Bar,'' and Mr. Nowers settled on that particu- 
 lar spot. He was there a resident about r7 years, 
 and was heavily engaged in the management of sev- 
 eral saw-mills and in the lumber trade. In 1847 he 
 removed to Mercer Co., 111. After about one year 
 he came thence to Moline, in the county of Rock 
 Island. He was then the proprietor of the " Moline 
 House " three years, and in 1857 he came to the 
 county where he has since resided, and where he has 
 been identified to a considerable extent with the de- 
 velopment and progress ^of the business interests. 
 
 
 3sa>- 
 
 ■e^nn® 
 
 \§ — ^^^ 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 ft 
 
 He was a farmer until 1861, when he commenced to 
 operate in grain at Atkinson, and also established a 
 store in connection with that enterprise. He was as- 
 sociated with Mr. Dean for a time, the firm style 
 being Nowers & Dean. At the expiration of a year 
 their relations were brought to a close and Mr. 
 Nowers received into partnership with himself his 
 oldest son. They purchased the interest of Mr. 
 Dean, and the affairs of the firm were transacted un- 
 der the name of Nowers & Son. After a continuous 
 trade of 20 years, Mr. Nowers sold out to his two 
 sons, John and Thomas. (See sketches.) Henry 
 Lyon was also associated with the sons of Mr. Now- 
 ers for a time. At the date of his disposal of his 
 business, Mr. Nowers retired from active connection 
 with any business. He has been prominent in the 
 administration of the affairs of the local government 
 and has served 15 years as Highway Commissioner. 
 He has acted as Supervisor three years, also County 
 Treasurer one year. 
 
 Mr. Nowers was married Oct. 26, 1830,10 Decima 
 Foster. She is a native of England. Of their nine 
 children seven are living. Thomas was born Feb. 
 2, 1834; John F., Jan. 20, 1837 ; William, June 17, 
 1838; Elizabeth, Sept. 10, 1840; Mary and Edward 
 (twins), Dec. n, 1842; Louisa, May 2, 1845 ; James, 
 Aug. 7, 1847 ; Henry C, Jan. 4, 1852. They are all 
 married. The mother died March 22, 1875. She 
 was a communicant in the Church of England, as is 
 Mr. Nowers. He has 18 grandchildren and one 
 great-grandchild. 
 
 3&HgS 
 
 e3*-£-*« 
 
 4 
 
 r 
 
 :j rof. Wm. A. Metealf, of the commercial 
 department of the Collegiate Institute at 
 
 WF$ Geneseo, was born June 24,1844, in Keno- 
 
 @* 
 
 •s '* 
 
 sha Co., Wis. He is the son of Francis and 
 Ophelia M. (Kellogg) Metealf. His father was 
 a merchant, and in 1854 removed his family to 
 the city of Boston, where he conducted his interests 
 in the same avenue six years, returning at the end of 
 that time to Wisconsin. Prof. Metealf was then 16, 
 and he had been carefully educated in the English 
 branches of study. He matriculated at Lawrence 
 University, in his native State, and was graduated 
 there with the class of 1867 . He went next to War- 
 saw, Wis., in the same year, and after passing one 
 
 year there in teaching he attended the Observatory 
 in Chicago as a student, and continued there two 
 years. In 187 1 he became an attache of the Lake 
 survey, with which he was connected seven years. 
 He passed two years (1873-4) at the Northwestern 
 University at Evanslon, where he was employed in 
 the capacity of teacher of civil engineering. He 
 passed five years in the position of a book-keeeper in 
 the city of Detroit, Mich. ; and in 1884 came to 
 Geneseo to enter upon the duties of the situation he 
 is at present filling. 
 
 He was married in Detroit June 23, 1874, to Hat- 
 tie Wilcox, and they are the parents of one child, — 
 Harry W. 
 
 alentine Sieben, a farmer of Phenix Town- 
 ship, is a native of Hesse-Darmstadt, Ger- 
 many. He was born Oct. 14, 1839, and is 
 \*t the son of Joseph and Aboline Sieben, who 
 ( were both natives of the same German province. 
 , He was a pupil in the public schools of the 
 place where he was born, and after he reached a 
 suitable size he became a farm assistant. The fam- 
 ily came to the United Slates in 1852, and settled 
 in Whiteside County, this State. The son came to 
 Henry County and engaged in farming in the town- 
 ship of Phenix, and for his services he received at 
 first 25 cents a day and boarded himself. He made 
 his home for five years with Joshua Crocker, for 
 whom he worked a considerable portion of the time. 
 When he was 15 and 18 years of age he received 
 from $12 to $16 per month as wages during the agri- 
 cultural seasons of the year. He worked as he found 
 suitable situations until i860. 
 
 On the 10th of July in that year he was married 
 to Caroline Butzer, and they have five surviving chil- 
 dren, who are named Fred, Annie, Ella, Carrie and 
 Frank. The oldest child, George, died when he was 
 eight years of age. Two others died in infancy. 
 The mother is the daughter of George Frederick 
 Butzer, of whom a sketch is given on other pages of 
 this work. Her parents are pioneers of Henry 
 County, where she was born. 
 
 For a time after he was married, Mr. Sieben 
 passed the seasons in breaking prairie and in thresh- 
 ing. In 1862, associated with his brother-in-law, 
 
 I 
 
 
 ^ ^ qj^ qw&w&**§ — ^g^ 
 
■J 
 
 . 3'4 
 
 ^y<V- 
 
 ^isif^K 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 mm 
 
 Jacob Butzer, he bought a threshing-machine. In 
 the year following he bought the first land he ever 
 owned, consisting of 200 acres on section 3 in the 
 same township in which he has since lived. He 
 took possession of the farm in September of the year 
 in which he bought it, and it has since been his 
 homestead. He has built a large frame house and 
 two barns, which are respectively 40 x 64 feet and 
 58x72 feet in dimensions. The place is finely 
 stocked with good grades of horses and cattle. 
 
 Mr. S. is now serving his 14th year as Road Com- 
 missioner, and his 18th year as School Director of 
 his district. 
 
 I 
 
 l^lisha M. Stewart, who removed to Kan- 
 sas in the fall of 1879, was one of the 
 Geneseo Colony, and settled near the site 
 of that city in 1836. He was born in Livings- 
 ton Co., N. Y., and was 17 when he accom- 
 panied the family of his father to Illinois. He 
 was married March 9, 1848, to Clarissa Cone, who 
 was the daughter of one of the members of the same 
 colony. They had five children, — three sons and 
 two daughters. In the autumn of 1879 the family 
 removed to Butler Co., Kan. 
 
 ^on. John Tufts, deceased, formerly a resi- 
 dent on section 25, Edford Township, was 
 born Sept. n, 1814, in.Wardsborough, Wind- 
 ham Co., Vt. His father, Rev. James Tufts, was 
 a clergyman in the Congregational Church at 
 Wardsborough for 47 years. He was a native 
 of Worcester Co., Mass., as was his wife, who before 
 her marriage was named Submit Hayden. After 
 their marriage they removed to Vermont, where the 
 father was in the active ministry, and was also the 
 owner of a farm on which his children were reared. 
 
 Mr. Tufts was educated with care, and finished 
 his general education at Brattleboro, in his native 
 State, and he also attended school in Massachusetts. 
 He passed the winter seasons for several years in 
 teaching, and was employed in the agricultural por- 
 tion of the years in the management of his father's 
 
 ®^i# ! 
 
 JSS^fZL 
 
 -cxA 
 
 farm. He took a prominent part in general affairs 
 from the time he completed his education, and, be- 
 ing gifted with uncommon fluency of speech, he found 
 abundant opportunity for the exercising of his talents 
 in that direction in religious matters, and also in 
 political circles, in both of which he became prom- 
 inent and popular. His interest in the promotion of 
 the general welfare frequently brought him forward 
 as a candidate for official positions, and he served a 
 number of years as Justice of the Peace, and twice 
 represented his native State in the General Assem- 
 bly in the capacity of Senator. 
 
 In r856 he came to Henry County and located on 
 section 25 of the township in which he passed the 
 remainder of his life. He purchased the southwest 
 quarter, on which slight improvements had been 
 made in the way of breaking a few acres of ground, 
 and also in the erection of a small frame house. 
 He devoted his time and energies to the improve- 
 ment of the place, which he put in advanced agri- 
 cultural condition and erected good and suitable 
 buildings for the requirements of his farm and family. 
 His death occurred Feb. 15, 1885. 
 
 Mr. Tufts was prominent through a long term of 
 years for his active interest in the Congregational 
 Church, of which he became a member in early 
 youth. Soon after his removal to Henry County he 
 was made a Deacon of the local Church at Geneseo, 
 and he continued in the position until his death. 
 He was ever an earnest friend of the Sunday-school, 
 and when he died he occupied the position of Super- 
 intendent of the Ninth District of Henry County. 
 He was equally active and prominent in the promul- 
 gation of the principles of temperance, and he was 
 in the habit of expressing his solicitude for the public 
 welfare. In physical development he was of fine 
 proportions, being six feet in height and of symmetri- 
 cal build. He possessed a genial disposition, and 
 was remarkable for his ability to say the right thing 
 at the right time. 
 
 Feb. 11, 1847, he was united in marriage to Des- 
 demona, daughter of Calvin and Mary B. (Hall) 
 Barber. The parents were born in Worcester Co., 
 Mass., and the daughter was a native of Townsend, 
 Vt., whither her parents had removed. Her birth 
 occurred May 23, 181 9. After the marriage of Mr. 
 and Mrs. Tufts they settled at the parsonage, and 
 the husband managed the home farm until the year 
 in which the family came to Illinois. Seven chil- 
 
 5Hh^a^ — ^^- 
 
 I 
 
 S3 
 

 & 
 
 v 
 
 b 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 ■**% 
 
 dren were born to them, of whom there are six sur- 
 vivors. John C. resides at Sioux Falls, Dak., and 
 he is a farmer. Ella S. married Winfield Scott, and 
 they live in Olin, Jones Co., Iowa. James P. lives 
 at Grinnell, Iowa. Arthur is a practicing physician 
 at Sioux Falls, Dak. Edward W. is a farmer at the 
 same place. Francis B. is the manager of the home- 
 stead. 
 
 -5- 
 
 "4**- 
 
 -> 
 
 and 
 
 Fhomas W. Glenn, Assessor and Justice of 
 the Peace, resident in the township of Co- 
 lon a, was born Nov. 30, 1846, in Clinton 
 Co., Ohio. He is the only son of Jacob and 
 Julia (Daggett) Glenn. His father was the 
 son of James and Sarah (Shoafanstall) Glenn, 
 was born Nov. 8, 1809, in the State of Ken- 
 tucky. The mother was born in Virginia, in 181 1. 
 
 The son was nine years of age when his parents 
 went to Washington Co., Ky., and they resided in 
 that State two years. They went thence to Ohio, 
 and settled in Clinton County. Jacob Glenn grew 
 to the age of manhood there, and when he was of a 
 suitable age he learned the trade of a cooper. He 
 worked at it in his native county when he was a 
 resident therein. His brothers, James and Thomas, 
 were the first settlers in Henry County who built a 
 house in its limits, and he came here also at an 
 early day, and was among the first to explore the 
 territory, but could not persuade his family to re- 
 move here for a number of years. He continued a 
 resident of Clinton County until 1854, when he re- 
 moved to Colon a Township, this county, and bought 
 a farm on section 32, which had been partly im- 
 proved. He was from that time a citizen of the 
 county until the time of his death. That event oc- 
 curred June 1, 1882. His wife died in the fall of 
 1878. Their children were seven in number, name- 
 ly : Sarah, the widow of John W. Briggs, lives in 
 Colorado ; Louisa is the wife of William Stearns, a 
 resident of the township of Western; Emma mar- 
 ried James Craig, of Colona Township; Samantha 
 married John Huntoon, of Rock Island. 
 
 Mr. Glenn of this sketch was nine years of age 
 when his parents became residents of Colona, and 
 he has since lived in Henry County. Just after the 
 close of the first year of the war he entered the 
 
 Union Army, although he was but 16 years of age. 
 He enlisted Aug. 26, 1862, in Co. H, 126th 111. Vol. 
 Inf., and was in the military service of the United 
 States until the close of the war. He was a partici- 
 pant in the battles of the siege and capture of Vicks- 
 burg, and in the engagement in the Little Rock 
 campaign. He received his discharge at the same 
 time as his regiment, at Pine Bluffs, Ark., in Sep- 
 tember, 1865. He returned to Henry County. In 
 1870 he went to Iowa and passed one year there, 
 going thence to Missouri, where he continued a simi- 
 lar length of time. On his return to Henry County 
 he took possession of the homestead of his father, 
 and has since been resident thereon. 
 
 His marriage to Mary Holshoe took place in 1869. 
 She was born in Lancaster Co., Pa., and they have 
 nine children, — Annie, Louisa, Oscar, Leon, Dora, 
 Louis, Jacob, Lizzie and George. 
 
 Mr. Glenn was elected Assessor in the spring of 
 1835. He has also served as Collector. 
 
 AJ)5^# 
 
 -^ ^ o/^ Miffiiii&A^ — :s *€3^ 
 
 bram Miller, of Geneseo, is the pioneer 
 landlord of that city, and has been longer 
 in the pursuit of that business than any 
 
 other individual now living in Henry County. 
 
 He is associated with his sons, I. C. and C. B. 
 
 Miller, in the management of the Geneseo 
 House, one of the most popular and best managed 
 establishments within the range of the traveling 
 public. 
 
 Mr. Miller was born in the town of Easthampton, 
 Suffolk Co., Long Island, N. Y., Aug. 24, 18 16. He 
 is the son of Uriah and Betsy (Baker) Miller, who 
 were all their lives residents on the same island, 
 where their parents were among the settlers before 
 the land was cleared of its forest growth. Uriah 
 Miller was born Oct. 4, 1784, in Suffolk County, 
 and he was brought up to man's estate on the farm 
 on which his father settled before he was born. His 
 wife was born in the same county on the island, and 
 their children were born as follows : Nathan, June 
 24, 1813, lives at Easthampton, L. I. ; George L., 
 Nov. 16, 1821, resides at Bridgehampton, L. I.; 
 Mary B., May 26, r824 (died March 10, 1828); 
 Betsy B., Feb. 5, T830, married William Barnes (see 
 sketch) : Uriah Miller passed his life in the business 
 
 ^ 
 
 * 
 & 
 
 
 'fM 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 -<*>% 
 
 i> 
 
 ) 
 
 § 
 
 of a farmer, and died in April, 1859 ; his wife's death 
 occurred in September, 1872. 
 
 Abrani Miller grew to manhood on the estate of 
 his father, and before he attained his majority he 
 learned the trade of a carpenter. In 1838 he set 
 out westward in company with two others, with the 
 purpose of seeking a wider field for the exercise of 
 his abilities and ambitions than the crowded East 
 afforded. He came to Geneseo, and hast been a 
 continuous resident of Henry County since that 
 year, and for a period of 47 years. For 16 years he 
 was employed at his trade, and in other capacities, 
 as opportunity served and occasion required, until, 
 in 1854, he commenced the business in which he 
 has since operated without intermission, save such 
 interruptions as are hereinafter mentioned. 
 
 The building in which he made his first experi- 
 ment as caterer to the necessities of the public was 
 a primitive structure, half log house and half frame, 
 which was located on the south side of Main Street, 
 east of State. The patronage surpassed the most 
 sanguine expectations, ana his house was, as a rule, 
 filled to overflowing with the miscellaneous throng 
 of land-lookers, prospectors, settlers and travelers 
 of all varieties incident to a newly developed section 
 of country. May 1, 1864, the pioneer hotel of Gen- 
 eseo was destroyed by fire, a disaster which occa- 
 sioned a loss of $6,000 to the proprietor ; but, not 
 being a man easily disheartened or overwhelmed 
 by a seemingly adverse fate, he replaced the old 
 building with a new brick edifice, which proved a 
 wise venture and renewed the prestige of the inn 
 of the early days. Exactly 13 years later the all- 
 devouring flames proved the destruction of the fine 
 building, and at that time the loss was $5,000. Pre- 
 vious to the second " trial by fire " he had associated 
 his two eldest sons with himself in business. They 
 are a trio not easily daunted, and they at once set 
 about the work of constructing the beautiful and 
 well arranged hotel, in which they have done busi- 
 ness since it was completed, in 1877, seven months 
 after the burning of the second building referred to. 
 
 The Geneseo House has one of the best locations 
 in the city. It is constructed of solid brick and 
 stone, is four stories high, contains about 50 sleeping 
 apartments and a full suite of other rooms necessary 
 to the business of a first-class house, as it is in 
 every particular. The hosts are all to the " manner 
 
 born." No guest can find just cause of complaint 
 in the manner in which his wants are anticipated. 
 The hosue has a reputation which will sustain its 
 popularity while it is under its present management. 
 
 Mr. Miller was married at Spring Creek, Henry 
 Co., 111., Jan. 6, 1842, to Miss Sarah A. Southworth. 
 Her parents, Samuel and Rachel (Couch) South- 
 worth, were natives respectively of Burlington, Vt., 
 and Ellery, Chautauqua Co., N. Y. Her father was 
 born March 31, 1792. He was about 14 when he 
 accompanied his parents to Chautauqua County, 
 where he was married. The family of his wife were 
 among the earliest of the settlers in the western part 
 of the Empire State. Samuel Southworth and his 
 wife had eight children, viz. : Mehitabel, Perry, Sa- 
 rah Ann, Hiram, James, Ira, Jane M. and Char- 
 lotte. Three only survive . James is a resident of 
 Jamestown, Kan., which is named in his. honor, as 
 he was one of the heaviest land-holders there; Mrs. 
 Jane M. Faxon lives in Nebraska. The parents of 
 Samuel Southworth were named John and Char- 
 lotte (Derby) Southworth. Rachel I. Couch was 
 the daughter of Ira Couch. She was born at Ball- 
 ston Springs, in the State of New York, April 12, 
 1793. She removed with her husband and family 
 to the West in 1838. They remained a short time 
 in Rock Island, and went thence to Shabbona 
 Grove, in Henry County, where they settled on a 
 farm, of which they were the occupants three years. 
 In 1841 they went to Spring Creek, where they 
 bought another place. In 1861 the family removed 
 to Geneseo, where the parents passed the remaining 
 years of their lives. Mr. Southworth officiated a 
 riumber of years as Justice of the Peace, but was 
 in no active business relations after his removal to 
 Geneseo. His demise took place Oct. 16, 1876. 
 The decease of his wife occurred Sept. 16, 1862. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Miller have four children. Ira 
 Couch Miller was born Sept. 16, 1842. He was 
 married Sept. 16, 1866, to Josephine, only child of 
 Andrew and Keziah (McCloskey) McFarland. Their 
 children were born as follows : Andrew A., Feb. 28, 
 1868; Lula Grace, Aug. 12, 1873; Percy, Oct. 8, 
 1880. The child last named died Dec. 31, 1882, of 
 brain disease ; Clarence Burdette was born Dec. 29, 
 1845, and was married Sept. 7, 1882, to Fannie, 
 daughter of William Barnes, of Geneseo, of whom a 
 sketch is given elsewhere. They have had one child 
 —June Ada, born June 5, 1885, and died the last 
 
 ft 
 
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 ■^©^ — £^nii@iiDf^^- 
 

 ^UrLa& 
 
■6V^BB®niI^ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY, 
 
 CO 
 
 \ 
 
 
 <ks 
 
 day of July subsequent. De.Witt Clinton Miller was 
 born July 31, 1848, and was married Sept. 16, 1874, 
 to Ella, daughter of Nathaniel and Eliza (Hewitt) 
 Persons. Hattie Persons, their daughter, was born 
 Nov. 23, 1878. D. C. Miller is the proprietor of two 
 flourishing hotels in Minnesota, situated respectively 
 at Faribault and Rochester. Ada, the only daughter 
 of Mr. Miller's household, was born July 19, 1852, 
 and married Dec. 24, 1878, to C. B. Pillsbury, a 
 physician of Ypsilanti, Mich. The father and young- 
 est son are Republicans. The two elder sons are 
 Democrats. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Miller are among the representatives 
 of the early days of the settlement of Henry County 
 and are inseparably connected with its history. The 
 first Boniface of Geneseo and the oldest in the 
 county in his line of business, is the same consider- 
 ate, genial gentleman whose characteristics gave his 
 house its popularity in the olden time. Mrs. Miller, 
 who was, nearly 50 years ago, the merest slip of a 
 girl, has laughed her way through life with the best 
 possible results; and although she has nearly doubled 
 her weight, she is as active and lithe as in the days 
 of her girlhood, and she is still a prime favorite with 
 young and old. Her hospitality is as noted as that 
 of any other in the city where she lives and she is a 
 ruling spirit in her social circle. Her closely united 
 family are models of devotion to their home and its 
 associations, and it is the universal hope that the 
 home circle may long remain unbroken. 
 
 *- 
 
 eorge Arnett, present Supervisor of Phe- 
 nix Township, in which position he is dis- 
 charging the duties of a second term, is a 
 pioneer of Henry County of 1837, He was 
 born June 6, 1833, and is the eighth son of 
 Lewis and Clara Arnett. When he was four 
 years of age his parents removed with their family 
 from Warren Co., Pa., where their children were 
 born, to Henry Co., 111. They settled in Loraine 
 Township, where the family residence was main- 
 tained, with the exception of four years, until the 
 death of the former, in 1868. The interval referred 
 to was spent in Whiteside Co., 111. 
 
 Mr. Arnett was reared as a son of a pioneer, and 
 was instructed in the business of a farmer under the 
 
 direction'of his father. He remained at home until 
 he was 20 years of age, when he went to California. 
 He had fallen into a state of poor health, and he 
 went to the Pacific coast for recovery, and to es- 
 cape consumption, with which it was thought he 
 was threatened. He set out with $50 in his posses- 
 sion, and journeyed across the plains in company 
 with others. The journey was made from the Mis- 
 souri River in three months. When he reached 
 Oregon City he was the possessor of five cents. He 
 arrived in the season of harvest, and with health 
 sufficiently restored to engage in work, he obtained 
 a situation in an avenue of labor with which he was 
 familiar — the harvest field. After two weeks he was 
 seized with fever and ague, and an illness of four 
 weeks consumed all the money he had earned. As 
 soon as he had sufficiently recovered he resolved to 
 go to California, where he had a brother, and he 
 obtained an Indian pony as an aid to the journey of 
 500 miles through a trackless wilderness. He spent 
 his days in riding the faithful, hardy little animal, 
 and at night he slept under the trees to one of 
 which he tied his horse. He carried the provision 
 he consumed on the route with him. On his arrival 
 in the Golden Gate he obtained employment of his 
 brother, at $75 per month, and he ran a pack train 
 to the mountains during a period of six weeks. At 
 the expiration of that time, in company with another 
 brother, he bought the mules and other appurte- 
 nances of the brother for whom he had worked, and 
 they engaged in packing goods into the mountains 
 until r857, without intermission except about two 
 months, when they were in the service of the United 
 States fighting the Indians. In the year mentioned 
 he returned to the East, making the route thither by 
 the isthmus and New York. He arrived at home 
 during the last days of the month of December. 
 
 His first business venture was the purchase of his 
 father's homestead, in Loraine Township, and he 
 was there engaged in farming until 1865. His house 
 was then burned, and he was an inmate of the 
 family of his brother Joseph about two months. 
 He had bought a farm on section 1 1 in Phenix 
 Township, and eight weeks after the burning of his 
 house in Loraine Township he removed to the place 
 where he has since made his home. He purchased 
 the latter in 1864. It contained 127 acres, and the 
 proprietor has made such successful application of 
 his time and abilities that he is now the owner of 
 
 
 
 Hmmio* 
 
£« 
 
 ges>- 
 
 320 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 800 acres, all of which is in the best possible agri- 
 cultural condition and finely stocked with Durham 
 cattle and valuable grades. 
 
 Mr. Arnett was married Nov. 15, 1857, to Mar- 
 garet, daughter of Joseph and Aboline Sieben. She 
 was born in Germany. To her and her husband six 
 children have been born : Harriet M. is the wife of 
 William Hudnall, a resident of Montana; Julia, 
 Franklin G., Minnie Alberta, Perry A. and Floyd 
 Henry are the names of the children. 
 
 The portrait of Mr. Arnett, which is presented on 
 a preceding page, will be welcomed by the patrons 
 of this volume with pleasure equal to that with 
 which the publishers insert it in the collated records 
 of Henry County. Mr. Arnett is a worthy citizen, 
 and his record is unblemished. 
 
 ^ohn P. Stewart, cashier of the Farmers' 
 |f National Bank at Geneseo, was born in 
 Rensselaer Co., N. Y., Nov. 3, 1835, ar >d 
 is the son of George W. and Eva (Potts) 
 Stewart. His parents were also natives of the 
 Empire State. He remained in his native 
 place until his removal to Geneseo, in 1856. He 
 interested himself at first in the capacity of a farm 
 assistant, and passed the alternating winters in 
 teaching, operating in this manner until the spring 
 of 1866, when he entered upon the duties of book- 
 keeper in the First National Bank, and continued in 
 his connection with that institution in the capacity 
 of accountant and as assistant cashier until the 
 spring of 1876. He then accepted the position in 
 which he has since officiated. 
 
 Mr. Stewart entered the Union Army during the 
 Civil War, and served as a soldier nearly a year and 
 a half. He enlisted in the fall of 1861, and was 
 discharged for physical disability in February, 1863. 
 He was promoted to the position of First Sergeant. 
 His regiment was in the Army of the Western 
 Division, and in the service of the Southwest. 
 
 He has been a Republican since the formation of 
 the party, and has served the public in several local 
 offices, among which are those of City Treasurer of 
 Geneseo, and School Treasurer. He has officiated 
 in the former 12 years. 
 
 He was joined in marriage, June 4, i87i,at Gene- 
 
 seo, to Helen L. Morton. She was born in Ohio, 
 and is the daughter of S. W. Morton. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Stewart have three children: William M. was born 
 April 25, 1872; Anna L. Feb. 20, 1874; and John 
 P. July 31, 188 1. Mrs. Stewart is a member of the 
 Presbyterian Church. 
 
 Joeing Stokes, an agriculturist of Colona 
 I- Township, of extensive relations, is a resi- 
 dent on section 3. He was born at a point 
 near the banks of the Duck River in East Ten- 
 nessee, Nov. 3, 1 810. His parents, Edmond 
 and Judith (Taylor) Stokes, were both born in 
 Burke Co., Va. After their marriage they made 
 their first settlement in North Carolina, and after a 
 short residence there they removed to the State of 
 Tennessee. 
 
 They were there resident until the spring of 1810, 
 when they set out on horseback for the State of In- 
 diana. Mr. Stokes there rented land and raised a 
 crop. They stayed long enough to secure the re- 
 sults of their toil, and returned to Tennessee. There 
 their child was born, and when he was three weeks 
 old the little household started for Illinois. The 
 mother carried her baby in her arms, and she and 
 her husband rede the entire distance on horseback. 
 They located in Shawneetown, in Gallatin County, 
 and took possession of a rented farm. On this Mr. 
 Stokes raised a crop, and was the occupant of the 
 place during the year 181 1. In 181 2 he secured a 
 claim in White County and began the work of im- 
 provement. At the breaking out of the war which 
 is designated by the number of that year (1812), the 
 place where their home was located-was in constant 
 danger from the depredations of Indian marauders, 
 and the family removed to the fort on the Little Wa- 
 bash River. The husband entered the service and 
 operated for a short time as a ranger. After the 
 declaration of peace he sold his claim and settled 
 on a second which he made four miles below New 
 Haven on the Wabash River, in Gallatin County. 
 On this he also made some improvements, but did 
 not retain his ownership therein. He sold it, and 
 made a third claim in a portion of the county which 
 was all in a wholly wild state. The same experi- 
 ence he often repeated, from the same spirit which 
 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 321 
 
 iw actuated the pioneers of those days. He died 
 
 «r 
 
 <i> 
 
 Gallatin County in 1833. The death of the wife and 
 mother occurred Oct. 4, 1871. 
 Mr. Stokes of this sketch lived with his parents 
 
 a until he reached the age of 18. He then became a 
 
 ^r member of the family of an aunt, with whom he lived 
 three years. He then returned to the home of his 
 parents and worked with his father in farming until 
 the death of the latter, when the entire estate and 
 the management of the affairs of his father devolved 
 on him, as he was the oldest child. In the spring of 
 1834 he took possession of a farm he had bought, 
 and he was accompanied by his mother, two brothers 
 and a sister to his new location. The place adjoined 
 that occupied by the aunt referred to, and he was oc- 
 cupied in its improvement until 1843. He then 
 went to Scott Co., Iowa, and his family then included 
 his wife, two children, his mother, sister and a 
 brother. The party took passage on a flat-boat to 
 the Mississippi River, where they embarked on a 
 steamer for the city of Davenport. Mr. Stokes had 
 
 $} sent two teams in advance overland with his stock, 
 consisting of 50 head of cattle and horses. He rented 
 land the first year in Pleasant Valley, near Daven- 
 port, which he managed one summer, and in the fall 
 
 ^ of the same year he bought a place in the same town- 
 * ship. In the fall of the next year he effected an ex- 
 
 (1 \ change of his property, and came to Henry County. 
 He located on land which he bought in Hanna Town- 
 ship, situated on section 30, on which he resided one 
 year. He then returned to Scott County and gave 
 his attention to the improvement of the farm there, 
 and was thereon resident until the spring of 1850. 
 At that date he came back to Hanna Township and 
 lived on his farm there until 1853. From that time 
 until r86i he lived in Scott County. He again re- 
 turned to Hanna Township, where he operated his 
 farm until 1875. He then went to his Iowa farm, 
 and was its occupant until 1880. In that year he 
 took possession of a farm in Colona Township, which 
 he had purchased in 1870. The property is situated 
 on sections 3 and 10. The place was wholly unim- 
 proved, and Mr. Stokes built on it and put it in a 
 well improved condition. The property is considered 
 as valuable as any in the township, and the estate 
 
 t contains 3T8 acres. The farm in Scott Co., Iowa, is 
 still in the possession of Mr. Stokes, and it is a fine 
 and valuable estate, containing 250 acres of excellent 
 and under good improvements. Its value is ma- 
 
 <9* 
 
 •1 ■* 
 
 terially increased by the fact that it comprises about 
 60 acres of fine timber. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Stokes to Lucy Niver took 
 place in 1839. They had ten children. Julia A. 
 married Pitt Swan, from whom she was divorced. 
 She is now the wife of Hiram Carroll, of Trenton, 
 Mo., being married Aug. 26, 1885. Her daughter 
 Tinnie was married to John Fisher, of Colona, on 
 the same day of the marriage of her mother. Her 
 daughters are named Minnie and Linna. William 
 occupies the farm in Scott County. Melinda is de- 
 ceased. Mary is the wife of J. J. S. Ellingsworth, 
 of Hanna Township, who is adequately represented 
 by a sketch in this work. Melissa is not living. She 
 became the wife of Levi Fenno. Her only child — 
 Frank — lives with his grandfather. George and 
 Young are deceased, as are two others who did riot 
 survive infancy. The mother died July 31, 1855. 
 
 One of the pioneer experiences of the family on 
 their removal to Illinois was that they were obliged 
 to live in a house which had no door, as the father 
 could obtain no nails nor boards. On one occasion, 
 when he was absent on an expedition to a distant 
 mill, the mother was compelled to keep fire all night 
 to protect herself and her children from the entrance 
 of wild animals into the house! 
 
 ^0006 
 
 9 
 
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 ® 
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 ,dwin Farwell, a retired farmer living at 
 Geneseo, came to Henry County in 1861, 
 add to Geneseo in 1883. He was born in 
 Wheatland, Monroe Co., N. Y., June 7, 1827, 
 and he is the son of Hiram and Margaret 
 I (Skinner) Farwell. He was trained in a prac- 
 tical knowledge of the business of a farmer, which 
 has been the chief interest of his life. He was 
 among the first to go to California, whither he went 
 in 1849. He passed two years there in the mines 
 and on a ranch; and, at the expiration of the time 
 named he returned to the East and settled in the 
 State of Michigan, whither he had removed in 1835 
 with his father's family. After a residence of ten 
 years he came to Illinois. 
 
 He located in the township of Osco in which he 
 was a resident for three years, and in 1864 he came 
 to the township of Geneseo. He has been a farmer 
 ever since he came to the county, and he was act- 
 ively interested in agriculture until the time that has 
 
 ■a^ r Q/^ H ||<® HHf^§ :s ^ ,k: 
 

 -^4 ^, V ^fl II & D fl^v 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 <h 
 
 rfS 
 
 
 «^' 
 
 been named as that in which he removed to the city 
 of Geneseo, to pass the closing years of his life. His 
 farm, which he still owns, is situated on sections 33 
 and 34 of Geneseo Township, and contains 320 
 acres. It is in a valuable location and it lies but two 
 and a half miles from the city limits, and it is in ex- 
 cellent condition for mixed husbandry. The build- 
 ings are of the kind most suitable for a farm of its 
 character. 
 
 Mr. Farwell has been a Democrat from the time 
 he first began to form his political ideas. 
 
 Mr. Farwell was married to Arvilla Rogers, in 
 June, 1851. She was born in Lenawee Co, Mich , 
 and is the daughter of Cary Rogers. She has borne 
 four children — two sons and two daughters: Dolly 
 was born in Michigan and she married G. H. Gates ; 
 they are residents in the State of Michigan ; Seth E., 
 the eldest son, was born in Michigan, and died there 
 in 1872; Darwin married Delia Woodruff and lives 
 in Geneseo; Lydia was born in Illinois and she re- 
 mains unmarried. 
 
 illiam Glenn is the oldest son of the old- 
 est living settler in Colona Township, 
 James Glenn. A full sketch of his pa- 
 rents and of the pioneer relations of his 
 father to Henry County are to be found on 
 other pages of this work. Mr. Glenn was born 
 May 18, 1838, in Mercer Co., 111., while his father 
 and mother were stopping there temporarily; and 
 when he was a few months old they returned to 
 Henry County. 
 
 He attained to the estate of manhood in Colona 
 Township, and was educated in the pioneer schools. 
 As soon as he was of suitable age and size he as- 
 sisted his father on the farm and lived at home until 
 he was 25 years old. In 1864 he was married to 
 Miss E. R. Reynolds. She was born Oct. 30, 1843, 
 in the city of Moline, in Rock Island County, and is 
 the daughter of Nazro and Sarah (Bennett) Reynolds, 
 pioneers of the county in which she was born. Mr. 
 Glenn settled on the farm on which he has since re- 
 sided, at the time of his marriage. It is situated on 
 section 31, in Colona Township, and is a magnificent 
 place in the way of a farm, containing 285 acres, and 
 all in first-class condition for profitable farming, 
 
 The buildings are of a type which corresponds with 
 the other fixtures of the place. The proprietor has 
 set out a grove and varieties of fruit-trees. 
 
 Mr. Glenn has passed one year in Texas, to 
 which place he went with his father-in-law, who was 
 there as a contractor on the International Railroad 
 from Heron, Texas, to Shreveport, La. Mr. Rey- 
 nolds was the first to cut the brush from the pro- 
 jected line of the track. Mr. and Mrs. Glenn have 
 one child, James Nazro by name. 
 
 enry Manville, a pioneer of Henry County 
 in 1837, was one of the colony of seven 
 who formed a colonial organization and dis- 
 patched three representatives hither to purchase 
 land in their behalf in 1836. Five of the pro- 
 jectors of the scheme came the same year to 
 Henry County, but he was one of the two that re- 
 mained in the State of New York until the following 
 year. He arrived with his family on the 4th day of 
 June, 1837. 
 
 He was born Oct. 25, 1801, in the town of White 
 Falls, in Washington Co., N. Y., and is the son of 
 Eliud and Hannah (Jones) Manville. He was 
 brought up on a farm and trained in a knowledge of 
 that occupation, and remained in the town in which 
 he was born and where he passed the later years of 
 his residence, in the business of a carpenter, until 
 the year 1837, in which he formed a resolution to 
 come to Illinois. Then he went to Bergen, in Gene- 
 see County, in his native State. It should also be 
 stated that from existing circumstances in Washing- 
 ton County, he was interested in lumbering in addition 
 to farming. He is the only surviving member of the 
 original colonists at Geneseo. He has been a con- 
 stant resident at that place with the exception of 12 
 years, in which he lived on his farm in the township 
 of Munson. He was the builder of the first frame 
 house in the village of Geneseo, and it was the first 
 work as a carpenter that he did in his new home. 
 He was also the builder of several other houses 
 here. 
 
 Mr. Manville was formerly a Republican, but has 
 lately adopted the views of the Prohibitionists. 
 
 His marriage to Miss Lucy Smith took place at 
 Whitehall, N. Y., Sept. 3, 1826. They had n chil- 
 
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 V2 
 
 <5 
 
 it 
 
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 (5* 
 
 * St 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 ■ 3*3 
 
 dren that grew to the age of maturity, — nine sons 
 and two daughters. A pair of twins died in infancy. 
 Eight are still living, — six sons and two daughters. 
 The mother died Feb. 24, 1863. Mr. Manville was 
 again married Dec. 27, 1866, in Annawan, to Mrs. 
 Julia Ann Loring. She was born in Penobscot Co., 
 Me., and is the daughter of Samuel Chamberlain, of 
 Geneseo. She was the widow of John H. Loring. 
 By her former marriage she was the mother of four 
 children, — two sons and two daughters. She came 
 to Illinois in 1855. 
 
 Mr. Manville officiated several years as the Treas- 
 urer of the school fund. He and his wife are mem- 
 bers of the Congregational Church. 
 
 -«&- 
 
 -Q~- 
 
 .ohn Wesley Withrow, a farmer on section 
 i of Hanna Township, is the son of one of 
 the very first settlers in Henry County. In 
 1835 Neely Withrow removed his family to 
 Henry County and passed the first summer at 
 Red Oak Grove. The county was then un- 
 organized, and the township of Phenix, where they 
 settled, was designated by its number, — 18. The 
 senior Withrow entered a claim on section 29 and 
 built a log house on it. It was his home while he 
 lived, and he gave himself unreservedly to the work 
 of placing his farm in the best possible condition for 
 profitable agriculture. But his hopes were doomed 
 to early decay, as he survived only about three years, 
 dying in 1838 from accident. He was thrown from 
 a sleigh on the ice and died from the effects of the 
 injury he received. He was born in Kentucky. 
 The mother of Mr. Withrow, whose name was Polly 
 Eveleth before her marriage, was a native of New 
 York. She went with her parents to White Co., 111., 
 when she was a small child, making the journey 
 thither on a flat-boat on the rivers on which the emi- 
 grants traveled from the East to the West. The 
 children of Neely Withrow and his wife were named 
 and are recorded as follows : Amariah lives in the 
 township of Phenix; James is a resident of Geneseo ; 
 John W. is the next in order of birth; Neely is a 
 citizen of Central City, Neb. ; Lucy married Robert 
 Barge, and they live in Merrick Co., Neb. 
 
 Mr. Withrow was but nine months old when his 
 
 parents removed to Henry County. He was born 
 Oct. 19, 1834, in White County, and he was but four 
 years old when his father died. His mother married 
 Harvey Hickcox and the step-father came to live 
 with the family on the homestead, which was thus 
 occupied some time. Mr. Withrow lived with his 
 mother until he was 24 years of age, when he be- 
 came himself the head of a family. He was joined 
 in marriage, Jan. 1, i860, to Arvilla M. Allen. She 
 was born Feb. 12, 1843, and is the daughter of 
 Jonathan and Charlotte (Hatch) Allen, and her 
 parents were both natives of Jefferson Co., N. Y. 
 They settled in Iowa in 1837, and formed a part of 
 the earliest pioneer element of Lee County, in that 
 State. They removed in 1848 to Illinois, and lo- 
 cated in Phenix Township. Later her parents went 
 to Geneseo to pass the remaining years of their lives. 
 
 Mrs. Withrow's father was born Nov. 10, i8i2,and 
 died Feb. 23. 1876, and her mother was born Oct. 
 10, 1817, and died Aug. 23, 1882. They had five 
 children, born in the following order : Adaline, Mary 
 A., Arvilla, Lois A. and Dora A. The two oldest 
 are deceased. Adaline was the wife of Charles 
 Linnell,and lived in Phenix Township; Mary A. was 
 the wife of James Withrow, of Geneseo ; Arvilla is 
 the wife of the subject of this sketch ; Lois is the wife 
 of Albert A. Colbert, and lives in Whiteside Co., 111. ; 
 Dora A. is the wife of Byron Coe, of Hanna Town- 
 ship. 
 
 At the time he was married, Mr. Withrow rented 
 land in the township of Geneseo, and was its occu- 
 pant for two years. He then bought a farm on sec- 
 tion 31, in Phenix Township, where he operated as 
 an agriculturist until 1869. He then rented that 
 place and took possession of the farm on which he is 
 at present a resident, in Hanna Township. He has 
 become prominent as a successful agriculturist, and 
 owns three farms in the township where he is a citi- 
 zen, and which lie on sections 1, 2 and 12. The 
 land included lies in a solid body and comprises 500 
 acres. He is also the owner of 354 acres on section 
 31, in Phenix Township, in two farms, and has 160 
 acres on section 24, in Hanna Township, not con- 
 nected with his homestead estate. 
 
 When his country needed his assistance he was 
 ready to defend its interests in the cause that was 
 near to every lover of an undivided nation, and he 
 accordingly entered the military service. He en- 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 listed in March, 1865, in the 112th 111. Vol. Inf., 
 enrolling in Co. K. He joined the regiment in which 
 he had enlisted as a recruit at Goldsboro, N. C, and 
 soon after was transferred to the 65th 111. He was 
 detailed for duty at Greensboro, N. C, where he 
 passed the chief part of the time he was in the army. 
 At the close of the war his command was discharged 
 at Chicago, and he returned to his home and inter- 
 ests in Henry County. 
 
 The household of Mr. and Mrs. Withrow includes 
 seven children. They are named Francis O., Ira 
 W., Ida E., Nina D., Effie A., George O. and Ray- 
 mond F. 
 
 >erritt Munson, deceased. This is a name 
 which will be a portion of the recorded 
 annals of Henry County as long as the 
 \ present regime exists. In his honor one of 
 the townships of the county was named, and 
 he was the owner of the site of the present 
 business portion of Geneseo. 
 
 He came hither in 1852 and was extensively in- 
 terested in real estate in Geneseo, where he made 
 his home. He procured the platting of the town in 
 1853-4, and offered the most satisfactory induce- 
 ments to such as would erect buildings thereon. He 
 was the first President of the Council and officiated 
 many years as Justice of the Peace. He was a man 
 of uncommonly positive traits of character, and in 
 his public career is exemplified to an extraordinary 
 degree the influence exercised by an uncompromis- 
 ing will over a community. When he located at 
 Geneseo, the north line of the village was on North 
 Street, while the business center was on Main 
 Street. He purchased the land where the business 
 blocks are now located, secured the location of the 
 depot where it stands, and virtually transferred the 
 town to the place of its present occupancy. The 
 terms he offered and his liberality in the matter of 
 granting sites for public buildings were of too great 
 benefit to the public interest not to receive respect- 
 ful consideration, and the result is patent to every 
 observer of the city of Geneseo. 
 
 Mr. Munson died at Geneseo, Nov. 2, 1884. He 
 was a man of remarkable traits. He was noted for 
 his love of justice and equal rights, and for his 
 
 hatred of cant and hypocrisy. He had no patience 
 with •' orthodoxy," so-called, and he preferred ration- 
 alism to the falsities that grew out of the unsound 
 and selfish applications of the teachings of men in 
 avenues which must of necessity be based on specu- 
 lation. He was what is known as a " Humanitarian," 
 and was considered a " free-thinker " in his religious 
 views. He possessed superior abilities, and was 
 a shrewd observer and a thorough student of hu- 
 man character. He had extraordinary abilities as 
 a writer, and on occasion performed literary work 
 in a peculiarly easy and pleasant syle. He was uni- 
 versally esteemed, and his influence in the affairs of 
 Geneseo will not soon fade from the minds of men. 
 He was a Democrat in political proclivities, and be- 
 longed to the school of which Stephen A. Douglas 
 was the exponent. He was a firm believer in and an 
 ardent advocate of the doctrines of State and per- 
 sonal rights. He was at one time the editor of the 
 Geneseo Republic, and during his management of the 
 paper it was neutral in politics. 
 
 Merritt Munson was born Oct. 7, 1805, in Wind- 
 ham, Greene Co., N. Y., and was the son of Abel 
 Munson. While he was still a resident of the East 
 he was interested in the business of a tanner, and 
 was also a dealer in boots and shoes. 
 
 He was twice married, but was childless. His 
 marriage to Harriet Rice took place in the East, and 
 she died Jan. 14, 1862. They were married July 4, 
 1827. March 2, 1872, Mr. Munson was married to 
 Mrs. Maria S. Matthews, of Oswego, N. Y. She was 
 born in Oneida Co., N. Y., and was the daughter of 
 Thaddeus and Sophia Hibbard. She is yet living. 
 
 -13- 
 
 j^enry L. Lyon is the senior member of the 
 mercantile firm of Lyon, Gibbons & Ran- 
 som, at Atkinson. He was born in the 
 State of New York, Dec. 17, 1834, and is the 
 son of John W. Lyon. The latter was born in 
 the Empire State in 1807, and he married Ju- 
 lina Lawson. She was also a native of the same 
 State, and was born in 1810. Their marriage was 
 celebrated in 1830. She has been some years de- 
 ceased. 
 
 Mr. Lyon came to Atkinson in 1856, and in 1881 
 he was associated with the firm of Nowers Bros, in 
 the sale of merchandise. The present business rela- 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
 tion with which he is connected was formed in 1 884. 
 The house is doing a prosperous and popular busi- 
 ness, and have an excellent and well-assorted line of 
 goods, suited to the demands of the patrons of the 
 establishment. 
 
 Mr. Lyon is an adherent of the Republican ele- 
 ment in political connection. 
 
 He was joined in marriage to Elizabeth Nowers, 
 Dec. 27, i860. Mrs. Lyon is the daughter of Thomas 
 Nowers, Sr., of whom an account is given on other 
 pages. Mr. and Mrs. Lyon have two children. 
 Louisa G. was born Nov. 21, 1862, and the birth of 
 Helen L. occurred March 4, 1870. 
 
 ,r. Henry J. Hoppins and Mrs. Annie M. 
 Hoppins are engaged in the practice of 
 medicine at Geneseo. They are discharg- 
 ing the duties of physicians and surgeons, 
 and are practitioners in the school of homeo- 
 pathy. Dr. Hoppins was born in Geneseo, 
 Livingston Co., N. Y., Sept. 21, 1841. He is the son 
 of Lyman and Lydia (Dake) Hoppins, and comes of 
 a family of which there are, and have been, a con- 
 siderable number of medical practitioners. He is 
 " to the manner born ; " and after passing his youth 
 in a manner that made the choice of his profession 
 a foregone conclusion, he pursued a course of medi- 
 cal study at the Hahnemann Medical College at 
 Chicago in 1870, and the Homeopathic Medical Col- 
 lege of the State of Missouri, located at St. Louis. 
 He was graduated with the class of 1872, and initi- 
 ated his practice, in the city of Chicago. Later, he 
 went to Iowa, where he was occupied for a time in 
 the practice of medicine^ and subsequently returned 
 to Chicago. He attended the Chicago Homeopathic 
 Medical College in that city and took a full, regular 
 course there, and was graduated in the class of 1883. 
 He came to Geneseo in 1874, and this city has since 
 been his field of operation, and he is fast construct- 
 ing a popular and profitable business. 
 
 He was married in Allegan, Mich., Oct. 3, 1868, 
 to Annie M. Coutant, who was born at Poughkeepsie, 
 N. Y., Oct. 30, 1858, and is the daughter of George 
 and Lucy (Barnhart) Smith. In 187 1 Mrs. Hoppins 
 commenced the study of medicine at Hahnemann 
 College, and in 1875 she fulfilled a course in the 
 
 same institution in which her husband studied. She 
 was graduated in the class of 1875, at the Homeo- 
 pathic Medical College of Missouri, at St. Louis, and 
 at the Chicago Homeopathic Medical College in 
 1 881. She commenced her career as a medical 
 practitioner in Chicago, and since that time her 
 medical business has been identified with that of her 
 husband. At the time of her marriage to Dr. Hop- 
 pins, she was the widow of Thomas B. Coutant, to 
 whom she was married Oct. 3, 1858. He became a 
 soldier in the army of the Union during the Civil 
 War, enlisting in Co. C, 38th Iowa Vol. Inf., and 
 died at New Orleans, Nov. 20, 1863. One child was 
 born to them, — Oscar Z. Coutant, who was born in 
 i860. Doctor and Mrs. Hoppins have a daughter, — 
 Delia D. — who is 12 years old. Dr. Hoppins served 
 two years in the war for the Union, enlisting in 1863 
 in a regiment from Coldwater, Mich. He and his 
 wife are members of the Congregational Church. 
 
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 ellington Wood, a citizen of Edford Town- 
 ship, is one of the prominent and enter- 
 prising agriculturists of Henry County, 
 > whither he removed in 1859. He was born 
 March 12, 1815, and is the youngest son of 
 Beder and Fannie (Rogers) Wood. His grand- 
 father, Benjamin Wood, was a printer by trade> 
 and was taught the details of the business by Benja- 
 min Franklin. The wife of Benjamin Wood was a 
 sister of Stephen Hopkins, a signer of the Declara- 
 tion of Independence. Beder Wood was born in the 
 State of New York, and his wife was a native of 
 New Haven, Conn. Her parents, Dr. Timothy and 
 Eunice Rogers, who were prominent through their 
 position as Puritans, were members of a well-known 
 family of Connecticut. 
 
 In November, 1818, the family came to Illinois. 
 The household included the parents and seven 
 children. The journey was made here on the rivers 
 that constituted the route of travel for the emigrants 
 from the East to the West, and they located in 
 Gallatin County in the then Territory of Illinois. 
 They were among the earliest of the pioneers of that 
 county, and the father became a prominent farmer. 
 He bought his land from the Government of the 
 United States, and made all the improvements on 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 the place, on which he passed the remaining years 
 of his life. 
 
 There Mr. Wood grew to manhood and there he 
 was fitted for his career in life. He was the assist- 
 ant of his father in the agricultural labors of the 
 latter, and he aided in the improvement of a large 
 amount of land. He was an attendant at the sub- 
 scription school and obtained a fair education, to 
 which he made an addition by attending one term 
 at the college in Jacksonville. 
 
 Mr. Wood was 19 years of age when his father 
 died, and he lost his mother six weeks after the 
 death of the former. He was left with the problem 
 of his future life on his hands, and in the year 
 following the loss of his parents he entered the store 
 of J. Woods, in New Haven, in Gallatin County, 
 as a clerk. He operated in that capacity for about 
 nine months, and he then began to act as a buyer 
 and shipper of produce. He made his market in 
 the South, and shipped his merchandise down the 
 river. He followed the business until 1847. 
 
 He was married January 7th of that year to Ella 
 Bradford. Her parents were early settlers of Galla- 
 tin County, and she was born there. In 1848 Mr. 
 Wood bought an entire section of land in Gallatin 
 County, in the township of Wabash. He paid for it 
 at the rate of $1.25 per acre, and he continued its 
 owner and occupant until his removal to Henry 
 County. 
 
 He bought 240 acres of land on sections 1 7 and 
 20, in the township of Edford, which has remained 
 in his possession ever since. Some improvements 
 had been made of not much account, and soon 
 after the place came into his possession Mr. Wood 
 made extensive changes. He has enlarged and re- 
 modeled the house and built a commodious frame 
 barn. He has also planted trees of various kinds, 
 and at date of writing the farm is all under excel- 
 lent cultivation and supplied with all necessary farm 
 fixtures. 
 
 The children of Mr. and Mrs. Wood are ten in 
 number: Beder lives in Moline; Rebecca is the 
 wife of Jacob Newman, and they are residents of 
 Hubbard, Iowa; Ellen married Alfred Dusenbury, 
 of Morristown ; Maggie married William Shepard, a 
 resident of Oscaloosa, Iowa ; Daniel and David are 
 twins, and are living at Grand Forks in Benson Co., 
 Dak. ; Frank lives in the county last named ; Fan- 
 
 nie is the wife of Wellmon Warner, and they are liv- 
 ing in Dawson, Lac-qui-parle Co., Minn. ; George 
 and Eva reside with their parents. 
 
 The parents of Mrs. Wood were settlers in Gal- 
 latin County in 1810. Her father owned at the 
 time of his death nearly 800 acres of land. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Wood are members of the Church 
 of God. 
 
 ev. William T. Allan, deceased, came to 
 Geneseo in 1844. He was born in Ten- 
 />JKE\ nessee Feb. 7, 1810. He was brought up 
 i \\i\ in his native State and there educated and 
 fitted for the ministry. He was born in a 
 slave State and reared in constant proximity 
 to the "institution." He became impressed at an 
 early age with the great evils resulting from the labor 
 system of the South, and connected himself witli that 
 body of agitators of the slavery question among whom 
 were William Lloyd Garrison, Gerrit Smith, Wendell 
 Phillips and others. He was, of course, a marked 
 individual and suffered ostracism at the hands of his 
 friends and neighbors. He was threatened with vio- 
 lence, and as he was fearless in the advocacy of his 
 views and opinions he encountered the abuse that 
 was the sure portion of such as endorsed the princi- 
 ples of Abolitonism. He came North and entered 
 with all his might into the controversy that in its ulti- 
 matum shook to its foundation the structure of the 
 Republic. He became a lecturer on the great polit- 
 ical issue in national politics, and won distinction as 
 a fervent and earnest champion of the principles of 
 human liberty. After his removal to Geneseo he 
 officiated sometimes as a clergyman of the Congre- 
 gational Church, but he never had a settled charge. 
 
 He was married in Geneseo, to Mrs. Caroline 
 Chapin, the widow of Rev. Jason Chapin, and the 
 daughter of Eli and Alice (Alden) Snow. (See 
 sketch of Rev. Jason Chapin.) Mr. and Mrs. Allan 
 had one child, now the wife of Robert Townshend, 
 of Indianapolis, Ind. He was married in early life 
 to Miss Irene Ball, who died childless. 
 
 Mr. Allan was an earnest believer in the princi- 
 ples of temperance, and lectured on that and on 
 other subjects. He lived to see the triumph of the 
 principles of which he was for so many and so fruit- 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 3 2 7 
 
 less years the champion, and breathed the atmos- 
 phere of a country in which there was not a soul 
 held in legal bondage. When the issues of the Re- 
 publican party assumed tangible shape, he became 
 its adherent ; and he continued his connection there- 
 with until a few years before his death, when he be- 
 came dissatisfied with the party policy and ever after 
 voted with the opposition. He was elected and 
 served several years as Justice of the Peace, and he 
 also held the position of Postmaster at Geneseo four 
 years. He died June 5, 1882. 
 
 eorge B. Pillsbury, retired from the active 
 labors of farm life, residing on section 16, 
 Lynn Township, is one of the oldest ac- 
 tual settlers of Henry County, and the first 
 settler of Lynn Township. He was born in 
 Canaan Township, Grafton Co., N. H., Oct. 
 4, 1 81 6. 
 
 The grandfather of Mr. Pillsbury, Joshua Pills- 
 bury, was born in Massachusetts, of New England 
 ancestry and of English descent. He was a private 
 in the Revolutionary War, and fought under Wash- 
 ington, and was with him at the capture of Burgoyne's 
 army at Yorktown. He was united in marriage to 
 Sarah Sawyer, born in Nova Scotia. She was of a 
 German family, who had their first settlement in 
 Nova Scotia at an early date, and who then came 
 to Massachusetts, when she was quite small. She 
 had three brothers, who were engaged in the Rev- 
 olutionary War, and who lost their Jives at the bat- 
 tles of Breed's and Bunker Hills. After their marriage 
 they settled in Grafton Co., N. H, and it was in 
 that county, after living a life of usefulness, they 
 died. Previous to the removal of his parents to New 
 Hampshire, Caleb Pillsbury, father of the subject of 
 this notice, was born, and after the removal of his 
 parents to New Hampshire, he enlisted as a private 
 in the War of 18 1 2. He participated in the battle 
 of Buffalo and Plattsburg, and went with Gen. Brown 
 up Lundy's Lane, where he participated in the bat- 
 tle of [that name. After the close of the war, he re- 
 turned to Grafton Co., N. H, and was there united 
 in marriage to Anna Underbill, a native of that 
 county, of New England parentage, and of genuine 
 
 English descent and ancestry. Her 'father was a 
 private in the Revolutionary War, enlisting as such, 
 and was promoted to the position of Captain. He 
 was by name William Underhill, followed the oc- 
 cupation of a farmer, and was married in Massa- 
 chusetts to a lady of English descent and of New 
 England ancestry. They both died in Piermont, 
 Grafton Co., N. H, having lived lives of usefulness 
 and won the respect of the citizens of the community 
 in which they resided. 
 
 The parents of George B. Pillsbury, subject of this 
 biographical notice, were the parents of five chil- 
 dren, four sons and one daughter. One of the former 
 is deceased, and the following is a record of those 
 living : Almira married William Clark, whose biog- 
 raphy is given in another part of this work ; George 
 B. was next in order of birth ; Levi also has a sketch 
 in this work; and Ithamar resides in Monmouth, 
 Warren County; Caleb is deceased, having died 
 when 25 years of age, unmarried. 
 
 George B. Pillsbury, subject of this biographical 
 notice, was only six years of age when his parents 
 went to St. Lawrence Co., N. Y., and it was on his 
 father's farm that he remained, alternating his labors 
 thereon by attendance at the common schools, and 
 developed into manhood. When he was 20 years of 
 age, the family came to Illinois, settling in what is 
 now Lynn Township, this county, and known at that 
 time as Lynn Grove. The settlement was made in 
 August, 1836, arriving here on the 14th day of that 
 month. Not a single house had been erected at 
 that time in what is now Lynn Township, and but 
 three families had made any improvements in the 
 county of Henry. It was 30 miles to any postoffice, 
 and not a sign of civilization was visible for miles 
 around. The unbroken prairie, with its groves here 
 and there, presented an appearance which time and 
 improvement have obliterated. His father secured 
 80 acres of land, and after entering upon the im- 
 provement of the same, and breaking about ten 
 acres, he died, — taken away before his realization of 
 the future developments of the county was substan- 
 tiated by actual facts. His death occurred in 1838, 
 when in his 56th year. The mother followed him 
 to the land of the hereafter, in April, 1861. 
 
 Mr. George B. * Pillsbury, after coming to this 
 county and settling with his father in Lynn Town- 
 ship, continued to reside with him until the latter's 
 death. He then secured the place, from the heirs, 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 on which his father had originally located, and then 
 purchased 80 acres additional, and at once entered 
 vigorously and energetically upon the task of its 
 cultivation and improvement. In 1841, he hauled 
 wheat with an ox team to Chicago, for which |he re- 
 ceived only 45 cents per bushel, and with the pro- 
 ceeds was compelled to pay $10 per barrel for salt. 
 He at one time purchased a large stock of goods 
 and traded them for'cattle and hogs, which he drove 
 to Chicago, requiring from Nov. 1 to Jan. 1 to reach 
 that place and return, where 'he disposed of the 
 same. 
 
 Mr. Pillsbury is one of the sterling and respected 
 citizens of Henry County. He became the first Su- 
 pervisor of Lynn Township, and was one of the first 
 to advocate and assist in its organization. The 
 voting precinct was~at his house for several years, 
 and upon him was conferred the honor of naming 
 the township. By energetic effort, good judgment 
 and economy, coupled with the active co-operation 
 of his good help-meet, he has added to his original 
 purchase of land until he at present is the proprietor 
 of nearly 800 acres of good farm land in Lynn 
 Township, and is the largest land-owner in the town- 
 ship. 
 
 Mr. Pillsbury was united in marriage, Dec. n, 
 1848, in Bureau County, this State, with Miss Eliza- 
 beth J., daughter of David and Judith (Pattee) 
 Greeley, natives of New Hampshire. Her father 
 was a farmer by occupation, and formerly lived in 
 Grafton Co., N. H., where Mrs. Pillsbury was born 
 July 16, 1825. She was a young girl when the 
 family came to Illinois, settling in Bureau County, 
 where the mother died in 1865. Her father after- 
 ward went to Iowa, where he died about 1881. Mrs. 
 Pillsbury was the mother of nine children by Mr. 
 P., six of whom died in infancy. Louisa married 
 Wm. Sawyer, a resident of Iowa; George B., Jr., re- 
 sides with his father on the farm ; Henry L. is at- 
 tending school at Monmouth, 111. The children 
 have all received the advantages of a good English 
 education, and are respected citizens of the com- 
 munity in which they reside, and well-to-do in life. 
 
 Mr. Pillsbury was not only the first Supervisor of 
 Lynn Township, but he held that office for four 
 terms, and was also Justice of the Peace 14 years, 
 and also Township Treasurer for many years. He' 
 has always taken an active interest in the common 
 
 school question, and has devoted much of his 
 time and means to further the cause in his township. 
 Politically, he is identified with the tenets of the 
 Democratic party. During the past few years he 
 has been deprived of that greatest of blessings of 
 man, his eyesight, the same having been brought 
 about by natural causes ; and he lives to-day re- 
 spected for his actions in the past, for the good he 
 has done the community in which he resides, and 
 for the straightforward and manly action in which he 
 has treated his fellow-man. 
 
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 |; hilip Ott, a resident at Geneseo, has been 
 an inhabitant of Illinois since r837, and of 
 yic'^i Henry County since 1854. He was born 
 in Alsace, then a province of France, May 5, 
 1 8 18. His native State is now attached to 
 Germany. He is the son of Jacob and Mag- 
 dalena (Urban) Ott, and they were also natives of 
 Alsace. The family came to America in 1832. The 
 first settlement was made in Warren Co., Pa., and 
 they remained there until 1837, when they located in 
 Cook Co., 111. 
 
 In 1843 the son, who is the subject of this per,- 
 sonal narration, returned to Pennsylvania, and was 
 there married, on the 2d day of April of that year, 
 to Elizabeth Hirtzel. She is the daughter of Philip 
 Hirtzel, and was born in Alsace. She came to the 
 United States with her parents in her childhood. 
 Immediately after their marriage they came to Cook 
 Co., 111., and there Mr. Ott was engaged in farming 
 until 1854, when he made a permanent removal to 
 Henry County. He had previously secured a tract 
 of land in the township of Yorktown, and he was its 
 owner and occupant until his removal to Geneseo in 
 1869. His farm in Yorktown originally contained 
 300 acres. On coming to Geneseo he interested 
 himself in the business of a miller, and on giving up 
 his interests in that direction he removed the ma- 
 chinery and rents the building for agricultural ware- 
 rooms. In addition to his other business, in 1876 he 
 began to operate to some extent as a dealer in real 
 estate in Kansas, and has met with success in that 
 line of traffic. He still has interests there in the 
 same direction. 
 
 To him and his wife six sons and one daughter 
 have been born : Philip E. married Sarah Somers, 
 
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 •;;• 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 and they live in Edwards Co., Kan.; Sylvanus mar- 
 ried Julia Donnenfelser ; they are residents of Topeka, 
 in the State last mentioned ; he is a very successful 
 operator in real estate; Aaron H. married Elizabeth 
 Smith, and they live in Kinsley, Kan. ; Augustus 
 married Mercy Hathaway ; he is a citizen of Offerle, 
 Kan. ; L. Eli is unmarried and lives at Highland 
 Park, Lake Co., 111. ; Sarah O. and Jacob Benjamin 
 are the youngest. The oldest son was a soldier in 
 the military service of the United States during the 
 entire course of the Civil War. He enlisted in 1861 
 when he was 16 years of age in the 9th 111. Vol. Cav. 
 Mr. Ott has discharged the duties of his citizen- 
 ship in the offices of Supervisor, Assessor, Collector 
 and Justice of the Peace for many years in York- 
 town. With his wife, he is a member of the Evan- 
 gelical Association of North America. 
 
 lohn E. Stenholm, of Western Township, 
 and engaged as a general farmer on sec- 
 tion 22, was born in Central Sweden, Dec. 
 20, i8i£. At the early age of ten years, our 
 subject began the trade of a paper-maker, under 
 his father's tuition, that being the business of 
 elder Stenholm. John E. followed this trade 
 until 20 years of age, when he established a mill of 
 his own, which he ran successfully until 1850, the 
 year in which he left his native land. His father 
 led an active life in Sweden, where he spent his en- 
 tire days. His mother, whose name was Lizzie 
 Brown prior to her marriage, was also born, lived and 
 died in Sweden. 
 
 As above mentioned, it was in 1850 when our sub- 
 ject came to America, and he immediately made his 
 way to Illinois and found a home in the vicinity of 
 Orion, where he purchased 54 acres of land. This 
 he sold in 1870 and bought the 160 acres where he 
 now lives, which he has brought to a high state of 
 cultivation. Mrs. S. owns 20 acres of excellent land 
 in Andover Township. Both he and his wife are 
 members of the Swedish Methodist Church, and Mr. 
 S. has been Trustee and Treasurer of his congrega- 
 tion for several years. 
 
 In 1883, our subject was united in marriage, in 
 Sweden, to Caroline Holstrom, who came to America 
 with him, and on Sept. 29, 1881, died at her home in 
 
 Western Township. Upon June 2, of the following 
 year, Mr. Stenholm and Mrs. Christina Renstrom, 
 nee Forsburg, were married at Andover. Mrs. S. 
 was born in the central part of Sweden, April 4, 
 1836, and was brought to the United States by her 
 parents in emigration when 15 years of age. They 
 located in Andover Township, where, about 1876, 
 both parties died. By her former marriage, she be- 
 came the mother of three children— Albert P., John 
 E. and George. 
 
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 :on. George E. Waite, a prominent attor- 
 ney of Geneseo and a resident of Henry 
 County since 1856, was born in Strattoni 
 Windham Co., Vt., and is the son of Taylor and 
 Lucia (Taylor) Waite. His family was of En- 
 glish origin and was prominently identified with 
 the history of the mother country. One member of 
 the family was one of the regicide judges who con- 
 demned Charles I. The family made its advent in 
 America in the days of the early Puritans and planted 
 the family tree on the rugged coasts of New England. 
 On the maternal side Mr. Waite's ancestors are of 
 Scotch extraction. 
 
 The subject of our ske"tch completed a full course 
 of study at the Wesleyan University of Middletown, 
 Conn., and was graduated in the class of 1854. 
 
 Two years later he came to Geneseo, 111., where 
 he entered upon the study of law ; was admitted to 
 practice in 1859, and immediately opened an office 
 in this place. He has pursued the practice of his 
 profession in Henry and adjoining counties continu- 
 ously since, covering a period of 26 years. During 
 this time he has won his way to the front ranks of 
 the profession, and has been chosen to fill various 
 positions of public honor and trust. He has been 
 elected to the position of County Judge of Henry 
 County; was re-elected and served six years. When 
 the time came for the thriving village of Geneseo to 
 take upon itself the dignity of city-hood, Judge Waite 
 was instrumental in securing the passage of the act 
 of incorporation, which on the 16th of February, 
 1865, made Geneseo a city. He had the honor of 
 being elected the first Mayor, a position he held two 
 years. Prior to this, in 1864, he had been commis- 
 sioned Colonel by Gov. Richard Yates. 
 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 1\ As an evidence of the high esteem in which his 
 iy legal abilities were held by his fellow citizens it may 
 ®** be mentioned that he was chosen a member of the 
 Constitutional Convention of 1869-70, which was 
 (3/ convened to, and did, prepare the present Constitu- 
 tion of Illinois. 
 
 Judge Waite is a Republican and has taken an 
 active part in support of his party. He has served 
 several years as a member of the Republican State 
 Central Committee and has figured more or less 
 prominently in his party conventions. 
 
 He was united in marriage to Miss Hattie M. 
 Wells at Geneseo, May 9, 1859. Mrs. Waite was 
 born in Tolland, Conn., and is the daughter of Ben- 
 jamin Wells. They have three children (daughters) : 
 Laura N., Hattie M. and Ruth M. 
 
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 alcom Odine, farmer and blacksmith, oc- 
 cupying sections 2 and 3, Clover Town- 
 ship, was born March 14, 1840, in Sweden. 
 His parents, Nicholas and Carrie (Johnson) 
 Odine, were also natives of that country. His 
 father was a soldier, as were also his father and 
 grandfather before him ; and also a brother of Mal- 
 com's has been a soldier in the Swedish army for the 
 past 20 years. The military prestige of this family 
 therefore stands out quite prominently. 
 
 Mr. Odine learned the blacksmith trade in his na- 
 tive land, serving an apprenticeship of three years. 
 He followed this calling for five years longer, and 
 then sold out and came to the land of greater free- 
 dom, in 1865, locating at Andover, this county, com- 
 mencing work at his trade of blacksmith at the old 
 mill a mile and a half south of Andover ; and after 
 carrying on trade there for six years, removed upon 
 section 2, Clover Township, on 80 acres which he 
 purchased and on which he now resides. He has 
 added to his original purchase 80 acres more, ad- 
 joining his home farm. He has a good residence, 
 farm and other outbuildings, fences, etc., and has the 
 ground in good tillable condition. 
 
 In his views of American policy Mr. Odine sympa- 
 thizes with the doctrines of the National Greenback 
 party. He is a school Director, Path Master, and 
 both himself and family are members of the Lu- 
 theran Church. 
 
 For his wife Mr. Odine chose Miss Johanna John- 
 
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 son, in 1866. She is a native of Sweden. They 
 have had the following children : Amanda C, 
 Amelia, Caroline, Charles G. W., Oscar, Eddie, 
 Henry F. and Minnie E. 
 
 H"V§)*§®<f- 
 
 onas A. Youngquist, a general farmer and 
 stock-raiser on section 24, Western Town- 
 ship, was born in South Sweden, June 1, 
 1829. He was a small child when his father, 
 John Youngquist, died ; and his mother, Mary, 
 afterward came to America, and finally died in 
 Lynn Township, this county, several years ago. 
 
 Mr. Youngquist was 17 years old when he came 
 to the United States, and when he reached Andover, 
 this county, in June, 1854, he had but 25 cents in 
 his purse. He began to work on the railroad south 
 of Galesburg, 111., but, owing to ill health, at the end 
 of the first year he was financially still poorer. He 
 afterward began to work on a farm for Daniel Mix, 
 south of Galesburg, and continued in his employ for 
 14 months, at $12.50 a month and board. He then 
 came to Andover, and labored in the vicinity of that 
 place for about seven years, by which time he had 
 
 I 
 
 lbert V. Hinman, of Geneseo, is the pro- 
 prietor of the city meat market, and estab- 
 lished his business in 1883. He was born 
 in Cambridge, and is the son of the late Hon. 
 Julius Hinman. His birth occurred Feb. 18, 
 i860. His mother's name before marriage was 
 Miss Mary Westlake. A full biographical notice of 
 Judge Hinman, who was one of the most prominent 
 citizens of the county, appears on other pages in this 
 work. 
 
 Mr. Hinman resided in his native township until 
 1879, when he went to Ottumwa, Iowa, and there 
 for the first time made a venture in the business in 
 which he is now engaged. While he lived at Cam- 
 bridge he was interested in farming. His business 
 at Geneseo is conducted in a first-class manner, and 
 he has a popular and prosperous trade. 
 
 He was married in Geneseo, May 8, 1884, to Mary 
 Mattes. She was born in Germany, and is the 
 daughter of Theodore Mattes. Her father removed 
 to the American Continent when she was an infant. 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY 
 
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 I 
 
 by strict economy saved a sum of money sufficient to 
 purchase 80 acres of wild prairie land, in Lynn 
 Township. He leased this for three years, during 
 which time it was pretty well improved. He then 
 sold it and purchased 120 acres, where he now lives, 
 but which was then but very little improved, there 
 being not even a house upon it. Here he began the 
 work of constructing a comfortable and permanent 
 home ; and as the land is good and in a good loca- 
 tion, Mr. Y. has well succeeded. He has continued 
 to add by further purchases, until he now owns 420 
 acres in this and Andover Townships. There are 
 three separate farms, all of them well cultivated. 
 His residence is really an elegant one. 
 
 Feb. 21, 1862, at Andover, Mr. Youngquist was 
 married to Miss Eliza C. Linberg, daughter of Sween 
 and Catharine (Mangdenson) Linberg, who also is a 
 native of South Sweden. She was born Sept. 29, 
 1840, and her parents with their family came to the 
 United States in 1852. Mrs. Y. is the third in order 
 of birth of a family of five children ; the two younger 
 are now deceased, having died in Oxford Township, 
 this county, in which township the parents afterward 
 died. They had improved there a farm of 170 acres. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Y. have had five children, namely: 
 Emma, who married Albert Peterson, and now re- 
 sides in Andover Township upon a farm ; Mary A., 
 Carrie D., Julia A. and Anna M., all at home. The 
 family belong to the Evangelical Lutheran Church 
 at Andover, and in politics Mr. Youngquist is a reli- 
 able and enthusiastic Republican. 
 
 ev. John T. Pierce, formerly a minister in 
 the Congregational Church, resident at 
 Geneseo, was born in Brookline, near the 
 city of Boston, Mass., Dec. 15, 181 1. His 
 father was the Rev. John Pierce, D. D., and 
 his mother was, previous to her marriage, 
 Lucy Tappan, the sister of Arthur and Lewis Tap- 
 pan, of anti-slavery fame in New York. His father 
 was a native of Dorchester, Mass., and was of Eng- 
 lish extraction. His mother was born in Northamp- 
 ton, Mass. 
 
 Mr. Pierce was carefully trained in the primary 
 branches of an English course and entered Harvard 
 University, where he « as graduated with the class 
 
 of 1831. Wendell Phillips was his room-mate and 
 also his class-mate. Mr. Pierce studied at Prince- 
 ton Theological Seminary, and in 1833 went to Ohio, 
 where he became a student at the celebrated Lane 
 Seminary. He was a participant in the famous anti- 
 slavery agitation that stirred that venerated institu- 
 tion to its base, and in which the faculty took sides 
 with the Southern element, which was largely repre- 
 sented in the seminary. He was an associate of 
 Theodore Weld and of William T. Allen, and was 
 one of a considerable body of students that with- 
 drew from the seminary in order to secure freedom 
 of sentiment. He went to Oberlin and entered the 
 Theological Seminary, where he was graduated in 
 September, 1836, having been ordained a minister 
 at large in the service of the Congregational Church. 
 
 The mawiage of Mr. Pierce to Martha Haskins 
 took place July 25, 1837, at Elyria, Ohio. Mrs. 
 Pierce was born at Middlesex, Washington Co., Vt., 
 and was the daughter of Luther and Mary (Petty) 
 Haskins. Her birth occurred Sept. 15, 1811. Her 
 mother was a native of Claremont, N. H. Two chil- 
 dren born to Mr. and Mrs. Pierce are both deceased. 
 Mary E., born June 23, 1845, died at the age of 13. 
 John Franklin, born July 30, 1849, died Jan. 5, 
 1863. 
 
 Mr. Pierce began his ministerial labors in 1838 in 
 Middlesex, Vt. In 1839 he came to Jacksonville, 
 111., for the purpose of teaching, and himself and 
 wife entered upon that vocation at that place and 
 were there occupied one year. Subsequently, Mr. 
 Pierce established an academy at Griggsville, 111., 
 and was its Principal two years. In 1842, he went 
 thence to St. Louis, Mo., and there established a 
 school. He was obliged to abandon the project on 
 account of failing health, but on recovery engaged 
 in the same voca'tion in the city of Henderson, Ky. 
 They went next to Arcadia, Mo., in the first place to 
 explore for minerals in the State of Missouri, and 
 was engaged in the capacity of teacher and also as a 
 preacher; and while there organized a Congrega- 
 tional Church, this being the first Congregational 
 Church organized in the State. He taught languages, 
 and Mrs. Pierce was occupied in teaching music. 
 The agitation of the slavery question banished them 
 from Missouri, and they came in 1850 to Illinois and 
 located at Geneseo, where they have resided for 35 
 years. Mr. Pierce was the owner of 85 acres of 
 land in the immediate vicinity of Geneseo. He has 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 
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 S^iXf*- 
 
 ■^ ^ q^ imh&a^ — **^- 
 
 m 
 
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 ■:'■•■ 
 t:\') 
 
 i 
 
 33 2 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
 0- 
 
 £» 
 
 officiated as President of the Bible Society, and has 
 on occasions discharged ministerial duty at funerals, 
 but has had no settled charge, on account of poor 
 health. It should be stated that Mr. Pierce was 
 one of the most active and interested members of the 
 Anti-Slavery Society of Lane Theological Seminary, 
 which accomplished a large amount of practical 
 good. He was one of its officials. •• 
 
 Mrs. Pierce was educated at Oberlin, where she 
 was one of the first students. She is a lady of un- 
 common mental acquirements and accomplishments. 
 She was a co-workir with her husband in his varied 
 experiences in the management of the several edu- 
 cational institutions with which they were connected, 
 and in every instance was actively engaged in the 
 work of teaching. She brought the . first piano to 
 Geneseo, and taught the first music lesson in the 
 place. She has passed many years in the capacity 
 of music teacher, and she will be preserved in last- 
 ing remembrance as the pioneer in that art at Gen- 
 eseo. 
 
 •waaerE'ig'"— m 
 
 *-3fSWOT». 
 
 ames McNeill, deceased, formerly a resi- 
 dent on section 21, Alba Township, was 
 one of the substantial citizens of the town- 
 ship in which he lived for a considerable num- 
 ber of years before his death. He was born 
 in County Down, Ireland, Dec. 23, 1829, and 
 came to the United States when he was 17. He 
 was for some years a resident of the county of White- 
 side, 111., .where at first he operated as a farm assist- 
 ant. Later on, he bought 80 acres of land and was 
 its owner until his removal to Henry County. He 
 purchased 160 acres of land on section 21 in Alba 
 Township, on which he pushed his agricultural 
 projects with vigor until his decease, which trans- 
 pired July 2, 1881. 
 
 Mrs. Nancy (Ostrander) McNeill, widow of the 
 above, was born in the province of Ontario, Canada, 
 March 8, 1839. Her father, Ebenezer Ostrander, 
 was twice married. His first wife, Susan (Cook) 
 Ostrander, bore him seven children and died in 1850. 
 He married Elizabeth Baldwin and they had eight 
 children. Mr. Ostrander died in 1870. 
 Mrs. McNeill has three children, — James, Junius 
 
 D. and Sanford. The farm on which the family are ^f 
 living contains 463 acres, all in well improved con- vjj 
 dition, with excellent buildings. fjL 
 
 /.enry Monesmith, a grocer and provision 
 merchant at Geneseo, was born in Cumber- 
 land Co., Pa., Jan. 19, 1822. He is the 
 son of Henry and Nancy (Slonaker) Monesmith, 
 and when 15 removed with his parents to 
 Eaton, Ohio. He began the business to which 
 he has hitherto devoted his life in that place, and 
 was also variously engaged in other avenues of em- 
 ployment while a resident there. In December, 
 1865, he came to Geneseo, and with Wm. Ritlinger 
 established a trade in groceries and provisions. Their 
 relations continued about 18 months, and Mr. 
 Monesmith was associated with M. Bradley in the O 
 same line of traffic. 
 
 Mr. Monesmith is a Democrat in political faith 
 and connections, and in 1877 was elected City and 
 Township Assessor. He continued his own suc- 
 cessor until he had discharged the duties of the 
 position seven consecutive years. 
 
 His marriage to Leah Miller took place in Ohio 
 in 1858. She was born in Butler Co., Ohio, and is 
 the daughter of John Miller, of Eaton, Ohio. One 
 child, Luella, was born to them, who died when she 
 was seven years old. Mr. and Mrs. Monesmith are 
 members of the Unitarian Church. 
 
 xn 
 
 < 
 
 ^fgeff* 
 
 illiam G. Grammar. One of the highly 
 respected old pioneers of Henry County 
 3^"~ is Mr. William G. Grammar, who is ex- 
 V tensively engaged in farming on section 14 
 of Weller Township. Like many of the 
 well-to-do farmers of this section of the county, 
 Mr. G. is a native of Prussia, and was born in Sep- 
 tember, 1817, near Hanover. Here he was reared 
 and lived until 1844, when with several others he 
 turned his face Westward, sailed the ocean over and 
 made his way to the fertile prairies of Henry County. 
 For a while after his arrival here, he worked out by 
 the month in Andover Township, and about 1846 
 came to Weller Township, and pre-empted 40 acres 
 
z2^k 6V^DD 
 
 HENRY 
 
 §inf> 
 
 COUNTY. 
 
 
 333 
 
 an section 17. He has been a frugal, hard-working 
 man, and has accumulated property until to-day he 
 has 300 acres of good land. He has also, during 
 this time, taken some interest in the affairs of the 
 community and served it in some of the official posi- 
 tions. Politically, he votes the Democratic ticket. 
 Sinc^e he came to Weller Township, his first mar- 
 riage occurred, his wife being Anna Dickson, a na- 
 tive of England. She died about 1870. Some six 
 years later, Dec. 21, 1876, he was again married, to 
 Mrs. Jane (Bacon) Atkinson, daughter of Thomas 
 and Elizabeth Bacon and widow of Jonathan Atkin- 
 son, who died in Andover Township, Nov. 24, 1868. 
 She had by her marriage to him four children, — 
 William H., Annie, Jonathan and Joseph. Mrs. G. 
 was born in Lincolnshire, Eng., April 19, 1836, and 
 came to America in December, 1863. She is a 
 member of the Methodist Church. 
 
 *£ 
 
 I 
 
 || ev. Edgar L. Williams, Pastor of the 
 Presbyterian Church at Geneseo, was born 
 at Bucyrus, Crawford Co., Ohio, Nov. 7, 
 1848, and is the son of Owen and Kate (Mof- 
 fett) Williams. His father was born in Vir- 
 ginia and his mother was a native of Mary- 
 land. He was four years of age when he accompanied 
 his parents to Indianapolis, Ind. He was educated 
 at the Northwestern Christian University of Indiana, 
 and he began the study of theology at the Seminary 
 of the Northwest at Chicago, completing his studies 
 at the Union Theological Seminary of the City of 
 New York, and was graduated there with the class 
 of 1876. He was ordained by the Indianapolis Pres- 
 bytery in June, of the same year. He officiated as 
 Pastor of the Presbyterian Church in that city one 
 year; and, after a short supply of the Church at 
 Newton, Iowa, accepted a call from the Church at 
 Albia, Iowa, and fulfilled the duties of that charge 
 three years. He went thence to Hastings, Neb., and 
 a year later came to Geneseo; where he has officiated 
 in the capacity of Pastor of the Presbyterian Church, 
 since the 1st of August, 1882. 
 
 Mr. Williams was married in Indianapolis, Ind., 
 Sept. 25, 1878, to Miss Matilda J. Wcerner, and they 
 have two daughters. Frida K. was born March 24, 
 
 1 88 1. Susie B. was born at Geneseo, May 19^ 1883. <ij> 
 Mrs. Williams is the daughter of Philip Wcerner and fPi 
 was born in Indianapolis. 
 
 A. Peck, residing on section 10, Clover 
 Township, is a farmer by occupation. He 
 is a native of Lorain Co., Ohio, where he 
 was born Feb. 22, 1842. His parents were 
 William C. and Permelia (Field) Peck, natives . 
 of the Green Mountain State. They came to 
 this State in 1868, and settled on section 12, Clover 
 Township, this county, where they purchased 112 
 acres of land, and on which they resided until their 
 deaths, his demise occurring Sept. 12, 1872, and 
 hers, Sept. 18, of the same year. They were mar- 
 ried in 1820, and lived together for 52 years as man 
 and wife. Their children were ten in number, eight 
 of whom grew to the age of maturity, and are yet liv- 
 ing. 
 
 C. A. Peck was the ninth child in order of birth of 
 his parents. He resided with them until their deaths, 
 assisting in the labors of the farm and receiving an 
 education at the district schools. Mr. Peck was a 
 soldier in the war for the Union, having joined Co. 
 E, 55th Ohio Vol. Inf. He was engaged in the ser- 
 vice for about one year, when he was honorably dis- 
 charged on account of disability. 
 
 On receiving his discharge, Mr. Peck came to this 
 State in company with his parents, and has always 
 labored at agricultural pursuits. He is at present 
 the owner of 472 acres of land in Clover Township, 
 and is regarded as one of the progressive and ener- 
 getic farmers of the same. His farm presents a fine 
 appearance, and is indicative of good judgment and 
 ability displayed in its care, cultivation and improve- 
 ment. 
 
 Mr. Peck was united in marriage with Mrs. Flor- 
 ence Mahon, a native of Illinois, and a daughter of 
 David Whitmore, Sept. 15, 1872. Four children 
 have been born to their union, — Walter D., Otis L., 
 Vera M. and Clyde L. 
 
 Mr. Peck is a Republican, and religiously he and 
 his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church. Socially, he is a member of the G. A. R. 
 He has held the office of Assessor, Justice of the 
 Peace and School Director and other minor offices 
 
 <|J 
 
 
 
 e^nran^s — »©^ 
 
334 
 
 z^&k — 6V4>M1®I1H^ i /c) ^ €^g 
 
 ■HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 within the gift of the people of his township. He is 
 a gentleman respected and honored by all who know 
 him, for his straightforward and manly dealings. 
 
 -5- 
 
 #-# 
 
 delbert F. Sargent, of the manufacturing 
 firm of D. F. Sargent & Son, at Geneseo, 
 was born in Sutton, N. H., and is the son 
 of D. F. and Jane (Foss) Sargent, of whom a 
 detailed personal sketch is to be found else- 
 where in this work. 
 Mr. Sargent came with the family of his father to 
 Geneseo, and was' there brought up, receiving his 
 education in the schools of that place. He obtained 
 a knowledge of the trade of a carriage builder in the 
 shop of his father, and pursued it as a vocation in 
 various places. He passed two years at Moline, 
 111., and in 1866 went to Texas, where he passed one 
 and a half years, returning to Geneseo in 1867. In 
 1872 he formed his business relations with his 
 father, which have been in existence since. 
 
 His marriage to Vienna Huson took place Dec. 
 28, 187 1, in the city of Chicago. Mrs. Sargent was 
 born in Oberlin, Ohio, and is the daughter of Na- 
 thaniel Huson. To her and her husband two chil- 
 dren have been born, as follows : Edna V., Aug. .5, 
 1874, and Ada, April 6, 1880. 
 
 Mr. Sargent is a . Republican, and both himself 
 and wife are connected with the Baptist Church in 
 membership. 
 
 ^avid Whitmore, dealer in hardware and 
 Ik agricultural implements at Woodhull, was 
 born in Morgan Co., Ohio, Aug. 9, 1821, 
 and came with his parents to Illinois in the 
 spring of 1837, who located in Viola, Mercer 
 Co., 111. His father, John Whitmore, was a na- 
 tive of Pennsylvania, and came with his parents 
 when ten years old to Ohio. He was engaged in 
 the War of 1812 as a teamster, and received for his 
 services a quarter-section of land from the Govern- 
 ment. In 1 815, he married Elizabeth Archibald, 
 and remained in Ohio until 1837, when he came to 
 Illinois. In 1840, he moved into this county, set- 
 
 tling upon 80 acres of Government land, and lived 
 there until 1866, since which time, until his death in 
 1884, he made his home with his son David. His 
 wife died in 1866. 
 
 The son, who is the subject of this sketch, can be 
 considered one of the earliest pioneers of this county. 
 He has seen the rough side of frontier life, breaking 
 the original prairie turf, splitting rails, working on 
 the Mississippi River, etc. ; and from 1850 to 1876 
 he has been engaged in rearing live stock ; since the 
 latter date he has purchased property in the village 
 of Woodhull, such as houses and lots, and rents 
 them. He is also building, and selling the property 
 thus improved. He built the brick block on Main 
 Street in 1876, the lower story of which is devoted 
 to mercantile business, and the upper contains a 
 fine, large public hall for theaters and all kinds of 
 public gatherings. 
 
 Miss E. J. Booher, a native of Illinois, and Mr. 
 Whitmore of this sketch were married in 1855, and 
 of their six children four are living, namely : Flor- 
 ence M., Ida M., Lizzie L. and Nellie B. The first 
 named married C. A. Peck, and resides on the old 
 homestead in Clover Township ; Ida M. is the wife 
 of S. I. Curry, and lives in Woodhull; Lizzie L, 
 now Mrs. John Benneson, is a resident of Iowa : and' 
 Nellie B., who married A. C. Warren, resides at 
 Western, Neb., and is in the grain business. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 E3 
 
 -*- 
 
 -5- 
 
 \\i aul A Sweney, liveryman of Geneseo, es- 
 tablished himself in the business which he 
 'IllftS*^ is now prosecuting at Geneseo in 1866. 
 He dates his residence at that place since 
 July 4, 1853. He was born in Crawford Co., 
 Ohio, April 1, 1832. His father, George Swe- 
 ney, was a native of Pennsylvania, and of Irish ex- 
 traction. His mother, whose maiden name was 
 Rebecca Hetich, was born in the same State, of 
 German parentage. Mr. Sweney came from his na- 
 tive county to Geneseo in the year named, and made 
 his entry into the city, or village, as it was then, in 
 season to see the fire-works which formed the close 
 of a Fourth-of-July celebration. He was a tinner by 
 trade, and he passed some time in the prosecution 
 of his line of business, continuing it from 1855 to 
 i860, and was quite extensively interested in the 
 
 $\§>*saf*- 
 
 -^k — ^QM^E®^ — ^j^ 
 
 -$@5§»f 
 
//. 4. fy >^^U- 
 
 
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 -*v§@ 
 
 I 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 hardware traffic. In the year last named he hegan 
 to interest himself in trade in horses, and in 1866, 
 as has been stated, he opened his stables. He has 
 since conducted a business which has been in every 
 way creditable and conducive to the benefit of the 
 city of Geneseo. 
 
 Mr. Sweney is an adherent of the Democratic 
 element in politics. He has served as a member of 
 the City Council. Oct. 1, i860, he was joined in 
 marriage to Martha C. Wycuff, of Geneseo. They 
 have had three daughters : Fannie A. died at the 
 age of 20; those still living are named Lillie R. and 
 Carrie E. Mrs. Sweney was born in the State of 
 New York. She is a member of the Presbyterian 
 Church. 
 
 
 -13- 
 
 -ES- 
 
 mos Dyal, general farmer and stock-raiser 
 on section 14, Western Township, was 
 born in the city of Pittsburg, Pa., March 
 7, 1834. His father, William H. Dyal, was a 
 native also of that State, of German-English 
 ancestry, and for some time after marriage 
 followed the business of boating, with coal barges. 
 He married Eliza Stewart, who was born in Fayette 
 Co., Pa., of Scotch-Irish descent, and of their seven 
 children the subject of our sketch is the fourth. In 
 1845 the parents moved with their family to Coshoc- 
 ton Co., Ohio, where Mr. D. is yet living, aged about 
 78 years ; Mrs. D. died at her home in Ohio, July 4, 
 1883, aged about 78 years. 
 
 Mr. Amos Dyal resided at the parental home un- 
 til he was about 22 years old, and in 1856 he came 
 to Illinois and settled in this county. He worked 
 upon various farms in Osco Township for a few 
 years. In 1863, he purchased his first land, which 
 consisted of 80 acres on section 14, Western Town- 
 ship, which is now a part of the homestead : the lat- 
 ter at present comprises 160 acres, upon which Mr. 
 Dyal ha? proved himself to be very successful in his 
 calling. 
 
 Mr. Dyal was first married in Andover, Nov. 7, 
 i860, to Miss Isabella J. McFarland, who was born 
 in Holmes Co., Ohio, Feb. 8, 1838, was reared and 
 educated there, and came with her parents to Illi- 
 nois in 1857; they located in Andover Township, 
 where the mother died; the father now resides in 
 
 Cambridge. Mrs. D. died at her home in Western 
 Township, Sept 4, 1872, and Mr. Dyal was again 
 married, in Cambridge Township, Oct. '25, 1874, to 
 Mrs. Marietta E. Hovey, nee Talbot. She is a 
 daughter of Deacon W. and Mary (Terry) Talbot, 
 and was born in Oswego Co., N. Y., Dec. 12, 184 1. 
 Before she was three years old, her parents came to 
 Illinois, settling near Cambridge, this county, where 
 Mrs. D. was brought up and educated. She was 
 first married Oct. 5, 1864, to Marcus D. LaFayette 
 Hovey, who came to Illinois from Terre Haute, Ind., 
 where he was born Nov. 5, 1834. The latter re- 
 moved to this county in 1854 and died in Cambridge, 
 Sept. 4, 1874, of consumption. By his first wife, 
 Mr. Dyal's two children were : Ida E., who was 
 born Oct. 1, 1861, and married Dec. 3, 1884, Henry 
 W. McLease; the latter was born May 30, 1857, in 
 Bucks Co., Pa., and came West in 1876. For his 
 parental history, see sketch of Joseph Watson. Mr. 
 Dyal's second child, Robert K., was born July 18, 
 1866, is well educated and is yet a resident at home. 
 Mrs. D., and son and daughter of Mr. D., are 
 members of the Baptist Church ; and Mr. Dyal, in 
 his political principles, sympathizes with the Dem- 
 ocratic party. 
 
 
 
 ienry G. Griffin. The gentleman of whom 
 this personal sketch is written, is one of the 
 earliest pioneers to this section of Illinois, 
 and is a prominent and well-to-do farmer, resid- 
 ing on section 2, Andover Township. Although 
 living on the old home farm, he has retired 
 from the active labors of farm life. He was born in 
 Stockbridge, Mass., July 19, 1819. 
 
 His father, John Griffin, was a son of a New 
 England farmer by the name of Samuel Griffin, who 
 came to Massachusetts prior to his marriage. There 
 he married a lady by the name of Nahusta Caldwell. 
 She was born of New England parents, who were of 
 Welsh and New England descent. The great-grand- 
 father of our subject, William Griffin, came from 
 Wales and made a settlement in Connecticut, and 
 was the progenitor in America of the present large 
 family of Griffins who are scattered throughout the 
 United States. He was married, lived and died in 
 Connecticut. The grandfather and grandmother ot 
 
 g®fr- 
 
 -6^>!W®I» 
 
. 338 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 1 Henry G. were both reared and lived to an advanced 
 age in Massachusetts. Like their parents, they 
 were farmers: The father of our subject lived at his 
 home in Massachusetts until 18 years of age, when 
 he went to New York State, where he was appren- 
 ticed to learn the carpenter and joiner's trade. Dur- 
 ing his service here he was drafted into the War of 
 181 2, in which he served as a private. After his 
 discharge at the close of the war, he returned to his 
 work. He subsequently suffered from ill health and 
 returned to Massachusetts. While in New York, 
 however, he was married and reared a family of eight 
 
 > children, our subject being the eldest but one. 
 
 I Mr. Griffin, the subject of this narrative, was edu- 
 cated in the public schools, and made his home with 
 his parents until he was 18 years of age. He then 
 left the parental roof, all his friends, and everything 
 that was near and dear to him, and came alone to 
 then wild prairies of Illinois. This was in 1837. 
 He arrived in Mercer County, and located 1 60 acres 
 
 ■ of wild land, which is now in Greene Township. 
 
 1 Upon this he subsequently built a house and made 
 
 : other improvements. Three years later he was mar- 
 ried at what is now Viola, in that county. This 
 event occurred on the 4th of August, 1840, and Miss 
 Isabella, daughter of Alexander and Rebecca (Tor- 
 rence) McGaughey, was the lady chosen for his wife. 
 Mr. McGaughey was a wagon-maker and also a 
 farmer, and, as well as his wife, was a native of 
 Adams Co., Pa., where they were married. Shortly 
 after their union they came to Mercer Co.,. Pa., and 
 it was at New Bedford, that county, that Mrs. Griffin 
 was born. She was only ten years of age when her 
 parents died. After this sad event she went to 
 Coitsville, Trumbull Co., Ohio, and lived with her 
 sister, Mrs. Agnes Stewart. In 1839, the family 
 came West and settled on a farm where Viola, 111., 
 now stands. It was here that the sturdy young man 
 from Massachusetts met Miss McGaughey, and a 
 year after her arrival they were married. 
 
 To Mr. and Mrs. Griffin have been born nine 
 children, four of whom are deceased: John A. mar- 
 ried Mary Payne and lives at Danville, 111. ; Mary 
 A. lives at Mira, Dakota, upon a farm, and is the 
 wife of J. M. Merrill ; Rebecca A. is the wife of 
 Rufus Anderson, of Cambridge ; Julia A. resides at 
 home; Sarah A. is the wife of C. K. Fillmore, of 
 Tiffin, Iowa. Those deceased are William A., Gil- 
 bert A., French B. and James M. 
 
 After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Griffin lived in 
 Mercer County for four years, when they moved into 
 Warren County, near Little York, where they settled 
 on a rented farm. For two years they remained 
 there, when, in the spring of 1846, they moved into 
 this county, locating on a farm in Cambridge Town- 
 ship. Three years later, he purchased a farm of 
 160 acres near the city of Cambridge. In 1851 he 
 sold this and purchased 200 acres where he now 
 lives. At that time it was in a wild, unimproved 
 condition, but since then he has brought it into a 
 high state of cultivation. He sold 100 acres of this 
 and purchased an 80-acre tract adjoining. He also 
 purchased 40 acres, which he generously gave Au- 
 gustus E. Anderson, a young Swede who lived with 
 him, and of whom a sketch and portrait are given 
 elsewhere in this Album. 
 
 , Mr. Griffin is one of the progressive, enterprising 
 and intelligent farmers of Henry County, and is 
 highly esteemed by all his neighbors. He has served" 
 as Justice of the Peace for 16 years, and is now rep- 
 resenting his township in the Board of Supervisors, 
 which he has also done for nine years. He has also 
 served as County School Commissioner for two years. 
 Politically, he is a true Republican. The family are 
 members of the Congregational Church, of which 
 Mr. G. has been a Deacon for 34 years consecu- 
 tively. 
 
 Mr. Griffin's eldest son, John A., who is now a 
 minister of the Congregational Church at Danville, 
 enlisted at the first call for troops to defend our flag, 
 joining Co. D, 17th 111. Inf. He served five years 
 and was promoted from the rank of Sergeant to that 
 of Second Lieutenant. At the close of his first en- 
 listment he re-enlisted, and was retained for one 
 year after the close of the war. At Pittsburg Land-" 
 ing he was wounded in the left side. After his son 
 had been out a little more than a year, Mr. Griffin 
 himself enlisted, Aug. 11, 1862, in Co. D, iT2th 111. 
 Vol. Inf. He served for three years, and during the 
 time was taken prisoner, Nov. 18, 1863, in action, at 
 Knoxville, Tenn. He was sent to Libby prison in 
 December following, where he lay and suffered until 
 May 17 of the next year, when he was transferred as 
 a prisoner of war and kept in the stockade at Macon, 
 Ga., until Aug. 24, 1864. Then he was confined in 
 the jail-yard at Charleston, S. C, until Oct. 6. He 
 was then taken to Columbia, and again, Feb. 12, 
 1865, transferred to Charlotte, N. C, and then to 
 
 ^ 
 
 « 
 & 
 
 <5 
 
 ^©^ — ©a^h n@m $^©- 
 
-6v4>n n® n n& v^e) ^ &^- 
 
 -8®S 
 
 <kf 
 
 
 (i) 
 
 ®\ 
 
 n 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 339 
 
 Raleigh, and afterward to GoMsboro, where he was 
 paroled Feb. 28, 1865, and was marched to the 
 Union line and joined his own company the same 
 day. -He was honorably discharged at Chicago, July 
 7, 1865, after serving his country faithfully and suf- 
 fering as a good soldier. 
 
 As one of the representative men of Henry County, 
 we take pleasure in giving the portrait of Mr. Griffin 
 upon the page opposite the beginning of this sketch. 
 
 ames Stitt, one of the self-made men of 
 this county, as well as energetic and pro- 
 gressive farmers and stock dealers, residing 
 on section 27, Oxford Township, is a native of 
 Franklin Co., Pa., where he was born Oct. 4, 
 1827. The parents of Mr. Stitt, William and 
 Margaret (Harmony) Stitt, were also natives of Penn- 
 sylvania, and came to this State in 1856, settling in 
 Oxford Township, this county, where they resided 
 until their deaths. James was an inmate of the 
 parental family, and resided on the old homestead 
 until he attained the age of 18 years. He then en- 
 gaged to learn the tailoring business, and served 
 three years as an apprentice at that trade, which he 
 mastered and continued to follow for 18 months. 
 His education was received in the district schools of 
 his native county. In 1850, when 23 years of age, 
 Mr. Stitt went to California, where he was engaged 
 in the gold mines for one year. He met with suc- 
 cess in mining, and at the end of the year he was 
 the possessor of more than $r,ooo, with which he 
 returned to Pennsylvania, where he remained for a 
 year. He then went to Michigan, and invested in 
 land in that State ; but after remaining there for 
 about a year, he sold all the interest he possessed in 
 real estate and came to Illinois. He arrived July 
 4, 1854, and located on section 27, Oxford Town- 
 ship, this county, where he at that time purchased 
 160 acres of land. He has at present, in addition to 
 his original purchase, 320 acres in Iowa and also 
 320 in Nebraska. Coming here at a comparatively 
 early day, he realized that the time was not far dis- 
 tant when the country would be thoroughly devel- 
 oped, and consequently the land would increase in 
 value, and held on to his original purchase. He has 
 a fine farm under an advanced state of cultivation, 
 
 = ®j 
 
 and is meeting with success in his chosen vocation. 
 
 Mr. Stitt enlisted in the war for the Union, Aug. 
 9, 1862, joining Co. D, 112th 111. Vol. Inf. He was 
 wounded during an engagement, and was disabled 
 from duty for two months. He participated in the 
 battles of Knoxville, Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain, 
 Atlanta, Fort Anderson and Franklin, Tenn., and 
 many others of less import. He was also engaged 
 in the raid on Knoxville to burn the Strawberry Plain 
 Bridge, and was seven days and nights in the sad- 
 dle. He received an honorable discharge in June, 
 1865. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Stitt to Miss Elizabeth Ham- 
 mond, a native of Pennsylvania, occurred in March, 
 1853, and the issue of their union has been seven 
 children, namely: Lawrence F., Amanda M., Frank 
 E., Wesley K., Elmer M. ; and Rose A. and Henry, 
 deceased. Mrs. Stitt departed this life in January, 
 1869, and Mr. S. was again married, to Miss Mary J. 
 Paden, a native of Illinois. Of the second utjion, 
 seven children were born, — Charles, James H., Will- 
 iam L., Margaret L. and Harry W. The deceased 
 are Jesse and Amos. 
 
 Politically, Mr. Stitt is identified with the Green- 
 back parly. He and his wife are members of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Stitt is at present 
 School Trustee of his district, and socially is a mem- 
 ber of the G. A. R. 
 
 -°-<3- 
 
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 W. Peregoy, who resides on section 10, 
 Clover Township, is a farmer by occupa- 
 tion. He was born in Belmont Co., Ohio, 
 Sept. 4, 1846, his parents being David and 
 Mary (Frush) Peregoy, natives of Ohio. Mr. 
 P., subject of this notice, remained with his 
 parents until 19 years of age, receiving a fine educa- 
 tion. At that time in his life's history, or rather 
 previous to that, when 17 years old, he began teach- 
 ing in the district schools, and followed that profes- 
 sion for four years in Ohio. In r 868 he came to this 
 State and rented a farm, which he successively culti- 
 vated for five years, teaching, meantime, during 
 winters.. At the expiration of this time he purchased 
 60 acres of land, located on section 10, Clover Town- 
 ship, this county, where he is at present residing. 
 He labored hard and was economical, and thereby 
 
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 340 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 secured sufficient to enable him to purchase 117 
 acres additional, and at present is the . proprietor of 
 177 acres. He has carried on general farming and 
 stock-raising ever since he came to Clover Town- 
 ship, and has met with no small degree of success in 
 his chosen vocation. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Peregoy to Miss Polly New- 
 ton, a native of Morgan Co., Ohio, occurred in 1866. 
 They have seven living children : Nettie L., Nellie 
 O., Lillie M., Jennie M., Verda L., Lulu M. and 
 Jessie N. Politically, Mr. P. affiliates with the Re- 
 publican party. He and his wife and oldest daughter 
 belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. 
 Peregoy holds the office of Road Commissioner of 
 his town, and is one of the active, progressive farm- 
 ers, as well as respected citizens of Clover Town- 
 ship. 
 
 /j§'fiMdam Mealman, who resides upon section 
 13 of Western Township, and devotes his 
 attention to general farming, was born in 
 Franklin Co., Pa., on the 25th of August, 1882. 
 His father, John Mealman, was also a native 
 of the Keystone State, and by callng a farmer. 
 The girl of his choice, Miss Sarah Rosenburg, was 
 also a native of Franklin County. There they were 
 married and lived for many years. In 1839, when 
 Adam was 17 years of age, they came West, locating 
 first in Rock Island County, where, in 1844, the 
 mother died. The elder Mealman afterward came 
 to Bishop Hill, where, about 1875, he died, at the 
 age of 73 years. 
 
 When a young man, our subject had learned the 
 trade of cooper, which he continued to follow for 15 
 years. While living in Rock Island County, he was 
 married to Harriet Kimball, who was born in Ohio, 
 and came to Illinois when a young woman. She 
 died at her home in Western Township, Dec. 27, 
 1865, at the age of 32 years. She had given birth to 
 seven children, four of whom, two daughters and two 
 sons, are now living. Mr. M. was again married in 
 1868, to Miss Rachel L. Dial, who was born in Ohio. 
 She came to Illinois with her parents when she was 
 22 years of age, and has become the mother of four 
 children. 
 
 In 1847 Mr. Mealman settled on 160 acres of 
 land on the southwest quarter of section 13, when it 
 
 was all an unbroken prairie, but by his industry and 
 perseverance has it now all well improved and under 
 a fine state of cultivation. Politically, Mr. M. is 
 identified with the Democratic party, being a first- 
 class Democrat. 
 
 H. Newman, who follows the occupation 
 h- of a farmer, on section 23, Clover Town- 
 ^*? ship, was born in Westchester Co., N. Y., 
 June 19, 1833. The parents of Mr. Newman 
 were Banks and Sarah (Reynolds) Newman. 
 The father was a farmer by occupation, and 
 also followed the trade of shoemaker. 
 
 J. H. Newman, the subject of this biographical 
 notice, remained with his parents until the death of 
 his father, which occurred when he was 1 1 years of 
 age. He then went to live with an uncle, with 
 whom he remained till he was 16 years old, receiving 
 a good education in the district schools. On attain- 
 ing the age of 16 years he left the residence of his 
 uncle, and engaged to learn the carpenter's trade, 
 which, after an apprenticeship, he mastered. In 
 1854, in the winter, he came to this State, where at 
 various places he was engaged in working at his 
 trade for seven years, until 1861, and until the 
 breaking out of the late Civil War. Soon after the 
 news had flashed across the continent that rebel 
 shot and shell had been thundered against Fort 
 Sumter, Mr. Newman enlisted in Co. E, 1st 111. 
 Reg. of light artillery, known as the Waterhouse 
 Battery, and was engaged in the service three years. 
 He was Quartermaster-Sergeant, and during the war 
 participated in the battles of Shiloh, Vicksburg, 
 Jackson, Guntown and Tupelo, and was honorably 
 discharged Dec. 19, 1864. 
 
 Returning from the war, he doffed his uniform, 
 laid aside his accoutrements, and once more entered 
 actively into the peaceful pursuits of life. He pur- 
 chased 80 acres of land, where he at present resides, 
 and by laborious toil and economy, coupled with the 
 active co-operation of his good helpmeet, he suc- 
 ceeded in accumulating sufficient to make an addi- 
 tional purchase of 60 acres, making his total acreage 
 140. He has made numerous improvements upon 
 his land, such as the setting out of trees, erection of 
 a residence, etc., has a fi»e farm, the outgrowth 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 of his own indomitable energy, perseverance and 
 economy. 
 
 Mr. Newman was married to Miss Cynthia, daugh- 
 ter of A. R. Hayden, in 1865, and has borne him 
 two children, — Clarke E. and Orris H. Politically, 
 Mr. N. affiliates with the Republican party. Relig- 
 iously, he and his wife* are members of the Christian 
 Church. Mr. N. has held the office of Supervisor 
 for three years, and also Justice of the Peace, and 
 at present is filling the office of Township Trustee, 
 a position he has held for some years. 
 
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 illiam Harbaugh, a dealer in sportsmen's 
 supplies at Geneseo, has been a resident 
 in Henry County since his removal hither 
 v in 1852. He was born Nov. 17, 1844, in 
 Wayne Co., Ohio, and is the son of John 
 Eliza (Byers) Harbaugh. The family removed 
 from Ohio to Bureau Co., 111., in T850, when the son 
 was six years of age. In 1852 another removal was 
 made to the township of Phenix, in Henry County. 
 The father of Mr. Harbaugh settled on a farm, on 
 which the son was reared to the time of his entering 
 the military service of the United States during the 
 Civil War. 
 
 The la'tter enlisted in August, 1862, in Co. K, 
 112th Regt, 111. Vol. Inf., and his regiment was as- 
 signed to the 23d Army Corps in the Army of the 
 Tennessee. Mr. Harbaugh was under fire in the 
 actions at Monticello, and Richmond in Kentucky, 
 Philadelphia, Knoxville and Beans's Station in 
 Tenessee, Utaw Creek, Atlanta, Rough and Ready, 
 Jonesboro, Kenesaw Mountain, and Pine Moun- 
 tain, in Georgia, Columbia. Franklin and Nashville, 
 Tenn., and at Fort Anderson and Wilmington, in 
 North Carolina. He was discharged June 20, 1865, 
 at Greensboro, N. C, and was musered out in July 
 following. 
 
 On his return from the army Mr. Harbaugh came 
 to Geneseo, and became interested in mercantile 
 business, in company with I. S. Felger, who was the 
 senior partner. The firm continued business until 
 December, 1879, when they sold out, and in 1880 
 Mr. Harbaugh instituted the business in which he is 
 at present operating. He is a Republican of radical 
 stripe. 
 
 His marriage to Matilda Luther took place Nov, 
 
 17, 1867, and they have one child, a daughter, Bere- 
 nice R. Mrs. Harbaugh is the daughter of George 
 and Salome Luther. With her husband, she is a 
 member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 evi Pillsfoury, general farmer and stock- 
 raiser, residing on section 8, Andover 
 Township, was born in Parishville, St. 
 Lawrence Co., N. Y., March 22, 1823. His 
 father, Caleb Pillsbury, was a farmer and died 
 about 1838, in Lynn Grove, Lynn Township, 
 where he was the owner of a small farm. Levi's 
 mother died in the same township, in 1862. 
 
 Mr. Pillsbury, the subject of this notice, resided 
 in the county of his nativity until he attained the 
 age of 15 years, when he came West with his par- 
 ents. At that early day, 1836, there were but three 
 families who could be counted their neighbors ; on 
 the east of them it was many miles to the residence 
 of any white family. Two years after the death of 
 his father, he commenced to learn the carpenter's 
 trade, which he followed for a number of years. In 
 1 84 1, he made his first purchase of land, of 80 acres 
 on section 18, Andover Township, of his uncle, Rev. 
 I. Pillsbury. He afterwards conducted this farm on 
 a large scale, and he now owns 240 acres, besides 
 ten acres of timber, and six village lots. He form- 
 erly was the proprietor of a much larger area of land, 
 but he has given considerably to his sons. Politi- 
 
 cally, he is a good Democrat. 
 
 j: ev. George C. Woodruff has been con- 
 nected with the history of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church in Henry County since 
 he came to Illinois, in 1855. His headquar- 
 ters have been in Geneseo during that time, 
 and he has been a permanent resident there 
 since 1873. 
 
 He was born Dec. 16, 1807, in Essex Co., N. Y. 
 His father, Timothy Woodruff, was a native of Con- 
 necticut, and his mother, who was before her mar- 
 riage Miss Eunice Newell, was born in the State of 
 New Hampshire. 
 Mr, Woodruff joined the Methodist Church at the 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 age of 19. On his 21st birthday he began.the life of 
 a circuit preacher, and he has now been in the min- 
 istry 57 years, being, however, on the "superan- 
 nuated list " since 1873. In that year he was dis- 
 abled by a sunstroke, but has preached almost with- 
 out intermission, and is now officiating every week 
 in that capacity. 
 
 While he operated in Northern New York he oc- 
 cupied the position of Presiding Elder seven years in 
 the Adams and Potsdam District. He came to Illi- 
 nois June 16, 1855, and was appointed on the New 
 Boston Circuit, and he has served one year as Pre- 
 siding Elder in this State. 
 
 He was married at Fort Covington, Franklin Co., 
 N. Y., Aug. 21, 1832, to Pauline, daughter of Luther 
 and Henrietta Danforth. Mrs. Woodruff was born 
 in the county in which she was married. She has 
 borne five children, and but two survive : Elizabeth 
 was the wife of James T. Hall, and died Sept. 21, 
 1 880 ; L. E. Woodruff, whose sketch may be found 
 elsewhere in this work, is the second child in order 
 of birth; Mary J., wife of L. H. Cady, died Feb. 28, 
 1872; Gertrude S. is the wife of Frank Carpenter, 
 and they reside at Livermore, Iowa ; and George H. 
 died in 1866, aged 12 years. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Woodruff celebrated their golden 
 wedding Aug. 21, 1882. The occasion was a joyful 
 one from the many expressions of kindly sentiment. 
 The Masonic body of Geneseo presented Mr. Wood- 
 ruff with a beautiful gold-headed cane, appropriately 
 inscribed. He was made a Mason at New Boston, 
 III., in 1858. 
 
 He is a Republican in political preference. 
 
 aniel Grant, dealer in agricultural imple- 
 ments at Orion, was born in North Scot- 
 land about 1830. His father, Alexander, 
 was a farmer, and died in his native country, 
 Scotland ; the mother afterward came to Ameri - 
 ca, with her five children, in 1843, locating in 
 Jefferson Co., Ohio, where she died about six years 
 later. 
 
 After her death, Mr. Daniel Grant set out into the 
 world to take care of himself, by first learning the 
 carpenter's trade at Pittsburg, Pa. ; but after follow- 
 ing it two years, he'returned, on account of failing 
 
 health, to farm life in Allegheny Co., Pa. In 1856 
 he came to Illinois, locating upon^8o acres of wild 
 prairie land, where he lived until the year 1884, 
 making many and substantial improvements. In the 
 year named he commenced in his present business 
 at Orion, where he carries a full line of the various 
 machines and apparatus nee*ded by the farming 
 community. 
 
 In 185 , Mr. Grant was married, in Allegheny Co., 
 Pa., to Ellen Ferguson, who was born in Ireland, and 
 came to America when a young lady, with her father, 
 her mother having died in the old country. Her 
 father died in Butler Co., Pa., about 1865. The 
 children of Mr. and Mrs. Grant are Anna, John and 
 Alexander. Mr. Grant is a reliable Republican, and 
 both himself and Mrs. G. are members of the Pres- 
 byterian Church. 
 
 1 
 'd'«[lexander Maher, a resident of section 21, 
 Clover Township, where he follows the 
 vocation of a farmer, is a native of New 
 York, having been born in Westerlo, Albany 
 County, that State, Nov. 21, 1825. His pa- 
 rents were Patrick and Phebe (Tenyck) Ma- 
 her, natives of Ireland and New York respectively. 
 His father followed the occupation of a farmer in 
 " York " State, and resided there until his death, 
 which occurred Jan. 16, i860. His wife died in the 
 same State, Jan. 8, 1844. 
 
 Alexander Maher, son of the parents spoken of, 
 was an inmate of the paternal household until he 
 attained his 2 2d year. [J His years of minority were 
 passed in attendance at the common schools and in 
 labor on the farm. One year after attaining his ma- 
 jority, when 22 years of age, he left the house of his' 
 parents and went forth upon the sea of life to carve 
 a future for himself. His first labor was on the Erie 
 Canal, where he worked for two years, and was then 
 engaged on the Hudson River for one year. After 
 that he worked out by the month on the farm, until 
 he came to this State, the date thereof being 1857. 
 Arriving in this State he worked for Selden Gale, 
 a farmer in Knox County, and continued to remain 
 with him for two years. At the end of that time he 
 worked for Elijah Brot one year. In 1861 he en- 
 gaged in farming on shares, and for two years was 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 343 
 
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 occupied in that manner in Clover Township, this 
 county. He then engaged on a farm by the month, 
 and followed that occupation in this county for three 
 years, working for a gentleman named Thomas 
 Houghton. 
 
 After leaving the farm of Mr. Houghton, Mr. 
 Maher purchased ioo acres of land located on sec- 
 tion 20, Clover Township. He located on the same 
 and resided thereon for one year, when he sold it, 
 and purchased 160 acres on section 21, same town- 
 ship. On the latter tract he settled with his family, 
 and entered actively into its cultivation and im- 
 provement, setting out trees, improving the barns, 
 residence, etc., and at this place he has continually 
 resided until the present time. He has a beautiful 
 home, with fine surroundings, and is meeting with 
 success in his chosen vocation, agriculture. 
 
 Mr. Maher was united in the bonds of matrimony 
 
 with Miss Lucia Holton, in 1862, who was a native 
 
 of Vermont, and who has borne him seven children, 
 
 > viz. : Park, Charles, Laura, Jennie, Henry, Maud 
 
 ^ and Ira. Mr. and Mrs. Maher have also adopted 
 
 ° two of his brother's children, Mary and James, his 
 
 ^ brother and wife having died. 
 
 S Politically, Mr. Maher is a stanch Republican. 
 
 'Su Socially, he is a member of the Masonic Order, and 
 is respected in the community in which he resides 
 for his sterling worth and integrity. In addition to 
 his real-estate possessions in this county he is the 
 proprietor of 480 acres of land in Kansas, one- 
 quarter of the same being in a good state of cultiva- 
 tion. 
 
 wan Swanson, a retired merchant residing 
 at Bishop Hill, was born in Sweden, May 
 28, 1825. There he passed his early life 
 upon the farm, and lived there until he was 
 years of age, enjoying but limited advan- 
 tages for an education, and is what may justly 
 be termed a self-made man. Landing in New York, 
 he came directly to Henry County, and has since 
 been one of its prominent and public-spirited citi- 
 zens. He located at Bishop Hill, which at the 
 time was known as " Bishop Hill Colony." For 
 about 15 years he was engaged in farming, but in 
 i86r, in company with Jacob Jacobson, he em- 
 
 v!) 
 
 barked in the mercantile business. For the suc- 
 ceeding years, until 1873, the firm were well-known 
 general merchants of Bishop Hill. At that time 
 they sold out, and Mr. Swanson has since been liv- 
 ing in retirement, with the exception of devoting 
 some of his time to his landed interests. He is the 
 owner of 280 acres of land in Weller Township, 
 most of which is well improved. 
 
 Shortly after his arrival at Bishop Hill, in June, 
 1848, Mr. Swanson was united in marriage, with 
 Christina Gabrielson. This lady was also a native 
 of Sweden, and they lived happily together until 
 Oct. 2, 1877, when Mrs. S. died. She became the 
 mother of seven children, only three of whom grew 
 to man's estate : Carl W. resides in Galva ; Evol L. 
 lives at Bishop Hill, where John also resides. On 
 the 8th of October, 188 r, in Nebraska, Mr. Swanson 
 was again engaged in marriage. The lady who 
 joined him at that time, Kate Erickson, is also a 
 native of Sweden. Mr. S. is also identified with the 
 Republican party. 
 
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 r. Payton, a farmer; who is following his *> 
 vocation on section 28, Oxford Township, , J) 
 was born in Indiana, June 10,1851. His 
 father, Jacob, and his mother, Mary J. (Wor- 
 ley) Payton, were natives of Ohio and Indiana 
 \_ respectively. The subject of this notice re- 
 mained at home, assisting his parents on the farm 
 and attending the common district schools, until he 
 was 2 1 years of age. At that period in life he left 
 home and started out for himself. The first enter- 
 prise was to rent a farm and engage in agricultural 
 labor. This place he held for three years. His pa- 
 rents came to Knox Co., 111., having lived there for 
 a short time in 1854, and the same year came into 
 Henry County, and purchased 80 acres of land in 
 Oxford Township. He subsequently sold this and 
 purchased a quarter of section 21, in the same town- 
 ship. 
 
 The subject of this sketch, after renting a farm for 
 three years, bought a piece of land in Taylor Co., 
 Iowa, where he spent another three years in working 
 it. He then returned to Henry County, and for two 
 years more worked a rented farm. By this time an 
 
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 344 
 
 HENRY COUNTY 
 
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 opportunity presented itself for him , to purchase a 
 place for himself. This he did in Osco Township, 
 remaining there, however, but one year, when he pur- 
 chased 114 acres of the section where he now re- 
 sides. This purchase was made in the year 1882. 
 
 In 1875, Mr. Payton was marned to Miss Laura 
 Rutledge. The ceremony was solemnized on the 3d 
 of September, that year. Mrs. Payton is a native of 
 Pennsylvania, and has become the mother of two 
 children, whom they have christened Rockwell and 
 Anna. 
 
 Politically, Mr. P. is a Republican, and, with his 
 wife, are members of the Baptist Church, located at 
 Alpha. Mr. Payton is one of the rising and promis- 
 ing young men of the township. 
 
 -* #-# *- 
 
 l|p|)« ndrew Barlow, engaged in the mercantile 
 \\. business at Bishop Hill, is a native of 
 
 rsa Sweden, having been born in that country 
 Feb. 19, 1830. He continued to reside in his 
 native country until 1850, when, having at- 
 attained the age of 20 years, he concluded to 
 seek his fortune in another country, and emigrated 
 to the United States, coming direct to this county 
 and locating at Bishop Hill. Previous to emigrating 
 to the United States, and while a resident of his na- 
 tive country, he learned the tailor's trade, and on 
 arriving at Bishop Hill he followed his trade for 
 about three years. He afterward engaged in farm- 
 ing in the Colony. Subsequently he removed to 
 Kewanee, in 1855, and continued to reside there for 
 three years, where he was engaged in the, manufac- 
 ture of brooms. At the expiration of this time, in 
 the spring of 1858, he went to Cass Co., Neb., where 
 he lived'six years and a half. He then returned to 
 Weller Township, this county, where he purchased 
 small tracts of land, engaged in farming, and fol- 
 lowed that vocation until 1870. In February of that 
 year Mr. Barlow formed a co-partnership with Swan 
 Bjorklund in the mercantile business, which co- 
 partnership existed for about five years, when Mr. 
 Barlow purchased the interest of his partner, and 
 erected the building where he is at present engaged 
 in business. Soon after commencing in his new 
 store he took in a partner, William Christopher, 
 which partnership existed for five years, when it was 
 
 dissolved, and since that time Mr. Barlow has con- 
 ducted the business alone. By fair and honest 
 dealing with his fellow man, he has built up a good 
 and satisfactory trade, and, is meeting with success 
 in his business. 
 
 Mr. Barlow was married at Bishop Hill,, this 
 county, Sept. 30, 185 1, to Lizzie Johnson, a native 
 of Sweden. Politically, Mr. Barlow is independent. 
 In his public relations he is a member of the Town 
 Board, and is one of the representative business 
 men of the village. 
 
 aoooe 
 
 ? lbert Sickler, proprietor of the Central 
 
 j Meat Market at Geneseo, established his 
 
 business in that city in 1867. 
 
 He is the 
 senior in the trade in that line of business at 
 that place. He is a native of Prussia, and 
 was born at Obendorf, March 28, 1845. An- 
 ton and Margarita (Glatthaar) Sickler, his parents, 
 are still residing there. 
 
 Mr. Sickler came from his native land in 1865*, 
 and reached the city of Geneseo on the 25 th of Octo- 
 ber. He passed the next two years there and at 
 Moline in acquiring a complete understanding of his 
 business, and at the expiration of that time he started 
 in his own behalf. In 1870 his establishment was 
 destroyed by fire, and he suffered total loss, not only 
 of his store, stock and fixtures, but also of his house- 
 hold goods, as he resided over his shop. But not 
 being of the stuff that gives up easily to ill fortune, 
 he rebuilt his shop and was soon in running order. 
 In 1875 the same disaster was repeated, with the ex- 
 ception that he succeeded in saving much of his 
 portable property. He then erected the building in 
 which he has since operated, and which he owns. 
 He belongs to the Democratic party in political con- 
 nection. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Sickler to Mary Grose took 
 place Jan. 26, 1870, at Rock Island, 111. Mrs. Sick- 
 ler was born in Alsace, France (now Elsass, Ger- 
 many), and is the daughter of John and Mary Grose. 
 The family came to the United States when the 
 daughter was a child. 
 
 The children that have been born to Mr. and Mrs. 
 Sickler are recorded as follows : Amelia was born 
 in 187 1, Charles in 1873, and Joseph in 1877. The 
 family are Catholics. 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 .ohn. H. Grammar. In 1847, among others 
 who came from across the ocean to Henry 
 County, were two brothers, William and 
 and John Grammar, who are now well-to-do 
 and respected farmers of Weller Township. 
 John was the younger, and was born, June 18, 
 1826, near Hanover, Prussia. He was 27 years of 
 age when he joined his brother in Weller Township, 
 and lived with him for about five years. He then 
 made a settlement in that township, and has since 
 been one of the growing and enterprising farmers of 
 that section of Henry County. He has provided his 
 farm of 240 acres with good buildings and fine im- 
 provements of all kinds. 
 
 In Weller Township, Jan. 13, 1853, Mr. G. was 
 married to Mary Coldy, widow of Henry Coldy, who 
 died May 15, 1852. She was born in England, Jan. 
 16, 1821, and came to America in 1838. She is the 
 daughter of James Fenn. By her former marriage 
 she became the mother of five children, namely : 
 Emily F., deceased; Eliza M., Theodore H,, Mary 
 J., and Edward, deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Gram- 
 mar have a family of three children, — John W., 
 Margaret H. and Henry E. 
 
 Mr. Grammar is a member of the Lutheran 
 Church, while his wife is connected with the Episco- 
 pal Church. In politics, he affiliates with the Demo- 
 cratic party. 
 
 Christian Buell, tobacconist at Geneseo, 
 has resided in Henry County since his ar- 
 rival here in T856. He is a native of Ger- 
 many, was born July 3T, 1823, and remained 
 in the " fatherland" until r848. On coming 
 to America in that year, he made his home at 
 ^first at Roundout, in Ulster Co., N. Y. He learned 
 the business of a cigar-maker and tobacconist in the 
 city of New York, and came thence, as has been 
 stated, in 1856. He settled in Geneseo, and passed 
 some years in various methods until 1863, when he 
 established the business which he has since con-, 
 tinued to prosecute. He has been su< cessful in 
 building up a profitable and popular enterprise, and 
 
 is now manufacturing an annual average of 170,000 
 cigars. 
 
 Mr. Buell is a Republican in political views and 
 connections, and has served in the capacity of Al- 
 derman of the Third Ward of Geneseo. 
 
 He was united in marriage to Christina Maier, in 
 Roundout, N. Y., Aug. 14, 1853. Mrs. Buell was a 
 native of Germany, and came to America in 1853. 
 They had six children, and have lost one by death, 
 Julia, the oldest, dying in infancy. John, Fred and 
 Christian are the names of the three sons. Dora is 
 the wife of Otto Michael, of Munson Township. The 
 mother died Dec. 3, 1883. Mr. Buell is a member 
 of the Evangelical Church. 
 
 " garrison Trego, a dealer in drugs, sta- 
 tionery, etc., at Orion, was born in Bucks 
 Co., Pa., Jan. 8, 1838. His father, Lewis 
 Trego, was a native of the same State, and by 
 occupation was an agriculturist. In Bucks 
 County, he was married to Sarah Willard, who 
 was likewise a native of the same county. The elder 
 Trego died in Bucks County, in 1859, and in 1876 
 the mother came West, dnd resided with her young- 
 est son, the subject of this sketch, until her death, 
 which occurred three years later, at the advanced 
 age of 85 years. 
 
 Harrison Trego was educated in the public schools 
 of his native county, and when 20 years of age, de- 
 siring to find a better location to start out for himself 
 in life, came West and located in Mercer Co., 111. 
 In that county, on the 20th of May, i86r, he was 
 married to Miss Margaret Baker, daughter of Wil- 
 liam and Hannah (Ulim) Baker. She was born at 
 Greenburg, Westmoreland Co., Pa., in 1839. Her 
 family came to Illinois in 1857, and settled at Rock 
 Island city, and in T858 removed to Mercer County, 
 where her mother died. The father now lives with 
 his children who reside in Iowa and Illinois. 
 
 Although subsequent to his marriage, yet when 
 the flag of our nation was fired upon, Mr. Trego de- 
 termined to go to its defense. He accordingly en- 
 listed in Co. C, io2d 111. Inf., commanded by Col. F. 
 C. Smith, of Galesburg, on the 4th of October, r864. 
 He at once was sent to the front, and was with Sher- 
 man during his famous campaign through the Caro- 
 
 
 
 il 
 
 M»mi<^fi> 
 
.346 
 
 z^K 6V^itirailf>^ ?€hr 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 ) 
 
 linas, and fought at the battles of Averysburg, S. C, 
 and Benton ville. Outside of some minor skirmishes 
 he escaped any very hard fighting. He was honor- 
 ably discharged Aug. 17, 1865, at Louisville, Ky. 
 
 After his return home, Mr. Trego engaged in a 
 meat-market and grocery store at Orion for two 
 year. In 1869 he established a drug store at the 
 same place, which he has since conducted. In 1870, 
 he was appointed Postmaster at that place, and held 
 the office until the present administration, when, on 
 July 2, 1885, he voluntarily resigned. Mrs. Trego 
 is a member of the Baptist Church, while her hus- 
 band is a member of the A. F. & A. M. and G. A. R. 
 Politically, of course he is a Republican, and has 
 served his township as Collector. 
 
 on. Joshua Harper, deceased, was a former 
 citizen of Geneseo. He occupied, perhaps, 
 as conspicuous a position during his life- 
 time as any other of the residents of Henry 
 county who have been placed on permanent 
 record 'on the pages of this volume. He was a 
 pioneer of what is now the township of Edford, in 
 1836, in the second year in which the tide of settle- 
 ment poured into Henry County. He came here 
 first as the agent of the New York Colony and trans- 
 acted the business of those whom he represented in 
 the distribution of lands. On the organization of the 
 county he was made the first Recorder, and his elec- 
 tion occurred June 19, 1837. Later, he occupied 
 positions of prominence, for all of which he was 
 eminently fitted by his superior character and abili- 
 ties. He possessed a fine order of mental organism, 
 and his discriminating judgment and methodical 
 habits made him a most valuable member of society 
 in its formative condition, as was the prevalent state 
 of things at the period of his coming to Henry 
 County. The traditional keenness of the percep- 
 tions of pioneers were proven by the early settlers in 
 the county, and they were not slow to recognize the 
 existence in their midst of the quality of fitness which 
 characterized Mr. Harper, and at this day, when the 
 passage of time is adjusting the value of the genera- 
 tions that laid the foundations of the splendid pros- 
 perity of Henry County, the just meed of appreciation 
 which Mr. Harper earned is heartily confirmed by 
 
 those to whom his name has become a household 
 word. 
 
 He was in his life one of the most conspicuous of 
 the throng that appeared on the public streets of 
 Geneseo, where he was a resident at the time of his 
 death. In person he was as tall and erect as a 
 young sycamore. Dignified and stately, he com- 
 manded the most uniform respect ; and he also won 
 the confidence of all by the innate kindness of his na- 
 ture which made him the type of true manhood. He 
 was pre-eminently a gentleman. He was, to the 
 generation to which he belonged, the type of the 
 chivalry and honor that, in these later times, is 
 only the aroma of the period which, after even these 
 few years, seems mythical. Punctilious and even 
 exacting, he was nevertheless the soul of honor in all 
 his transactions ; and, although he never permitted 
 another to take the smallest advantage of him, he < 
 rendered with the same exactness what was due to 
 others. He employed on all occasions only the 
 choicest language, speaking concisely and without 
 unnecessary words. Fastidious in dress and man- 
 ners, moving always in conformity to his ideas of the 
 obligations of a conscious human being, he was 
 unique in the pioneer period to which he belonged, 
 and he was regarded and is remembered as a char- 
 acter of unusual interest. In the smallest things he 
 preserved his peculiarities, and the county records 
 transcribed by his hand exhibit a penmanship as ex- 
 act and beautiful as copper-plate. He was possessed 
 of the most positive opinions, but never infringed 
 the bounds of courtesy in their expression. 
 
 Joshua Harper was born in Fairfax Co., Va., at 
 the country-seat of his father, on the 24th of April, 
 1796. John Harper, his father, was of German and 
 English extraction. His mother, whose maiden 
 name was Mary Reynolds, was born in Londonderry, 
 Ireland, of Scotch parentage. 
 
 Another most remarkable fact concerning Mr, 
 Harper was, that he was the youngest of 29 children. 
 He received the careful education of the son of a' 
 gentleman of cultivation and means, and became a 
 classical scholar of more than ordinary claims. In 
 1826 he established a mercantile enterprise in the 
 city of New York, and he operated there five years. 
 He went thence to Rio Janeiro, S. A., where he was 
 similarly interested three years. 
 
 In addition to the positions he filled, as has been 
 
 1 
 
 eA^nran^© — ^^^ 
 
 -«% 
 
 ¥ 
 
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 -«ag" 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 347 
 
 •E * 
 
 @J 
 
 
 I 
 
 mentioned, he served twice as a Representative of 
 his District in the State Legislature, and in 1848 he 
 was a member of the Constitutional Convention. He 
 also discharged the duties of his citizenship in minor 
 local offices. 
 
 The extent of his real estate included several hun- 
 dred acres, of which Mrs. Harper is the legatee. She 
 is the owner of 640 acres in the township of Geneseo, 
 and 184 acres in Edford Township. Mr. Harper 
 acted for many years as the agent of Eastern capital- 
 ists. 
 
 He died at Geneseo Feb. 23, 1882, after a resi- 
 dence in Henry County of 46 years and at Geneseo 
 of 27 years. 
 
 Sarah Miller Thomas was married to Joshua Har- 
 per, Oct. 15, 1838, in Tazewell Co., 111. She was 
 born in Winthrop, Me., and is the daughter of Capt. 
 Hushai and Hannah (Cushman) Thomas. She has 
 borne no children, but has an adopted daughter. 
 Her husband was reared in the Presbyterian Church, 
 and after they came to Geneseo they both connected 
 themselves by membership with the Congregational 
 Church at that place. 
 
 In personal character and mental attainments, 
 Mrs. Harper is the counterpart of her late husband, 
 and represents him in the grace and dignity of true, 
 earnest womanhood. 
 
 (f» 
 
 * ■* 
 
 '. ohn B. Ridenour, dealer in lumber, brick, 
 coal and agricultural implements at Wood- 
 hull, this county, was born in Westmore- 
 land Co., Pa., May 2, 1833. His parents were 
 jC John Ridenour, born in Bedford, Pa., Jan. 26, 
 1807, and Susanna (Beightel) Ridenour, born 
 in Susquehanna Co., Pa., April 18, 181 1. They were 
 married in 1830; the father died May 21, 1885, at 
 Beaumont, Butler Co., Kan., and the mother in Lynn 
 Township, Henry County, Jan. 10, 1878. The father 
 was a farmer by occupation, and was engaged in that 
 calling in Pennsylvania until 1851, when he came to 
 this State and settled in Fulton County. He re- 
 mained in the latter county until r853, when he 
 moved to Lynn Township, this county, where he 
 purchased 160 acres of land, located on section 26, 
 the same being the southeast quarter of that section. 
 He remained on the latter tract until 1884, when he 
 
 moved to Butler Co., Kan., where he died, as stated, 
 the demise of the mother having occurred previous 
 to his removal to that State. 
 
 John B. Ridenour, subject of this notice, remained 
 on the old homestead, relieving his labors thereon 
 by attendance at the common schools until he at- 
 tained the age of 22 years. On reaching this period 
 in his life's history he set forth to fight life's battles 
 alone, and was engaged in breaking prairie, which 
 occupation he followed for four years. He then pur- 
 chased 40 acres in Lynn Township, on which he 
 located and vigorously engaged in its improvement, 
 and on which he resided until Sept. 21, 1861. 
 
 He enlisted in Co. A, 55th 111. Vol. Inf., and went 
 to Camp Douglas, at Chicago, where he remained 
 until Nov 9 of that year. He then went to Camp 
 Benton, St. Louis, where his regiment remained un- 
 til Jan. 12, 1862, when he proceeded to Paducah, 
 Ky., where it remained until March of the same 
 year. He then look a steamer up the Tennessee 
 River, and landed at Pittsburg, March 15, 1862, 
 where he participated in the battle of Shiloh. In 
 that battle he received a severe flesh wound, the date 
 being April 6, r862, and was sent home on a fur- 
 lough. He returned after an absence of 60 days to 
 his regiment at Moscow, Tenn. It next went to Hol- 
 low Springs, then to Memphis, Tenn., at which point 
 it arrived July 21, 1862, and where it was placed on 
 camp duty until November of the same year. He, 
 with the regiment, then participated in a three-days 
 fight at Chickasaw Bayou, Dec. 29, 30 and Jan. 1, 
 and also in the capture of Arkansas Post, Jan. 10 
 and 11, 1863. It then returned to Young's Point, 
 La., and worked on the famous Grant Canal during 
 the winter, and participated in the battle of Cham- 
 pion Hill, May 17, 1863, and in the 46 days' siege of 
 Vicksburg. From there it went to Jackson, Miss., 
 where it participated in another ten-days siege. It 
 then went to Vicksburg, and from there to Memphis, 
 with Sherman's army, by way of Corinth, and par- 
 ticipated in the skirmish at Tuscumbia, Oct. 1, 1863, 
 and arrived at Chattanooga Nov. 2 1 , and participated 
 in a pontoon expedition in North Chickamaqua 
 Creek, and also in a battle on Missionary Ridge on 
 the 24th and 25th of November, 1863. Mr. Riden- 
 our was with his company in all these marches and 
 engagements, and on the 26th of Nov., 1863, he ac- 
 companied Sherman's army to • Knoxville and from 
 there to Albany, where he was mustered out, Jan. 
 
 
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 >5^£ ^A<*>H UM^-^9 ^^^- 
 

 
 
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 f 
 
 348 
 
 -enroll H S II Hf>^ >s«»sr 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 i) 
 
 2, 1864. He then re-enlisted in the same company 
 for three years, and was engaged in the battle of 
 
 £p Kenesaw Mountain, June 27, the battle east of At- 
 lanta, July 22, 1864, the battle of Ezra Chapel, July 
 
 {g>j 28, 1864, then in the siege of Atlanta during the 
 month of August, the battle of Jonesboro, Aug. 31 
 and Sept. 1, and then marched with Sherman in pur-' 
 suit of Hood through Georgia and Alabama some 
 300 miles, returning to Atlanta. He then marched 
 to Savannah and participated in the capture of Fort 
 McAllister, then accompanied Sherman in his famous 
 march from Savannah, and was engaged in the bat- 
 tle of Columbia, and also a three-days battle at Ben- 
 tonville, N. C, arid finally accompanied Sherman to 
 Washington. During the war he was under fire of 
 the enemy 120 days. From the latter place he went 
 with his company to Louisville, Ky., where .he was 
 honorably discharged, June 15, 1865. He was pro- 
 moted from the relation of private to the rank of 
 Captain, and was elected Lieutenant Colonel, but 
 never received his commission on account of the 
 close of the war. 
 
 Mr. Ridenour formed a matrimonial alliance, April 
 28, 1859, with Miss Lois Payton, a native of Indi- 
 ana. They are the parents of three children, — 
 William H., Mary E. and Elton A. Mr. Ridenour 
 and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church. Politically, he is identified with the princi- 
 ples of the Republican party, Teetotalism and Pro- 
 hibition. He is a Justice of the Peace and Notary 
 Public. Socially, he is a member of the G. A. R. 
 He came to Woodhull in 1869, where he has been 
 permanently located ever since. He is one of the 
 energetic and respected citizens of the community in 
 which he resides, and is meeting with success in the 
 business which he is conducting at Woodhull. 
 
 H| elson Gaines, of Geneseo, is a pioneer of 
 Henry County of 1848, and is one of the 
 most worthy and esteemed citizens of the 
 
 ) 
 
 county whose interests he has promoted since 
 he became a resident therein. He is a native of 
 Granville, Mass., where he was born March 23, 
 ) 1817. His father, Samuel Gaines, was also a native 
 " of the Bay State, and his mother, who before her 
 
 marriage was named Esther Blakesley, was a native 
 of Connecticut. 
 
 The family went, when the son was three years 
 old, to Delaware Co., N. Y., and he there passed the 
 years which intervened between his childhood and 
 manhood. On arriving at a suitable age to com- 
 mence business, he embarked in the mercantile line. 
 In 1842 he came to Victoria, 111., and there became 
 interested in agriculture, and operated as a farmer 
 until 1848. In that year he removed to Cambridge, 
 in Henry County, and was the first to establish a 
 mercantile enterprise at that place. He conducted 
 what is now known as an old-fashioned country 
 store, and transacted a profitable and popular busi- 
 ness. He remained there until the fall of i860, 
 when he removed to Geneseo. He engaged in the 
 management of a general store, which includes all 
 lines of merchandise common to the trade; but in his 
 case hardware was excluded. After 1 2 years of ac- 
 tive business he retired, and has since lived a life of 
 quiet, without business relations. He has acquired 
 a considerable interest in land in Iowa and Dakota, 
 and has been successful in his operations in that 
 direction. 
 
 In his political relations, Mr. Gaines is an inflex- 
 ible Republican, although he has never been con- 
 sidered an aggressive politician. While at Cambridge 
 he officiated as Postmaster eight years, and he has 
 filled several positions of trust in the management of 
 local affairs. He was an Abolitionist, and has kept 
 in the ranks of that element in its various move- 
 ments. He has been a member of the Congrega- 
 tional Church for more than 40 years. 
 
 Mr. Gaines has been thrice married. Harriet 
 (Andrews) Gaines, to whom he was joined in matri- 
 mony in Otsego Co., N. Y., in 1837, was born in 
 Delaware Co., N. Y., and was the daughter of Hiram 
 Andrews. She bore three children : George died 
 at the age of four years ; Clarissa is the wife of E. 
 G. Comstock, of Rapid City, Dak. ; Julia married 
 James W. Stewart, of Cambridge, 111., who is a grain 
 merchant at that place. The mother died in 1852. 
 Mr. Gaines was again married, in Cambridge, in 
 December, 1854, to Clarissa Hinman. She was the 
 daughter of Willis Hinman, and was born in Bristow, 
 Conn. The issue of the second marriage comprises 
 five children, namely : Hattie is the wife of Charles 
 E. Genung, of Menlo, Iowa; Emma married George 
 L. Gilman, and they reside in Dakota ; Lucy mar- 
 
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 v) 
 
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 i 
 
 V^llll Sillier 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 vJ) 
 
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 ried Dr. R. W. Miller, who is engaged in the prac- 
 tice of his profession at Menlo, Iowa ; Frank N. is 
 in the provision business at Grinnell, Iowa ; Harvey 
 S. is a student at the Collegiate Institute at Geneseo. 
 The second wife of Mr. Gaines died at Geneseo, in 
 October, 1877. Amy H. Wilson became his wife in 
 February, 1879. She was born in Belchertown, 
 Mass., and died at Geneseo, July 13, 1884. 
 
 eorge Ferguson, a retired farmer, living 
 at Cambridge, came to Henry County in 
 1855 and settled on a farm in Cornwall 
 Township. He first purchased 80 acres of 
 land and increased his real estate until he be- 
 came the owner of 400 acres. He was born 
 May 10, 1819, in County Monaghan, Ireland. His 
 grandfather, Samuel Ferguson, was born in Ireland 
 and married Margaret Hall. They had six children, 
 one of whom, John, came to America and settled in 
 Pennsylvania, where he died. The children were 
 named James, Samuel, John, Mary and Margaret. 
 Another daughter died young. James Ferguson, the 
 oldest son, was born and died in Ireland. He mar- 
 ried Margaret Huss, and they had ten children. The 
 following named reached maturity : Margaret, Mar- 
 tha, Jane, Isabella, Samuel, Thomas, George and 
 James. The two last are twins. James came to the 
 United States in the early part of May, 1847, and 
 George followed toward the close of the same month. 
 James settled in Hamilton, Canada, where he still 
 lives. George was a laborer in the same place two 
 years, and in 1849 he removed to Pennsylvania, 
 where he was a resident six years. He came to 
 Henry County in December, 1855. He was occupied 
 in the Keystone State as a teamster and on removal 
 to Illinois became a farmer. In the summer of 1856 
 he bought 80 acres of land in Cornwall Township 
 and removed his family from Peoria, where they had 
 been awaiting the preparation of their home. He 
 bought at intervals two additional tracts of land, 
 each containing 160 acres, and by further purchase 
 added to his estate until he now owns 480 acres, 
 under advanced cultivation. When he bought 
 the first 80 acres, for which he paid at the rate of 
 $4.25 per-acre, he had sufficient means to obtain a 
 clear title and a small amount of money for the pur- 
 
 chase of stock. Mr. Ferguson removed to Cam- 
 bridge in May, 1884, where he expects to pass the 
 •remaining years of his life in the comfort earned by 
 his frugal industry. 
 
 He is a Republican, and has been since he became 
 a citizen of his adopted country. In his own coun- 
 try he was an inflexible adherent of the Order of 
 Orangemen. He and his wife are prominent mem- 
 bers of the Free-Will Baptist Church. Mr. Ferguson 
 was a member of the building committee for the con- 
 struction of the church edifice of the society to which 
 he belongs in Cornwall, arjd has since been one of 
 the Trustees. He was prominent in the organiza- 
 tion of the local body, and has been a liberal contrib- 
 utor to its support. The family has been unremitting 
 in their efforts in social and religious matters in the 
 community to which they so long belonged. 
 
 Mr. Ferguson married Ann, daughter of John Hall. 
 Her father removed to Henry County in 1857, with 
 his family, and died in the township of Cornwall. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson had nine children, seven of 
 whom reached adult age : John, James, Esther, Mar- 
 garet J., Martha A., George and Mary E. John is a 
 farmer in Minnesota ; James is engaged in the same 
 business in Dakota. 
 
 
 ft 
 
 m 
 
 jtVV®>2^§- 
 
 V. Clough, dairyman and general farmer 
 WA\ on section 19, Geneseo Township, is one of 
 
 f. ._ the representative farmers of Henry County 
 
 in point of industry, thrift and persistency in 
 1 the way of adding to the development of the 
 agricultural resources of the county. He was 
 born in Bangor, Franklin Co., N. Y., March 20, 
 1830. His parents, Peter and Hannah (Perham) 
 Clough, were both born in the State of New York, 
 and were of German and English birth respectively. 
 They went,- in the childhood of their son, to Jamaica, 
 Vt. There Mr. Clough grew to the age of manhood, 
 and was instructed in the business of a farmer. He 
 was also employed at various times in a saw-mill. 
 He continued to live in the county of Windham un- 
 til 1856, when he came to the county where he is 
 now a resident. He at once bought a tract of land 
 at Hickory Grove, in the township of Edford, and 
 proceeded to the business of farmer in a prairie State. 
 He erected a frame house, 14 x 18 feet in dimen- ' \ 
 
 4> 
 
- 35° 
 
 -^^ — 6v&ranf>^ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY, 
 
 sions and one and a half stories in height. He 
 cleared about 60 acres of his farm, which was situ- 
 ated in the grove, and after a residence thereon of 
 about nine years, he then sold out and bought the 
 place where he has since carried on his business 
 operations. The place contains 240 acres and is all 
 improved. In 1879 he established his business as a 
 dairyman and has a milk route in the city of Gen- 
 eseo. His cows number 60 on an average. 
 
 Mr. Clough was married in Windham Co., Vt, to 
 Sophia Hines. Their marriage was celebrated Jan. 
 26, 1855. They have had eight sons, five of whom 
 are living, namely : Victor W., born Jan. 20, 1856 ; 
 Henry C, May 23, T858; Frank, Aug. 19, 1861 ; 
 Llewellyn A., Feb. 22, 1874; Clyde M., June 29, 
 1878. The deceased are: Charlie L., born Aug. 
 31, 1863, died Oct. 9, 1864 ; Harry L., born July 19, 
 1866, died April 12, 1870; and Ernest, born Feb. 2, 
 1 87 1, died Aug. 27, 1871. Mrs. Clough was born in 
 Windham Co., Vt., July 20, 1839. Her parents 
 were William and Ann (Maynard) Hins. Mr. Hins 
 was born April 1, 181 2; and Mrs. H., May 23, 18 16, 
 and died May 5, 1864. 
 
 j artin Boss is one of the substantial citi- 
 zens of the township of Loraine in all the 
 senses that estate and public interest can 
 make him such. He - is a pioneer of 1845 
 in the county, since which time he has resided 
 on section 17 of Loraine Township. He was 
 born Sept. 22, 1816, in Hesse-Darmstadt, and is the 
 son of Henry and Margaret (Hinkel) Ross, and grew 
 to the estate of manhood in his native town, where he 
 passed the years of his youth in school and on the 
 farm, and was 24 when in 1840 he came to the 
 United States. He landed at the port of New York 
 on the 3d of June of the year named, after a sea voy- 
 age of 32 days. 
 
 His cash capital on which to begin the upbuilding 
 of his fortunes in the New World was less than $5 . 
 But he had what is better than money in this country, 
 — the spirit to take hold of the first thing that needs 
 to be done ; and he at once proceeded to Pennsyl- 
 vania, where he obtained work as a farm assistant. 
 He worked one year at $6 a month, and in the year 
 next succeeding he went to Delaware. He was 
 
 a. 
 
 similarly occupied there at double his former pay, 
 and he passed a year there. He then returned to 
 Pennsylvania, where he remained until the spring of 
 1845, when he came to Henry County. He made a 
 claim on sections 8 and 17, in what was then town- 
 ship 18, now Loraine. He built a log house on the 
 southeast quarter of the section first named, but 
 later removed the structure to the other section. In 
 1852 he bought a soldier's land-warrant, and has 
 since been an occupant of the claim, which he se- 
 cured under its provisions. He has become by sub- 
 sequent purchase the owner of an additional acreage, 
 which forms an aggregate of 452 acres, of which 370 
 acres are in farming condition. The proprietor has 
 erected excellent farm buildings, and set out fruit 
 and shade trees. On taking possession of his farm, 
 Mr. Ross bought a cow and a pair of steers, for 
 which he paid at a later date, when he was in more 
 prosperous circumstances. His herd of cattle con- 
 tain now about 50 head, and he has 13 horses and 
 colts. He raises both grain and stock, and keeps a 
 dairy, selling the cream, as is the custom in the 
 vicinity. 
 
 Mr. Ross was' married in 1845, to Magdalena 
 Lehman, who was born in Alsace. Their children 
 number five, and their names are Martin, Philip, 
 Sarah A., Rebecca and Sally. The oldest son lives 
 in Bon Homme Co., Dak. Philip is a farmer on 
 section 8, in Loraine Township. Sarah is the wife 
 of Lewis Arnett, and resides in Whiteside Co., 111. 
 Rebecca married Lavinus Heller, of Atkinson Town- 
 ship. Sally is the wife of Julius Lemuel, and they 
 live in the township of Alba. 
 
 The first wife died Dec. 7, 1855. March 6, 1856, 
 Mr. Ross was married to Eva Barbara Knapper, and 
 they are the parents of ten children, as follows : 
 William is a resident of Buffalo Co., Neb. ; Louisa 
 is the wife of Solomon J. Heller, of the township of 
 Atkinson; Christine married John Butzer, of White- 
 side Co., III.; the remaining children were born in 
 the following order : David, George F., Samuel W., 
 Henrietta M., Lydia M., Benjamin H. and Marcella 
 Eva Barbara. 
 
 The members of the family are connected in mem- 
 bership with the Evangelical Association of North 
 America. The father has been a Trustee in the 
 Church of which he is a member for 27 years, or since 
 r858. He has officiated 12 years as Commissioner, 
 and has been prominent in his interest and exer- 
 
 I 
 
 
 |^Vg)jsg®f|» ag y qs gjnimiij^g — ^^^ 
 
•^T^mu^^s — 5^^ 
 
 ~«& 
 
 
 lb 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 tions for the benefit of education in his township. 
 He has officiated as Director the greater part of the 
 time since the organization of the township. In 
 active religious effort he has been one of the fore- 
 most, and has officiated as Steward and Exhorter for 
 many years. In 1885 Mr. Ross bought a residence 
 in the city of Geneseo. 
 
 ohn H. Dabbs, photographic artist at Gen- 
 eseo, established his business in that city 
 in December, 1884. He was born Feb. 
 18, 1859, in Wood Co., Ohio, and is the son of 
 John and Celia (Smith) Dubbs. He obtained 
 a practical knowledge of his trade in Findlay, 
 in his native State, and is a thoroughly skilled artist. 
 Mr. Dubbs has the endorsement of a large class of 
 patrons as being superior in his line of business. He 
 was engaged as a photographer in Findlay and in 
 Fremont, in Ohio, and in July, 1883, came to Port 
 Byron, in Rock Island Co., 111. He conducted his 
 business there until his removal to Geneseo. 
 
 Mr. Dubbs is a member of the Congregational 
 Church, and in political relations is a Democrat. He 
 is a member of the I. O. O. F., No. 624, Port Byron ; 
 also is a member of the society known as " Modern 
 Woodmen," No. 34, Port Byron. 
 
 -*3- 
 
 — £3- 
 
 j,rederick Fritzsche, a farmer of the town- 
 ship of Atkinson, located on section 26, 
 was born in Saxony, Germany, Jan. 23, 
 1826. In the year 1850 he left his native land 
 to cast his fortune with that of the New World. 
 He was dissatisfied with the distinctions in the 
 different classes in his own country, not being able 
 to see how one man is any better in the claims of his 
 birth than another. He believed in his own man- 
 hood sufficiently to trust the chances under a form 
 of government which permitted to every one the privi- 
 lege of making his own way without the distinctions 
 which in the land of his birth gave the monopoly of 
 all things to the favored few. 
 
 Directly after landing at the port of New York, he 
 proceeded to Wisconsin. There he passed two years, 
 and at the expiration of that time he came to the 
 
 — ^ ^ ' Q/^ HH 
 
 county where he has since been a resident. He 
 reached this section of the State of Illinois in Sep- 
 tember, 1852, and has been a citizen of the county 
 where he is now located more than 30 years. He 
 has returned to the land which gave him birth twice 
 since he set out in life as an independent American 
 citizen. He went first in 1852, and repeated his 
 visit in 1884. He is the owner of 400 acres of land, 
 which he has placed in the most profitable condition 
 for farming purposes. He is extensively engaged in 
 the rearing of swine and cattle. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Fritzsche to Christiana Leeps 
 took place Jan. 8, 1854. She was born in Germany, 
 Sept. 3, 1 83 1. They have had ten children, of 
 whom seven are living. They were born in the 
 order in which their names are here recorded : 
 Ernestine W., Alice M. (deceased), Frederick A. 
 (deceased), Annie C. (deceased), Edward H., Fred- 
 erick E., Moritz F., Sarah F., Wm. F. and Anna R. 
 
 Mr. Fritzsche is a Republican in his political 
 ideas, and always has supported the issues and 
 principles of that party. The members of the family 
 are Lutherans. 
 
 hilip S. Schnabele is a leading business, 
 man at Geneseo, where he is also acting in 
 $$$$ the several capacities of Notary Public, in- 
 surance and emigration agent. He is a mer- 
 chant tailor, and established his business at 
 Geneseo, Nov. 8, i860, as a general merchant, 
 in company with Lawrence Offerle. In 1865 he 
 made the exchange to his present line of trade, and 
 since 1868 he has managed his affairs alone. In 
 connection with merchant tailoring, he carries a full 
 line of ready-made clothing and furnishing goods, 
 and also deals in sewing-machines, organs and pi- 
 anos. 
 
 Mr. Schnabele was born at Obenheim, in Alsace, 
 France (now under the Prussian government), Dec. 
 24, 1835. He is the son of Jacob P. and Mary M. 
 (Stahl) Schnabele. The family came to the United 
 States in 1841, crossing the ocean in a sailing vessel, 
 the voyage consuming 44 days. They settled at 
 Northfield, Cook Co., III., where Mr. Schnabele re- 
 mained until his removal to Geneseo, where he ar. 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 rived Nov. 7, i860. This has since been the place 
 of his residence. 
 
 Mr. Schnabele was a citizen of this country when 
 the Republican party was organized, and he has since 
 supported its principles. He is thoroughly in sym- 
 pathy with the general and local institutions of the 
 country of his adoption, and his value as a citizen 
 and the quality of his abilities has been fully recog- 
 nized by his several elections to office. He has 
 officiated as Alderman two terms and as Mayor one 
 term. He is engaged in the discharge of the duties 
 of his fourth consecutive term as Snpervisor, and 
 also as Alderman. He has served three terms as a 
 member of the Board of Education, and four years 
 as its President. 
 
 In 1862 he formed a matrimonial union with 
 Amelia Willman at Geneseo. She was born Oct. 22, 
 1843, in Prussia, and is the daughter of Charles 
 Willman. Following is the record of the children of 
 Mr. and Mrs. Schnabele: Jennie A., born Jan. 27, 
 1864; Ada M., Sept. 28, 1866; Carrie M., Dec. 3, 
 1868; Jerome P., July 24, 187 1 ; Leonora F., Dec. 
 26, 1873; Priscilla, March 13, 1876; Maude M., 
 July 10, 1878; Hazel M., Nov. 12, 1883. 
 
 Son. William H. Shepard, practicing attor- 
 ney, resident at Cambridge, has been a 
 citizen of Henry County since 1861. He 
 was born Sept. 18, 1836, in Norfolk, St. Law- 
 rence Co., N Y., and is the only child of 
 Chauncey L. Shepard by a second marriage. 
 His mother, Clio G. (Grout) Shepard, is the daugh- 
 ter of Josiah Grout, a prominent citizen of Fairfax 
 Franklin Co., Vt., and who was an officer in the 
 United States Army in the second war with Great 
 Britain. Captain Grout was engaged in the cele- 
 brated battle of Plattsburg, which was one of the 
 most important actions of that conflict. Chauncey 
 Shepard died Nov. 10, 1879, aged 79. Mrs. Shep- 
 ard, the mother, lives with her son at Cambridge, 
 and is 81 years of age. 
 
 Mr. Shepard passed his childhood on a farm in 
 Fairfax, Franklin Co., Vt. He was a student at the 
 celebrated New Hampton Institute, one of the lead- 
 ing educational institutions of the Green Mountain 
 State, where he distinguished himself in scholarship. 
 
 He bore the honors of his class, and was graduated 
 as valedictorian, on the nth of August, 1859. 
 
 During his.course of study he fixed on the law for 
 a profession, and on leaving school he bent everv 
 energy to the accomplishment of that purpose. He 
 had no resources but those of energy, determined 
 ambition and unbroken health. Soon after he was 
 graduated, he entered the law office of Messrs. 
 Hubbell & Dewey, a leading law firm of Fairfax > 
 and commenced his preparatory reading. He gave 
 diligent attention to his legal course, devoting his 
 entire leisure to an acquisition of the knowledge 
 necessary to his purpose, spending the winter seasons 
 of two years in teaching district school. Sept. 11, 
 1861, he was admitted to the Bar of Vermont, with 
 all the privileges of the State Courts. Soon after he 
 was graduated, his name was placed before the peo- 
 ple of Fairfax as a candidate for the responsible 
 position of Superintendent of Schools, to which he 
 was elected, and discharged the duties of the office 
 two years, while he pursued his law studies. At the 
 time he was elected he was but little more than 21 
 years old. 
 
 Almost immediately upon his admission to the 
 Bar, he came West to secure a broader field for ac- 
 tion. Oct. 14, 1 86 1, he located at Cambridge, and 
 established his business as an attorney. He was al- 
 most wholly without resources, save his profession, 
 and at first had not even sufficient means to secure 
 the most modest legal library. He brought the most 
 steadfast perseverance to bear on his business, pur- 
 suing its relations with indomitable energy and 
 assiduity. His entire course was characterized by in- 
 flexible honesty and manly conduct, which bore the 
 fruit of unlimited public confidence. A few years 
 found him in easy circumstances and in a leader's 
 position in his profession. 
 
 In his early political life, he was a Whig, with de- 
 cided .anti-slavery opinions, and on the organization 
 of the Republican party he adopted its principles 
 and identified himself with its issues. His first 
 Presidential vote was cast for Abraham Lincoln. 
 In 1872 he was nominated for Senator from the 21st 
 Senatorial District of Illinois, including the counties 
 of Henry and Rock Island, and he was triumphantly 
 elected by nearly 2,900 majority. Upon the assem- 
 bling and organization of the body of which he was a 
 member, he was made Chairman of Committee on 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 Appropriations, and was placed on Committees on 
 Judiciary, Revision, Corporations, Penal Institutions, 
 and Judicial Department and Apportionment. He 
 was prominent in the entire course of the busy ses- 
 sion of the 28th General Assembly, his systematic 
 habits and familiarity with business routine enabling 
 him to accomplish a large amount of labor of very 
 effective character. In his most prominent appoint- 
 ment, his judicious management secured for him the 
 implicit confidence of the Senate, and he fairly won 
 the appellation of " Watch-dog of the Treasury," , 
 which designation was conferred upon him. Nor 
 did the caution and foresight he exercised give him 
 the reputation of illiberality. He operated on the 
 fundamental principle that the " right place for the 
 people's money was in the pockets of the people/' 
 He suffered no loss of Legislative details, as he was 
 always in his seat during the sessions of the Senate. 
 He was not given to debate, and compelled no waste 
 of time in the Legislative body on ulterior matters ; 
 and when an exigency demanded the influence of 
 his voice, he commanded universal respect and at- 
 tention by forcible and concise argument. His affa- 
 bility and consideration was rewar^d by general 
 esteem of the warmest character. 
 
 In 1872 he entered into a partnership with Ira D. 
 Marston, and on the expiration of his Senatorial 
 term he resumed the relations of his law business at 
 Cambridge, to which he has since devofed his atten- 
 tion without intermission. 
 
 Mr. Shepard was a Delegate to the State Repub- 
 lican Conventions of 1876, 1880 and 1884. In that 
 of 1880 he was appointed a Delegate from his Con- 
 gressional District to the Republican National Con- 
 vention which convened at Chicago in June of that 
 year. The National Convention and that of the 
 State of Illinois of fhat year were rendered memora- 
 ble by the lamentable strife over the " Third Term " 
 question, which shook the Republican party from 
 center to circumference. The controversy over the 
 question as to whether Grant or Blaine should con- 
 trol the organization and dictate the ultimatum of 
 the National Convention was begun in the State 
 Convention. The friends of Grant contended that 
 the Convention should, as the supreme head of the 
 party in the State, select its delegates to the Na- 
 tional Convention in accord with the views of the 
 majority. Blaine's friends urged that the jurisdiction 
 of the point at issue belonged exclusively to the sev- 
 
 eral Congressional Districts. The majority of the 
 delegates to the State Convention were adherents of 
 Grant, and they selected representatives to the 
 National Convention accordingly. jThe controversy 
 was thus transferred to a higher and more august 
 tribunal and precipitated the historic action known 
 in political parlance as the " Overthrow of the Unit 
 Rule," which deprived 18 of the Grant delegates of 
 their seat in the National Convention. The move- 
 ment resulted in similar losses in other State delega- 
 tions and the fi nale was the defeat of Grant and the 
 nomination of James A. Garfield. Mr. Shepard had 
 been selected for his staunch adherence to General 
 Grant, and he lost his vote. However, when the 
 commemorative medal was disseminated among the 
 immortal 306, he, with the others who had been un- 
 seated, was the recipient of an honorary medal pre- 
 cisely similar. The medal is of bronze and bears 
 the following words : " Commemorative of the 36 
 ballots of the Old Guard for Ulysses S. Grant for 
 President. Republican National Convention, Chi- 
 cago, June, 1880. Wm. H. Shepard." On the ob- 
 verse is a head of Grant in relief, surrounded with a 
 wreath of oak and laurel in a circle, recording the 
 results of the 36 ballotts. (While this record is be- 
 ing made, July 23, 1885, the United States flag is 
 flying at half-mast on the staff at Cambridge for the 
 old commander's death at Mt. McGregor.) 
 
 Mr. Shepard is Chairman of the County Republi- 
 can Committee. He occupied the same position in 
 1869 and in 1870. He has officiated 13 years as 
 Treasurer of the Henry County Agricultural Society. 
 In the memorable year, 1884, he was a Presidential 
 Elector on the Republican ticket, and was a hearty 
 supporter of James G, Blaine. He is, at present 
 writing, Master in Chancery. 
 
 Mr. Shepard as a lawyer has a prominent stand- 
 ing, and he has from the outset won popularity. 
 All his dealings with the public have been character- 
 ized by his traits as a man, which are of high order. 
 In point of probity and integrity, Mr. Shepard 
 irreproachable. As a business man he has been 
 successful. On the organization of the First Na- 
 tional Bank of Cambridge, he became one of its 
 directors, and still bears the same relation to its 
 affairs. 
 
 Mr. Shepard was united in marriage Nov. 29, 
 1862, in Burlington, Vt., to Mary, daughter of Dea- 
 con Daniel and Ruth (Carpenter) Jackson. Her 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 parents were natives of Central Vermont and were 
 farmers. Mrs. Shepard has five brothers and sisters, 
 as follows : Daniel Leland is a resident of Colorado 
 Springs in the State of the same name ; Mrs. Han- 
 nah Halbert lives at Essex Junction, Vt. ; Gideon C. 
 lives at Englewood, 111. ; Philo is a druggist in Brook- 
 lyn, N. Y. ; Peleg W. went some years ago to Al- 
 burg, New South Wales, Australia, where he is the 
 manager of a mail stage route and is a stockman. 
 Mrs. Shepard is the youngest child of her parents. 
 Her children were born as follows : William H., 
 May 13, 1865; and Frederick Jackson, Aug. 18, 
 1869. The latter died at the age of 14 months. 
 
 The mother is a member of the Baptist Church. 
 Mr. Shepard belongs to the Masonic Order and also 
 to the A. O. U. W. 
 
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 ev. Jason Chapin, deceased, was one of 
 the pioneer clergymen of Geneseo. He 
 was born at Newport, N. H., in 1801. He 
 received his literary education at Amherst 
 College, and accompl ished his theologica 
 course at Andover Theological Seminary, 
 and was graduated from the latter. In early life he 
 was engaged in teaching, and, later, went to Ohio as 
 a home missionary. He passed a few years there 
 in that occupation, and went thence to New York. 
 
 His next removal was to Geneseo, whither he 
 came in 1840, to accept the position of Principal of 
 of the Geneseo Seminary. He was the incumbent 
 of the situation nearly six years, or until failing 
 health compelled him to relinquish the post. His 
 death occurred Sept. n, 1846. He was a man of 
 fine culture, and possessed abilities of more than or- 
 dinary type. He was a consistent Christian and an 
 earnest advocate and supporter of all that was cal- 
 culated to elevate and improve humanity. His 
 political sympathies were with the Republican party, 
 and he cast his v,ote in its behalf. 
 
 Mr. Chapin was married at Ware, Mass., Oct. 4, 
 183 1, to Miss Caroline Snow. She is the daughter 
 of Eli and Alice (Alden) Snow, and was born in 
 Hampshire Co., Mass. Her mother was a lineal de- 
 scendant of the historic pair at Plymouth, John Alden 
 and Priscilla Molines (or Mullens), who discussed 
 the claims of the " laggard in love," Captain Miles 
 
 Standish, which resulted in the question of the lady 
 in the case, " Why don't you speak for yourself, 
 John ? " Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. 
 Chapin, — a son and three daughters. The first-born 
 child died in infancy. Florilla is the wife of Henry 
 Candee, a retired manufacturer of Moline, 111. Emily 
 is the librarian of the Geneseo Library. Alice C. is 
 at present a resident at Geneseo. She has been a 
 teacher in the Indianapolis Kindergarten. 
 
 The widow of Mr. Chapin was married July 24, 
 1849, to Rev - William T. Allan. She is again a 
 widow, and is still living at the homestead in Gene- 
 seo. 
 
 jjeon. Julius S. Hinman, deceased, formerly 
 ^ Judge of Henry County, came to this 
 county in 185 1. He was born June 16, 
 1823, in Canton, Hartford Co., Conn., and was 
 the son of Zerah and Miriam Hinman. His 
 lineage is English, the first representatives of 
 the family having come to this country in its early 
 period. _ *■ 
 
 Judge Hinman was reared a farmer, and he pur- 
 sued that vocation until he relinquished all interests 
 in order to give his undivided attention to the acqui- 
 sition of a liberal education. Mr. Hinman came to 
 Ohio when a boy of 12 years, with his parents, who 
 settled in Rootstown, in Portage County, where he 
 remained with his parents about ten years ; then he 
 went to Akron, that State, where he lived two years, 
 studying law with Gen. Beers. He moved next to 
 Ravenna, in Portage County, in the same State, 
 where he pursued miscellaneous studies and also his 
 legal course, and while at Ravenna he was admitted 
 to the Bar as an attorney. He established his prac- 
 tice at Franklin, Ohio, and while he remained in 
 Portage County he had charge of his father's farm 
 about rs months. 
 
 In Jui.e, 185 1, he came to Princeton, Bureau Co., 
 111., but his stay there was brief. He came thence 
 to Cambridge, where he was a continuous resident to 
 the date of his demise — March 25, 1885. At the 
 time of his death he was the only lawyer living in 
 Henry County that was here when he came. 
 
 His abilities and character received recognition 
 from the time he became a resident at Cambridge} 
 and his career in Henry County was one of marked 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 prominence from his connection with its official af- 
 fairs. He served for many years as Justice of the 
 Peace and also as Swamp Land Commissioner. His 
 period of service as Master in Chancery covered a 
 period of 25 years, and he acted more than 20 years 
 in the capacity of County Judge of Henry County. 
 He was first elected in 1865 and held the incum- 
 bency continuously until his death. His long terms 
 of service in the several official positions which he 
 held will convey an adequate idea of his abilities, 
 reliability, the quality of his judgment, his probity, 
 and his qualifications as an attorney. The best trib- 
 ute that can be offered in commemoration of a faithful 
 officer is that he was loved and trusted by those whom 
 he served. The connection of Judge Hinman with the 
 citizens of Henry County displayed alike his charac- 
 ter as a man and quality of the constituency that un- 
 derstood his value, and that honored itself in his 
 selection as the custodian of the most important in- 
 terests of a community. 
 
 He was united in marriage in Akron, Summit Co., 
 Ohio, with Mary E. Westlake, Nov. 27, 1849. Her 
 parents, Richard and Margaret (Victor) Westlake, 
 were natives respectfully of New Jersey and Pennsyl- 
 vania. The children born to Judge and Mrs. Hin- 
 man numbered five, and were born in the following 
 order: Hubert R., Ella M. (wife of Frank Gould), 
 Eva Lois, a music teacher in Chicago, Alice M. (de- 
 ceased), Albert V., a resident of Geneseo, and 
 Miriam C, living with her mother. 
 
 Judge Hinman was a member of the Masonic 
 Order and belonged to Cambridge Lodge, No. 49. 
 
 ^ 
 
 ,rank L. Winsor, proprietor of the Maple 
 City Lumber Yards, at Geneseo, estab- 
 lished his business at that place in Octo- 
 ber, 1 88 1. He deals in all kinds of builders' 
 materials, including cement, lime and sewer- 
 pipes. He was born May 1, 1851, in Chenango 
 Co., N. Y. His parents, John and Harriet (Morse) 
 Winsor, were natives of the State of New York, and 
 he was there brought up. In 1879 he came to Henry 
 County and located at Geneseo where, in the year 
 mentioned, he purchased the business of C. W. Kin- 
 ner with all its relations. The yards have been es- 
 
 tablished some years, and are well known in Henry 
 County and in surrounding districts. 
 
 Mr. Winsor was married to Bertha Skinner, in 
 November, 1876. Mrs. Winsor is the daughter of P. 
 Skinner, of Rock Island. She is a communicant in 
 the Episcopal Church. Mr. and Mrs. Winsor have 
 one child — Clara, born in 1877. 
 
 Mr. Winsor endorses and supports the principles 
 and issues of the Democrats. 
 
 H'M. nson Calkins, residing on section 21, Ox- 
 ford Township, where he is living in retire- 
 ment from the active labors of the farm, 
 
 which vocation he has pursued all his life, is 
 a native of New York, having been born in Co- 
 lumbia County, that State, Nov. 14, 181 8. The 
 parents of Mr. Calkins were Elijah and Philena 
 (Coleman) Calkins, natives of New York and Con- 
 necticut respectively, and whose family comprise ten 
 children. 
 
 Anson was the fifth child in order of birth of his 
 parents' family, with whom he continued to reside 
 until he attained the age of majority. He received 
 a good education in the district schools of his native 
 county, and assisted his father in the labors of the 
 farm until he was 18 years of age. He then engaged 
 to learn the carpenter's trade, and gave to his par- 
 ents all wages that he received until he was 21 years 
 of age, and up to the time that he left home. Upon 
 becoming his own man he worked at his trade in his 
 native State until 1841, when he came to Henry 
 County, this State, and located on the identical tract 
 of land on which he at present resides. He at first 
 procured 40 acres, subsequently 40 more, then 80 
 acres additional, and still later has increased his 
 acreage until he is at present the proprietor of 678 
 acres of land. Mr. Calkins may truly be considered 
 a pioneer settler of Oxford Township, this county. 
 Coming here in 1841, he found the country new and 
 undeveloped, but his good judgment told him that 
 in the near future it would all be settled, and what 
 was then in its natural condition would become the 
 fine agricultural district that it is to-day. He con- 
 sequently held on to "his land, and by incessant toil 
 and economy added to his original 40 acres until he 
 I is to-day the proprietor of a fine estate. His accu- 
 
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 HENRY 
 
 COUNTY. 
 
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 mulations of real estate in the county is attributable 
 to his own indomitable energy, good judgment and 
 economy ; and, looking back over the history of the 
 past, he realizes that his predictions have been ful- 
 filled even beyond his expectations. He resides to- 
 day on his fine estate in Oxford Township, retired 
 from t' e active labors of a life of toil, and is enjoy- 
 ing the comforts which the present attributes to the 
 labor of the past. 
 
 Mr. Calkins was married to Miss Hulda Griffin, a 
 native of Massachusetts, in 1847. Their union has 
 been blessed by the birth of five children, living : 
 Myra P., wife of A. A. Shaw ; Mary E., who married 
 Ira K. Frankenberger ; James P., who married Mary 
 E. Keer; John F., the husband of Alvira J. Elliott; 
 and Winfield C, who was united in marriage to Anna 
 O. Keer. Mr. Calkins votes with the Republican 
 party. He has held various offices within the gift 
 of the people of the community in which he resides, 
 and was the first Assessor of the township after its 
 organization. He has made all the improvements 
 visible upon his farm, such as buildings, fences, set- 
 ting out an orchard, ornamental trees, etc., and has 
 a fine evergreen grove of five acres upon his farm. 
 
 ) 
 
 ilton Jennings Miller, Pastor of the Uni 
 tarian Church at Geneseo, was born Dec. 
 28, 1831, at Bethel, Clark Co., Ohio. He 
 is the fourth in order of birth of a family of 
 12 children, of whom seven are yet living. His 
 father, John Miller, was a native of Botetourt 
 Co., Va., and went thence in his young manhood 
 with his parents, Frederick and Elizabeth (Peery) 
 Miller, to Ohio, where they located on a farm on 
 Donnels' Creek, six miles west of the city of Spring- 
 field. 
 
 In the paternal line of descent Mr. Miller is of 
 German extraction, his grandparents being of that 
 nationality, but of American birth. John Miller died 
 in 1863, aged 65. His wife was the daughter of 
 Samuel and Elizabeth (Van Cleve) Smith. Peter 
 Smith, her great-grandfather, was a native of Wales. 
 He came in youth to this country, and studied for 
 the ministry, taking his degree at Princeton. He 
 married a lady from the State of Georgia, and a few 
 ■ years after that event he set forth with his family on 
 
 pack-horses for the State of Ohio. He located in 
 the vicinity of Cincinnati. Samuel Smith, his son, 
 grew to manhood there, and became a prosperous 
 farmer on Donnels' Creek, one mile from the Miller 
 settlement. His father had married an English- 
 speaking wife and the German tongue in their case 
 fell into disuse. None of his children were taught it 
 at their home. John Miller was the proprietor of 
 300 acres of land, and was considered a well-to-do 
 farmer, keeping one-half of the place under a good 
 order of cultivation. His children were sent to the 
 common schools for three or four months in the year, 
 and they acquired a fair degree of English educa- 
 tion. Meanwhile the labors of the farm in which 
 they were participants were sufficient to ensure a 
 goodly physical development. The mother is still 
 living, and is passing a serene old age in the families 
 of her children at various points in the State of Ohio. 
 Mr. Miller of this sketch was a boy of quick per- 
 ceptions, and he has made good use of the opportu- 
 nities afforded by the schools to which he had been 
 sent. He was 18 when he first attempted teaching, 
 and the results were sufficiently encouraging to war- 
 rant a repetition of the same experience. During 
 the winters of r8sr and 1852 he attended a High 
 School at Springfield. In 1853 Antioch College at 
 Yellow Springs, Ohio, was opened with Hon. Horace 
 Mann as its President, and Mr. Miller entered the 
 institution with the intention of pursuing a course of 
 collegiate study. He fulfilled his project and was 
 graduated with the class of 1859. He taught sev- 
 eral terms of school meanwhile to aid in defraying 
 his expenses. He passed a year as tutor in the same 
 college, and went thence to Harvard University, 
 where he took a three years' course of theological 
 study. In 1863 he was graduated at the Divinity 
 School, and he passed several succeeding months in 
 preaching at various points in New England. At 
 three places where there were vacancies he was in- 
 vited to make a settlement. He had, however, an 
 inclination to enter upon ministerial labor in the 
 West, and he accordingly accepted a call to fill a 
 pulpit in Troy, Ohio, at a point about 20 miles, from 
 his old home, and was settled as Pastor over the 
 Christian Church in that place. 
 
 His marriage to Hannah Dean, daughter of Hon. 
 George M. Allen, of Scituate, Mass., transpired Sept. 
 6, 1863. Mrs. Miller is the granddaughter of Rev. 
 Morrill Allen, late of Pembroke, Mass. 
 
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HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 359 
 
 Soon after their marriage they went to Troy, and 
 after a ministry of nine months, Mr. Miller was com- 
 missioned Chaplain of the uoth Regt. Ohio Vol. 
 Inf. Aug. 26, 1864, he joined the command to which 
 he had been assigned, which was attached to the 
 Corps of General Sheridan, at Bolivar Heights, Va. 
 Mr. Miller was a participant in the daring and brill- 
 iant campaign of the intrepid Sheridan in the Val- 
 ley of the Shenandoah. He passed the winter of 
 1864-5 m camp in front of Petersburg, and was pres- 
 ent at the final conflicts which resulted in the sur- 
 render of General Lee and the consequent collapse 
 of the Rebellion. He was mustered out of the mili- 
 tary service of the United States at Columbus, Ohio, 
 on the 26th day June, [865. 
 
 He immediately returned to his charge at Troy. 
 He filled the position there until the autumn of 1868, 
 when he resigned his place as Pastor there and was 
 selected to take the pastorate of the First Unitarian 
 Society just organized at Geneseo, 111. He entered 
 upon the discharge of the duties of the position Nov. 
 15, 1868, and is still the incumbent of the charge. 
 
 Mr. Miller and his wife are held jn high esteem 
 among the people where they reside. They are the 
 possessors of a goodly share of this world's goods, 
 and are prominent for their hospitality and liberality. 
 Mr. Miller is one of the leading spirits in the busi- 
 ness and prosperity of Geneseo, and is interested in 
 banking and other corporations. He is of the high- 
 est repute for integrity and honor. He is practically 
 interested in the educational institutions of Geneseo, 
 and has been an official in the Public Library Asso- 
 ciation since the founding of the institution, and a 
 large degree of its success is due to his efforts. 
 
 .rs. Susan Huls Jennings, resident on 
 section 12, Cambridge Township, has 
 been connected with the history of the 
 county since 1849, when her husband lo- 
 cated with his family on 400 acres of land in 
 the township in which the seat of Henry 
 County is situated. 
 She was born Aug. 20, 18 13, near Chillicothe, 
 Ohio, and is the daughter of John and Elizabeth 
 (Van Meter) Shepherd. In both lines of descent 
 he is of German extraction. Thomas Shepherd, 
 
 the paternal grandfather of Mrs. Jennings, was a 
 pioneer of Jefferson Co., Va. He was a prominent 
 man in all the general interests of that part of the 
 State, and was identified with its settlement, its 
 business and its agricultural development. He built 
 a "merchant" mill, as it was characterized in that 
 locality, and through the energetic frugality which be 
 inherited from his ancestors he became wealthy. 
 Through his efforts, the town of Shepherdston, Va., 
 was laid out and became a place of more than or- 
 dinary pretensions, and is the psrpetuator of the 
 patronymic of its founder. Thomas Shepherd mar- 
 ried Susan Huls, the belle of Wheeling, W. Va., and 
 they reared a family of eight children. Two sons, 
 two sons-in-law and the father enlisted as soldiers in 
 the War of 1812, and the latter took a drove of cattle 
 for the use of the army. His granddaughter, Susan, 
 who is the subject of this account, was born on the 
 day he came home from the war. 
 
 John Shepherd was born Feb. 16, 1786. He mar- 
 ried Elizabeth, daughter of Isaac and Rebecca 
 (Wright) Van Meter. She was the child of affluence 
 and was educated and accomplished to an unusual 
 degree. Her father was one of the most prominent 
 and influential citizens of the county of which he 
 was a resident, and was esteemed for his sterling 
 worth as a man, and for a life of undeviating integ- 
 rity. John Shepherd and his wife became the 
 parents of eight children. He and his wife went to 
 Ohio when they were still young, and while there the 
 father served as Sheriff of the county in which he 
 settled. In the fall of 1835 the family removed to 
 Vermillion Co., 111. The father died there April 3, 
 1841. By vocation he was a farmer and miller. His 
 wife was born May 4, 1783, and died in Pickwick 
 Co., Ohio, Sept. 5, 1835. 
 
 Mrs. Jennings is the fourth child of her parents in 
 order of birth. Her brothers and sisters were named 
 Abraham, Rebecca W., Isaac V., Rachel, Mary, 
 Elizabeth and Joseph L. In 1885 there are but 
 three survivors. She was married March 6, 1835, 
 to Levi Jennings. He was born March io, 1794, in 
 Virginia. After their marriage they located on a 
 farm in Knox Co., 111., on which they lived two years, 
 removing at the end of that time to Peoria Co., 111., 
 where they continued to reside 13 years. They 
 then sold out and returned to Ohio, and remained in 
 the Buckeye State one summer. They came thence 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 to Canton, in Fulton County, whence they removed 
 in April, 1849, to Henry County. 
 
 They entered with vigor into the work common to 
 pioneers of this section of the great State of Illinois, 
 living at first in a log house, barely large enough to 
 accommodate the members of the household. This 
 was their home for five years. 
 
 Mr. Jennings died Dec. 28, 1859, in Sibley Co., 
 Minn. The original purchase of 400 acres of land 
 remained in the possession of the family, and Mrs. 
 Jennings prosecuted the interests of the estate with 
 characteristic energy. She interested herself in every- 
 thing pertaining to real-estate matters in the county, 
 and has been individually one of the most extensive 
 purchasers of landed property in Henry County, and 
 is at date of writing the owner of nearly 1,300 acres 
 ofland. which is all in well-improved condition. The 
 mistress of the estate has given much attention to 
 raising stock, and fattens for market 300 hog sand 
 200 head of cattle annually. She owns 60 horses; 
 t,i 20 acres of land are included in the home farm. 
 The remainder is in timber, and is located three 
 xzji miles from the homestead. The estate is supplied 
 3§5 with all necessary buildings, and the property is a 
 ° substantial witness of the energy, thrift and perse- 
 S^ verance of its mistress. 
 
 S Mrs. Jennings is a better exponent of theoretical 
 ^ ) y women's rights than though she had expended her 
 energies and ambitions in behalf of the tenets of the 
 shrieking sisterhood, among whom there is not a 
 representative of the variety of womanhood typified 
 by Mrs. Jennings, — a class who show the material of 
 which they are.made by their achievements. She is 
 characlerized'by the possession of good business tact, 
 enterprise, keen powers and habits of observation, 
 accuracy in detail, and a perfect memory. 
 
 Nor has she been recreant to the obligations of 
 maternity, as she has reared three children. AnnV. 
 is the wife of James Bush, of Adair Co., Iowa, and 
 she is the mother of five children; Frank is de- 
 ceased. The survivors are named Rosemary, Frank 
 (2d), Frederick and Benjamin Eugene; Mary J. 
 married N. B. Gould, of Cambridge. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Gould are represented by a sketch on other pages. 
 They have had two children. Nellie L. is deceased. 
 The remaining daughter is named KateM. JohnL., 
 only son of Mrs. Jennings, is a resident of the town- 
 ship of Burns, in Henry County. He is married 
 and has two sons, John Levi and Frank Roy. 
 
 ■•H^SKf. >&^ — ^A^D u 
 
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 .'■'I 
 
 V, 
 
 T From the foregoing sketch of Mrs. Jennings, the 
 satisfaction with which the publishers of the Henry 
 County Album present the portrait of a representa- 
 tive woman will be understood. The likeness of 
 Mrs. Jennings was copied from a photograph taken 
 in r883. 
 
 ?lPiw( dam 
 
 Butzer, a farmer on sections 1 and 2, 
 |i^|J§y||j in Phenix Township, is a native citizen of 
 vWsl * tne townsnl P in which he resides. He was 
 "jta born Feb. 27, 1844, and is the youngest son of 
 
 ■|£ George Frederick and Louisa (Boltz) Butzer. 
 
 I His parents were both natives of Baden, Ger- 
 many, and they emigrated to the United States from 
 their fatherland in 1835. They lived about two 
 years in Michigan, whence they came to Chicago, 
 and a few months later they removed to Henry 
 County, where they settled in the year 1837. - 
 
 They were among the earliest settlers in the town 
 of Phenix. The father entered a claim of land on 
 section 3 of the township named, and on it he built a 
 log house. He covered the building with " shakes " 
 (which the generation of the future may be interested 
 in knowing were simply long shingles split from a 
 log), and the floor was made of puncheon, which was 
 split logs, and in this case was of black walnut. He 
 improved a large farm, and was its owner and occu- 
 pant until his death, in March, 1850. His widow 
 survived him until July 2, 1881. They were the 
 parents of eight children, and six of the number 
 grew to maturity. Jacob became a prosperous farm- 
 er, and was a citizen of Phenix Township as long as 
 he lived. His death took place Nov. 27, 1883. 
 Catherine is the wife of Daniel Henney, and they 
 reside at Geneseo. Louis lives in Crawford Co., 
 Kan. Caroline married Valentine Sieben, of whom 
 a sketch may be found elsewhere. Marseilla is the 
 wife of Joseph Arnett, of Loraine Township. 
 
 Mr. Butzer, of this personal narration, was but six 
 years of age when his father died, and he lived on 
 the home farm with his mother until he reached the 
 age of 19. In 1863 he crossed the plains to Cali- 
 fornia, and he became a teamster there and in Ne- 
 vada, remaining in California and Nevada four years, 
 chiefly employed as a teamster. In 1867 he came 
 back to his native township, making the journey 
 thither by the Isthmus and city of New York. 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 The first business in which he engaged was the 
 management of the farm of his brother, in which he 
 was occupied three years. He then went to Kansas 
 and was absent there a few months, after which he 
 returned and m^de a purchase of 80 acres of land 
 on section 1 in Phenix Township, which was origin- 
 ally settled and improved by Dr. Maxwell. On this 
 he has since pursued his agricultural projects, and 
 has been prosperous to a satisfactory degree. He is 
 at present the owner of 320 acres in a connected 
 body, and it is all in profitable agricultural condi- 
 tion. The stock on the place is of valuable quality, 
 and includes horses, cattle and swine. In 1883 Mr. 
 Butzer built a good and substantial frame house for 
 the accommodation of his family, and the place is 
 fitted with all structures necessary to the care and 
 comfort of the stock. 
 
 His marriage to Margaret Licht occurred in April, 
 1868, and their children are named as follows: 
 Alice May, Hattie G., Bert J. and Belva L. The 
 mother was born in Prussia, and she came to the 
 United States when she was four years old. 
 
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 ndrew J. Anderson, who is a general 
 farmer and stock-raiser on section 27, An- 
 dover Township, was born in Kise, Sweden, 
 April 6, 1833. His father, Andrew Johnson, 
 was a farmer of Swedish nativity, and died in 
 his native country when his son, the subject of 
 this sketch, was about 14 years of age; and five years 
 later, his mother,^ Sarah E. Johnson, with her two 
 children, emigrated to the ]and of greater opportuni- 
 ties, first settling in Andover, this county, where he 
 is yet living, aged 78 years. 
 
 Mr. Anderson, whose name heads this notice, was 
 married in October, 1855, in Andover, to Miss 
 Hannah Bankson, who was born in the parish of 
 Oker, in the kingdom of Sweden, about 1833, and 
 came to America with her parents, Swedish farmers, 
 when 19 years of age, and lived with her mother 
 until her marriage; her father died in 1854, the year 
 in which they emigrated to I his country. She is the 
 mother of three daughters and four sons : Sarah C. 
 married August Nelson, who resides in Andover 
 Township ; the rest live at home. 
 
 In 1856, Mr. Anderson bought 80 acres of land on 
 
 section 21, Andover Township; in i860 he exchanged 
 this for 54 acres where he now resides. At present 
 he owns 320 acres, nearly all of which is cultivated 
 and in good condition. He rears and deals in a 
 considerable number of live stock, especially of a 
 Short-horn variety of cattle. Mrs. A., who was a 
 member of the Lutheran Church, died at her home 
 in Andover Township, July 6, 1877. Mr. A. was 
 formerly a member and officer of the same Church. 
 Locally, he is a Road Commissioner in his township, 
 having now held the office for about ten years. In 
 political views, he is independent. 
 
 SOOO C . '. » 
 
 ]||»ugene H. Ash, bookseller and stationer at 
 Geneseo, has resided in Henry County 
 since 1864. He was born April 13, 1858, 
 le city of Adrian, Mich. His parents, M. 
 and Margaret (Gouger) Ash, removed from that 
 State to Illinois in the year named arid located 
 at Geneseo. 
 
 Mr. Ash was educated in the public schools of the 
 city, and commenced active business life in the ca- 
 pacity of clerk with E. F. Godfry. In 1884 he estab- 
 lished himself in trade, and has since conducted a 
 prosperous business. 
 
 He was united in marriage to Jennie E. Lambert, 
 April 13, 1885. Mrs. Ash was born in the city of 
 Rochester, N. Y., and is the daughter of J. E. Lam- 
 bert. 
 
 In political connection Mr. Ash is a Republican. 
 
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 a ^T (D/ >ffllft 
 
 eonard R. Bothwell, general farmer and 
 stock-raiser, residing on section 22, Western 
 Township, is a native of " York State," 
 having been born in Depauville, Jefferson 
 County, April 28, 1838. His father, David 
 Bothwell, was ?i farmer, by occupation, and was 
 born in Washington Co., N. Y., Nov. 6, 1794. He 
 was married in Jefferson County, to Jemima Spencer. 
 She was the daughter of a farmer, and was born in 
 Jefferson County, that State, Feb. 6, 1803. They 
 always resided in that county, where he died, in 
 1846, and the latter July 10, of the same year. 
 Leonard R, Bothwell was the youngest of a family 
 
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 362 
 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 of five children, all of whom are living and married. 
 Martin resides in Jefferson Co., N. Y., and is a shoe- 
 maker by trade; Mary (Scott) resides at Depere, 
 Wis. ; her husband is a ship-builder and a carpenter; 
 Jeremiah resides in Hannibal, Jefferson County, 
 where he is engaged in the livery business ; David 
 also resides in the last named county. 
 
 Leonard R. Bothwell, after the death of his pa- 
 rents, resided with his sister Mary until he attained 
 the age of 15 years, when he set out on the road of 
 adversity to fight the battles of life single-handed 
 and alone, and in 1848 went to Wisconsin. In i860, 
 he came to this State and enlisted in the army of 
 the Union shortly after. The date of his enlistment 
 was August, 1861, and he joined the nth Ohio Bat- 
 tery, under Captain Constable, was assigned to Pope's 
 division, and was engaged in the battle of Iuka, 
 Miss., Sept. 19, 1862. At that place he was severely 
 wounded and sent to the hospital, where he remained 
 for a time, and was finally discharged on account of 
 disability, the date of his discharge being Jan. 12, 
 1863. Returning home to this State, he began the 
 occupation of a farmer, which he has continued to 
 the present time. 
 
 Mr. Bothwell was united in marriage at the resi- 
 dence of the bride's parents, to Miss Florence D., 
 daughter of the late Mahlon B. and Amelia L. 
 (Davenport) Lloyde, natives of Bucks Co., Pa., and 
 New York State respectively. Both parents came 
 West before they were married, locating in Morris- 
 town, this county, Dec. 30, 18 — . Their marriage 
 was the first solemnized at Morristown. After that 
 event they moved to Western Township, this county, 
 where they resided until their deaths. Mr. Bothwell, 
 after his marriage to Miss Lloyd, remained on her 
 father's homestead three years, engaged in its culti- 
 vation, and afterward received from his father-in-law 
 80 acres of land. By good judgment, energetic effort 
 and the active co-operation of his good help-meet, he 
 has added to his original purchase until he at pres- 
 ent is the proprietor of 306 acres of land, all in an 
 advanced state of cultivation, and also an undivided 
 interest in 200 acres of the old homestead. He has 
 erected one of the best residences in the township, 
 and is one of the progressive and energetic farmers 
 and stock-raisers of the county. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Bothwell are the parents of 13 chil- 
 dren, four of whom are deceased. The record is as 
 follows: Ada F. was born May 30, 1868; Herbert 
 
 
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 L., Feb. 24, 1874; Amelia, Oct. 16, 1875; Esther, 
 May 24, 1878; Lizzie M., Aug. 10, 1879; Elwood M., 
 March 24, 1881; Arthur, Dec. 11, 1882; William, 
 Jan. 8, 1884, and Clarence L, March 23, 1885; 
 Laura, born Nov. 24, 1869, and died Sept. 19, 1870; 
 Mary, born April 7, 1872, and died Sept. 4, 1873; 
 May, born April 9, 187 1, and died Aug. 7, 1871, 
 and Leonard, born June 30, 1877, and died July 19, 
 1877. 
 
 Mr. Bothwell has been Assessor and Collector of 
 his township. 
 
 Politically, he is a believer in and a supporter of 
 the principles of the Rep-iblican party, and socially 
 he is a member of the G. A. R. and the A. O. U. W. 
 
 bhn Fleming, a retired farmer resident in 
 the city of Geneseo, is one of the most es- 
 teemed citizens of Henry County. He has 
 been an inhabitant of the county since 1855, 
 and has made a record second to that of no 
 other man who has been identified with the 
 general interests within that time. 
 
 He is a native of the township of Redbank, in 
 Armstrong Co., Pa., and became by a division of his 
 native county, a citizen of Clarion County. He was 
 born May 14, 18 13, and is the son of John and Sarah 
 (Everett) Fleming. He is a farmer by birth, inheri- 
 tance and training, and passed all his life previous to 
 his removal to Henry County on a farm. 
 
 He settled on sections 28 and 29, in the township 
 of Cornwall, when he came to this county, beginning 
 with a purchase of 120 acres of land. As he ad- 
 vanced in prosperity he made additional purchases, 
 until he is now the owner of 510 acres. The entire 
 tract is in excellent farming condition. Mr. Fleming 
 remained a resident on section 28, Cornwall Town- 
 ship, until January, 1879, when he removed to 
 Geneseo. 
 
 Mr. Fleming arrived at the period when he was 
 under obligations to assume the duties of citizenship 
 in 1841. The political world was then in a transi- 
 tion state, and although he was a Democrat by in- 
 heritance, he held to Free-Soil principles. On the 
 organization of the Republican party he accepted the 
 issues of that element, and has since given them his 
 hearty support. During his residence in Cornwall 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 363 
 
 he was often called to "discharge Jthe duties of re- 
 sponsible official positions, all of which proved his 
 probity of character and fitness for the transaction 
 of the business pertaining^ to the interests of the 
 general public. He served as Assessor, Collector, 
 Justice, Highway Commissioner and in the various 
 school offices. At the time of the war he was made 
 custodian of the war fund, and was intrusted with 
 the. charge" of a large sum of money without being 
 required to give bonds. About $14,000 was raised 
 to avoid the draft, which was anticipated, and Mr. 
 Fleming exerted all his influence to fill the quota. 
 It was his opinion that the money should not be dis- 
 bursed, but his judgment was overruled and the 
 funds were devoted to the purpose for which they 
 were raised, although the men who were enlisted in 
 readiness [to a call were never summoned to the 
 field. 
 
 Mr. Fleming was married in the county in which 
 he was born, Dec. 25, 1845, to Mary A. Johnson. 
 She was born in Center Co., Pa., and is the daughter 
 of William and Ann Johnson. Three children were 
 born to them before their removarto Illinois. Sarah 
 A. is the wife of Robert Pritchard, of Henry County. 
 WillianTmarried^NeHie^Benedict, andjthey are the 
 managers of the homestead. Mary married S. M. 
 Reynolds, 'of Davenport, Iowa. Elmira, the first 
 child born to them in Illinois, died in childhood. 
 Isabella lives with her parents. -3_Mr. Fleming and 
 the members of his family belong to the Presbyterian 
 Church. 
 
 hineas M. Jeffords, a prominent farmer 
 i and stockman of the township of Atkinson, 
 f'KP^ ' s a resident on section 13, where he is the 
 manager of a fine farm, which contains 840 
 acres. He is also proprietor of that property, 
 in company with Charles Dunham, of Gen- 
 They are interested in breeding fast horses, 
 and exhibit about 40 animals of excellent claims for 
 speed on the road and as trotters. They are the 
 owners of a standard stallion, — sire, " General 
 Knox," and dam, the celebrated " Old Drew." The 
 pedigree is justly noted as among the best of Eastern 
 
 eseo. 
 
 stock, and is favorably regarded in the sporting 
 circles, which are considered authority in Maine and 
 in other New England States. The other stock on 
 the farm of Messrs. Jefferds & Dunham includes 
 thoroughbred Short-horn cattle. 
 
 Mr. Jefferds was born in Maine, Aug. 30, 1826. 
 Alpheus Jefferds, his father, was born in York Co., 
 Maine, and married Rebecca Gerrish, a native of the 
 same part of the Pine-Tree State. Their marriage 
 took place in 1825. Both are now deceased. At 
 the age of 20 Mr. Jefferds entered the military ser- 
 vice of the United States as a soldier of the Mexican 
 War. He enlisted in December, 1846, in Co A, 
 First Reg. Mass. Vol. Inf., under Capt. Edward 
 Webster. He was in the service through the entire 
 course of that struggle, and received an honorable 
 discharge at Boston, July 19, 1848. 
 
 He was one of the earliest to make his way to 
 California after the discovery of gold there in 1849, 
 and he went by water to the Isthmus. He crossed 
 it on foot, and sailed thence to San Francisco, reach- 
 ing the Golden Slate in 1850, in the first month of 
 spring. After passing two years in the mines, he 
 returned in 1852 to the East, traveling via the Nica- 
 ragua route. He reached his native State in July. 
 
 True to the instincts of the spirit which character- 
 izes every genuine American citizen, he again cast 
 his fate with that of the throng who rushed to de- 
 fend the integrity of the national flag. He enlisted 
 in the Civil War in 1862, and was commissioned Cap- 
 tain of Co. B, in the 20th Maine Vol. Inf., and w~s 
 at once sent to the front. The strain from the forced 
 march to reach the field of Antietam, and the ex- 
 posure in camp, produced rheumatism, which dis- 
 abled him, and he was honorably discharged in De- 
 cember, 1862. 
 
 After his return to his native place, Mr. Jefferds 
 was active in the administration of public affairs, 
 and he served in the Legislative Assembly of Maine 
 in the term of 1868-9. He was a member of the 
 State Board of Agriculture six years. 
 
 In October, 1878, he came to Illinois. In the 
 same year, in company with Mr. Dunham, he bought 
 a half interest in the farm now owned by himself and 
 Mr. Dunham, and has since been the resident man- 
 ager thereon. 
 
 He was married Oct. 27, i852,toCleora E. Cham- 
 berlain. Her parents, Samuel and Abigail (Tucker) 
 Chamberlain, were both natives of Worcester Co., 
 
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 HENR K COUNTY. 
 
 Mass. Mrs. Jefferds was born. in Maine, May 15, 
 1827. She has borne no children. Mr. Jefferds is 
 independent in political action, and both himself and 
 wife are Unitarians in religious views. , 
 
 lof Johnson, deceased, was born Jan. 30, 
 1820, in Soderala, Gefle,. Sweden. He is a 
 son of John and Martha Olson. Olof re- 
 tained his father's first name as his surname, 
 that being customary in his native country. 
 John Olson, father of the subjectof this no- 
 tice, had five children. He was a well-to-do farmer 
 in the old country, and belonged to the older and 
 most respectable families of his community, having 
 lived on the old family homestead for more than a 
 century. The homestead was known as " Rosen- 
 wall,'' and was one-half a Swedish mile from Soder- 
 ham. 
 
 Olof Johnson received a primary education in 
 his native country. He emigrated to this country 
 with a part of the Bishop Hill Colony, consisting of 
 some 600 or 700, who located in this county. Previ- 
 ous to his emigration to this country, he was married 
 to Miss Christina Johnson, Nov. 3, 1843. She was born 
 Feb. 4, 1819, and is yet living. She was a daughter 
 of John and Catherina (Swanson) Johnson, both na- 
 tives of Sweden. The name of their home was 
 " Norbynn," in the same parish that the Olson family 
 lived. She and her husband came to this country in 
 1846, arriving in New York in December of that 
 year, on board the good ship Caroline, a Swedish 
 vessel having 200 passengers on board. They came 
 direct to Bishop Hill, where they shared all the ups 
 and downs through which the Colony passed, and 
 aided very materially in establishing the Colony at 
 that place. Mr. Johnson was the one who piloted 
 them across the country. He was one of the seven 
 Trustees of the Colony and princip.il business man- 
 ager and financier. They came by the way of the 
 canal and around the lakes. Many children died on 
 the trip across the ocean, and among tliem a little 
 daughter of Mrs. Johnson's — Martha, aged nine 
 months. #rom Chicago many walked on foot to 
 Bishop Hill, some 50 in number, and among them 
 Mrs. Christina Johnson. They first lived in tents, 
 even during the winter, and during the summer fol- 
 
 lowing erected sod houses. They finally built the 
 Colonial building during the second summer, and the 
 families had one or two rooms assigned them, ac- 
 cording to their size. In 1861, Mr. Johnson re- 
 moved with his family to Galva, where he continued 
 to reside until his death, which occurred July 18, 
 1870. 
 
 His leading characteristic was the disposition that 
 he possessed for making large financial transactions. 
 He was liberal and charitable and public-spirited. 
 During the war he contributed freely for recruiting 
 soldiers. He also read law in Rock Island for the 
 benefit he would derive from it in his business', and 
 also for the purpose of perfecting his English. In 
 1 85 1 he was appointed Notary Pubiic, and for sev- 
 eral years was a member of the Galva Town Board. 
 He traveled over nearly all the United States in the 
 interest of the Colony, and in 1 849 returned to his 
 native country, Sweden, where he raised upward of 
 $6,000 for the benefit of the Colony at Bishop Hill. 
 He was a stockholder and director of the American 
 Central (now Galva & Keithsburg Railroad), and 
 aided in the construction of the "Central Military 
 Tract (now the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Rail- 
 road). He was connected with a paper published in 
 Galva in the interest of Bishop Hill, and with the 
 Swedish American, published in Chicago. 
 
 While in Sweden, Mr. Johnson was a member of 
 the Lutheran Church, but on coming to this country 
 joined no Church, but worshiped with the people of 
 the Colony. Prior to the first election of Abraham 
 Lincoln, he took no interest in politics, but ever since 
 that time has voted with the Republican party. His 
 first three children died in infancy. Three are now 
 living, — Olivia, Christina and Lillie Valnora. Chris- 
 tina is the wife of Peter Larson, and they have, two 
 children, — Ernest Olof and Rollin. 
 
 soooes 
 
 H. Lay, of the township of Munson, a 
 farmer on section 22, has been a citizen of 
 Henry County since 1864. He is a native 
 of the State of New York, and was born in 
 Cayuga County, June 22, T820. When he 
 was still in infancy, about two years old, his 
 mother died, and at the age of six he was wholly 
 orphaned by the death of his father. 
 
 Before the demise of his mother his father had 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY 
 
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 & 
 
 removed with his family to Nunda. After the death 
 of his father he was placed in the care of a guar- 
 dian, to whose charge he was assigned by his father 
 before he died. That gentleman resided in Man- 
 chester, Ontario County, in the Empire State, and 
 the boy remained there until he was 1 1 years of age. 
 He then went to live with a man named George, 
 Redfield, in the same place, and he continued under 
 his care until he was 16, in Manchester. In that 
 year Mr. Redfield removed tojMichigan, and settled 
 in Cass County. Mr. Lay there grew to the age of 
 manhood. The first event of his life of much im- 
 portance was his marriage. He was joined in mat- 
 rimony to Hannah Sophia Wood about the time he 
 came of age. She is a native of the State where she 
 was married, and was born in Camden, Oneida 
 County. Mr. Lay bought a farm in Cass County, 
 and was its owner and occupant until his removal to 
 Illinois, as has been stated. On coming to Henry 
 County he bought 168 acres of land, located on sec- 
 tion 32 in the same township, where he has since 
 been a citizen, and is still its occupant. The farm 
 1= is all improved. 
 
 ;§J The children of Mr. and Mrs. Lay are recorded as 
 " follows : Phineas, a farmer, lives in Grand forks Co., 
 >$b D. T.; Louisa is married to R. E. Whipple, and 
 V lives at Hillsdale, Hillsdale Co., Mich.; George E. 
 (< ) is a lawyer of Grand Forks, Dak. ; Julia is the wife 
 of John Dangle, of Peoria, 111. ; Lovdy lives at home. 
 
 HJVLaniel P. Zimmerman, furniture dealer and 
 WM. undertaker at Geneseo, established his 
 business at that place in 1861. He lost 
 his factory and machinery by fire in 1869, 
 and, as he was wholly without insurance, the 
 loss was total. He at once rebuilt, and his 
 affairs were once more in a prosperous condition 
 when, in 187 2, his store and stock were burned, and 
 he was again a heavy loser! Notwithstanding the 
 fact that he sustained a loss of $4,000 above the in- 
 surance, he was soon in running order again, and he 
 has since prosecuted his affairs with the success his 
 energy and indomitable perseverance deserves. The 
 value of his stock of furniture is estimated at $8,000, 
 and in the line of undertaking he keeps all articles 
 and appurtenances common to the best institutions 
 of the kind. He is the owner of two hearses. 
 
 & 
 
 4 
 
 Mr. Zimmerman was born in Wurtemberg, Ger- 
 many, Sept. 21, 1833, and is the son of Daniel and 
 Magdalena (Lappel) Zimmerman. His father was a 
 cabinel-maker, and instructed his son in a complete 
 and practical knowledge of the business. 
 
 He came from his native land to America in 1854, 
 first establishing his business at Chillicothe, Ohio, 
 and operated there about a year. He went thence 
 to ChicagOjin 1855, and passed a year in work at 
 his trade in that city. In 1856 he went to St. Louis, 
 Mo., and very soon after to Galena, in this State. In 
 the spring of 1857 he proceeded to Davenport, Iowa, 
 and passed the time until [861 in the pursuit of his 
 business at that place, at Rock Island and at Mo- 
 line. In November of the year named he came to 
 Geneseo, and at once interested himself in the es- 
 tablishment of his affairs in the lines in which he has 
 operated, as has been stated. The building in 
 which he carries on his transactions is 82 x 26 feet 
 on trie ground and two stories in height. The 
 structure is of brick, and the extent of his relations 
 require the assistance of nine men. He is also the 
 owner of a store-house constructed of brick, 28 x 77 
 feet in extent, and two stories high. The stock of 
 Mr. Zimmerman is large and well assorted. 
 
 In political preferences Mr. Zimmerman is a 
 Democrat, and in religious views he claims the privi- 
 lege of forming his own opinions, and accords to 
 every other man the same right.' 
 
 He was married at Rock Island, Sept. 3, 1859, to 
 Kunigunde Tresel, and they have four children,' 
 namely: Emma, who is the wife of Julius Hanson, 
 of Geneseo ; Julia, Fred C. and William G. are the 
 three youngest children. Mrs. Zimmerman is a 
 native of Bavaria, and is a member of the Lutheran 
 Church. 
 
 #># 
 
 -5- 
 
 ames S. Hadsall. In connection with his 
 h- agricultural pursuits, Mr. Hadsall is also 
 engaged in carpentering and building. 
 His farm, which is located on section 34 of 
 Burns Township, was entered by hinrin 1852. 
 He did not, however, move upon it until 1856. 
 He was born in Luzerne Co. Pa., Sept. 26, 1822. 
 There he lived until his removal to this county, 
 where he was also engaged in farming and mechan- 
 ical work. Early in life he learned the carpenter's 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY, 
 
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 trade, which he has followed, in connection with his 
 farming interests, until the present time. He has 
 fine farm buildings, all of which he has erected him- 
 self. 
 
 While living in Luzerne County, Mr. Hadsall and 
 Miss Malinda Brace were united in marriage. The 
 ceremony was performed Jan. 13, 1848. Mrs. H. 
 was born in that county, on the same day of the 
 month of 1827. The number of the children born 
 to Mr. and Mrs. H. is six,— Medora, Anna, Henry, 
 Smith, and two who died in infancy. Henry met 
 his death by falling from a building; Medora died 
 when one year old, and Anna is the wife of Edgar 
 Kemerling and resides in Nebraska. Smith is also 
 married and resides in Burns Township. His wife 
 was Julia Zeigler. 
 
 Mr. H. has held the office of Justice of the Peace 
 for four years, Highway Commissioner for several 
 years, as well as other positions of trust in the town- 
 ship. He was appointed Postmaster of Hawley 
 office June 16, 1879, and has filled the position since. 
 On the 18th of May, 1864, he enlisted in the 134th 
 111. Vol. Inf. and served for six months. He is a 
 member of the Julius A. Pratt Post, 143, of the G. 
 A. R. Politically, he is a Republican. He is also 
 a member of the Masonic fraternity. 
 
 • — ■«» l f a<s6^^S>0 » I < - • 
 
 nomas Greene, of the firm of F. H. Greene 
 & Co., at Geneseo, was born in Cortland 
 Co., N. Y., and is the son of Henry and 
 Sally Greene. His birth occurred Dec. 18, 
 1823, and he was reared to manhood in the 
 place where he was born. At a suitable age 
 he acquired a practical understanding of the trade of 
 a carpenter, at which he passed his time until he 
 came to Illinois. He was married before leaving his 
 native State to Julia, daughter of Ora Graves. She 
 was born in the vicinity of the city of Rochester, N. 
 Y., and was married in 1853. 
 
 i On coming to Illinois they located at Prophets- 
 town, in Whiteside County, and there Mr. Green was 
 interested in the business of farming, until he came 
 to Geneseo in the winter of 1865. While they were 
 residents of Prophetstown two children were born to 
 them. Helen is the wife of Charles Youngs, and 
 they live at Geneseo. 
 
 Frank H. Greene, son of Thomas Greene, whose 
 
 sketch is presented above, was born in Prophetstown, 
 Whiteside Co., 111., May 28, 1857. He passed eight 
 years in the employ of E. P. Van Valkenburg, a 
 former merchant of Geneseo, and later in that of J. 
 H. C. Peterson & Sons, with whom he operated 
 three years. In 1882 he established the grocery 
 business in which he is at present engaged. He was 
 at first associated with Frank Trauger, and that con- 
 nection continued until February, 1855, when the 
 firm style became as recorded above, his father pur- 
 chasing an interest. 
 
 In political opinion Mr. Greene is a Republican. 
 He is the owner of 80 acres of land in Edford Town- 
 ship. 
 
 lmer E. Fitch, the editor and proprietor of 
 the Galva News, was born Aug. 13, 1846, 
 in Trumbull Co., Ohio. He is the son of 
 °j> 5. George and Deborah (Boleyn) Fitch, natives of 
 Connecticut. The former was born in Norwalk, 
 and died in Trumbull Co., Ohio, in 1848. The 
 father of our subject was in early life a teacher, but 
 the latter* years of his life were devoted to farming. 
 He was married twice, and the father of five chil- 
 dren, viz. : Jane, Martin B., Alice A., George W. 
 and the subject of this sketch. His mother, 13 
 years after the decease of her husband, was married 
 to O. W. Hageman, and now resides at Elgin, Iowa. 
 
 Our subject was brought from Ohio to La Porte, 
 Ind., in 1854, and in 1856 the family removed to 
 Fayette Co., Iowa. He was educated primarily at 
 the Upper Iowa University, located at Fayette, and 
 completed his education at the Iowa University at 
 Iowa City, at which he graduated in June, 1874. 
 After he had accomplished this, the event of his 
 early ambition, he went to Burlington, Iowa, where 
 he was Principal of the West Hill School. A year 
 later he came to Galva, and was engaged as Super- 
 intendent of the Galva schools, which position he 
 ■filled successfully for eight years. Desiring to re- 
 tire from his profession, in April, 1833, he bought 
 out the Galva News, a Republican organ which was 
 established in 1879. Since then he has conducted 
 that paper with credit to himself and satisfaction to 
 its many readers. 
 
 Mr. Fitch was married at Decorah, Iowa, July 5, 
 1876, to Miss Rachel Helgesen, a native of Wiscon- 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
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 sin, where she was born April 23, 1850, and is a 
 daughter of Thomas Helgesen, a native of Norway. 
 The three children born to them are George H., 
 born June 5, 1877; Rachel L., Sept. 26, 1878; and 
 Robert H., Jan. 17, 1881. Mrs. Fitch is a member 
 of the Congregational Church. Mr. F. is a member 
 of the G. A. R., having served faithfully during the 
 late war. He enlisted at the age of 16, at West 
 Union, Iowa, in the 38th Iowa Vol. Inf., Co. A, Aug. 
 13, 1862, and was honorably discharged Sept. 8, 
 1865. During the last year and a half of his service, 
 he was detailed as a drummer. He participated in 
 many of the important engagements of the war, 
 among which are the siege and capture of Vicks- 
 burg, Yazoo City and Fort Morgan, and the famous 
 charge at Blakeley. 
 
 3^ 
 
 *^° 
 
 ust. Alfred Swanson. Among the numer- 
 ous persons in Henry County bearing the 
 name of Swanson, the subject of the fol- 
 lowing biography is both a leading and a 
 prominent one. His home is upon section 34, 
 of Western Township, where his attention is 
 given to farming and stock-raising. He was born in 
 Linkoping Lan, Sweden, Sept. 16, 1839. His father, 
 John Swanson, and his mother, Catherine Swanson, 
 were natives of the same State, where they followed 
 farming. In 1853, they came to America, with their 
 family of seven children. They made their way to 
 this county, and settled in Lynn Township, where 
 they purchased 80 acres of Government land, upon 
 which the elder Swanson lived until his death. (See 
 sketch of J. V. Swanson ) 
 
 Our subject was the youngest member of the 
 family, and was given the advantages of the com- 
 mon schools wherein to receive an education, and 
 remained under the care of his parents, working on 
 the farm, until his marriage. This event occurred on 
 the 25th of January, 1869, at Andover, this county, 
 when he was married to Miss Carolina C. Larson, 
 daughter of Lewis J. and Mary C. (Munson) Lar- 
 son, natives of the State of Kalmar Lan, Sweden, 
 where they now reside, being by occupation farmers. 
 Mrs. S. is the eldest of seven children in her parents' 
 family, one of whom is deceased, and one sister and 
 two brothers now living in the 'United States. She 
 
 came to this country with her eldest brother, John 
 A., when 19 years of age, having been born Jan. 12, 
 1849. They stopped at Andover, where the follow- 
 ing year she was married. To them have been born 
 eight children, bearing the following names : Joseph 
 E., Luther A., Sophia C, Alfred N, Amanda C, 
 John P., Otto S. and Lida A., the latter being de- 
 ceased. 
 
 After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. S. located on 
 160 acres of wild land on section 34, Western Town- 
 ship. Here Mr. S. immediately began to make im- 
 provements, and he now has it all under excellent 
 cultivation, and well improved. He has been a 
 prominent and progressive farmer, and is well known 
 throughout the community. His name was origin- 
 ally Gus Alfred, but at the time of his enlistment in 
 the army during the late Rebellion, he was induced 
 to add to it the name Swanson, which he has since 
 borne. On the 14th of August, 1862, he enlisted in 
 Co. H, 1 1 2th 111. Vol. Inf., and served in the Army 
 of the West, and participated in all the active bat- 
 tles of his regiment, being about 20 in number. 
 Among these were Franklin, Nashville, Wilmington, 
 N. C, Resaca, New Hope Church, Kenesaw Moun- 
 tain, Atlanta and Columbia, Tenn. He was honor- 
 ably discharged June 20, 1865, at Greenborough, N. 
 C. He at once returned to Western Township, 
 where he has since lived. Both himself and wife are 
 members of the Swedish Lutheran Church at Orion. 
 Politically, Mr. S. is a Republican, and has served 
 his township as Collector. 
 
 
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 I obert W. Fleming, a successful farmer, a 
 respected citizen of Henry County and 
 the owner of 412 acres of tillable land in 
 V^Osco Township, residing on section 35, is a son 
 of John and Elizabeth (Mealman) Fleming, 
 natives of Pennsylvania. John Fleming, 
 father of the gentleman whose name appears at the 
 beginning of this sketch, died in Pennsylvania, and 
 his widow is at present residing in Missouri. 
 
 Their children were six in number, of whom 
 Robert W., whose life sketch we give, was second in 
 order of birth. He was born in Indiana Co., Pa., 
 March 29, 1847. His education was acquired in the 
 common schools and his years prior to the age of 18 
 were passed in his native State. At this age in life 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 Mr. Fleming came to Henry County, and in 1865 
 engaged in farming for others by the month, and 
 continued in that vocation for four years. He then 
 purchased 80 acres of land on section 16, Osco 
 Township, and engaged in its cultivation and im- 
 provement and continued to reside thereon for two 
 years, when he removed to section 35, same town- 
 ship, where he is at present residing. Mr. Fleming 
 came to this county, as will be seen by the perusal 
 of his biography, a poor man. He possessed no 
 means to purchase land or procure a home for him- 
 self and family ; but, with a firm determination to 
 succeed in life, he engaged in working for others, and 
 by energetic effort and economy has succeeded in 
 becoming the proprietor of 412 acres of good farm 
 land in this county, the major portion of which is in 
 an advanced state of cultivation. He has a fine 
 residence on his farm, together with good and sub- 
 stantial outbuildings. He keeps about 100 head of 
 cattle on his place, 15 head of horses and fattens about 
 140 head of hogs annually. Thus we see what has 
 been accomplished by one possessed of the qualities 
 of energy, perseverance and good judgment; and we 
 see, further, that his accumulations are not the out- 
 growth of a gift of inheritance but of honest toil, tact 
 and good judgment. 
 
 Mr. Fleming was married in Davenport, Iowa, to 
 Zipporah West. She was born in New York, Feb. 
 22, 1836. Two children, Robert W. and Blanche, 
 have been born of their union. 
 
 Politically, Mr. Fleming votes with the Democratic 
 party. 
 
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 illiam J. Smith is a veterinary surgeon at 
 Geneseo, and Mrs. L. Smith is the man- 
 ager of the green-house in the same place. 
 Dr. Smith was born in Jefferson Co., Tenn., 
 May 31, 1820. Barton and Fatha (Moore) 
 I ' Smith, his parents, were farmers in that State, 
 and he was brought up at home and trained in the 
 avenues of employ common to an agricultural life 
 until he was 15 years of age. In 1830 he went to 
 the State of Indiana, and came thence to Illinois in 
 1836. The family settled in Joliet. 
 
 In the spring of 1843 Mr. Smith united with the 
 Methodist Church, and in the year r848 he joined 
 
 the Rock River Conference and was assigned to min 
 isterial duty on the Aurora Circuit. He was con 
 nected therewith one year, and was next appointed 
 to Sugar River, where he remained the same length 
 of time. He was next sent to the Marietta Circuit, ij 
 and officiated in its relations two years. The next 
 two years he was at Macomb. His appointments 
 subsequently were as follows : Kaneville, one year; 
 Sheffield, one year; Victoria, two years; Wyoming, 
 two years ; La Fayette, two years ; Oneida, two years ; 
 Woodhull, two years. His health having become 
 impaired, he then removed to Galva, in this county, 
 where he resided about five years, although he had 
 been placed on the " superannuated " list by the 
 Conference. During the last r5 months of his resi- 
 dence at Galva he preached on Saxon Circuit, in 
 Stark County, he having been again made '' effective," 
 and then started the business of a veterinary sur- 
 geon, and conducted a drug store therewith three 
 years at Galva. He went thence to Miami Co., 
 Kan., and passed three years there. In 1875 he 
 came to Geneseo, and this has since been his home. 
 On his arrival here he opened an office for the prac 
 tice of his professional knowledge as a veterinary ^ 
 surgeon. He began the study of that branch of*= 
 business at 18, and through all his subsequent career y 
 kept pace with the progress made by veterinarians in 
 the theory and practice of the art. He gave his en- 
 tire attention to it as a business until 1848, when he 
 entered the ministry. The practice of Dr. Smith has 
 become extensive, and his hospital stalls are filled 
 with patients. His uniform success is his best 
 recommendation in his line of business, and he is 
 specially adapted for the duties, of a practitioner 
 from a natural love for horses and a thorough under- 
 standing of their attributes, nature and diseases. 
 
 Dr. Smith was married in Joliet, 111., June 19, 
 r845, to Lydia Harrington. She is a native of 
 Canada, and was born Dec. 14, 1827, near the line 
 of Vermont. She was the daughter of Marsh T. 
 and Lucy (Mott) Harrington, and has borne six chil- 
 dren : Lucretia F. is the wife of J. H. Simmons, fo 
 and they reside in the State of New York ; Lucy J. 
 married John Dunkle, and lives in Rice Co., Kan.;^ 
 Mary L. is the wife of W. B. Foster, of the same /jjj 
 county; Charles W. married Annie Joslin, and they \( 
 are living in Geneseo ; Mark B. married Mary B. ® 
 Baker, and they have removed to McPherson Co., J 
 Kan. ; Fred F., now residing in Rice Co., Kan. "^ 
 
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HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 In 1882 Mrs. Smith began to operate as a florist 
 at Geneseo, and is conducting a prosperous business. 
 Her conservatories have a roofing of 1,000 feet of 
 glass. She made a small beginning, and, meeting 
 with a satisfactory degree of encouragement, she has 
 gradually extended her stock and facilities until she 
 has an excellent assortment and a large patronage. 
 She has resided at Geneseo since March, 1875. She 
 is a member of the same Church in which the Doctor 
 is a minister. He became a Republican in i860, 
 and in later years has adopted the principles of the 
 Prohibitionists. 
 
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 Vi) 
 
 ohn M. Hanna, who is engaged in agricul- 
 ture and 'in the raising of live stock on sec- 
 tion 9, of Western Township, is a native of 
 the Keystone State, being born in Westmore- 
 land Co., Pa., March 15, 1835. His father, 
 Robert Hanna, a native of the same State, and 
 of Irish descent, was a farmer by occupation, and 
 was married in the above mentioned county to Pris- 
 cilla Hamilton, also a native of that county, and of 
 similar ancestry. 
 
 Mr. John M. Hanna, the second in a family of 
 four, was two years old when his parents moved to 
 Richland Co., Ohio, and three years later, in 1840, 
 came to Illinois, settling in what is now Cornwall 
 Township, this county, near Shabbona Grove. This 
 was before the Indian Chief, Shabbona, left this sec- 
 tion of the country. The first land was taken here 
 when there were no settlements by the whites, and the 
 Indians were numerous at Shabbona Grove. Both 
 Mr. Hanna's parents died in Cornwall Township, his 
 mother in 1843 and his father in r86o. The latter 
 had been officially connected with the township and 
 county. Both parents were members formerly of the 
 Presbyterian Church and later of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church. 
 
 Our subject received but a limited education. 
 After the death of his mother, he resided a short time 
 with Capt. Charles Jack, well known in the early his- 
 tory of Cornwall Township; but, owing to the un- 
 sympathetic and tyrannical disposition of the Captain, 
 he left him and returned home. Nov. 6, 1856, Mr. 
 Hanna was married, in Cornwall Township, to Miss 
 
 Martha Bleeks. Her parents were John and Maria 
 (Chrisman) Bleeks, natives of Pennsylvania, of Ger- 
 man descent, who settled in Crawford Co., Ohio, in 
 which county Mrs. H. was born Aug. 16, 1838. Her 
 father, with the family, moved from that county to In- 
 diana, and in 1855 came to this county, settling in 
 Cornwall Township ; her mother, however, died be- 
 fore the last removal. Her father has since died. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Hanna have two children — Charles R., 
 who married Emily Finley, and resides on a farm in 
 Western Township ; and George, who is yet at home, 
 assisting in the cultivation and management of the 
 farm. After his marriage, Mr. Hanna lived two 
 years in Cornwall Township, and then in Atkinson, 
 Geneseo" and Colona. In 1870, he purchased a 
 quarter of section 9, where he now resides, and has 
 a well improved farm; he has also a good farm of 86 
 acres under cultivation on section 1 7 , Western Town- 
 ship. He is also a dealer in swine to a considerable 
 extent. 
 
 In political principles, he is independent, and pub- 
 licly, he has been Township Assessor for about nine 
 years. 
 
 Mr. Hanna's three brothers are: Hamilton, who 
 resides in California ; Alexander B., a farmer living 
 in Audubon Co., Iowa; and James, married, residing 
 in the same county. 
 
 ev. Philip K. Hanna, deceased, was one 
 of the pioneers of Henry County in the 
 fullest sense of the term. He came here 
 before the organization of the county and was 
 a factor in each and all of the earliest move- 
 ments to adjust its municipal affairs. He was 
 the head and guardian of the moral and spiritual 
 welfare of the community, and he was foremost in 
 the organization of the Methodist societies in Henry 
 and Rock Island Counties. 
 
 He was born in Kentucky in 1810, and came to 
 Henry County in 1835. At the organization of the 
 county he was made one of the first Commissioners, 
 and afterward he was prominent in the official man- 
 agement of the townships of Hanna and Geneseo in 
 the capacity of Supervisor. In 1868 he was elected 
 to represent the 46th District in the Legislature of 
 Illinois. In all the official stations which he was 
 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 called on to fill he discharged the obligations in a 
 manner consistent, with his own character and with 
 the nature of the duty incumbent on him. A de- 
 tailed account of his career in Henry County, if it 
 were possible to obtain it in its completeness, would 
 supply a large blank of interesting matter that has 
 passed into hopeless oblivion. At his residence, in 
 the pioneer home of 1835, the first religious so- 
 ciety in the county was formed. He became an ex- 
 tensive land-holder, and there was every .prospect 
 that he would be permitted to close his life in the 
 county in which he had been among the most useful 
 and valuable of its citizens ; but in the stringencies 
 of 1873 and 1878 he was compelled to succumb to 
 the shrinkages, and he surrendered all he had accu- 
 mulated. True to his character, he prepared to 
 commence anew, and he went to Kansas to start 
 once more under the auspices of another State. One 
 of his labors there will for ages to come constitute a 
 noble monument to his memory, — a forest of 3,000 
 trees set out by his own hands and nourished by his 
 own care. 
 
 Mr. Hanna was three times married, and he was 
 survived by his last wife. Eight of his 1 2 children 
 are still living. His death took place at his home 
 near Peabody, Kan., Thursday, Jan. 17, 1884, when 
 in the 74th year of his age. 
 
 enry D. Keel, a general farmer and stock- 
 raiser, residing on section 16, Western 
 Township, and owning three separate and 
 well improved farms of 80 acres each, was born 
 in Indiana Co., Pa., Jan. 16, 1833. His father, 
 whose name was Jacob Keel, was also a farmer 
 and an active and zealous minister of the Baptist 
 Church. He also was a native of that State, and, in 
 Indiana County, married Elizabeth Dewalt. The 
 ancestry on both sides were American, and of Ger- 
 man origin. Rev. Jacob Keel gained a fair, local 
 reputation as a Pastor of his flock in Indiana County, 
 which relation he sustained most of his life. He 
 died there in 1879, a highly respected citizen and an 
 ardent laborer for the cause he so ably advocated. 
 The widow yet survives, and is living with her 
 youngest daughter and child, Rebecca Lukehart. 
 
 
 She is very aged, and has been an invalid for five 
 years. 
 
 Mr. Henry D. Keel, whose name heads this arti- 
 cle, passed the days of his boyhood as a faithful son 
 on his father's farm, but having very limited oppor- 
 tunities for securing a school education. At the age 
 of 19 years, October, 1852, he married the object of 
 his first love, Miss Sarah Pearce, who was born .in 
 Pennsylvania, April n, 1834, of American parentage 
 and of German ancestry. The newly married couple, 
 with hearts in unison, set out the following spring 
 for the great unbroken West, determined to have a 
 home of their own, in a section where they could 
 grow up with the country, and become honored citi- 
 zens and financially independent. They arrived in 
 this county with no goods but what they could carry 
 under their arms, and $12.75 > n cas h- After stop- 
 ping for a short time with the wife's relatives, who 
 came with them, Mr. Keel obtained work, and with 
 the strictest economy he soon made a good start. 
 He was first employed by Mr. T. W. Huston, who 
 is now a prominent Justice of the Peace at Orion, a 
 well respected citizen and an old settler. 
 
 Mr. K.'s first investment, out of his sinking fund 
 of $12.75, was 75- cents for a ham of meat, and the 
 $12 for a yoke of yearling calves, which he at once 
 set to work, hauling, marketing, etc. Dr. Trego, 
 now deceased, then one of the first settlers of the 
 county, and considerably aged, met Mr. Keel one 
 day with his diminutive ox team, and, although a 
 comparative stranger to him, suggested, in a jesting 
 way, that he should take the calves home and " let 
 them suck." This was too much for the feelings of 
 Mr. Keel, and, rising up in his wrath, and, forgetting 
 the respect he had been taught to give to old age, 
 raised his hand, placed it upon the Doctor's shoul- 
 der, told him he "would have plenty to do if he 
 minded his own business and let other men's busi- 
 ness alone!" He afterward, however, found the 
 Doctor so great a friend and gentleman that to this 
 day he has a pang of true regret for showing the 
 aged man any disrespect. 
 
 Being too ambitious to be a laborer for others for 
 any great length of. time, Mr. Keel soorr secured 
 money by which he was able to purchase a little 
 lumber, for the erection of a small, portable cabin, 
 on the school section (No. 16), which had not at 
 that time come into market, but a portion of which 
 he had some hopes of buying when it was sold. 
 
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HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 Without any assurance that he would obtain the 
 land, he ventured to commence making improve- 
 ments on 40 acres of it ; and when the land was 
 placed in market he obtained the indorsement of Mr. 
 Huston as security for the tract, and learned also 
 that Mr. Huston had so great confidence in his 
 fidelity that he would have indorsed him for twice 
 the amount had he asked for it. Mr. Keel says 
 that he -shall ever owe a great debt of gratitude to 
 the man who thus helped him get his start in the 
 world. Since then, he has been remarkably success- 
 ful in the pursuit of his chosen calling and in the 
 improvement of his chosen homestead. The land is 
 beautifully undulating, and is situated in the best 
 farming community in the county. Soon after he 
 secured the ground, and before he attempted to pay 
 for it all, he set about the work of putting in drain 
 tile, and he now has more than 1,200 rods of tiling 
 on his three farms ; and this is demonstration to the 
 modern farmer that his is a first-class farm. 
 
 Officially, Mr. Keel has consented to serve the 
 public in only the minor offices of the township. He 
 was made Sexton of the Western Township Cemetery 
 16 years ago, and his care arid successful manage- 
 ment of that most quiet retreat has made him 
 actually essential to the position. Politically, he 
 sympathizes with Republican principles. 
 
 He has had five children, two of whom are now 
 deceased. Annie E. married H. J. Scheasley and 
 now resides on her father's homestead, which her 
 husband helps to manage; M. D. married Jennie 
 Keer, and they reside on one of Mr. Keel's farms in 
 Western Township; Vina B. is yet unmarried and 
 lives at home. 
 
 >rs. Juliet t Cox, widow of John W. Cox, a 
 prominent and early settler of North- 
 western Illinois, still owns the old farm 
 -, homestead, but lives at her home in Alpha, 
 "A* at the advanced age of 73 years. Mr. Cox 
 { was born in Wayne Co., Ind., in 1807. In 
 1836 he came into Illinois, and settled on the banks 
 of the Mississippi, at a place called Tippecanoe, near 
 Hampton, Rock Island County. There he lived and 
 labored hard in the development of the country for 
 r3 years, when he came into Oxford Township, and 
 
 purchased 160 acres of land on section 16. Here he 
 was one of the first pioneers, and was an honored 
 and respected citizen. He lived on the old place, 
 which he had brought to a good state of cultivation, 
 until his death, which occurred March 2, 1864. 
 Politically, Mr. Cox was a Republican, and religious- 
 ly, an ardent Methodist, and for 40 years had been 
 connected with that Church. 
 
 In 1832, while living in Indiana, Mr. Cox was 
 married to Miss Juliett Williamson, the lady whose 
 present name heads this sketch. She was born in 
 Kentucky, in 1812, and passed through all the hard- 
 ships and privations of pioneer life attending them 
 on their removal to Illinois in so early a day. She 
 can scarcely realize the remarkable transformation 
 that has taken place in this section of Illinois since 
 she and her husband came here in 1836. Mrs. Cox 
 is and has been for many years connected with the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. She reared a family 
 of respected and useful children, some of whom are 
 well known in the community in which they reside. 
 The following list gives their names and to whom 
 they have been married : Eliza, the eldest, is the 
 wife of John Henderson ; Joseph F. married Jennie 
 Sutton ; John W. was united in the bonds of matri- 
 mony with Mary Wagner; Samuel K. has for his 
 wife Miss Ella Patterson ; Evarald S. became the 
 husband of Hattie Epperson. 
 
 illiam S. Charles. One of the very ear- 
 Jiest pioneers of this part of Illinois, is 
 William S. Charles, an Englishman by 
 birth, having been born in London, Nov. 1, 
 1813. He has, however, passed all of his 
 active business career in this country. When 
 he was quite young his parents moved to Wales, 
 where he lived until 1832, when he crossed the 
 ocean for America. For four years he remained in 
 the East, most of the time in New York, and in 1837 
 came West and located in what is now Stark Co., 
 111. At this early period the face of the white man 
 was rarely seen upon the broad, unbroken prairies of 
 Northern Illinois. Mr. Charles was a sturdy young 
 man and endured the hardships and privations which 
 are necessary accompaniments of pioneer life, nobly. 
 He did not remain in Stark County long, however, 
 
 I 
 
 *<$fl!l«^§ ^&^- 
 
 iS& 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 § 
 
 2i 
 i: 
 
 o 
 
 > 
 
 21 
 
 for in the autumn of 1840 we find him on his way to 
 Henry County, and in Burns Township he made a 
 location, being one of the very earliest pioneers, not 
 only in Burns Township but also in Henry County. 
 He now resides on section 32, where he owhs a good 
 farm of 200 acres of land. 
 
 The year before he left Stark County, April 18, 
 1839, his marriage to Miss Esther L. Stoddard oc- 
 curred. This was the first marriage ceremony that 
 was performed within the borders of Stark County, 
 which fact in itself tells of the unsettled condition of 
 that country when Mr. Charles and Miss Stoddard 
 carried on their courtship. His wife was a native of 
 Goshen, Conn., and was born on the 6th of October, 
 1815. For many a year they traveled together 
 along the journey of life, but on the 5 th of May, 
 1879, this union was broken by the death of Mrs. 
 Charles. Her demise occurred at her home in 
 Burns Township. Five children had come to bless 
 their home in those early pioneer days, only one of 
 whom, however, is living. Their names are George 
 S., Elizabeth M., Frank H., RhodaTl. and Mary A. 
 Elizabeth is the only one now living. 
 
 Mr. Charles has been a prominent, active pioneer 
 and citizen, and has acted as School Director, and in 
 other positions has served the public. Politically, 
 he is a Republican. 
 
 ohn V. Swanson, who is engaged in gen- 
 f eral farming and stock-raising upon sec- 
 tion 36, of Western Township, was born in 
 the central part of Sweden, Sept. 6, 1835. His 
 father, John Swanson, was a farmer by occu- 
 pation, and came to America with his family, 
 consisting of his wife and seven children — three sons 
 and four daughters. He soon found his way to 
 Henry County, and located in Lynn Township, 
 where the elder Swanson remained until his death, 
 which occurred Sept. 13, 1869, at the age of 71 
 years. The mother is still living upon the 80-acre 
 homestead, purchased by her husband when they 
 first came to the country. She is at the advanced 
 age of 86 years, yet resides alone. 
 
 Mr. Swanson, of this biography, was about 17 
 years of age when his parents crossed the ocean for 
 the New World. He continued to reside at home, 
 
 helping his father to develop the farm, until 1862. 
 On March 28, of the following year, he was married 
 in Andover, to Miss Anna M. Peterson, who, like 
 himself, was born in Sweden, and came with her 
 parents to America in 1 849. The family came West 
 and settled in Western Township, where her mother 
 died in the antumn of 1883. The father still resides 
 on the old home farm. The home of Mr. Swanson 
 has been blessed with nine children, seven sons and 
 two daughters, all of whom are living. 
 
 After his marriage Mr. Swanson settled on the farm, 
 which he now owns as a renter, but purchased it in 
 1864. He now has 320 acres, all pretty well im- 
 proved, and well stocked with a good grade of cattle. 
 He ranks among the large farmers of Western Town- 
 ship, and is a thoroughgoing and enterprising man. 
 The family are members of the Swedish Lutheran 
 Church, of which Mr. S. is a Deacon. He is now, 
 and has for many years, served as Director of his 
 district. Politically, he is a member of the National 
 Greenback party. 
 
 -<~ £. 
 
 Eli Holland, one of the large land-owners, 
 successful farmers and respected citizens 
 of Henry County, residing on section 30, 
 5S. Osco Township, is a son of Reazon and Joanna 
 
 (Wilson) Holland, natives of West Virginia. 
 
 The gentleman whose short biographical sketch 
 we write, was the fifth in order of birth of a family 
 of r3 children. He was born in Monongalia Co., 
 W. Va., Dec. 1, 181 6. His years prior to attaining 
 majority, and in fact until he was 23 years old, were 
 passed on the farm, and his education acquired in 
 the common schools. On his attaining his 23d year 
 he was engaged in the saw-mill business during 
 winter seasons, and in the summers followed farming 
 for different parties for a time. He then engaged 
 extensively in agricultural pursuits in West Virginia 
 and followed that occupation until 1864. In the fall 
 of that year he came to Henry County, and pur- 
 chased 160 acres of land located in Osco and West- 
 ern Townships, in partnership with a gentleman 
 named Elijah A. South. They cultivated this land 
 together for about three years and soon thereafter 
 divided the same. By honest toil and economy Mr. 
 
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 ^V4MU!1*>^- 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 •^M'^r 
 
 373 
 
 Holland has succeeded in adding to his original 
 purchase of land in this county until at present he 
 is the proprietor of 423 acres, the major portion of 
 which is under an advanced method of cultivation. 
 He keeps about 80 head of cattle, 10 head of horses 
 and fattens over 100 head of hogs on his farm an- 
 nually. He is meeting with success in his chosen 
 vocation, agriculture, which, in fact, he has followed 
 all his life, and to-day enjoys the comforts which a 
 life of labor and economy, coupled with the active 
 co-operation of his helpmeet, has brought him. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Holland took place in Monon- 
 galia Co., W. Va., Jan. 3, 1839, at which time Miss 
 Louisa Tarleton became his wife. She was a native 
 of West Virginia, having been born in that county, 
 June 8, 1822. Their union has been blessed by the 
 birth of 12 children. The living are: Hannah M., 
 Sarah H., Elmos T., 'Mary J. and Margaret L. 
 Hannah M. is the wife of Thomas Lanham, a resi- 
 dent of Iowa; Sarah H. married Jackson Steel, who 
 lives in Kansas ; Elmos T. is a resident of Iowa ; 
 Mary J. became the wife of Harvey Lough, and they 
 are living in Osco Township; Margaret L. married 
 Notley S. Cole, and resides with him in Iowa. The 
 deceased children are: Thomas A., William E., 
 George P., Willie and James E., besides two who 
 died in infancy. The wife and mother died in Osco 
 . Township, March 26, 1883. She was a member of 
 the Baptist Church, and was a kind mother, a loving 
 wife and a respected and honored neighbor. 
 
 Politically, Mr. Holland, votes with the Republican 
 party. He has held the office of School Director in 
 his township, and in his religious views is an ad- 
 herent to the doctrines of the Baptist Church. 
 
 « 
 
 Qririst.tf 
 
 H. Lowry, M. D., a physician, practicing 
 
 at Woodhull, was born Feb. 1, 1847, in 
 
 Erie Co., Pa., his parents being Samuel 
 
 and Ruth A. (Parsons) Lowry, natives of 
 
 army for half a year, he received an honorable dis- 
 charge. In 1866 he commenced the study of medi- 
 cine, under the guidanceof Dr. Parsons, of Kewanee. 
 After remaining there two years he pursued a course 
 of study for three years at Cornell University, Ithaca, 
 N. Y. ; then in 1870 he came to Chicago, entered the 
 Hahnemann Medical College (homeopathic) and 
 graduated there in 1872. Coming then to Woodhull, 
 he commenced the practice of his chosen profession, 
 and has since pursued it at that place with an in- 
 creasing patronage and satisfactory success. He, in 
 company with D. K. Colburn, his brother-in-law, is 
 the proprietor of a quarter of a section of land in the 
 townships of Rio and Oxford, and a half section of 
 land in Cedar Co., Mo. ; he is also interested in the 
 rearing of Jersey cows and Hambletonian horses. 
 He is a Republican in his views of national policy, 
 attends the Presbyterian Church, is a member of the 
 G. A. R., and is one of the ''city fathers." 
 
 July 10, 1872, at Ithaca, N. Y., the Doctor mar- 
 ried Miss Grace C. Fairman, a native of Rhode 
 Island, and they have four children, viz. : Fayette 
 C, born Aug. 18, 1873; Harry L., born Oct. 24, 
 1875 ; Annie G., born April 25, 1881 ; and Dan K., 
 born Feb. 15, 1883. 
 
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 i(s Vermont. 
 
 While very young, Mr. Lowry lost both his 
 parents, and he came to Alton-a, Knox Co , 111., 
 with an uncle, when ten years of age, and there he 
 attended the common and high schools. In May, 
 1864, he enlisted in Co. G, i32d Regt. 111. Vol. Inf., 
 for the 1 oo-dav service; and after remaining in the 
 
 " -**$yz &^M&M?>*r9 ^^^ 
 
 ohn H. Everett, born Jan. 6, 1832, in 
 Litchfield Co., Conn., is a resident on sec- 
 tion 25, Gal va Township. His great-grand- 
 father was Ebenezer Everett, a native of 
 Hebron, Windham Co., Conn., whose ances- 
 tors were of English extraction. He had three 
 sons — Isaiah, Ebe and Eliphalet, the two latter of 
 whom were soldiers in the Revolutionary War. 
 Eliphalet Everett was for several years Steward of 
 Washington's military family. He spent the last 
 years of his life in Watertown, N. Y. Isaiah Everett 
 died Aug. 4, 1834, at the age of 82 years, leaving six 
 sons, — Adolphus, Asa, Gamaliel, Russell, William 
 and Roswell. Ebe Everett died Jan. 5, 1840, aged 
 86 years. He left four sons — Samuel E., Augustus, | 
 Elmore, Hovey and John. The latter three are /fa 
 physicians. Adolphus Everett, son of Isaiah, was <nS 
 the grandfather of the subject of this sketch. He ^ 
 married Lydia Studley, who was born in Sharon, ~J 
 Conn., and who died there in 1864, aged 83 years. 4^. 
 
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 ^ 
 
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 374 
 
 >^Ti>t*/ ^ 
 
 s 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 T 
 
 
 I 
 
 Their children were Thomas A., Ichabod S., Russell 
 A., Ruby, Betsey A., Abby C. and Caroline P., none 
 of whom are living. 
 
 Of their children, Thomas A. was the father of our 
 subject. He was born in April, 1806, in Sharon, 
 Conn., and died March 22, 1845, aged 39 years. He 
 was a farmer by occupation and married Mary Ann 
 Hatch, who was born in Washington, Litchfield Co., 
 Conn., May 17, 1806, and who died Feb. 12, 1880. 
 She was the daughter of John Hatch, a Revolution- 
 ary soldier and patriot, who" died June 5, 1839, aged 
 88 years. She bore to her husband three children, 
 as follows: Lydia, Elizabeth and John H., the latter 
 of whom is the subject of this sketch and the only 
 one of the three children living. 
 
 At the age of 13 years, John H. Everett was 
 orphaned by the death of his father. He worked on 
 farms in his native State until 1868, when he came 
 to Galva Township, this county, where he has con- 
 stantly resided until the present time, engaged in the 
 occupation of farming. He has a farm of 80 acres 
 of improved land and four acres of timber located 
 on section 25, Galva Township, and is meeting with 
 success in its cultivation. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Everett took place March 1, 
 1879, in this township, and the lady to whom he 
 was united was Miss Elizabeth Gadd, the accom- 
 plished daughter of William and Sarah Gadd, natives 
 of England, who died in Kewanee, this county. * 
 Politically, Mr. Everett votes with the Democratic 
 party. 
 
 lanson K. Morgan, Presiding Elder of the 
 
 ., Methodist Episcopal Church, residing at 
 
 Orion and engaged in the drug business at 
 
 
 that place, was born in McDonough County, 
 this State, Feb. 8, 1844. His father, Joseph 
 Morgan, was a farmer by occupation and also 
 a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 in McDonough County. He was a native of New 
 York, of Welsh descent and extraction, and was born 
 in 1799. His marriage took place in his native 
 county, and the lady chosen to share his joys and 
 sorrows, his successes and reverses, was Miss Lydia 
 Thomas, a native of Dutchess Co., N. Y. (native 
 county of the father), and the ceremony was solem- 
 Ar. 
 
 nized in the year 1822. The parents, after living in 
 Dutchess County a few years, came to Illinois in 
 1832. In the fall of 1833, after the Black Hawk 
 War, they removed to McDonough County, and pur- 
 chased 80 acres of land near the present village of 
 Table Grove. The county at that time was new and 
 undeveloped, and they had to haul their wheat to 
 the city of Chicago, where they realized only 50 
 cents per bushel, and the journey would require 
 some 20 days. In 1848 the father went to Fulton 
 County, this State, and improved another new farm, 
 on which he resided until 1863, from whence he 
 moved to Bushnell, McDonough County, where he 
 died, April 18, 1877. The mother still survives and 
 is 82 years of age, and resides with her son, Reuben 
 A., in Fulton County, this State. 
 
 Alanson R. Morgan, whose name heads this sketch, 
 received a good education 'at the district schools, 
 and at the schools in Cuba, Fulton County, this 
 State. July 25, 1861, soon after the news had 
 flashed across the continent that rebel guns had 
 poured forth their shot and shell upon Sumter, and 
 the President had called for brave hearts and strong 
 arms to battle in defense of a nation's honor, Mr. 
 Morgan enlisted in Co. F, 8th 111. Vol. Inf., com- 
 manded by Col. R. J. Oglesby, better known as 
 Uncle Dick, and present Governor of this State. 
 His regiment was assigned to the Army of the West, 
 and participated in the battles of Ft. Henry, Ft. 
 Donelson, Pittsburg Landing, Corinth, Ft. Gibson, 
 Raymond, Jackson, Miss., Champion Hills, siege of 
 Vicksburg, and others of less import, together with 
 many skirmishes. He was, at no time during the in- 
 terval he was engaged in service, wounded. After 
 the expiration of his three years' service, he was hon- 
 orably discharged, July 25, 1864. Returning home, 
 he attended school for a time, and afterward, Jan. 
 25, 1865, at Cuba, Fulton County, was united in 
 marriage to Miss Hattie Shaw. She was born in 
 Rock Island Co., 111., Feb. 24, 1847. Her father, 
 Robert Shaw, was at one time Treasurer of Rock 
 Island County, and died there in the year 1858. 
 Mrs. Morgan lived with her mother after the death 
 of her father until her marriage. She and her hus- 
 band are the parents of four children, — Dell E., 
 Arthur C, Robert H. and Harry W. 
 
 In the fall of 1865, Mr. Morgan joined the Cen- 
 tral Illinois Conference at Onarga, Iroquois County, 
 this State, and from that time until the present has 
 
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 HENR Y CO UNT Y. 
 
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 377 
 
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 been preaching actively in the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church. In 1881, he was appointed Presiding El- 
 der at Canton, 111., for the Rock Island District, and 
 has since filled that position. In 1884, he also en- 
 gaged in the drug business at Orion, and is still 
 conducting that business at that place. He is a 
 member of the A. F. & A. M., the I. O. O. F.,the A. 
 O. U. W. and the G. A. R. He is a man gifted with 
 fluent speech and possessing knowledge which is 
 the accumulation of hard study for years ; he pre- 
 sents an argument in such a forcible and attractive 
 manner as not only to be convincing, but as to win 
 the respect and esteem of his hearers. His reputa- 
 tion as a public speaker, out of the pulpit as well as 
 in it, together with his rhetoric, is appreciated by 
 the many who have heard him. Politically, he is 
 identified with the interests of the Republican party. 
 
 eander Chilberg, engaged in general farm- 
 ing and stock-raising on section 19, Lynn 
 Township, where he has located his resi- 
 dence, is a native of Sweden, in which country 
 he was born, Dec. 12, 1845. His father, N. M. 
 Chilberg, was also a native of Sweden, and a 
 shoemaker by trade. He was married in that coun- 
 try to Margaret E. Bergeson. The family emigrated 
 to the United States when the subject of this notice 
 was but three years of age. They located in Swe- 
 dona, where the parents are at present residing, and 
 where the father was engaged in working at his 
 trade for a period of 16 years. He then purchased 
 the tract of land on which Leander is at present re- 
 siding, but subsequently sold the same to his son, 
 and is now living in retirement at Swedona. He 
 and his family came to this county in 1849, being 
 the first family of his nationality who located in 
 Mercer County. He and his wife are connected 
 with the Swedish Lutheran Church, of which de- 
 nomination he was Trustee for many years. 
 
 Leander Chilberg resided at home, alternating his 
 labors on the farm with attendance at the district 
 schools until he attained his majority. One year 
 after that event, when 22 years of age, he was mar- 
 ried to Miss Amanda Kinsey, in Richland Grove 
 Township, Mercer County, the date of the ceremony 
 being Sept. 24, 1867. She was a daughter of War- 
 ner and Ann (French) Kinsey, natives of Pennsyl- 
 
 vania and New Jersey respectively, of American 
 parentage and of Welsh and English extraction, 
 and members of the Society of Friends. Her par- 
 ents were married in Bulington Co., N. J., and a 
 few years thereafter came to this State," locating in 
 Mercer County at a time when the same was very 
 meagerly settled, the date thereof being 1841. 
 
 They located in Richland Grove Township, and it 
 was there that Mrs. Chilberg was born, Nov. 28, 
 T844. She was reared under parental influence, and 
 remained at home attending the district schools, at 
 which she received her education, until her marriage. 
 Her father was a farmer by occupation, and died 
 June 5, 1878; and her mother at present resides in 
 the village of Swedona, Mercer County. Mrs. Chil- 
 berg is the third child in order of birth of a family 
 of six children. 
 
 The union of Mr. and Mrs. Chilberg has been 
 blessed by the birth of three children, — Harry W., 
 Anna M. and Charlie K. All reside at home and 
 attend the public schools. After Mr. and Mrs. 
 Chilberg were united in marriage they located on 
 the farm on which they at present reside, which at 
 that time comprised 140 acres. Mr. C. has subse- 
 quently sold 20 acres, and at present is the pro- 
 prietor of r2o acres, which is in a fair state of 
 cultivation. In addition to devoting his time to 
 agriculture, he raises considerable stock of a good 
 quality, and is meeting with success in his chosen 
 vocation, agriculture. He has held the position of 
 Assessor of his township for some time, together 
 with other minor offices. Politically, he is a believer 
 in and a supporter of the principles of the Repub- 
 lican party. 
 
 Frederick A. Hurlbutt, residing in Galva 
 Township, was born in Nov. 9, i83i,in 
 Dalton, Coos Co., N. H. He is the son 
 Alba and Laura (Osgood) Hurlbutt. His 
 father was born in Canada, and was a physi- 
 cian and farmer. He came West in 1840, and 
 settled in Peoria County, this State, where he rented 
 land, and was engaged in the vocation of farming 
 for three years. He then purchased land in Knox 
 County, on which he resided with his family until 
 his death, which occurred Oct. 1, 1858, while he was" 
 in his 64th year, an honored and respected pioneer. 
 
 
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 mi^^s—*®*- 
 
 !*£&'•"■* 
 

 
 J 
 
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 I 
 
 378 
 
 ^vXi^"*i*- 
 
 ^rV^llO^DD^ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 He was married in New Hampshire, and his wife 
 died in Galva, March 14, 1871, aged 64 years. She 
 bore him eight children, — Hubbard, Edmund, Na- 
 thaniel, Laura, Frederick A., Susan, Frances and 
 Charles. 
 
 Frederick A. Hurlbutt was educated in New 
 Hampshire, and Knox County, this State, and has 
 followed the occupation of farming all his life, meet- 
 ing with success in his chosen vocation. Mr. Hurl- 
 butt is, strictly speaking, a self-made man, and what- 
 ever he has accumulated of this world's goods is 
 attributable to his own indomitable energy, good 
 judgment and perseverance. His first purchase of 
 land consisted of 80 acres in Burns township. Suc- 
 cess has crowned his efforts to such an extent that 
 he is now the proprietor of 624 acres of land in this 
 county. This fact, of itself, considering that he 
 started with comparatively nothing, speaks in better 
 and stronger language than any words we can use of 
 the energy and perseverance he possesses, as well as 
 the aid and assistance given him by his wife. 
 
 Mr. Hurlbutt was married in Knoxville, Knox 
 County, this State, to Miss Caroline Osgood, Oct. 31, 
 i860. She was born April 15, 1840, in Littleton, N. 
 H., and is a daughter of Willard and Mary (Perry) 
 Osgood, natives of New Hampshire. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Hurlbutt are the parents of nine children, namely : 
 Edgar L., born Dec. 20, 1861; Elmer E., May 14, 
 1863; Levi H., Oct. 5, 1865; Minnie L., Oct. 24, 
 1867 ; Jennie M., July n, 1870; Frederick N., Jan. 
 2, 1873 ; Zelda D., Aug. 31, 1875 ; Charles H., Dec. 
 11, 1878 ; and Frank Lewis, Dec. 12, 1880. 
 
 As a splendid representative of that worthy class, 
 the self-made men, — with whom Mr. Hurlbutt may 
 justly be classed, — the publishers take pleasure in 
 presenting his portrait to] the patrons of this Album. 
 
 , «a&27®^©' 
 
 *@&S03W<<» 
 
 ™|; eter Hammond, deceased, formerly a resi- 
 
 dent of Geneseo, was the oldest citizen in 
 
 liSF"^ Henr y C° untv at tne tmi e of his death, and 
 
 iffi was probably the oldest Mason in the world. 
 
 •H He expired at 12 o'clock, noon, April 9, 1878, 
 
 aged 102 years. He was born April 9, 1776, 
 
 at Newton, Mass., and was the senior of the United 
 
 States of America by three months. He survived 
 
 the centennial anniversary of his country two years. 
 
 The detailed history of his ancestors in America 
 would make a most interesting exhibit, from the fact 
 that he came of stock of historic renown in the Colo- 
 nial history of this country in both lines of descent. 
 His father, Samuel Hammond, was a member of the 
 "Tea Party" in Boston Harbor, Dec. 10, 1773. 
 The name of his mother before her marriage was 
 Mary Rogers. Samuel Hammond died in Wards- 
 boro, Vt, in the 95 th year of her age. 
 
 After Peter's birth his parents went to Windham 
 Co., Vt. The Green Mountain State, or the terri- 
 tory that became such in 17 91, was at that time in 
 a tumultuous condition through the disputes of the 
 adjoining States of New York and New Hampshire, 
 and Peter was left at Newton, with his grandparents. 
 When he was but a small lad his mother came from 
 Wardsboro after him, journeying thither on horse- 
 back. The distance was 125 miles, and the son 
 walked the entire distance beside the horse that his 
 mother rode. 
 
 He received the training and instruction which it 
 was the custom of those days to bestow on farmers' 
 sons, when agriculture was the common heritage of 
 succeeding generations. He was 26 when he was 
 married to Charlotte, daughter of Col. Holbrook, 
 who had acquired the distinction of a patriot in the 
 troublesome times in which his manhood's prime 
 was passed. The marriage was celebrated in Octo- 
 ber, 1802. The wife died in Troy, N. Y., in 1856. 
 She had borne eight children, — three daughters and 
 five sons : John R. becam-e a lumber merchant of 
 extensive relations in the city of St. Louis, Mo., and 
 died in Illinois in April, 1857 ; Joseph is a resident 
 of Geneseo, and is represented by a personal narra- 
 tion on another page ; Martha is now the widow of 
 Alfred Taylor, and resides at Geneseo; Caroline is 
 now the widow of Alphonso Bills, and resides at 
 Troy, N. Y. ; Charlotte now resides at Geneseo; 
 Caroline and Charles were twins. 
 
 The Hammond family reached prominence in 
 business affairs in Wardsboro. The location where 
 they operated took their name, and was called Ham- 
 mond's Mills, through the establishment of the rela- 
 tions of Mr. Hammond of this account. The place 
 is now called West Wardsboro. He had a farm, 
 and owned and operated a grist and saw mill. His 
 abilities brought him into prominence in the adjnin- 
 istration of local affairs, and he held many official 
 positions of honor and trust. He was Postmaster in 
 
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 B 
 B 
 
 (!) 
 
 «» 
 
 
 -SHlg3j(K- 
 
 ^.mw 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 the place where he lived and transacted his busi- 
 ness, and resigned the office after a continuous ser- 
 vice of 1 8 years. He officiated many years as Jus- 
 tice of the Peace, and in all his dealings in his 
 public or private capacities he was conspicuous for 
 undeviating probity. 
 
 On arrival at the period on which he entered on 
 the privileges of citizenship, he adopted the princi- 
 ples and issues of the Whigs. He kept pace with 
 the march of progress in public opinion, and after 
 the founding and organization of the Republican 
 party, he became its adherent and inflexible sup- 
 porter. He cast his first Presidential vote for the 
 elder Adams. 
 
 Mr. Hammond was made a Mason in the fall of 
 1799. He was one of the moving spirits of the local 
 body at Wardsboro, and officiated a- series of years 
 as its Master. During the excitement attending the 
 "Morgan" affair the lodge was disbanded, though he 
 strenuously objected to the action. He was the 
 chief official at the time, and when the organization 
 became defunct he retained his " Master's " jewel. 
 When the order came again into good repute he 
 gladly resumed his obligations, and was ever after- 
 ward in full harmony with its workings. April 9, 
 1876, he reached his centennial year, and Stewart 
 Lodge at Geneseo commemorated the occasion by 
 presenting him with a beautiful gold-headed cane. 
 The event was made the cause of a special commu- 
 nication in order to take place on the day desig- 
 nated. The inscription on the cane was as follows : 
 "Peter Hammond, from Stewart Lodge, No. 92, A. 
 F. & A. M., on his rooth birthday. April 9, 1876. 
 Born, 1776; made a Mason, 1799." 
 
 All his life he preserved the simplest habits in all 
 things. He never used tobacco in any form, and his 
 strength and physical endurance were continued to 
 a wonderful degree. When he was 100 years old he 
 was in the habit of walking to church. In later life 
 he professed a belief in the vital principles of Chris- 
 tianity, and passed his remaining years in the con- 
 sistent exercise of its views. He was a member of 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 He came to Geneseo m 1856, to visit his son, and 
 after that he divided his time between that place and 
 Vermont. For several years prior to his death he 
 remained with his daughter, Mrs. Taylor, at Gene- 
 seo, and died at her house April 9, 1878. His re- 
 mains were tenderly and reverently borne back to 
 
 the scenes of his active life, and he was laid in the 
 family burial-place of the Hammonds, as was suit- 
 able and appropriate. At Geneseo a monument has 
 been raised to his memory, by his son Joseph, in the 
 lovely city of the dead, Oakwood Cemetery. 
 
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 ohn Love, deceased, formerly a resident 
 of Bucks Co., Pa., and a blacksmith by 
 occupation, was born in County Antrim, 
 Ireland, of English parentage and ancestry. 
 He was educated in his native country, and 
 was married there April 30, 1825, to Miss Mary 
 A. Duncan, who was born in the same county, June 
 18, 1 810, the daughter of a farmer of Scotch par- 
 entage. He had come from Scotland to Ireland on 
 account of religious persecution in his native coun- 
 try, he being of the Presbyterian faith. 
 
 The early history of Mr. Love is only that which 
 is characteristic of poor, hard-working and honest 
 people in the North of Ireland, which county had 
 during his day undergone some radical changes in 
 the habits, etc., of the people. His father had be- 
 come a skillful smith in his native country, and after 
 his marriage he lived in his native country until 
 1849. The family were all born near Belfast, Ire- 
 land, near the channel separating that island from 
 Scotland. The ten children who were born there 
 were Ann, who was born May 24, 1827 ; Eliza, who 
 married John Blair, and died in Millville, N. J., 
 leaving two children, J. B. and Anna L. ; the latter 
 is a teacher ; the third child in the family above 
 mentioned was Jane W. ; the fourth is Mrs. Nancy 
 Watson, now residing in Western Township, this 
 county ; Mrs. Matilda A. Finlay is now a resident of 
 Orion, this county; Mrs. Mary Garrity resides in 
 Philadelphia, Pa. ; William is also married and re- 
 sides in Western Township ; Maria L. and James ; 
 Alexander is married, and is yet residing at the 
 parental home. 
 
 On arrival in America the family located in Bucks 
 Co., Pa., near Trenton, N. J., July 2, 1849. The 
 father died there September 3, following, aged 46. 
 Mr. Love was a Presbyterian in religious principles. 
 After the death of the head of the family the mother 
 and children were obliged to maintain themselves. 
 They secured a farm in Bucks Co., near Trenton, 
 
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 <?BD§DDi> 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 consisting of 95 acres, where they made their home 
 until 187 1 ; selling out in that year, they came to 
 Illinois, and purchased the southwest quarter of sec- 
 tion 8, Western Township, where they have since 
 
 f^ resided, and where they are now enjoying prosperity. 
 
 \ . They have a good brick residence, and fine out- 
 buildings on the farm. The family were all bap- 
 tized in what is called the " Associate Reformed 
 Presbyterian Church of Ireland." 
 
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 Gil 
 
 illiam Cornell, a retired farmer, residing 
 at Woodhull, was born in Frederick Co., 
 Md., Sept. 14, 1814. His parents were 
 Thomas and Mary (Paxton) Cornell, natives 
 of Maryland. They came to Ohio in 18 19, 
 where they purchased land, and where his father 
 engaged in the occupation of farming. His father 
 was a soldier in the War of 1812, and he and his 
 wife resided in Ohio until their death. 
 
 William Cornell remained on the old homestead 
 in Ohio, assisting in the labors on the farm and at- 
 tending school, until he attained the age of 24 years. 
 He was the main stay of his parents in their old age, 
 and lived with and cared for them until their deaths. 
 He then sold the farm that they had purchased and 
 bought another of 80 acres in Morgan County, con- 
 sisting of timber. He cleared this land and fenced 
 it and engaged actively and energetically upon its 
 improvement, and continued to reside thereupon for 
 about five years. He then sold it and purchased 
 200 acres of timber land. This he mostly cleared, 
 and erected two houses upon the same, together with 
 barns, outbuildings, fruit trees, etc., and there resided 
 for ten years. He then sold 100 acres, and subse- 
 quently exchanged the other 100, in 1859, for 320 
 acres of land in Iowa. 
 
 In 1861 he came to Illinois, and remained one year 
 with his son, William C, who had previously come 
 here, and on his son's entering the army and losing 
 his life in defense of the Union cause, Mr. Cornell 
 concluded to stop in this State. He finally rented 
 land in Henry County, and followed farming in that 
 manner for about four years. He then purchased 80 
 acres of land located on section 6, Clover Township, 
 on which he resided four years ; then he sold it and' 
 purchased 160 acres, on which he resided for five 
 
 years more. At the expiration of this time, in 1872, 
 he left the farm, and has since rented it. He has 
 purchased a house and three lots where he is at 
 present residing in Woodhull, and also a house and 
 four lots at that place which he rents. 
 
 Mr. Cornell was married in 1837 to Miss Nancy 
 Jeffers, and their union has been blessed with five 
 children,— Mary J., Martha L., Hannah, Cynthia 
 and Joseph — all married. Mrs. Cornell died Feb. 
 2, 1856, aged 37 years and ten months. His second 
 wife, Jane Coriners, whom he married Oct 20, 1857, 
 died Feb. 19, 1883. He was married again to Mrs. 
 J. Anderson, a daughter of David Patterson, in 1884. 
 
 Mr. Cornell, politically, is a believer in and a sup- 
 porter of the principles of the Republican party. He 
 and his wife are members of the Methodist Episco- 
 pal Church. 
 
 eorge W. Johnson, general manager of the 
 stock company's general store at Orion, 
 K was born in Andover, Henry Co., 111., Oct. 
 8, 1857. His father, S. P. Johnson, was a 
 farmer, residing on a farm in Lynn and a na- 
 tive of Sweden. When a young man he emi- 
 grated to America, and was united in marriage in 
 Andover Township to Miss Christina Peterson. She 
 was also a native of Sweden, and came to America 
 when a young woman. She became the mother of 
 eight children, five of whom yet survive, and four of 
 whom are sons, — George W. is the oldest of the 
 family and made his home with his parents until his 
 marriage, attending the common schools, where he 
 received a fair education. 
 
 At Andover, on the 31st of May, 1882, Mr. John- 
 son was married to Miss Carolina F. Hogg, who was 
 born in Lynn Township, this county, and is the 
 daughter of J. P. and Catherine Hogg, both natives 
 of Sweden. Both were formerly married in Sweden, 
 but after the death of each of their companions, Mr. 
 and Mrs. Hogg were united in marriage in this 
 country. Mr. Hogg died in. Lynn Township, 1874, 
 and his widow resides in Andover. Mrs. Johnson 
 was the youngest of their two children. She re- 
 ceived a good education in the common schools of 
 Andover. 
 
 After marriage, Mr. Johnson engaged in farming 
 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 381 
 
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 in Lynn Township for two years, upon his farm of 
 120 acres, which is well improved. In 1884, he 
 connected himself with the stock company, organized 
 for the purpose of carrying on a general mercantile 
 business at Orion, and in June, 1885, became man- 
 ager of the concern. The company carries a very 
 large stock of goods, amounting to about $20,000. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. J. are the parents of two children, — 
 Mabel T. and Morris W. Mr. Johnson has held 
 several minor offices of the township, and politically 
 is a straight-out Republican. 
 
 :uenos Ayers, a retired farmer, resident at 
 Geneseo, was born in Chester, Hampden 
 Co., Mass., Jan. 17, 1810. His parents, 
 Asa and Mary (Wait) Ayers, were both na- 
 tives of the Bay Stace, and were of English 
 descent. The first of the family in this 
 country were three brothers, who came hither from 
 England in the early part of the 17th century. They 
 settled in the State of Massachusetts, and the fam- 
 ily to which Mr. Ayers belongs traces its descent to 
 Capt. John Ayers, of Brookfield, Mass. The latter 
 removed thence to Ipswich, Mass., in 1662. He 
 settled in the former place in 1648, and lost his life 
 in one of the struggles with the Indians to which the 
 earliest settlers in the East were subjected. His 
 death occurred Aug. 3, 1675. He had two sons: 
 John Ayers, the older, died at Ipswich, Dec. 24, 
 1685 ; his son Samuel was successively a resident at 
 Newbury and Rowley, in the same State, and married 
 Abigail, daughter of William Fellows, at Ipswich, on 
 the 16th of April, 1677. They had ten children. 
 Their son Joseph resided at Brookfield, but there are 
 no other particulars about him to be obtained. His 
 son Samuel lived at Brookfield, was a weaver, and 
 married Martha Bell, Jan. 21, 1742. They had the 
 regulation number of children, which was ten. Asa, 
 their son, was born June 5, 1761, and married Mary 
 Wait. They had ten children, of whom the subject 
 of this sketch is the youngest, and he is in the 
 seventh generation from his ancestor of Brookfield 
 memories. 
 
 When Mr. Ayers was a lad of ten years his father 
 removed his family and interest to the Western Re- 
 serve, Ohio, and there bought 100 acres of land, 
 
 which he cleared from the stump, as the saying went 
 in those early days. The location was then Geauga 
 County, but the town of Chester, in which they 
 lived, has been by a more recent division assigned to 
 Lake County. The son became a carpenter and a 
 mill-right, and grew to the estate of manhood in the 
 vicinity where his father settled. He was married 
 Sept. 1, 1833, to Miss Sarah Osborne. She was the 
 daughter of Ransom and Sarah (Hurd) Osborne, and 
 was born at Oxford, New Haven Co., Conn., Sept. 
 2, 1 81 6. In descent she is of English extraction, 
 and her ancestors were residents of New England 
 for several generations. To them have been born 
 1 1 children. Seven are now living. 
 
 Soon after their marriage they removed to Wil- 
 loughby, in the Buckeye State, and there their two 
 oldest children were born. Sheldon H. was born 
 April 23, 1835, and was twice married. He was 
 first joined in marriage to Louisa Emery, Jan. 22, 
 1857. Her decease took place at Galva, in Henry 
 County, March 12, 1864. Sarah Fronk became his 
 wife in May, 1865. Sheldon Ayers went to Kan- 
 sas during the troublesome times in that State, and 
 took a prominent part as a Free-State man. The 
 second child, Orlando B., was born July 26, 1836. 
 He married Annie L. Stone, and is engaged in the 
 practice of law at Knoxville, Iowa. In the spring 
 of 1837 Mr. Ayers and his family removed to Hicks- 
 ville, Defiance Co., Ohio, where six of their children 
 were born, as follows: George W., Jan. 6, 1839, 
 died Oct. 10, following; Mary A. Nov. 22, 1840, 
 died Nov, 25, 1840; Samuel P., May 16, 1842, mar- 
 ried Mary Englefield, April 6, 187 1, and is a prac- 
 ticing attorney in Knoxville, Iowa; Esther E., born 
 May 14, 1845, is the wife of J. D. Hill, a farmer of 
 the township of Munson, to whom she was married 
 Sept. 30, 1868. Mr. Hill was a soldier of the late 
 war, and a member of the 112th Rtgt. 111. Vol. Inf. 
 He served three years. Roderick W. was born April 
 26, 1847, and he was married Feb. 12, 1874, to Sa- 
 die M. Englefield. He is a farmer in the township 
 of Bussey, Marion Co., Iowa. His first wife died, and 
 he was again married Dec. 27, 1877, to Edith Swain ; 
 Ransom O. was born in Bureau Co., 111., Oct 24, 
 1852; he was married Jan. 18, 1878, to Fannie Rea- 
 ber, and is engaged in the pursuit of a farmer in 
 Knoxville, Iowa ; Azoline was born in Munson, 111., 
 Aug. 24, 1854, and died three days later; John C. 
 was born in Munson, III., Aug. 26, 1856; he was 
 
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 >382 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 married Dec. 25, 1879, to Allie Martin, and is a 
 farmer of Munson Township; Helen E., the young- 
 est, was born in Munson Township, Sept. 3, 1859, 
 and died Oct. 13, 1862. 
 
 Mr. Ayers remained in the State of Ohio, and 
 operated as a mechanic until 1850, when he went to 
 Fond du Lac, Wis. He operated there as a mill- 
 wright about a year, and was engaged in the con- 
 struction of some important mills. In 185 1 he came 
 to Illinois, and passed two years in Bureau County. 
 He worked at his trade there, and in 1853 came to 
 Henry County, and purchased a farm in the town- 
 ship of Munson. He is still the owner of 320 acres 
 of land there, which is in an excellent state of culti- 
 vation. Besides, he is the owner of t6o acres in 
 the township of Cambridge in Henry County. Mr. 
 Ayers continued a resident of Munson Township 
 until 1877, when he took possession of the pleasant 
 residence his family have since occupied in the city 
 of Geneseo. He has been an energetic, upright 
 business man, a first-class mechanic, and a farmer, 
 the excellence of whose methods and judgment is 
 proven by the results he has achieved. He has 
 passed the space allotted to human life, but is still 
 vigorous and is in unbroken physical vigor. With 
 the exception of impaired eyesight, he is still in the 
 possession of all his faculties. 
 
 In the days of his early political connections he 
 was a Whig; he is now a Republican. In religious 
 opinions he is a liberal. 
 
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 ee Chamberlin, stock buyer and shipper, 
 located at Alpha, was born in Morrow Co., 
 Ohio, Aug. n, 1845. His parents, who 
 were John and Mary (Titus) Chamberlin, were 
 natives of New Jersey and Pennsylvania re- 
 spectively, came to Illinois in the year 1850, 
 and settled in Whiteside County, near Morrison. 
 They remained there for three years, when they 
 moved into Henry County, locating in Oxford Town- 
 ship, where they purchased a quarter of section 32. 
 To this they subsequently added 80 acres. In 1883 
 they sold out their Henry County property and re- 
 moved into Iowa, settling in Taylor County. 
 
 Lee, of whom we write, remained until 23 years of 
 age with his parents, receiving during that time a 
 
 good education in the ordinary branches. His first 
 enterprise after leaving home was to embark in farm- 
 ing on a rented place in Oxford Township; here he 
 remained for five years. In 1874 his mother died, 
 when he returned to the old homestead and worked 
 the farm until 1883. At that time he came into 
 Alpha village to live, where he has since been en- 
 gaged in buying and selling stock. Here he is well 
 known and respected, and is recognized as one of 
 the leading citizens of the place. 
 
 During the year 1869 an important event occurred 
 in the lives of Miss Urania M. Bundy and Mr. Lee 
 Camberlin. This was their union in the holy bonds 
 of matrimony. Their home has been blessed with 
 three children, to whom they have given the follow- 
 ing names: Howard E., Mary B. and Clarence H. 
 
 eroy Woodruff established his business as 
 a dealer in ice, at Geneseo, in 1864, and is 
 still interested in the same enterprise, and 
 has been since that time without intermission. 
 He has the exclusive control of the trade in ice, 
 and sells annually an average of 300 tons, which 
 is obtained from Green River. He is also a iftember 
 of the firm of Way & Woodruff, manufacturers of the 
 " Little Gem Creamer." 
 
 The article which the firm of Way & Woodruff are 
 manufacturing is one of the most popular in the dairy 
 business, and is their own invention. They took out 
 letters patent July 20, 1880. The " Little Gem " is 
 an entire success, and bears comparison with the 
 various creamers in use. It is used with cold water. 
 Mr. Woodruff was born Oct. 13, 1839, in Oswego 
 Co., N. Y., and is the son of Rev. George C. Wood- 
 ruff, of whom a personal account is given elsewhere 
 in this work. His father being a minister in the 
 Methodist Church, the childhood of the son was 
 passed in the migratory manner which is a feature of 
 the existence of that class of men. He was a few 
 months past his majority when the infatuation of the 
 South culminated in the attack on Fort Sumter, and 
 he entered the service of the Union within the first 
 year of the war. He enlisted Sept. 13, 1861, in Co. 
 M, Fourth III. Cav. He was one of the first men to 
 enter Fort Henry after its capture, and was almost 
 immediately made one of the aids of Colonel Wal- 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 383 
 
 lace, and was the Orderly of that officer. He was 
 also a participant in the siege of Fort Donelson. At 
 Shiloh and at Corinth he was in the advance guard 
 of Sherman. After the latter battle he was sent to 
 the hospital at St. Louis, and was discharged at 
 Memphis before the termination of the first year of 
 service, because of his inability to perform military 
 duty. 
 
 Mr. Woodruff was united in marriage with Jennie 
 M. Barse, Dec. 24, 1862. Their marriage took place 
 at Burlington, Vt. Mrs. Woodruff was born in St. 
 Albans, Vt., Sept. 7, 1842, and she is the. daughter 
 of Eli Barse. The three children now included in 
 the family of Mr. and Mrs. Woodruff were born as 
 follows: Amasa D., Dec. 28, 1866; Cora M., Nov. 
 13, 1872; and Edna F., Oct. 4, 1880. 
 
 Mr. Woodruff came to Henry County in June, 
 1855, and has continued a resident within its limits 
 since that date, with the exception of the time he 
 passed in the army. He passed eight years in farm- 
 ing in the township of Edford. In the fall of 1864 
 he fixed his residence at Geneseo. 
 
 In political preference he is a Republican, and 
 both he and his wife are members of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church. He is prominent in the Order 
 of Odd Fellows, and has represented Lodge No. 172, 
 of Geneseo, in the Grand Lodge. He is also Secre- 
 tary of the Independent Order of Mutual Aid, and 
 has been a representative of that body in the Grand 
 Lodge. He is the Assessor of the city and township 
 of Geneseo. 
 
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 w. V. Fisher, hardware merchant at Geneseo, 
 MB was born Oct. 15, 1848, at Wilkesbarre, Pa., 
 and is the son of C. V. and Elizabeth V. 
 Fisher. His father was a native of the State 
 of New Jersey, and in his early life went to 
 Pennsylvania. He was one of the first to be- 
 come interested in the coal business in the Keystone 
 State, and he became one of the leading operators in 
 that line of business. 
 
 Mr. Fisher came from his native State to Aurora, 
 111., in 1869; and, after a short stay three, he came in 
 1870 to Geneseo. He established the hardware 
 trade, in which he has since been engaged, in the 
 same year of his arrival, under the firm style of C. B. 
 
 & H. V. Fisher. The firm was changed in 1875, its 
 factors being H. V. and S. A. Fisher, and they are 
 still the proprietors. They are transacting a heavy 
 business, and are carrying a stock whose estimated 
 value is about $12,000. Mr. Fisher is also one of 
 the proprietors of the Eagle Stove Works, of Gen- 
 eseo. 
 
 He is one of the reliable and trustworthy citizens 
 of Geneseo, and considered one of the most enter- 
 prising and liberal-minded of its business men. He 
 takes a practical interest in its affairs, and has served 
 nine years as a member of the Board of Education. 
 He has also officiated as one of the Council. He 
 has been a straightforward and consistent Republi- 
 can from the period when he assumed the privileges 
 of his citizenship. He is connected with the Con- 
 gregational Church by membership. 
 
 ohn Lewen, residing on section 26, Galva 
 £ Township, was born in February, 1842, on 
 the Isle of Man. He came to Galva, this 
 county, at the age of r4 years, where he re- 
 ceived all the schooling he has acquired, not 
 having attended school any in his native 
 country. 
 
 On arriving here he worked on a farm at $ro per 
 month for two years, and after that worked by the 
 month for other wages for several years. Then he 
 rented land, which he cultivated for his own indi- 
 vidual benefit, and by energetic labor and economy 
 he succeeded in acquiring sufficient means to pur- 
 chase 80 acres in the northeast corner of Knox 
 County. He soon afterward sold that, and in the 
 spring of 1880 he purchased 240 acres, located on 
 section 26, Galva Township, which he still owns. 
 He has improved the same, and last summer erected 
 a barn on it, which cost him $2,000. He has fenced 
 the land, set out trees and otherwise improved the 
 place until it to-day presents an attractive appear- 
 ance, and is not only indicative of good taste and 
 judgment, but a fair representative of what may be 
 accomplished by laborious toil combined with a wise 
 foresight. 
 
 Robert Lewen, deceased, father of the subject of 
 this notice, was born in Ramsey, Isle of Man, and 
 died in Galva, this county, Sept. 20, 1857, aged 51 
 
 
 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 years. He was a son of William and Isabella (Ker- 
 ruish) Lewen, whose father was a hatter in his na- 
 tive country and there died. His wife afterward 
 married James Collins, a Sergeant in the British 
 army, who participated in the battle of Waterloo. 
 Robert Lewen was a millwright and carpenter on 
 the Isle of Man. He was married in that country, 
 June 6, 1835, to Miss Isabella Kissick, who was 
 born May 12, 1811, in Kirk Maughold, Isle of Man. 
 They resided for about 20 years on the island, where 
 he followed his trade, and then they emigrated to 
 this country, arriving here June 1, 1856. Oncoming 
 to this country, Mr. Lewen followed his trade at 
 Galva, this county, until his death. He was a lib- 
 eral-minded man, and religiously was a member of 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church, as is likewise his 
 widow, who resides on the homestead with her son, 
 John. Robert Lewen and wife became the par- 
 ents of nine children, three of whom are yet living : 
 Robert, Jr., a resident of Ford County, this State, 
 where he is engaged in farming; John, the subject 
 of this sketch; and Isabella, the wife of John J. 
 Corkill. The other children were, Mrs. Jane Kneale, 
 who died in her 35th year; Thomas, in his 21st 
 year; Margaret and William, when three years old; 
 and William, Jr., and Catherine, who died in infancy. 
 
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 oseph F. Cox, farmer and stock-raiser, re- 
 siding on section 20, Oxford Township, was 
 born in Port Byron, Rock Island County, 
 this State, Jan. 16, 1840. His parents were 
 John W. and Juliett (Williamson) Cox, na- 
 tives of Kentucky. (See sketch of the latter, 
 on another page.) 
 
 Joseph Cox remained at home until he became 21 
 years of age, when he enlisted in the war for the 
 Union, Sept. 3, i86r, in Co. M, Fourth 111. Cav. He 
 remained in the service for three years and a month, 
 participating in the following battles: Fort Henry, 
 Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, and many smaller 
 engagements. He was sick at the hospital in Keo- 
 kuk, Iowa, for a year. After returning home he im- 
 mediately engaged in farming. He purchased 80 
 acres of good land on section 1 6, Oxford Township, 
 and 80 acres on section 15, which land he put under 
 good cultivation and then sold. In 1875 he pur- 
 
 chased the land that he is now residing upon, being 
 160 acres; upon this he entered vigorously* and en- 
 ergetically on the task of improvement, and later 
 added to his original purchase by buying land in 
 Pawnee Co., Neb., where he has 320 acres of good 
 farming land. 
 
 Dec. 6, 1864, Mr. Joseph Cox chose for his wife 
 Miss Jane W. Sutton, a native of Cauada. Of their 
 union have been born six children, living, namely : 
 Wilhelmina G., Elmer S., Clinton C, Walter K., 
 Daisy M. and Treva. Mr. C. in politics is a Re- 
 publican. Socially, he is a member of the Order of 
 Masons. He has been Supervisor, and is considered 
 one of the solid and reliable men of Oxford Town- 
 ship. 
 
 illiam G. Heaps. Here and there through- 
 out the county, one meets the gray-haired 
 pioneer. However, those who came to the 
 county and " took up " their claim upon- the 
 broad, unbroken prairie, or settled on some 
 point of timbered land, are fast passing away. 
 As another decade rolls by the number, though at 
 present small, will be still further diminished. 
 
 William G. Heaps, one of these gray-haired vet- 
 erans, was born on the 17th of December, 1810, in 
 Maryland. When a young man of 22 years, he mar- 
 ried Miss Hester Green, the wedding occurring Jan. 
 1 1, 1832. Mrs. Heaps was born in Pennsylvania in 
 1816, and ten years after their marriage she accom- 
 panied her husband to Illinois. They located near 
 Quincy, in Adams County, where they remained for 
 about six years, when they moved north and settled 
 on Rock River, in Rock Co., Wis. They remained 
 there, however, only two years, when they came into 
 Henry County, and located upon section 32, Anna- 
 wan Township, where they expected to spend the 
 remainder of their earthly life. Among the old pion- 
 eers he was well known, and always joined in aiding 
 every public enterprise. Though 75 years of age, 
 he is strong and rugged. He is temperate in every 
 respect, save in the use of tobacco. Though using 
 it since he was 1 2 years of age, it cannot be truly 
 said that he is intemperate with it. He is steady in 
 all his habits, and a devoted and faithful member of 
 his Church, and never so happy as when he meets 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 with his brethren within its sacred walls. He is con- 
 nected with the United Brethren, and for the last 30 
 years has been a Class-leader. For over half a cen- 
 tury Mr. and Mrs. Heaps journeyed together in their 
 pilgrimage on earth, and it was not until April 12 of 
 this year (1885) that they were separated, by the 
 death of Mrs. H. They reared a respected and well 
 known family of children, of whom sketches are 
 given elsewhere in this volume. Politically, he is a 
 Democrat. 
 
 I homas E. Milchrist, an energetic and rep- 
 resentative citizen of Galva Township, 
 Henry Co., 111., is a son of John and Ann 
 Milchrist, having been born in Peel, Isle of 
 Man, April 12, 1841. Mr. John Milchrist, the 
 father, was a sailor and stone-mason, and em- 
 igrated to Illinois in 1848 with his family. They 
 loctated at Brimfield, Peoria Co., this State, where 
 he engaged in farming, remaining there until 1853. 
 In that year he removed to Valley Township, Stark 
 Co., where he followed the occupation of a farmer, 
 but later moved to Galva, and has been a resident 
 there since 1874. John Milchrist was born in 1804. 
 Ann Conly Milchrist, the mother, was born June 15, 
 1806. They have four children, — our subject, Mrs. 
 Catherine Kelley, Mrs. Margaret Speers, deceased, 
 and William, an attorney at Storm Lake, Iowa. 
 
 Mr. Thomas E. Milchrist, whose name heads this 
 notice, acquired his education by attendance at the 
 common schools, during the years 1861-2. Having 
 to assist in the maintenance of the family, he found 
 but little time to devote to study. Being desirous of 
 studying law, he began September, 1865, under the 
 instruction of John I. Bennett, now a Master in 
 Chancery of the Federal Court in Chicago, and was 
 admitted to the Bar April 2, 1867. He then hung 
 out his shingle in Galva, where he soon built up an 
 enviable reputation as a reliable lawyer. In the fall 
 of 1872 he was elected to the office of State's Attor- 
 ney, and was re-elected in 1876, 1880 and 1884, 
 filling the office with tact and ability. Mr. Milchrist 
 is also a member of the School Board. 
 
 He was married Oct. 29, 1867, the lady chosen 
 for his wife being Miss Lottie P. Ayres, daughter of 
 John A. Ayres, a pioneer of Henry Co., 111. She 
 
 was born in Andover, 111., Aug. 14, 1843, and is the 
 mother of four children, viz. : William A., born Dec. 
 7, 1868; Ella, born Sept. 21, 1870 ; Dora, born Sept. 
 28, 1878; and Frank, born Feb. 7, 1882. 
 
 Mr. Milchrist enlisted in the late war Aug. 12, 
 1 862, at Galva, in Co. G, 112th Regt. 111. Vol. Inf., the 
 regiment commanded by Colonel, afterward General, 
 Thomas J. Henderson. Mr. M. was commissioned 
 Second Lieutenant, Sept. 12, 1862, and was after- 
 ward promoted First Lieutenant, May 20, 1863, 
 taking effect March 31. Later he was promoted as 
 Captain, on the 29th of June, 1865, and was trans- 
 ferred to Co. F, of the 65 th 111. Vol. Vet. Inf. He 
 was in all the battles and engagements that his regi- 
 ment participated in, among which were the siege of 
 Knoxville, Tenn., Atlanta campaign, Franklin and 
 Nashville, and was then transferred to Fort Fisher, 
 N. C, and was with that army until the close of the 
 war. Mr. Milchrist received quite an injury in Au- 
 gust, 1864, by his horse falling on him, having been 
 shot while he was riding it. He was honorably dis- 
 charged July 13, 1865, having served his country 
 faithfully. 
 
 Mr. M. affiliates with the Republican party, and 
 socially is a member of the A. F. & A. M., Galva 
 Lodge, No. 243, Galesburg Commandery, K. T. and 
 the G. A. R. Mrs. Milchrist is a member of the 
 Baptist Church. 
 
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 enry Dewitt. Upon section 28 of Anna- 
 wan Township, the gentleman whose name 
 heads this biography, is engaged in general 
 farming. He was born in Durham, Greene 
 Co., N. Y., May 20, 1824, and in 1851 came to 
 Henry County and purchased 100 acres of land 
 in Kewanee Township. At that time there were but 
 little improvements made in the township, and Mr. 
 Dewitt became one of its pioneers. He built a log 
 house 12 x 16 feet in size upon his land, and began 
 its improvement. Here he lived until 187 1, when 
 he sold out the old farm, and bought the 240-acre 
 place in Annawan, where he now lives. Upon this 
 he has a good two- story dwelling 40 feet square, and 
 other good farm improvements. He is devoting his 
 attention to raising Short-horn cattle and has some 
 very fine Norman and Hambletonian horses. He 
 has one colt of the English Draft breed which is 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 one year old (May, 1885), and weighs 1,300 pounds! 
 His hogs are of the Poland-China variety. The In- 
 dian trail leading from the Mississippi to Hennepin 
 crossed this farm and in places is now to be seen. 
 
 Elucus Dewitt, the father of our subject, was born 
 at Durham, N. Y.,in 1795, and lived until November, 
 1877. He was married in 1817, to Miss Mary Wil- 
 liams, a native of the Empire State, who was born in 
 1794. She is of Welsh descent and is still living. 
 
 Mr. Dewitt and Miss Sarah Ann Nelson were 
 joined in the holy bonds of matrimony, May 5, 1849. 
 She was born Oct. 18, 1831. She was the daughter 
 of James Nelson, who was born in New York 
 State in 1801, and died June 9, 1844. His wife was 
 Miss Elizabeth Kinney, a native of New Brunswick, 
 where she was born in 179s. Their marriage oc- 
 curred in 1882. The wife, after becoming the 
 mother of four children, died. Their names are 
 Israel, Lovina, Sarah Ann, the wife of our subject, 
 and William B. Of these, Sarah Ann is the only 
 survivor. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Dewitt's marriage occurred in Upper 
 Canada, where they lived but a short time after that 
 event. To them have been born six children, 
 namely: Harriet E., Feb. 22, 1851; Orin D., June 
 19, 1853; Elucus N., June 22, 1857; Lovina J., 
 Sept. 15, i860; Ada B., Sept. 14, 1868, and Henry 
 S., Nov. 29, 1872. 
 
 -Hifep-4- 
 
 Albert P. Kemerling. At this compara- 
 tively early day in the history of this sec- 
 
 tion of Illinois, it is rarely that one meets 
 an active business man who was born here. 
 The biographical writers of this Album in their 
 travel through the country meet but few such. 
 Among this limited number, and one who is also to- 
 day a prominent farmer of Burns Township, is Mr. 
 Elbert P. Kemerling, of section 35. He was born in 
 Burns Township, Feb. i, 18^1. Here he was reared 
 and received a good common-school education, and 
 has thus far in life resided. His parents, Jacob and 
 Sarah (Albraight) Kemerling, were natives of Ohio, 
 and early in the history of this county became resi- 
 dents here. They had a family of nine children, of 
 whom Elbert was the youngest. They were : Levi 
 J., Barbara S., Sophronia, Ellen, Henry H., Prudence 
 
 H., Charlotte and Elbert P., besides one who died in 
 infancy. The elder Kemerling died Jan. 13, 1882; 
 he was born May 18, 1807. His wife was born July 
 9, 1807, and died Sept. 25, 1864. 
 
 Elbert was married in Lawrence Co., Pa., Oct. 3, 
 1878, to Elvira Deaa, who was a native of that 
 county, and who was born Sept. 17, 1852. William 
 J. is their only child. Mrs. K. is a member of the 
 Baptist Church, and Mr. K. affiliates with the Dem- 
 ocratic party. 
 
 eginald H. Hinman. This gentleman has 
 been foremost in the affairs of Osco Town- 
 ship for many years, even prior to the or- 
 ganization of the county under the township 
 law. His residence is located upon section 
 27, where he has a large and valuable farm. 
 His father, Willis Hinman, was a native-of Connect- 
 icut, where he met and married Olive Atwater, also 
 of the same State. In May, 1851, they came West, 
 and found a desirable location in Osco Township. 
 Here they lived and farmed until 1858, when they 
 moved into the village of Geneseo. Subsequently 
 they moved to Cambridge, where they now reside. 
 They are the parents of three children, — C. R., Regi- 
 nald H. and William W. 
 
 Reginald H. was born in Connecticut, Feb. 4, 
 1828. He received an ordinary education, and, his 
 father being a carpenter, he learned that trade, but 
 for the past 37 years has been engaged in agricul- 
 tural pursuits. In January, 185 1, we find him in 
 Henry County, preceding his parents. In 1854 he 
 settled on a quarter of a section of land entered by 
 his father in 185 1, being section 27 of Osco Town- 
 ship, where he now resides. Here he has erected 
 splendid farm buildings, and has 253 acres of till- 
 able land. 
 
 His first marriage occurred in Troy, Ohio, Oct. 9, 
 1852, Miss Elizabeth Miller being the lady who 
 joined him in the holy bonds of matrimony at this 
 time. She was the daughter of Christley and Han- 
 nah (Wright) Miller. She accompanied him to his 
 prairie home, and in Osco Township, on the 4th of 
 October, 1866, she died. She had become the 
 mother of three children, William Elliott, Frank M. 
 and Jennie M. Mr. Hinman was subsequently 
 
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 Hj;>^ agg*: 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 387 " 
 
 
 married to Mrs. Susan Corl, widow of Henry Corl, 
 and daughter of Thomas and Ann (Fraly) Combs. 
 Their wedding occurred in Osco Township, Oct. 18, 
 1867. Henry Corl was a member of the 112th 111. 
 Vol. Inf., and died while in the service of his coun- 
 try at Knoxville, Tenn., Nov. 18, 1864. Mrs. H. 
 was born in Germantown, Pa., May 2, 1832. 
 
 Mr. H. has occupied more than two ordinary 
 positions in the affairs of his township, and is re- 
 garded as a man of superior judgment and thor- 
 oughly honest in person. He has held the office of 
 Supervisor for several years, has been Collector, and 
 was the first man to fill that office after the organi- 
 zation of the township. He has also served as Jus- 
 tice of the Peace for many years, and also been 
 Chairman of the Board of Supervisors. He has 
 been Secretary of the Henry County Agricultural 
 Society for 13 years. In politics he is a Democrat, 
 is a member of the Masonic Order, and both himself 
 and wife are members of the Episcopal Church. 
 
 ornelius Hayes. This gentleman, who 
 resides at Annawan and who has retired 
 from the active labors of farm life, has 
 been for many years one of the extensive 
 and prosperous agriculturists of Henry 
 County. He was born in Tipperary, Ireland, 
 Aug. 1, 1832, and came to America when a young 
 man of 20 years of age. He located in New York, 
 where the following five years were spent at farm 
 labor, working by the month. He then came to 
 Springfield, 111., and for two years more worked in 
 the same way. In 1859 he came to Henry County, 
 and on the 4th of March the following spring, moved 
 here and purchased 80 acres of land on section 32, 
 of Alba Township. This he improved and brought 
 to a high state of cultivation. In 1869 he purchased 
 240 acres on sections 20 and 21. Two years later he 
 secured another 240-acre tract, and now owns 490 
 acres in Alba Township, and r6o acres on section 10 
 of Annawan Township. He also has a good dwell- 
 ing at Annawan, where he lives, which is large and 
 commodious, and well suited for a hotel. Besides 
 this property he has horses, cattle and hogs, valued 
 at $5,000. 
 The marriage of Mr. Hayes'and Miss Maggie J. 
 
 Smith was celebrated Dec. 1, 1872, the Rev. Father 
 Smith, of Geneseo, officiating. Mrs. Hayes was born 
 in County Antrim, Ireland, Feb. 24, 1850, and was 
 brought to America by her parents. Alice, who was 
 born April 22, 1883, is their only child. 
 
 Mr. Hayes has held almost all the township offices, 
 and is recognized as an excellent business man. He 
 has been Assessor of the Township 14 years, served 
 as Supervisor for six years, and Treasurer for eight 
 years. He has been Highway Commissioner for 
 nine years, and Director of his school district for 
 four years. He is now engaged in handling agricul- 
 tural implements in Annawan, among which is the 
 McCormick Harvester. Religiously, the family are 
 members of the Catholic Church. 
 
 * -«- * 
 
 homas Franklin McKane, editor of The 
 Standard, at Galva, was born at French 
 Grove, Peoria Co., 111., Oct. 15, 1855. The 
 McKane family is traced back to the Isle of 
 Man, where the parents of our subject were 
 born. They were Francis and Mary (Gawne) 
 McKane, and were by occupation farmers. They 
 came to America and located at Rochester, N. Y., 
 where they were united in matrimony. Shortly after 
 their marriage they removed to Peoria Co., 111., where 
 they conducted a hotel, and finally, in 1856, they 
 came to Galva and settled on a farm near that city. 
 The elder McKane was engaged in the mining and 
 gardening business during the latter years of his life. 
 He died at Galva, Jan. 17, 1873, aged 56 years. 
 His wife, who survives him, is the mother of five 
 children now living, namely: Mrs. Jane Kissick, a 
 resident of Holt Co., Mo. ; Mrs. Anna Kermeen, of 
 Nemaha Co., Kan. ; Rufus H., of Galva; the subject 
 of this sketch and Mrs. Lillie Reed, of Galva. 
 
 Mr. McKane received a good common-school edu- 
 cation at the public schools of Galva, and at the age 
 of T4 years entered the office of the Galva Republi- 
 can. He remained in that office until it was removed 
 to Chicago, when he went to work in the Galva 
 Journal office, where he continued until after the 
 big fise. In 1873 he went with his employer, W. J. 
 Ward, to Wenona, Mich. At the latter place he re- 
 mained, following his trade most of the time, until 
 the spring of 1880, when he returned to his old home 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 at Galva. Here he worked in different printing of- 
 fices in the vicinity until in August, i88r, when, in 
 company with F. M. Riggen, he embarked in the 
 newspaper enterprise for himself. At that time they 
 started the Galva Standard, with which paper he 
 has since been connected, getting up a very credit- 
 able paper, to which Mr. McKane devotes all his 
 energies, giving it his undivided attention. He man- 
 ages the office, and also does the editorial work. 
 
 Mr. McKane is a public-spirited, enterprising 
 young man, and does much to advance the interests 
 of his town. At present he is filling the office of 
 Town Clerk, and Clerk of the Board of Highway 
 Commissioners. 
 
 -*»>*- 
 
 
 ■ ohn T. Tineh. When the present line of 
 the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Rail- 
 road was being projected and built from 
 Galesburg to Chicago many shrewd men from 
 the older settled portions of the country saw 
 the advantages offered by the section it passed 
 through and rapidly came in to improve them. 
 Among those who were thus attracted was John T. 
 Finch, who is now engaged in general agriculture on 
 section 34, of Burns Township. The first 14 years 
 of his life were passed in Hamilton County, Ohio, 
 where he had been born, on the 23d of July, 1828. 
 His parents removed to Clinton County, in the same 
 State, where he passed the following ten years, when 
 he came West, and in the springof 1852 we find him 
 making preparations to prepare for a home in Burns 
 Township. He possessed but little or nothing in 
 the way of wealth, but by his own exertions has been 
 quite successful, and is to-day the owner of a mag- 
 nificent tract of land consisting of 480 acres, all of 
 which is tillable and provided with fine farm build- 
 ings. He is looked upon as one of the prosperous, 
 well-to-do farmers of Henry County. He has taken 
 considerable interest in school matters, and has 
 served his district as Director. 
 
 The parents of Mr. Finch, William and Elizabeth 
 (Farris) Finch, were natives of Connecticut. In an 
 early day they removed to Ohio, and both died in 
 Clinton County. The number of their children were 
 1 1, of whom John T. was the youngest. Before leav- 
 ing for the West, Finch and Miss Caroline Schoon- 
 
 over were united in marriage in Washington Co., 
 Ohio. The wedding occurred on New Year's Day 
 of 1852. Miss Schoonover was a daughter of Henry 
 and Eunice (Hopkins) Schoonover, and was born in 
 Washington Co., Ohio, Dec. 14, 1834. Her parents 
 were natives of New Jersey and Connecticut respect- 
 ively, and her father was killed while living in Wash- 
 ington County, on the 4th of March, 1842, being 
 thrown from a horse. Her mother still survives. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Finch have had born to them three 
 children, — Hattie, who was born Oct. 1, 1852; 
 Henry, Oct. 16, 1859; and Adolphus, Feb. 2, 1862. 
 Hattie was the wife of Henry F. King, and resided 
 in Fillmore Co., Neb., where she died Feb. 6, 1876. 
 She was the mother of two children— Walter and 
 Ralph. Henry C. and Adolphus reside in Burns 
 Township. 
 
 Mr. Finch has been School Director in his town- 
 ship, nnd politically affiliates with the Republican 
 party. 
 
 I |P§'1 [ braham Huffman, an enterprising and pro- 
 
 gressive farmer, residing on section 13, 
 ^ Galva Township, Henry County, was born 
 
 April 13, 1820, in Green Co., Pa., and is the 
 son of George and Julia (Fry) Huffman, na- 
 tives of Pennsylvania and of German ances- 
 His parents' family consisted of 14 children, 
 only three of whom survive, namely: George, Mrs. 
 Mahala Wilson and our subject. 
 
 Our subject was reared on a farm, alternating his 
 labors thereon by attendance at the public schools 
 in the acquisition of an education. In 1865, after 
 the close of the war, he emigrated West, locating on 
 section n, Galva Township, and afterward removed, 
 purchasing 320 acres, which he is the owner of at 
 present and on which he resides. Mr. Huffman 
 commenced in the world without a dollar, and by his 
 good judgment, economy and perseverance, has ac- 
 cumulated a considerable amount of this world's 
 goods. 
 
 Mr. Abraham Huffman was married in Pennsyl- 
 vania, the lady of his choice being Miss Hannah 
 Bowen, daughter of Mason Bowen. Of their union 
 12 children have been born, ten of whom survived, — 
 George was married twice, his present wife being 
 Casa. Jane (Bowler), and they are the parents of four 
 
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 children, viz : Lucy, Ella, Maggie and Walter ; 
 Mason, who took for his better half Miss Nancy 
 Plants, of Pennsylvania, and whose home circle has 
 been bleesed with seven children, — George, Levi, 
 Seely, Abraham, Mary, Ollie and Minnie ; Julia Ann 
 married Rollin Bryan, a native of Iowa, and they 
 have eight children, — Abraham, George, Johnny, 
 Lizzie, Anna, Katie, Jimmy and Ross ; Dilla was 
 united in the bonds of matrimony with William 
 Bryan, and their family consists of n children, 
 namely: George A., David M., Celia, Abraham, 
 May, Minnie, Charly, Mason, Delia, Harry and Ef- 
 fje; Eliza is the widow of Zenith May, and is the 
 mother of three children, — Peter, Maggie and George 
 Zenith; Mary married Gharly White, of Stark Coun- 
 ty, and they have become the parents of a family of 
 five children, — Jane, Harvey, George, Hattie and an 
 infant girl ; Haley was united in marriage with 
 Robert Sprague, and the following are the names of 
 their children: Mary, Abraham, Nellie, Johnny, 
 Willie and George; and John, Willie and Frank are 
 unmarried. 
 
 Mrs. Huffman is a member of the United Brethren 
 Church, and Mr. H. is a supporter of the principles 
 advocated by the Democratic party. 
 
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 illiam W. Hinman, a successful farmer, 
 as well as one of the respected citizens of 
 Henry County, is a resident on section 27, 
 Osco Township, where he follows his chosen 
 vocation. The parents of Mr. Hinman, 
 Willis and Olive (Atwater) Hinman, were na- 
 tives of Connecticut. In 1838, they emigrated to 
 Miami Co., Ohio, where they resided until 1850, 
 when they came to this county. On arriving here 
 the father entered 360 acres of land in Osco Town- 
 ship. He located 6n this land and continued to re- 
 side thereon until 1858, when he removed to 
 Geneseo and retired from the active agricultural la- 
 bors of life. Previous to his removal to Geneseo, he 
 was severely kicked by a horse, which has since pre- 
 vented him from manual labor, and he has made his 
 home since that time in Geneseo and Cambridge. 
 He and his wife were the parents of eight children, 
 three of whom attained the age of maturity, namely: 
 Clara R., R. H. and William W. Clara became the 
 
 wife of Nelson Gaines, and died in Geneseo in Octo- 
 ber, 1877. 
 
 The gentleman whose name stands at the head of 
 this notice was born in Hartford Co., Conn., April 
 11, 1833, and was five years old when his parents 
 removed to Ohio, in which State his education was 
 acquired in the district schools. In 1849, Mr. Hin- 
 man went to Dayton, Ohio, to learn the harness- 
 maker's trade, but did not complete the same, 
 concluding to come to this county, where he arrived 
 in the spring of 1851. His first purchase of land in 
 this county consisted of 80 acres lying in Geneseo 
 Township, which he afterward exchanged with his 
 father for the farm on which he is at present resid- 
 ing in Osco Township. Mr. Hinman is at present 
 the owner of 200 acres of land in Osco Township, 
 all of which is in an advanced state of cultivation. 
 His farm is indicative of what energy and persever- 
 ance may accomplish in the improvement of land, 
 and his success in his chosen vocation of what econ- 
 omy and energetic effort may bring about. 
 
 Mr. Hinman was united in marriage in Andover 
 Township,' this county, Oct. 22, 1867, with Clara 
 Olmstead, daughter of Daniel and Almira Olmstead, 
 natives of New York. Her parents came to Henry 
 County about 1853, and settled in Andover Town- 
 ship, where her father died in 1866, and her mother 
 in Cambridge, this county, April 7, 1885. Mrs. 
 Hinman, wife of the subject of this notice, bore her 
 husband two children, — -.Daniel O. and Heber, the 
 latter of whom died in infancy. The wife and mother 
 departed this life, Dec. 9, 1870, in Osco Township, 
 and Mr. Hinman was again married, Feb. 21, 1872, 
 at Geneseo, to Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Eusebius 
 and Elizabeth (Pratt) Townsend, natives of Pennsyl- 
 vania, where her father died, April 18, 1863. The 
 mother still survives. Her parents' children were 
 nine in number, — Anna F., George B., Theo. E., 
 Lacy D., Sarah E., Joseph, Elizabeth, William H. 
 and Robert D. Mrs. Hinman, wife of William W., 
 of. this sketch, was born in Chester Co., Pa., March 
 6, 1842. She and her husband are the parents of 
 three children,— Willis T., E. Parker and Ralph B. 
 
 Mr. Hinman has held the office of Township As- 
 sessor and others of minor import. Religiously, he 
 and his wife are members of the Episcopal Church. 
 Socially, he is a member of the Order of Masonry, 
 and politically, he is a supporter of the principles ad- 
 vocated by the Democratic party. Aug. 9, 1862, 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 Mr. Hinman enlisted in the 112th 111. Vol. Inf. and 
 served in defense of his country's honor until the 
 close of the war. After the close of the war and the 
 cause for which he fought was victorious, he returned 
 home, doffed his uniform, cast aside his accoutre- 
 ments of war and once more entered upon the peace- 
 ful duties of a farm life and has since continued to 
 reside on the old home farm on section 27, Osco 
 Township. 
 
 eorge D. Palmer, of the firm of Palmer & 
 Walker, dealers in groceries and provis- 
 ions, Galva, 111., was born July 6, 1854, in 
 Otsego Co., N. Y., near Schuyler's Lake. 
 The parents of Mr. Palmer, of this sketch, 
 were Dudley W. and Laura (Bard) Palmer, 
 natives of Otsego Co , N. Y., and of English extrac- 
 tion. A reunion of the Palmer family residing in 
 America was held at Long Island, in August, 1883, 
 and over 5,000 families were represented. Their 
 great-grandfather, Christopher Palmer, resided in 
 Connecticut, where he died at the advanced age of 
 103 years. He was a soldier in the War of the 
 Revolution. His son, Nathan S. Palmer, was born 
 in 1800; was a farmer by occupation, and died in 
 Galva, this County, Feb. 14, 1883, aged 83 years. 
 He came here from New York State in April, 1858, 
 and married Eliza Smith, daughter of Ezra Smith, 
 who died here in 1877, aged 77 years, having been 
 born in Connecticut in r8oo. One thing most re- 
 markable in the history of the Palmer family, from 
 which George D. is directly descended, is that all 
 four of his grandparents were born in the year 1800. 
 His grandmother bore her husband three children, — 
 Dudley W., Louisa E., and Christopher C. Of these, 
 Dudley was born in Otsego Co. N. Y. He was a 
 mechanic in early life, and later a farmer in this 
 county. He came here in April, 1858, where he fol- 
 lowed the occupation of farming for ten years and 
 until his death, which occurred in February, 1868, 
 while in his 42d year. He was married in New 
 York to Laura Bard, who was born there in 1830. 
 She is yet living, and resides in this county, and is 
 the daughter of Wilson and Lasina Bard, both of 
 whom were born in 1800, in New York. She bore I 
 
 her husband four children, — Louisa E., wife of A. G. 
 Bruce; George D., subject of this biographical notice; 
 William H. and Delia M. 
 
 George D., subject of this notice, came to this 
 county with his parents when he was but four years 
 old. His education was partly received in the dis- 
 trict schools of this country, but he finished his edu- 
 cation in the Galva High School. His years of 
 manual labor prior to majority were spent on the 
 farm. At the age of 26, in 1880, he became the 
 junior partner of the firm of Regnell & Palmer, en- 
 gaged in the grocery business, and has continued in 
 that business until the present time. In January, 
 1884, the name of the firm was changed to Palmer 
 & Walker, and the business is conducted under that 
 name at the present time. By honest and straight- 
 forward dealings with their fellow -men, and they are 
 meeting with success in their business. 
 
 Mr. Palmer was united in marriage Nov. 4, 1874, 
 with Miss May L. Walker, a daughter of Joseph A. 
 Walker. She was born Nov. 5, 1857, and has borne 
 her husband two children — Rena M., born July 6, 
 1879; and an infant unnamed, born June 30, 1884. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Palmer religiously are members of the 
 Baptist Church. Socially, Mr. Palmer is a member 
 of the I. O. O. F., Galva Lodge, No. 408, and Galva 
 Encampment, No. 174, and is also a member of the 
 Fire Company. Politically, he is identified with the 
 Republican party. 
 
 jj hilip Emmert, dealer in grain at Osco, 
 Osco Township, is a son of Andrew and 
 Margaret (Smith) Emmert, natives of Ger- 
 11 j many. They were married in the old country 
 jr and there resided until their emigration to the 
 United States, which took place in 1833. On 
 their arrival in this country they located in Bedford 
 Co., Pa., where the mother died March 10, 1855. 
 The father afterward sold his farm in Pennsylvania 
 and came to this county to live with his son, the 
 subject of this notice, and with whom he resided 
 until his death, which occurred Sept. 29, 1875. The 
 issue of their union was seven children, — Elenora 
 C, Philip, Caroline, John Valentine, Margaret, John 
 and Dorothy. 
 
 Philip Emmert, subject of this notice, was born in 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 Germany, July 17, 1822. He came to the United 
 States with his parents in 1833. He received a fair 
 education in the common schools and continued to 
 reside under the parental roof-tree until he attained 
 his majority. On becoming his own man he en- 
 gaged in the occupation of farming on his own ac- 
 count, which vocation he followed from 1842 to 
 185 1. From 1851 to i860 he was engaged the 
 major portion of his time in carpenter's work. In 
 the fall of 185 r, Mr. Emmert came to this county, 
 accompanied by his wife and eight children, and lo- 
 cated in Osco Township, where he purchased 1 60 
 acres of land located on section 8, and on which he 
 resided until 1855, when he sold the same and 
 bought a farm of 200 acres on section 17 ; there he 
 lived until 1875, when he sold that also. Mr. Em- 
 mert has been a resident of Osco Township since 
 1851. After selling his farm in 1875, he removed 
 to the village of Osco, where he erected a fine resi- 
 dence and where until the present time he has been 
 engaged in buying grain, meeting with success in 
 that business. 
 
 Mr. Emmert was united in marriage, in Bedford 
 Co., Pa., Jan. 20, 1842, with Miss Margaret S. Weid- 
 lein, a native of Germany, in which country she was 
 born Jan. 22, 181 9. She was the daughter of John 
 and Sybilla Wiedlein, who had five children, namely : 
 John, John S., Margaret A., Nicholas and Lovina. 
 Mrs. Emmert, wife of the subject of this notice, was 
 about 22 years of age when she accompanied her 
 parents to the United States and located with them 
 in Pennsylvania, where she resided until her mar- 
 riage. She and her husband are the parents of ten 
 children, — Barbara, George S., Rebecca, John Philip, 
 Valentine W., Andrew J., William H., Margaret A. 
 and Charles F. Rebecca died Oct. 28, 1880, in her 
 38th year. She was the wife of Wm. E. Hill, a res- 
 ident of Iowa, but died at the residence of her par- 
 ents in Osco Township, this county. One child was 
 born of their union, named Philip. Barbara is the 
 wife of J. H. Conrad, and resides in Dodge City, 
 Kan. ; Margaret A. married Aaron Hill, a resident 
 of Herkimer, Marshall Co , Kan. 
 
 Mr. Emmert of this sketch has held the office of 
 Highway Commissioner, School Director and other 
 minor offices within the gift of the people of his 
 township. He and his wife are active, leading mem- 
 bers of the English Lutheran Church. Politically, 
 
 Mr. Emmert is an advocate of the tenets of the 
 Democratic party. 
 
 George S. Emmert, son of the subject of this no- 
 tice, enlisted in August, 1861, in the 37th 111. Vol. 
 Inf. At the battle of Prairie Grove, Ark., in Decem- 
 ber, 1862, he was wounded by a minie ball in the 
 leg, in consequence of which he was obliged to have 
 his leg amputated just above the knee. He resides 
 in Herkimer, Marshall Co., Kan., where he is en- 
 gaged in farming and stock-raising. 
 
 John P. Emmert enlisted in August, 1862, in the 
 37th 111. Vol. Inf., and served until the close of the 
 war, receiving no serious wounds, although he was 
 in many a hard-fought battle. He was 175^ years 
 old when he enlisted. His residence at present is 
 Kansas City, Mo., where he is engaged in stock 
 and commission business. Valentine W. Emmert 
 resides in St. Joseph, Mo., and is likewise en- 
 gaged in the stock and commission business ; An- 
 drew J. Emmert is a resident of Kearney, Mo., 
 where he is engaged in farming and stock-raising; 
 William H. is a farmer, following his vocation in 
 Marshall Co., Iowa, where Philip also resides, en- 
 gaged in the same occupation ; Charles F. is a 
 farmer, residing in Jasper Co., Iowa. 
 
 — •&>- 
 
 enry Herman, senior member of the busi- 
 ness firm of Herman & Waterman, at Gen- 
 eseo, was born in Wurtemberg, Germany 
 Nov. 26, 1831. His parents were Philip and 
 Carrie (Neuberger) Herman. Mr. Herman 
 came to the United States in the same year in 
 which he attained his majority. He went to the 
 State of Kentucky, and made his home there until 
 1857, when he came to Geneseo, and formed a part- 
 nership with Mr. Waterman in the sale of clothing 
 and the lines of merchandise common to a gentle- 
 men's furnishing store. 
 
 Theirs is the oldest establishment of the kind in 
 the county. Mr. Herman is also one of the found 
 ers of the Farmers' National Bank. Messrs. Her- 
 man & Waterman are the owners of two-thirds of the 
 Geneseo Brewery, and Mr. Herman is the secretary 
 of the stock company who are its owners. He has 
 occupied the position since its incorporation. In his 
 
 9 
 
 S 
 & 
 
 v) 
 
 1 <f 
 
 P 
 
 political relations Mr. Herman is a Democrat. 
 
 ***;•. 
 
z^&- — 6v^nn®wif^€ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 1 
 
 vS 
 
 i> 
 
 He was married in Cincinnati, Ohio, Dec. 23, 
 1863, to Addie Hirschland, and they have had four 
 children. Samuel was born Dec. 4, 1864; Carrie 
 was born Feb. 12, 1865 ; Sadie died in infancy ; Felix 
 was born Sept. 4, 1874. Mrs. Herman was born in 
 Nassau, Germany, and is the daughter of Samuel 
 Hirschland. The family are adherents of the Jew- 
 ish faith. 
 
 -^-^vv^i 
 
 and. 
 
 obert Looney, deceased, formerly residing 
 on section 36, Galva Township, where he 
 followed the vocation of farming, was born 
 in Kirk Maughold, Isle of Man, Nov. 10, 
 1833, and is a son of Robert and Isabella 
 (Lewen) Looney, who both died on the isl- 
 Robert Looney was educated on his native 
 island, and at the age of 17 years he emigrated to 
 the land of greater possibilities, and soon after land- 
 ing at an Eastern seaport he came to Brimfield, 
 Peoria County, this State, where some people from 
 his native isle had preceded him and were residing. 
 He worked at his trade in Peoria County, which was 
 that of a carpenter and which he had learned in his 
 native country, for a time, and after four years spent 
 in this country he returned to his native isle. There 
 he married his old sweet-heart, school and play 
 mate, Eleanor Corkill, who was born there Nov. 8, 
 1835. She is the daughter of William and Isabella 
 (Jochan) Corkill, natives of that country. Her 
 father was a banker there and from one of the older 
 families. Ten children were born to her parents, 
 who all reached the age of maturity, but Mrs. Looney 
 was the only one who emigrated to this country. 
 
 Mr. Looney came again to America, with his 
 bride, in the spring of 1855, and went directly to 
 Brimfield, Peoria County. He remained there only 
 two weeks, and then came to Galva Township, this 
 county, and located on section 36, where he had 
 previously purchased 40 acres of land and had par- 
 tially improved the same. Subsequently, by ener- 
 getic effort and economy, he succeeded in acquiring 
 a sufficiency to purchase 140 acres additional, which 
 he did, and at the time of his death was the pro- 
 prietor of 180 acres. He was a great worker and a 
 good manager, and his success is attributable to his 
 
 own indomitable energy. He attended the Method- 
 ist Episcopal Church. 
 
 On coming to this country, Mr. Looney was poor 
 in purse but rich in will power and ambition, and 
 his life from the time he first located in Peoria 
 County until the time of his death was one of con- 
 tinual activity and labor. He died here, Jan. 22, 
 1874. His children were eight in number, namely: 
 Mrs. Alice Nichols, Mrs. Isabella Meikel, Hattie, 
 Robert H, Frederick, Fannie, Lizzie and Florence, 
 and two children who died in infancy. 
 
 Mrs. Looney, since the death of her husband, has 
 managed the farm with good judgment and success, 
 and has added to the same 40 acres by a subsequent 
 purchase, until at present the place consists of 220 
 acres. She is a lady of considerable business tact, 
 combined with good judgment, and is meeting .with 
 success in a financial point of view. Religiously, 
 she attends the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 ~WVA.~v4££C^^" 
 
 »*g§>©*Zra0*v*'v\/v*. 
 
 illiam Poppy. Among the many sturdy 
 young men who came into Henry County 
 in an early day was William Poppy, who 
 
 E3 
 8 
 
 © 
 < 
 
 (!) 
 
 !' to-day is a well known farmer residing on 
 section 7 of Weller Township. He is a na- 
 tive of Prussia, and was born near Hanover, 
 Jan. 6, 1834. When a young man, in 1847, he ac- 
 companied his parents to America, landing at New 
 Orleans. They made their way northward, and in 
 June of the following year made a location in Henry 
 County. Here William resided until 187 r, when he 
 removed to Jo Daviess Co., 111. He seemingly was 
 not favorably impressed with the advantages offered 
 there, for at the end of six years we find him on his 
 way back to Henry County. He then located on a 
 farm in Weller Township, where he owns a small 
 farm, and in Clover Township he also owns 120 
 acres of land. Politically, he is united with the 
 Democratic party. 
 
 Jan. 28, 1862, there occurred a wedding in An- 
 dover Township, this county, in which William 
 Poppy and Sophia Neumann were the conspicuous 
 parties. The children who have been born of this 
 union number four and bear the following names : ^ 
 Garhard, Franklin, Lena and Rosa. Franklin is 
 deceased. 
 
 K®5«§!@ft~ 
 
 .QjL 
 
 $IM® 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 -^^(@v#S 
 
 
 
 393 
 
 - ooo 
 
 ~0S5~" 
 
 eter Hanna, liveryman at Geneseo, came 
 to Illinois and to Geneseo in 1852. He 
 
 Jj£«T'J?J was born in Guernsey Co., Ohio, Aug. 8, 
 SiJj ^3 2 - His parents, Andrew and Ann (Smith) 
 •fli. Hanna, were members of the agricultural 
 class, and he was brought up on a farm, re- 
 ceiving the education and training common in the 
 experience of the sons of farmers. He determined 
 on following another mode of life from that pursued 
 by his father, and when he was 2 2 he came to Gen- 
 eseo and began to deal in horses. In the spring of 
 1881 he embarked in the business in which he is 
 now interested. He conducts all the lines of traffic 
 common to the business in which he is interested, 
 and also runs the mail routes between Geneseo and 
 Cambridge in Henry County and Prophetstown in 
 Whiteside County. His hacks traverse the routes 
 daily, and facilities for the transportation of travelers 
 are also provided. 
 
 In political principle Mr. Hanna is now a Repub- 
 lican. ' He was formerly a Democrat. 
 
 June 29, 1855, he was married, in Phenix Town- 
 ship, to Mary J. Cherry. She was born in Licking 
 Co., Ohio, and is the daughter of James Cherry. 
 They have two children, who are named Eva and 
 Etta. Mr. Hanna and his wife are members of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 iram Crossley, the proprietor of 1 20 acres 
 of land in Osco Township, and one of its 
 *** successful farmers, resides upon section 16, 
 where he follows his chosen vocation. The 
 parents of Mr. Crossley were John B. and 
 Elizabeth (Goldtrap) Crossley, and were na- 
 tives of Ohio, where they were married and resided, 
 his father following the occupation of a farmer. In 
 1850 the parents came to Bureau County, this State, 
 where they resided four years, and then removed to 
 and settled in Atkinson Township, this county, and 
 continued to reside in the same until 1866. During 
 that year they returned to Clermont Co., Ohio, where 
 they are still living. Their children were six in 
 
 number, of whom Hiram was the fourth in order of 
 birth. 
 
 Mr. Crossley, of whom we write, was born in Cler- 
 mont Co., Ohio, Nov. 4, r836. His education was 
 acquired in the common schools of his native 
 county, and his years prior to attaining his majority 
 were passed on the home farm assisting his father in 
 the labor thereon. In September, 1862, Mr. Cross- 
 ley enlisted in the 112th III. Vol. Inf., and served in 
 defense of his country's flag until March, 1863, 
 when he was- discharged on account of disability. 
 Receiving his discharge, he returned to this county 
 and continued to reside here until 1864, when he 
 again enlisted in the 7 2d 111. Vol. Inf., known as 
 the Board of Trade Regiment. He served until Oc- 
 tober, 1865, when, the war having closed, and the 
 soldiers on both sides having doffed their uniforms, 
 laid aside their accoutrements of war, and returned 
 to their peaceful vocations of life, he came home. 
 Mr. C. met with a serious accident in Kentucky prior 
 to his leaving the field of battle. .Jan 1, 1863, he 
 was run over by a forage wagon, which was the 
 cause of his receiving his discharge formerly re- 
 ferred to. 
 
 On returning from the war, Mr. Crossley again 
 settled in Osco Township, and purchased 80 acres 
 of land on section 1 6. He erected good buildings 
 on his farm, and entered vigorously and energeti- 
 cally upon the task of its improvement. He has 
 since added to his original purchase, and at present 
 is the proprietor of 120 acres of land in an advanced 
 state of cultivation. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Crossley to Sarah F. Ham- 
 ilton was solemnized in Osco Township, Feb. 13, 
 1867. She was a daughter of Levi and Mary 
 (Walker) Hamilton, natives of New York and Massa- 
 chusetts respectively. Her parents were married 
 and resided in Massachusetts for a time, and in 1856 
 came to this county, locating in Osco Township, 
 where her mother died April 7, 1876. Her father 
 still survives, and is a resident of Osco Township. 
 Mrs. Crossley was third in order of birth of a family 
 of ten children, six of whom lived to attain the age 
 of majority, namely : Sarah F., William O., Mary 
 A., Emma W., Henry W. and Lucy J. Mrs. Cross- 
 ley was born in Brookfield, Worcester Co., Mass., 
 March it, 1839, and has borne her husband two 
 children, — Hattie E. and Harry T. 
 
 Mr. Crossley has held the office of Township Col- 
 
 13 
 
 fa 
 
 
 y 
 
 %&*fr 
 
 -s^ — e^nraiii^ 
 
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 -^^k 6V^>tl D&ll D<>^ — ^tfc- 
 
 ~*%* 
 
 394 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 <§/ 
 
 (i 1 
 
 - s 
 
 Ai 
 
 'ft 
 
 lector, School Director, and Overseer of Highways in 
 his township. He and his wife are members of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics, Mr. 
 Crossley always casts his vote with the Democratic 
 party. 
 
 3>#HJH*e= 
 
 ohn N. Morgan, one of the self-made men 
 of Henry County, and an extensive farmer 
 and stock-raiser, residing on section 15, 
 Galva Township, is at present representing the 
 township in the Board of Supervisors. He was 
 born at Charidon, Geauga Co., Ohio, July 5, 
 1830, a descendant from English and Welsh ancestry. 
 His grandfather was one of several brothers who 
 settled in New England at an early day. His father, 
 Gideon Morgan, was born in Massachusetts in 1788. 
 He came West in an early day and in 1845 died in 
 Exeter, Scott Co., 111. He was twice married, hav- 
 ing one child by the first marriage, Seymore Morgan, 
 who died on the Mississippi River on his way home 
 from New Orleans. When a young man, Gideon 
 served in the war of 18 12 and afterward settled in 
 Geauga County, where for a time he worked at the 
 shoemaker's trade. In 1837, he came to Morgan 
 County, this State, and for a time lived at Jackson- 
 ville, and subsequently in a small village near that 
 city. He finally removed to Scott Co., 111., where he 
 died. He married Ruth Norris, who was born in 
 Tolland, Conn., Jan. 24, 1790. She died at Farm- 
 ington, 111., June 12, 1851. She was the mother of 
 five children, — Ann E., Julianna, Hope, Helen and 
 John N., the subject of the present sketch. 
 
 John N. had very limited school advantages, at- 
 tending only the old-fashioned subscription school. 
 Here he received a fair rudimentary education, upon 
 which he has built what is termed a good practical 
 business education. He was reared upon a farm 
 and spent much of his younger days in working out 
 as a farmer. He was brought to Illinois when only 
 eight years of age and passed the years of his child- 
 hood and youth in Scott and Peoria Counties. When 
 a young man of 20 years of age he came into Mar- 
 shall County, where, near the village of Henry, he 
 farmed until the spring of 1852. We next find him 
 among the mountains in the northern part of Cali- 
 fornia, where he had gone in search of gold. For 
 three years he worked hard as a miner in the placer 
 
 mines near Placerville, and among the Klamath In- 
 dians, who at the time were quite hostile. His min- 
 ing operations were quite successful, and fortunately 
 he left in due season for the States. The year fol- 
 lowing his departure all the settlers in that locality 
 were either driven off by the Indians or killed. He 
 came home via Panama in the spring of 1855, and 
 after reaching Illinois and on looking for a desirable 
 location, he selected one in Henry County. In the 
 autumn of 1856, we find him locating in Burns Town- 
 ship, where he had purchased 160 acres of land. 
 He subsequently traded this for land in Galva Town- 
 ship, where all of his real estate is now located, hav- 
 ing 560 acres of good land. 4 He has proven himself 
 to be a successful farmer and stock-raiser, and has 
 won the respect and esteem of the people of the town- 
 ship. He has held the various offices of his township, 
 and for the last 13 years has served it as Supervisor. 
 He is at present one of the Directors of the Kewanee 
 Mutual Insurance Company. Politically, he is a 
 thorough Republican, although he took an active 
 part in the late " farmers' movement." He is a 
 member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 Mr. Morgan was married, May 9, 1853, in Galva, to 
 Miss Mary McKinney, daughter of John and Ann 
 Currant) McKinney, both natives of New Jersey. The 
 record of their eight children is as follows: Blanche J., 
 born Nov. 18, 1864; Fannie E., Aug. 18, 1866; Nor- 
 ris E., Dec. 28, 1869; Jennie B., Nov. 3, 187 1; Lo- 
 renzo S., Aug. 15, 1875 ; John W., Dec. 6, 1877, and 
 Harold L., deceased, an infant. 
 
 ■«\/\/\,«\ta&27&3@'»'-< 
 
 »«*g&S/<5TO»<» , w/vN. 
 
 vs 
 
 
 
 "ohn L. Piatt. The late John L. Piatt was 
 for many years one of the leading spirits, 
 *""* not only in Weller Township, but also was 
 well known and highly respected throughout 
 the county. His native place was in Butler 
 Co., Ohio; and the date of his birth, Dec. 
 9, 1809. Here he was educated, and lived until 24 
 years of age, when he came West, and stopped in 
 Indiana for about two years. In 1839 he came on 
 to Knox Co., 111. He stopped one year there, and 
 then pushed on northward into Henry County, and 
 made a settlement in Weller Township, where he 
 soon became largely identified with its interests, and 
 until the day of his death, which occurred in 1881, 
 
 
 .CZ, 
 
 ^(rM'&llll&A^ ^^ 
 

 ^€»s: §V4HM&IIDy>^ ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 I 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 395 
 
 
 
 where he was recognized as the leading citizen of the 
 township. His influence was not confined to Weller 
 Township, but it extended throughout Henry County, 
 as well as into Knox. He was the owner of large 
 tracts of land, and for about 18 years represented 
 the township in the Board of Supervisors. Prior to 
 the county being organized under the Township 
 Organization Act, he served as one of the Associate 
 Justices of the county. In political sentiments he 
 was generally independent. Both he and his wife 
 are members of the Christian Church. 
 
 In 1834, while living in Indiana, Mr. Piatt was 
 first married. Hannah Hileman, who was a native 
 of that State, was the lady he led to the altar, and 
 three children — Wycoff, Esther and Jacob — were 
 born of this marriage ; Esther is the wife of William 
 Price, and all reside in Madison Co., Iowa. Mrs. 
 Piatt died at her home in Weller Township, March, 
 1842. Mr. Piatt was subsequently married in 1844, 
 in Knox County, to Martha McMurtry, a member 
 of one of the prominent pioneer families of Knox 
 County. She was born in Crawford Co., Ind., Jan. 
 n, 1823. The record of the four children born of 
 this union range as follows : Ellen, the eldest, is the 
 wife of Joseph Fezler, a resident of Rock Island ; 
 James resides in Colorado* Catherine is the wife of 
 Anson W. Bruner; John T. is a prominent farmer of 
 Weller Township, and a sketch of him is given else- 
 where in this book. Mrs. Piatt makes her home 
 with him. 
 
 pel Wells, deceased, was a pioneer of West 
 
 f Illinois. He was born Aug. 1, 1775, at 
 
 Deerfield, Mass, and was reared to man- 
 
 hood in his native State, where he was married 
 1[T May 8, 1797, to Mary Edwards. Her father, 
 \ Calvin Edwards, was a lineal descendant of 
 Jonathan Edwards, of historic fame. The daughter 
 was born at Deerfield, Mass., Feb. 9, 1878. Not 
 long after their marriage Mr. Wells removed with 
 his wife to Windham Co., Vt, and they were among 
 the pioneer settlers of the Green Mountain State. 
 A few years later they went to Buffalo, and were 
 residents there at the time of the burning of that 
 city during the progress of the second war with Great 
 Britain. They suffered the common loss of home 
 
 and household fixtures, and went from the ruined 
 village, as it was then, to Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1818" 
 they came thence to Illinois, and located at Shawnee- 
 town, Gallatin Co. In the same year the State was 
 admitted into the Union. They were there resident 
 until 1827, when they made another transfer of their 
 relations, to Galena. They crossed the Illinois River 
 at the point where the city of Peoria now stands, 
 and where then (1827) stood a solitary log cabin. 
 The party was taken across Rock River at the point 
 where the city of Dixon is now located by an Indian 
 ferryman. Their stay in Galena lasted but a year, 
 and in 1828 they came to Moline. They were the 
 first family to locate there permanently. Mr. Wells 
 died there, Sept. 3, 1838. His wife died Dec. 4, 
 1847. Four sons and three daughters were living 
 when the family settled in Moline. 
 
 .ndrew Calhoun, residing on section 5, 
 Galva Township, was born May 1, 1824, 
 near Lisford, County Donegal, Ireland, is 
 of Scotch extraction, and a son of Robert and 
 Mary (Galbraigth) Calhoun. His mother 
 died in Ireland, and his father emigrated to 
 the United States, locating in Galva, this county, 
 where he died, aged 76 years, leaving a family of 
 four children, three sons and one daughter. 
 
 Andrew Calhoun was married in Bellendrait 
 Church, Ireland, May 3, 1848, to Miss Mary Gal- 
 braith, born near Londonderry, Ireland, Feb. 13, 
 1826. She was a daughter of Hugh and Susan 
 (Weir) Galbraith, who were prominent people in that 
 country, and of Scotch extraction, their great-grand- 
 parents having come from Scotland. Mrs. Calhoun 
 had three brothers and five sisters, of whom two of 
 the former and three of the latter are now living. 
 The Calhoun and Galbraith families were Protest- 
 ants, being members of the Presbyterian Church of 
 Scotland. Three weeks after their marriage, Mr. 
 and Mrs. Calhoun sailed for the United States. After 
 a journey of 45 days on the ocean, they landed at 
 Philadelphia, where they lived for nine years, he 
 working at the business of draying, and having a 
 considerable number of men employed. He came 
 West in March, 1857, and settled in Galva Town- 
 ship, this county, first near Toulon, Stark County, 
 
 &w> 
 
 <X4- 
 
 -4*^£@ 
 
 „v 
 
^/$ 
 
 %$ 
 
 ^f* 9 - 
 
 ■6V 
 
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 4X-V 
 
 'mito^ 
 
 l*^®Yf$|)! 
 
 39 6 
 
 Y 
 
 
 
 f 
 
 -*» 
 
 HEJSIR Y CO UNT Y. 
 
 and in 1864 purchasing 160 acres of land on section 
 5, Galva Township, where he at present resides. He 
 is at present the proprietor of 400 acres of land, 
 which he has succeeded in obtaining by his own in- 
 domitable energy, economy and good judgment, and 
 the major portion of which is in an advanced state 
 of cultivation. In 1885, in company with his daugh- 
 ter, Prudence, Mr. Calhoun went to the old country. 
 He arrived in Ireland in June, of this year, visited 
 his relatives and the old landmarks which he re- 
 membered in the days gone by, and, after passing a 
 very pleasant vacation, again returned home to this 
 country, arriving here in the latter part of August of 
 the same year. 
 
 The children ofMr. and Mrs. Calhoun are as fol- 
 lows : Mary A., Margaret J., wife of Thomas W. 
 Patterson; Andrew G., Prudence, Rebecca, wife of 
 James A. Ayers ; Hugh A., William J., deceased; 
 Susan E., William W., Henry C. and Frederick C. 
 Mrs. Calhoun, together with her daughters, Mary A., 
 Susan E. and Prudence, are members of the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church. Mr. Calhoun, politically, 
 votes with the Greenback party. He has filled the 
 minor township offices, and has held that of Road 
 Commissioner for seven years. 
 
 *OCX>^ 
 
 ohn Taylor, one of the energetic and pro- 
 gressive farmers as well as respected and 
 prominent citizens of Henry County, resid- 
 ing on section 23, Burns Township, was born 
 ^ in Venango Co., Pa., Oct. 28, 1835. Mr. Tay- 
 lor received a common-school education in the 
 district schools of his native county and also at- 
 tended the academy at Utica, his native State, one 
 term, and likewise passed three terms at the Hills- 
 dale Academy. 
 
 He resided on the parental homestead, assisting 
 his father on the farm, until he attained the age of 
 2 1 years, when he engaged to learn the carpenter's 
 trade. He mastered that trade under the instruc- 
 tion of his father, and after attaining his majority fol- 
 lowed the same for several years. In the summer of 
 1857, Mr. Taylor went to Omaha, Neb., where he 
 spent that season and again returned to his home in 
 Pennsylvania. In 1859 he came to this State and 
 was engaged in teaching school in Warren County 
 one winter. He also taught school during winters 
 
 from 1856 to t86i. We next find him in Venango 
 Co., Pa., again, in the spring of 1861, where he re- 
 mained until 1866, when he came to this county and 
 located in Burns Township, and here he has con- 
 tinued to reside until the present time. He is the 
 proprietor of 320 acres of good farm land, and has 
 erected a nice residence thereon. In addition to his 
 landed interests in this county, Mr. Taylor is the 
 owner of 640 acres in Lancaster Co., Neb. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Taylor occurred in Venango 
 Co., Pa., Sept. 14, 1859, and the lady selected for 
 his life partner was Miss Levina Deets, a native of 
 that county, where she was born Dec. n, 1838. The 
 issue of their union has been five children, — Alanson 
 O., Robert E , Eldin E., Vadie and Neva. Mr. Tay- 
 lor has held the office of Supervisor of his township 
 three terms, also of Township Clerk, and several 
 school offices. He and his wife are both members 
 of the Free-Will Baptist Church. Politically, he is 
 a believer in and a supporter of the principles advo- 
 cated bp the Republican party. 
 
 The parents of Mr. Taylor were David and Sarah 
 (Foster) Taylor, natives of Pennsylvania, where they 
 resided until their death. The parents of Mrs. Tay- 
 lor were Joseph and Sarah (Cousins) Deets, natives 
 of the same State and residents therein until the 
 time of their death. Alanson O. Taylor is a gradu- 
 ate of the State University of Lincoln, Neb., where 
 he resides and is engaged in farming and teaching. 
 He was married in Burns Township, this county, 
 Sept. 4, 1883, to Josie Porter, a daughter of William 
 Porter, of Atkinson Township, and they have one 
 child. Robert E. Taylor is a graduate of Hillsdale 
 College, Michigan. 
 
 When Mr. Taylor left home, the residence of his 
 parents in Pennsylvania, he proposed attending 
 school at Hillsdale College, Michigan, and did at- 
 tend that institution for one term. He then went to 
 Omaha, Neb., where he was taken sick with typhoid 
 fever, and his illness was protracted for six weeks. 
 At that time he was the possessor of only $7 in 
 money and a thousand miles from home. As soon 
 as he recovered he began to work at his trade, and 
 saved sufficient to take deck passage to St. Louis. 
 At that place he sold his watch, which enabled him 
 to obtain means to get to Illinois. On his return he 
 worked about six months at his trade, thereby pro- 
 curing means to enable him to return to Pennsylvania, 
 where, after arriving, on account of poor health and 
 
 B 
 
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 oran^A 
 
£^#»- 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 -9®§*-n 
 
 397 
 
 
 
 ©> 
 
 •I to 
 
 I 
 
 his limited means, he was compelled to abandon his 
 hopes of passing the entire curriculum of college. 
 During 1858-9, he worked his father's farm; and in 
 the summer of the latter year a heavy frost came in 
 the locality where he was engaged in agriculture, in- 
 juring his crops, and he turned over all he had raised 
 to his father to pay expenses. 
 
 Mr. Taylor has made his own way in the world. 
 In fact he is a self-made man, and is regarded as 
 one of the enterprising and prosperous farmers of 
 Henry County. He has a pleasant home, surrounded 
 by a good acreage of well improved land, and his ac- 
 cumulations of this world's goods is attributable to 
 his own indomitable energy, perseverance and good 
 judgment, combined with the active co-operation of 
 his good help-meet. 
 
 ;ilas Crouch, one qf the prosperous and en- 
 ergetic farmers of Heryy County, residing 
 on section 16, Osco Township, is a son of 
 John and Margaret (Daly) Crouch, natives of 
 New York and Pennsylvania respectively. 
 Their family consisted of eight children — 
 Nancy A., Lovilla, Maria, Amanda, Silas, John, Fred 
 and Aaron. 
 
 Silas, our subject, was born in Crawford Co., 
 Pa., Aug. 7, 1834, and continued to remain in the 
 State of his nativity until the year i860, when he 
 learned the cooper's trade and came to Henry 
 County, and for one year lived in Cambridge, en- 
 gaged in carpentering. He then worked a farm on 
 shares for his uncle about a year, and continued to 
 rent land until 1867, when he purchased 80 acres on 
 section 24. He has since increased his landed 
 interests until he has now in his possession 420 
 acres of good farming land, all tillable. When 
 he came to Henry County, Mr. Crouch had nothing 
 but his own resources to depend upon, and he is, at 
 the present writing, one of the most successful farm- 
 ers of Henry County. 
 
 Mr. Crouch was united in marriage in Cambridge, 
 Aug. 10, 1861, the lady being Mary Carothers, 
 daughter of James and Rachel (Skyhonk) Carothers, 
 who are both natives of Ohio. She was their only 
 child, born in Scott Co., Ohio, Feb. 26, 1841. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Crouch were the parents of n children, 
 nine of whom are living, as follows : Lovilla J., 
 
 Frank, John, James, Benjamin, Lester, Frederick, 
 George and Ella. Two died in infancy. Mr. Crouch 
 has been honored by the position of School Director 
 in his township, and in politics he is identified with 
 the Republicans. 
 
 V© 
 
 illiam Weimer, a pioneer of Henry Coun- 
 ty of 1853, was born May 29, 1837, in 
 Westmoreland Co., Pa. He is the son of 
 Jonathan and Susan (Burger) Weimer, and 
 his parents were both natives of the same 
 State, and were of German extraction. They 
 removed in 1850 to Jefferson County, in the same 
 State, and the family were there resident until 1853, 
 when another removal was made to Henry County. 
 Soon after the father was afflicted with rheumatism 
 of a serious nature, which precluded his laboring any 
 more. He died Nov. 2-6, 1871. The mother sur- 
 vives and lives with her son. 
 
 The family included nine children, of whom five 
 are still living. Joseph is a resident in the township 
 of Phenix; Mary married William Ellingworth, and 
 they are living in Geneseo; that place is also the 
 home of William, Samuel and Israel. When the 
 family first came to the county they located in the 
 township of Colona. After a residence of three years 
 they went to Hanna Township. 
 
 Mr. Weimer commenced his career in the county 
 as a farm laborer. For his first work he received a 
 compensation of $14 a month, and as he grew 
 familiar with the ways and customs and the value of 
 his services increased, his wages swelled in propor- 
 tion. About the year 1863 he rented some land in 
 the township of Atkinson, and later he was similarly 
 situated in the township of Loraine. In 1865 he 
 made his first purchase of land by buying 160 acres 
 in the township of Geneseo, situated on section 2. 
 The tract was then in its original condition, and had 
 never had a furrow turned on its acres. The quality 
 of the prosperity of the owner may be inferred from 
 the fact that he is now the proprietor of 705 acres. 
 The place is stocked and fitted with farm fixtures of 
 a character in keeping with the dimensions. 
 
 Mr. Weimer was married Oct. 30, 1862, to Susan- 
 nah Heller. She died June 13, 1880, leaving seven 
 children. They are named: Emma C, Albert W., 
 
 <5> 
 
 ® 
 
 
 ^ ^ q/^ h fl&flfl<^ 
 
398 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 <Vr«i!V 
 
 Minnie C, Edith M., Frankie R., Bertha C. and 
 Susie L. The mother was the daughter of David 
 Heller, one of the earliest of" the pioneer settlers of 
 the township of Loraine. She was 36 years and two 
 months old at the time of her death. Mr. Weimer 
 contracted a second marriage with Paulina A. Stenzel, 
 in October, 1880. She was born in Germany. The 
 children of the second marriage are Jessie H. and 
 Nellie A. 
 
 3 N-^N- 
 
 -<^ 
 
 Bjenry Poppy, farmer on section 6, Weller 
 mt^ Township, was born near Hanover, Prus- 
 sia, Feb. 5, 1831. Here he lived until 
 about 1 6 years of age, when his parents decided 
 to emigrate to America. He accompanied them, 
 and in the spring of 1848 we find them prepar- 
 ing a home in Weller Township, this county. Here 
 Henry Poppy has become one of the substantial and 
 influential men of the community. He has an ex- 
 cellent farm of 240 acres of land, provided with good 
 farm buildings and well equipped. Six years of this 
 time he lived at Galva, where he was engaged in 
 gardening. 
 
 On the 30th of June, 1858, Mr. Poppy and Lis- 
 settie Neuman were joined in the holy bonds of mat- 
 rimony. » Mrs. P. was also a native of Prussia, and 
 was born near Berlin. Six children she bore to her 
 husband before her death, which occurred April 15, 
 1883. The names of the children are: Henry B., 
 Volly J., Lucy E., Herman G., Julia C. and Clar- 
 ence B. Henry, Lucy and Clarence are dead. 
 
 Mr. P. has been given positions of trust and re- 
 sponsibility by the people. He is a member of the 
 German Lutheran Church, and in politics is identi- 
 fied with the Democratic party. 
 
 ohn T. Piatt, one of the leading agricul- 
 '£ turists of Weller Township, and at present 
 its Supervisor, resides on section 7. He 
 is also a native of the township, having been 
 born here May 9, 1848. Here he was reared 
 and educated, with the exception of two years 
 spent in Abingdon College, at Abingdon, 111., and 
 has long since become one of the influential and 
 representative men of the township. His father, 
 
 John L. Piatt, of whom a sketch is also given in this 
 Album, was one of the early and most highly re- 
 spected pioneers of Henry County. John T. owns 
 a fine farm of 480 acres, 400 of which is tillable. 
 
 Our subject was married in Knox Co., 111., Oct. 4, 
 r874, to Irena Keeler, who was a native of that 
 county, having been born just 18 years prior to the 
 day of her wedding. Her parents were Vincent and 
 Elizabeth (Firkins) Keeler, natives of New York and 
 Illinois respectively. Of their eight children, Irena 
 was the second. Don V. and Roy L. are the names 
 of their two children. 
 
 As above stated, Mr. Piatt has been prominent in 
 the affairs of his township and has represented it in 
 the Board of Supervisors. He is a member of the 
 Masonic Order, and in politics is independent. Mrs. 
 P. is connected with the Congregational Church. 
 
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 r$)3«a§K%- 
 
 -2*$^K. 
 
 -£-, 
 
 rs. Jane McKibbons, the widow of Rob- 
 ert McKibbons, who is engaged in the 
 management of her estate on section 5 in 
 the township of Atkinson, was born in 1828 
 in Ayrshire, Scotland. Her father, William Mc- 
 Clave, was born in the Highlands of Scotland, 
 and he died in Scotland in 1865. The mother of 
 Mrs. McKibbons is still living, and is 98. 
 
 The daughter was married to Mr. McKibbons, 
 Sept. 14, 1846, in the town of Derry, in Scotland. 
 He was a native of Lanarkshire, Scotland, and was 
 born in 1827. In his native country he was a coal 
 miner by vocation, and operated in that .line of busi- 
 ness aoout 25 years. In 1851 they emigrated to the 
 United States. After landing at the port of New 
 York, they went thence to the summit of the Alle- 
 ghany Mountains, where the husband was similarly 
 occupied in coal mining. 
 
 They were there resident until their removal to 
 Illinois, in 1856. They made their first location at 
 Carbon Cliff, in the county of Rock Island, where 
 they remained but two months. They went thence 
 to Minersville, in the same county, and there Mr. 
 McKibbons operated as a miner two years. Then 
 they went to Mineral Creek, and lived there about 
 three years, after which lapse of time they returned 
 to Minersville and continued to live there two years. 
 In 1865 they settled in the township of Atkinson. 
 
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 IB 
 
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■^€$^ — ©V^HIfl'SDfl*^^ — :=4^ 
 
 -■eg 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 Mr. McKibbons at first bought 40 acres of land, and 
 by later purchase increased his property to 160 acres, 
 on which his family are still resident. He died on 
 his homestead in August, 1873. He was a Catholic 
 in religious principle-, and in politics a Demociat, as 
 are his sons. 
 
 Mrs. McKibbons has borne 1 1 children : Mary 
 was born Jnly 5, 1847 ; Henry, Jan. 24, 1849; Mar- 
 garet, Nov. 9, 185 1 ; Robert, May 2, 1854; William 
 A., April n, 1856; Robert A. (second), March 2, 
 1858; Sophia, Nov. 22, i860; Sarah, May 7, 1863; 
 Anne E., April 17, 1864; John, Nov. 30, 1867 ; Jen- 
 nie, Dec. 9, 1870. The death of the first Robert oc- 
 curred in the year in which he was born. Sophia 
 died May 9, 1885. Sarah died in infancy. Mrs. 
 McKibbons is giving considerable attention to the 
 improvement of the stock on the place, and shows 
 some fine samples of Durham cattle and Clydesdale 
 and Norman horses. She was in her youth a Pres- 
 byterian in her religious connection. 
 
 <$> 
 
 §'W~~-f- 
 
 E. Stoneberg, residing on section 2, Wel- 
 fc ler Township, where he follows the occu- 
 pation of a farmer, is a native of Sweden, 
 having been born in that country, Oct. 31, 
 IT 1835. In 1846, realizing that better induce- 
 ments were offered in the United States for the 
 accumulation of a competency, or at least to procure 
 a home for himself and family, he concluded to 
 emigrate here. Accordingly, the same year he set 
 sail for this, the land of greatest promise, and ar- 
 rived in this county in 1847, settling with the Swedish 
 Colony at Bishop Hill. 
 
 In 1857, Mr. Stoneberg left the Colony at Bishop 
 Hill and worked out on a farm by the month for a 
 short time. In 1859 he went to Missouri and was 
 there employed by the Hannibal & St. Jo Railroad 
 for something over two years, and in 186 1 again re- 
 turned to Bishop Hill and has continued to reside in 
 the county since that date. Mr. Stoneberg, by good 
 judgment, energetic effort, perseverance, and assisted 
 by his good helpmeet, succeeded in securing a suffi- 
 ciency to enable him to become the proprietor of 440 
 acres of land in this county, the major portion of 
 which is tillable. He has erected a good resi- 
 dence on his farm, together with barn and neces- 
 
 sary outbuildings, and his place presents the appear- 
 ance of a well-to-do farmer, whose accumulations are 
 the outgrowth of his own laborious toil and energy. 
 
 Dec. 22, 1864, Mr. Stoneberg formed a matrimo- 
 nial alliance, in Knoxville, this State, with Miss 
 Eleanor Swanson, who was born Sept. 3, 1834, a 
 native of Sweden. Of their union six children have 
 been born, — Emma M., Mary A., Carrie H. and 
 Charles E. Amanda J. and John F. are deceased. 
 
 Mr. Stoneberg has held the office of School Di- 
 rector and Overseer of Highways, and in his political 
 views is independent. His parents, John and Betsey 
 Stoneberg, reside on the farm with their son, the 
 subject of this notice. 
 
 zri Hellyer, a farmer on section 2, Geneseo 
 Township, was born in Bucks Co., Pa., Jan. 
 7, 1817. He has lived in the county since 
 1865. John and Annie (Jones) Hellyer, his 
 parents, were both of Pennsylvania origin. In 
 T823 they moved with their family to Columbi- 
 ana Co., Ohio. There their children grew to ma- 
 turity, and the sons were trained in a complete 
 knowledge of agriculture. In 1836 another transfer 
 of the household was made, to Canada. A location 
 was made in the part known as the Wellington Dis- 
 trict. Mr. Hellyer remained there two years before 
 he married Elizabeth Clemens: She was born in the 
 Dominion, and their union in marriage took place 
 Jan. 9, 1838. After that event Mr. Hellyer bought 
 a tract of timber on which he" made a clearing and 
 built a log house. This was their home until two 
 years later. In 1840 the husband bought a house in 
 the village of New Hope, now known as Estelle. He 
 sold his farm and engaged in teaming in the village, 
 to which the family removed. They remained there 
 until 1851, when they came to Illinois and located 
 in Whiteside County, where Mr. Hellyer was a renter 
 until 1865. 
 
 On coming to Henry County he at first rented 
 land in Geneseo Township, and passed three years 
 operating in that method. He went thence to the 
 township of Yorktown, where he passed three years. 
 In 1869 he bought a farm on section 11 in the town- 
 ship in which he has since labored as a farmer. He 
 has made additional purchases until he is the owner 
 
 9 
 
 
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 *<jllfl%llll$ \S ' B®*- 
 
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 -6V$BD 
 
 400 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 of 240 acres of excellent land in good condition for 
 profitable farming. 
 
 The children of the family are two in number. 
 Amos is a citizen of Shelby Co., Iowa. Emeline is 
 the wife of Elias Zimmer, of the same place. 
 
 illiam Seibel, confectioner and baker at 
 Geneseo, was born in Hessen, Germany, 
 April 22, 1830. His parents, Adam and 
 Elizabeth (Seitz) Seibel, were natives of the 
 same province in which he was born. He 
 passed the years of his childhood and youth 
 in the manner common in his country, where the 
 laws dispose of the time of the youth, and on arriv- 
 ing at a suitable age he was apprenticed to learn the 
 trade of a baker. He served three years and ob- 
 tained a thorough understanding of the details of the 
 business, and in 1849, at the age of 19, he came to 
 the United States. He was on the ocean 40 days, 
 the voyage being greatly lengthened by a storm. He 
 landed at the port of New York and passed but one 
 day in the great city. He went at once to Phila- 
 delphia, where he passed the entire summer. In 
 the same fall he went to New Orleans. From that 
 time he traveled through various States and also in 
 Texas and the Territories. He finally located in 
 Booneville, Mo. After a brief stay there he went to 
 Paris in the same State and there established his 
 business. While there, he was married to Anna E. 
 Wade. She is the oldest daughter of L. B. Wade, a 
 prominent citizen of Madison, Mo. Their marriage 
 took place in the fall of 1854. 
 
 Mr. Seibel continued to conduct his affairs in 
 Paris for another year, and in the fall of 1855 he re- 
 moved to Glasgow, near Paris, in Missouri. He 
 remained there until 1857, when he came to Gene- 
 seo to make a permanent settlement. Practically, 
 he has since been a resident of that place, but has 
 been temporarily located one year at Rock Island, 
 where he managed a hotel for that length of time. 
 This was during the late war. 
 
 On his arrival in Geneseo in 1865, he founded a 
 bakery. He has also been interested in the grain 
 trade and in the sale of liquor. He has been pros- 
 perous in all his investments and has accumulated a 
 handsome property. He has erected four stores and 
 
 several dwellings. He was the builder and is still 
 half-owner of the building called the Keystone Block 
 at Geneseo. He has been prominently identified 
 with the growth and improvement of the place where 
 he is a resident, and is recognized as one of its most 
 enterprising citizens. He is the senior partner of 
 the firm of Seibel & Limle, confectioners and bakers. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Seibel have had two daughters. 
 Julia is the wife of Christian Limle, the business 
 partner of her father. Alice Ruth, the younger 
 daughter, died Dec. 7, 1857. Lena Wade is their 
 adopted daughter. She was received into the family 
 in childhood and is at present a young lady. She 
 receives the regard of a member of the family in very 
 truth. Mr. Seibel united with the Christian Church 
 at the age of 15 and received the ordinance of bap- 
 tism from Elder Henry Thomas, then located at 
 Paris, Mo. 
 
 In 1875 Mr. Seibel revisited the land of his na- 
 tivity and went to several of the most noted places 
 in that country. He returned to the United States 
 in the same year. 
 
 He is a Democrat in political connection. He 
 has been active in the general and local interests of 
 his party, and has been present at the National 
 Democratic Conventions for the past 16 years. In 
 1872 he was a Delegate by proxy to the Convention 
 at Baltimore. 
 
 He has taken a warm interest in educational mat- 
 ters and has been for a long term of years the presid- 
 ing official in the Teutonia Society and of the German 
 Schools. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., in 
 which he has passed the chief official positions. 
 
 S3 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 honias J. McHenry, a native of Phenix 
 Township, resident on section 15, is the 
 oldest surviving son of George and Lucinda 
 (Council) McHenry. He is a native citizen of 
 Illinois, having been born in White County, 1 
 Sept. 16, 1830. When he was seven years old 
 his parents moved thence to Henry County and set- 
 tled on a farm. He grew to manhood under the care 
 and guidance of his parents, and was brought up to 
 follow the calling to which his father and his other 
 ancestors had devoted their lives. 
 
 Within the second year of the contest between the ^_ 
 
 - 5 ^^ — ^A4?n n@nn<^A^ — ^^^ 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 403 
 
 
 O 
 
 two sections of this country, Mr. McHenry entered 
 the military service. He enlisted, Aug. 20, 1862, in 
 Co. K, 112th 111. Vol. Inf., under Capt. E. H. Col- 
 cord. He was discharged, June 20, 1 865 , at Greens- 
 boro, N. C. His discharge papers gave ample 
 testimony of the quality of the service he rendered 
 during the period in which he was soldier. He was 
 in the East Tennessee campaign under General 
 Burnside in the fall and winter of 1863, and in the 
 following May his command was assigned to that of 
 General Sherman, and the summer of 1864 he 
 passed in the Georgia campaign. He was a partici- 
 pant in ten general engagements and 30 skirmishes. 
 In the fall and winter of 1864 he was in the Tennes- 
 see campaign with General Thomas, and in the 
 spring of 1865 was assigned to the command of Gen. 
 T. M. Schofield. The battles inscribed on his pa- 
 pers are Knoxville, Bean's Station, Dandridge, 
 Brandy Creek, Kelley's Ford, Columbia, Franklin, 
 Nashville, Fort Anderson, Wilmington and Greens- 
 boro, N. C. He enjoyed the privilege of one furlough 
 while his time of enlistment was unexpired. At 
 Burnt Hickory he was taken ill and was granted a 
 furlough. On his way he stopped at Nashville, 
 where he found his brother Charles, who was in the 
 hospital, suffering from the effects of a severe wound, 
 and the two brothers returned to their homes to- 
 gether. 
 
 Mr. McHenry was joined in marriage, Aug. 30, 
 i860, to Amanda Anderson. She was born Dec. 14, 
 1835, in La Salle Co., 111. She is the daughter of 
 William and Ann (Stadden) Anderson. Their chil- 
 dren are named Luella A., Virgil J., Ada N., Francis 
 I. and J. Arthur. 
 
 Jacob Shively, who is engaged as a general 
 farmer and stock-raiser, residing on section 
 3, Andover Township, was born in West 
 Virginia, June 9, 1837, and is the son of Jacob 
 and Catherine (Pickenpoe) Shively, both of 
 German ancestry. They were married in Mo- 
 nongalia Co., W. Va., and were prominent farmers 
 in the community in which they resided, where they 
 " took up " land which was entirely undeveloped 
 and woods all around them, and by energy and in- 
 dustry put the same under excellent cultivation and 
 
 mprovements. Here they resided until the demise 
 of the father, which occurred March 4, 1869, at the 
 advanced age of 82 years. The death of the mother 
 occurred about 1875, on the home farm which her 
 son Michael had taken charge of, she being 82 years 
 of age. 
 
 Jacob, of whom we write, was the youngest of a 
 family of nine children, three of whom were sons 
 and six daughters, only five of the family surviving; 
 he resided at home until he reached the age of 25 
 years, in the meantime receiving such educational 
 training as the district schools afforded. At the 
 above age, our subject was united in marriage with 
 Miss Emily J., daughter of James C. and Mary 
 (Shaver) Snider, on the 9th of January, 1862. Her 
 parents were farmers, the father a native of West 
 Virginia, of Irish descent, and the mother of Penn- 
 sylvania and of German ancestry. They were mar- 
 ried in Monongalia County, that State, and after- 
 ward came West, locating in Mercer Co., 111., in the 
 fall of 1869. Later they resided at Pre-emption, the 
 same county, where they both died, at the residence 
 of J. R. Snider, of that place, the father in the fall 
 of 1883, and the mother one year later, both at an 
 advanced age. 
 
 Mrs. Shively, of this notice, was reared on her 
 parents' farm in West Virginia, Monongalia County, 
 wriere she had resided until her marriage. She and 
 her husband have become the parents of nine chil- 
 dren, as follows: Effa D., Mary G., James R., Laura 
 A., Fannie B., Thornton P., Lida M., William R. 
 and Gertrude. After marriage, Mr. and Mrs. S. re- 
 sided on a farm in West Virginia until 1870, when 
 m March of that year they came to Illinois, locating 
 in Pre-emption, Mercer County, arid remained at 
 that place for a period of three years. They next 
 came to Western Township, where Mr. Shively pur- 
 chased a well improved farm of r42 acres, and re- 
 sided upon it until 1876, when he sold out, and in 
 the autumn of that year came to Andover and pur- 
 chased the E. S. Roberts farm. This place, which 
 is located upon section 3, consists of 173 acres, in 
 an excellent state of cultivation. He and his family 
 have lived there since, and have purchased 93 acres 
 adjoining on section 2. Mr. Shively is an extensive 
 dealer in live stock, buying, feeding and selling large 
 numbers of cattle and swine. He is looked upon in 
 the community as one of its leading and representa- 
 tive agriculturists. The family are members of the 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 Christian Church, and Mr. S. finds his political home 
 with the Republican party. 
 
 As one of the representative agriculturists of 
 Henry County, the publishers of this Album take 
 pleasure in presenting to their patrons a portrait of 
 Mr. Shively accompanying this sketch. 
 
 3) 
 
 ,'ohn M. Houghton, station agent and Post- 
 er master at Nekoma, and one of the repre- 
 sentative business men of that thriving 
 little village, was born in Woodhull, this county, 
 July 1, 1857. The education of Mr. Hough- 
 ton was received in the district schools of his 
 native county, where he has continued to reside all 
 his life, excepting one year. He came to Nekoma 
 in April, 1879, and took charge of the depot of the 
 Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, and still 
 continues to act in that capacity. In 1880 Mr. 
 Houghton was appointed Postmaster of the village 
 of Nekoma and yet holds that position. 
 
 His marriage took place in Kewanee, 111., April 
 23, 1884. The lady selected to accompany him 
 through the pleasant and stormy trials of the future 
 was Miss Carrie V. Weir, a native of Clover Town- 
 ship, this county, where she was born May 19, 18&5. 
 Their union has been blessed by the birth of one 
 child, — Blanche B. Houghton. 
 
 Politically, Mr. H. is a believer in and a supporter 
 of the principles advocated by the Republican party. 
 The parents of Mr. Houghton, Lewis C. and 
 Mary F. (Monroe) Houghton, reside in Woodhull, 
 this county. The parents of Mrs. Houghton are 
 Joseph and Margaret (Davis) Weir, and reside in 
 Clover Township. 
 
 obert Henderson, one of the prominent 
 farmers of Osco Township, residing on sec- 
 tion 13, is a son of William and Ann (Mc- 
 Connell) Henderson, natives of Pennsylvania. 
 Robert was the fifth in order of birth of a 
 family of eight children, and was born in But- 
 ler Township, Dearborn Co., Ind., Dec. 19, 1829. 
 He spent about ten years of his early life in his na- 
 tive county, and when quite young removed to 
 
 Adams Co., 111., afterwards returning to Dearborn 
 Cqunty, and later again to Adams Co., Ill, where 
 his parents died. 
 
 Robert lived at home until about 27 years of age. 
 He then came to Henry County, in T863, where he 
 bought 143 acres, located on section 13, Osco Town- 
 ship, where he has since resided. All his land is in 
 good condition. 
 
 He was married in Adams Co., 111., March 20, 
 1869, to Rebecca Morton, daughter of Zelmunna 
 and Clarissa Morton, natives of Ohio. She was the 
 fifth child of a family of six children and was born 
 in Ohio, Sept. 25, 1840. Mr. and Mrs. H. are the 
 parents of nine children, — James E., Robert R., 
 Laura R., Anna E., George M., Charles A, Albert 
 B., Maud M. and Ralph J. Mr. Henderson has 
 held the position of Commissioner of Highways and 
 other minor offices in his township. He adheres 10 
 the Democratic party in politics, and he and his wife 
 are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 vS 
 
 ||terling Bennett has been a citizen of 
 Henry County since 1856. He was born 
 in Wilkesbarre, Luzerne Co., Pa., Oct. 24, 
 1830. He is the son of Thomas R. and 
 Phebe (Smiley) Bennett, and in the paternal 
 line of descent comes of patriotic stock, her 
 grandfather, Rufus Bennett, having distinguished 
 himself in the War of the Revolution, and was men- 
 tioned in the history of the times and period in 
 which he took an active part. 
 
 Mr. Bennett attained to the age of manhood in 
 his native town, and after arriving at suitable age 
 was variously employed. When he was 23 years of 
 age he entered the service of the Philadelphia & 
 Reading Railroad Corporation as an engineer. He 
 operated in that capacity one summer. 
 
 On coming to Henry County he made his first 
 location in the town of Western, and was there occu- 
 pied in farming. In 1863 he bought a tract of wild 
 land, which included the southwest 40 acres on sec- 
 tion 14. Directly after his purchase he entered with 
 energy into the work of improvement and put it all 
 under the plow. In August, 1865, he bought the 
 southeast quarter of section 23, in the township of 
 Colona, which was also in an entirely uncultivated 
 
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 nJPW. 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 condition. Mr. Bennett bought a small frame house 
 which he moved to the new farm, and of which his 
 household took possession and established a home. 
 Mr. Bennett at once commenced the improvement 
 of a second farm, and the place is now in the finest 
 condition for profitable farming. He has set out the 
 varieties of trees common to the locality, and built 
 an excellent type of farm structures. He is the 
 owner of 320 acres, all lying in a solid body. 
 
 Mr. Bennett was married in June, 1857, to Eliza- 
 beth Washburn, and they have had six children, as 
 follows : Olive, who is now the wife of Porter Baker, 
 of Smithfield, Jasper Co., Mo. ; Mary, who married 
 F. J. Golden, and is a resident of Barstow, in the 
 county of Rock Island; Winfield Scott, who lives in 
 Arizona; and Nathan W., Francis S. and Herbert 
 D. are the names of the others. Mrs. Bennett is 
 the daughter of N. W. Washburn, of whom a sketch 
 is given. 
 
 -e~- 
 
 John M. Kingdon, grain merchant at Ne- 
 
 koma, Weller Township, this county, is a 
 
 native of Devonshire, England, having 
 
 been born there Jan. jo, 1847, and emigrated 
 
 %V to this country with his parents when seven 
 
 *^ years old. On arrival in this country he lived 
 in Pennsylvania four years, after which he came to 
 Warren County, this State, where he resided for 
 about seven years. 
 
 In 1865 Mr. Kingdon came to this county and 
 settled in Weller Township, where he has resided 
 ever since. In 1875 he located at Nekoma, where 
 he has been engaged in handling grain until the 
 present time, meeting with success. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Kingdon took place in War- 
 ren County, this State, Feb. 17, 1869. The lady 
 chosen to accompany him through life's journey was 
 Miss Fannie Bennett, a native of Columbia Co., N. 
 Y. The issue of their union has been one child, — 
 Howard J. Mrs. Kingdon died in Iowa, March n, 
 1872, and Mr. Kingdon was a second time married, 
 at Moline, Rock Island County, Dec. 1, 1879, to 
 Miss Josephine Westburg, who was born at Bishop 
 Hill, this county. Of the latter union three children 
 have been born, — Forest H, Claude and Fred W. 
 
 ^g ^r cozi ng® 
 
 Mr. Kingdon, socially, is a member of the Masonic 
 Order and the Order of United Workmen of Amer- 
 ica. Politically, his vote is always cast in the inter- 
 est of the Republican party. 
 
 amuel Goembel, of Yorktown, was born 
 March 12, 1850, in Tazewell Co., 111., and 
 is the second son of Jacob and Louisa 
 (Luther) Goembel. His father was born in 
 Hessen, Germany, then a dukedom but now a 
 Prussian province. His birth occurred May 
 1824, and the name of his parents were Sebas- 
 tian and Annie (Schaeffer) Goembel. 
 
 He came to America with his father and mother 
 in 1834. They made their location in Tazewell 
 County, this State, where they owned a farm, on 
 which their children were reared. The son Jacob 
 was married April n, 1846, to Louisa Luther. She 
 was born in Allegheny Co., Pa. They remained in 
 Tazewell County until the fall of 185 1, when they 
 removed to Henry County. They located on sec- 
 tion 30, where the father is still the owner of 93 
 acres of land. In the spring of 1875 the senior 
 Goembel removed to Geneseo. 
 
 To him and his wife .seven children were born : 
 William S. married Laura Early, and they reside in 
 Geneseo ; Samuel is the son whose sketch is incor- 
 porated with that of his father's ; Jacob E. married 
 Emma Rapp, and is a citizen of Yorktown ; -Peter 
 married Christina Rapp, and they are residents of 
 Geneseo ; Annie is the wife of Henry Glave, of Taze- 
 well County; he lives in Washington ; Lydia is the 
 wife of Isaac Krimble, of Bureau County; John E. is 
 the youngest. Wilhelmina, born Dec. 15, 1858, died 
 March 18, 1866; Lissa, born May 1, 1864, died 
 March 18, 1 866 ; their deaths took place on the 
 same day. The parents are members of the Evan- 
 gelical Association. 
 
 Samuel was less than two years of age when his 
 parents came to Henry County. He had the train- 
 ing in labor and education common to farmers' 
 children at that period of the county's progress, 
 growing up on the farm and attending the district 
 school. In 187 1 he was married to Rebecca Zinser. 
 They have seven children. They are named Harry 
 S., Franklin ]., Sylvia C, Lotta V„ Mabel, Emery 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 and Estella. In 1871; Mr. Goembel bought the 
 homestead on which he grew up, and which is still 
 his property. It contains 244 acres. It is devoted 
 to the raising of stock and grain. 
 
 hristian G. Gierhart, of the township of 
 Atkinson, is one of the citizens of Henry 
 County who deserve that their names 
 should be put on permanent record, on ac- 
 count of the manner in which they have dis- 
 charged the entire list of duties and obligations 
 incumbent upon them as the sustainers of good 
 government and wholesome conditions of society. 
 
 He is a native of Ohio and was born in Ashland 
 County, April 17, 1824. Jonas Gierhart, his father, 
 was a native of the State of Maryland, where he was 
 born in 1796. He was married in 1812, to Susan 
 Stough, a native of Pennsylvania. They had five 
 sons and six daughters. They were born in the 
 order in which their names appear here: Henry, 
 Katy, Daniel B., Elizabeth, Christian G., Mary Ann, 
 John S., Samuel, Susan and Eliza Jane. The young- 
 est daughter was born when the mother was 5 1 years 
 of age, and was named for a little girl who was born 
 12 years before and who lost her life from a painful 
 accident in her early childhood. She was moving 
 about the house after the manner of little children 
 interested in the operations of her mother, who was 
 busy preparing the evening meal and anticipating 
 no harm to her child. She had made and removed 
 from the fire a kettle of mush, into which the little 
 one fell, thrusting her arms and breast into the boil- 
 ing-hot substance. S.he was so severely burned that 
 she lived but ten days! Jonas Gierhart died in 1876. 
 The death of his wife took place in the same year on 
 her birthday. 
 
 Mr. Gierhart, of this sketch, was married in De- 
 cember, 1849, to Sarah A. Gray. Their children 
 were born in the following order: Martha, Jane, 
 Lovena, Susan, John, Ida, Joseph O. and Olive. 
 The last named died in infancy. They are all mar- 
 ried but the youngest son. 
 
 The farm of Mr. Gierhart contains 248 acres of 
 first-class land situated on section 6. The place has 
 two good dwellings, and a fine and valuable feature 
 is an artificial fish-pond five feet in depth, It is sup- 
 
 plied with water by the wind-mill which is on the 
 farm, and it has been one year in stock with German 
 carp. The barn which has been erected by the pro- 
 prietor of the estate is 70 x 80 feet in dimensions. 
 The farm stock is of excellent grades of both cattle 
 and horses, and includes a good drove of swine. 
 
 In his political relations and faith, Mr. Gierhart is 
 a Democrat. He has been Justice of the Peace eight 
 years, and acted in the capacity of Road Commis- 
 sioner 12 years continuously.* He has officiated 28 
 years as School Director. 
 
 Mr. Gierhart has the uncommon record of having 
 twice served in the military history of his country. 
 He enlisted in the Mexican War in June, 1846, and 
 was in the service 13 months. He was enrolled in 
 the Third Ohio Volunteers as a private, and was 
 under fire at the battle of Buena Vista. He enlisted 
 in Co. K, 112th 111. Vol. in the Civil War, and on 
 the organization of the command was made First 
 Lieutenant. He was commissioned Sept. 20, 1862. 
 He went to the front with his regiment, but the dis- 
 ease which he had contracted in the former military 
 experience disabled him for further duty as a soldier, 
 and he received an honorable discharge in December 
 following. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Gierhart are connected by member- 
 ship with the Methodist Church. 
 
 I 
 
 fy 
 
 athan W. Washburn, deceased, was a 
 pioneer of Henry County of 1836. In that 
 year he came to Colona Township and lo- 
 cated a claim on the northwest quarter of 
 section 29. The county was not yet organized ( 
 and the township was designated 17. He built ' 
 a log house and returned to his home. 
 
 Mr. Washburn was born June 28, 1802, in Wood- 
 stock, Conn. His parents were among the respected 
 class, but were not in circumstances of affluence, and 
 he was obliged to maintain himself. He was vari- 
 ously employed in his native town until he was 19 
 years old, when he went to Springfield, Mass , and ( 
 obtained a situation in the armory in the employ of 
 the Government of the United States. He re-' 
 mained there until he came in the spring of 1836 to 
 Illinois. He passed the summer of that year in the i 
 county and carried the chain for the surveyors of 
 Henry County. 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 407 
 
 In the spring of 1837 he came back to his claim, 
 accompanied by his family and his brother Abisha. 
 The latter brought his household with him, and Luke 
 C. Sheldon also. 
 
 Mr. Washburn and his family took possession of 
 the abode he had built on his first visit to the county 
 and they were its occupants 17 years. He then built 
 a frame house in which they lived until the date of 
 the death of the father. His decease occurred in 
 1875. After he settled in Colona Township he 
 passed about four years in his native State. 
 
 He was married twice. The name of his first wife 
 before her marriage was Olive Ashley. She was born 
 in Massachusetts and died in 1832. She bore two 
 children, one of whom is yet living. She is now Mrs. 
 Elizabeth Bennett, and a sketch of her husband, 
 Sterling Bennett, is presented elsewhere in this 
 work. 
 
 Mr. Washburn was a second time married, to 
 Elizabeth Sheldon, of Suffield, Conn. Their only 
 child is Olive, wife of W. W. Warner, of Western 
 Township. Her mother is living with her. 
 
 - owo . 
 
 -535— — 
 
 ermon G. Hier. A splendid illustration of 
 what may be accomplished in this country 
 by an honest, hard-working, energetic and 
 enterprising man is given in the record of the 
 life of Hermon G. Hier. To-day he is an ex- 
 tensive farmer on section 3, of Weller Town- 
 ship; but in his early manhood lie came from 
 Hanover without means, position or friends to assist 
 him, yet he has accumulated the vast property he 
 now owns by his own exertions. 
 
 He was born March 25, 1822, near Hanover, 
 Prussia, and in 1845 came to America, and for six 
 months lived at St. Louis. In the summer of 1845 
 he came to Henry County, and lived nine months in 
 Andover Township, and in 1846 came into Weller, 
 and three years later pre-empted 40 acres of land on 
 section 3, where he established his home and has 
 since lived. He was thus one of the first pioneers 
 to locate in that part of the county. To-day he is 
 the possessor of about 800 acre3 of land, most of 
 which is tillable and well improved. He has erected 
 upon the home farm a fine set of farm buildings. 
 Mr. Hier, before leaving Germany, was married to 
 
 Mary Adelaide Eltings, who was a native of that 
 country. Their wedding occurred Dec. 5, 1843. 
 They have had born to them ten children, most of 
 whom they reared to manhood and womanhood, and 
 who have become respected citizens in the commu- 
 nities where they reside. The following is the list 
 of their names : George, Sophia, Lucinda, Gerherd 
 W., Eliza, Henry, William, Ada, August, and Dina, 
 the oldest child, who died in infancy. George fell 
 from a load of hay, in 1875, and broke his neck ; he 
 was at that time 29 years of age. Mr. and Mrs. H. 
 are members of the German Lutheran Church, and 
 Mr. H. usually votes the Democratic ticket. 
 
 ..040*. 
 
 ohn L. Gardiner, a resident on section 4, 
 Munson Township, is a pioneer of Henry 
 County of 1836. He was born May 13, 1817, 
 on Long Island, and is the son of Matthew and 
 Phebe (Bunce) Gardiner. His father was born 
 on Gardiner's Island. Lyon Gardiner, the ear- 
 liest known ancestor of the family in this country, 
 was a native of England. In 1639 he became the 
 owner by purchase of the island which bears the 
 name of the family. The date of purchase was pre- 
 vious to the settlement of any part of the State of 
 New York now included in the counties of Queens 
 and Suffolk. Elizabeth, the danghter of Lyon Gar- 
 diner, was the first white child born of English par- 
 ents within the entire province of New York. The 
 property of the progenitor of the family still holds in 
 their possession. The child referred to was born 
 Sept. 14, 1641. / 
 
 Mr. Gardiner was a resident of his native town, 
 Huntington, until he was in his 20th year, when he 
 .resolved to try another locality to see if his health 
 might not be improved. He came to this section of 
 Illinois in company with a party who were expecting 
 to form a colony, and they located in what is now the 
 township of Andover. They journeyed hither on the 
 Ohio and Mississippi rivers and landed just below 
 the present site of Rock Island. Coming at once to 
 Henry County, Mr. Gardiner entered a claim of about 
 500 acres of land, lying chiefly in the township of 
 Andover, or what is now included in that part of 
 Henry County so designated. He reached the county 
 in May. He was then unmarried, and was obliged 
 to hire his board, while he entered with vigorous en- 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 ergy upon the improvement of his land. A few 
 months later, associated with Alfred Jagger, he built 
 a frame house and the two entered upon the man- 
 agement of their own domestic affairs after the pat- 
 tern known as keeping " bach." They continued 
 together through the winter of 1836-7, and passed 
 the time in getting out timber and drawing it to the 
 saw -mill, for the purpose of supplying the necessi- 
 ties of the settlers. In 1839 Mr. Gardiner returned 
 to Long Island to fulfill a matrimonial engagement 
 with Adelia Whitman. He came back with his bride 
 to the home in the West, where they remained two 
 years. In 1841 they went back to the island where 
 they were born and where they resided until 1844. 
 In that year another transfer was made of their home 
 to Andover, and they occupied the old place, two 
 years. Then the estate was exchanged for a tract 
 of land now included in the site of the city of Gene- 
 seo. Of this they took possession and were its oc- 
 cupants until 1853, when it was sold and the farm 
 on which they have since lived, in the township of 
 Munson, was purchased. The latter was still the 
 property of the Government of the United States. 
 Its appearance is now greatly modified and the good 
 frame house pleasantly located on a rise of ground 
 with a command of a sightly outlook extending to 
 Geneseo. The beautiful hedges and the abundant 
 trees speak for themselves of the quality of the en- 
 ergy that has been brought to bear on the place. 
 There are on the farm two crystal mineral springs, 
 both flowing from the side of a small hill. 
 
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 ndrew Stoneberg, the owner of 200 acres 
 I of land on section 23, Weller Township, 
 * where he resides, was born in Sweden, 
 Nov. 30, 1822. He crossed the briny waters 
 and arrived in this country in 1846, seeking a 
 new field for the accumulation of a compe- 
 tency. Soon after his arrival at an Eastern seaport, 
 we may say almost immediately, he came to Bishop 
 Hill, this county. He was one of the number who 
 composed what was known as the Swedish Colony 
 that located at Bishop Hill. On the dissolution of 
 the Colony in 1863, Mr. Stoneberg located on land 
 which at present comprises his farm and where he 
 has resided ever since. He is the owner of 200 
 
 acres on section 23, most of which is tillable. On 
 his farm he has erected a good residence, together 
 with substantial outbuildings, and is meeting with 
 success in his chosen vocation, agriculture. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Stoneberg took place at 
 Bishop Hill, in July, 1848. The lady selected to ac- 
 company him through the future trials of life was 
 Miss Louisa Anderson, a native of Sweden, who em- 
 igrated to this country in 1847. The children of Mr. 
 and Mrs. Stoneberg were four in number, namely: 
 John, Andrew, Louisa and Peter. Louisa is de 
 ceased. 
 
 Politically, Mr. Stoneberg is independent. 
 
 -8 #-# 5— 
 
 ,harles Smith is one of the citizens of 
 Henry County, of foreign birth, who have, 
 since their removal to a land of free in- 
 stitutions, made themselves the equal of its 
 best native-born inhabitants, and who have 
 placed themselves in circumstances of pros- 
 perity and even affluence. 
 
 Mr. Smith was born in Germany, May 22, 1833, 
 and is the youngest son of Henry and Caroline 
 Smith, both natives of "Das Faderland." In his 
 earliest childhood he became a herder of cattle, ris- 
 ing for the purpose at four a. m., and taking care of 
 his charge until the' hour for school, when he was 
 obliged to attend some place of school, in order to 
 ■ satisfy the law, which, in his native country, disposes 
 of the minority of all male children. He was at 
 school from nine until one, when he resumed the 
 business of watching the cattle. He passed the 
 years of his life until he was fourteen in this method, 
 and then was employed on the farm of his brother, 
 as he must acquire a knowledge of some business. 
 His brother was also a blacksmith, and had a shop 
 on his farm, where they were in the habit of working 
 after the duties of the farm were attended to. When 
 he reached the age of 18, he determined to come to 
 America, and he accordingly took.passage on a sail- 
 ing vessel for Baltimore, where he landed after a 
 stormy voyage of 63 days. He went immediately 
 after debarkation to Cumberland, in Maryland, where 
 he had a brother, who was an inn-keeper. He re- 
 mained in his employ three years, and at the end of 
 that time engaged in the business of buying cattle 
 in Western Pennsylvania and Ohio, He had to 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 cross the mountains to the city of Baltimore, and he 
 pursued that line of traffic until 1862, when the re- 
 bellion of the South made it dangerous for a man 
 of decided and well-known Union principles to lin- 
 ger on the border line between the two sections. He 
 was obliged to relinquish the industry which he had 
 found profitable. He then rented the hotel of his 
 brother, and conducted its interests two years. He 
 then acquired an interest in a mercantile business, 
 and passed between two and three years in the sale 
 of dry goods, and in the grocery and provision trade, 
 in Cumberland. 
 
 In 1866, he came to Henry County, and bought 
 112 acres of land, on section 10, in Geneseo Town- 
 ship. On this he set himself to the work of placing 
 his affairs in prosperous condition, and he is now the 
 owner of 340 acres of excellent land, which is all en- 
 closed with hedges, and is in good condition for prof- 
 itable farming. The buildings are of good type, and 
 suited for the purpose for which they were con- 
 structed. The farm is devoted to the rearing of 
 stock. 
 
 Mr. Smith was married, in October, in 1853,10 
 Martha L. Warfield, and they are the parents of six 
 children. Caroline L. is the wife of Gottlieb Ott, of 
 Chicago. The other children are named Mary 
 West Virginia, Charles Frederick . William, Harry, 
 Lewis B. and Jesse Howard. Mrs. Smith was born 
 in Carroll Co., Md. Mr. Smith is independent in 
 political principles and connections. 
 
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 Tohn D. Sundberg, a farmer of Weller 
 Township, residing on section 27, was born 
 in Sweden, Jan. 4, 1825. Mr. Sundberg 
 continued to reside in his native country, where 
 he was variously occupied until 1857, when, 
 hoping to procure a home for himself and 
 family, he emigrated to the United States. On his 
 arrival in this country he located in Mercer County, 
 and there resided until 1861." Soon after the news 
 had flashed across the wires that rebel guns had 
 thundered forth their shot and shell against Fort 
 Sumter, and the President had called for brave 
 hearts and strong arms to defend the country's honor, 
 Mr. Sundberg was one of the first to respond. He 
 enlisted in the 43d 111. Vol. Inf., and served three 
 
 years and four months fighting for his country, which 
 he had adopted. After the term of his enlistment 
 had expired, he returned to Mercer County, and soon 
 thereafter, in the spring of 1865, came to this county, 
 and located in Weller Townsnip, and has continued 
 to reside there until the writing of this work. He is 
 the proprietor of 80 acres of land, located on section 
 27, Weller Township, and is meeting with success in 
 his chosen vocation, that of agriculture. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Sundberg took place in 
 Weller Township, and the lady selected to accom- 
 pany him through the trials of life was Miss Lena C. 
 Johnson, a native of Sweden. Of ther union eight 
 children have been born, — Frank A., Alfred L., John 
 A., Victor E., Fred N., Emila, Joseph and Hannah 
 M. A. 
 
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 illiam Kelly, a successful farmer and re- 
 spected citizen of this county, living on 
 section 28, Weller Township, is a Manx- 
 man by birth, having been born on the Isle 
 of Man, Aug. 19, 1844. On attaining his 
 2 2d year, in 1867, he emigrated to the United 
 States, and soon thereafter came to Knox County, 
 this State, where he resided for nine months. From 
 Knox County, Mr. Kelly came to this county and 
 located in Weller Township, where he has resided, 
 with the exception of one year, in which he lived in 
 Galva Township, until the present time. He is at 
 present the proprietor of 290 acres of land, all of 
 which is under an advanced state of cultivation. 
 His farm presents the appearance of thrift and good 
 management, and indicates that prosperity is the out- 
 growth of hard labor. The marriage of Mr. Kelly 
 to Catherine R. Emery, was celebrated Jan. 12, 
 1870, in Henry County, this State. She was born 
 Feb. 15, 1849, in Fulton Co., 111., and has borne her 
 husband eight children — Laura V. E., W. Harry? 
 Olive, Eugene O., Wilbur T., R Ann, Mary M., D. 
 Emery, and one, Katie P., died in infancy. 
 
 Mr. Kelly has been School Director of his town- 
 ship, and politically always casts his vote with the 
 Republican party. 
 
 His parents, William and Ann (Patty) Kelly, were 
 natives of Ireland, and of the Isle of Man, respect- 
 ively. His father died on his native isle, and his 
 
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 410 
 
 ,-»x-xi 
 
 ■6V4>HI1&HH& /G) ^ «»s: 
 
 HENRY COUNTY: 
 
 mother yet survives, and is residing in Weller Town- 
 ship. Her parents were Henry and Olive (Jacobs) 
 Emery, natives of Pennsylvania and New York. 
 They came to this county in 1 856, and her father 
 died in Galva, Nov. 17, 1875, and her mother in 
 Weller Township, Oct. 26, 1858. 
 
 -13- 
 
 -€S- 
 
 ' ndrew P. Swanson is engaged in the call- 
 t. ing of a farmer, on section 4, in the town- 
 ship of Atkinson, whither he came in 1856. 
 
 He was born in Sweden, in 1824, and emi- 
 grated from his native land to America, in 
 1852. He came from New York, where he 
 landed, to Rock Island, and remained there four 
 years. He came thence to Henry County, in the year 
 named. He settled on 80 acres of land on the sec- 
 tion where he has since been a farmer. In 1868, he 
 became the husband of Mary Hendrickson. She is 
 a native of the same country as her husband, and 
 was born in 1847. Annie M., Joseph H., Christina, 
 John A., Emeline, Virginia and David are the names 
 of the children who are now members of the house- 
 hold, and the entire number of whom they have 
 become the parents are still spared to them. In re- 
 ligious views they are Lutherans. Mr. Swanson is 
 an adherent of the Republican party. 
 
 ■ } ■xWM, 
 
 ton. James H. Paddelford has been for a 
 long term of years one of the most prom- 
 inent citizens of Henry County. He has 
 been a resident within its borders since the re- 
 moval of his parents here, when he was a child 
 of ten years. He has grown up with the coun- 
 try, which was in its primitive days and condition at 
 the time he first made the acquaintance of the mu- 
 nicipality in which he has reached the distinction of 
 a good and useful citizen, and as a faithfu' servitor 
 in the interests of his constituency. 
 
 He was born Nov. n, 1 817, in North Enfield, 
 Grafton Co., N. H. William and Hannah (Hoit) 
 Paddelford, his parents, removed to Henry County, 
 in November, T837. His father was born May 9, 
 1787, in the same town in which his son was born. 
 At the time of the removal of their family hither, it 
 
 included six children. The journey from New 
 Hampshire to Whitehall, N. Y., was made with pri- 
 vate conveyance, and they went thence on the 
 Champlain Canal to Troy, where they took passage 
 on the Erie Canal for Buffalo. They embarked 
 there on a steamer for Chicago, but were unable 
 to make that port on account of stormy weather. 
 Accordingly, they landed at Fairport, and proceeded 
 from there overland to Steubenville, in Jefferson Co., 
 Ohio, where they again embarked on a steamer on 
 the Ohio River, and made their way to Rock Island. 
 They passed a week there, and came thence to 
 Henry County. They made their first stop in the 
 township of Colona, where they passed the first year 
 with a man named Brandenburg. The senior Pad- 
 delford had come to Henry County in 1836, one year 
 before he brought his family, and had bought 160 
 acres of land on sections 32 and 33 in the township 
 then designated as 18, in range 2. He built a house 
 of the primitive pattern common in those days, and 
 situated on section 32. The cabin was covered with 
 clapboards, and the lumber of which the doors ar.d 
 floor were made, was made with a" whip-saw." Of 
 this the family took possession, and were its occu- 
 pants for several years. Mr. Paddelford, of this 
 sketch, some years after became the possessor of 80 
 acres of land on section 4, on which a frame house 
 was standing, and into this the family moved. There 
 the parents resided until their deaths. The mother 
 died Feb. r4, 1881, in the 91st year of her age. She 
 was born in Laconia, N. H. The father of Mr. Pad- 
 delford died Dec. ro, 1858. Mr. Paddelford was 
 the constant companion of his parents, while their 
 lives lasted, after his birth. He was sent to school 
 in the town of his nativity, and was a bright scholar. 
 After the removal of the family to Illinois, he was 
 an attendant at the schools of Henry County. He 
 was sent to those of Andover and Colona. Later 
 he attended a winter term at Moline. On settling 
 to a career in life, he chose that of farming, to which 
 he has devoted himself without intermission. He is 
 at present the most extensive agriculturist in the 
 township in which he is a resident. His farm con- 
 tains 532 acres of land, and he is largely interested 
 in the raising of fine stock. His specialty is the 
 Short-horn breed. 
 
 Mr. Paddelford has been prominent in official 
 life, and has served in many important positions. 
 He has filled the office of Supervisor ten terms, and 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 has also acted in the capacity of Assessor, Clerk 
 and Collector. In the fall of 1884 he was elected as 
 Representative to the 34th Assembly of the State of 
 Illinois, as a Democrat, receiving 13,912 votes. 
 
 During the ensuing session, in which he served, he 
 was a member of the committees on Mines and Min- 
 ing, Roads and Bridges, Banks and Banking, and 
 Drainage. 
 
 Sept. 17, 1857, he was married to Rachel Hanna. 
 Their children are named Mary C, Henry W., 
 Fred L., Allie H. and Frank H. Mrs. Paddelford is 
 the daughter of John P. and Nancy (Dockrey) 
 Hanna. Her parents were early settlers in Henry 
 County. 
 
 ohn L. Combs, a citizen of Geneseo, resi- 
 dent on section 29, has been in Henry 
 County since 1868. He was born in Win- 
 chester, Cheshire Co., N. H., July 22, 1844, 
 It and is the son of Calvin and Delia (Taylor) 
 Combs. He was reared in the town where he 
 was born and was taught to make brooms, as it was 
 the custom to instruct boys in the details of a trade. 
 In the second year of the war he went to Massachu- 
 setts to enter the military service of his country. He 
 enlisted in July, 1862, at Winchendon, in Co. D, 36th 
 Mass. Vol. Inf. After a service of two years and 
 two months he received an honorable discharge for 
 disability and returned to New Hampshire. He 
 again gave his attention to the manufacture of 
 brooms in the town where he learned the business, 
 and in Ringe, N. H, going thence to Dedham, Mass. 
 He remained there until the year in which he came 
 to Illinois. On coming to this State he located in 
 Henry County and rented a farm in the township of 
 Geneseo. He operated in that capacity two years, 
 and at the end of that time took possession of the 
 place of which he is and has since been the owner. 
 He gave his attention exclusively to farming until 
 1882, when he erected a shop for the manufacture of 
 brooms and has since been engaged in the prosecu- 
 tion of the two callings. He finds ready market for 
 the sale of his wares in the county. 
 
 His union in marriage to Marinda Breed took place 
 in 1865, and they are the parents of six children: 
 George C, born Nov. 10, 1866; Frederick B., Oct. 
 15, 1868; Arthur L., Aug. 25, 1870; Charles A., 
 
 ^s^c ^A^OK 
 
 March 28, 1872 ; Ella M., Oct. 26, 1876, and James 
 F., Dec. 2, 1879. 
 
 Mrs. Combs is the daughter of Joseph B. and 
 Mary (Wilson) Breed, and she was born in the town 
 of Ringe, N. H., Oct. 10, 1836. 
 
 -* *H# 1- 
 
 %£&?& 
 
 eorge Holzinger, of the township of York- 
 town, has been a resident of the State of 
 "* Illinois since he came to America from his 
 native country in 1852. He has been a citi- 
 zen of Henry County since the year in which 
 he attained his majority. At that time he be- 
 came the possessor of the property left him by his 
 mother, who died in' his infancy. 
 
 He was born in Baden, Germany, Feb. 24, 1833, 
 and is the son of John G. and Mary Holzinger, both of 
 whom were natives of Baden. The senior Holzin- 
 ger formed a second matrimonial connection soon 
 after the decease of his son's mother, and when the 
 latter was 19 years of age the family came to the 
 United States. They came on a sailing vessel, and 
 the trip consumed 44 days. They came to this 
 State, locating in Du Page County, where the father 
 rented land and engaged in farming. 
 
 Mr. Holzinger was sent to school in his native 
 country, in compliance with the law which provides 
 that all children be placed at school at the age of six 
 years and be kept there until 14, which was in his 
 case fulfilled. After coming to Du Page County he 
 was .also sent to an English school, and acquired an 
 excellent education. In 1854 he bought a tract of 
 land on section 20 in the* township where he has 
 since been engaged in the pursuit of his agricultural 
 interests. It was wholly untilled and in a wild con- 
 dition without fences. It is now in a state that 
 ranks fairly with the surrounding farms. The build- 
 ings are of the class commonly constructed on farms 
 in the country, and are in every way suited to the 
 purpose for which they were designed. 
 
 Mr. Holzinger has been much interested in the 
 progress of educational matters in his township, and 
 has served several terms in the various school of- 
 fices? He has also filled other local positions. 
 
 He was joined in marriage to Elizabeth Lehman, 
 Feb. 21, i860. She was born in the township of 
 Loraine, and is the daughter of Lawrence and Eliza- 
 
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 ^rv&Mm^ 
 
 ¥&■ 
 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 beth Lehman, who were pioneers of Henry County. 
 The children of the Holzinger household are eight in 
 number. Their names are William H., Anna M., 
 Ella M., Daniel J., Emma C, Freddie C, George 
 A. and Harvey E. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Holzinger are members of the Evan- 
 gelical Association. Two of the ancestors of the 
 former were engaged in the Thirty-Years War 
 between the Catholics and Protestants, holding 
 prominent positions as officers in the cause of the 
 Protestants. 
 
 ohn E. Shere, of Yorktown Township, was 
 born in Devonshire, England. He is a 
 resident on section 13, and is engaged in 
 the vocation of a market gardener, and is also 
 raising small fruits. His birth occurred Sept. 
 20, 1 810. His father died when he was six 
 years old, and he was afterwards brought up by his 
 mother. He was the only child, and was wholly 
 orphaned by the death of his surviving parent when 
 he was 16. He was then apprenticed to learn the 
 business in which he is now engaged, and also ac- 
 quired a practical knowledge of the vocation of nurs- 
 eryman and florist. He served five years in the 
 shire in which he was born, and went then to Lon- 
 don. He was there employed in the National Gar- 
 dens until 1832, when he came to the United States. 
 He made his way, soon after reaching his port of 
 landing, to the city of Albany, and entered the ser- 
 vice of Buell & Wilson, the celebrated nurserymen, 
 one of whom is inseparably connected with the his- 
 tory of small fruits in this country. In his honor 
 the " Wilson " strawberry, which at that time led the 
 list in America, was named. Mr. Shere remained 
 with them one season, and at its close he went to 
 Albion, in Orleans Co., N. Y., and commenced to do 
 business in the line of drayman. He bought the 
 necessary equipments, consisting of horses and the 
 variety of vehicles employed in that avenue of busi- 
 ness, and conducted extensive relations in the public 
 interests. He also erected ice-houses and supplied 
 the city with ice. He remained there in the same 
 occupation until 1854, when he came to Henry 
 County. On his arrival here he entered a claim of 
 Government land on section 13, in the township in 
 
 'V£*^ ^^ — ^r^n 
 
 which he has since lived. He built a frame house 
 and entered upon the work of improvement, as the 
 land was entirely in its natural condition. He passed 
 some years in the employments common to general 
 farming, and combined with them a few experiments 
 in the way of gardening. He raised very fine 
 melons, for which he found a market at Princeton, 
 30 miles distant. As the growth of civilization in- 
 creased and towns sprang up near at hand, he in- 
 creased his gardening relations, and for some years 
 went to Sterling with his products. He is now ex- 
 tensively interested in the cultivation of all kinds of 
 small fruits common to this section of country and in 
 vegetables. He has made a complete success of the 
 enterprise. 
 
 Mr. Shere was joined in marriage Dec. 18, 1831, 
 to Maria E. Artlet, who was born in the County of 
 Kent, England, in December, 181 2. Six children 
 born to Mr. and Mrs. Shere are living: Thomas is 
 a resident of Humboldt Co., Iowa ; Carrie is the wife 
 of Alexander Brown, of Ottawa Co., Kan. ; Ann Eliza 
 married Charles Branch, of the county last named ; 
 William E. is a resident of Yorktown ; Emma mar- 
 ried Fred Landwehr, and they live in Whiteside 
 County; Ambrose A. is the manager of the home 
 farm. He was born in the township where he lives 
 Sept. 7, 1859, and has always lived with his parents. 
 He was married Sept. 6, 1877, to Linda Swanson. 
 She was born in Henry County, in June, 1859. 
 They have two children, — Jessie L. and Bessie L. 
 The parents have 27 grandchildren and 13 great- 
 grandchildren. 
 
 -43- 
 
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 I ichard Floyd Everett, residing on section 
 25, Galva Township, where he is the pro- 
 prietor of 240 acres of well improved land, 
 was born Sept. 15, 1831, in Copake, Colum- 
 bia Co., N. Y. He was reared on the farm, 
 receiving the education given by the common 
 schools, and developed into manhood. 
 
 Ebenezer Everett, great-grandfather of the sub- 
 ject of this notice, was born in Hebron, Windham 
 Co., Conn., in 1745. He had three sons, — Isaiah, 
 Ebenezer and Eliphalet. Ebenezer and Eliphalet 
 were soldiers in the Revolutionary War,- and the lat- 
 ter was for several years Steward of General Wash- 
 ington's military family. He lived many years in 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 413 
 
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 Ellsworth, where Everett Dunbar now lives, but 
 spent the latter part of his life in Watertown, N. Y. 
 Isaiah Everett, the grandfather of the subject of this 
 notice, died Aug. 4, 1834, at the age of 82 years, 
 leaving five sons, — Adolphus, Asa, Gamaliel, Rus- 
 sell and William. Ebe Everett died Jan. 5, 1840, 
 at the age of 86 years, leaving four sons, — Samuel, 
 Augustus, Elmer and John. Russell Everett, father 
 of the subject of this notice, was born Nov. 22, 1792, 
 in Sharon, Conn. ; was a physician by profession, and 
 died there in October, 1865, aged 73 years. He 
 married- Caroline R. Parsons, who was born April 15, 
 1801, and died April 13, 1854. She had two chil- 
 dren, — Enoch P. and Richard Floyd. 
 
 The latter was educated in his native country, 
 where he attended the district and normal schools. 
 He was married to Catherine H. St. John, born Nov. 
 26, 1836, in Ellsworth, Conn. Her parents were 
 Henry and Catherine (Wheeler) St. John, natives of 
 Sharon and Dutchess Cos., N. Y., respectively. She 
 has borne him four children, — Walton, born Feb. 
 11, 1859, died May 6, i860; Leland R., born July 
 19, 1861 ; Bertrand, born Aug. 4, 1869, died in 
 Galva, April 4, 1863; and Walter B., born May 16, 
 1865. 
 
 Mr. Everett came West in 1865 and purchased 
 240 acres of land on section 25, Galva Township, on 
 which he located with his family and entered at once 
 upon its active cultivation, and on which he has 
 constantly resided until the present time, meeting 
 with success in his chosen vocation, agriculture. 
 Religiously, he and his wife are members of the 
 Congregational Church, and politically Mr. Everett 
 is identified with the Republican party. 
 
 ^*-^H^ 
 
 ' homas M. Robertson, owner of 317 acres 
 of land, located on section 8, Weller Town- 
 ship, where he resides, is one of. the pro- 
 gressive farmers and respected citizens of 
 Henry County. He is a native of this State, 
 having been born in Knox County, May 2, 
 i835- 
 
 Mr. Robertson received a good education in the 
 common schools of his native country, and there re- 
 sided until 1867. During that year he came to 
 Henry County, and settled in Weller Township, 
 V where he has continued to reside until the present 
 
 time, 1885. He is the proprietor of 317 acres of 
 land, two-thirds of which is under an advanced state 
 of cultivation. In 1862, Mr. Robertson went over- 
 land to the Pacific Coast. Arriving in the land of 
 gold, he was variously occupied for two years and 
 eight months, when he returned via the Nicaragua 
 route to New York, his return being occasioned by 
 indisposition in California. 
 
 Mr. Robertson married Miss Mary J. Bick, in 
 Knox County, this State, Oct. 28, 1858. She was 
 born in Ohio, May 17, 1840, and the issue of their 
 union has been eight children, four living and four 
 deceased. The living are Arthur, Fannie, Harry and 
 Carrie. The deceased died in infancy, with the ex- 
 ception of Cora, who was three years old. 
 
 Mr. Robertson has held the office of School Trus- 
 tee, and socially is a member of the Masonic frater- 
 nity. Religiously, he and his wife are members of 
 the Baptist Church. Politically, Mr. Robertson is a 
 believer in, and a supporter of, the principles advo- 
 cated by the Democratic party. 
 
 eorge W. Buck, Supervisor of Western 
 Township, and one of the energetic and 
 progressive farmers of that township, as 
 well as stock-raisers, residing on section 6, is 
 a native of New York State, where, in Chau- 
 tauqua County, he was born April 9, 1834. 
 father, Roswell Buck, followed lumbering for 
 sustenance, and was a native of Vermont and of 
 New England parentage. He was united in marriage, 
 in New York, with Miss Harriet Meach, who was 
 born in Massachusetts, and died when the subject of 
 this notice was but three months old. The father 
 afterwards died in 1862, in the State of New York. 
 
 Left an orphan at the age of three months, and 
 being the youngest in birth of a family of seven 
 children, George W. was taken by Isaac and Nancy 
 Stanbro, with whom he resided until their death. 
 George W. resided with his foster parents on the 
 farm, and when four years of age accompanied them 
 to this county. At that time the country was new, 
 and the hand of civilization was hardly visible in the 
 locality in which they settled, and his foster father 
 entered vigorously and energetically upon the im- 
 provement of the land on which he located. When 
 
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 -^4^ &7&MM\i<>&r 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 George was 16 years old his foster father died, and 
 he set forth upon the road of adversity to fight life's 
 battles single-handed and alone. He first engaged 
 as a general laborer, which vocation he followed for 
 some time, and until the date of his marriage. That 
 event occurred in Henry County, July 8, 1863, and 
 the lady chosen to share his sorrows and joys, his 
 successes and reverses, through the storms and trials 
 of the future, was Miss Mary A. Glenn. She was 
 the accomplished daughter of James and Nancy 
 (Kincaid) Glenn. Mrs. Buck was the eldest daughter 
 and third child in the order of birth of a family of six 
 children, and was born on her father's original home- 
 stead in Colona Township, this county, July 18, 
 1842. She was well educated in the district schools, 
 and resided under the parental roof, assisting the 
 mother in her household duties, until her marriage. 
 She is a lady of remarkable ability, and socially is 
 one of the most hospitable in this county, making 
 the stay of a stranger while at her domicile as pleas- 
 ant as that of the most intimate friend. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Buck are the parents of four children, — James 
 D., born April 22, 1866; George B., born July 31, 
 1868; Mary E., Dec. 7, 1874, and Charlie G., June 
 7, 1880, — all of whom have received a good educa- 
 tion. 
 
 After marriage, Mr. Buck located on a farm of 66 
 acres on section 6, Western Township, where he 
 entered upon the arduous task of improving his land. 
 He has since made it his home. In addition to the 
 property which he individually owns, he has leased 
 for a term of years 669 acres in Rural Township, 
 Rock Island County. He is one of the progressive 
 and energetic farmers of the township and is meet- 
 ing with success in his chosen vocation. 
 
 Aug. 15, 1862, Mr. Buck enlisted in the war for 
 the Union, joining Co. C, 112th 111. Vol. Inf., Capt. 
 Mitchell. He was made Fifth Sergeant, and after- 
 ward he was promoted to Fourth Sergeant, which 
 position he filled until the close of the war, and was 
 mustered out June 21, 1865, receiving his discharge 
 July 7 of that year at Chicago. He participated in 
 no particular battles, as he was engaged in the 
 Quartermaster's Department ; but at one time during 
 his enlistment he, in company with more than a 
 hundred others, were in a very perilous situation, 
 when Mr. Buck, through the aid of four good legs 
 attached to the body of a mule, made good his es- 
 cape. Mr. Buck is a member of the G. A. R. He 
 
 has held the office of Justice of the Peace, Road 
 Commissioner, Town Collector, etc., and is at present 
 serving his fifth term as Supervisor. He is a gentle- 
 man who has always been largely interested in the 
 public schools of his township and has done no little, 
 to advance that cause. In politics he is identified 
 with the Republican party. 
 
 rson H. Patterson, engaged as a farmer on 
 section 21, Oxford Township, was born in 
 Columbia Co., N. Y., in 1823, his parents 
 having been Augustus A. and Philinda (Smith) 
 Patterson, natives of Connecticut and Massa- 
 chusetts respectively. They were farmers and 
 their deaths occurred in 1870 and 1877. 
 
 The subject of this biographical notice received a 
 fair education, and remained under the parental roof- 
 tree, assisting his father on the farm, until he at- 
 tained the age of 22 years. After leaving home he 
 engaged in a manufacturing establishment, where 
 they manufactured carpenters' tools, and there re- 
 mained for four years ; he next, in the fall of 1849, 
 came West, to Galesburg, 111., and there remained 
 for eighteen months, in the manufacture and ped- 
 dling of chain pumps. Afterward he moved into 
 Oxford Township, and "took up" Government land, 
 at first 40 acres, where he is at present residing, and 
 since which time he has added 160 acres. By his 
 industry and energy he has put the same under 
 splendid cultivation ; he has set out ornamental trees, 
 erected a residence, outbuildings, fences, etc., and 
 has to-day as finely an equipped farm as in the 
 township. 
 
 Mr. Patterson has been quite a successful phy- 
 sician, making a specialty of cancers, which he has 
 followed for 23 years, His first marriage was 
 solemnized Nov. 16, 1848, the lady with whom he 
 was united being Miss Cynthia Calkins, a native of 
 New York, who died in 1857. Mr. Patterson formed 
 a second matrimonial alliance with Miss Margaret 
 Taze, a native of Pennsylvania. Of the latter union 
 there has been one child, Philanda. She married W. 
 O. Allison, and they have become the parents of 
 three children, viz. : Ira D., Harry and Freddie. 
 
 Mr. P., in political matters, is a Prohibitionist, and 
 
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 religiously belongs to the Baptist Church. His wife 
 is a member of the Presbyterian Church. Socially, 
 Mr. P. is a member of the Order of Masons, and is 
 one of the leading and representative men of Oxford 
 Township. 
 
 ugh Eaton, residing at Cambridge, is a citi- 
 zen of the United States by adoption, hav- 
 ing been born in County Antrim, Ireland, 
 May 4, 1826. He belongs in blood and birth 
 to one of the best elements in the composite 
 nationality of this country, his ancestors being 
 among the refugees from the persecutions of James 
 of Scotland in 1619. They settled in the North of 
 Ireland, where they endured a persecution scarcely 
 less irksome than that from which they had fled in 
 their own country. They remained in the northern 
 counties of the " Green Isle " 100 years, holding 
 themselves aloof from the native people and in the 
 main preserved their blood and their principles pure. 
 In 17 19 their exodus from Ireland to America be- 
 gan, and the emigration of the Scotch-Irish to the 
 New World has since been continuous. For the 
 benefit of generations to come it is recorded that the 
 term " Scotch : ' refers to their true national origin. 
 The term " Irish " simply means, " born in Ireland." 
 Sandy Eaton, great-grandfather of Hugh Eaton, of 
 this sketch, was born in Scotland. He was a farmer 
 by inheritance and a weaver by trade. His son, 
 Hugh Eaton, married Mary Ramsey, a lady of un- 
 mixed Scotch descent, and they had three sons and 
 three daughters. James Eaton, their son, married 
 Mary Moore. Their children numbered seven, Mr. 
 Eaton, the central personage of this narration, being 
 the second in order of birth and the oldest son. 
 Eliza, his eldest sister, is deceased. The younger 
 born are named Matilda (Mrs. Jingle), Margaret 
 (Mrs. Hall), Alexander, John and Jemima (Mrs. 
 Adrain). 
 
 Mr. Eaton finished his education in the schools of 
 the city of Dublin, where he studied four years, and 
 when he was 20, in July, 1846, he came to the 
 United States. He passed the first year after his ar- 
 rival in the city of New York, and he then located in 
 Luzerne Co., Pa., where he continued to reside about 
 18 years. The first five years he was alternately oc- 
 
 cupied, winter and summer, in teaching and in farm- 
 ing. Subsequently he gave up the former vocation. 
 
 April 15, 1865, he settled on a farm in Bureau 
 Co., III., and after conducting his affairs there one 
 year he bought a farm in Burns Township, Henry 
 County. The transfer of his interests resulted suc- 
 cessfully, and after a busy and prosperous career in 
 agricultural avenues, in March, r885, he removed to 
 Cambridge to pass the evening of his life in the en- 
 joyment of the fruits of a useful, well-spent man- 
 hood. 
 
 Mr. Eaton was married in January, 1850, in 
 Luzerne Co., Pa., to Phebe Munson, and they are 
 the parents of the following children : Mrs. Mary 
 Rogers, Mrs. Susan Brown, Stephen W., James W., 
 Robert A. (deceased), George M., Matilda, Maggie, 
 Anna, Carrie, Willie and Oscar. 
 
 Mrs. Eaton was born in Luzerne Co., Pa., and is 
 the daughter of Walter and Susan (Bodle) Munson. 
 Her parents were born respectively in the States of 
 Pennsylvania and New. York. The religious con- 
 nections of Mr. and Mrs. Eaton are with the Chris- 
 tian Church. 
 
 :• eter Weaver, owning 320 acres of land on 
 
 section 32, Weller Township, where he re- 
 
 i55^? sides, is a native of Germany, having been 
 
 born in that country Sept. 7, 1829. Mr. 
 
 Weaver was but two years of age when he 
 
 came to the .United States in company with 
 his parents. They settled in Brown Co., Ohio, 
 where the subject of this sketch passed 24 years of 
 his life. He came to this county at the expiration 
 of that time, and settled in Weller Township, where 
 he has continued to reside, following the occupation 
 of a farmer, and meeting with success in that voca- 
 tion until the present time. Mr. Weaver is the pro- 
 prietor of 320 acres of land in this county, and 40 
 in Knox County. He has erected a fine residence 
 on his farm, together with a good barn and substan- 
 tial outbuildings, and his place presents the appear- 
 ance of thrift, and is indicative of what laborious 
 toil, coupled with good judgment and energetic 
 effort, can produce. 
 
 Mr. Weaver was united in marriage in Brown Co., 
 Ohio, Nov. 7, 1850, with Miss Mary A. Mefford, a 
 
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 416 
 
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 i 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 native of Brown County, where she was born, April 
 24,1831. The issue of their union has been five 
 children, namely: Lucinda W., Charles E., Henry 
 L., George D. and Frank R. 
 
 Mr. Weaver has held the office of Road Commis- 
 sioner, School Director and -School Trustee. So- 
 cially, he is a member of the Masonic Order, and 
 politically, he is identified with the Democratic 
 party. 
 
 The parents of Mr. Weaver, Lewis and Mary 
 Weaver, are both deceased, their demise having 
 occurred when the subject of this sketch was quite 
 young. On the death of his parents Peter was 
 "bound out," from the age of 15 until he attained 
 his majority, to a farmer, and was therefore brought 
 up in the farmer's vocation. The parents of Mrs. 
 Weaver, wife of the subject of this biographical no- 
 tice, Henry and Elizabeth (Nickerson) Mifford, died 
 in Brown Co., Ohio. 
 
 . ohn Engdahl, senior member of the firm of 
 Engdahl & Aldeen, merchant tailors and 
 dealers in furnishing goods at Geneseo, is 
 the founder of the business in which he has 
 since been interested at that place, and which 
 he established in 1865. He was at that time 
 associated with Messrs. Ringquist & Smith, and in 
 1868 he became sole proprietor of the relations of 
 the concern by purchase. He managed his affairs 
 singly until 1878, when the present partnership was 
 formed. The affairs of the house have prospered, 
 and the relations of their trade require the assist- 
 ance of five men. 
 
 Mr. Engdahl is a native of Sweden, and was born 
 Nov. 27, 1834. He acquired a thorough knowledge 
 of his business in his native country, as it is the 
 custom there to make practical craftsmen of those 
 who learn trades. He conducted his business there 
 r2 years. In 1864 he emigrated to America, arriv- 
 ing in the United States in the month of August. He 
 reached this city on the 16th day of the month, and 
 15 days later he was married to Anna Larson, who 
 was a fellow traveler on the same ship with himself 
 to the New World. They were acquaintances in 
 their native land. Mrs. Engdahl was born in Swe- 
 den, Oct. 27, 1844. Their children number nine, — 
 
 five sons and four daughters. Following is their 
 record: Alfred, born Jan. 3r, 1865, died in infancy ; 
 Emma Helen was born Oct. 20, 1866; Alexander, 
 born Dec. 12, 1869, died in childhood ; Almina, born 
 Jan. 27, 1872; Martin Nathaniel was born May 20, 
 1874; Victor Emanuel was born Dec. 31, 1876; 
 Oscar Alexander was born Dec. 9, 1878; Esther 
 Anna Elizabeth was born Nov. 5, 1882; Nellie 
 Adelia was born June 14, 1844. The parents are 
 members of the Swedish Lutheran Church. Mr. 
 Engdahl is a Republican in political faith and 
 action. 
 
 -4- 
 
 -*- 
 
 aniel L. Keleher, general farmer and 
 IjL stock-raiser, residing on section 14, West- 
 ern Township, was born in County Kerry, 
 Ireland, Aug. 20, 1836 His father, Daniel 
 Keleher, was a native of the same country and 
 by occupation a shoemaker. He was married in 
 Ireland, to Ann Linihan, who was born and reared 
 in the same county in which our subject was born. 
 
 Arriving at the age of 15 years, Daniel L. set out 
 so early in life all alone for America. He had se- 
 cured a good common-school education, and knew 
 how to get along for himself nicely, for one so young. 
 He found his way to Bucks Co., Pa., where he en- 
 gaged to work for Samuel Holcomb, a farmer. Two 
 years later, he left the Keystone* State and came 
 West to Illinois, and soon found himself in the ser- 
 vices of the late M. B. Lloyd, of Western Township. 
 Here for two years he worked faithfully. 
 
 The date of Mr. Keleher's arrival in Western 
 Township was April 7, 1856. On the 19th of 
 January, 1863, in the city of Rock Island, he was 
 married to Miss Ellen Curren, who was born in 
 County Donegal, Ireland, and, like her husband, 
 came across the Atlantic to America alone. This 
 journey was made in 185 1, when she was quite 
 young. She stopped at Philadelphia for a time, when 
 she came West and resided at Cambridge, this 
 county, with her brother Bernard, who lived at that 
 place. There have been born to Mr. and Mrs. 
 Keleher four children, whom they have christened 
 as follows : Mary A., Ellen B., Daniel C. and Lizzie. 
 All have received an excellent education in the pub-" 
 lie schools of Henry County. 
 
 Mr. K. made his first purchase of land by buying 
 
 
 
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-6V^DD^llHi ; >7^ ^&KT 
 
 Hi 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 4i7 
 
 20 acres of Mr. Lloyd, his old employer. This was 
 located on section 27. He has subsequently sold 
 this back to its former owner and purchased 40 acres 
 on section 14. This piece of land was at the time an 
 unbroken prairie, Mr. K. being the first to undertake 
 the development of this township. He has been 
 eminently successful, and now owns 499 acres on 
 sections 14, 23 and 24. All of this extensive tract 
 he now has under the plow and otherwise well im- 
 proved. He is looked upon as one of the most suc- 
 cessful and progressive farmers of the county, and 
 has won by his own unaided efforts the honorable 
 name he now bears, and not only has he been pros- 
 perous himself, but has been of sterling worth to his 
 community and the county. He has been actively 
 engaged in the development of the public-school 
 system in this county, and is especially devoted to 
 the education of his children. Both he and his wife 
 are members of the Catholic Church. 
 
 (§* 
 
 I 
 
 illiam L. Neuman. Prominent among 
 the well-to-do farmers of Weller Town- 
 ship is the subject of the following per- 
 sonal narrative. He resides on section 6 
 where he owns an excellent farm of 200 acres. 
 He was born in Germany, Jan. 23, 1823. 
 There he received his education, and passed the first 
 20 years of his life. He then went to England, 
 where he remained for six years, when, feeling that 
 superior advantages were offered to young men in 
 America, he set sail, and was soon put ashore to 
 breathe the fresh air offered by the government of 
 tnis country. Without any delay he made his way 
 westward, and found a desirable location in Henry 
 County, where he has since lived, taking an active 
 and prominent part in the affairs of his community. 
 He has served in some of the minor offices, and in 
 politics claims to be a liberal Democrat. Mr. N. is 
 a member of the German Lutheran Church, while 
 his wife is a member of the Christian Union. 
 
 While a resident of London, Mr. Neuman was 
 married to Jane Ekot, who bore him four children, — 
 Mary A., William, Charles and Hugo. Mrs. N. ac- 
 companied him to America, and died at their home 
 in Weller Township. He was subsequently married 
 in Weller to Caroline Hoare, who was also a native 
 
 of England. Before her demise she became the 
 mother of five children, — Lena J., Sophia M., Fred 
 S., Frank H. and Anna L. Mr. Neuman was mar- 
 ried the third time Oct. 26, 1873, in Weller 
 Township, to Kate Moody. She is a native of Mor- 
 row Co., Ohio, and was born July 8, 1827. Of Mr. 
 N.'s children the following record is given: Lena 
 is the wife of Wm. Munhall, of Rock Island County ; 
 Sophia M , the wife of Edward Mahaffey, of Clover 
 Township ; Fred and Frank live in Weller Town- 
 ship. 
 
 ~wT.«\«j2jZ i 2^M@''*J 
 
 ig^jajft-ww 
 
 %H?n 
 
 umner M. Harrington, a general farmer 
 on section 1, Andover Township, was born 
 in Joliet, 111., March 25, r84i. His father, 
 Mark T. Harrington, was a native of Ontario, 
 Can., of German descent, a farmer, and mar- 
 ried Miss Lucy Mott, a native of Vermont and 
 of New England ancestry. After their marriage they 
 resided in Vermont for a time and emigrated to Jol- 
 iet, this State, in 1840, where they lived 18 years; 
 they then came to Geneseo, this county, where Mrs. 
 H. died, March, T872. Mr. H. is yet living and re- 
 sides with his daughter, Mrs. Lydia Smith, at 
 Geneseo. They had eight children, seven of whom 
 are yet living. There were four sons and four 
 daughters. 
 
 Sumner M., the youngest but one in the above fam- 
 ily, was educated in the public schools of Joliet; 
 when 17 years old he came to Geneseo, and when 
 20 years old he enlisted in the war for the cause of 
 the Union. June ro, 1861, he became a member of 
 Co. H, 19th Regt 111. Vol. Inf., commanded by 
 Capt. Garrett, now deceased. His regiment was at- 
 tached to the Army of the Cumberland, and partici- 
 pated in the battles of Stone River, Mission Ridge, 
 Peach-Tree Creek, and in the campaign to Atlanta, 
 where Mr. Harrington was honorably discharged, 
 July 18, 1864, at the expiration of his term of 
 service. Dec. 31, 1863, he was slightly wounded at 
 Stone River by a gunshot in his left side. 
 
 Returning to Geneseo, he was soon afterward mar- 
 ried, in Sandwich, DeKalb Co., 111., Sept. 30, 1866, 
 to Miss Cornelia Patty, daughter of Aaron and Mary 
 W. (Ward) Patty, natives of New Jersey, and of New 
 England and Holland-Dutch descent. Her parents 
 
 9M$>^ =*€8»^ 
 
 4& 
 
 $> 
 
gs<=>- 
 
 ^a*ii«j?ttr" 
 
 TJ 
 
 ^Mm&¥$ 
 
 
 418 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 were married in Tompkins Co., N. Y., and in 1843 
 settled on a farm in Fox Township, Kendall Co., 
 this State. 
 
 Mrs. Harrington was the eldest of a family of 
 seven children, .was born in Tompkins County, Dec. 
 24, 1841, and was but two years old when her par- 
 ents emigrated with their family to this State. She 
 was educated in Newark, Big Grove, Kendall County, 
 and from the age of 18 years until she was 24, the 
 time of her marriage, she taught school. She is now 
 the mother of three children : Albert E., who was 
 born Sept. 20, 1869; Fay M., Nov. 27, 1874, and 
 Harry L., July 1, 1880. 
 
 After his marriage, Mr. Harrington settled upon 
 the farm in LaSalle Co., 111., and in 1869 moved to 
 this county, renting a farm in the township of Mun- 
 son one year, and afterward a year in Cambridge. 
 In 187 1 he purchased 92 acres on section 1, Ando- 
 ver Township, where he has since resided.. He has 
 made considerable improvements upon his place, and 
 lias shown himself to be an enterprising and pro- 
 gressive farmer. All his land is cultivated, includ- 
 ing 78 acres in Osco Township, adjoining his home- 
 stead. 
 
 In his political \iews Mr. H. was formerly a Re- 
 publican, but is now independent. He and his wife 
 are members of the Bapiist Church at Cambridge. 
 
 •waefirtS-fg-*— m 
 
 *§m®w>>- 
 
 rs. Mary J. Van Landschoot is engaged 
 in the business of a merchant in the village 
 1 of Atkinson. She was born in Indiana, in 
 1848. She became the wife of Ambrose 
 Bernard Van Landschoot, April 7, 1869. He 
 was a native of Belgium and was born March 
 6, 1821. He died Nov. 1, 1883, of inflammatory 
 rheumatism. At the time of his death he was en- 
 gaged in the management of the business which has 
 been continued by his widow since his demise. He 
 contracted the disease which was the final cause of 
 his death while a soldier in the Union service. He 
 was a soldier for four years, and during that period 
 was several times confined in the hospital by the 
 same disorder. 
 
 He was not only a graduate of the highest institu- 
 tion of learning in Belgium, the College of Ste. Ne- 
 
 clonis,but he was also especially well read in history 
 and versed in the Belgic, English, French, Greek and 
 Latin languages. 
 
 Mrs. Van Landschoot is the daughter of John Ver- 
 ner Vincent and Anna Catharine (Hall) Holliet. Her 
 father was born in Hanover, Germany, Feb. 15, 1818. 
 The wife and mother was born in the same country, 
 Dec. 17, 1812, and died Dec. 7, 1882, at Geneseo, 
 111. Their marriage occurred in Richmond, Ind., 
 Feb. 13, 1839, and they were the parents of eight 
 children, viz.: Mary C, Lucinda S., James G., Mary 
 Jane, Mary Josephine, Henry, Eliza and Maria 
 Theresa. Mrs. Van Landschoot is a Catholic in re- 
 ligious belief, as were also all the family except her 
 mother, who was a Lutheran. 
 
 liiK'! eter Westerlund. Among the many 
 
 fllESI: Swedes residing in Henry County, the sub- 
 W^ ject of this sketch is prominent. He is an 
 J extensive farmer and stock-raiser, living on the 
 north half of section 25, Western Township. 
 He was born in the parish of Hasela, in 
 Gefleborgs Lan, Aug. 10, 1839. His father, Erick, 
 was a native of the same State, and by occupation a 
 farmer. He was married to Miss Elizabeth Johnson, 
 daughter of a Swedish farmer, and to them were 
 born nine children, Peter being the youngest. Four 
 of the number are still living. Andrew H., a resi- 
 dent of Sweden, is a brother. He was formerly a 
 custom-house officer, but is now on the retired list, 
 and is pensioned by the Swedish Government. Jo- 
 nas is a successful farmer of Lynn Township, this 
 county ; Mrs. Margaret Stolt is a sister and resides 
 in Crawford Co., Iowa; Erick resides in Osco 
 Township. 
 
 Peter Westerlund was educated in America, being 
 only n years of age when his parents came to our 
 shores. While they were on their voyage across the 
 Atlantic, the mother and youngest daughter died, 
 and their bodies were consigned to the deep. The 
 father and the five remaining children came to An- 
 dover, this county, arriving here in November, 1850, 
 experiencing many hardships on the route. After 
 their arrival here, Peter's father hired him out to a 
 farmer near Galesburg, for four years, but at the end 
 
 I 
 
 K 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 < 
 
 \&^$t-® 
 
 jpd^A^ s^r: 
 
 f£ 
 
 ® 
 
Jjy^AA Q^fu^aAML^ 
 
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 -^&k — £v^nosnn*>7 
 
 HENRY 
 
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 COUNTY. 
 
 ^ais&^KT 
 
 431 
 
 
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 of two years, he left his place and returned home. 
 On the 17th of February, 1863, in Andover Town- 
 ship, he was married to Miss Elnora C. S. Hultman, 
 who was born in Sweden, and came to America alone, 
 then nineteen years of age. The five children born 
 to them are named in the following record : Oscar 
 William is the cashier in the bank of Orion ; John 
 A., Melinda, Luther R., and Peter E. reside at 
 home. 
 
 In 1865, Mr. W. purchased his first 80 acres of 
 land, on section 25, being a part of his present farm ; 
 since then he has increased its borders, until it now 
 includes an entire half section, which is all admir- 
 ably improved. He is not only one of the successful 
 farmers of the township, but ranks among the lead- 
 ing agriculturists of the county. The land, when 
 he first began to work upon it, was in its native wild- 
 ness, but by hard labor and a watchful care and 
 shrewd management, he has developed it to a high 
 state. The family are members of the Lutheran 
 Evangelical Church, of which Mr. W. is Trustee ; 
 and he has held all the other offices of the society. 
 He has also held some of the township offices. 
 
 ames Greenlee, deceased, was a pioneer of 
 f Henry County, in 1856. He was born in 
 Rockbridge Co., Va., April r4, 1813. His 
 parents were members of the agricultural 
 class, and he was reared on the farm of his 
 father there and in Ohio, whither the family 
 removed while he was still in early youth. He was 
 a resident of the Buckeye State until the year named 
 as that in which he came to Illinois, and which was 
 that in which he located in Henry County. He set- 
 tled in the township of Munson, where he became 
 the owner of an entire section of land, and which is 
 still included in his undivided estate, with the ex- 
 ception of one " 40." 
 
 He was married Aug 22, 1867, in Munson Town- 
 ship, to Gustafva L., daughter of Swan Walin. She 
 was born in Sweden, and came to the United States 
 in 1866. 
 
 Mr. Greenlee died March 29, 1884. He was a 
 Republican in political sentiment, and was a mem- 
 
 ber of the Presbyterian Church. He was a prom- 
 inent citizen as an agriculturist, and so ordered his 
 life that he was the recipient of the esteem and re- 
 spect of his fellow-men. 
 
 •/gfSyOTWv* 
 
 ewis Shearer. One of the well known and 
 prominent men of the county, as well as one 
 of the large land owners, is Mr. Lewis 
 Shearer, of Cornwall Township, whose por- 
 trait is given upon the opposite page. He is a 
 son of James Shearer, a native of Saratoga 
 County, N. Y., where Lewis was born, Oct. 16, i8r7. 
 He" continued to reside with his parents, attending 
 school and working on the farm, until he reached his 
 majority. 
 
 When he was 17 years of age the family moved 
 from Eastern New York and located in Liv- 
 ingston County, same State, where Lewis remained 
 until he was about 22 years of age. He then con- 
 cluded to move still further West, and came to Tip- 
 pecanoe County, Ind., and settled near the famous 
 battle-ground where General Harrison routed Te- 
 cumseh. While living here he married Miss Per- 
 melia Burget, March 14, 1843. He remained in 
 Indiana until Nov. 22, r85o, when he came to Henry 
 County. During the following March he bought 320 
 acres of land where he now resides, on section 18, of 
 Cornwall Township, and on the 2 2d day of that 
 month moved upon the farm. Though no favorable 
 circumstances surrounded him at the beginning of 
 his business career, he has so managed that to-day 
 he is the owner of 694 acres of good farming land, 
 and is one of the most influential and highly re- 
 spected citizens of this part of the county. His land 
 is beautifully located and is watered by spring creeks 
 which run almost through the center of his farm 
 north and south. Upon his home farm he has 
 erected a splendid two-story brick dwelling and has 
 good equipments for carrying on mixed farming. 
 
 Mr. Shearer has taken more than ordinary promi- 
 nence in the local affairs of his township, and has 
 been brought into considerable notice as a public- 
 spirited citizen and one of safe and sound judgment 
 in the general affairs of the county. He was the first 
 Supervisor elected from Cornwall, and for 18 years 
 
 V 
 
 \§) 
 
 & 
 
 
 r 
 
 
 -a^jt ^^od^IlDf^A^ a*C§^ 
 
 25 
 
-z^k @V4*IW&flllf>e*«r 
 
 4^m\IM 
 
 422 
 
 <b 
 
 % 
 
 
 (£\ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 since, has represented that district in the Board of 
 Supervisors. ' He has also served as Town Treas- 
 urer for nine years In his political affiliations he is 
 connected with the Republican party. Both he and 
 his wife are members of the Christian Church. They 
 are the parents of six children, as follows : Sarah, 
 Mary Ann, Norman and Lewis R., are living. Bruce, 
 who was killed by the fall of a horse in July, T867, 
 and Albert J., who died in 1872. 
 
 -Of-- 
 
 'sel H. Talcott, deceased, was an early set- 
 tler in Henry County and a pioneer of the 
 State of Illinois. He was a native of the 
 State of New York, and was 35 years of age 
 when he came, in 1839, to Rock Island Coun- 
 ty, from northern Ohio, whither he had re- 
 moved in 1828. In 1844, he removed to Rock River, 
 and four years later he established " Talcott 's Ferry," 
 in the township of Zuma, which he conducted from 
 that side of the river until 1857, when he crossed 
 the river into Hanna Township. He was a resident 
 there about 20 years, his death occurring Feb. 9, 
 1876. 
 
 He was born in Fairfield, Herkimer Co., N. Y., 
 March 15, 1804. The family of which he was a 
 descendant was prominent in New England, where 
 his immediate ancestors originated and whence his 
 father removed to the Empire State. 
 
 Mr. Talcott was married to Jane M. Thayer, at 
 Rome, in Herkimer County, Aug. 15, 1823. They 
 went to the State of Ohio to seek wider privileges in 
 a new region, and in May, 1839, located, as has been 
 stated, in the township of Hampton, in Rock Island 
 County. In 1844 he bought a farm in Zuma Town- 
 ship and became prominent in his relations to the 
 community of the county through the interest he 
 took in the development and progress of the affairs 
 of Western Illinois. He was given to experiments 
 in agriculture, and his fruit orchard was a model in 
 variety and was a proof of the possibilities in that 
 line on the course of the river. After his removal to 
 Henry County he was the same in his interest in the 
 general welfare. He served as Justice of the Peace 
 a number of years. Up to the time of his death his 
 habits were those of an industrious and useful citi- 
 zen. He was a man of most correct morals and was 
 
 never addicted to the use of intoxicants or of to- 
 bacco. 
 
 His first wife, to whom he was married in the 
 State of New York, bore him five children. Dr. 
 Edwin Talcott, a practicing physician of Spring Hill, 
 Whiteside County, is the oldest ; Electa is deceased ; 
 Dexter is a resident of Sharon, 111. ; Catherine is the 
 widow of M. A. Stickney and lives at Greenfield, 
 Iowa. Mrs. Jane M. Talcott died in Hampton, in 
 April, 1841. Mr. Talcott was married, at Rock 
 Island, Dec. 3, 1841, to Mrs. Minerva Newton. She 
 was the widow of William Newton and was in 
 maiden life Miss Shaw. She was born in the vicin- 
 ity of Stockholm, St. Lawrence Co., N. Y. By her 
 first marriage she was the mother of a son, — Horatio, 
 who died when eight years old. To Mr. Talcott 
 she bore three children : William H. married Martha 
 Edwards and is a resident of the State of Nebraska ; 
 Lucy is the wife of Henry L. Angell, of Geneseo, 
 who is represented in this work; Mary M. is the 
 wife of F. R. Timmerman, of Spring Hill, Whiteside 
 Co., 111. 
 
 ^#n£-*es 
 
 9 
 
 o 
 
 1 
 
 ra 
 
 u ^ 
 
 euben McFarland, general farmer and 
 stock-raiser, section r, Andover Township 
 was born in Coshocton Co., Ohio, Oct. 
 15, 1826. His father, John, Ja farmer, and 
 his mother, nee Hannah Fowles, were natives 
 of Pennsylvania, and were married at Mifflin, 
 Lancaster Co., Pa. After the birth of one child, — 
 Elizabeth, now deceased, — they removed to Ohio, 
 and resided there until T853, when the family, then 
 consisting of three children, emigrated westward. 
 
 Two sons came to this county and settled at Cam- 
 bridge, but Reuben, who had previously married, 
 went to Louisa Co., Iowa, and located near Black 
 Hawk. After a short residence there, he came here 
 and purchased a house and lot in Cambridge, and 
 for a year followed the trade of carpenter, which he 
 had learned when a young man, in Holmes Co., 
 Ohio. The first farm owned by Mr. McFarland was 
 a tract of 80 acres in Osco Township, this county, 
 which he purchased about 1856. After following 
 farming there until r88r, he sold out and settled /[> 
 upon a farm of 78 acres where he at present resides, 
 and which he had bought; before his'removal there. 
 
 :s >^ — @^^u ran f>^& — =*€^ 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 423 
 
 =3 
 
 > 
 (!) 
 
 He is a progressive, enterprising and industrious ag- 
 riculturist. In his politics he is decisively indenti- 
 fied with the Democratic party, is influential in his 
 political opinions, and as a citizen every way. He 
 and his family are zealous members of the Christian 
 Church. 
 
 Mr. McFarland celebrated his marriage in Holmes 
 Co., Ohio, to which place his parents had moved 
 when he was but a boy. Dec. 20, 1849, he wedded 
 Miss Sarah Sheldon, who was born Feb. 18, 1830, at 
 Zanesville, Ohio. Her father, Thomas Sheldon, was 
 a native of the State of New York, and his mother, 
 nee Huldah Tharp, was born in New Jersey. Her 
 parents were married in the latter State, and after- 
 ward settled on a farm in Holmes Co., Ohio, where 
 her mother died in 1854; and her father died in 
 Hardin Co., Iowa, in 1872. Mr. and Mrs. McF. 
 have had 14 children, half of whom are now dead. 
 The living are John E. (married), William I., 
 Thomas, Reuben E., Emery W., Hayden and Her- 
 bert L. William and Thomas completed their edu- 
 cation at the commercial schools at Davenport, la. 
 The names of the deceased are Loretta, Flora R., 
 Hannah, Sarah (who died after her marriage), Frank, 
 Minnie B. and Burtie. 
 
 ^£ 
 
 ^ i m y *A*~ 
 
 illiam G. Hawkins, a retired farmer and 
 dealer in stoGk at Geneseo, was born in 
 Providence Co., R. I., Dec. 15, 1827. His 
 parents, Stephen and Abbie (Walden) Haw- 
 kins, are natives of the same State and are 
 still living, aged respectively 93 and 85. The 
 families of both are remarkable for tenacity of life. 
 
 Mr. Hawkins was reared to manhood and to an 
 age when he entered upon the course of active busi- 
 ness life, in his native town, and he became inter- 
 ested in the dairy line of farming. He was married 
 there to Mercy M. Wilcox. She is the daughter of 
 parents who were both born in that State, and were 
 of English extraction by birth. Their names were 
 John and Sarah (Whitford) Wilcox. 
 
 In March, 1859, Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins came to 
 Illinois and located in McLean County. There Mr. 
 Hawkins engaged extensively in agriculture until 
 1866, the year of his removal to Henry County. 
 During their residence there one child was born to 
 
 them, who died in infancy. He was named Byron. 
 Mr. Hawkins has extended his agricultural relations 
 until he is the owner of three farms in Champaign 
 County, which comprise 600 acres, all being under 
 advanced cultivation. He has besides 160 acres of 
 valuable land in Lancaster County, near the city of 
 Lincoln, Neb. Since his removal to Geneseo, he 
 has conducted a prosperous business in the sale of 
 agricultural implements and in traffic in stock. 
 
 In the early days of his political connection, he 
 was a Whig, but he cherished Free-Soil principles 
 and became a Republican when that party was 
 organized. He has filled the office of Alderman at 
 Geneseo two years. 
 
 yron H. Dilenbeck, a farmer of Edford 
 Township, has been a resident of Henry 
 County since 1855, a period of exactly 30 
 years. He is a prosperous farmer and a 
 useful citizen. He was born in Le Ray, Jeffer- 
 son Co., N. Y., March 6, 1840, and is the sec- 
 ond son of Abraham and Barbara (Petre) Dilenbeck. 
 He passed his youth after the manner in which the 
 children of farmers commonly do, attending school 
 and in rendering such assistance as he could on the 
 farm. The family came to Henry County in 1855, 
 and he was an inmate of the paternal home until he 
 became the head of a household himself. 
 
 His marriage to Sarah C. Spickler took place in 
 January, 1864. She was born in the city of Lancas- 
 ter, Pa., April 26, 1843. After the i r marriage they 
 located on the old homestead, which was situated on 
 the southwest quarter of section 15, in Edford Town- 
 ship. A few weeks later Mr. Dilenbeck sold his 
 family estate and bought the northeast quarter of 
 section 23, which he owned and occupied until 1878. 
 In that year he again sold and purchased the south- 
 east quarter of the same section, on which he lived 
 until 1 88 1. He then rented the place and bought a 
 home in the city of Geneseo. He removed there in 
 the same year and was a resident for three years. In 
 1884 he returned to the farm, and has since con- 
 tinued its management. The place is in creditable 
 condition and well supplied with farm appurten- 
 ances. 
 
 Mr. Dilenbeck entered the military service of the 
 
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 :: 
 
 
 
 -»©«: e^ll I® U II^A©- 
 

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 ^c^k — ^v^nnsnii^ 
 
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 i) 
 
 * 
 
 
 424 
 
 HENRY COUNTY 
 
 United States in the first year of the Civil War. He 
 enlisted in Co. I, 112th Reg. 111. Vol. Inf., and was 
 in the field about nine months. At the end of that 
 time he was discharged on account of disability and 
 returned to his home. 
 
 He is an advocate of " temperance," having re- 
 frained from the use of spirituous liquors and tobacco 
 all his life. 
 
 To him and his wife three children have been 
 born, who are named Albert C, Elvine F. and Minnie 
 V. The parents are members of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church. 
 
 
 eonard Sieben, Assessor of Phenix Town- 
 ship, is a resident on section 28, of the 
 same township. He was born in Hesse- 
 ~j£ Darmstadt, Germany, Feb. 15, 1844. His pa- 
 1 ^ rents, Joseph and Aboline Sieben, were also born 
 { in the same part of "Das Faderland." In 1852 
 the family removed to the United States, and the 
 father made a location at first in Whiteside County. 
 There they lived as renters until the death of the 
 father. That event occurred Jan. 1, 1859. The 
 death of the mother took place in Chicago a few 
 months after coming to this country. Joseph Sieben 
 was married again after the death of his first wife, and 
 of the second marriage there was one child born. 
 The first wife was the mother of seven children, all 
 of whom are now living and are located as follows : 
 John, the oldest, is a citizen of Loraine Township; 
 Teresa is the wife of Henry H. Hamman, of Osco 
 Township; Valentine is represented by a sketch in 
 another part of this volume ; Margaret is the wife of 
 George Arnett, of whom a biographical notice is 
 given elsewhere; Leonard is the next in order of 
 birth; Henry lives in Montana; Jacob also resides in 
 that Territory. 
 
 Mr. Sieben was a lad of T3 when his father died, 
 and he was under the necessity of undertaking the 
 settlement of the question of taking care of himself 
 without aid, either in the merits of the problem or in 
 the fact that presented itself with convincing force. 
 He first obtained employment as a farm assistant in 
 the vicinity where he had lived, but he was occupied 
 there only a brief period. In 1864 he set out for the 
 territories, and he went to that part of Idaho which I 
 
 is now named Montana. In company with three 
 others he made the journey to the distant West over- 
 land, and they traveled there in three months and 
 seven days, landing at Virginia City. 
 
 He was first employed as a teamster and followed 
 that occupation until the spring of 1866. He then 
 bought a team and engaged in freighting goods be- 
 tween Fort Benton and Virginia City, to the city of 
 Helena and to other towns in the interior which 
 were then the sites of the mining camps. He oper- 
 ated in that line of business until the spring of 1870, 
 when he went to Utah and there bought a herd of 
 young cattle which he drove to Montana to sell. He 
 devoted three years to the prosecution of that busi- 
 ness and at the end of that time he settled in 
 Meagher County, in Montana Territory, where he 
 lived on a stock ranch until the fall of 1879. He 
 then sold out and returned to the East, and soon 
 after, in January, 1880, he bought a farm on section 
 28 in Phenix Township. This has since' been his 
 home and his field of operation as a farmer. He has 
 improved the place and all its appurtenances and has 
 one of the most desirable places in the township. 
 Mr. Sieben affords a good illustration of what a life 
 devoted to worthy effort may bring forth. With 
 nothing to aid him but a determination to make good 
 use of his time in taking advantage of the opportuni- 
 ties afforded in a free land, where his privileges were 
 not restricted beyond those of any other class, he has 
 made his way to a position, not only of comfort and 
 ease, but to one of confidence and trust in the gift of 
 his fellow-citizens. He was elected to the office of 
 Assessor in 1884. 
 
 April 9, 1878, he was married to Sarah, daughter 
 of Henry and Susan (Henney) Hines. She was born 
 in the township where she now lives. To her and 
 her husband four children have been born, and they 
 are named as follows : Olive, Sylvia, Ira and Erie. 
 
 L r. Wilson W. Adams, a rising practitioner 
 
 of Henry County, resident at Atkinson, 
 
 commenced his business career in the 
 
 .■p place where he is now operating in 1883. 
 
 ^ He is a native of the Dominion of Canada, and 
 
 was born near the city of Kingston, Nov. 16, 
 
 1853. His parents, George C. and Harriet R. 
 
 (Johnson) Adams came, when he was an infant of , 
 
 6 
 
 < 
 
 «*A 
 
 ?SA43- 
 
-6V^B U@n D&^ — s4$^ 
 
 -«8» 
 
 @* 
 
 
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 (|* 
 
 «(• 
 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 425 
 
 
 two years, to the States. His father was born in 
 the Stat-i of New York, Jan. 31, 1826, and went to 
 Canada when but a child. He was there engaged 
 in the business of farming, and was married in 1848. 
 The lady who became his wife was also a native of 
 the Empire State. They had three children : Maria 
 E. was born in 1850; the subject of this sketch is 
 the second child in order of birth; George P. was 
 born in August, i860. 
 
 The family came to Henry County in 1855, and 
 Dr. Adams commenced the acquisition of his ele- 
 mentary education in the common schools of the 
 place where his parents settled. He passed the in- 
 tervals of school in farm labor. In 1873 he was 
 sent to the college located in the town of Abingdon, 
 111. He began teaching in 1872, and taught only 
 winters during the period of eight years, meanwhile 
 obtaining a slight knowledge of the principles of his 
 profession by desultory reading. About 1880 he 
 entered Rush Medical College at Chicago, where he 
 passed three years in study. On the completion of 
 his course he settled at Atkinson, and began the 
 practice of the business for which he had fitted him- 
 self. He is the owner of an excellent library and 
 has a good office. He is an adherent of the school 
 of allopathy, and is sure to obtain prominence as a 
 physician. He is a Republican in his political senti- 
 ments. 
 
 The marriage of Dr. Adams to Jennie M. Holli- 
 day occurred Dec. 26, 1877. They were married in 
 Mercer Co., 111. Mrs. Adams is a native of Illinois. 
 They are still childless. 
 
 
 * -«- * 
 
 'oseph Hammond, of Geneseo, became a 
 prominent resident of Henry County in 
 1856. He made his first acquaintance 
 with Western Illinois in 1854, when he came 
 iC to this county and, associated with his brother, 
 he bought 1,800 acres of land within its limits. 
 The railroad was completed to the place that year, 
 and the outlook of the adjacent region was favorable 
 to business projects. On the incorporation of Gen- 
 eseo, he was made one of its first Board of Aldermen, 
 and he was the second Mayor, serving consecutively 
 three years. He has since officiated as Alderman 
 several terms. He acted in the capacity of Chair- 
 
 !rV®>)^# 
 
 man of the Board of Village Trustees two years be- 
 fore the organization of the city. He has also been 
 active in school affairs and has been School Trustee 
 several years. 
 
 Mr. Hammond was born July 9, 18 12, in Wards- 
 boro, Windham Co., Vt., and is the son of Peter and 
 Charlotte (Holbrook) Hammond. His father was in 
 some respects the most remarkable individual in the 
 history of Geneseo, and a detailed sketch of him has 
 been placed on permanent record on these pages. 
 
 Mr. Hammond was a millwright and machinist in 
 his native State, and afier he came to Geneseo he 
 devoted himself to the pursuit of a gunsmith. At 
 that date an artisan of that craft was in demand for 
 obvious reasons, and he made his business success- 
 ful and prosperous. 
 
 His marriage to Polly Converse took place at 
 Wardsboro, Vt., Jan. 23, 1834. Mrs. Hammond is 
 the daughter of Joseph Converse, and she was born 
 at Palmer, Mass. John Hammond, the only child 
 born to Mr. and Mrs. Hammond, is a citizen of 
 Geneseo. The parents are Unitarians in religious 
 views. 
 
 Hr. Hammond was in the days of his early polit- 
 ical preference a Henry Clay Whig, but on the es- 
 tablishment of the Republican party he joined its 
 ranks and has since been a faithful adherent of 
 that element and aided as he could in support of its 
 issues. He is a member of the Order of Masonry. 
 
 
 
 ■ acob Jacobson, deceased, formerly a resi- 
 " dent of Weller Township, this county, was 
 a native of Sweden, in which country he 
 was born March 18, 1817. Mr. Jacobson 
 spent his life on a farm in his native country 
 until he attained the age of 29 years. He 
 emigrated to this land of golden opportunity in 1846, 
 and came directly to this county, locating at Bishop 
 Hill. They came to the latter place from Chicago 
 with teams, the women of the company riding, Mr. 
 J. walking the entire distance. A Swedish colony 
 was located at the place named, which Mr. Jacobson 
 and family joined, and with whom they remained 
 until its dissolution. Mr. Jacobson then engaged in 
 general mercantile business with Swan Swanson, 
 
 1 
 
-■■A 
 
 
 426 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
 > 
 
 > 
 
 which partnership existed until 1873, when they 
 sold out. 
 
 In 1872 Mr. Jacobson was stricken with paralysis, 
 from which he never fully recovered. He owned 
 about 300 acres of land at the time of his death, the 
 major portion of which was in an advanced state of 
 cultivation. Mr. Jacobson's marriage occurred at 
 Bishop Hill, this county, July 29, 1848, and the 
 lady chosen as his helpmeet through life was Miss 
 Helena Peterson, a native of Sweden, who came to 
 this county and located at Bishop Hill at the same 
 time Mr. Jacobson did. Their union was blessed 
 with four children, only one of whom survived, — 
 Jacob Jacobson, Jr. The demise of the three others 
 occurred in infancy. 
 
 Mr. Jacobson was a member of the Methodist 
 Church, of which denomination his wife is also a 
 member. Politically, Mr. J. affiliates with the Re- 
 publican party. He was Supervisor of his township, 
 also Constable, and held other minor offices. His 
 death occurred Dec. 15, T883. His wife survives 
 him, and resides on Weller Township. 
 
 esse Bolles, a manufacturer of boots and 
 f shoes at Orion and a Trustee of the vil- 
 lage, was born in Thompson, Windham 
 Co., Conn. His father, Dan Bolles, was a 
 native of the same township, of New England 
 ancestry and parentage, and of English de- 
 scent. Jesse's grandfather, same name, was a native 
 also of the " land of steady habits," was a shoemaker 
 by vocation, and married, in that State, Hannah 
 Nichols, a native of New England. They were con- 
 siderably advanced in life when they settled in 
 Thompson, Conn., where they passed the remainder 
 of their days ; the grandfather died at the age of 87 
 years, and the grandmother some years previous, at 
 about the same age. The former had occupied the 
 position of Steward at Brown University, in Provi- 
 dence, R. I., and he also was for a time a resident 
 of Woodstock, Conn. 
 
 Mr. Dan Bolles spent his early life at home, and 
 later became a trader in shoes, etc., carrying his 
 goods to the South and selling them to slave-owners. 
 For a short time he was a soldier in the War of 181 2, 
 being located at New London, Conn. His brother 
 
 was for some years a professor in an institution of 
 learning at Charleston, S. C. ' Dan was married in 
 Thompson, Conn., to Pamelia Comins, who was a 
 native of the same county, of New England parentage 
 and ancestry. She died in her native county when 
 about 37 years old, of consumption, and he died 
 when a little more than 70 years old, at Cleveland, 
 Ohio. 
 
 Jesse, whose name heads this biography, is the 
 eldest in a family of three children, the other two 
 being George, who was a sailor and was lost at sea 
 by being blown off the yard arm of the ship " Boy " 
 as it was passing around Cape Horn, S. A., and 
 John L., also a sailor, and probably yet living. 
 
 Jesse resided at home, attending the public schools 
 until he was about 16 years of age, when he began 
 to learn the trade of shoemaker under the instruc- 
 tions and guidance of Alpheus Brown, of Thompson. 
 After serving nearly three years he was married, and 
 two years afterward he went to Providence and there 
 followed his trade successfully from 1835 to 1852; 
 he then emigrated to the wide West, reached La 
 Salle, 111., by railroad and canal-boat, and then started 
 across the country in a " prairie schooner," arriving 
 at Rock Island city, where they made a settlement. 
 Mr. B. followed his trade at that place for some 
 time, when he crosse the river to Davenport, where 
 he worked at shoemaking until 1869, when he re- 
 turned to Rock Island and made his home there 
 until 1875. At that time he came to Orion, this 
 county, and established a shop for the manufacture 
 of shoes, which he has since continued, and has 
 proven to be an honorable and much respected citi- 
 zen of that place. Much of the time since he came 
 West he served as foreman in the larger shops where 
 he worked. 
 
 Mr. Bolles was married at Thompson, Oct. 7, 1833, 
 to Miss Lucinda N. Stanley, who was born in Wind- 
 ham Co., Conn., March 30, 1815. She was the 
 daughter of a Connecticut carpenter, and both her 
 parents died in Massachusetts after her marriage. 
 The family consists of three children, viz. : Elizabeth 
 P., wife of Thomas Duncan, now of Republican City, 
 Neb., and the mother of five children : LeonoraB.,Will- 
 iam E., Jessie B., James and Fred. Jessie was fatally 
 scalded; Edgar married Mary E. Watson, and resides 
 at Chicago; William A. married, Sept. 30, 1869, at 
 Davenport, Iowa, Miss Mary A. Salisbury, who was 
 born in Preston, Lancashire, Eng., Feb. 9, 1848, and 
 
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 came with her parents to the United States when a 
 girl 12 years of age. Her father was a tailor by oc- 
 cupation, and located in Davenport, but now resides 
 at Afton, Union Co., Iowa. Mrs. B., is the mother 
 of one child, Nellie A., who was born April 29, 1871. 
 William A. Bolles, who is at present the editor of 
 the Orion Times, served an apprenticeship at Daven- 
 port on a paper published in that city. He followed 
 his trade in that city until 1873, being n years since 
 he began as an apprentice. At that date he went to 
 Burlington, where he was engaged on the Hawkeye 
 for five years as assistant foreman. In 1877 he 
 came to Orion for the purpose of establishing a pa- 
 per; but, one having been previously started by A. 
 H. Chaffee, called the Orion Videite, he connected 
 himself with it for a short time ; then, in company 
 with his nephew, Nelson J. Ludi, he purchased the 
 paper from Mr. Chaffee and changed its name to the 
 Orion Times. For a time after the purchase and 
 while Mr. Bolles was connected with the Hawkeye, 
 it was run by Mr. Ludi, also during the time of his 
 connection with the Peoria Transcript. In 1883 
 Mr. Bolles became sole proprietor and editor of the 
 journal. He has since placed the Times on a sound 
 financial basis, and has been reasonably successful. 
 It has a good circulation, both at home and in the 
 West, and enjoys a fair advertising patronage. The 
 paper is purely independent in sentiment, although 
 Mr. Bolles is a Democratic of the first water. It is 
 just such a sheet as every person who has an interest 
 in the community should patronize. 
 
 j^orace W. Moses, proprietor of the Maple 
 City Creamery, and also a dealer in prod- 
 uce at that place, has been a citizen of the 
 county since 1869. He was born in Cumber- 
 land Co., Me., Oct. 15, 1839. He is the son 
 of William and Adeline (Harman) Moses. He 
 was reared to the estate of manhood in his native 
 State, and on entering into active life interested him- 
 self in the purchase and sale of produce in the city 
 of Portland in that State. He continued in business 
 there until his removal to Illinois. In the fall of 
 the same year he began buying poultry, and within 
 the first year his sales amounted to tons. Its pres- 
 ent estimate is about 90 tons yearly, in the single 
 
 article of dressed poultry. The aggregate of his 
 business, which is transacted principally in Henry 
 County, is estimated at an average of 425 tons. His 
 principal point of shipment is Boston. His sales 
 amount yearly to about $125,000. Mr. Moses is 
 associated in business with William Rideout, of 
 Chemung, Iowa. In addition to the business of his 
 creamery and that connected with the purchase 
 and sale of produce, he was formerly interested in 
 the manufacture and sale of wooden ware, but he 
 sold his business in that line in 1872. 
 
 The Maple City Creamery was established at 
 Geneseo in 1879, and was the first institution of the 
 kind in Henry County. Mr. Moses was its founder, 
 and he transacted' its relations singly until 1883, 
 when he admitted J. F. Dearborn as a partner. 
 The firm style is Moses & Dearborn. The estab- 
 lishment turns out a yearly product of 125,000 
 pounds of butter annually. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Moses to Nellie Nelson took 
 place at Portland, Me., Jan. 31, 1870. Mrs. Moses 
 was born in Boston, and is the daughter of Samuel 
 Nelson. Their children, three in number, are named 
 Howard N, Harry S. and Drusilla A. Mr. Moses 
 is a Prohibitionist in his principles of social econ- 
 omy. His wife is connected with the Baptist Church 
 in membership. 
 
 ohn Owen, of the firm of Owen & Johnson, 
 general dealers in merchandise at Orion, 
 is a son of Morris and Catharine Owen, 
 the ftther being a native of Wales. The 
 father emigrated to America when he was 24 
 years of age, locating in Indiana Co., Pa., 
 where he was united in marriage to Catharine Ash- 
 croft. They followed the occupation of farming, and 
 were enterprising and well respected citizens in the 
 community in which they resided. Of their union 
 were born n children, of whom our subject was 
 eighth in order of birth. 
 
 John, whose name heads this article, remained 
 under the parental roof-tree until he reached his 
 21st year, in the meantime having received his edu- 
 cation in the public schools of his native county. 
 After he arrived at his majority, he followed the trade 
 of a carpenter, which he learned under no special 
 
 
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 apprenticeship. He came to Illinois in 1854, locat- 
 ing at Orion, and engaged to work at his trade. In 
 1857 he removed to Missouri, where he resided at the 
 breaking out of the Rebellion. He enlisted in the 
 1 8th Mo. Vol. Inf., Oct. 2, i86r ; was captured Sept. 
 T4, 1863, and taken to Richmond, Va. ; served six 
 months in prison ; was exchanged March 21,1864, 
 and joined his regiment at Kenesaw Mountain, Ga., 
 and was finally mustered out at Savannah, Ga., Dec 
 25, 1864. He then came back to Orion, in 1865. 
 
 In 1867 he estab'ished his present business as 
 general merchant, operating it for some lime on his 
 own account, but in T882 formed a partnership, tak- 
 ing his present partner in the business. Mr. Owen 
 is the possessor of considerable property, located in 
 the village, besides his store. 
 
 Politically, Mr. O. is a believer in, and a strong 
 advocate of, the principles adopted by the Republi- 
 can party. 
 
 H. Long, practicing physician and surgeon, 
 residing at Oiion, is a son of Christopher 
 and Elizabeth (Long) Long, natives of In- 
 diana Co., Pa , and of German and Scotch ex- 
 traction. The grandfather of Dr. Long, Wil- 
 liam Long by name, is yet a resident of Indiana" 
 Pa., being 94 years of age. He was born in 
 Bedford County, that State. His wife, grandmother 
 of our subject, was a Stanley, and came from Stan- 
 ley's Green, Scotland. She was the daughter of an 
 old Scotch silk manufacturer, and emigrated to this 
 country when quite young, and died in Indiana 
 County, in the winter of 1863. The parents of the 
 subject of this article always resided in Indiana 
 County, where the mother died March 16, 1884. 
 The father is still a resident of the old homestead in 
 that county, and is about 69 years of age. He has 
 been during his life one of the prominent farmers of 
 that county, and one of her honored and respected 
 citizens. 
 
 Dr. Long, subject of this biographical notice, was 
 reared on his father's farm in Indiana Co., Pa., al- 
 ternating his labors thereon by attending the dis- 
 trict schools, and the academy at Pine Flat, that 
 county, and securing a good preparatory education 
 
 previous to entering medical college. He remained 
 at the parental home until he attained the age of 
 23 years, when, having received a good education 
 as stated, he entered the office of Dr. Thomas Mc- 
 Mullen, of Greenville, his native county, to study 
 under his instructions for the practice of medicine. 
 In the winter of T865-6, he entered the Medical 
 Department of the State University at Ann Arbor, 
 Mich. After six months' study at that place, he, 
 late in the spring of 1866, came to Morn'stown, this 
 county, and entered upon the practice of his pro- 
 fession at that place. In the following fall, 1867, he 
 entered the Jefferson Medical College at Philadel- 
 phia, where, March 5, r868, he graduated with hon- 
 ors. On receiving his diploma, he at once returned 
 to Morristown, where he resumed his practice, which 
 he continued at that place until the fall of r869. 
 Nov. 15, of that year, he came to Orion and entered 
 upon the active practice of his profession. Since 
 that date he has continued to practice at Orion, and 
 by carefully diagnosing his cases, and prompt and 
 skillful attention to the same, he has established a 
 good and increasing practice. He owns two village 
 lots in the city, together with a good residence and 
 office on Bank Street. The Doctor is also the pro- 
 prietor of a farm of 200 acres of improved land, lo- 
 cated on section 22, Western Township. 
 
 Dr. Long entered the state of matrimony May 5, 
 1868, at Swedona, Mercer County, this State, wed- 
 ding Miss Mary L., the accomplished daughter of 
 Edwin and Lucina (Chapin) Jordan, formerly of 
 Vermont and Maine, and of New England parentage. 
 Her parents settled in Wisconsin, where her father 
 followed the vocation of a farmer in Green, Lake 
 County, and where Mrs. Long was born, March 22, 
 1849. Her father was a native of Bangor, Me., and 
 both parents are deceased. Mrs.~Long came to 
 Rock Island County, and received a good education 
 in the public schools. She is the mother of four 
 children by Dr. Long, — Judson H., born Feb. 15, 
 1870; Mabel L., Oct. 4, 1872 ; Edwin L. and Edgar 
 H. (twins), born July 31, r878. Dr. Long is a mem- 
 ber of the A. F. & A. M., and also the I. O. O. F. 
 He is Treasurer of the Masonic Lodge, No. 535, lo- 
 lated at Orion, and is also President of the Board of 
 Health of the village of Orion. He and his wife are 
 members of the First Baptist Church. Politically, 
 Dr. Long is a believer in, and a successful advocate 
 of, the principles adopted by the Republican party. 
 
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 eander Woodruff, who is engaged in agri- 
 cultural pursuits and the raising of live 
 stock on section 1, Andover Township, is a 
 son of Amos Woodruff, who was a native of 
 New Jersey, of New England parentage, and 
 emigrated to Knox County, Ohio, and was mar- 
 ried in 1837 to Miss Mary E. While, a native of 
 Pennsylvania and of Pennsylvania-German ancestry* 
 He died in 1841, and his widow in 1854 married Ira 
 Parker, and in 1852 emigrated West, settling in 
 Burns Township, this county, where she died March 
 13, 1855, aged about 37 years, and where Mr. Parker 
 is still living, a prominent farmer. 
 
 Mr. Woodruff, whose name heads this biograph- 
 ical sketch, was born June 14, 1839, in Knox County, 
 Ohio, and after the death of his father he continued 
 to live with his mother until her death in this county, 
 as above mentioned. He is the elder of two chil 
 dren by his mother's first marriage. He then set out 
 in the world to earn his livelihood and take charge 
 of his own interests. He commenced as a general 
 laborer and was thus engaged until he enlisted in the 
 war for the cause of the Union. He became a mem- 
 ber of Co. D, ri2th Regt. 111. Vol. Inf., under Capt. 
 A. A. Dunn, of Cambridge, Aug. 9, 1862. He at 
 once went to the front, and during his term of ser- 
 vice he participated in the battle of Knoxville and in 
 the Tennessee campaign. He escaped being wounded 
 or taken prisoner and was honorably discharged at 
 the close of the war and after the expiration of his 
 term of service, of nearly three years, June 20, 1865, 
 at Greensborough, N. C. 
 
 Returning to this county, -he at once began farm- 
 ing, in which pursuit he has been successfully en- 
 gaged. He lived in Burns Township until 1877, 
 when he moved upon a farm of 300 acres on section 
 2, Andover Township, and after five years' residence 
 there he removed to section 1, upon the Rockwell 
 farm, where he is now a resident. 
 
 Aug. 14, 1862, five days after he enlisted in the 
 war, Mr. Woodruff was united in matrimony, in 
 Burns Township, this county, with Miss Rebecca M. 
 Rishel, who was born in Light Street, Columbia Co., 
 Pa., May 30, 1845, the daughter of a dentist by the 
 name of Jacob Rishel. The latter married Sarah A. 
 Kester, who now resides near Cambridge, this county. 
 S^pC Qy^fift 
 
 Mrs. R. lived with her parents in her native Slate 
 until 16 years old, when she came with them to Burns 
 Township, above mentioned, where she resided until 
 her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. W. are the parents of 
 two children, namely: Eva L., born Aug. 13, 1868, 
 and Albert Burtis, born Aug. 28, 1872, died June 8, 
 1874. 
 
 Mr. Woodruff is a Republican in his political doc- 
 trines, and his wife is a member of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church. 
 
 John C. Woodruff, brother of the above, was killed 
 at Jackson, Miss., by the bursting of a shell, while 
 he was fighting for the cause of his country in the 3d 
 Iowa Inf. He was with his regiment through the 
 whole siege of Vicksburg, and eight days after the 
 surrender of that place, July 12, 1863, his birthday, 
 he was killed, being then just 23 years of age. His 
 rank was that of Orderly Sergeant. He was buried 
 near by, at a place which cannot now be traced, as 
 no monument or other sign has ever been placed 
 upon the grave of this hero. 
 
 
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 j^ugh W. Pritchard, a well-to-do farmer of 
 Alba Township, located on section 29, is 
 the son of Henry Pritchard, who was born 
 in the County Down, Ireland, in the year 1816. 
 He was there married June 16, 1836, to Mary 
 Warnock, and their union was blessed with four 
 sons, who were born as follows: William, Sept. 26, 
 1837 ; James I., March 5, 1839; Samuel, Feb. 18, 
 1841; Henry, March 27, 1843. The mother died 
 April 14, 1845, and Mr. Pritchard was again married 
 in September following to Mary Boyd. Their chil- 
 dren numbered seven: Alexander was born Oct. 15, 
 1846; Alice June 3,1848; Robert L., Dec. n, 1849; 
 Hugh W. Oct. 6, 185 1 ; Mary J., July 15, 1853; Sa- 
 rah, July 7, 1-856. In 1856 the family emigrated to 
 the United States, and came direct to Henry County, 
 where the father purchased 160 acres of land on 
 sections 29 and 32, and where he passed the re- 
 mainder of his life, dying March 4, 1885. The 
 death of his second wife occurred April 14, 1881. 
 
 Mr. Pritchard was a lad of 13 when he crossed 
 the ocean to his home in the United States, and he 
 has since been a faithful adherent of the land which 
 has since given him the privileges of unrestricted 
 
 
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 citizenship. He is a Republican, and has supported 
 the issues of that political element since he secured 
 the right to express his preference according to the 
 forms prescribed by the laws. 
 
 He was married Feb. 7, 1883, to Augusta S. G. 
 McCracken, and they have one daughter, Maud I., 
 born Jan. 3, 1884. James and Eliza McCracken, 
 the parents of Mrs. Pritchard are both natives of 
 the County Down, Ireland. Her father was born in 
 1808; he was married to his wife there in 1831. 
 Their children are five in number, — John, Agnes, 
 Lizzie, Mary and Augusta. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Pritchard are members of the Con- 
 gregational Church. Mr. Pritchard is the owner of 
 a half interest in an undivided tract of land con- 
 taining 920 acres, all lying in the township of Alba. 
 He is extensively interested in rearing Durham 
 Short-hoin cattle, and in breeding Clydesdale, Nor- 
 man and English Draft horses. He exhibits fine 
 droves of Poland-China swine. 
 
 Four-fifths of the place is fenced with hedges and 
 the remainder with wire, and with three, four and 
 five board fences. It includes 22 fields, which are 
 watered by Green River and the creeks by which 
 they are traversed. There are 995 rods of tile ditch. 
 At convenient locations there are five wells and 
 three windmills. On the farm are two excellent 
 orchards and two gardens. 
 
 ijienry L. Angell, a resident of Geneseo, is 
 'is considered one of the model farmers of 
 Henry County. He is the owner of 300 
 acres of land, which lies in this and in Rock 
 Island counties. The entire tract is in a con- 
 dition which reflects the utmost credit on the 
 skill, industry and judgment of the proprietor. 
 
 Mr. Angell was born Sept. 27, 1836, in South Cor- 
 inth, Saratoga Co., N. Y., and is the son of Tames 
 and Sally Hodges (Lincoln) Angell. His father was 
 one of the leading agriculturists of that section, and 
 the son was trained in a complete knowledge of all 
 farming relations, which he brought to bear on the 
 prairies with the most satisfactory results. He came 
 to Illinois while he was still in his early manhood, 
 and was married to Lucy Talcott, at Port Byron, 
 July 2, 18 — . She was born in the township of 
 
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 Zuma, in that county, Oct. 16, 1847, and is the 
 daughter of Asel H. Talcott. A detailed sketch of 
 the father of Mrs. Angell forms a portion of these 
 records, and are to be found on another page. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Angell were occupants of the home- 
 stead of her father, in the township of Zuma, until 
 their removal, in July, 1883, to Geneseo Township. 
 
 They have ten children, — two sons and eight 
 daughters. Six are still living. A pair of twin chil- 
 dren, who were born third in order of birth, died in 
 infancy. Florence T., Jessie L., Edward S., Ber- 
 nice (drowned at the age of two), Judd S. (died in 
 infancy). Myrtle L., Vivia M. and Eva L. are the 
 names of those living. 
 
 Mr. Angell is a Republican in political relations, 
 and is foremost in his practice and advocacy of the 
 principles of temperance and morality. 
 
 >j|'l|j( ndrew Peterson, residing on section 4, 
 Lynn Township, where he is engaged in 
 18 the occupation of farming, was born in 
 Linkoping Lan, Sweden, Dec. 20, 1827, of 
 which country his parents were both natives, 
 and where they followed farming until their 
 death, which occurred when Andrew was about 8 
 years old. 
 
 From the time of his parents' death Andrew lived 
 among strangers, working around for a living. At 
 24 years of age he emigrated to the United States, 
 and after stopping a short time at Andover he went 
 to Knox County, this State, where he remained for a 
 time, following different occupations, and then came 
 to this county. He was -united in marriage April 1, 
 1854, in Andover, this State, with Christina M. 
 Anderson, a native of Sweden, where she was born 
 Sept. 16, 1826. Her parents died when she was a 
 young lady, and she afterward emigrated to this 
 country with her brother, in 1849, two years prior 
 to the emigration of Mr. Peterson. She located 
 with friends in Andover, this county, where she con- 
 tinued to reside until her marriage to Mr. Peterson. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Peterson were the parents of eight 
 children, five sons and three daughters : three sons 
 and one daughter are deceased ; Mary E. married 
 William Gabrielson, and they now reside in Lynn 
 Township, where he is engaged in farming ; Joseph^ 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 ine resideswith her parents, as likewise do John E. 
 and Henry H. 
 
 The first purchase of land which Mr. Peterson 
 made in this county was in 1853, and consisted of 
 26 acres of unbroken prairie, where he at present 
 resides. By energetic effort, good judgment and 
 economy he succeeded in accumulating sufficient to 
 purchase 290 acres additional, and at present is the 
 proprietor of 316 acres of land, the major portion of 
 which is under an advanced state of cultivation. 
 His residence and outbuildings are good and sub- 
 stantial, being comparatively new and well built, and 
 his farm presents the appearance of thrift and labor. 
 His family are members of the Evangelical Lutheran 
 Swedish Church at Orion, in which denomination 
 Mr. Peterson has held the position of Trustee and 
 Treasurer for several years. 
 
 Mr. Peterson has held the rrlinor offices of his 
 township, Commissioner of Highways, etc., and 
 politically, is a believer in and a supporter of the 
 principles advocated by the Republican party. 
 
 *4 
 
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 smyn B. Gilbert, a farmer of Edford 
 Township, has been a resident of Henry 
 County since 1845. He was born in the 
 town of Italy, Ontario Co., N. Y., Dec. 12, 
 1828. Joseph O. Gilbert, his father, was born 
 in Bristol, in the same county. He was con- 
 verted in early life and joined the Baptist Church. 
 He fitted himself for the duties of a ministerial life, 
 and was licensed to preach in Jamestown, in his na- 
 tive county. His wife, the mother of Mr. Gilbert 
 of this narration, was named Speedy M. Tayler pre- 
 vious to her marriage. She was born in the town of 
 Middlesex, in a part of the county of Ontario, now 
 included in the county of Yates. She was born 
 Aug. 24, r8io. Her father was a native of Connect- 
 icut, and her mother was born in Massachusetts. 
 They were pioneers of Ontario County. 
 
 The parents of Mr. Gilbert removed when he was 
 a child of about two years to Mt. Morris in the same 
 county, and a year later they went to Chautauqua 
 County, in the State of New York, and were resident 
 there two years. In 1833 they went to the State of 
 Michigan, and settled near the present site of Man- 
 chester, in Washtenaw County. They were the very 
 
 first settlers in that neighborhood, and were 18 miles 
 distant from any white settlers. Indians and wild 
 game were abundant. The first home there was a 
 log cabin of the smallest dimensions possible for 
 their accommodation, and as soon as possible the 
 father built a hewed-log house of a quality to make 
 ample amends for all former inconvenience. After 
 the transfer of his interests to Michigan, the senior 
 Gilbert changed his religious views and joined the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he became a 
 preacher. The family remained in the Peninsular 
 State until the year named as that in which they re- 
 moved to Henry County — 1845. 
 
 The first winter was passed in Cambridge, and in 
 the following year they located in the town of Colo- 
 na. After a residence there of 12 years, they went 
 to Edford Township, and there bought a farm on sec- 
 tion 18. Soon after fixing his residence in Edford 
 Township, Mr. Gilbert was called to the Pastorship 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Rock Island. 
 Later he filled the charge of Pastor of the Church'in 
 Moline. He held the position in both places as long 
 as the rules of the Church permitted, and afterwards 
 preached in various places. At the time of his death, 
 which transpired Feb. 14, 1863, he lived at Kewa- 
 nee. His widow still survives him, and she lives 
 with her son. 
 
 The latter lived with his parents until his father 
 became Pastor of the Church in Rock Island, and then 
 took charge of the farm. Later, he bought land ad- 
 joining, on section 17, and he has continued his op- 
 erations as an agriculturist until he takes rank with 
 the leading farmers in Henry County. His estate 
 now contains 320 acres of land, and he has a dairy 
 of considerable dimensions, which business he is 
 prosecuting with reasonable success. In 1878 Mr. 
 Gilbert purchased an interest in the Green River 
 Cheese Factory, and in T884 he became the sole 
 proprietor. The capacity of the enterprise is ar- 
 ranged for the use of the milk of nearly 300 cows, 
 and the product finds ready market in the cities 
 which are within easy reach. 
 
 Mr. Gilbert has been twice married. Elizabeth 
 Bartlett became his wife, in September, 1848. She 
 was a native of Chemung Co., N. Y., and her death 
 occurred May 20, 1863. She had borne six children. 
 Four are now living, viz. : Mariam is the wife of 
 Palmer Stafford, of Colona Township; Mortimer 
 lives in Richardson Co., Neb. ; Addie is the wife ot 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 D. P. Allen, and they are residents of Carroll Co., 
 Iowa; Joseph E. lives in Richardson Co., Neb. 
 July 20, 1864, Mr. Gilbert contracted a second mar- 
 riage, with Fannie Grant. She is a native of Henry- 
 County, and was the daughter of Michael and Jane 
 (Dack) Grant. Her parents were pioneers of this 
 county. Osman A., May, Fannie E., Charles G. and 
 Jessie H. C. are the names of the children of the 
 second marriage. 
 
 -~3- 
 
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 ames Warnock, resident on section 33, 
 Alba Township, came to Henry County in 
 the spring of 1873. He was born in Ire- 
 land, in County Down, March 26, 1834. His 
 parents were natives of the " Green Isle " also, 
 and came with their son to the United States 
 in 1848 and landed at the port of New York. James 
 Warnock proceeded thence to Philadelphia, Pa., and 
 was a resident of that State until 1855. He was a 
 painter by trade and he pursued that business while 
 he continued in the Keystone State. The years 
 1855 and 1856 he passed in the city of Chicago, 
 where he was similarly occupied. In the fall of 
 1857 he went to New Orleans and also remained 
 until the latter part of the following year. In 1858 
 he came back to Pennsylvania and remained in the 
 Quaker City until he entered the military service of 
 the Government of the United States. 
 
 He enlisted April 26, 1861, under the first call for 
 troops, in the 29th Pa. Vol. Inf., and was mustered 
 in July 4, following. The regiment was ordered to 
 Harper's Ferry. The first battle in which Mr. War- 
 nock was a participant was the hard-fought field of 
 Antietam, and afterwards the command was assigned 
 to the Corps of General Banks, and took part in the 
 fight at Winchester and in the three-days contest at 
 Chanc"ellorsville. The next engagement was at 
 Gettysburg, where the brigade to which his regiment 
 belonged was commanded by General Kane. Mr. 
 Warnock has never recovered from the effects of 
 wounds received at the battle of Chancellorsville. 
 He was in the actions at Lookout Mountain and at 
 Wahatchee, in Tennessee. He also fought at Mis- 
 sion Ridge and at Ringgold, Ga. He held the rank 
 of Sergeant Major when he .went into the action at 
 Gettysburg, and was there promoted to that of 
 
 
 Second Lieutenant. In the engagement there he 
 was in the thickest of the fight, and came out with 
 clothing pierced with bullets. In 1864 he resigned 
 his commission and returned to his home after a 
 military service of three years. He continued in the 
 city of Philadelphia until the 30th day of March, 
 1873, when he came, as has been stated, to Henry 
 County. He bought 120 acres of land in the town- 
 ship of Alba, on which he has since founded a home. 
 Mr. Warnock is following the trade of a painter in 
 connection with his business as a farmer. In the 
 latter he is successful, and has a fine assortment of 
 graded stock. He is the present Supervisor of Alba 
 Township, and is serving as School Director, in 
 which latter capacity he has operated six years con- 
 secutively. He is the Past Commander of Post T. 
 T. Dow, G. A. R., located at Annawan. 
 
 He was united in marriage to Miss Sarah B. More- 
 land, Sept. 14, 1859, and they have had five children, 
 viz.: Mary Ann was born June 23, i860; James, 
 Feb. n, 1862 ; Hugh, Oct. 9, 1864; Sarah, Feb. 15, 
 1868; Jane E., April 5, 1875. The oldest child 
 died when seven months old. Mrs. Warnock was 
 born March 1, 1837, in County Down, Ireland. Mr. 
 Warnock is a Republican and is a member of the 
 Congregational Church. Postoffice, Annawan. 
 
 *»■ 
 
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 |nton Becht, a wagon-maker and general 
 blacksmith at Colona, was born in Hohen- 
 gp 65 zollern, Germany, Nov. 30, 1830. He is 
 the son of Anton and Catherine (Hinger) 
 Becht, who were both natives of the same 
 Prussian State.. 
 Mr. Becht passed through the routine prescribed 
 by the laws of his native country for the manage- 
 ment of the youth of the land, and attended school 
 from the age of six to fourteen years. He was then 
 apprenticed to learn the trade to which he has de- 
 voted his life, and he passed between two and three 
 years in the acquisition of a knowledge of. its details. 
 He then passed some time in doing " jour work. 
 He acted in that capacity until 1853, when he left 
 his native land and came to the United States. He 
 left Germany in September, and landed at the port 
 of New York on the nth of November following. 
 He had no difficulty in obtaining employment at his 
 
-^v4>nn®niiy>^ — ^^sr 
 
 4^£<®\ 
 
 (!) 
 
 4? 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 433 
 
 
 trade in the great city, and he remained there three 
 years. He came thence to Davenport, and there 
 operated as a wagon-maker until 1858. In that year 
 he came to Colona, and was engaged in mining one 
 year. In 1859 he came to the village in which he 
 has since resided, and opened the business which he 
 has since continued to prosecute. He is engaged in 
 the manufacture of wagons and sleighs, and main- 
 tains a general repair shop. His business relations 
 are extensive and profitable. 
 
 Mr. Becht was married in the city of New York to 
 Antonia Beck. She was born jin the same province 
 as her husband. Their children are five in number, 
 and was born in the following order : Josephine, 
 Frank, Bertha, John and Polly. The oldest daughter 
 is the widow of Henry Buckholz. Bertha married 
 Charles Pyle, and they live in Colona. 
 
 ^<OC>« 
 
 illiam H. Brawley, of Edford Township, 
 has been a citizen of Henry County since 
 1856. He is the son of John and Eliza- 
 
 % beth (Carr) Brawley, and he was born April 
 22, 1822, in the township of Harrison, Darke 
 
 Co., Ohio. His father was a native of Green- 
 brier Co., Va., and his mother was born in Versail- 
 les, Woodford Co., Ky." Soon after their marriage 
 they settled in Darke County, in the Buckeye State, 
 and were among the earliest of the pioneer settlers 
 there. On their way from Kentucky they passed 
 through Cincinnati, where then stood three log 
 houses. The father bought a considerable tract of 
 timber from the United States Government and pro- 
 ceeded to improve a farm. On this place he passed 
 the remainder of his life. The family passed through 
 the experiences of pioneers whose stories have filled 
 the pages of fiction with tales more interesting than 
 those of the imagination, and which in many in- 
 stances have shared the fate common to the struc- 
 tures of fancy, being too remarkable for credibility. 
 But the Indians were then on the frontiers, and as 
 this period preceded that of the Black Hawk War, 
 the red-skins were still without the bounds of the 
 control which was in force soon after the defeat of 
 the haughty chief named. The senior Brawley was 
 accustomed to take his gun with him to the field 
 where he worked in order to protect himself from the 
 
 crafty and exasperated race who saw a foe in every 
 white man. 
 
 Mr. Brawley spent his minority on the Ohio farm, 
 and obtained his education in the log school-house 
 of that period. The structure was of the most prim- 
 itive kind, a log being left out to admit the light, the 
 aperture being covered with an oiled paper to keep 
 out the wind and let in the light. All his schooling 
 was obtained in the sessions of winter school, his 
 summers being passed in farm labor. 
 
 He was married Jan. r4, 1847, to Permelia, daugh- 
 ter of Ellis and Cerilla (James) Thomas. Her father 
 was born in Virginia and his mother was a native of 
 the District of Columbia. Mrs. Brawley was born in 
 Tyler Co., Va.,May 1, 1828. In the autumn of 1830 
 she accompanied her parents to Darke Co., Ohio, 
 where she was married to Mr. Brawley. Soon after 
 their union they set up housekeeping in Hollensburg 
 in the same county, and Mr. Brawley embarked in a 
 mercantile enterprise in which he was interested one 
 year. Two years subsequent he passed in the call- 
 ing of a hotel-keeper, and he then became interested 
 in the hardware business, which he followed one 
 year. He then assumed the management of the 
 family homestead, and he continued his connection 
 therewith until 1856. He then came to Illinois, and 
 located in the county where he has since operated as 
 an agriculturist. He came here six weeks previous 
 to the removal of his family and bought a claim on 
 section 29, of what Was then town 17, and is now 
 Edford. The entire tract was in a state of nature, 
 and when Mr. Brawley decided that the place was 
 suitable for a location he erected a small frame house 
 for the temporary occupation of his family, in which 
 they lived until their circumstances permitted the 
 enlargement and rebuilding of the little home where 
 the family was contented, if they could not boast of 
 splendor. 
 
 In the same autumn in which he removed to 
 Henry County the proprietor broke a few acres and 
 put in a crop. In 1857 he raised the first full crop 
 in the place, and he also rented the same year 40 
 acres of improved land, on which he raised a crop 
 of wheat. The yield averaged 40 bushels to the 
 acre. He was the owner and occupant of the place 
 until 1876, when he removed his family to Geneseo. 
 He had acquired the ownership of property at that 
 place, and he was a resident of that city until 1884. 
 In that year the family returned to the homestead 
 
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 434 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 in Edford Township. The farm contains 280 acres, 
 and it is all under cultivation. The place is well 
 supplied with all necessary farm buildings and all 
 appurtenances for the well-being of the stock. 
 
 The record of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Braw- 
 ley is as follows: Ellis T. lives in Peoria; Civilla 
 is the wife of Fremont Allford, and they are residents 
 of Indianapolis, Ind. ; Melena married Felix Smith, 
 and they live near Lenox, Taylor Co., Iowa; Cassius 
 M. is at home, as is Florence L. and William H. ; 
 George was born April 27, 1859, and died June 9, 
 1879; he sustained an injury from the kick of a 
 horse, which caused his death ; Mary E. and two 
 children unnamed died in infancy. 
 
 The parents of Mrs. Brawley are still living, and 
 are each 81 years of age. Mr. Brawley is a Re- 
 publican and has been from the foundation of the 
 party. He has no idea of being anything else, 
 whether the party is triumphant or defeated. 
 
 -&©■•- 
 
 ohn Lewis, retired farmer, resident at Gen- 
 '•^ eseo, has been a citizen of Henry County 
 since 1850.. He is a native of Pennsylva- 
 nia, and was born in Indiana Township, in 
 Indiana County, April 17, 1820. His parents, 
 William and Elizabeth (Lydia) Lewis, were na- 
 tives of the Keystone State, and when their son was 
 three years old they effected a removal of their fam- 
 ily and interests to Jackson Co., Ohio. They lo- 
 cated in the township of Richland, and were resi- 
 dents on a farm. 
 
 Mr. Lewis of this sketch was reared on the Ohio 
 farm, and thoroughly instructed in the various details 
 pertaining to agriculture. He was married in that 
 State, to Mary Cozad. She is the daughter of Abram 
 and Charity Cozad, and was born in the same county 
 where her marriage took place. That event was cel- 
 ebrated May 4, 1847. She bore two sons while she 
 and her husband continued to reside in Ohio. After 
 their removal to Illinois, they had eight sons and two 
 daughters. William F. resides in the township of 
 Cornwall; Abraham is also a citizen of the same 
 township, as are Samuel A. and John H. ; Andrew 
 is unmarried, and is a resident of Geneseo ; George 
 W. and Francis M. live in Cornwall ; Charles A. re- 
 sides in the township of Atkinson ; Charity A. is the 
 
 wife of James Fell, who lives in Burns Township ;W 
 Stephen A. and Alfred are unmarried. Albert T. ™ 
 died in infancy, and is the only one deceased. He 
 was a twin with Alfred. Robert and Mary E. are 
 the two younger children. 
 
 Mr. Lewis settled in Cornwall Township on his 
 removal to Henry County. He purchased a tract of 
 land on section 21, where he is still the owner of 400 
 acres, all in the finest possible agricultural condition, 
 as is the case with another farm, which includes 410 
 acres, and lies in the same township, with the excep- , 
 tion of 40 acres. In 1878 Mr. Lewis removed to 
 Geneseo, but still retains the control and personally ' 
 superintends the management of the estate. J 
 
 In former days he was a Democrat in political con- 
 nections, but at present endorses the principles of 
 the National Greenback party. 
 
 harles Baum, an extensive farmer of Col- 
 
 ona Township, was born Feb. 22, 1840, in 
 
 **" ^ Jefferson Co., N. Y., and was eight years 
 
 of age when his parents came to the State of 
 Illinois. John J. Baum, his father, was a 
 pioneer of Henry County and was • born in 
 Herkimer Co., N. Y., June 4, 1805. He went to 
 Jefferson County before he had attained to the estate 
 of manhood, and when he was ready to settle in life 
 he bought a farm in that county. He was its owner 
 and occupant until 1848. In that year he came to 
 Illinois. He had exchanged his land in Jefferson 
 County for prairie in Colona Township, and the lat- 
 ter tract included 127 acres of farming land and 43 
 acres of timber situated on section 2. The property 
 was wholly unfilled and without a house. Mr. Baum 
 built a board house, 12 x 14 feet in dimensions, into 
 which his family moved, and he turned his attention 
 with all possible vigor and energy to the work of 
 placing his land in a state of cultivation. He after- 
 ward made an addition to the house, and it was oc- 
 cupied by the family until their removal to the vil- 
 lage of Colona in 1854. In that year they made the 
 transfer referred to, and the father bought 75 acres 
 adjoining the village plat, on which he erected a 
 large frame house, and it was his home until his 
 death. His decease occurred in December, 1874. 
 He had been successful in all his business opera- 
 tions, and had an estate of more than 500 acres. 
 
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 -4* 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 43S 
 
 His wife before her marriage was Maria Petrie. 
 [She was born Aug. i, 1802, in Herkimer Co., N. Y., 
 ,and died April 9, 1876. Of the eight children born 
 of their union but two are living. Franklin is a resi- 
 dent of Hutchinson Co., Neb., and is engaged in 
 farming. 
 
 Mr. Baum of this sketch grew to manhood in the 
 township of Colona, and he acquired his education 
 in the public schools. The first eventful period of 
 his life "was his marriage, which took place in 1867. 
 rHis wife, who was Miss Angelina Meer before her 
 > marriage, was born in Ohio. At the time of their 
 union in the bonds of matrimony, they settled on 
 l the homestead, and were associated with the parents 
 as long as their lives continued. Three children 
 were born to them, — Harvey, Amos and Ettie. The 
 mother died Dec. 29, 1873, at the age of 26 years. 
 Mr. Baum is the owner of about 500 acres of land, 
 ^ and it is all in first-class agricultural condition. He 
 V ' is largely interested in growing stock. 
 
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 et- 
 
 eorge S. Wells, a prominent citizen of 
 Geneseo, has been identified with the de- 
 IHpF* 1 * velopment of the farming interests o' 
 sR?» Henry County since his removal hither in 
 1855. He was born in Guildhall, Essex Co., 
 Vt., Oct. 27, 1834. John Sullivan Wells, his 
 father, was born in Durham, N. H., Oct. 18, r8c>3. 
 The name of Sullivan was given him because it was 
 the family name of his maternal grandmother, who 
 was the daughter of John Sullivan, of Berwick, Me., 
 and the sister of Gen. John Sullivan, after whom 
 Sullivan's Island was named, and of James Sullivan, 
 who was one of the Governors of the State to which 
 the island belongs. John S. Wells secured by active 
 life in his younger days the foundation of a robust, 
 physical development, and obtained a sound ele- 
 mentary education. 
 
 He entered upon the preparatory to the profession 
 of a lawyer at Pembroke Academy, and was after- 
 : wards a student of law in the office of Hon. D. C. 
 *3? Atkinson, of Sanborn ton, and later he completed his 
 
 t course under the preceptorship of Hon. W. Mattox, 
 of Vermont. He began his practice at Guildhall, 
 (® and five years after removed to Lancaster, N. H. In 
 
 <5\ 
 
 where he passed the remainder of his life in the 
 active prosecution of his business, and in the service 
 of his generation. He represented the town of Lan- 
 caster for four terms in the State Legislature, and in 
 1841 was the Speaker of the House. He acted in 
 the capacity of Solicitor of the county of Coos sev- 
 eral years. He was State Senator from his district, 
 and in the session of 1852-3 he officiated as the 
 President of that body. In 1847 he was made At- 
 torney-General of New Hampshire, but resigned the 
 position at the end of a year. In 1854 he was the 
 Democratic nominee for United States Senator, and 
 was elected in the Senate, but was defeated in the 
 House by five votes, on account of his endorsement 
 of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. In 1855 he was again 
 a candidate for the same office, and received the un- 
 qualified support of his friends. In the same year 
 he was appointed by Gov. Baker to fill a vacancy 
 caused by the death of Senator Norris. In 1856-7, 
 he was the Democratic candidate for Governor of 
 the State, and managed the canvass in such a man- 
 ner that the Republicans failed to carry the State on 
 the popular vote, and the result was accomplished in 
 the Assembly. Mr. Wells was a Delegate to two 
 Democratic National Conventions, and in 1858 was 
 one of the Visiting Committee to West Point. He 
 was a man of refined tastes, scholarly attainments 
 and spotless character. He was a gentleman of the 
 old school, courtly, chivalrous and well bred, and 
 under all circumstances, even in the heat of political 
 debate, and in the ardor of a closely contested cam- 
 paign, he never descended from the dignity which 
 was his distinguished trait. 
 
 He married Rebecca E. Bellows, in 1832. The 
 family to which his wife belonged is well known in 
 the circles of influence and intelligence. She was 
 the daughter of Josiah Bellows, of Lancaster, N. H., 
 and was a member of the same generation as the 
 Rev. Dr. Bellows, of New York. The family of Bel- 
 lows is of English origin and were Normans. They 
 settled in England in 1066, and fac similes of their 
 coats of arms are preserved by the descendants. 
 John Bellows, who came to America on the " Hope- 
 well" in T635, is the first ancestor who settled in the 
 United States. Benjamin Bellows, his grandson, 
 was the founder of Walpole, N. H., and from him 
 the line is distinct. He was the grandfather of Mrs. 
 Wells. John S. Wells died at Exeter, Aug. 1, i860. 
 
 They had six children, of whom three are yet liv- 
 
 1846 he went thence to Exeter, in the same State, 
 
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 43 6 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 ing. They were born in the following order : Henry 
 B., George S., Nellie, Kate V., John S. and Emma. 
 The two oldest sons and the second daughter are 
 the survivors. The latter married Thomas Redding- 
 ton, and lives in the city of Washington, D. C. H. 
 B. Wells is a merchant in Boston, Mass. 
 
 Mr. Wells, of this personal account, was 13 years 
 of age when his father removed his family to New 
 Hampshire. He went to sea before he reached the 
 age of 20. He entered the merchant service, and 
 sailed from Boston to Liverpool, making but a single 
 voyage. Later he went to the city of New York, and 
 there embarked in mercantile business, and was af- 
 terwards similarly interested in trade in the city of 
 Boston. 
 
 He came to Henry County in 1855, and bought a 
 farm in the township of Edford. It is situated on 
 section 23, and comprises 160 acres. The proprietor 
 has put the place under excellent improvements, 
 and has erected a good class of buildings for farming 
 purposes. In 1872 he removed to the city of Gen- 
 eseo, but retains the ownership and personal super- 
 vision of his farm. 
 
 Oct. 4, 1859, he contracted a matrimonial alliance 
 with Nellie P. Stewart, of Geneseo. She was born 
 in Fowlerville, in the State of New York, and is the 
 granddaughter of Roderick R. Stewart, one of the 
 earliest settlers in Henry County, and of whom a 
 full account may be found in another department of 
 this work. She is the daughter of I. N. Stewart, 
 who is deceased. Fred Burt, born Nov. 22, 1872, 
 at Geneseo, is the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Wells. 
 
 Mr. Wells is a Republican, and adheres to the 
 principles of temperance. He has supported the 
 issues of the former party since its organization. He 
 has served in the capaqity of Alderman of Geneseo 
 two years. 
 
 »<o» c . » 
 
 1 illiam McHenry, deceased, formerly a 
 rebident on section 22, Phenix Township, 
 '^a^d-j * was a pioneer of Henry County and also 
 of the State of Illinois. He was born in 
 Barren Co., Ky., Jan. 16, 1803. He was 
 the oldest son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Jones) 
 McHenry, and his parents were also natives of that 
 historic State. 
 
 In 1812 the family came to White Co., 111., and 
 
 there the son who is the subject of this sketch at- 
 tained to the estate of manhood. He was married 
 there, Sept. 16, 1827, to Susannah Land. She was 
 a native of that county and was born March 17, 
 181 1. Her parents, Robert and Lucy (Fike) Land, 
 were born in South Carolina. Mr. McHenry became 
 a citizen of Henry County, settling in what is now 
 Osco Township, where he secured a claim of land. 
 After making the necessary legal arrangements, he 
 returned to White County and remained there until 
 1838, when he severed his connection with that 
 locality and transferred all his interests to his new 
 home in Henry County. He removed hither with 
 his family and household possessions, traveling with 
 five horses and a wagon and living, as the custom 
 was in those days of no railroads or stage routes, 
 after the gipsy fashion of the present day, cooking 
 and camping by the way. They left White County 
 the 1 st day of April, and they passed four weeks on 
 the journey, arriving at the farm in Osco Township 
 on the rst day of May. . The father made a camp 
 for their accommodation and comfort, which, with 
 the wagon, gave the shelter until their log house was 
 completed. The family then included five children, 
 and the duties of the head of the household were of 
 a varied character, to suit the requirements of the 
 case. The first crops wer£ marketed at Chicago 
 and at Galena. The trips to the former city con- 
 sumed two weeks, and as the returns from the 
 products carried there were so small, there was little 
 left to pay hotel expenses, and those who were 
 obliged to go there on such errands were accustomed 
 to sleep either on or under their wagons. 
 
 Mr. McHenry lived but one year on the place in 
 Osco Township. He then removed to the present 
 town of Phenix, then designated on the Government 
 charts as town 18, range 3, in which he made a 
 claim on section 22, entering the land as soon as it 
 came into market. He at first erected a log house 
 for a temporary residence, which he covered with 
 clapboards and " shakes," both of which were split 
 by hand. He lived to see his family installed in a 
 good frame house and to place his farm in a state of 
 advanced cultivation ; and he also lived a sufficient 
 length of time to rejoice in the progress of the county 
 to whose development he had given the best years of 
 his life. His death transpired March 15, (868, at 
 his home. Ten of the 12 children born to him and 
 his wife are still living. Their present record is as 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 437 
 
 7 
 
 follows : Francis A. lives in Phenix Township ; 
 Thomas C. is a resident of Pratt Co., Kan. ; Joseph 
 B. lives in Phenix ; Charles H. is a citizen of Osco 
 Township; Elizabeth A. is the widow of Isaac Staf- 
 ford and lives in Geneseo ; Mary R. is the wife of L. 
 B. Mapes, a citizen of Atlantic, Cass Co., Iowa; 
 Lucy G. married G. W. Imel, of Phenix Township ; 
 Malinda is the wife of A. Y. King, and they reside 
 in Merrick Co., Neb. ; Emma is the widow of S. W. 
 Aldrich, and resides in Phenix Township; Laura is 
 the wife of F. M. Cox and lives in Chadron, Neb. 
 
 Mrs. McHenry and her widowed daughter, Mrs. 
 Aldrich, reside on the homestead. The mother is 
 also the owner of 160 acres of land in Osco Town- 
 ship, where they first settled. 
 
 -o— =5- 
 
 -S>— »- 
 
 osseter F. Schoonover. Burns Township, 
 can justly boast of having many well-to- 
 do farmers within its borders. Prominent 
 among these is Mr. R. F. Schoonover, who 
 resides on section 34, where he has a splendid 
 farm of 420 acres, well equipped for agricul- 
 tural purposes and provided with comfortable build- 
 ings. 
 
 He was born in Washington Co., Ohio, April n, 
 1833. There he received a common-school educa- 
 tion, which, however, was somewhat limited on ac- 
 count of the death of his father, when Rosseter was 
 a small boy. He passed the years until he was 19 
 on a farm in Washington County. When he arrived 
 at that age he journeyed westward, stopping in Bu- 
 reau Co., 111., for a short time. He then went into 
 Peoria County, where he lived for five years. At .the 
 end of that time, in 1857, he came into Henry 
 County and located on a farm in Burns Township, 
 since which time this has been his home. His parents 
 were Henry and Eunice (Hopkins) Schoonover, the 
 former a native of New Jersey and the latter of Con- 
 necticut. On the 4th of March, 1842, the elder 
 Schoonover was instantly killed by being thrown 
 from a horse. They were the parents of six children, 
 of whom Rosseter was the eldest. The second child 
 born to them was Emeline, the wife of John T. 
 Finch, of Burns Township, of whom a sketch appears 
 in this volume. 
 
 While living in Peoria County, Mr. Schoonover was 
 
 married to Miss Margery Harlan, on the 1st of Janu- 
 ary, 1857. She was a native of Peoria County, and 
 was born March 7, 1840. Her parents, Moses and 
 Mary A. (Butler) Harlan, were early pioneers in that 
 county, where the former died, Sept. 2, 1842. Both 
 were natives of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Harlan after- 
 ward married, moved to Henry County and died 
 there, Nov. 21, 1876. The children born to Mr.and 
 Mrs. S. number ten. We give them in the order of 
 their birth: Mary E., Joseph W., Lee, Adolphus 
 A., Etta, who died when three years of age ; Emeline, 
 John R., Grace, Ruie A. and Olive. 
 
 ^ 
 
 ' obert B. 
 
 Paul, a farmer of Geneseo Town- 
 ship, is a pioneer of Henry County of 1856. 
 WKffil On coming to Illinois he located in the 
 {X^S township of Edford, and removed thence to 
 section 20, in the township where he has since 
 pursued the business of a farmer. 
 
 He was born in Union Township, in Tolland Co., 
 Conn., June 5, 1823. Chauncey Paul, his father, 
 was also a native of Tolland County, in the same 
 State, and Wiis born in 1798. He is still living, and 
 is a resident on the farm on which he was born, and 
 which he holds as a heritage from his father. The 
 maiden name of his wife was Polly Armour, and she 
 was born in the same county in which she was mar- 
 ried, in October, 1879. She died there Aug. 25, 
 1883. 
 
 Mr. Paul attained to the state of manhood in the 
 township of Union, and received a good education. 
 He obtained a fair knowledge of the English branches 
 in the common schools, and afterwards attended a 
 term of study at the academy at Dudley, in Massa- 
 chusetts, two terms at Warren, in the same State, 
 and the same length of time at Munson Academy. 
 At the age of 19 he began to teach, and was occu- 
 pied in that vocation in the States of Massachusetts 
 and Connecticut for some years. In 1852 he went 
 to Townsend, Mass., and there he engaged in the 
 business of a turner of handles for farming imple- 
 ments, and other irregular work. He was thus em- 
 ployed in that place until the spring of 1856. Then, 
 as has been stated, he came to Henry County. He 
 became by purchase the owner of a tract of land in 
 the township of Edford, located on section 14. He 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
 built a good and commodious frame house, and pro- 
 ceeded with the improvements on the place. In 
 May, 1 860, the residence was destroyed by a torna- 
 do, being entirely blown away. It was necessary 
 to rebuild from the foundation, which he did on the 
 same site, and continued the labor of placing the 
 farm under the best quality of improvements. There 
 are 162 acres in the farm, and it is all inclosed and 
 cultivated. In 1882 he bought the place on which 
 he now resides, in the township of Geneseo, located 
 on section 20, and containing 80 acres. The place 
 is in first-class condition for profitable cultivation, 
 and is fitted with all necessary buildings, fruit and 
 shade trees. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Paul to Ann E. Kinney took 
 place March 16, 1852. She was born in Union 
 Township, in Tolland Co., Conn., and is the daugh- 
 ter of Nathan and Lucy (Wales) Kinney. Addie J. 
 is the name of the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Paul. 
 
 -W-vs< 
 
 illiam Broadbent, one of the energetic 
 and progressive farmers of Annawan 
 
 NjdjS^ Township, where he resides on section 34 
 .JjS!' is a son of James and Betty Broadbent. He 
 " N was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1822. 
 His parents are both deceased, having died in 
 England, which was their native country — the father 
 May 27, 1871, aged 78 years, and the mother May 
 17, 1879, aged 8r years. 
 
 William came to America in 1849,011 the 17th day 
 of April, and may be called one of the pioneers of 
 Henry County. He iocated in the Barren Grove, 
 where he owns 320 acres of good land, 220 acres of 
 which is under excellent cultivation, and finely 
 equipped, and 100 acres of it is timber pasture. 
 Upon this land he has erected a good substantial 
 dwelling, 40 x 46 feet, being a two-story house. He 
 has a herd of 90 head of Short-horn cattle of a good 
 grade. His horses are of the English Draft breed, 
 and he has an excellent flock of Cotswold sheep. 
 
 Before Mr. Broadbent left England he was united 
 in ^marriage with Rose Ann Prince, their wedding 
 day being the 8th of May, 1844. She started with 
 him across tTle Atlantic to the New World, and while 
 in mid-\)cean died, and was consigned to a watery 
 
 grave. In 1851 Mr. Broadbent and Mrs. Martha 
 Booth were united in marriage. She was born in 
 1826, in England. The record of the children are 
 as follows : By his first marriage the following chil- 
 dren were born : Benjamin, July 1, 1844, and Wil- 
 son, July 2, 1846. By his second marriage the fol- 
 lowing were born: George H, May n, 1853; Mary 
 E., Nov. 27, 1855 ; Charlotte H., Jan. 9, 1858; James 
 E., April 30, i860 ; Thomas A., Sept. 29, 1862 ; Alice 
 J., Sept. 27, 1866. Mrs. Broadbent, by her former 
 marriage to Mr. Booth, had the following children: 
 Robert P., born March 7, 1846, and Eliza, May 22, 
 1848. 
 
 Mrs. Broadbent's father, George Prince, was also 
 a native of England, and was born in 1782. He was 
 married to Rebecca Wilson, who was born in June, 
 1796. They came to America, and located in the 
 northern part of Illinois, where, on the 4th of May, 
 1862, in Bureau County, Mr. Prince died. Mrs. 
 Prince died in Henry County. They were the par- 
 ents of the following ten children : Sarah, Robert, 
 George, Rose Ann, Martha, Mary, Anna, Rebecca, 
 Ruth and Emma. 
 
 Mr. Broadbent is one of the prominent and well- 
 to-do farmers of Henry County. He is a man highly 
 esteemed for his many good qualities, and one of the 
 old settlers of Henry County. 
 
 — »s ffl » - jf • » *s& — 
 
 ; liny Freeman, of Geneseo, is one of the 
 solid citizens of the place, where he has 
 ||jE5^ been a resident since the fall of 1869. He 
 ffi*J is the proprietor of a large amount of prop- 
 jlb erty in the city, which includes several busi- 
 * ness blocks and dwellings. He is the owner 
 of Freeman's Hall. He has passed the allotted 
 term of human life by ten years, but is still actively 
 interested in the personal supervision of his affairs 
 Mr. Freeman was born in Sturbridge, Mass., in 
 the same town in which his ancestors had lived from 
 the period in which the first progenitor, so far as is 
 now known, settled when he came thence from New- 
 ton, in the Bay State. The year of his removal is 
 not known. His name was Samuel Freeman, and 
 he probably became a resident of Sturbridge about 
 the middle of the 18th century. The town was in- 
 corporated Feb. 13, 1739, and he located in what is 
 now the central portion of the village. His widow 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 339 
 
 afterwards married again, and died in 1807 at the 
 age of 92. Their children were named Benjamin, 
 Comfort, Jared, Samuel, Walter, Rachel, Martha and 
 Mary (twins) and Raney. Comfort was the grand- 
 father of Mr. Freeman, and was born Aug. 23, 1750 
 (0. S.). He was married May 6, 177 1. She was 
 born at Sturbridge, Feb. 13, 1749 (O. S.). He died 
 at Sturbridge, Dec. 4, 1796 (N. S.). Her demise oc- 
 curred Aug. 5, 1832 (N. S.). She whs upwards of 
 93. They had nine children. 
 
 Pliny, second son and fifth child, was born Sept. 
 24, 1780. He was a farmer, and also worked to 
 some extent as a carpenter, as he had a natural gift 
 for the use of tools. He married Delia, daughter of 
 Silas Marsh, and lived nearly the whole of his life at 
 Sturbridge, where his children were born and reared. 
 He died at the residence of his daughter in the town 
 of Webster, in the same county, Oct. 10, 1855. His 
 wife died in 1859. Their children were named 
 Silas M., Pliny, Beulah, Delia, Florilla, Augusta and 
 Dwight. The last named and Mr. Freeman, of this 
 sketch, are the only survivors, and they both reside 
 at Geneseo. 
 
 Mr. Freeman was brought up on his father's farm, 
 and had only the advantages of the common-schools 
 of the place and period, which were hardly of the 
 character of the educational institutions of the State 
 which are now the pride and boast of New England. 
 However, those days were the time in which the ma- 
 terial on which the prosperity of the West is founded 
 was in its formative state, and it is a mooted ques- 
 tion whether what was then considered the lack of 
 education, was not the condition which ensured the 
 future of the country. It is an established fact that 
 those who were reared without the so-called advant- 
 ages of these later times came to be the bone and 
 sinew of the times when men were needed. Mr. 
 Frepman inherited the privilege and. ability for hard 
 work, and also the unassuming pretensions of the 
 family tree, of which he was an offshoot. He learned 
 the trade of a carpenter, finishing his knowledge of 
 its details under the instructions of a man named 
 Loren Merrick. 
 
 The limited opportunities of the East impelled 
 him to seek a new field of operation, and at 23 he 
 came to Cleveland, Ohio, where he had friends, and 
 he there found an opportunity to work at the trade 
 which he had fixed upon as his vocation in life. 
 Not long after he had commenced his labors in Ohio 
 
 he was seriously injured in his left knee, and he 
 passed some months on a sick'bed in consequence. 
 But his job waited for him, and as soon as possible 
 arrangements were made so he could go on with the 
 work he had planned. He saved his earnings and 
 bought a small piece of land in the vicinity of the 
 city, which he afterwards sold. He fixed his resi- 
 dence at Cleveland, and was a citizen of that place 
 40 years, and was engaged there as a carpenter dur- 
 ing the entire period. 
 
 Meanwhile his brother Dwight had settled at 
 Geneseo, and he came here to visit him about the 
 year 1853. He bought at that time a piece of land 
 in the vicinity of the village (then) and made some 
 improvements, with the intention some time .of mak- 
 ing his home thereon. In the fall of 1869 he re- 
 moved to Henry County to fulfill the purpose; but, 
 instead of building his house and making ready to 
 pass his life in the quiet retirement of a small place 
 just suited to the needs of his family, he was induced 
 to invest his savings in an entirely different avenue. 
 His brother was the owner of a business building in 
 Geneseo, and soon after the arrival of Mr. Freeman 
 it was destroyed by fire. Mr. Freeman rebuilt the 
 structure, and has since been occupied in the man- 
 agement of the property in which he so unexpectedly 
 became permanently interested. 
 
 He was married Sept. 8, 1835, in the city of Cleve- 
 land, to Marcia, daughter of Gaines and Mary (Bran- 
 son) Pritchard. She was born in Waterbury, New 
 Haven Co., Conn., April n, 18 16. Her father re- 
 moved his family from Connecticut to Cleveland, 
 Ohio, in 1820. The journey was made with an ox 
 team and occupied six weeks. The following year 
 was sickly, and the mother died in August. A month 
 later the father was also in his grave, and the 
 daughter, then six years old, was an orphan. The 
 generations of the families to which Mrs. Freeman 
 belongs were noted for tenacity of life. When she 
 was in early infancy she had six grandmothers. Her 
 grandmother Pritchard was 96 when she died, and 
 the grandmother on her mother's side was within a 
 few weeks of being 100 when her decease took place. 
 The latter at 90 was in the vigor of a person 20 years 
 younger. She had her second sight and could read 
 and sew without glasses. She was a woman of un- 
 common energy, and noted for the work in her family 
 which she accomplished, an array that would tire the 
 belles of the period to hear enumerated. The male 
 
 $ 
 
 
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 ■^v^gg^Dii^ v^c) >^^- 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 progenitors of both families were principally farmers, 
 but two of Mrs. Freeman's cousins in the Pritchard 
 line were Episcopal clergymen, and one was a physi- 
 ciah. All the women in the generations which pre- 
 ceded hers were well instructed in the arts common 
 to the period in which they lived. They spun and 
 wove, were fairly educated, and bore themselves 
 through their long and useful lives with dignity and 
 grace. Their noble traits are fresh and sweet in the 
 remembrances of their descendants. The mother of 
 Mrs. Freeman, Mary Pritchard, was the daughter of 
 Gates Bronson. The father of the latter was a sol- 
 dier of the Revolution, and was made a Lieutenant. 
 He also did the duty of an Adjutant. His son was 
 born in the course of the war and was named after 
 the noted General Gates. .Lieutenant Bronson never 
 received a pension, and never applied for one, but 
 after his death his widow received about $200 yearly 
 from the Government. Mrs. Freeman is a com- 
 municant in the Episcopal Church. She is a re- 
 markably well preserved woman, and is a good type 
 of the New England blood from which she sprung. 
 She would have made a heroine if circumstances 
 had demanded. But passing her life in the quiet 
 repose which the later generations in this land en- 
 joy, she is simply a lady who is an honor to the com- 
 munity in which she lives. She is prominent in 
 Church matters, and is known for her liberality and 
 genial temper. 
 
 — **^3§> 
 
 "Ww-^- 
 
 tenry Messmore is one of the prominent and 
 well-to-do farmers of Annawan Township, 
 and resides on section 34. He was born in 
 Pennsylvania in 1831, and in 1835 went to Ohio 
 with his parents. There he passed the follow- 
 ing eighteen years of his life, attending such 
 schools as the community where his parents lived af- 
 forded, and assisting his father at his work. In 1853 
 we find him in Henry County, and the following year 
 he celebrated his marriage. Miss Christina Blin, 
 who was born in Warren Co., Ohio, Oct. T4, 1833, 
 was his bride. They have an excellent farm of 280 
 acres, all well improved and equipped, and upon 
 which is a two-story dwelling 40 feet square,' and a 
 barn 30 x 60 feet. He has a fine herd of Short-horns, 
 five of which are thoroughbred. He is a member of 
 
 the I. O. O. F., and is connected with Lodge No. 
 128. The hall where the Lodge meets is in Kewa- 
 nee. He and the family are all members of the 
 United Brethren Church, and politically Mr. Mess- 
 more affiliates with the Democratic party. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Messmore became the parents of 
 the following named children : Daniel W., born 
 April r4, 1855 ; Margaret A., born May 5, 1856; 
 Sarah E., born Oct. 7, 1857; and Jacob N., born 
 Aug. 7, 1859. The following are deceased: two in- 
 fants unnamed; Julia E., born Oct. 28, 1863; and 
 George E., born March 1, 1865. 
 
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 'nomas Liken, of Munson Township, is one 
 of the most extensive land owners in Henry 
 £p* County, and is the owner of more than 
 1,100 acres of improved land, which is all in- 
 cluded in the same township. Mr. Liken was 
 born in 1820. Until he was T3 he was brought 
 up in the city of Pittsburg, Pa. In 1833 his father 
 removed from the city to Indiana Township, in its 
 vicinity, where he bought a farm. There were at 
 that date no free schools, and Mr. Liken was sent to 
 a private school, where he obtained a fair education. 
 This; was in the city before the removal of the family 
 to Indiana Township. The residence there was 
 maintained but three years. At the end of that time 
 another removal to the township of Penn was effected, 
 where the father also bought a farm. The mother 
 of Mr. Liken had died when he was eight years old, 
 and his father was again married. The latter died 
 in the township where the last farm was bought, May 
 7, 1839. The death of the stepmother took place 
 six weeks after that of her husband. Mr. Liken was 
 the oldest son and he took charge of the estate. 
 When it was settled he became the owner of a part 
 of it, and was a resident thereon until 1865. He 
 left his patrimony in the hands of a renter and re- 
 moved to Henry County. He located at the very 
 first in the same township where he has since prose- 
 cuted his farming projects. He made a purchase of 
 160 acres of land, on which there had been no im- 
 provements whatever, and also bought 97. acres 
 which had been placed under the plow. The first 
 purchase is all improved and is neatly hedged. The 
 buildings on the farm of Mr. Liken do credit to his 
 
 
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 ■a^ y Q/ ^HIH 
 
I 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 taste and judgment, and the place is rendered more 
 beautiful and valuable by the trees which have been 
 set out in great plenty. Mr. Liken is an adherent 
 of the Republican party. 
 
 His marriage to Sarah A. Sands was celebrated 
 Feb. 3, 1842. She was born in Allegheny Co., Pa. 
 To them four children have been born, whose names 
 are Thomas P., John F., Samuel S. and Florence K. 
 The latter is married to A. P. Hoffman, a resident of 
 Los Angeles, Cal. The oldest son, William A., was 
 a soldier in the late war and was killed at the battle 
 of Petersburg, June 18, 1864. He enlisted in Co. 
 E, 155th Penn. Zouaves. 
 
 The members of the family of Mr. Liken are mem- 
 bers of the Presbyterian Church. 
 
 -13- 
 
 -E>- 
 
 -oseph C. Webb, of Annawan Township, 
 came to Henry County in 1852. He was 
 born in the town of Bloomfield, in Somer- 
 . set Co., Me., Sept. 26, 1882. His father, J. 
 It B. Webb, was born in Maine, in the year 1797. 
 His mother, Martha (Weston) Webb, was born 
 in the same State in 1799. She died in 1869. The 
 death of her husband took place in the year fol- 
 lowing. Theodore D., Joseph C, Ellen, Esther, F. 
 D., Hiram, Stephen, Anna, Martha, Frank, Olive 
 and Mary E. are the names of their children. 
 
 Mr. Webb, of this sketch, married Elizabeth Bur- 
 gess, in September, 1848. She was born in March, 
 1825, and has been the mother of five children. 
 Hiram, Charles H, Lizzie and Sarah are living. 
 Samuel died March 3, r86i. 
 
 Mr. Webb located on the farm on which he has 
 since prosecuted his business schemes, in the spring 
 of 1853, the year subsequent to that in which he 
 came to Henry County. He is the proprietor of 1 60 
 acres of land, on which there is a good dwelling, and 
 the usual outfit of excellent farm buildings. On the 
 home place there are 260 rods of hedge. All the 
 stock on the place is thoroughbred. Mr. Webb has 
 one full-blooded' bull of the Short-horn breed, and 
 his horses are Normans and Clydesdales. Mr. 
 Webb is a farmer of the rank in that profession who 
 has aided in the splendid development of the county. 
 He is esteemed for his worth as a citizen, and his 
 business integrity, as well as the interest he has man- 
 
 ifested in the progress of thecommuntty of which he 
 is a member. In political preference he is connected 
 with the Republican party. Mrs. Webb is connected 
 in membership with the Congregational Church. 
 
 
 fjl'fli mariah. Withrow, a farmer of Phenix 
 f Township, is the oldest son of Neely 
 antei" Withrow, one of the pioneers of the first 
 year of the settlement of Henry County. The 
 family came to this county in 1835, and to 
 Phenix Township in 1836, of which they have 
 since been residents, and have been without inter- 
 mission since then connected with the history of the 
 municipality into which they came at a time when 
 its locality was designated by the number which 
 marked its relative position on the chart of the sur- 
 veyor. 
 
 Mr. Withrow, of this account, was born May 4, 
 1831, in White Co., 111., and he was only four years 
 of age when his parents came to Henry County. 
 They settled on a farm, and the son grew up under 
 the conditions which characterized the experiences of 
 the pioneer days on the prairie farms. He was an 
 attendant at the sessions of the first school taught in 
 the county, in the first log school-house that was 
 built within the limits of Henry County. It was the 
 most primitive sort of a building, its floor being of 
 slabs and the benches of the same material set up 
 on legs, and without backs. The entire boyhood, 
 youth and early manhood of Mr. Withrow were 
 passed in the manner common to the location, and 
 he has devoted his later years to the improvement 
 of the township in which he received his first im- 
 pressions of his obligations to the interests of the 
 world of work and effort. 
 
 He was united in marriage, Aug. 8, T856, to Mary 
 J. Huston, a native of Ohio. Their surviving chil- 
 dren are named William H., Letha A., Lucinda E. 
 and Jerome S. One after another of their first three 
 children passed away while they were in their earliest 
 infancy. 
 
 After his marriage, Mr. Withrow took possession 
 of a tract of land which he had previously purchased 
 on section 14, and it has since been the field of his 
 operations. He is engaged in the pursuits of a stock 
 and grain farmer. At the time of his purchase of 
 
 9 
 
 
 ^€3^ ^b^H88 
 

 <m 
 
 HENRY 
 
 
 > 
 
 the property a small frame house had been erected 
 thereon. To this the proprietor has made the neces- 
 sary additions, and it is still the family residence. 
 A good frame barn has also been built on the farm. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Wi throw are both members of the 
 Episcopal Church. 
 
 iilliam Clarke, a retired farmer residing at 
 Orion, was born in the northern part of 
 Ireland, March 10, 1819. His parents 
 were life-long farmers, and lived and died 
 in their native country. They were John and 
 Margaret (Armor) Clarke. William was the 
 fifth child of a family of nine children, six sons and 
 three daughters, all of whom are married except one. 
 William passed the years prior to his majority 
 under the parental roof, devoting the latter years of 
 this period to learning the carpenter's trade, serving 
 an apprenticeship of five years under John Maxwell. 
 After he reached the age of 21 years, he set out for 
 America all alone. He soon made his way to Mer- 
 cer Co., 111., where he located, his brother having 
 come in 1835, five years before he did. He soon 
 went to Rock Island, however, where he followed his 
 trade for nearly two years, when he returned to Swe- 
 dona, formerly called Berlin, Mercer County, where 
 he was married Aug. 23, 1842, to Miss Almira Pills- 
 bury. (For her parental history see sketch of Levi 
 Pillsbury.) She was born in Grafton Co., N. H., 
 October 9, 1813. Shortly after her birth, the family 
 moved to St. Lawrence Co., N. Y., where they lived 
 for some years, when they came West and located in 
 Andover Township, when she was 23 years old, and 
 were consequently very early pioneers in this section 
 of the country. The five children born of her mar- 
 riage to Mr. Clarke are John P., who married Emma 
 Wilkinson, and is a farmer of Lynn Township, this 
 county; Esther Ann, wife of George Carnes, of 
 Orion ; Edward P. married Anna Cunningham and 
 lives at Monmouth, where he is a clerk in an agricul- 
 tural store; Amelia R. is the wife of William Smith, 
 an attorney of Orion ; Almira L. resides at home. 
 
 About two years after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. 
 Clarke went to Milan (then called Camden Mills), 
 Rock Island County, where they resided from 1844 
 to 1861, and where Mr. C. erected the second house 
 
 in the village. During the time he was in Milan, he 
 was engaged in the wagon-making and blacksmith- 
 ing business. In 1855 he purchased a farm in Lynn 
 Township, this county, upon which he made fair im- 
 improvements. He followed agricultural pursuits 
 for two years successfully, when in 1857 he returned 
 to Milan and embarked in the general mercantile 
 business, which he continued to run for four years 
 and was at the same time Postmaster. In 1861 he 
 again returned to his farm and was there engaged, 
 with the exception of two years he lived at Bloom- 
 ington, 111., until 1879, when he came to Orion. He 
 then purchased the property he now occupies, and 
 upon which he has made great improvements, chiefly 
 in the erection of an elegant residence. He improved 
 a half section of land in Lynn Township, one-half of 
 which he bequeathed equally to two sons and the re- 
 mainder, which is well improved, he retained. His 
 lot in the village contained four and one-half acres. 
 Both he and his wife are members of the Presby- 
 terian Church, of which Mr. C. has been Elder for 
 many years. Politically, he is a Prohibitionist. 
 
 £ oseph Fronk, a farmer on section 14, in the 
 
 township of Annawan, located in Henry 
 
 ?t?W^ County in 1854. He was born in Dauphin 
 
 ||g Co., Pa., in 1813. He came to the State of 
 
 11L Illinois in 185 1, at settled at Tiskilwa, in Bu- 
 
 I reau County, where he resided until the year 
 in which he came to Henry County. 
 
 At the age of 24 he was joined in marriage to Miss 
 Mary Kaplar. Their union occurred in May, 1834. 
 She was born Aug. 30, 181 2, in Juniata Co., Pa. 
 Seven sons have been born to them, of whom all are 
 still living but one. Henry N. was born May 15, 
 1836; David, Oct. 5, 1838; William H, Oct. 12, 
 1841; James A., Oct. 30, 1843; Joseph W., Oct. 
 21, 1847 ; Jacob R., Jan. 13, 1851. The son who is 
 deceased was a soldier of the late war, and was 
 wounded at Stone River. He died after two weeks, 
 of hemorrhage, and was brought home for burial. 
 His remains were placed in Fairview Cemetery, in 
 the county where he was born. 
 
 Henry Fronk, the father of Mr. Fronk, of this 
 sketch, was born in the county of Lancaster, Pa., in 
 1775. He died in Dauphin Co., Pa., in 1867. Sarah 
 
 9 
 
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 ^©MR^ 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 &^%§\4M 
 
 443 
 
 <kt 
 
 Buchanan Fronk, his wife, was born in the same 
 county in which her son was born, in 1777. Herde- 
 •$• raise took place in 1865. She became the wife of 
 Mr. Fronk, senior, in 1809. Her parents came from 
 Ireland, and those of her husband were natives of 
 Germany. The family of which Mr. Fronk is a 
 member comprised the following children : Elizabeth, 
 Joseph, Levi, Hannah, John, Harriet and Sarah. 
 John and Sarah are dead. 
 
 The farm of Mr. Fronk includes 160 acres. He 
 became its possessor in the year in which he removed 
 to the county. He obtained the title of the Govern- 
 ment of the United States, and he has placed the 
 entire acreage under excellent cultivation. The farm 
 house is a comfortable structure, and the other build- 
 ings are of excellent type. On the place is a fine 
 grove of trees, which Mr. Fronk planted with his 
 own hands. He is a member of the Republican 
 party, and both himself and his wife have been for 
 more than a score of years connected with the 
 Church of the United Brethren. 
 
 
 ^*HjHi^= 
 
 'illiam Smith, of Edford Township, is a 
 representative citizen of Henry County 
 in more than the common acceptation of 
 the term. What he is he has made himself. 
 He is a foreigner, and at the outset of his 
 career he was in the most humble circumstan- 
 ces. All that is included in the term "poor" 
 he has known in its full significance. 
 He was born in Prussia, Nov. 10, 1822 
 
 He was 
 the son of Henry and Caroline Smith, and from his 
 parents his only inheritance was the privilege of 
 bearing his own spear and shield in the battle of life. 
 The conflict commenced when he was a lad of ten 
 years. His first employment was in the capacity of 
 a herder of cattle, and he passed eight months in 
 that kind of labor. For the entire period of his 
 efforts in that direction he received one dollar in 
 cash, a pair of shoes, and ten yards of the home-made 
 linen, which is a common product of his native 
 country. He was in the habit of rising at four 
 o'clock in the morning, and he had charge of the 
 cattle until ten o'clock, after which he was per- 
 mitted to attend school until one o'clock. He then 
 resumed his vigilance over the cattle, and was on 
 duty from that time until nightfall. He continued 
 
 §d(3d$« *°>^ &A4*ll!l&Dll^ 
 
 in this occupation until he reached the age of 14 
 years. During the time he acquired a good educa- 
 tion, or what was considered as fair in his country. 
 He then engaged in farming, and received a com- 
 pensation of nine dollars a year. He continued to 
 operate as a farm assistant until he reached the age 
 of 19 years and six months, and he then left his 
 native land to come to the United States. He took 
 passage on a sailing vessel, and after an ocean voy- 
 age of seven weeks, he landed at the port of Balti- 
 more, having only $1.50 in his possession whereon 
 to found his fortune in the New World. 
 
 He made his way to Cumberland, Alleghany Co., 
 Md., and he passed the first summer in the employ 
 of a farmer, receiving for his services $8 a month. 
 He was employed on a farm during the winter fol- 
 lowing, and was paid $5 a month. He remained 
 with his first employer at the same rates three years, 
 and at the expiration of that time he o.btained a 
 situation as a hostler in a baiting stable. He was 
 there occupied one year. He had practiced the 
 utmost frugality and economy, and had saved nearly 
 the entire amount he had earned ; and, seeing what 
 seemed a good opportunity to start himself in an in- 
 dependent business, he invested his little fortune, 
 and, obtaining a small degree of credit, he found him- 
 self the possessor of a six-horse team, with which he 
 entered into the work of hauling goods from Cumber- 
 land to Wheeling and Clarksburg, and also to other 
 places in the interior where there was no public 
 means of transportation. His venture met with 
 gratifying success, and in the short space of seven- 
 
 yioj 
 
 s 
 
 o 
 
 teen months he cleared $575. He then formed an 
 association in business with his brother, and they 
 purchased a team together. They then commenced 
 their joint operations, and they passed their time in 
 alternately driving and loading the wagons, and they 
 carried on their business until the completion of the 
 line of railroad, which put an end to their transport- 
 ation service. The road was finished in 1850. 
 
 In that year, accompanied by his brother John, he 
 started for Illinois. They came by the Allegheny, 
 Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and they landed at 
 Alton. Arriving there, they set out to cross the 
 country on foot to select a suitable location for a 
 home. They traveled until they came to Henry 
 County, and being pleased with the apparent out- 
 look they invested their money in a fine tract of land 
 which included 320 acres of prairie and 80 acres of _^= ; ^ 
 

 444 
 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 (L 
 
 V 
 
 & 
 
 
 1 
 
 limber. It was situated in the township of Edford. 
 After making their purchase, they returned to Cum- 
 berland, and sold their teams preparatory to a per- 
 manent removal, and in the spring of 185 1 they 
 came to Henry County, bringing with them their 
 families. They located on section 31, and there the 
 brothers prosecuted their farming for two years. At 
 the end of that time they divided their estate, each 
 taking 160 acres of prairie and 40 acres of timber. 
 The residence of Mr. Smith is situated on the north- 
 east quarter of section 31. The farm buildings 
 made a fine display, and afford the best possible 
 evidence of the quality of the judgment, industry 
 and taste of their owner. The farm is chiefly de- 
 voted to the growing of grain and raising of stock. 
 The prosperous condition of Mr. Smith is fully out- 
 lined in the fact that he is the owner of more than 
 1,200 acres of land, all under a good order of cultiva- 
 tion. There is a good opportunity to contrast his 
 condition now with that of about 30 years ago, and 
 he has the proud satisfaction of knowing that he 
 owes it all to his own efforts. 
 
 Mr. Smith was joined in marriage to Caroline 
 Emmeret in 1849. She was born in Bedford Co., Pa. 
 They have five children. Maggie is' married to Al- 
 bert Lawbaugh, and they are living in the Upper 
 Peninsula in Northern Michigan. Her husband is 
 there engaged in the practice of medicine. John 
 was born Nov. 10, 1854. He married Mary E. 
 Smith, a native of Cumberland Co., Md. The son is 
 the owner of 200 acres of land on section 30, in Ed- 
 ford Township. Carrie is the wife of George Smith, 
 a resident in Western Township. Ella married 
 James Stephenson, and they live in the township last 
 named. Emma lives with her parents. The family 
 are all members of the Lutheran Church. 
 
 Hfp illiam McMeeken, farmer, section 6, 
 " ' Western Township, was born in North 
 r Ireland, March 21, 182 r. His father, 
 !> Jones McMeeken, was also a farmer, and 
 died in his native country, Ireland, in 1843. 
 J William learned the trade of a carpenter in his 
 native land, and when 25 years of age he came to 
 America, first settling in Philadelphia; two years later 
 he returned to his native home, but in 1852 he came 
 
 again to America, locating this time at Mill Creek, 
 Rock Island Co., 111. In 1856 he purchased a farm 
 of 65 acres on section 1, Western Township, and lo- 
 cated upon it the following year; and here he has 
 since made his home, being a prosperous farmer, an 
 industrious laborer and a judicious manager. He 
 found his place an unimproved tract of land, but it 
 is now rendered valuable in every portion. The live 
 stock which he raises are first-class. 
 
 July 23, 1853, is the date of Mr. McMeeken 's mar- 
 riage to Miss Agnes Reed, who was born in North 
 Ireland, of Scotch-Irish descent. Her parents died 
 in that country, and she came alone to America 
 when about 20 years of age, making her home in 
 Rock Island County. The family record as fol- 
 lows : James and Mary J. are married; . Miam 
 is a teacher in the public schools; Frank, j^hn, 
 Robert, Hugh, Sandie and Lydia. Mr. and Mrs. 
 McM. are members of the Presbyterian Church, and 
 in politics he is a reliable Republican. 
 
 form Milem, foreman of the coal-bank of 
 fe- Taylor Williams, in the vicinity of Cleve- 
 land, in Hanna Township, was born in 
 Norfolk, England, Dec. 4, 1828. His parents 
 Robert and Elizabeth (Baldwin) Milem, were 
 also natives of the same county. 
 Mr. Milem grew up in his native county, and on 
 arriving at a suitable age he learned the trade of tile- 
 maker. He also acquired a practical knowledge of 
 the manufacture of brick, and he was employed in 
 those lines of business while he remained in Eng- 
 land. 
 
 At the age of 2r,he came to America. He lo- 
 cated in Waterloo, N. Y., and there established him- 
 self as a tile-maker. He there ran the first tile 
 machine operated in the United States. He 
 remained in that place two years, and went thence 
 to Staten Island, and engaged in the capacity of 
 superintendent of the tile works on that island, 
 which he managed until 1853. In that year he came 
 to Illinois, and became interested in farming in Bu- 
 reau County. After operating there two years, he 
 went to Dane Co., Wis., and bought a farm!. He 
 was one of the earliest settlers in Dane County. He 
 improved his place, and was its owner and occupant 
 
 I 
 
 vs 
 
 (> 
 
 E3 
 
 9 
 
 •Sis 
 
Jh.^.^M^' 
 
s4$ta: 6V4M&HH& i /o j s&k- 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 447 Z' 
 
 '0 
 
 > 
 
 ? 
 
 ») 
 
 until 1864, when he came to Cleveland, to engage 
 for a brief time in the industries of that place He 
 stayed but a short time, and returned to Dane 
 County. He continued to occupy his farm until the 
 fall of 1865, when he returned to Cleveland. He 
 was variously occupied until 1867, when he entered 
 the employ of Mr. Williams. He assumed the 
 charge of the coal-bank, and has operated in the 
 same capacity since without intermission. He has 
 met with the prosperity due to a life of effort, and is 
 the owner of 40 acres of land, which he bought in 
 1882, in Colona Township, and is also the proprietor 
 of considerable property in Cleveland and vicinity. 
 ' He was married, in 1852, to Mary A. Kidd, and 
 they have nine children. Their names are John E., 
 Mary, Emma J., Caroline, Eliza, James, Ida May, 
 George A. and Frank E. The eldest son is acting as 
 an engineer at the coal-bank. The eldest daughter is 
 the wife of John McCoslin, and they reside at Orion, 
 where her husband is engaged in the sale of Wheeler 
 and Wilson sewing-machines, pianos and organs. 
 
 I imam B. McClure. The subject of this 
 personal narrative is a native of Henry 
 County, having been born in Wethersfield 
 Township, June 18, 1850. His parents 
 were Daniel and Laura A. (Little) McClure. 
 The latter was a sister of Abner Little. She 
 died in Wethersfield Township. The elder McClure 
 has for some time been a well known resident of 
 Wethersfield. Two children were born to this 
 couple, — Thomas and William B. 
 
 Mr. McClure, whose name heads this sketch, at- 
 tended the district schools of Wethersfield, in which 
 he received a good ordinary education. He made 
 his home with his parents, working on the farm, un- 
 til about 27 years of age. From that time until 
 1881 he worked out by the month. By economy he 
 had saved a little money, and at that time bought a 
 farm in Burns Township, where he has since lived. 
 He has been eminently successful in this short per- 
 iod, for to-day he owns 220 acres of land. 
 
 Mr. McClure was married in Wethersfield Town- 
 ship, April 17, 1885, to Miss Fannie, daughter of 
 William and Sarah (Griffith) Bump. Mrs. McClure 
 
 was born in Wisconsin in 1853. She is a member 
 of the Congregational Church, while her husband 
 finds his religion in the principles of the Republican 
 party. 
 
 ■4- 
 
 [?4«Mn>/ 
 
 athaniel C. Gilbert, Supervisor of the 
 Township of Munson, is one of the most 
 skillful farmers in the county and is the 
 proprietor of one of the most valuable farms. 
 i(, He was born Feb. 10, 1834, in Richmond, On- 
 tario Co., N. Y., and is the oldest son of Horace and 
 Ann Eliza (Carpenter) Gilbert. His father was born 
 in Connecticut and his mother was a native of Her- 
 kimer Co., N. Y. 
 
 He grew to the age of manhood in the county 
 where he was born and was fully trained in the 
 arts of farming under the competent instructions of 
 his father. He obtained a fair education in the pub- 
 lie schools. At the age of 18 he commenced teach- 
 ing and passed some years in the practice of that 
 calling in the winter seasons, and operated as a 
 farmer in the intervening summers. He was an in- 
 mate of the homestead until 1856. In the month of 
 February of that year he set out for Illinois. He 
 came at once to Henry County and located in Gene- 
 eseo Township. He bought a tract of land on sec- 
 tion 3r, on which a small house had been built and 
 there had been 30 acres broken by the plow. He and 
 one of his brothers lived there until i860. He then 
 bought 80 acres of land in the township of Munson, 
 situated on section 5, on which he has since ex- 
 pended his efforts and abilities. The nature of both 
 may be inferred from his present possessions and 
 surroundings. He is the owner of 240 acres of ex- 
 cellent farming land, which is beautified and in- 
 creased in value by a variety of trees common to the 
 situation and also with fine buildings. The abilities 
 of Mr. Gilbert are recognized and made useful to the 
 public interests by his repeatedly being summoned 
 to serve his townsmen in an official capacity. In the 
 spring of 1880 he was elected to the position he now 
 fills and to which he has been successfully re-elected. 
 He has served in the capacity of Township Treas- 
 urer for the past six years, and he has officiated as 
 President of the Agricultural Board of Henry County 
 since 1878. He is a firm adherent and supporter of 
 the principles and issues of the Republican party 
 
 / 
 
 
 sg^e — &AgHI|®NI94$ — ;s €» c ■*«* 
 
<£- 
 
 448 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 f 
 
 
 
 His marriage to Francelia Amsden occurred in Au- 
 gust, i860. She was born in Woodstock, Windsor 
 Co., Vt, and is the oldest daughter of Richard P. and 
 Lora A. (Buck) Amsden. May, H. Mark and Lora 
 are the names of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Gil- 
 bert. 
 
 The public will doubtless be pleased to see a 
 likeness of Mr. Gilbert in this volume; and it is ac- 
 cordingly given, in connection with the foregoing 
 sketch. 
 
 -* #-#• *~ 
 
 |.imeon N. Conover, station agent of the 
 Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, telegraph 
 ^ operator and express agent at Orion, was 
 born in Somerville, Somerset Co., N. J., June 
 1857. His parents were Andrew J. and 
 Rachel (Dunham) Conover, and both natives 
 of the State in which our subject was born, having 
 been united in matrimony in Monmouth County. 
 They were both of New England parentage, and the 
 father was engaged as a blacksmith. Of their union 
 were born seven children, six having been born in 
 the State of New Jersey. 
 
 Simeon N., our subject, was the oldest but one of 
 his parents' family, and in 1868 came West with the 
 family, locating first in Wyoming, Stark Co., 111. 
 Afterward the family went to French Grove, Peoria 
 Co., 111., at which place they have made their per- 
 manent home. Simeon N. Conover, whose name 
 heads this article, was educated principally in the 
 public schools of Wyoming. While at the latter 
 place he learned the art of telegraphy and has since 
 been a successful operator. 
 
 In April, 1874, he became connected with the 
 railroad company as shop clerk, occupying that posi- 
 tion seven years, then one year in Des Moines, Iowa, 
 for the Wabash Company, filling the same position, 
 and in December, 1882, came to Orion, 111. He has 
 since had the entire management of the station of 
 the Rock Island & Pacific Railroad at this place. 
 
 Dec. 24, 1878, Mr. Conover was married at the 
 residence of the bride's parents, at Wyoming, 111., 
 the lady chosen for his companion in life being Miss 
 Eva M. Westfall, daughter of Robert E. and Sarah 
 A. (Woods) Westfall, natives respectively of Ohio 
 and Indiana. They were married at Toulon, 111., 
 
 and there located on a farm, where Mrs. Conover of 
 this notice was born Feb. 13, 1859. She was reared 
 and educated in the county of her nativity, and re- 
 sided with her parents until her marriage. The 
 father was Second Lieutenant in Co. F, 112th 111. 
 Vol. Inf., and was afterward promoted First Lieu- 
 tenant, and died of a fever, in Kentucky. The 
 mother is yet living, and resides with her daughter, 
 Mrs. Conover. 
 
 Mrs. C. is the mother of two children by Simeon 
 N., namely: Leon, born Dec. 18, 1880; and Anna 
 M., born Nov. 1, 1884. Mr. and Mrs. Conover are 
 both members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at 
 Orion. Politically, Mr. C. is an adherent to the 
 principles of the Republican party, and locally is a 
 member of the Village Board. 
 
 illiam £. Brainard, a prosperous and 
 energetic farmer, residing on section 13, 
 Annawan Township, was born in Medina 
 •V Co., Ohio, March 28, 1838, and is a son of 
 Deodatus and Sally Jane (Fry) Brainard. 
 His father, Deodatus, was born in Jefferson 
 Co., N. Y., in 1808, and when but a lad came with 
 his father to Ohio, where they settled in Medina 
 County, at which place he was married to Miss Fry 
 in the year 1829. She was born in June, 181 2, in 
 the Mohawk Valley, N. Y. Of their union were 
 born six children, as follows : Marinnes G., Mary 
 Ann, Vanransler, William E. (our subject), Henry 
 B. and Aura A. 
 
 William E. remained at home until he attained 
 the age of 21 years, attending school in the acquisi- 
 tion of an education, receiving the advantages of the 
 common schools of that early day, though they were 
 very limited, and assisted his parents on the farm. 
 At the age of three years he came with his parents 
 to the State of Illinois and located near the place 
 which is now called Buda, in the year 1841. He 
 and Miss Emma J. Prince were united in marriage 
 Oct. 3, 1857, at Sheffield, Bureau Co., III. Mrs. B. 
 was born Oct. 17, 1838, in Yorkshire, Eng., and 
 came to America in 1853. Her father, George 
 Prince, was born at Yorkshire, Aug. n, 1792. He 
 married Miss Rebecca Wilson in 1816. She was 
 I born at Leeds, Eng., in 1796. They were the par- 
 
 si 
 
 9 
 
 B 
 B 
 
 ( 
 
 9 
 
 an 
 
 I 
 
> 
 
 & 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 449 
 
 
 ents of ten children, bearing the following names : 
 Sarah, Robert, George, Rose, Martha, Mary, Han- 
 nah, Rebecca, Ruth and Emma J., who became 
 Mrs. Brainard, and the mother of six children, born 
 in the following order: Kate D., born June 27, 
 1858; Lizzie J., Jan. 4, i860; ^Edward A., Feb. 
 26, 1862; Sherwin VV., Sept. 8, 1867; George D., 
 Oct. 3, 1873; Roy P., Oct. 25, 1878. 
 
 Mr. Brainard is not only one of the extensive 
 land-owners of the township, but is also a large stock 
 dealer and raiser. He has 543 acres of land, 280 of 
 which are located in Hamilton Co., Neb., and the re- 
 mainder in Henry County. For the past ten years 
 he has been engaged in shipping stock to the Chicago 
 market. On his place he has a fine herd of Short- 
 horn cattle. His dwelling is 28x61 feet, two stories 
 in height. Politically, he is a Democrat, and is re- 
 garded as one of the representative farmers of the 
 eastern portion of Henry County. Both are Ad- 
 ventists in religious faith and belief. 
 
 (S\ 
 
 1 
 
 ohn Long, a prominent and well-to-do 
 farmer of Burns Township and who owns 
 a farm of 373 acres on section 6, was born 
 in Rockingham Co., Va., Feb. 28, 1833. His 
 parents, Jacob and Nancy (Rhine) Long, were 
 also natives of Virginia. They came to Henry 
 County in 1857 and settled in Cornwall Township, 
 where they are living as respected and esteemed 
 farmers. They reared a family of ten children, of 
 whom John was the second. He accompanied his 
 parents to Henry County, and, as might be expected, 
 a great deal of hard work fell to his lot. He was 
 reared on a farm and has since made agriculture his 
 vocation. He now has one of the large number of 
 fine farms to be found in Burns Township. He has 
 a good dwelling and fine outbuildings, and is re- 
 garded as one of the solid men of Henry County. 
 
 Our subject was first married at Kewanee, Nov. 
 20, 1863, to Miss Martha Willard, who was also a 
 native of Virginia. She became the mother of four 
 children,— George B., John W., Jacob H. and Addie 
 A. Mrs. Long's demise occurred at her home in 
 Burns Township, May 28, 1873. Mr. Long lived 
 alone until 1876, when on the 8th day of March he 
 
 was united in marriage with Mrs. Matilda McNay, 
 relict of Samuel H. McNay, and a daughter of Wil- 
 liam and Margaret (Dugan) Hunter, and was born 
 in Muskingum Co., Ohio, Dec. 18, 1835. Mrs. 
 Long was first married to Joseph P. Lawrence, by 
 whom she had one child, — Maggie E. She is the 
 wife of Charles F. Allen, of Munson Township. 
 
 Mr. Long has served as School Director, and polit- 
 ically is a Democrat. His wife is a member of the 
 Presbyterian Church. 
 
 •>~w, «\44jaj2/®^5««' 
 
 »gfS/Zrznr»v~ -wv* 
 
 vS 
 
 illiam Austin, a farmer of Edford Town- 
 ship, is a pioneer of Henry County, hav- 
 ing come here in 1838. He was born 
 Oct. 3, 1817, in Alexander, Genesee Co., 
 N. Y. His parents, Richard and Laura 
 (Cady) Austin, were natives of Connecticut 
 and Went to Western New York in the pioneer days 
 of that locality. His father was by trade a tailor, 
 but after he removed to Alexander he leased a hotel 
 and for some years was engaged in the management 
 of a house of public entertainment. He was at the 
 same time the lessee of a farm, which he also 
 conducted jointly with the business of a landlord. 
 The parents died in Alexander. Mr. Austin was an 
 inmate of the parental home until the year in which 
 he came to Illinois. He made the transfer of his in- 
 terests in the month of September, and on coming to 
 the county he located at Geneseo. He had no diffi- 
 culty in obtaining employ as a farm assistant, and 
 soon after his arrival he secured a claim of 80 acres 
 of land on section 27, of township 17 north, range 3 
 east, now the township of Geneseo. A few years 
 later he built a house on the place, and also im- 
 proved it somewhat. He made an exchange not 
 long after for r 19 acres on section 19, in the same 
 township. He retained possession of the latter place 
 but a few months, and in 1852 he entered the south- 
 west quarter of slction 23, township 17, range 2, in 
 Edford Township, then designated by the numerals 
 by which its relative position on the charts of the 
 surveyors was known. In 1852 he erected a small 
 house on the place, and in the same year he raised 
 his first crop. He had done some breaking on the 
 place in the year previous. He continued the work 
 of improvement until he had put 135 acres under 
 
 
 >^^ — ^A<Hniraiif!>A^ — ^c^- 
 
 i^ 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 D 
 
 tillage and had built all the structures needed on a 
 farm of that class. He also set out a generous sup- 
 ply of trees of the variety common to the locality 
 both for shade and fruit. 
 
 Mr. Austin was married in 1848 to -Luanda C. 
 Bartlett. She was born in Byron Township, Gene- 
 see Co., N. Y. The wife died in 1869, and left one 
 child, — Frederick P. Mr. Austin was a second time 
 married to S. Minerva Simmons. She was born in 
 Galesburg, Knox Co., 111. From the second union 
 there was one child, — Fayette E. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Austin are members of the Congre- 
 gational Church. Mr. Austin is the present Asses- 
 sor of Edford Township, and he has been the 
 incumbent of several other official positions in that 
 division of the county. 
 
 > 
 
 > 
 
 S 
 
 m 
 
 August Peterson, a general farmer of sec- 
 tion 26, Western Township, is the owner of 
 
 I'lfy? a £ 00( * °i uarter - sect i on °f improved land. 
 
 ii J He came to this county in 1852 from Warren 
 
 Jlk. *-"°'> ^ a '' wnere h e na d lived three years. He 
 
 is the son of C. J. and Ann L. (Rosenmiller) 
 
 Peterson, who were natives of Sweden, farmers, and 
 
 had three children, all born in the old country. 
 
 Mr. Peterson, the youngest in the above family, 
 was three years old when the family emigrated to 
 America, settling on a small farm in Warren Co., Pa., 
 in 1849. In 1852, they came to Illinois, settling 
 upon a farm of 80 acres, on section 35, Western 
 Township, where they have since made it their 
 home. Since their location here, two children have 
 been added to the family. August lived at home 
 until 21 years of age, when he struck out into the 
 world for himself, as a common laborer. His first 
 purchase of real estate was 20 acres of land; and, 
 after securing 40 acres from hjs parents, he pur- 
 chased 20 acres more; and in 1879 he bought 80 
 acres adjoining, on the same section. His farm is 
 is now well arranged, and in a good tillable condi- 
 tion. The only division is made by a road running 
 throught the premises. By economy and judicious 
 management he has been able to improve his farm 
 and stock, and make them valuable. He is yet 
 unmarried, his sister, Ann M., having been house- 
 
 keeping for him since 1869. Mr. Peterson is a mem- ^f 
 
 ber of the Lutheran Church, for which body he is 'A 
 
 now a Trustee. In his political doctrines he is a i. » 
 
 Republican. ' ' 
 
 ohn C. McNeeley is one of the substantial 
 fc and enterprising citizens and farmers of 
 
 SSP^^* the township of Annawan, and takes a well 
 deserved position among the best class of resi- 
 dents in the county. He is the proprietor ot 
 520 acres of land, finely located and under the 
 sort of culture which proves the owner to possess the 
 right quality of judgment and industry to make a 
 success of his operations in the line of agriculture. 
 He came to Henry County in 1 85 2 , and has since 
 endeavored to add his contribution to the general 
 well-being of the community to which he belongs. 
 
 Mr. McNeeley was born in Jefferson Co., Ind., 
 March 1, 1826. John McNeeley, his father, was a 
 native of the State of Ohio, and was born in 1795. 
 His wife, previous to her marriage with him, Miss 
 Margaret A. Readenbough, was born i.n 1797. Their 
 marriage took place in 1815. She was a native of 
 the Buckeye State. She bore to her husband 12 
 children, — James, Sarah Ann, Catherine, Frederick, 
 John, Jeremiah, William H., George, Thomas, Eliza- 
 beth, Samuel and Jacob. The senior McNeeley re- 
 moved in his early life to Indiana, where he died in 
 1869. The death of his wife transpired in the same 
 State in 1873. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. McNeeley to Sarah C. 
 Slaughter was celebrated Oct. 29, 1851. Her birth 
 occurred in Jefferson Co., Ind., Oct. 2, 1827, and she 
 is the daughter of Jeremiah Slaughter. He was a 
 native of the State of New York, where he was born 
 in the year 1788. He was married to Rebecca 
 Logan in 181 9. She was born in Hamilton Co., 
 Ohio, in 1803. Their children, nine in number, 
 were born in the following order : William Logan, 
 Mary D., Elizabeth J., Martha A., Catherine S., John 
 M., Daniel S., Julia A. and Isabel C. The deaths 
 of the parents of Mrs. McNeeley took place respect- 
 ively in 1872 and 1857. The children who have 
 been added to the household of Mr. and Mrs. Mc- 
 Neeley are named and were born as stated below: 
 Margaret A. was born Aug. 4, 1852; John M., April 
 
 ES 
 « 
 
 
 
 
-aj€ ^k CTv ^Hl D® Q Df^V^— >4^ 
 
 ii 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 45' 
 
 z6, 1854; Mary C, Jan. 24, 1856; William H., Jan. 
 9,1858; George W., Nov. 6, 1859; Sarah E., July 
 
 25, 1861 ; Dora E., March 28, 1863; Emma J., Jan. 
 18, 1865 ; Charles O., Aug. 25, 1868. George died 
 Sept. 13, i860. 
 
 The estate of Mr. McNeeley is located on section 
 
 26. He obtained the title to his land from the Gov- 
 ernment of the United States when the land sales 
 were made. The place is all well cultivated, and 
 the stock with which it is supplied is of excellent 
 quality, and includes a fine herd of thoroughbred 
 Short-horns, of which ten head is registered stock. 
 The horses owned by Mr. McNeeley are three fourths 
 Norman in blood. The farm structures that have 
 been erected by Mr. McNeeley are of a stamp suited 
 to the dimensions of the place and the character of 
 the proprietor. 
 
 ohn S. Swensson, Superintendent of the 
 Swedish Orphan Home and Farm School, 
 located on section 18, Andover Township, 
 was born in the village of Andover, Dec. 15, 
 1858. His father, Jonas Swensson, was a na- 
 tive of Sweden, of old Swedish ancestry, and a 
 farmer by occupation. He was born in 1828, and is 
 now deceased. 
 
 After the death of his father, Mr. Jonas Swensson 
 was educated in the schools of his native country for 
 the ministry, graduating at CJpsala, Sweden, in 1850, 
 and being ordained in October, 185 1. March 29, 
 1856, he married Mary Blixt, the daughter of a 
 Swedish soldier. During the same year they came 
 to America, settling in Sugar Grove, Warren Co., 
 Pa., where he followed his calling, also officiating at 
 Jamestown, Chautauqua Co., N. Y. In the fall of 
 1858 he emigrated to Illinois, locating at Andover, 
 this county, where he took charge of the Evangelical 
 Lutheran Church, and retained it until his death, 
 which occurred Dec. 20, 1873. He was interested 
 in the erection of the large new church at Andover, 
 which stands there at the present time, and was the 
 first originator of the Orphan Home at that place. 
 He purchased the land upon which it was located, 
 and devoted his best energies to the interests of the 
 institution until it was fully established. His wife 
 died Aug. 20, 1874, after having become the mother 
 
 of seven children, six sons and one daughter ; three 
 of the former are deceased. The living are : Carl 
 A., who is married and resides in Lindsborg, Mc- 
 Pherson Co., Kan., where he is a minister of the 
 Swedish Lutheran Church ; the second is the subject 
 of this sketch ; Anna M., who married Eben Carlson, 
 a druggist, and resides at Lindsborg, Kan. ; Petrus 
 L., who lives also at Lindsborg. 
 
 Mr. John S. Swensson resided at his parental 
 home unlil the death of his father, and two years 
 later he entered the Swedish Institute at Rock Island 
 City, where he studied about three years ; then, in 
 1879, he went to Lindsborg, where he was engaged 
 as a clerk in a hardware store for a year, and where 
 he began teaching in the Swedish schools. In Janu- 
 ary, 1882, he assumed full control of the Orphan 
 Home, a fuller account of which is given towards the 
 close of this volume. Mr. S. has been a skillful and 
 judicious Superintendent. He has been credited 
 even with raising the home above the general aver- 
 age, if possible, of the previous years of its history. 
 He also owns an equal interest in a half section of 
 land in Garfield Township, Pawnee Co., Kan. In 
 his political sentiments he is, like nearly all the 
 Swedish population of this country, a Republican. 
 
 April 26, 1883, Mr. S. was married, in Andover, 
 to Miss Mary E. C. Olsson, who was born at Hultsjo, 
 Sweden, May 27, i860. Her parents were Andrew 
 and Johanna (Blixt) Olsson. Her mother died in 
 this country in 1867, very shortly after her arrival 
 here. She came to the Orphan Home in 187 1, as 
 an inmate and student, where she remained until her 
 marriage. 
 
 ss> 3 : — »- 
 
 Ifndrew P. Lawson, engaged in agriculture 
 and the rearing of live stock, and residing 
 on section 7, Western Township, was born 
 in the central part of Sweden, May 25, 1824. 
 His parents were Lewis Gustavson and Line 
 Johnson, natives also of that portion of the 
 Scandinavian Peninsula, were farmers and lived to 
 be advanced in age, and both died in their native 
 land, — the father when about 74 years old and the 
 mother when nearly 80. 
 
 Mr. Andrew P. Larson, the eighth in a family of 
 eleven children, resided with his parents, working 
 upon the farm, until he was 2 1 years of age, when he 
 was married, in March, 1845, to Miss Anna Soberger. 
 
 9 
 
 *> 
 
 (!. 
 
 I 
 
 ^MHf^-^- 
 
 
45* 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 ■X 
 
 1 She was the daughter of a Swedish brick mason, and 
 died in her native country Dec. 25, 1848, three years 
 after her marriage. By that marriage there was one 
 child, John A., who came to America with his father 
 in 1856 ; and about i860, when he was 20 years old, 
 he was accidentally drowned while bathing in Green 
 River, near Colona, this county. Mr. Lawson was 
 married a secotid-time in his native country in Au- 
 gust, 1849, to Betty Johnson, and a year afterward 
 they emigrated to this country, and for the first two 
 . years resided in Swedona, Mercer Co., 111., removing 
 thence to Western Township, this county, where they 
 ' afterward purchased 80 acres of land on section 7, 
 I and still later 80 acres more. His present aggre- 
 gate of 160 acres is all under good methods of culti- 
 vation. 
 
 Mr. Lawson's second wife died in the fall of 1874, 
 after having become the mother of four children, one 
 of whom died in infancy. The reeord now stands : 
 Charles P. married Mary Olsen and resides in Orion ; 
 • Gustav was united in marriage with Hannah W. 
 1 Carlson, who came from Sweden, her native land, in 
 : 1875. Gustav is the manager of the home farm, and 
 ) he and his brother are also extensive grain-threshers. 
 His children are Edward, Mabel, Arthur and a de- 
 ceased infant. Albert, unmarried and residing with 
 his brother, is the third child by Mr. Lawson's sec- 
 ond marriage. 
 
 The family are members of the Evangelical Lu- 
 theran Church, in which society Mr. L. has been 
 Trustee. 
 
 Mr. Lawson started the town of Crampton, and 
 erected the building where the postoffice is kept, 
 giving it the name it now holds. Charles P. was the 
 first Postmaster and Gustav is now Assistant Post- 
 master at this place. The family are all strong Re- 
 publicans. 
 
 j|olomon Minard. The subject of the fol- 
 yp|L lowing personal sketch, who resides in 
 K> ' Annawan, is one of the most respected and 
 best known citizens of Henry County. He is 
 a large land-owner, and for many years an ac- 
 tive and extensive farmer, but at present is 
 living the quiet and easy life of a retired farmer in 
 the village of Annawan. 
 
 He was born in Upper Canada, Feb. 14, 18 14. 
 
 Here he was reared, educated and remained a sub- 
 ject of the British Government until 1836. At that 
 time, in order to enjoy the better advantages offered 
 by our Government, that he might feel free to think 
 and act for himself, and to rear his family where 
 they might enjoy the better and free institutions of 
 learning, he came to the United States. He located 
 at LaPorte, Ind., where he remained a year, when he 
 came to the then little village of Chicago and spent 
 another year. At the time he lived there, John 
 Swigley was Sheriff of Cook County, and he offered 
 to sell to Mr. Minard, and make a good title to, the 
 ground upon which the Sherman House now stands 
 for a span of horses. The situation was so unfavor- 
 able, and the outlook for a city of any considerable 
 size ever being built there in the swamp so gloomy, 
 that he declined to accept the offer. Finding noth- 
 ing of interest or profit at Chicago, after remaining 
 there a year he moved to La Salle County and was 
 one of the early pioneers of that section of the State. 
 He took an active part in the construction of the 
 Illinois and Michigan Canal, which at that early day 
 was supposed to be the only means of transportation. 
 He built lock No. 13, and after remaining there six 
 years, during which time he superintended nearly all 
 the public works on that part of the Canal, he left 
 and came to Henry County. He arrived here in 1850 
 and entered 160 acres of land where the village of 
 Annawan now stands. He sold this to Charles 
 Atkinson, who laid off the town . Mr. Minard was 
 one of the early settlers in this part of the country, 
 and of course suffered many of the inconveniences 
 and hardships that befall the early settler in a new 
 country. He frequently met Shabbona, the Indian 
 Chief and friend of the white man. This celebrated 
 Indian character was highly esteemed and well 
 known by the pioneers in this portion of Illinois, and 
 they always love to talk of his many kindnesses to 
 the whites and relate incidents connected with him. 
 Mr. Minard and Miss Mary Burrow were united 
 in marriage in 1845. Mrs. Minard was born Jan. 22, 
 1822, in Randolph Co., N. C. Of the seven chil- 
 dren born to Mr. and Mrs. Minard, all are deceased. 
 Mr. Minard's parents, George and Elizabeth Minard, 
 were natives of the Eastern States. The father was 
 born near Bel'ows Falls, Vt., and died at Annawan, 
 in 1864. The mother was born on the Mohawk 
 River, N. Y., and survived her husband five years, 
 also dying in Annawan. 
 
 
 0) 
 
 SK@^ 
 
 -^©^ — @?*<*iiii@ 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 453 ""\ 
 
 Mr. Minard, the subject of this sketch, owns 600 
 acres of good and improved land in Annawan Town- 
 ship. He has served his township in the various 
 local official positions, and politically is a Republican. 
 The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, with which Mr. Minard has been connected 
 for 28 years. 
 
 eorge T. Melvin is a farmer of repute in 
 the Township of Munson and came to 
 Henry County in 1862. He was born 
 Dec. 2, 1825, in Readfield, Kennebec Co., 
 Me., and is the son of Benjamin and Eliza 
 (Sargent) Melvin. His parents were of New 
 Hampshire birth and were descendants of the 
 Scotch-Irish who came from Londonderry, Ireland, 
 (<■ ) and settled at Dunbarton, N. H. The posterity of 
 v ^ that sturdy, frugal, honorable race, scattered through- 
 ^ out all portions of the United States and worthily 
 ° represent the spirit of their ancestors who twice 
 5& abandoned their homes to secure freedom of con- 
 ° science, and they form one of the most reliable ele- 
 £u ments of our mixed nationality. The parents of 
 >, Mr. Melvin were born in Chester, Rockingham Co., 
 (JN.IL 
 
 Until he was 18, Mr. Melvin was a member of 
 the family of his father and was the assistant of the 
 latter in the duties of the homestead farm. In 1843 
 he went to the city of Boston to learn the details of 
 the business of a builder. He engaged with a firm 
 of good repute and remained under their manage- 
 ment two years, receiving $10 a month. He went 
 thence to Cambridgeport and obtained a situation in 
 a car shop. He operated there a year and then 
 went into a repair shop in the service of the Fitch- 
 burg Railroad, situated at Charleston. Six months 
 later he went to Portsmouth, N. H, and after work- 
 ing there six months he went to Laconia in the same 
 State and was employed in the car-shops of the 
 Ramlets until 1857. In that year he came to Illi- 
 nois. He located at Rock Island, where he had 
 charge of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Rail- 
 road repair shops five years. 
 
 In 1862 he came to Munson Township and en- 
 gaged in farming. In 1864 he bought a tract of 
 unimproved land on section 11 in that township and 
 
 has devoted his energies to its cultivation. The ap- 
 pearance of the place does the utmost credit, to his 
 sense, industry and judgment. He has given his un- 
 divided attention to the business pertaining to mixed 
 husbandry. The entire farm comprises 228 acres 
 and is under improvements of the best character. 
 
 Mr. Melvin was married June 1, 185 r, to Miss 
 Lucy A. Fox, who was born in Center Harbor, N. H., 
 March 4, 1832, and died at their home in Munson 
 Township, April 26, 1884. She was a lineal de- 
 scendant of the Worcesters and Chases, two New 
 England families who have done much to place our 
 country in its present advanced position. Inheriting 
 those sterling qualities from such an ancestry, she 
 won the love and respect of all. A true wife, a 
 noble mother and a dear friend, her loss was irre- 
 parable to her family and deeply mourned by a large 
 circle of friends. They had two children : Frank 
 S., born May 6, 1854, in Belknap Co., N. H. He 
 was married in Geneseo, Henry Co., 111., Dec. 17, 
 1884, to Eva J., daughter of Bradbury H. and Sophia 
 C. Thomas, natives of Maine, but now residing in 
 Illinois. He is an esteemed citizen of Munson and 
 for four years has been elected member of the Town 
 Board. (See sketch.) Fred H., the youngest son, 
 was born April 4, 1861, at Rock Island, 111. He 
 married Alice, daughter of Major Albert and Louise 
 McKinney, at Owatonna, Steele Co., Minn., Aug. 
 2r, 1884. The sons are both engaged in farming in 
 Munson Township, this county. 
 
 eorge Wolf, engaged as a farmer on section 
 32, Annawan Township, is a native of Ohio, 
 where he was born, in Knox County, Jan. 
 13, 1828. His father, George Wolf, was born 
 April 1, 1782, in Pennsylvania, and married 
 Miss Sarah Enlow in 1804. She was born 
 in the Keystone State, in 1787, and died in Henry 
 County, March 3T, 1855. George Wolf, Sr., lived to 
 a very advanced age, and died in Henry County, 
 March 7, 1884. 
 
 George Wol,f, of this sketch, was reared and edu- 
 cated in his State, and in the autumn of 1853 he 
 came to Illinois and located upon the farm where he 
 is now living. Shorly after his arrival here, and be- 
 lieving that it was not good for man to live alone, he 
 was united in marriage with Miss Barbara Ann 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 Heaps, daughter of one of the well known pioneers 
 of Henry County. The officiating clergyman was 
 the Rev. Mr. Baker, of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church of Cambridge. Mrs. Wolf was born in Lan- 
 caster Co., Pa., June 15, 1837, and while a little 
 child was brought to Adams Co., 111., her parents 
 having located near Quincy. Four years later, Wm. 
 G. Heaps, her father (see sketch), moved to Rock Co., 
 Wis., where he settled near Beloit. After remaining 
 there for 18 months, they came to this county, where 
 they have since made their home. 
 
 George and Barbara Wolf are the parents of three 
 children, all of whom are living: William P., the 
 eldest, was born Sept. 13, 1857 ; Sarah, May 3, i860; 
 Hiram M., Sept. n, 1862. Mr. Wolf has an excel- 
 lent farm of 240 acres in Annawan Township, upon 
 which is located a good farm dwelling 27 x 56 feet 
 in size, and farm buildings of good quality. He is 
 what is termed a general farmer, but gives some at- 
 tention to raising Poland-China hogs and Short-horn 
 cattle. He is one of the progressive and enterpris- 
 ing farmers of the township. Politically, he is a 
 Democrat, and his wife is religiously a Baptist. 
 
 ~vvv« «\*2j2£/&j@ 
 
 »*^£®/zra0*w,/\/v*. 
 
 orman Johnson. This gentleman is one 
 5, of the prominent young agriculturists of 
 
 Henry County. He resides upon section 29, 
 Annawan Township, where he has an excel- 
 lent 240-acre farm. He was born in this county, 
 Nov. 3, 1855, and until he reached his 21st year 
 remained under the parental roof. During the 
 meantime he attended the district schools and as- 
 sisted his father at farm work. He not only acquired 
 a fair education but became thoroughly versed in 
 practical agriculture, which has enabled him to bring 
 his farm to a high state of cultivation and manage it 
 profitably. He has upon the place a nice story-and- 
 a-half brick dwelling, 30 x 30 feet in size, with a barn 
 26x30 feet, an excellent orchard and a good herd of 
 graded Short-horns. He has also excellent horses 
 and mules and fine Poland-China hogs. Politically, 
 he is identified with the Republican party. 
 
 On the 19th of February, 1878, Mr. Johnson and 
 Miss Rachel Moon were united in marriage, the Rev. 
 B. Wagner, of the United Brethren Church, officiat- 
 ing. Mrs. Johnson is a daughter of one of the old 
 
 and respected pioneers of Annawan Township. Her 
 parents were Thomas and Ann Moon, the latter of 
 whom is living in that township, and a sketch of 
 whom appears elsewhere in this volume. Mrs. 
 Johnson was born in Bureau Co., 111., Jan. 5, 1861, 
 and has become the mother of four children : Ly- ^ 
 ford M., born Sept. 1, 1880; Norman E., Sept. io, 
 1881, and Ralph Elmer, March 9, 1884. James 
 Clinton, born March 19, 1879, was the eldest, and 
 died in infancy. 
 
 ^ndrew G. Larson, general farmer and 
 ^, stock-raiser, on section 9, Western Town- 
 ship, was born in Linkoping, Sweden, March 
 28, 1835. His father, Lars Swenson, also a 
 native of Sweden and a farmer, married Beaty 
 Hokins, who was also born in the same place. 
 They both passed all their lives in Sweden, he dying 
 over 80 years of age. 
 
 Of the seven children in the above family, the sub- 
 ject of this sketch was the second. The five younger 
 are living and are all married but one ; two are liv- 
 ing in America. Andrew lived at home until he was 
 1 8 years of age, when he engaged as a general la- 
 borer upon a farm. A year afterward, in 1854, he 
 came alone to America, locating first in the city of 
 Rock Island. He soon commenced to work in that 
 vicinity as a brick manufacturer, and was also a farm 
 hand for some time in this county. After his mar- 
 riage, in 1859, he settled upon an 80-acre farm in 
 Lynn Township, this county, to which he added 120 
 more, and improved the same and resided there until 
 the spring of 1880. He then came to Western 
 Township, where he purchased 100 acres, and to 
 which he has since added by purchase 160 acres. 
 He has now an aggregate of 260 acres, most of which 
 is judiciously improved, his farm being one of the 
 best in the township. Mr. Larson has been very 
 successful as an agriculturist, and he is also highly 
 esteemed by the community in which he resides. He 
 has held the office of Road Commissioner and Town- 
 ship Collector ; has also been a Deacon in the Swe- 
 dish Lutheran Church, and he is now holding the 
 office of Trustee and Treasurer in that religious body. 
 Mr. Larson was married at Andover, this county, 
 Dec. 28, 1859, to Miss Helena S. Larson, who wa» 
 born in Central Sweden, in April, 1836. Her parents, 
 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 455 
 
 Jonas Larson and Anna Larson, came to America 
 about 1857, settling first in Geneseo, and afterward 
 in Lynn Townsfiip, this county, where they spent the 
 remainder of their days, being very aged at the time 
 of their death. Mrs. Larson, the wife of Andrew G., 
 died at her home in Lynn Township in 1879, leav- 
 ing seven children, named Ida M., Emma S., Anna 
 B., Oscar, Clara A., Francis A. and Victor H. Henry 
 and Augusta are deceased. Mrs. L. was also a 
 member of the Swedish* Lutheran Church. 
 
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 ■ > — ■.•V**- 
 
 illiam Wayne. Among the respected 
 farmers of Western Township is classed 
 the subject of the following sketch. He 
 devotes his time and attention to general 
 farming, and resides on section 9. He was 
 born in the city of Philadelphia, April 1, 1827. 
 His father, William Wayne, Sr., was also a native of 
 the Quaker city, and a lineal descendant of the fa- 
 mous soldier, Anthony Wayne, and came from an old 
 New England family of English extraction on both 
 sides. William, Senior, was a hardware merchant in 
 • the great city during his life-time, and was an earnest, 
 hard worker and prominent in the business affairs of 
 the city. He was married in Philadelphia, to Miss 
 Rebecca Walker, who came from Lumberton, N. 
 , J. Her father was a millwright, and of New Eng- 
 land ancestry, and a descendant of the old Quaker 
 families of that State, and the parents of the subject 
 of our sketch inherited the same religious inclina- 
 tions. His mother died in Philadelphia when Wil- 
 liam was only about six years of age. He continued 
 to reside with his father, and received his schooling 
 under a private tutor. Remaining at home until he 
 reached his majority, he was married at Philadelphia 
 and started out as an agriculturist. The maiden 
 name of the lady, who thus signified her desire to 
 share with him his fortunes and misfortunes, was Miss 
 Edith Blackfan. She was born in Chester Co., Pa., 
 was the daughter of a physician, and was reared and 
 educated at home. After having borne two children, 
 . Eliza, now deceased, and Mary E., now of Philadel- 
 phia, the wife died in that city. 
 
 After the death of his wife, Mr. Wayne came to 
 Illinois and secured an unimproved farm in Western 
 Township. At the time the tract of land consisted 
 
 of 160 acres, which he has since put in a good state 
 of cultivation, and fairly supplied with the necessary 
 farm buildings, and where he has since resided. His 
 success as a farmer is best told by stating that, be- 
 sides the excellent farm upon which he lives,, he 
 owns an entire section of land in Sedgwick Co., 
 Kan., some of which has been well improved. 
 
 Mr. Wayne celebrated his second marriage in Osco 
 Township, this county, Dec. 2, 1856. His second 
 wife was Sirah E. Leibee, a daughter of George and 
 Margaret (Deem) Leibee. Her parents were formerly 
 from Middleton, Butler Co., Ohio, where Mrs. Wayne 
 was born, March 9, 1835, and where she was reared 
 and educated. She came with her parents to Illi- 
 nois in 1856. They located in Osco Township, where 
 her marriage to Mr. Wayne was shortly afterward 
 celebrated. She is the mother of four children, all 
 of whom are living, and a record of whom is as fol- 
 lows : George H. married Hattie Jones, and resides 
 at Orion, where Mr. W. is engaged in the mercantile 
 business ; Margaret L. is the wife of Edward Duf- 
 field, a farmer of Western Township ; Clara J. mar- 
 ried Henry Crampton,and resides in Orion ; Charles 
 resides with his parents at home. Mr. W. has held 
 the minor offices of his township, and politically is a 
 Republican. 
 
 § j|( ndrew P. P. Gustafson, dealer in agricult- 
 t ural implements, wagons, carriages, etc., 
 at Lynn Center, Lynn Township, this 
 county, was born in Chicago, Sept. 28, 18^5. 
 His father, C. G. Gustafson, was a native of 
 Sweden, and a blacksmith by trade. He was 
 married in his native country, to Miss Anna L. New- 
 quist, a native also of Sweden. Just after their mar- 
 riage in their native country, realizing that better op- 
 portunities were afforded in the United States for the 
 accumulation of property, and hoping to better their 
 condition in this country, they emigrated, arriving at 
 and locating in Chicago. In that city they beeame 
 the parents of two children, John G. A. and Andrew. 
 In 1856 they came from Chicago to this county, 
 where two more sons were born to them, Frank O. 
 and Charles W. At present they are residing at An- 
 dover, where they are living in retirement. 
 
 Andrew P. F., subject of this biographical notice, 
 resided at home, where he assisted the father and at- 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 tended the district schools, receiving a good English 
 education. He was united in marriage in Lynn 
 Township, this county, June 3, 1 88 1 , '[with' Miss So- 
 phia M. Gran. She was the daughter of John Carl- 
 son and Anna L. (Johnson) Carlson, and the reason 
 of a discrepancy in names is attributed to the fact 
 that Mrs. G. prior to her emigration to this country 
 had her name changed from Carlson to Gran. She 
 was born in Sweden, Sept. ir, 1858, and was but 12 
 years of age when her father died. She emigrated 
 to this country in company with her brother, John 
 F., in 1875, locating in Lynn Township, this county. 
 She afterward lived in Moline City, where she was 
 engaged in domestic labor, at the residence of Uncle 
 Charlie Gran, whose name she had adopted until her 
 marriage. Her mother is at present residing in Lynn 
 Township, with her daughter and son. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Gustafson are the parents of two 
 children, — Annie S., born March 24, 1882, and Ern- 
 est F., born July 4, 1884. The latter died Aug. 29, 
 1884. After marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Gustafson lived 
 on the parental homestead of 120 acres, in Andover 
 Township. In the spring of T885 they came to Lynn 
 Center, where Mr. Gustafson established his present 
 business, in which he has met with signal success. 
 He owns his stock and building, 40 x 55 feet in di- 
 mensions, with three lots and a good residence. He 
 and his wife are members ef the Swedish Lutheran 
 Church. Politically, he is identified with the Re- 
 publican party. 
 
 * ^^ + 
 
 K. Dyson, cashier of the Bank of Wood- 
 |E hull, was born in Medina Co., Ohio, Sept. 
 16, 1856, and is the son of John W. and 
 5S. Arethusa M. (King) Dyson, who were natives 
 respectively of England and New York State. 
 His father was a wagon- maker and carriage 
 manufacturer for many years, sold out in r867, 
 moved to Galva, this county, and is now a resident 
 of that place. The subject of this sketch received 
 a liberal education at the public schools, and at the 
 age of 16 years left home, and for three and a half 
 years was engaged in a store at Galva; then for two 
 years was general clerk in the postoffice at that place; 
 next for nearly two years he was an employee in 
 Beck's Bank at Galva ; then was a book-keeper for 
 
 two years in Butters & Ober's agricultural store; and 
 in 1878 he came to Woodhull and took charge of the 
 books in the Farmers' Bank for T5 months; then for 
 a time he was with H. Higgins, in partnership with 
 whom he purchased the Farmers' Bank, and con- 
 ducted the same for a year. Mr. Higgins then sold 
 his interest to the firm of Howell, Woods & Co., 
 April r, 1880, since which time they have managed 
 the business of the concern. 
 
 Mr. Dyson was married Sept. 16, 1879, to Miss 
 Carrie L. Rayley, a native of Ohio. Mr. D. is a 
 Republican in his political sentiments, and both 
 himself and wife are members of the Presbyterian 
 Church, he holding the offices of Elder and Deacon. 
 He holds the office of Township Treasurer, and is 
 one of the leading men of Woodhull, known to be 
 philanthropic, public-spirited and ever ready to lend 
 a helping hand to every movement calculated to be 
 a public benefit. 
 
 s 
 
 ackson Deets, general farmer and stock- 
 raiser, residing on section ir, Andover 
 Township, was born in Canal Township, 
 Venango Co., Pa., Feb. 7, 1835. His parents 
 were Joseph and Sallie (Cousins) Deets, both 
 natives of Pennsylvania and of German de- 
 scent. Joseph Deets, the father of our subject, 
 followed the occupation of a farmer until his death 
 and was a soldier in the War of 181 2. He and his 
 wife were members of the Wesleyan Methodist 
 Church, but are both now deceased. 
 
 Jackson Deets, whose name heads this article, 
 was one of 15 children of his parents' family, and 
 remained under the parental roof-tree until his mar- 
 riage, which occurred in his native township, Oct. 
 20, 1859, the lady with whom he was united being 
 Miss Sarah A. Foster, born in the same county and 
 township, April 25, 1838. Her parents were of 
 Scotch ancestry and farmers by occupation. Mrs. 
 D. was reared on her father's farm, and remained at 
 home until her marriage, when she and her husband 
 came West, about to days after their marriage, loca- 
 ting on a farm which he rented in Mercer Co., 111. 
 About four years later, Mr. D., our subject, made a 
 purchase of 140 acres of land in Knox Co., 111., 
 where he resided for seven years, in the meantime 
 
 
 son-^© — *&*- 
 
6v4*dh&d H3>^ — ^&^ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 putting his farm under excellent cultivation. At 
 the end of this period he sold out his possessions in 
 that county, and came to Andover Township, Henry 
 County, at which place he made a purchase of 180 
 acres of land on sections n and 14. This he has 
 made his permanent home, residing on the same 
 since its purchase, the condition of which is well 
 improved, and is excellent farming land. He has 
 increased his landed possessions until at the present 
 time they consist of 400 acres, which are divided 
 into three parts, the divisions being the roads only. 
 His house is a fine, large structure, and besides this 
 he has fine, first-class barn and outbuildings. He is 
 the owner of 1,400 acres of land in Nebraska, 500 of 
 which is improved and in prime condition for agri- 
 cultural or grazing purposes. 
 
 Mr. Deets belongs to the Prohibition party, and 
 has held several minor offices in his township. 
 
 adock Elliott, residing on section 22, Clo- 
 ver Township, where he is engaged in the 
 occupation of farming, is a native of Ohio, 
 having been born in Belmont County, that 
 State, April 12, 1823, his parents being Richard 
 and Anna (Reed) Elliott, natives of Maryland 
 and New York respectively. His father was a farmer 
 by occupation, and he, together with his wife, resided 
 in Ohio until their deaths, his occurring in January, 
 1838, and hers in August, 1873. 
 
 Zadock Elliott was an inmate of the parental 
 household until 15 years of .age, during which time 
 he received the advantages afforded by the common 
 school and assisted in the labors of the farm. On 
 reaching his 15th year he hired out as a common la- 
 borer on a farm, and for two years followed that vb- 
 cation. He then engaged in the saw-mill, where he 
 continued to labor until he was 26 years of age. On 
 reaching this age in life he rented a farm, which he 
 cultivated with considerable success for three years. 
 In the fall of 1852 Mr. Elliott removed to this State 
 and county, settling in Clover Township, where he 
 purchased 80 acres of land located on section 3. He 
 moved on this land and engaged in the active labors 
 incident to the cultivation of a new farm, and was 
 there resident for 13 years. At the expiration of 
 that time he sold the farm, and in 1866 purchased 
 
 160 acres, the same being the tract of land on which 
 he at present resides. By energetic effort and econ- 
 omy, in 1875 he added 80 acres by purchase to his 
 original tract, the same being located onQsection 23, 
 and at present is the proprietor of 240 acres of good 
 farming land in this county and a farm ot |i6o acres 
 in Kansas. Since coming to Clover Township, he 
 has erected a fine residence on his farm, set out trees, 
 etc , and otherwise improved his place. 
 
 Mr. Elliott formed a matrimonial alliance Feb. 27, 
 1849, with Miss Nancy J., Unaccomplished daugh- 
 ter of James and Mary Grimes. The parents were 
 both natives of Ohio and there died, her father in 
 May, 1879, and her'mother March 19, 1878. 
 
 The union of Mr. and Mrs.|Elliott has been blessed 
 by the birth of 13 children, — Mary A., Clarissa E., 
 Francenia E., Damaris, Eliza J., James S., John F., 
 Wallace L., Florence E., Mory, Holly E. and Allen 
 B. One daughter. Sarah Emma, born March 31, 
 1 86 1, died May 6, 1861, the same year. Eight of 
 the children are married, — Mary A. to Joseph H. 
 Slater; Francenia to Christopher Slater; Clarissa 
 to Albert Perkins ; Damaris married Hezekiah 
 Brown ; Eliza J. to Louis Bernard ; James L. to 
 Ella McCung; and Florence E. to Carey Like. John 
 F. is married to Sarah Ida Ramsey. 
 
 Mr. Elliott, politically, affiliates with the. Demo- 
 cratic party. Religiously, he and his wife are both 
 members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. So- 
 cially, Mr. E. belongs to thelMasonic Order. He has 
 has held the different offices of the township. 
 
 — — \ — Hs 
 
 ames G. Davis, a farmer and raiser of live 
 f stock on section io, Andover Township, 
 was born in Rockingham Township, Wind- 
 ham Co.,Vt, Jan. 31, 1825. His parents were 
 IT also natives of the Green Mountain State, his 
 father, Hiram being a farmer, and who married 
 Melinda Stephens, in Washington Co., N. Y., and 
 died in Windsor Co., Vt., and his mother died in the 
 township of Geneseo, this county, in May, 1883, 
 both at an advanced age. 
 
 Mr. J. G. Davis, the fifth in order of birth of a 
 family of nine children, was educated in the public 
 schools of Washington Co., Vt., and when he became 
 of age he emigrated West, locating in Bureau County, 
 
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 HEATHY COUNTY. 
 
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 this State. From 1852 to 1855 he was in California, 
 where he enjoyed fair success. Returning to this 
 State, he came to Andover Township, this county, 
 and purchased 195 acres of good farming land, where 
 he has since made his home. He also'owns over 
 three half sections in Keith Co., Neb., some of which 
 is improved. Mr. Davis breeds the Short-horn vari- 
 ety of cattle, and Clydesdale and Norman varieties 
 of horses. 
 
 Mr. D. has been Township Trustee for a number 
 of years, and in his social relations he is a member 
 of the Masonic fraternity, of which body he has been 
 a Deacon and is now a Steward. 
 
 In Cambridge, March 3, 1859, Mr. Davis married 
 Carrie Simonton, who was born in Portland, Me., 
 Dec. 26, 1830. Her parents, Benjamin, a farmer, 
 and Anna (Buck) Simonton, were natives of New- 
 foundland, and settled in Portland, Me., after their 
 marriage. Mrs. D. was 18 years of age when she 
 came from the last-named point to the West. Her 
 parents afterward died in Cass Co., Iowa, her father 
 in February, 1883, and her mother in May following. 
 There are now five living children in the family of 
 Mr. Davis, besides one deceased, namely: Frank 
 H., a resident of Menlo, Iowa; Fred S., William I., 
 Mary D., Anna L. S., residing at home; Eddie died 
 in infancy. 
 
 *<0OO^ 
 
 j| ev. H. H. Like, a retired farmer and minis- 
 ter of the Christian Church, was born in 
 New York, Sept. 22, 1831. His parents 
 were Henry and Amy (Husted) Like, natives 
 of New York, in which State his father followed 
 the occupation of a farmer, and where both 
 parents resided until thejr" deaths, — the mother dy- 
 ing in 1832 and the father in 1868. 
 
 Rev. Like remained with his parents on the old 
 homestead until he attained the age of 20 years, 
 having attended the district schools and the Cary 
 Collegiate Institute in Geneseo. After leaving home 
 he commenced preaching, and followed that profes- 
 sion in the East for eight years. His first effort at 
 preaching was in Hermitage, Wyoming Co., his na- 
 tive State. After preaching in the East- for the time 
 stated, he came to this State and located in Geneseo, 
 this county, and took charge of the Church at Mor- 
 ristown. He also rented a farm, which he cultivated 
 
 in connection with preaching the gospel. In 1863 
 he purchased a farm of 80 acres, located on section 
 32, Woodhull Township, near the present village of 
 that name, and cultivated his land in connection 
 with preaching. He was ordained in 1864. In 
 1875 Rev. Like sold his 80-acre farm and purchased 
 another consisting of 160 acres, located on section 
 24, on which he moved and resided until 1883. 
 Since that date he has resided in Woodhull, retired 
 from the active labors of life. 
 
 Rev. Like was united in marriage, Oct. n, 1857, 
 with Miss Sarah A. McWain, a native of New York. 
 Their union has been blessed by the birth of four 
 children, — Elizabeth A., born July 16, r86i, died 
 Feb. 26, 1862; Carry H., born Aug. 28, 1863; Jessie 
 A., March 13, 1870, and Gracie M., Feb. 13, i88r. 
 Politically, Mr. Like is a believer in the principles of 
 the Republican party. Socially, he is a member of 
 the Masonic Order, and is a gentleman noted for his 
 worth and respected for his frank and manly dealings 
 with his fellow man. 
 
 
 -o— <g- 
 
 arren B. Smith, residing on section 10, 
 Galva Township, was born June 28, 1847, 
 in Caledonia Co., Vt. The ancestors of 
 Mr. Smith were of English extraction. His 
 grandfather, William Smith, was born in 
 Vermont, followed the occupation of a farmer in 
 that State, and died there, aged 80 years, his ( father 
 having been a soldier in the Revolutionary War. 
 He (William Smith) was married in Vermont, to Miss 
 Susan Fry, a native of Caledonia Co., that State, and 
 is yet living in Kewanee, this State, with her daughter, 
 Mrs. Lucretia Chesley, aged 90 years. She is the 
 mother of a large family. Of her children, Frederick 
 Smith was born in Vermont and died in Wethersfield 
 Township, this county, May 30, 1884, aged 6r years. 
 He was a farmer by occupation and came West in 
 1851, settling in Stark County. He resided there ' 
 for about five years before his death, when he re- 
 moved to Wethersfield Township, this county, where 
 he died. He married Nancy Way, a daughter of 
 Nathan Way and a native of Vermont. She is yet' 
 living in Wethersfield Township, and is the mother 
 of seven children, four of whom survived, namely : 
 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 459 
 
 fj> 
 
 (i) 
 
 & 
 
 
 Albert G., Warren B., subject of this biographical 
 notice, Carlos S. and Delia L. 
 
 Warren B. Smith, our subject, was reared on a 
 farm in Stark County, this State, receiving his educa- 
 tion in the common schools and developing into 
 manhood. In September, 1864, he enlisted in Co. 
 H, 146th 111. Vol. Inf., and served in the war until 
 July n, 1865, when he was mustered out. After the 
 war was over and the cause for which he fought was 
 victorious, he returned home and engaged in the 
 occupation which he had followed all his life, agri- 
 culture. He is now residing on section 10, Galva 
 Township, where he has a farm of 200 acres of land 
 and is meeting with success in his chosen vocation. 
 
 Mr. Smith was united in marriage, Feb. n, 1869, 
 in Wethersfield Township, this county, with Miss 
 Myra Smith. She was the daughter of William 
 Smith, and was born Aug. 14, 1849, in Wabash, 
 Wabash Co., Ind., and has become the mother of 
 three -.children, — Fannie E., born Feb. 15, 1870; 
 Elmer W., April 22. 1872, and Forrest F., Dec. 24, 
 1878. Politically, Mr. Smith votes with the Demo- 
 cratic party. He has held the office of Commissioner 
 of Highways for three years, and is one .of the re- 
 spected citizens of his township and county. 
 
 JWvvJ- 
 
 fe-gr ugustus Sherman, liveryman in the vil- 
 lage of Woodhull, is from the State of New 
 York. He was born in Essex County, that 
 State, June 4, 1841. His parents, Samuel and 
 Azuba (Green) Sherman, were also natives of 
 the same State and came to Illinois in 1850, 
 settling in Galesburg, near which point they pur- 
 chased 200 acres of land ; but in 1874 Mr. S. retired 
 from actual labor in agricultural pursuits, sold his 
 farm, and died in 1875. His wife still resides in that 
 city. 
 
 Mr. Augustus Sherman, the subject of this bio- 
 graphical notice, was an inmate of the parental home 
 until 14 years of age, receiving a common-school ed- 
 ucation. After leaving the home he was a laborer 
 upon a farm for a period of five years ; he then 
 rented a farm until 1862, when he enlisted in the 
 war for the Union, becoming a member of Co. D, 
 iD2d 111. Vol. Inf., and served two years and ten 
 months in Sherman's army. He participated in all 
 
 the principal battles in which his regiment was en- 
 gaged from Reseca, Ga., to Goldsboro', N. C. During 
 his term of service he was taken prisoner at the 
 place last-named and was kept in confinement for 39 
 days. At the battle of New Hope Church he was 
 wounded in the head, but within two weeks after- 
 ward he was again on duty. He carried the flag 
 during all of the Atlantic campaign ; was honorably 
 discharged after the close of the war, May 30, 1865. 
 
 Returning home, he rented his father's farm, con- 
 sisting of a quarter of a section of prairie land. After 
 cultivating and managing that for eight years, he 
 moved to this county and for three years rented &'• 
 farm ; he then purchased 80 acres of land in Onta- 
 rio Township, Knox County, and occupied it two 
 years ; he then sold that and moved to Altona 
 Township, same county, and for three years con- 
 ducted a farm of 120 acres; next he sold that and 
 purchased 80 acres in Oxford Township, this county, 
 and resided there one year, when he finally sold that 
 and bought his present livery establishment at Wood- 
 hull, where he is enjoying a prosperous business. 
 
 Mr. Sherman was united in the bonds of matri- 
 mony with Miss Jennett Marble, who was born in 
 Knox County, Ohio, March 12, 1842. The four chil- 
 dren born to Mr. and Mrs. Sherman are Minnie E., 
 born Oct, 3, 1861; Letta M.,. April 23,1870; Merta 
 A., Oct. 11, 1881 ; and Rena B., July 24; 1884. 
 
 Mr. Sherman is a Republican in his views of na- 
 tional affairs, he is a School Director, City and Town- 
 ship Constable, a member of the Village Council and 
 of the G. A. R. 
 
 f 
 
 •c-i 
 
 51 
 
 am 
 
 ci) 
 
 amuel J. Laird, engaged in the livery 
 business at Woodhull, where he is meeting 
 with success in his chosen vocation 1 , is. a 
 native of Pennsylvania, having been born in 
 that State June 8, 1847, his parents being 
 Joseph and Sarah (Adams) Laird, natives of 
 that State, where her mother died 1852. Joseph 
 Laird, father of the subject of this notice, came to 
 this State in 1853, and settled in Pike County, where 
 he engaged in mercantile business, which he followed 
 for six years. He then, in 1858, sold out and came 
 to Oxford Township, this county, where he rented a 
 farm, which he continued to cultivate until 1863 
 
I 
 
 ^■>(\^ 
 
 460 
 
 I 
 
 3* 
 
 : 
 
 i) 
 
 I) 
 
 £> 
 
 HENRY 
 
 COUNTY. 
 
 During that year he purchased 80 acres of land, on 
 which he located with his family, and which he suc- 
 cessfully cultivated and improved for 22 years, and 
 then, in 1877, retired from the active labors of life, 
 and rented his farm until the date of his death, June 
 7, 1885. He was married to his second wife, Mrs. 
 Charlotte Grove, in 1862. By his first marriage five 
 children were born, — Margaret E., Minerva J., Kate 
 M., Samuel J. and Thomas A. 
 
 Samuel J. resided with his parents until he had 
 attained the age of 26 years, having received a good 
 English education in the district schools of his native 
 county. The major portion of his life prior to his 
 majority was passed on the farm, and until the age 
 last named, when he left the parental roof-tree and 
 went forth to fight life's battle single-handed and 
 alone. He first engaged in the butcher business, 
 which he followed for six years, when he abandoned 
 it and followed shipping stock for a year. He then 
 engaged in the livery business at Woodhull, where he 
 had been previously interested in business. He is still 
 following the livery business at that place, and in 
 March, 1885, in connection with the same, added the 
 butchering business. He is meeting with success 
 in his chosen vocation at that place, and by strict 
 attention to business and honest dealings has estab- 
 lished a good and paying trade in each branch of his 
 business. Mr. Laird was married June 25, 1885, to 
 Miss H. E. Cornell, a native of Ohio. Politically, 
 he is a believer in the tenets of the Democratic 
 party, and socially he is a member of the I. O. O. F. 
 
 #~^ 
 
 -8- 
 
 : saiah Richmond, of Geneseo, is one of the 
 pioneer nurserymen of Henry County, 
 whither he came in 1852. He established 
 himself in the business named immediately on 
 his arrival, carrying out the purpose for which 
 he came. In December subsequent to his 
 arrival, he bought 60 acres of land whereon to begin 
 his enterprise, which is now included within the cor- 
 porate limits of Geneseo, and is designated Rich- 
 mond's Addition. He removed his family here in 
 1854, and in the same year admitted Mr. N. B. 
 Huntington to a partnership. Between two and 
 three years later he bought the interest of his asso- 
 ciate, and continued his operations alone until 1878, 
 
 when he sold out to his sons, Joseph and Edwin; 
 The former is still engaged in the prosecution of the 
 business. 
 
 Mr. Richmond was born in Middleborough, Mass., 
 Aug. 5, 1809, and is the son of Benjamin and Abigail 
 (Dean) Richmond His earliest traceable ancestor, 
 Deacon Joseph Richmond, was of English birth or 
 descent, the progenitors of the family having come to 
 America in ante-Colonial days. The grandfather of 
 Mr. Richmond of this sketch was a soldier of the 
 Revolution, and won commendation for the services 
 he performed. He was a Deacon in the Congrega- 
 tional Church, as was his son. Mr. Richmond was 
 reared on a farm, and was married at Scituate, R. I., 
 Oct. 28, 1833, to Eliza A., daughter of Jeremiah A. 
 Fenner. She was born in the town where the mar- 
 riage took place. n Her father was a near relative of 
 James Fenner, one of the Governors of Rhode 
 Island, and the family to which she belongs is'one 
 of the oldest in the State. Four children were born 
 to Mr. and Mrs. Richmond before their removal to 
 Illinois. Jeremiah, the oldest, was born in Massa- 
 chusetts, Nov. 19, T834, and died May 5, 1879. The 
 three next younger were born in Scituate, R. I. 
 Joseph married Clara McClelland, and is in the 
 nursery business at Geneseo. Mary jE. lives at 
 Geneseo. Edwin A. was born Oct. 4, 1842, and 
 died Dec. 13, 1880. He left a widow and three 
 children — two sons and a daughter. The eldest son 
 left a wife and child, who are in California. Abigail 
 was born Oct. 3. 1844, in Tazewell Co., III., and 
 died July 12, 1872. Maria L. and Francis E. were 
 twins, and were born Aug. 17, 1847, in Tazewell 
 County. The latter married Mary A. Hopkins, and 
 he is a farmer in the township of Geneseo. His wife 
 is the daughter of S. G. Hopkins, and was born in 
 Connecticut. 
 
 Prudence was born March 27, 1850, and died in 
 childhood. Helen A. was born at Geneseo, April 
 13. l8 SS- She is the wife of Mortimer Fleet, and 
 they are residents of Munson Township. 
 
 Mr. Richmond became a citizen of Scituate, R. I., 
 in 1836. He came to Tazewell Co., 111., in 1843, 
 settling in the spring of that year in Groveland. He 
 was there engaged in farming until he came to Gen- 
 eseo in the year named. The former political con- 
 nections of Mr. Richmond were with the Republi- 
 cans, but latterly he has indorsed the tenets of the 
 
 I 
 
 (5 
 
 »©«= — &*4?H B® 111 '&*8> 
 
■@V4*BI1®I1D&^ zs^sr 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 461 
 
 
 I 
 
 <9* 
 
 «» 
 
 National Greenback party. He is a member of the 
 Congregational Church. Mrs. Richmond died Jan. 
 21, 1878. 
 
 }i|pgWlex. W. Albro, residing at Galva, was born 
 Nov. 22, 1824, in Warren Co.,N. Y., and is 
 a son of Samuel and Polly (Green) Albro, 
 natives of Rhode Island and New York re- 
 spectively. They were married in the latter 
 State, where he followed the occupation of a 
 farmer. He was also a soldier in the War of 1812: 
 They came to Medina Co., Ohio, about 1833, and 
 remained there until November, 1835, when they re- 
 moved to Fort Clark, now Peoria, of this State, where 
 they remained a short time. The next spring they 
 came to near where Wyoming, in Stark Co., this 
 State, is located. They erected a dwelling that fall, 
 and in the autumn of 1836 moved to Lynn Town- 
 ship, Knox County, where he entered 160 acres of 
 land with a soldier's warrant. The land was located 
 on Walnut Creek, and comprised both timber and 
 prairie. They located on the land mentioned, and 
 engaged actively and energetically in its cultivation, 
 and continued to reside there until their deaths. 
 Their family comprised eight children, namely: 
 James, Phebe, Stephen G., Benjamin, John, Alex. 
 W., subject, of this notice, Deborah and Eliza. Of 
 these children, John, Mrs. Eliza Rounds and our 
 subject are the' only survivors. 
 
 Alex. W. Albro, on account of the newness of the 
 country at the time in which his parents settled in it, 
 and the necessity which compelled him to assist in 
 the labors of the farm and the maintenance of the 
 family, only received three months' schooling, which 
 was in Knox County. He was reared on the farm, 
 and at the date of his father's death, being 17 years 
 t>f age, was apprenticed to learn the wagon-maker's 
 trade, at which he worked for about ten years. He 
 then again engaged in farming, and followed that oc- 
 cupation five years. In June, 1855, about the time 
 the town started, he came to Galva to live, having 
 previous to this time worked on the Chicago, Burling- 
 ton & Quincy Railroad, grading track. He was then 
 in the mercantile business, from 1855 until 1862, 
 and was also engaged in buying grain during the 
 same period. 
 In August, 1862, Mr. Albro enlisted in the 112th 
 
 111. Vol. Inf., Co. G., as private, and was afterward 
 elected Captain. He served his country until April, 
 1863. He was stationed part of the time at Lexing- 
 ton, Ky., on provost duty. After returning from the 
 war he again went to Galva, where he engaged in the 
 hotel and livery business, owning what is known as 
 the " Baker House " for many years, and which he 
 conducted for four years. He then leased it for five 
 years, but at the expiration of two years sold it to 
 Brewer & Baker. While the Rock Island & Peoria 
 Railroad was being built, Mr. Albro took a contract 
 for the building of ten miles of its track northwest 
 of Galva, which contract he successfully completed. 
 Having traded his Galva property for Nebraska 
 lands, he has spent the last years of his life princi- 
 pally in attending to his western property. 
 
 Mr. Albro has been married twice. His first wife 
 was Miss Esther Wilcox, who died in Knox County, 
 and he was again married 10 Emily Spalding, a 
 daughter of Dr. Spalding, deceased, and a well known 
 pioneer and surgeon of the noted 112th III. Vol. 
 Inf., and also a gentleman high in the Masonic Or- 
 der. Mrs. Albro was born in 1827, in New York 
 city, and has borne her husband six children. Of 
 these, Mrs. Esther Babbitt and Hattie H. are yet 
 living; the four others, Charles O., Florence J., Ella 
 D. and infant daughter, are deceased. Mr. Albro 
 has been a very active worker in the ranks of the Re- 
 publican party, and filled numerous minor offices in 
 the gift of the people of the county, having been 
 Deputy Sheriff on two separate occasions, and hav- 
 ing held other minor offices. He was one of the in- 
 corporators of the First National Bank at Galva, and 
 was a director of the same. From 1868 to 1872, he 
 was Deputy United States Revenue Assessor for 
 Henry County, serving in that capacity for more than 
 four years. 
 
 @) 
 
 
 Hamuel Chamberlain has been a resident 
 of Geneseo since March, 1856. He is 
 well known throughout a large section of 
 Western Illinois for his efforts in the way of 
 improving the breeds of horses, and has been 
 of more practical benefit in this direction than 
 any other man within this or in adjacent counties. 
 
 He was born in Charlton, Mass., April 16, 1820, 
 and is the son of Jason and Polly (Gibbs) Chamber- 
 
 I 
 
 s^ y Qj^ Qi V8)M® *£) > < €» g - 
 
liVi^«f- ^g »w ^ ommfi&rfB — ^v 
 
 ^^c©v| 
 
 462 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 lain. He was reared to manhood in the Bay State, 
 and was there married, Nov. 7, 1843, to Delliza 
 Reynolds. Mrs. Chamberlain was born in Charlton, 
 Worcester Co., Mass., and is the daughter of James 
 and Dolly (Vinton) Reynolds. Dulcenia is the name 
 of the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Chamberlain. She 
 was born in the same place as her parents. 
 
 In 1855 Mr. Chamberlain removed to Moline, in 
 the county of Rock Island, and in the year following 
 fixed his residence in Geneseo. Since coming to the 
 latter place he has been continuously engaged in the 
 business in which he is at present interested. The 
 stock he keeps is justly celebrated for its merits and 
 his stables commonly exhibit from seven to ten ani- 
 mals of superior type and pure thoroughbreds of 
 registered and acknowledged ^reputation. 
 
 1 illiam E. Kennish, residing in Galva 
 Township, was born on the Isle of Man, 
 near Ramsey, Great Britain, Sept. 15, 
 1833. The ancestors of Mr. Kennish were 
 Manxmen. His grandfather, Robert Ken- 
 nish, was a farmer by occupation, as likewise 
 were his descendants. He, Robert, lived to a good 
 old age, but was sorely afflicted before death by be- 
 coming blind. His son Edward was born and died 
 on the Isle of Man. His (Edward's) wife, nee Chris- 
 tine Quale, was born on the island and is yet living 
 there, aged 80 years. She is the mother of six chil- 
 dren,— William E., subject of this notice; Robert, 
 Christian, Anna, Maggie and Edward. Edward is 
 in Manchester, Eng. Christian resides in the north 
 of England, and the others are all living in this 
 country. 
 
 William E. Kennish, whose name heads this no- 
 tice, was educated on the Isle of Man. At the age 
 of 22 years he left his native isle and emigrated to 
 the United States. Arriving here, he located in 
 Trumbull Co., Ohio; lived there nine years, engaged 
 in farming, and then came to Galva, this State and 
 county, arriving here in April, 1865. After a resi- 
 dence of less than two years in the village, he moved 
 on a farm of 80 acres of land, located on section 12, 
 Galva Township, which he had purchased Jan. r, 
 1866. He entered at once upon its improvement and 
 cultivation, and has continued to reside on the same 
 
 -V®)»*§ 
 
 %>-<*>- 
 
 ^^fiC- 
 
 y? 
 
 ^-mm 
 
 until the present time, meeting with success in his 
 chosen vocation, agriculture. He now has 120 
 acres of land in an advanced state of cultivation. 
 
 Mr. Kennish was united in marriage with Mrs. 
 Mary Claque, nee Skillicorn, in r856, of French ex- 
 traction. She is the mother of nine children, six by 
 her first husband and three by Mr. Kennish. Of 
 the six children born of her former marriage, Mrs. 
 Margaret May and Mrs. Mary Gell reside here. 
 The three children by the latter marriage are Vin- 
 cent W., William R. and Katie E. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Kennish are members of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church at Galva, to which denomination all the chil- 
 dren belong. Politically, Mr. Kennish is identified 
 with the members of the Republican party. 
 
 W. Shetler,, residing on section r8, Clover 
 Township, where he is engaged in the oc- 
 cupation of farming and stock-raising, is a 
 son of William and Martha (Wolff) Shetler. He 
 was born in Franklin Co., Pa., July 13, 1840. 
 The parents of Mr. Shetler were natives of 
 Franklin Co., Pa. His father died in that State in 
 1882, and his mother is still residing there, with one 
 of her sons. J. W. worked on the farm in Pennsyl- 
 vania, and attended the common schools until he was 
 22 years of age. At this age in life he left home to 
 procure a competency for himself. His first effort 
 on his own behalf was in farming, which vocation he 
 pursued on a rented farm for one year, meeting with 
 some degree of success. In February, 1865, he was 
 drafted and served in the army until the close of the 
 war. On the termination of the war, he returned to 
 Pennsylvania, and remained there until r866, when 
 he came to Illinois and located in Clover Township, 
 at Woodhull. He rented a farm near that village, 
 on section 22, Oxford Township, and was there occu- 
 pied in farming for two years. He then rented 
 another farm in the same township, and cultivated 
 that for one year. At the expiration of that time, 
 he bought- 80 acres of land, on section 26, same ' 
 township, on which he resided until 1873. During ; 
 that year he sold his 80 acres, and purchased 134 * 
 acres in Clover Township, on which he has resided ^ 
 until the present time. By economy and energetic / 
 effort, he has been enabled to purchase 160 acres 
 adjoining, and 160 acres in Andover Township, 100 
 
 < 
 
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 o^i,^ tfn ^^ 
 
-^v&on&ima vo - ^ &sr 
 
 -«% 
 
 
 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 467 
 
 in Clover Township, on section 7, 320 acres in Bar- 
 ton Co., Kan., and 320 acres in Rush County, same 
 State. We see from the number of acres of land 
 owned by Mr. Shetler, that he is one of the largest 
 land-owners, not ■ only of his township, but in the 
 county. Leaving home a poor boy, and having none 
 to aid him in his financial operations, we may truth- 
 fully say that his accumulations of property were at- 
 tributable to his good judgment, energy and economy, 
 and not to the assistance of friends and relatives. 
 
 Mr. Shetler was married March n, 1869, to Miss 
 Nancy J. Knox, a native of Pennsylvania. Their 
 union has been blessed by the birth of five children, 
 Edith M., William E., Fred C, Minerva G. and 
 Laura B. Politically, Mr. Shetler is identified with 
 the supporters of the Democratic party. Socially, he 
 belongs to the I. O. O. F. 
 
 ^<00« 
 
 >rancis H. Eyer, a farmer of the township 
 of Annawan, is located on section 22, 
 where he owns 240 acres of land in ad- 
 vanced cultivation. He was born April 141 
 1823, in Clear Creek Township, Warren Co., 
 Ohio. His father, Francis H. Eyer, was born 
 in 1760, in Germany, and in the year 18 12 was mar- 
 ried to Mary Nuble. She was born in 1764, in 
 Rockingham Co., W. Va. Their marriage took place 
 in Warren Co., Ohio, whither the elder Eyer went 
 on coming to America. The deaths of the parents 
 occurred respectively March 4, 1823, and Sept. 10, 
 1824, in the county where their marriage occurred. 
 They had seven children, named Margaret, Mary, 
 Christena, Catherine, Sarah, Francis H. and Nancy. 
 Christena and Nancy are deceased; Margaret lives 
 in Madison Co., Ind. ; Sarah lives in Warren Co., 
 Ohio; Catherine is also resident of Warren Co., 
 Ohio. 
 
 Mr. Eyer removed from the latter county to Henry 
 County in 1857. He was previously married to 
 Matilda F. Patton, their union in the bonds of mat- 
 rimony talcing place April 18, 1841. She died in 
 Sept., 1850, in Warren County, after having borne 
 three children, — William J., George W. and Sarah 
 J. In 1 85 1 Mr. Eyer was again married to Sarah 
 Blinn, who is a native of Warren Co., Ohio, and was 
 born June 20, 1831. The record of the births of 
 their children is as follows ; Mary E., Oct. 16, 1853; 
 
 Annie L., Feb. 26, 1866; Charles E., April 24, 1868; 
 and Jessie A., May 8, 1870. The family to which 
 Mrs. Eyer belongs is of German origin. Her father, 
 Daniel Blinn, was born in Ohio in 1802, and he 
 married Elizabeth Fry on the 25th of May, 1829. 
 She died Feb. 22, 1882, aged nearly 73 years. 
 
 The farm of Mr. Eyer is fitted with all necessary 
 fixtures, including buildings and other appurtenances 
 for successful agriculture. His cattle are chiefly 
 thoroughbred, and consist of five Holsteins and a 
 number of Short -horns ; his horses are Norman and 
 English Draft. Mrs. Eyer is the owner of r46 acres 
 of land in good condition for profitable operations. 
 
 Mr. Eyer is a Republican in political faith and 
 connections, and in religious views is an adherent of 
 the Church of the United Brethren. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Eyer well represent that large class of well-to-do 
 and prosperous farmers which we find in Henry 
 County. Honesty, industry and good will toward all 
 are prominent characteristics of these people. None 
 hold a more worthy and honored place in the coun- 
 try's record, and we present full-page portraits of 
 each in connection with this sketch. 
 
 ^*n}h*fe 
 
 eorge Buminell, formerly an agriculturist 
 of Henry County, is a resident of Geneseo. 
 r> He has been a citizen of the county since 
 the spring of 1852, and has been identified 
 with its development for a third of a century. 
 He was born in New Philadelphia, Ohio, Sept. 
 11, 1819. His parents belonged to the farming class, 
 and he was reared at home on the farm. At 19 he 
 determined to learn a trade, and accordingly served 
 the necessary time as a blacksmith. He made that 
 his business for 14 years. 
 
 On coming to Henry County he settled on section 
 31, in the township of Atkinson. The land of which 
 he became the possessor is situated in the townships 
 of Cornwall, Atkinson and Geneseo, and comprises 
 310 acres. He was engaged in its management un- 
 til his removal to the city of Genes-io, which trans- 
 pired in 1873. He retains the ownership of his 
 estate, but is not in active business. He has given 
 considerable attention to the advancement of educa- 
 tional affairs, and has served a number of terms as 
 School Director. In political faith he is a Democrat, 
 Mr. Rummell was married at New Philadelphia 
 
 
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 * •» 
 
V" 
 
 ^ni^a/W 
 
 ■^-v 
 
 <»®[»«^ 
 
 -ii 
 
 468 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
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 4> 
 
 Ohio, in 1842, to Elizabeth, daughter of George and 
 Christian Noel. She was a native of Pennsylvania. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Rummell had two children, both of 
 whom were born in Ohio. Louisa, the youngest, 
 died when 14 years old. 
 
 Marcus was born in Tuscarawas Co., Ohio, and 
 came to Henry County with his father. He was 
 reared on the farm in Atkinson Township, and was 
 married in the same township in November, 1863, to 
 Eliza J., daughter of John Gaines. She is a native 
 of the State of Illinois. Their children comprise two 
 sons and three daughters, and are named J. Arthur, 
 Ethel, Bessie, Harry and Hattie. The two last are 
 twins. The mother and three older children are 
 members of the Presbyterian Church. 
 
 Until 1870 Mr. Rummell, the younger, was occu- 
 pied in farming in the vicinity of Geneseo. In that 
 year he engaged in the business in which he is at 
 present operating. He is a dealer in musical mer- 
 chandise, and is a resident of Geneseo. 
 
 -¥3- 
 
 ■&- 
 
 ohn Jacob Gottsche, one of the prosper- 
 ous citizens of the township of Hanna, is 
 an excellent sample of what is meant by 
 a self-made man. He inherited only the fate 
 common to the class to which he belonged by 
 birth in his native land, in which there was 
 the inevitable struggle for existence without the 
 smallest hope or chance to advance either in fame or 
 fortune. The laws of Germany provide for the dis- 
 posal of the time of a boy, but make no provision 
 for him to enter the competitive struggle for ad- 
 vacen.ent which is the birthright of every human 
 creature. He landed in the United States in 1854, 
 and was the possessor of $40 wherewith to begin his 
 life in a strange land. He is now (1885) the propri- 
 etor of 240 acres of land, and while all credit is due 
 to his efforts, good sense and energy, fairness entitles 
 the " good wife " to her share of the honors. The 
 children have added their assistance, and the worthy 
 family rejoice in the results to which they have all 
 contributed. 
 
 Mr. Gottsche was born June 18, i8i2,in Holstein, 
 Germany, and from the age of 6 to 16 he went to 
 sf hool principally. He then worked on a farm until 
 1854, when he sailed for the United States. He 
 
 passed 42 days on the ocean, and landed at th e port 
 of New York. He came with little delay to Chicago, 
 and there engaged to go to the territory known to the 
 laboring class as the Michigan Pineries. He passed 
 a winter there, and worked during the ensuing sum- 
 mer in a saw-mill. He came then to Moline and ob- 
 tained employ in the same capacity. He was frugal 
 and economical, and saved his earnings, and in i860 
 made his first purchase of land. He bought at the 
 outset but 20 acres, which were situated on section 
 3 of Hanna Township. Three years before he be- 
 gan farming on land which he rented, and all the 
 property he owned was a cow and a pair of oxen. 
 His estate lies on sections 3, 9 and 10, in Hanna 
 Township. The stock on the place includes 
 eight milch cows, a number of young cattle and ten 
 horses. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Gottsche to Catherine Korb 
 took place in 1857. Their children are four in num- 
 ber; John is the oldest; Katie married Eugene Da- 
 vis, and they live in Edford Township; Maggie mar- 
 ried George Taylor, a farmer of Geneseo Township ; 
 and Henry is the youngest. Mrs. Gottsche is a na- 
 tive of Hamburg, Germany. The family are mem- 
 bers of the Lutheran Church. 
 
 -*-##-*- 
 
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 H. Taylor, of Geneseo, was born Oct. 28, 
 1844, in Windham Co., Vt., and is the son 
 flfeS*^ of Alfrecl an d Martha (Hammond) Taylor. 
 The parents were of New England origin, and 
 were natives of Vermont. In 1854 they came 
 to Illinois and located in Geneseo. 
 Mr Taylor was united in marriage to Ella H. 
 Hume, at Geneseo, Jan. 30, 1873. She was born in 
 Moline, 111., and is the only daughter of S. T. Hume, 
 M. D. Their two children are named Maurice H. 
 and Louisa M. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor are connected 
 in membership with the Congregational Church. In 
 politics Mr. Taylor is a radical Republican. 
 
 On arriving at the time when he desired to engage 
 in business, Mr. Taylor chose the mercantile,in which 
 he was interested until 1880, at which time he re- 
 moved to Grinnell, Iowa, where he purchased 560 
 acres of land in the immediate vicinity of Grinnell 
 and engaged in .agricultural pursuits, and operated 
 there until the cyclone of 1882, at which time he re- 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 turned to Geneseo. He still retains his property at 
 Grinnell. On coining hither he embarked in the 
 grain business, and became the successor of Messrs. 
 Lawbaugh & Dillenbeck, one of the oldest firms in 
 the county, and who were among the pioneer grain 
 dealers at Geneseo. Mr. Taylor is the proprietor of 
 the elevator, and has added a feed-mill to its ca- 
 pacity. He is also interested in the sale of hard 
 and soft coal. The capacity of the elevator is 65,000 
 bushels, and in good crop years Mr. Taylor handles 
 from 200,000 to 300,000 bushels of grain. Steam 
 power is employed, and a corn-sheller is connected 
 with the establishment which has a capacity of 5,000 
 bushels per day. 
 
 letcher Van Auken, residing on section 
 28, Galva Township, was born July- n, 
 1842, in Monroe Co., N. Y. The ances- 
 tors of the Van Auken family, of which the 
 subject of this sketch is a member, came from 
 Holland and settled in Dutchess Co., N. Y., 
 about 1836. They were members of a colony that 
 were sent there by the Holland government, and a 
 portion of their posterity still reside there. Their 
 descendants took an active part in the Revolution of 
 the Colonies from the unjust government of the old 
 country. The record shows that the grandfather, 
 Aaron Van Auken, was a Revolutionary soldier, and, 
 after the war, engaged in the occupation of a farmer 
 in New York. He was married in that State, and 
 died near Albany, as likewise did his wife, aged 102 
 years. They were the parents of three children, of 
 whom Aaron, Jr., was the only son. He was born 
 in 1800, in Albany Co., N. Y., and is yet living, in 
 Knox County, this State, where he came in 1858. 
 He was for a time Superintendent of a section of the 
 Erie Canal, and held the office of Justice of the 
 Peace, and likewise participated in the War of 1812, 
 being in the engagement at Sackett's Harbor. He 
 married Catherine Ostrander, a native of Lowell, 
 who is still living, at the venerable age of 82 years. 
 She bore him six children, — Calvin, Anna, Wesley, 
 Martha, William Harrison and Fletcher. 
 
 Fletcher, the subject of our notice, was reared in 
 Rochester, N. Y., where he received his early edu- 
 cation. At the age of 17 years, he came to Knox 
 
 County, this State, in 1858, with his parents, and has 
 continually been engaged in the occupation of a 
 farmer ever since that time. He first purchased 
 land in McLean County, which he farmed for two 
 years, then sold it and bought in Woodford County, 
 lived in the latter county four years, sold his land 
 and then came to Galva Township, this county. O.n 
 arriving here, lie purchased 123 acres of the old 
 Bon ham homestead, the oldest settler in Galva 
 Township, which is located on section 28, where he 
 is at present residing. Previous to this he had lived 
 from 1866 to 1876, one mile southwest of Galva, on 
 a farm owned by his father. 
 
 Mr. Van Auken was married in Knox County, 
 Oct. r8, 1863, to Miss Margaret A., daughter of 
 Joseph Armstrong, a native of Durham Co., England. 
 She has borne him three children, viz. : Frank, 
 Unnie and Ermina. The latter died aged eight 
 years. Mrs. Van Auken is a member of the Chris- 
 tian Church. Politically, Mr. V. is a sympathizer 
 with the principles of the Democratic party, and, 
 socially, he is a member of the A. F. & A. M . be- 
 longing to Galva Lodge, No. 243. 
 
 oyal M. Wilcox, a farmer on section 20, 
 Geneseo Township, has been a resident in 
 Henry County since 1842. In that year 
 he came to Geneseo to make the brick for the 
 seminary building. He was the pioneer in 
 in that line of business in the county. He is 
 a native of the State of New York and was born in 
 Bergen, Genesee County, May 30, 181 6. He was 
 the son of Titus and Sarah (Stafford) Wilcox. His 
 father died when he was two years old, and not long 
 after the second marriage of his mother placed him 
 under the charge of a step-father. The reconstructed 
 family went to Riga, in the same State, and there 
 Mr. Wilcox passed the remaining years of his mi- 
 nority. His step-father was a farmer and also a 
 brick-maker, and he was instructed in both arts. 
 When he was 2 1 he set out to operate in his own be- 
 half and passed the few years next ensuing in the 
 pursuits in which he had been trained. He found 
 employ at different points in his native State until 
 the year preceding that in which he came to Henry 
 County. He spent a part of the year 1841 in Mich- 
 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 igan and came thence to Geneseo. He opened a 
 brick-yard for the purpose that has been mentioned 
 and was occupied in its management several years. 
 In 1848 he bought a tract of land on section 20, in 
 the same township, on which 30 acres had been 
 placed under the plow. It was also fenced. In 1850 
 he built a frame house of ample dimensions, of which 
 his family took possession, and the place has sinec 
 constituted the homestead. Mr. Wilcox has devoted 
 his entire time to his agricultural projects and has 
 made all necessary and suitable improvements on 
 his farm until it is in excellent condition. He gives 
 much attention to stock-breeding. His marriage to 
 Hannah Wright occurred April 6,1847. Her birth 
 took place in Cattaraugus Co., N. Y., Feb. 6, 1830, 
 and her parents were John and Anna (Hunt) Wright. 
 They were natives of the Empire State. Following 
 is the account of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Wil- 
 cox: George A. married Alice Batchelder and they 
 reside at Logansport, Ind.; Frank D. married Lu 
 Seymour and is a citizen of Elgin ; Flora S. is the 
 wife of Edwin C. Jones. They are residents of El- 
 gin. Marion L., Jessie V., Royal P. and Lucy May 
 are the names of the younger children, who are un- 
 married. All the members of the family are con- 
 nected with the Congregational Church. Politically, 
 Mr. W. is a Republican. 
 
 ? bram H. Follett, a farmer of Henry County, 
 , resident at Atkinson, is the owner of 80 
 
 acres of land in the township of Cornwall 
 and also of the residence occupied by his 
 family in the village of Atkinson. He was 
 born April 30, 1808, in Rensselaer Co., N. Y. 
 He had only the limited advantages of the dis- 
 trict schools, and at the age of 17 he entered upon 
 an apprenticeship to learn the trade of a tailor. Af- 
 ter spending three years in the business, he went to 
 Essex Co., N. Y. He was there married to Lorain 
 E. Meacham, Feb. r, 1829. She was born in East 
 Poultney, Rutland Co., Vt., in the town where Hor- 
 ace Greeley learned the art of printing in the news- 
 paper office of A. Bliss. The father of Mrs. Follett, 
 William Meacham, was born in Massachusetts and 
 was the son of one of those who lost their lives at 
 the battle of Bunker Hill. Mr. and Mrs. Follett are 
 
 the parents of four children now living. They have 
 lost three by death. Mary Janette, was born Dec. 
 22, 1829; Jo hn M -, March 18, 1832; William, 
 March 28, 1834 (the latter was a soldier in the 
 Union army and was killed at the battle of Resaca, 
 Ga.); Melville C, June 7, 1836; Sarah F., Oct. 30, 
 1838; Maria I., Aug. 16, 1841 ; Martha E., May 14, 
 1843. A U three of the boys were in the Union 
 army. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Follett are members of the Congre- 
 gational Church. He is a Republican in his political 
 connections. 
 
 saac D. Buggies, a farmer of Geneseo 
 Township, resident in the city of Geneseo, 
 came to Henry County in 1856. He was 
 born June 17, 1823, in Rutland, Vt. He re- 
 presents one of the most prominent names in 
 the business history of the East, as his father, 
 Draper Ruggles, was the senior member of the firm 
 of Ruggles, Nourse & Mason, the pioneer manufac- 
 turers of agricultural machinery on the American 
 Continent. His mother, previous to her marriage, 
 was named Nancy Corbett. His father removed to 
 Worcester, Mass., when he, the son, was 12 years 
 of age, and in the same year the business, which has 
 been referred to, was established. The relations of 
 the firm grew to extensive dimensions, and employed 
 300 hands. 
 
 As he attained to a suitable age, Mr. Ruggles 
 acted as an assistant in the shops at Worcester, and 
 also as a salesman in the ware- rooms in the city of 
 Boston, and he was thus engaged until he was 18. 
 He then carried out a resolution to try a seafaring 
 life, and he became a sailor in the merchant service. 
 He sailed from Boston to the East Indies, to the 
 Mediterranean Sea, and to South America. He was 
 in the ocean service about four years, and reached 
 the position of second mate of a full-rigged ship. On 
 relinquishing the idea of making a seaman's life the 
 object of his ambition, he resumed his relations with 
 the business of his father. He operated there until 
 three years had expired, and then took charge of the 
 homestead in Westborough, Mass., and was engaged 
 in that line until 1852, when he went to Indiana. He 
 there operated as a farmer, and also in the manufac- 
 ture of farming implements three years. 
 
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 HS.NRY COUNTY. 
 
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 In 1855 he came to Geneseo. He bought a farm 
 near the city of which he was the occupant three 
 years, and he then sold the property and removed 
 to Davenport, Iowa. After two years he returned to 
 Geneseo, and purchased the estate he has since 
 owned, and resided in the city. When the foundry 
 firm of Hammond & White had been in operation 
 about a year, Mr. Ruggles became an owner of a 
 third interest by purchase, and the firm name was 
 changed to Hammond, White & Co. 
 
 In political views, Mr. Ruggles coincides with the 
 Republicans. He was formerly a Whig. He is 
 tolerant in his religious proclivities, having been 
 brought up to accept the creed of the Unitarians. 
 
 He was joined in marriage, by the Rev. Edwa'rd 
 Everett Hale, with Catharine G. Crawford, at Wor- 
 cester, Mass., in 1846. Mrs. Ruggles was born in 
 Rockland, Me. Their children were born as fol- 
 lows : Ella F. was born at Worcester, and is a 
 resident at Geneseo ; Katie was born in Westborough, 
 and is the wife of John Scott, a citizen of Chicago ; 
 the sons Henry and Edward were born in Indiana ; 
 the former is in Chicago, and the latter married Clara 
 Carl, and is the resident manager of his father's farm ; 
 the two younger children were born in Geneseo; 
 William married Martha Cressey, and is following 
 the profession of a painter in the city of Chicago ; 
 and Emma is the wife of Charles C. Flint, of 
 Chicago. 
 
 lohn Henderson. This gentleman is largely 
 vt identified with the farming interests of 
 Henry County. His home farm is on sec- 
 tion 15, of Oxford Township. He was born in 
 Indiana Co., Pa., Sept. 9, 1831. Brice and 
 Anna (Thomas) Henderson, his parents, were 
 natives of the Keystone State and by occupation 
 farmers. They passed their lives in their native 
 State, and at the above mentioned vocation. 
 
 John received a good ordinary education at com- 
 mon schools, and at the age of 20 bid farewell to the 
 old home and embarked in life for himself. For five 
 years he engaged in farming on shares. In 1856, he 
 came to Illinois, and soon made a location at Orion, 
 Henry County, where he worked out by the month 
 until i860. He then purchased the place where he 
 is now living, which consisted of 80 acres at that 
 
 time. To this he has added 160 acres, and has 
 erected a fine residence, built barn, set out orchards 
 and shade-trees, built fences and improved his farm 
 until it to-day ranks among the valuable estates of the 
 county, being worth $15,000. Politically, Mr. H. is 
 a Republican, and is recognized as one of the repre- 
 sentative men of his community. 
 
 In 1861, Jan. 10, our subject was married to Miss 
 Eliza Cox, a native of this State. To them have been 
 born five children, four of whom are living and bear 
 the following names: Frank, William T. S., Jennie 
 and Fannie. Annie is deceased. 
 
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 ra R. Wells, M. D., has been a practicing 
 physican at Geneseo since i860 and of the 
 county since 1850. He was born Feb. 18, 
 1820, at Shawneetown, 111., and is the son of 
 Joel and Mary (Edwards) Wells. His father, 
 Joel Wells, removed his family to Illinois in 
 the last of its Territorial days and the same year in 
 which it was made a State. The father was born 
 Aug. 1, 1775, at Deerfield, Mass. 
 
 He was married in his native State May 8, 1797, 
 and his wife was a descendant of the celebrated 
 divine, Jonathan Edwards. She was born at Deer- 
 field, Mass., Feb. 9, 1778. Soon after their marriage 
 they removed to Windham Co., Vt., and were among 
 the pioneers of the Green Mountain State. They 
 went thence to the (then) village of Buffalo, whence 
 they were driven by the burning of the place during 
 the progress of the War of 18 12, their entire per- 
 sonal belongings being at that time destroyed. They 
 went to Cincinnati, and were there residents until 
 1818, when they came to Illinois and located at 
 Shawneetown in Gallatin County. In 1827 they 
 moved to Galena, whither they traveled overland, 
 crossing the Illinois River at the point where Peoria 
 now stands, and where there, was then only a single 
 log house. An Indian ferryman took the party over 
 the Rock River, crossing where Dixon is now lo- 
 cated. After a stay of a year at Galena they went 
 to Moline, where the family was the first to make a 
 permanent settlement. The father died there Sept. 
 3, 1838. The mother's death transpired Dec. 4, 
 1846. At the time they located at Moline the family 
 included four sons and three daughters. 
 
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 Dr. Wells was a child of eight years when his 
 parents settled in Moline. He received his primary 
 education in the common school and in 1838, when 
 he was 18 years old, he fulfilled a long-cherished in- 
 tention to enter upon the study of medicine and he 
 began his reading in the office and under the pre- 
 ceptorship of Dr. Gregory, of Rock Island. Subse- 
 quently, he took a course of lectures at the Medical 
 College at New Orleans and finished his studies at 
 the University of the City of New York. He was 
 graduated at the latter institution with the class of 
 1846, and received the authority of one of the most 
 prominent of the medical colleges of this country to 
 enter upon the career of a practitioner. He had es- 
 tablished his business at Polo, in Ogle Co., 111., in 
 1840, and after operating there two years he went 
 to Missouri, where he remained seven years. While 
 there he attended the University of the City of New 
 York. After receiving his credentials as a Doctor of 
 Medicine, he opened an office at Moline and prose- 
 cuted the duties of his profession three years. In 
 1849 he went to California, and during his stay there 
 of one year he practiced among the miners. He 
 then came to Henry County and commenced the 
 practice of his profession in Green River. He re- 
 mained there ten years, and in i860 came to Gen- 
 eseo. Since the beginning of his relations as a 
 physician and surgeon with the people of that place, 
 he has had an uninterrupted career of success and 
 has firmly established himself in the confidence of 
 his patrons. 
 
 In political faith and connections he has been a 
 Democrat since he began to vote. He has been 
 County Supervisor two years, and has officiated one 
 term as Mayor of Geneseo. He was Postmaster at 
 Moline three years — from 1846 to 1849 — and after 
 his removal to Petersburg, Mo., he held the same 
 position there five years. During the progress of 
 the war he operated as Hospital Surgeon at Mound 
 City some time. He has been active in the interests 
 of the Medical Societies of Iowa and Illinois, and 
 has been the presiding officer of those bodies as 
 well as a member of the American Medical Associa- 
 tion. He has acted as County Physician 12 years. 
 
 Dr. Wells has been twice married. He became 
 the husband of Susan L. Wells in October, 1840, at 
 Rock Island. She was born in Massena, St. Law- 
 rence Co., N. Y., and was the daughter of Elihu 
 vVells. The issue of this marriage was five children, 
 
 all of whom are living but one. George V. married 
 Jennie McCurdy and they live in Chicago, where he 
 is occupied in the business of a commission mer- 
 chant. Helen is the wife of Geo. W. Baker, of Gen- 
 eseo. They have four children : Phebe married 
 Dr. H. T. Antes and is the mother of two children; 
 Joseph E. married Elizabeth Sheriff, of Geneseo, and 
 they are residents of Galena. They have two chil- 
 dren, both sons; Henry V. was killed by a runaway 
 horse when he was seven years old. The mother 
 died Jan. 13, 1857, and the second marriage of Dr. 
 Wells to Martha J. Graham, took place at Rock 
 Island, July 25, 1857. Two children have been 
 born to them. Henry, the eldest, died when he was 
 four years of age. Mary is a teacher by profession. 
 Mrs. VVells is the daughter of Joseph and Phebe 
 (Madison) Graham, and, in the maternal line of de- 
 scent is a descendant of President Madison. She 
 was born in Gainesville, N. Y. The family are com- 
 municants of the Episcopal Church. 
 
 While the Black Hawk War was in progress, Dr. 
 Wells, then a boy of 13, enlisted in the cavalry, and 
 served during the war ; was honorably discharged at 
 its close and " as honestly paid," he says, " by the 
 Government." 
 
 «'Ww»— 
 
 eter M. Wickstrum, residing on section 19, 
 Galva Township, was born March 3, 1827, 
 If^^ Soderhamn, Helsingland, Sweden, and is a 
 cb J son of Mathias and Anna (Nelson) Wickstrum. 
 ™j* In that country his mother died. The father 
 ' of Mr. Wickstrum emigrated to this country in 
 1866, and died here in 1873, aged 83 years. He 
 had two children, — Mathias, a farmer in Clay Co., 
 Kan . ; and Peter M , subject of this notice. The 
 latter was educated in his native country, and at the 
 age of 23 years, in 1850, emigrated to the United 
 States, coming directly to Bishop Hill, this county.' 
 He became a member of the "Colony" and worked 
 with it until its dissolution, when he received 57^ 
 acres of prairie and five acres of timber land, all in 
 Weller Township, the date of his receiving the land 
 being in the spring of 1861. 
 
 Sept. 14, 1861, Mr. Wickstrum enlisted in the 57th 
 111. Vol. Inf., Co. D, as private, and was appointed 
 Orderly Sergeant. After the battle of Shiloh, April 
 
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 6, 1862, he was promoted Second Lieutenant, and 
 Sept. 3, of the same year he was again promoted, 
 this time to the position of Captain, which office he 
 held until the close of the war, receiving an honor- 
 able discharge July 7, 1865. He participated in 
 the battles of Fort Donelson, Shiloh, siege of Cor- 
 inth, battle of Corinth, Sherman's campaign before 
 Atlanta and in his famous march from Atlanta to the 
 sea. He was also in the battle of Bentonville while 
 on his march to the sea, and also participated in 
 many minor skirmishes and engagements. 
 
 After the war he returned home, cast aside his 
 accoutrements of war, and once more entered upon 
 the peaceful pursuits of life. He first sold his land 
 in Weller Township, then purchased 210 acres lo- 
 cated on sections 19 and 20, Galva Township, upon 
 which he moved and at once entered vigorously and 
 actively upon the task of its improvement, and on 
 which he is at present residing, meeting with success 
 in his chosen vocation. 
 
 Mr. Wickstrum was united in marriage, in his 
 native country, with Miss Ingren Belgquist, who has 
 borne him four children, — Jacob, John, Lottie and 
 William, — the eldest of whom married Miss Church, 
 of Galesburg. 
 
 Politically, Mr. W. is identified with the Demo- 
 cratic party. Socially, he is a member of the G. A. 
 R., belonging to Galva Post, No. 33. 
 
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 ohn F. Smith is one of the most substan- 
 stantial and reliable of the agriculturists of 
 Henry County, and is a resident on sec- 
 tion 1 3, Geneseo Township. He was born in 
 Kane Co., 111., Dec. 18, 1843, and is the son 
 of Benjamin H. and Selinda (Emerson) Smith. 
 His father and mother died on the homestead in 
 Geneseo Township, respectively May 25, 1875, and 
 March 15, 1868. They were of New England origin. 
 The family removed to Henry County from Kane 
 County in 1855. A house was purchased in Gene- 
 seo, where they lived until i860. In that year they 
 took possession of the farm on which the son is now 
 a resident. The place became their property in 1858, 
 and during that year and the one following the farm 
 buildings were erected. The place contains 192 
 cres and is a valuable estate. It was once the site 
 
 of a village, — one of the first started in Henry 
 County and which received its death blow when the 
 Geneseo Colony took permanent root in the place it 
 now occupies. The place was called Henryville and 
 contained a dozen houses and a saw-mill, and its 
 prospects were as good as any other of the small vil- 
 lages that have sprung up in different places, only to 
 die out from some unforeseen cause. 
 
 Mr. Smith has been twice married. His first wife, 
 who before her marriage was Miss Nettie Rogers, 
 left the following children when she died : Salinda 
 was born Feb. 8, 1868. Emmett was born July 2, 
 1870. Henry E., who is deceased, was born Aug. 
 19, 1872. The mother died Oct. 8, 1872. Sept. 1, 
 1876, Mr. Smith was a second time married to Katie 
 J. Orcutt, of Erie, Whiteside Co., 111. She was born 
 July 10, 1855, and is the daughter of Samuel and 
 Martha M. (Thompson) Orcutt. Her children are 
 named and were born as follows : Ralph O., Oct. 
 14, 1877 ; Pearl J., June 25, 1881 ; Floyd, Oct. 17, 
 1884. The father of Mrs. Smith was born in Cen- 
 terville, N. Y., April 3, 1828. He enlisted in the 
 Union service Sept. 2, 1862, in Co. I, 75th 111. Vol. 
 Inf. He was made First Sergeant of his command 
 March 22, 1863, and June 23, 1864, after a day of 
 severe fighting, was captured by the rebels. He 
 passed eight months in the prison pen at Florence 
 and in the stockade horror at Andersonville, and 
 never recovered from the effects of the terrible expe- 
 riences of those modern Golgothas. He contracted 
 the disease from which he died Dec. 14, 1881. He 
 was married April 9, 1848. His wife was bom April 
 9, 1828, and is still his survivor. She lives at Erie, 
 in Whiteside County. Mrs. Smith was bom in the 
 city of Rochester, N. Y. 
 
 Mr. Smith of this sketch was reared to the busi- 
 ness in which he has won the meed of industry and 
 good management. He is a man of much more than 
 ordinary influence, and although he only received 
 such intellectual training as the common schools af- 
 forded, he has made the best use of his faculties in 
 acquiring a profitable understanding of men and of 
 the world in general, and is the possessor of a well 
 balanced mind ; and his abilities and stainless life 
 have won for him the unqualified respect and esteem 
 of those with whom he has been connected in business 
 and in social relations from his boyhood. As it is his 
 purpose soon to sever his connection with the people 
 of Henry County, a faithful biographer feels justified in 
 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
 
 placing him on permanent record in the real position 
 he occupies in the community in which he has main- 
 tained an undeviating course of honor and probity. 
 He is a Republican in political connection, and has 
 always sustained the principles of that party. 
 
 •*4aj2&®%§r~ m 
 
 *^®annm> 
 
 yman Stowell, of Yorktown Township, is a 
 pioneer of the State of Illinois of 1836. 
 From that date to 1848 he was working as 
 a mechanic in various parts of Illinois. He was 
 born in Colesville, Broome Co., N. Y., Feb. 19, 
 1810, and is the oldest son of Aaron and Eliza- 
 beth (Pratt) Stowell. His father was a native of 
 Vermont, and his mother was born in Broome 
 County. He was 12 when his parents removed to 
 Bainbridge, in Chenango County, and he there at- 
 tained to the estate of manhood. He was brought 
 up on the farm, and received his education in the 
 subscription schools, which were very good in the 
 way of providing for the instruction of the children 
 whose parents were early settlers of the country. 
 
 When he was 22 he went to Steuben County for 
 the purpose of learning the trade of a millwright, as 
 he had a natural aptitude for the use of tools. His 
 brother Alanson was a craftsman of the same kind, 
 and in 1836 they came together to Illinois and went 
 to work in Quincy, where they passed two months in 
 the construction of a mill. Malarial illness prevail- 
 ing there to an alarming extent, they went thence to 
 Pleasant Valley, in Scott County, in the then Terri- 
 tory of Iowa, and passed several months in the con- 
 struction of mills. In the fall of 1836 they returned 
 to Quincy, and there spent the ensuing winter. In 
 the spring they went back to Pleasant Valley and 
 resumed work at their trade, remaining until the last 
 summer month of the same year. They went thence 
 to Prophetstown, in Whiteside County, and built a 
 saw-mill on Coon Creek. In 1838 they came for the 
 first time to Henry County, and they built a mill at 
 Spring Creek. They returned to Prophetstown and 
 engaged in farming. They were the builders of the 
 first frame house in the township of Prophetstown. 
 In 1844 Mr. Stowell rented a farm at Woodward's 
 Bluff, six miles from Prophetstown, and was its occu- 
 pant and manager until 1848. In that year he made 
 
 a claim on section 9, town 18, range 5, which is now 
 Yorktown. On this the owner built a log house and 
 covered it with shingles rived from burr oak. Six 
 years later he entered the land and secured the 
 claim. He had put it under excellent improvement, 
 and he has since bought additional land and is now 
 tha owner of 177 acres, including 17 acres of timber. 
 The estate of Mr. Stowell is in good farming condi- 
 tion, and is supplied with all necessary structures 
 for the comfort of the family, the well-being of the 
 stock and the storing of the farm products. When 
 he was a farmer of Prophetstown the nearest market 
 to which he had access was at Galena, where he sold 
 his produce to the miners. That place was 72 miles 
 distant, and the trip there consumed five days. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Stowell to Sarah Leech took 
 place in 1843. She was born in Johnsburg, Warren 
 Co., N. Y. The record of their children is as fol- 
 lows : Caroline E. is the wife of S. L. Sweeney, and 
 they are residents of Arkansas. Emma J. married 
 J. H. Sweeney, of Hamilton Co., Iowa. Wilbur 
 married Lydia A. Luther. He is the manager of the 
 homestead. Sarah A. is the wife of Rufus C. Bur- 
 roughs, of Whiteside County. 
 
 Mr. Stowell and his wife are prominent members 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 arshall F. Wolcott, a farmer and stock- 
 man, resident at Geneseo, was born in 
 the village of Wolcottville, La Grange 
 7^f\ Co., Ind., Oct. 2i, 1838, and is the son of 
 
 f George and Margaret (Hine) Wolcott. His 
 father was born in Connecticut and was a pio- 
 neer of Indiana, where he attained to wealth and 
 influence. The town was named in his honor. The 
 mother of Mr. Wolcott was a native of the. same 
 State in which her husband had his origin. 
 
 On attaining to the age in which it became in- 
 cumbent on him to enter active business life, Mr. 
 Wolcott, of this sketch, embarked in a mercantile 
 enterprise at Lima, Ind. He continued to operate 
 there until his removal, in 1866, to Henry County. 
 He at first gave his attention to the prosecution of 
 mercantile affairs at Briar Bluff, and continued the 
 business until September, 1883. He had meanwhile 
 resided at Geneseo. Since the year named he has 
 
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-®v^tnii«mi^ 
 
 
 HENRY 
 
 COUNTY. 
 
 15™ 
 
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 475 
 
 devoted his time and energies to the business which 
 he is now prosecuting. 
 
 Mr. Wolcott is a Republican in political faith, and 
 he was the first Postmaster at Briar Bluff, tie of- 
 ficiated in that capacity from 187 1 to the time he 
 disposed of his business there, in 1883. 
 
 Mr. Wolcott is associated with his father-in-law in 
 the business of stock-rearing, and they are the pro- 
 prietors of 1,500 acres of land in the township of 
 Colona. 
 
 Mrs. Wolcott is the daughter of A. W. Perry, one 
 of the pioneers of Henry County, and of whose con- 
 nection with the development of its interests and re- 
 sources a detailed account is given elsewhere in this 
 work. Fanny L. Perry was born at Geneseo, and 
 was married to Mr. Wolcott May 9, 1866. They 
 have had three children. Alfred P. was born July 6, 
 1867. George was born May 21, .1869, and died in 
 infancy. Frank B. was born April 9, 187 1. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Wolcott are members of the Congre- 
 gational Church. 
 
 -¥~fy* 
 
 iristian Urban, the present Assessor of 
 Yorktown Township, is one of the pros- 
 perous farmers in Henry County. He was 
 born in Alsace, France, Nov. 14, 1827. His 
 parents were Lawrence and Barbara Urban. 
 He attended the schools of his native prov- 
 ince until he was 15, when he learned the trade of a 
 weaver. He followed it as a business until his re- 
 moval to America in 1847. 
 
 He sailed from the port of Havre De Grace, and 
 after a passage of 40 days landed at New York. He 
 had formed an intention to proceed westward, and 
 accordingly he went up the Hudson River to Albany, 
 where he took the Erie Canal and traveled in that 
 manner to Buffalo. He made his way to Chicago, 
 and went from there to the northern part of Cook 
 County. It should have been mentioned that his 
 mother died when he was but three years of age, and 
 that his father accompanied him to America. Ar- 
 riving at his destination in Cook County, he went to 
 work as a farm assistant. The next year he went to 
 Chicago, where he learned the trade of shoemaker, 
 and he followed that as an occupation two years in 
 that city. He then went into the country to pass a 
 season in the harvest fields, and he remained there 
 
 to work at his trade. After spending a year in the 
 same vicinity, he went to the State of Pennsylvania. 
 He proceeded to Warren county, where he continued 
 to stay until 1853. He went th§nce to Indiana, 
 where he bought 80 acres of land in Lake County. 
 It was wholly uncultivated, and without house or 
 shelter for stock. He bargained to pay $3 per acre 
 for the property, and had but $80 to make the first 
 payment. He worked at his business as a shoe- 
 maker, and also put in crops on land which he rented, 
 and he was finally successful in procuring the needed 
 funds to secure his title to his estate. He continued 
 to manage the little farm of which he was the proud 
 proprietor and to occupy it until 1865. 
 
 In the spring of that year he sold it and bought 80 
 acres on section 4 in the township in which he has 
 since prosecuted his farming projects. He has been 
 prospered in his frugality and industry, and is at 
 present the owner of 180 acres on the same section, 
 all of which is under excellent tillage and under good ' 
 farming regulations. The place is well supplied with 
 all needed farm buildings, and is devoted to the rais- 
 ing of grain and stock. 
 
 Mr. Urban was united in marriage to Mary Fisher 
 in 1854. She was born in Warren Co., Pa. They 
 have several children, who are named Louisa, George 
 W., Martlia, Ida, Ella, Frank and Fred. The two 
 last named are twins. Martha is the wife of M. E. 
 Melvin, and they live in New Bedford, Bureau 
 County. 
 
 ames S. Hamilton, an esteemed citizen of 
 
 f Geneseo, is a pioneer of Henry County of 
 
 1839. He was born June 12, 1812, in 
 
 > >g® f § — 
 
 ■a^ r QA ^WK 
 
 Westmorelafid Co., Pa., and is the son of Alex- 
 ]£ ander and Elizabeth (Steel) Hamilton. His 
 \ father was born in Ireland, and came thence 
 to America in the Rebellion of 1793. The mother 
 was a native of the same county in Pennsylvania 
 where the son was born. The latter was reared on 
 a farm, and came from his native county in October 
 of the year named. 
 
 He settled at Shabbona Grove in the township of 
 Cornwall, where he became the proprietor of a farm 
 comprising 166 acres. This was his home until 
 1876, when he went to Benton Co., Iowa. There he 
 purchased 240 acres of land, of which he is still the 
 
 
&? 
 
 476 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 <h 
 
 J 
 
 
 owner, and on which he continued to reside until 
 1884. In that year he returned to Geneseo to make 
 it his permanent home during the remainder of his 
 life. Mr. Hamilton is liberal in religious opinions, 
 and in political persuasion he is a Democrat. 
 
 He was married in the township of Atkinson, in 
 Henry County, in 1840, to Mary E. Taylor. She 
 was born in Antrim, N. H., and is the daughter of 
 Andrew Taylor. Five children have been born to 
 Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton : John T. married Annie 
 Jones, and they are residents of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 
 where he is a dealer in agricultural implements and 
 coal; William Wallace married Josie Allsup, and is 
 a citizen of Mapleton, Iowa ; Porter married Lota 
 Sargent, and they also live at Mapleton; Sarah E. 
 is the wife of William Orr, who is a farmer in Corn- 
 wall Township ; the two sons of Mr. Hamilton who 
 live at Mapleton are engaged in the sale of agricul- 
 tural implements, coal and lumber. The children 
 were all born in Cornwall Township. James W. 
 married Bell Snow, and they live on the farm in 
 Benton Co., Iowa. 
 
 -■■is 
 
 • o<So * 
 
 . ames A. Tracy, one of the prosperous and 
 energetic farmers of Osco Township, where 
 he resides on section 18, is a son of Joab 
 and Mary J. (Coon) Tracy, and was born in 
 Lynn Township, this county, Feb. 16, 1854. 
 His parents were "natives of Indiana, and came 
 into Henry County in 1852, locating in Lynn Town- 
 ship, and reside there at the present time. 
 
 James A. was the second in order of birth of a' 
 family of ten children, and received a fair education 
 in the common schools of his neighborhood, and 
 later attended Knox College at Abingdon, 111., for six 
 months. Remaining at home until 21 years of age, 
 he then engaged in farming on his own account. He 
 made a purchase of 1 60 acres of land in March, 1878, 
 located in Osco Township, and settled upon the 
 same, which is all good tillable land, and by hard 
 labor and industry has cultivated the same until now 
 he is the possessor of some excellent farming land 
 in Henry County. 
 
 Mr. Tracy formed a matrimonial alliance in Cam- 
 bridge, 111., Feb. 7, 1878, the lady chosen to share his 
 joys and sorrqws, successes and reverses, being Miss 
 
 Lena R. Molthrop, daughter of Oscar and Lasetta 
 (Britton) Molthrop, natives of Pennsylvania. Mrs. 
 Tracy, wife of our subject, was born in Viola, Mer- 
 cer Co.,, 111., Dec. 29, i860. Of their union has been 
 born one child, who died in infancy. 
 
 Mr. Tracy has held the office of School Director, 
 and in politics is a Democrat. 
 
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 eorge W. Goshorn, of Geneseo, removed 
 to Henry County in 1853, and to Geneseo 
 in 1859. He was born in the township of 
 Tell, in Huntington Co., Pa., Aug. 9, 1812, 
 and is the son of Andrew and Margaret (Gos- 
 horn) Goshorn. His father was born in Penn- 
 sylvania, and was of German descent, his great- 
 grandparents having come from that country to the 
 United States. The mother of Mr. Goshorn was also 
 born in the Keystone State, of parentage of Scotch- 
 Irish extraction. 
 
 The son was reared on a farm. He was married 
 in Juniata County, in his native State, to Eleanor J. 
 McClure, who is a native of the same State, and was 
 born in Mifflin County, Dec. 16, 182 1. In May sub- 
 sequent to their marriage they removed to Wayne 
 Co., Ohio. They have had eight children, two sons 
 and six daughters : Mary H. was born in Congress, 
 Wayne County, Feb. 20, 1840, is the wife of A. F. 
 Murphy, and lives in the township of Cornwall; 
 James C. was born July 30, 1847, in ChesterTown- 
 ship, in Wayne County ; he married a Miss Motley, 
 at. Deadwood, Dak., and resides at Aspen, Col.; 
 Maggie E. was born at West Salem, Ohio, Jan. 31, 
 1856, and is now Mrs. J. Mitchell of St. Louis, Mo. ; 
 Jennie, wife of George T. Wilkinson, was born in 
 West Salem, June 27, 1856, and they are residents 
 of Munson Township; the others died in infancy. 
 Mr. Goshorn removed his family to Cornwall Town- 
 ship, or to the township that now bears that name 
 in 1856. He was the owner of 80 acres that he had 
 purchased there in the year named as that in which 
 he came to Henry County, and was the occupant of 
 the place until his removal to Geneseo. He bought 
 40 acres within the limits of the village, and engaged 
 extensively in the rearing of hogs for market. 
 
 Mr. Goshorn has been until recently a Democrat 
 
 
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HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 477 "S 
 
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 in political connection, but at present is a supporter 
 of the tenets of the National Greenback party. He 
 served while a resident of Cornwall as School Trus- 
 tee. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church. 
 
 rederick N. Baird, a prominent farmer 
 residing on section 12, Osco Town- 
 *fr ship, was born in Bethany, Genesee Co., 
 N. Y., May 14, 1827, and was the fourth in 
 order of birth of a family of eight children. 
 His parents, Frederick and Roxanna (Cone) 
 Baird, were natives of Connecticut, in which State 
 they were married and remained for a number of 
 years. They then removed to New York, where they 
 resided until 1856, when they came into Henry 
 County, and settled in Edford Township, where he 
 (the father) died in 1859. Mrs. Baird died in 
 Colorado. 
 
 Frederick N., of whom we write, received a good 
 common-school education by attendance at the dis- 
 trict schools of his neighborhood, besides attending 
 the College at Brockport, Monroe County, N. Y., for 
 one term, and when 18 years of age he was appren- 
 ticed to learn the carpenter's trade. He followed 
 the latter for many years, and in the spring of 1853 
 came to Henry County and worked at his trade for 
 one season in Geneseo. He then bought a tract of 
 120 acres of land in Edford Township, and located 
 upon it, where he resided seven years, when he 
 sold it and removed again to Geneseo, and continued ' 
 to follow his trade for five years. He next engaged 
 as traveling salesman, selling marble monuments, for 
 two years, and in 1873, determining to adopt the vo- 
 cation of a farmer, he made a purchase of 80 acres 
 in Osco Township, located on his present site, sec- 
 tion 12, and has remained there ever since. He en- 
 tered upon the task of its improvement and cultiva- 
 tion, and now is the possessor of some of Henry 
 County's best farming land. 
 
 He was married in Genesee Co., N. Y., March 12, 
 T856, Caroline M. Partridge being the lady he led to 
 the altar. She was the daughter of William R. and 
 Lucy A. (Starkweather) Partridge, natives of New 
 York, and was the second of their family of nine chil- 
 dren. Genesee, N. Y., was also the place of her 
 birth, and July 24, 1832, .the date. Mr. and Mrs. 
 
 Baird have two children, — Charles E., ihe elder, was 
 married at Hamlet, Siark Co., Ind., May 31, 1833, to 
 Emma R. Dull, who was born in Wyandot Co., Ohio, 
 June 24, 1857. They have one child, Carrie R. 
 Norman W. is the name of their youngest son. 
 Charles is a graduate of the Valparaiso (Ind.) Col- 
 lege. Mr. B. has taken somewhat of an active part 
 in the general affairs of his township, and has occa- 
 sionally served in some official positions. Politically, 
 he is a Republican. Both he and his wife are mem- 
 bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 -SjS- -ofo- 
 
 Infjjlll illiam Miller, formerly a farmer, then a car- 
 ifel^Ir.. penter and a lumber merchant at Geneseo, 
 came to Henry County in 1838. He has 
 been a resident of Illinois since 1836, when 
 he located at Peoria, and came thence to 
 Henry Connty in the year named. He was 
 born in Peekskill, Westchester Co., N. Y., March 31, 
 1816, and is the son of George and Mary (Oakley) 
 Miller. He received his education and training in a 
 knowledge of agriculture previous to his 18th year 
 on his father's homestead. At that age he began to 
 learn the carpenter's trade, at which he worked in 
 his native State until his removal to Illinois. After 
 his removal to Henry County he lived two years in 
 the township of Andover. He came thence in 1840 
 to Geneseo. 
 
 In political preference he is a Prohibitionist; he 
 was a Republican in the early days of his citizen- 
 ship. Mr. Miller was joined in marriage Dec. 22, 
 1842, to Harriet T. Cone, who was born in the town- 
 ship of Victor, Livingston Co., N. Y., and who is the 
 daughter of Elisha and Eliza A. (Hill) Cone, whose 
 father was a member of the Geneseo Colony, and 
 settled in the county in 1836. He built the first 
 log cabin in the township of Geneseo. His death 
 occurred Sept. 6, 1846. Mrs. Cone resides with her 
 daughter. She is 75 years old, and has been a resi- 
 dent of Henry County nearly a half century. 
 
 Following are the children of Mr. and Mrs. Miller : 
 George L. died in infancy; Emilie E.*is the wife of 
 W. S. Read, of Pike Co., III. ; George W. was born 
 July 7, T850, and is a resident of St. Jo'seph, Mo., 
 and is the Auditor of the Kansas City, St. Joseph & 
 Council Bluffs and the Hannibal and St. Joseph 
 Railroads. 
 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 I ela Andrews, who is engaged in farming, 
 and resides on section 34 of Osco Town- 
 ship, is one of the successful farmers as 
 well as respected citizens of this county. 
 
 The parents of Mr. Andrews were Beri and 
 Eliza (Hall) Andrews, and were natives ot 
 Connecticut. The parents were married and settled 
 in Connecticut, and in r834 removed to Lorain Co., 
 Ohio, in which county they continued to reside until 
 their deaths. The mother died April 21, 1857, and 
 the father Oct. 9, 1868. Their children were four 
 in number, namely: Bela, Hannah E., Sarah B. and 
 William B. 
 
 Bela Andrews, the gentleman whose name stands 
 at the head of this notice, was born July 28, 1830, 
 in Connecticut. He attended the common schools, 
 more or less, until he attained his majority, passing 
 a portion of his time prior to that date in working on 
 the farm. On attaining the age of majority he at- 
 tended Kenyon College, located in Gambier, Knox 
 Co., Ohio, and followed the curriculum of that in- 
 stitution, from which he graduated with honors after 
 six years of hard study. Receiving his diploma, he 
 engaged in teaching in the schools of Ohio and Con- 
 necticut, which occupation he followed for about four 
 years. At the expiration of that time he was em- 
 ployed in a factory in Connecticut, where he passed 
 ' two years more of his life. He then entered the Re- 
 formatory at Meriden, Conn., where he was employed 
 as teacher and assistant for some twelve years. As 
 a memento of the appreciation of his service as an 
 instructor, the teachers and employees of the school 
 presented Mr. Andrews with a magnificent family 
 bible. 
 
 In the spring of 1874 Mr. Andrews came to this 
 county, and settled in Osco Township. He is at 
 present the owner of 320 acres of well improved 
 land, and in the vocation in which he is at present 
 engaged is meeting with success. His marriage, 
 which occurred in Meriden, Conn., June ro, 1862, 
 to Mary L.* daughter of Stephen R. and Elizabeth 
 (Clark) Merriam, has been blessed by the birth of 
 five children. The parents of Mrs. Andrews were 
 natives of New Haven Co., Conn., in which State they 
 were married, and shortly afterward emigrated to 
 Portage Co., Ohio, where they died. 
 
 Mrs. Andrews was born in Summit Co., Ohio, 
 Aug. 4, 1839, and the names of the children born of 
 her union with Mr. A. are as follows : Wm. M., who 
 died when nine months old ; Annie E., Mary F., 
 Oliver B., Edward L. and Paul B. 
 
 Mr. Andrews has been honored by the citizens of 
 his township by the office of School Director, Trus- 
 tee and Road Commissioner, which offices he has 
 filled to the entire satisfaction of all concerned. In 
 politics he affiliates with the Republican party. 
 He and his wife are members of the Protestant Epis- 
 copal Church. 
 
 oshua Gilfillan, retired farmer, resident at 
 Kewanee, Henry Co., 111., was born at 
 Barnett, Caledonia Co., Vt, April 12, 1823. 
 His father, William, was a native of Scotland, 
 and his mother, Ruth, — whose maiden name 
 was Blanchard, but when married to Mr. Gil- 
 fillan was a widow Chamberlain, — was a native of 
 Peacham, Vt. Of theirfive children, three sons and 
 two daughters, the subject of this biographical notice 
 was the fourth. The senior Mr. Gilfillan was a 
 farmer by occupation, and his sons in that regard fol- 
 lowed his footsteps. He died in 1840, aged 72 
 years, and the rest of the family moved from Barnett 
 to Peacham. 
 
 Joshua had the advantage of a pretty thorough 
 education, and taught school several terms while a 
 young man. Dec. 4, 1844, he came West, and for 
 the first few years taught, " off and on," in the pub- 
 lic schools. His elder brother, John A., was a grad- 
 uate of Dartmouth, and fitted for the Bar; but, not 
 finding the legal profession to his taste, abandoned it 
 early in life, and sirfce 1850 has been connected with 
 the schools of St. Louis, Mo. Another brother, 
 Daniel W., was a graduate of Vermont University, 
 and taught school several years, but finally left it 
 off, and hus since followed farming. 
 
 In 1846, the gentleman whose name stands at the 
 head of this article located upon a farm in Stark Co., 
 111., and there remained until 1880, when he gave up 
 the cares and labors incident to farming, and retired 
 to his home in Kewanee. He has been thrice mar- 
 ried, first at Peacham, Vt., in 1846, to Miss Ann 
 E. Way, who died at Osceola, 111., in 1854, leaving 
 
 4» 
 
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 8 
 
 
 c±£*6 
 
 <m$m&*r& 
 
^V«:§» 
 
 HENRY 
 
 COUNTY. 
 
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 4 
 
 479 
 
 two children : Mary, Mrs. Henry Reedall, of Salt Lake 
 City, Utah, and Charles C, now a farmer of Bureau 
 Co., 111. Mr. G. was married a second time in 
 1855, to Mrs. Lucy L. Sawyer, who died in 1875, 
 leaving five children : Frank, a farmer; Cora V., of 
 Salt Lake City; John W., James A. and Burton C, 
 all of Stark Co., 111. Mr. Gilfillan was married a 
 third time at Toulon, 111., in 1880, to Mrs. Ella Row- 
 ell, who has borne him two children : Fannie, and an 
 infant deceased, not named. 
 
 Mr. Gilfillan has worked his way up through life, 
 and by individual effort and industry has earned the 
 handsome competency which now enables him to 
 take the world easy. In addition to agricultural in- 
 terests, he is a large stockholder in the Haxtun 
 Steam Heater Works, at Kewanee, director in the 
 First National Bank, and a large stockholder in the 
 two great corporations known as the Chicago, Bur- 
 lington & Quincy and Illinois Central Railroads. A 
 farmer that had the judgment and foresight to invest 
 money in the stocks of those two corporations at a 
 time when they were low, and to hold on to them, 
 requires no further recommendation to the world as 
 shrewd financier. Politically, Mr. G. is an inde- 
 pendent Democrat. 
 
 evi A. Hamilton, a prosperous and ener- 
 getic farmer, his residence being on section 
 15, Osco Township, is a son of James and 
 Lucy (Nichols) Hamilton, natives of Massa- 
 chusetts. They married and settled in the 
 above State, but later removed to York State, 
 where they remained some time, finally returning to 
 the Slate of their nativity, and settling in Worcester 
 County, where they died. Their family consisted of 
 seven children, — Jefferson, Mary, Lucy, Levi A., 
 William, James and Marcia. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was born in Onondaga 
 Co., N. Y., April 10, 1810, and when but six years 
 of age removed with his parents to Brookfield, Mass., 
 at which prace he remained until January, 1856. 
 Having learned the shoemaker's trade, he, followed 
 the same for six years, and that, in connection with 
 farming, occupied his time until he came West. In 
 January, 1856, he came to Geneseo, 111., where he 
 lived until the spring of that year, when he settled 
 
 in Osco Township, there purchasing 160 acres of 
 land on his present location, and has since remained 
 a resident of this township. His farm is in excel- 
 lent condition, and mostly all improved. 
 
 His first marriage occurred in Brookfield, Worces- 
 ter Co., Mass., the date of which was June 5, 1831, 
 the lady being Miss Mary Walker, daughter of Eze- 
 kiel Walker, also natives of Massachusetts. She was 
 born in Brookfield, the latter State, and bore her 
 husband ten children, the following being the record 
 of the living ones : Sarah F., William O., Emma W., 
 Mary, Henry and Lucy. Sarah F. is now the wife 
 of H. Crossley, and resides in this township. Mrs. 
 Hamilton died in Osco Township, April 7, 1876. 
 Emma W. is the wife of Henry Norton, and resides 
 in Hampton, Rock Island Co., 111.; and Mary, now 
 Mrs. Johnson Bennett, resides in Des Moines, Iowa. 
 Mr. H. was the second time married in Coe Town- 
 ship, Rock Island County, June. 5, 1878, to Ruth, 
 daughter of Stephen and Eleanor (Price) Odell, 
 natives respectively of York State and Maryland, and 
 widow of B. F. Bryant, who died in Canoe Creek 
 Township, Rock Island Co., 111., Jan. 27, 1855. She 
 had by that marriage one child, Frances J. Bryant, 
 who is now the wife of Henry Quick, and resides in 
 Port Byron, Rock Island County. Mrs. Hamilton 
 was born in Guernsey Co., Ohio., on the 4th of May, 
 1830. 
 
 Mr. Hamilton has held the office of Supervisor 
 one year, and other minor offices within the gift of 
 the people of his township. He and his wife are 
 members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and 
 politically he is independent. 
 
 -5 #3-^ i- 
 
 I 
 
 C!> 
 
 illiam R. 'Goodrich, gunsmith and dealer 
 in sportsmen's goods, at Kewanee, Henry 
 County, 111., bears the distinction of hav- 
 5> ing been born in the Sandwich Islands. His 
 father, the Rev. Joseph Goodrich, of the 
 Congregational Church, was sent from Old 
 Wethersfield, Conn., as a missionary to the Sand- 
 wich Islands in 1822, and there remained for a pe- 
 riod of 14 years. To the student who gleaned his 
 primary knowledge of important events from the Ec- 
 lectic series of school readers, the name of Goodrich 
 will always be familiar. The stories there related of 
 the earliest attempts to Christianize the Sandwich 
 
 ||J|Aj))^i*§- s*^ Q^ng^iiiK^^ ^*€^ 
 
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 ■©v^hh$oii*> 
 
 480 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 cannibals, were first told by the father of the subject of 
 this sketch, the Rev. Joseph Goodrich. He returnedto 
 his native State in 1836, and proceeded at once to Illi- 
 nois , where he was identified with the Wethersfield Col- 
 ony for a number of years, and in 1 85 2 died, upon the 
 farm now occupied by the Lathrop Coal Mining Co., 
 in the 58th year of his age. His wife, Martha 
 (Barnes) Goodrich, had preceded him by a few years 
 to the mystic shore, and was the first person interred 
 in the Wethersfield Cemetery. They reared three 
 sons and as many daughters to men and women, 
 and buried their eldest-born on the .Sandwich Is- 
 lands. 
 
 William R. Goodrich, our subject, was born Feb. 
 20, 1832, and therefore when the family arriyed in 
 the new and unsettled county of Henry, he was but 
 about four years of age. He worked at farming until 
 about 24 years of age, and in 1857 removed into the 
 town of Kewanee, and established the first bread 
 bakery at this place. He followed baking about six 
 years, starting up in the meantime his present busi- 
 ness. His first shop occupied the site of the present 
 new Kewanee House, and was a small building 
 erected in 1856. In 1857, he was married, at Kewa- 
 nee, to Harriet M. Slocum, a native of New York 
 State, and has had born to him five children, as fol- 
 lows : William B., Rolland S., Frederick G., Charles 
 E. and Lewis J. Both Mr. and Mrs. Goodrich are 
 members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and 
 Mr. G. is identified prominently with the Independ- 
 ent Order of Mutual Aid. 
 
 -*3- 
 
 -£S- 
 
 eorge Duff, a farmer of Henry County, has 
 been a resident of the"*State of Illinois and 
 " K of Henry County since 1857. Mr. Duff 
 was born in Allegheny Co., Pa., March 24, 
 i82r. He is the son of William and Mary 
 Duff and was reared on a farm. He lived in 
 the State in which he was born until he was nearly 
 40 years old, and was there occupied in farming. 
 He was married there, Aug. 28, 1844, to Mary A., 
 daughter of Philip Cypher. She was born in the 
 same county in which she was married. The chil- 
 dren born to Mr. and Mrs. Duff were six in number. 
 Nancy E. is the wife of Darwin Amsden and they 
 live in Iowa. Sarah A. married George H. Wilson, 
 
 and they are also living in Iowa. William married 
 Rebecca Wilson. He is a farmer in the township 
 of Edford. Mary F. is the wife of Charles Magee, 
 of Osco Township. John died at the age of seven. 
 One child died in early life, who was born in Gene- 
 seo. The five first named were born in Pennsyl- 
 vania. 
 
 Mr. Duff purchased the farm he now owns in the 
 township of Edford in 1862. He removed thence to 
 Geneseo, Feb. 22, 1884. In his political connections 
 he is a Democrat. 
 
 -*- 
 
 ■+> 
 
 l^V^^f 
 
 I 
 
 A. Peterson, owning 108 acres of land, lo- 
 cated on section 30, Osco Township, where 
 he resides and is engaged in the occupa- 
 % Jv. tion of his life, that of agriculture, was born in 
 Sweden, Feb. 15, 1834. Mr. Peterson lived in 
 his native country until 1857. In the summer 
 of that year, hoping to better his financial condition 
 in a new country, he emigrated to the United States. 
 One year after his arrival in this country he came to 
 Henry County and purchased 80 acres of land in 
 Lynn Township, on which he located with his family 
 and actively engaged in its cultivation and improve- 
 ment. He and his family resided on the latter place 
 for seven years, when Mr. P. sold the same and 
 made another purchase, the same being in Western 
 Township and consisting of 160 acres. -Eight months 
 later, Mr. Peterson sold the latter purchase and 
 bought 177 acres in Osco Township, located on sec- 
 tion 31, on which he and his family moved and con- 
 tinued to reside until the spring of 1883. At that 
 time he sold his 177 acres and removed to section 
 30, same township. He is at present the owner of 
 108 acres of good tillable land, which is in a first- 
 class farming condition, and 160 acres in Iowa. On 
 his farm he has erected a fine residence, barn, etc., 
 second to none in Henry County, and the farm pre- 
 sents that appearance which is indicative of energy 
 and perseverance on the part of its proprietor. What 
 of this world's goods Mr. Peterson possesses is the 
 accumulation of a life of toil and economy. 
 
 Mr. Peterson was married in Galesburg, this 
 State, Nov. 8, 1859, to" Christine Aim, a native of 
 Sweden, in which country she was born Aug. 15, 
 1828. In 1846 she crossed the waters with her par- 
 
 IB 
 
 m 
 
 
 js^j^ @?*<$H D@MK^A^ ^g^ 
 
■^V^U U & 11 D& v^e) > a^g- 
 
 ^§*^®V-€^ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 481 
 
 ents and landed in the United States. She has borne 
 her husband ten children. The living are John A. 
 C, Emma A., August S. and Ella E. Emma A. is 
 the wife of Capt. Chris Christerson, a resident of 
 Chicago, and they have one child, Osher Theo. The 
 children of whom Mr. and Mrs. Peterson became 
 the parents and who have passed to the land of the 
 hereafter, arc named Anna C. C, Joseph E., Gilbert 
 M., Nettie R., Gilbert W. and Cora R. 
 
 Politically, Mr. Peterson is a believer in the prin- 
 ciples of the Republican party. He has held the 
 office of School Director, and is one of the respected 
 and honored citizens of his township and of the 
 county. He and his wife are active supporters of 
 the tenets of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 (^ 
 
 •!!• 
 
 ashington Dunbar. As a splendid ex- 
 ample of what may be accomplished by 
 an energetic, determined and economical 
 man, we point to Mr. Dunbar. He is now 
 engaged in farming on section 31, of Weth- 
 ersfield Township, where he owns a splendid 
 farm" of 320 acres, besides some other property in 
 Knox County. His parents, William and Sarah 
 (Prather) Dunbar, were married and settled in Ken- 
 tucky, but very early in the history of Stark Co., 111., 
 they moved there and for many years were prominent 
 pioneers. The elder Dunbar then sold out and went 
 to California, where he died, his wife dying in Lynn 
 Co., Kan. 
 
 Washington was the seventh of a family of 13 
 children, and was born in Breckenridge Co., Ky., 
 Sept. 20, 182T. He was a boy of about eight years 
 of age when his parents came to Stark County. At 
 so early a period there were only a few settle- 
 ments anywhere in the northern part of Illinois ; and, 
 as would naturally be expected, he enjoyed very 
 limited advantages for an education. He worked on 
 the farm, aiding in its developments, until about 15 
 years of age, when he began to work out by the day 
 and month. This kind of life he followed until he 
 settled in La Fayette Township, Stark County. 
 Here he lived for about seven years, when, in 1852, 
 he moved into Henry County and located upon sec- 
 tion 31, Wethersfield Township. This farm, which 
 consists of 320 acres, he has splendidly improved 
 
 and brought to a high state of cultivation. He has 
 been eminently successful and prominent in all the 
 affairs of his township. His success is due to his 
 energy, integrity and perseverance, and for it he de- 
 serves great credit. 
 
 Doubtless, one of the motives which inspired Mr. 
 Dunbar to secure some property and settle down was 
 his contemplated marriage, which occurred about the 
 time he began farming for himself in Stark County. 
 The day of the wedding was Dec. 24, 1846, and the 
 lady who thus determined to be his helpmeet was 
 Anna, daughter of Josephus and Elizabeth (Bennett) 
 Lee. They were natives of New York State, and 
 had come to Stark County about 1844. The former 
 died there about 1847, January 18, and the latter 
 Aug. 21. 1872. They reared a family of 12 chil- 
 dren, of whom Mrs. Dunbar was the third in order 
 of birth. She was born in Warren Co., N. Y., June 
 10, 1825. Their family record reads as follows: 
 number of children nine, — Oscar, Orville, Orson, 
 Albertus, Adelia, Burwell, Charles L., Effie L. and 
 Harry. Oscar, Orville and Burwell are deceased. 
 Adelia is the wife of DeWitt Winney, of Knox Co., 
 111. Effie is the wife of Bradford Snyder, of Stark 
 Co., 111. Mr. Dunbar has served as School Director 
 for many years, and politically, is a strong Republi- 
 can. 
 
 born 
 
 j^dward Johnson, residing on section 32, 
 Osco Township, where he is engaged in 
 the cultivation of 142 acres of good tilla- 
 ble land, was born in Mercer County, this 
 State, March 8, 1857. The parents of Mr. 
 Johnson, John and Johanna Johnson, were 
 in Sweden. In 1877 Edward, whose name 
 stands at the head of this biographical notice, 
 entered his father's store and engaged in the capacity 
 of clerk, which occupation he continued until 1880, 
 when he removed to Andover Township and there 
 resided for one year. His next remove was to Osco 
 Township, where he located on a farm belonging to 
 his father, consisting of 140 acres of section 32. 
 
 Mr. Johnson has continued to cultivate the farm 
 on section 32 since his removal thereon in 1881, 
 meeting with success in that vocation. His marriage 
 occurred in Western Township, Nov. 17, 1880, and 
 the accomplished lady who became his wife was 
 
 & 
 
 
 •dm 
 
 'IN 
 
f^?i 
 
 482 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 4*t^(<®>f 
 
 Miss Sophia Peterson, born in Western Township, 
 this county, Nov. 17, i860. One child, Minnie M., 
 has been born of their union. 
 
 Religiously, Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are members 
 of the Swedish Lutheran Church. In political mat- 
 ters Mr. J. always casts his vote with the Republi- 
 can party. 
 
 * +*&+ + 
 
 V 
 © 
 
 
 ohn Chisnall, President and General 
 f Manager of the Kewanee Wagon Company, 
 was born in Lancashire, England, June 27, 
 1833, and came to America in 1855. At the 
 common schools of England he acquired a fair 
 education in the elementary branches, and 
 after spending some time in the cotton mills began, 
 when he was 16 years of age, to learn the trade of 
 wagon-maker. In the United States his first stop was 
 at Omaha, Neb., where he worked at his trade for 
 several years. From Omaha he removed to Phila- 
 delphia, Pa., and seven years afterward came to 
 Kewanee. Here he was employed by the O'Brien 
 Manufacturing Co., until January, 1882. In busi- 
 ness, Mr. Chisnall has been rather successful. Com- 
 ing to America a poor boy, depending upon his labor 
 for a livelihood, he has worked his way to the pos- 
 session of a handsome property. 
 
 Mr. Chisnall is a Royal Arch Mason, an officer in 
 the Eastern Star, a member of the Knights of Honor, 
 and a Republican in politics. 
 
 r. John Ii. Robinson, a medical practi- 
 I]L tioner of the homeopathic school at Anna- 
 wan, is a native of Whiteside Co., 111., and 
 j^C was born Oct. 14, 1851. He discharged the 
 
 
 obligations of his minority to his parents, and 
 when he arrived at the age of 21 he went to 
 Iowa and studied law at Dunlap, in that State, for 
 about six months. He then entered a private bank- 
 ing institution in that place and continued to operate 
 there 18 months. At the end of that time he began 
 business on his own behalf in the sale of jewelry, 
 musical merchandise and sewing-machines in the 
 same place, in which he was interested about 18 
 months. 
 
 He then purchased the drug stock of Dr. O. W. 
 
 Newell, at Annawan, associated with D. S. Way, and 
 they managed their joint affairs under the style of 
 Robinson & Way until 1879, when they sold to 
 Messrs. Lawrence & Putney, and Dr. Robinson 
 commenced the sale of jewelry, which he prosecuted 
 until 1884. Meanwhile, for a period of five years, 
 he had given much attention to the study of medi- 
 cine, with the intention of fitting himself for the pro- 
 fession. In September, 1883, he matriculated at the 
 Chicago Homeopathic College, and was graduated 
 there in February, 1885. He established his busi- 
 ness at Annawan, where he is building up a substan- 
 tial practice. In his political connections he is an 
 adherent of the Republican party. He is a member 
 of the Masonic Lodge at Annawan. In religious 
 views he is in sympathy with the Baptist denomina- 
 tion. 
 
 His marriage to Ellen V. Way took place Nov. 29, 
 1874, and they are the parents of four children, — 
 Edna M., Julius W., Charles R. and Dwight S. Mrs. 
 Robinson was born in Noble Township, La Porte Co., 
 Ind., May 25, 1851. 
 
 gfeV^tft- 
 
 -<^A 
 
 saac Litton, one of the progressive and 
 
 energetic farmers, as well as respected and 
 
 honored citizens of Henry County, residing 
 
 on section 31, Weller Township, is a native of 
 
 Pennsylvania, having been born in Fulton 
 
 County, that State, March 12, 1839. Mr. 
 
 Litton lived with his parents on the old homestead 
 
 in Fulton Co., Pa., until 21 years of age, meanwhile 
 
 attending the common schools and assisting his 
 
 father in the labors on the farm. In i860 he came 
 
 to Knox County, this State, and worked out for two 
 
 years. In 1862, he came to Weller Township, this 
 
 county, where he rented land, and for three years 
 
 was engaged in farming in that manner, meeting 
 
 with success. At the expiration of that time he 
 
 purchased a farm in Clover Township, on which he 
 
 located and entered vigorously and energetically 
 
 upon its improvement, and there continued to reside 
 
 for eight years. In the spring of 1875 he left Clover 
 
 Township and moved into Weller Township, where 
 
 he continued to reside until the present time. He 
 
 is at present the owner of 410 acres of land, all in a 
 
 first-class agricultural condition. 
 
'^v^Sfs 
 
 @. S.Cf^c^^ 
 
-6v&nn&unf>T 
 
 ry 
 
 Uilfti^ 
 
 | 
 I 
 
 @* 
 
 ««• 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 485 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Litton took place in Knox 
 County, this State, April 16, 1863. Miss Mahala 
 Mullen became his wife at that time, and has shared 
 his sorrows and joys, successes and reverses, until 
 the present. She was born in Fulton Co., Pa., Dec. 
 31, 1846, and has borne her husband six children, — 
 W. Grant, Charles W., Brady J., Bessie E., Ray H. 
 and Mackie. Brady J. died aged three and one- 
 half years, having swallowed a nail, which caused 
 his death in 15 minutes. Mr. Litton has been School 
 Director in his township, and in politics is identified 
 with the Democratic party. His parents were John 
 and Sophia (Knable) Litton, natives of Maryland 
 and Pennsylvania respectively. They were married 
 and settled in Pennsylvania, where the father died 
 Aug. 29, 1876. She yet survives. Their family 
 comprised 13 children, of |whom the subject of this 
 sketch was the fourth in order of birth. Her mother's 
 parents were Henry and Mary (Hull) Mullen, na- 
 tives of Pennsylvania. They came to Knox County 
 from their native State in 1855, and the mother died 
 there, Dec. 21, 1878. Her father still resides in 
 Knox County. The issue of her parents' union was 
 five children, — Mrs. Litton being the third in order 
 of birth. 
 
 * -»- * 
 
 H. Chesley, present proprietor and editor 
 of the Kewanee Courier, was born in 
 Walden, Caledonia Co., Vt., Oct. 22, 1857. 
 He was educated at the public schools of Ver- 
 mont, and at the age of 16 years began the 
 printer's trade at Lyndon, that State. He 
 completed his trade on the Green Mountain Free- 
 man, a paper printed at Montpelier, Vt., and came 
 West, landing in Kewanee in 1877. In company 
 with his brother, he leased the Courier from C. N. 
 Whitney in 1879, and became its sole owner in 1882. 
 Almost all his life has been spent in a newspaper 
 office, the minutest details whereof are as familiar to 
 him as the alphabet. He is thoroughly a practical 
 printer, a graceful and elegant writer, a courteous 
 gentleman, and full of promise for the future. 
 
 His father, Albert Chesley, died in 1867, and his 
 mother, Lucretia (Smith) Chesley, came West in 
 1878, and has since resided in Kewanee. 
 Mr. Chesley was married in Kewanee, in the fall 
 
 of 1881, to Miss Mamie Whitney, the accomplished 
 daughter of the former proprietor of the Courier, and 
 has had born to him two children — Merton and 
 Willis F. 
 
 In politics Mr. C. is a staunch Republican; in re- 
 ligion he is liberal, and the only secret order to which 
 he belongs is the I. O. O. F. 
 
 ■tugeecrtSfg" 
 
 *@£a#TO». 
 
 
 
 |rs. O. E. Tilden, widow of the late O. E. 
 
 Tilden, farmer, upon section 35, Oxford 
 
 Township, was married to Mr. Tilden, 
 
 Aug. 31, 1843. She was Miss Orrill K. 
 
 Moore and was born in Vermont, and is a 
 
 daughter of Samuel and Eudosia Moore. 
 
 Mr. Tilden, who died on the 25th of April, 1879, 
 was born in Windsor Co., Vt., in July, 1807. He 
 came West in the autumn of 1853, when Central 
 Illinois was being opened up by some of the earlier 
 lines of railroad, and stopped at Galesburg for the 
 winter. In April of the following year he came into 
 Henry County and located upon section 35, Oxford 
 Township, where he had purchased 240 acres of 
 land. He was among the first of the earliest pio- 
 neers here and took an active part in the develop- 
 ment of the county. Upon this place he lived, a 
 well respected and prosperous farmer, until his death. 
 Politically, he was a stanch Republican and a prom- 
 nent local worker for his party, and had held many 
 of the local offices, among which were Supervisor 
 and School Director. He was an intelligent man, 
 far above the average of that day. He loved books, 
 was a great reader, and took a deep interest in edu- 
 cational matters. He was a prominent farmer as 
 well as a successful one, and left his widow and 
 children a fine home. His son Cyrus has purchased 
 the interest of the other heirs and keeps the old 
 homestead. Mrs. Tilden holds the house and 80 
 acres of land. 
 
 As a man worthy to be perpetuated as a repre- 
 sentative of the sturdy, bold pioneers and as a lead- 
 ing and advanced agriculturist, the publishers are 
 glad to present the portrait of Mr. Tilden accom- 
 panying this sketch. 
 
 There were born to Mr. and Mrs. Tilden quite a 
 large family of children, the record of whom is given 
 as follows : Josiah H. selected Lila Timberlake for 
 
 
 
 k 
 
 »<^V§ — «€^- 
 
 -Q&HG&M 
 
■&*$*- 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 ^®\l 
 
 
 ® 
 
 his wife; Mary G. is the wife of D. J. Clarke; James 
 F. married Emma Fraim; Frances E., who married 
 
 TAmos Mansfield ; Cyrus F. married Katie Rachford ; 
 Normand F. was united in marriage with Mary 
 Burns ; Millard F. is deceased. 
 
 — -•* 
 
 William Wolf, architect, contractor and 
 builder, at Kewanee, 111., son of George 
 and Saloma (Retmiller) Wolf, natives of 
 Germany and Pennsylvania respectively, 
 was born in the city of Philadelphia, Nov. 25, 
 1838. The elder Mr. Wolf was also a con- 
 tractor and builder, and our subject took his first 
 lessons while quite young, and under a man natur- 
 ally interested in giving the best possible instruc- 
 tions. Mr. Wolf acquired such education as was 
 possible before he was 14 years of age, for at that 
 age he was apprenticed to the carpenter's trade. 
 From Philadelphia he came to Kewanee in 1865, and 
 here the largest and finest buildings show the genius 
 of his handiwork, both as architect and builder. 
 
 He was married in Philadelphia in 1863, to Mrs. 
 J. M. Zoll, a native of that city and of German 
 parentage. The three children born to him are 
 Franklin W., now a successful dentist at Kewanee; 
 Paul A. K., a student ; and Emma Saloma, a young 
 miss. Mr. Wolf devotes his time to his business and 
 profession, and makes a success of them. He is a 
 member of the I. O. O. F. 
 
 His father died in Philadelphia in 1872, at the age 
 of 64 years, and his mother at this writing resides in 
 Germantown, Pa. 
 
 
 & amuel Schwab, a prosperous farmer re- 
 siding upon section 23, Cornwall Town- 
 ship, was born in Berne, Switzerland, on 
 the 25th of December, 1820, and consequently 
 was a Christmas gift to his parents. Mr. 
 Schwab remained with his parents in his 
 native country until he was 28 years of age. On 
 reaching his 20th year he entered the army in 
 Switzerland, and served two years in the infantry 
 and six years in the cavalry, acting as Orderly 
 
 Sergeant. When in his 36th year, in 1856, he con- 
 cluded to emigrate to the United States, hoping to 
 better his financial condition in life, and after a voy- 
 age on the briny waters, he landed at New York 
 city. From the latter place he went to Ohio, where 
 he remained about a month, and then came to this 
 county, and has resided here since that time, 1856. 
 The marriage of Samuel Schwab to Miss Eliza- 
 beth Magley took place in Switzerland in 1852, four 
 years prior to the time that Mr. S. emigrated to this 
 country. Mrs. Schwab was born in Switzerland, 
 Nov. 1, 1817, and has borne her husband two chil- 
 dren, — Elizabeth, born Jan. 3, 1853; and Catherine, 
 born Dec. 24, 1856, — the former in Switzerland, and 
 the latter in this country. Mr. Schwab has suc- 
 ceeded by his perseverance and economy in increas- 
 ing his landed interests in this county to 375 acres 
 of good farm land. He has a fine residence on his 
 place, a good barn 60 x 48 feet in dimensions, and, in 
 addition to the cultivation of his land, devotes 
 much of his time to the raising of fine stock. In 
 a religious point of view, he is a believer in the doc- 
 trines advocated by the Congregational Church. 
 Politically, he votes with the Democratic party. 
 
 illiam Kirkland, farmer, residing on sec- 
 tion 5, Clover Township, was born in 
 Chillicothe, Ohio, Sept. 6, 1813. His pa- 
 rents were James and Elizabeth (Anderson) 
 Kirkland, natives of Ireland, who emigrated 
 to the United States from the old country in 
 18 ro, and, after their marriage in Philadelphia, came 
 to Ohio, where they purchased land and were en- 
 gaged in the manufacture of cotton cloth. They 
 soon sold out and moved to Indiana, where they 
 again purchased land, which was somewhat improved. 
 The father died there in 1817, and his wife sold out 
 her interest, and with her son William, then only a 
 child, went back to Ohio, on horseback, a distance 
 of 300 miles, where they located and remained until 
 
 1855- 
 
 William grew to manhood in Morgan Co., Ohio, 
 and at the age of 33 years, having received a good 
 education in the district schools prior to his majority, 
 he was united in marriage. The lady chosen to ac- 
 company him through the stormy trials of the future 
 
 V£ 
 
 
 
 
 § 
 
 1 
 
 < 
 
 ^DBSDIl^A^ — **^- 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 f<) 
 
 $ 
 
 487 < 
 
 as well as the sunshine, was Miss Hannah Farley. 
 Of their union six children have been born, — Mary 
 A., Lisella, William P., John A., Davis 0. and Lloyd 
 G. Mr. Kirkland came to this State with his family 
 and mother, where he located in Boone County, on 
 100 acres of land which he purchased. He resided 
 there for 18 months, when he sold his property and 
 came to Clover Township, this county, where, the 
 same year of his arrival, he purchased 160 acres, and 
 soon thereafter 80 acres adjoining, and 140 acres on 
 sections 14 and 4, Clover Township, where he at 
 present resides. His mother died at the residence of 
 her son, William, in 1865. Mr. Kirkland is a prom- 
 inent citizen of his township, and, with his wife, is a 
 member of the Christian Church. He has held vari- 
 ous offices within the gift of the people of his town- 
 ship, and is respected for his honest dealings with 
 his fellow-man. Mr. and Mrs. Kirkland have three 
 living children, — Mary A., who is the wife of Martin 
 W. Hiller; Davis O., the husband of Flora Barman ; 
 Lloyd G., who married Lillian Hanna; besides 
 James C, deceased, who was next to the oldest and 
 married. 
 
 ~vw»tfacc/®i@* 
 
 ►SJS/OTzr»v.'vwv 
 
 .dward S. Whiting, dealer in agricultural 
 implements and farm machinery, at Ke- 
 wanee, 111., is a son of Seth and Abigail 
 ^ b- (Chapin) Whiting, natives of Massachusetts 
 and descendants of the old Puritans, and was 
 born at Chicopee, Mass., June 17, 1884. 
 His father was born Jan. 1, 1803, married at 
 Springfield, Mass., and in the year 1858 came to 
 Henry County, 111., and settled upon a farm in 
 Wethersfield Township, where he lived up to 1875, 
 when he moved to Kewanee, in the same county, 
 where he still resides. He accumulated, of his own 
 industry, a handsome property, and enjoyed all his 
 life the reputation of a good citizen and an honest 
 and upright man. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was educated at the 
 public schools of Illinois, and at Bryant & Stratton's 
 Commercial College. From the age of 18 to 20 he 
 taught school, and when 21 purchased a farm, and 
 followed agricultural pursuits until the year 1877, 
 when he engaged in his present business. When 
 the Order of the Modern Woodmen of America 
 
 opened their organization in Kewanee, Mr. Whiting 
 became their first President, a position held by him 
 at this writing (November, 1885). He is a member 
 of the Congregational Church, and is looked upon as 
 one of its most substantial and consistent supporters.' 
 Taking but little interest in politics, he seeks no 
 official preferment; unostentatious in his manner, fair 
 and square in his dealings with all men, Mr. W. may 
 truthfully be written as one of Kewanee's best citi- 
 zens. 
 
 He was married at Buda, Bureau Co., III., in Jan- 
 uary, 1870, to Miss Lottie Mason, native of New 
 York State, and daughter of Mr. Levi Mason. 
 
 1 
 
 f 
 
 %M>m 
 
 |wan P. Peterson, a farmer residing on sec- 
 pi I tion 31, Osco Townstip, was born in Swe- 
 
 lo den, Oct. ro, 1829. Mr. Peterson passed 
 20 years of his life in his native country, en- 
 gaged in the occupation of a farmer, and in 
 the summer of 1849 emigrated to the United 
 States. In 1850 he entered a tract of Government 
 land in Andover Township, this county, on which he 
 moved, cultivated and improved until 1872, when he 
 sold his interest in the same, and moved to Osco 
 Township, locating on section 3r. The opportu- 
 nities which Mr. P. expected to find in this country 
 for the accumulation of a competency were found, 
 and he is to-day the proprietor of 505 acres of good 
 farm land, the major portion of which is under an 
 advanced state of cultivation. He has a good resi- 
 dence on his farm, together with good out-blildings, 
 and his landed, estates in Henry County, together 
 wiih his personal possessions, have been accumu- 
 lated through his own indomitable energy," perseve- 
 rance and economy. 
 
 Mr. Peterson was married in Rock Island, 111., 
 Dec. 15, 1853, to Johanna Forsburg, who was born 
 in Sweden, July 16, 1834. She emigrated to the 
 United States when 18 years of age, and has become 
 the mother of 1 1 children by her marriage with Mr. 
 Peterson. Their names are as follows : Christine 
 A., Charles H., Augusta M., John A., Frank E., 
 Julia E. William E., Martin J., Vernie A. and Dora 
 T.; Mary E. died when four years old. 
 
 Politically, Mr. Peterson votes for the Republican 
 party. He has held the offices of School Director 
 
 9 
 
 ta 
 
* 4 88 
 
 -,:£■ 
 
 stU'Xzl-fo^ 
 
 a 
 a 
 
 h 
 
 "S 
 
 HENRY COUNTY 
 
 
 2/ 
 
 fa 
 
 and Commissioner of Highways. He and his good 
 wife belong to the Swedish Lutheran Church, and 
 are active and energetic supporters of the tenets of 
 that denomination. 
 
 . onas Westran, an industrious and ener- 
 getic farmer of Wethersfield Township, re- 
 siding on section 9, was born in Sweden, 
 Nov. 4, 1842. He emigrated to America in 
 1864, and later came to Henry County, and 
 settled in Wethersfield Township, on a tract of 
 land of 160 acres, all of which is improved and in 
 excellent condition. 
 
 In Sweden, May 29, 1864, our subject formed a 
 matrimonial alliance with Christina Erickson, who 
 was also a native of Sweden, born Jan. 8, T838. Of 
 their union have been born 1 1 children, eight of 
 whom survived. The following are their names : 
 John, William, Edmund, Bina, Christine, Emma, 
 Amanda and Jonas. 
 
 illard A. Bowen, enterprising dealer in 
 jewelry and musical instruments, Kewa- 
 nee, 111., where he located in. business in 
 878, was born at Albany, N. Y., Aug. 31, 
 1855. His parents, Prof. Truman H. and 
 Jane (Brown) Bowen, natives of " York State " 
 and of old English extraction, reared a family of five 
 sons and two daughters, the subject of this sketch 
 being fifth in order of birth. Prof. Bowen, now de- 
 ceased, was for many years of his life .Professor of 
 Mathematics, Music and the Science of Government 
 in the State Normal University at Albany, N. Y. In 
 1857 he removed to the State of Iowa, where he laid 
 out the town of Sand Spring, in Delaware County, 
 and there spent the rest of his life, dying in 1880 at 
 the age of 55 years. 
 
 After receiving such education as was practicable 
 at the common schools of Iowa, Willard A. Bowen 
 began the trade of watchmaker and jeweler, which 
 he has since followed. He spent about three years 
 and a half in Dubuque, Iowa, and came to Kewanee 
 in 1877. After about eight months' " jourship " with 
 
 a Mr. Graham, he set up for himself by opening a 
 small repair shop in a window of what is now the 
 Union National Bank building. From this beginning 
 his present splendid business has grown. All his 
 watches and most of his jewelry are manufactured 
 specially for him, and bear the imprint of his name. 
 His present quarters are in the Merritt Block, Main 
 Street, where he has by far the finest jewelry store 
 ever kept in Kewahee. 
 
 Nov. ri, 1877, he was married in this city to Miss 
 Nellie F. Wright, daughter of B. H. Wright, Esq. 
 (see biography of B. H. Wright) and one of the 
 reigning belles at the time. What Mr. Bowen has 
 of this world's goods he has acquired by industry and 
 effort. 
 
 3**^ 
 
 :* ■» > w 
 
 i 
 
 ,6 
 
 eorge Hachtel, one of the thriving and 
 representative farmers of Henry County, 
 5 where he resides, on section 17, of Weth- 
 ersfield Township, was born in Germany, 
 "f" April 1, 1835. His parents, John M. and 
 
 Margaret Hachtel, both died' in Germany. 
 George, of whom we write, was the eldest son of 
 his father's family, and remained in his native coun- 
 try until 17 years of age, receiving all his education 
 from the schools there. Shortly after his arrival in 
 America, he came to Seneca Co., Ohio, and for about 
 three years worked out, when, at the expiration of 
 that period, he came to Stark Co., 111. Here he 
 lived until the fall of 1863, and then removed into 
 Henry Country, where he located on his present 
 homestead, since which time he has been a resident 
 of Wethersfield Township. He is the owner of 400 
 acres of valuable land, all of which is in excellent 
 condition and well equipped, and upon the same he 
 has erected a magnificent residence. He keeps 
 about 60 head of cattle and 12 horses, and fattens 
 annually 100 head of hogs. 
 
 Mr. Hachtel and Miss Elizabeth S. Sultzer were 
 united in marriage in Wethersfield Township, on the 
 30th of December, 1863. She is the daughter of 
 Frederick C. and Fredericka (Fritz) Sultzer, natives 
 of Germany. They reside in Kewanee, and Mrs. 
 Hachtel was the eldest of their family of four chil- 
 dren. She was born in St. Louis, Mo., May 19, 
 1839. Mr. and Mrs. Hachtel's family consists .of 
 seven children, — George C. F., Reuben E., George 
 
 <5 
 
 1 
 
 k 
 
 'V^s^t- 
 
 U^xJL 
 
 $flD@nil$4g — sy^- 
 
(0 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 "3af 
 
 489 
 
 L., Nathaniel D., Mary.E. and two who died in in- 
 fancy. 
 
 Mr. Hachtel has been School Director for six 
 years, and in politics is identified with the Demo- 
 cratic party. 
 
 ~vX/V«Ktfl££rt§i@ 
 
 i/@&S^Zra«aww/w 
 
 fames Johnston. One of the well known 
 l|- agriculturists of Wethersfield Township is 
 the gentleman whose name heads this no- 
 tice. He was born in Montgomery Co., N. Y., 
 about 1836, and came to Henry County with 
 his parents, James and Ann (McLane) John- 
 ston, when six years old. They settled in Wethers- 
 field Township, and there the mother died. The 
 elder Johnston's demise occurred in La Fayette 
 Township, Stark County. 
 
 James, the subject of this biographical notice, was 
 the seventh in order of birth of a family of eight 
 children. He has been a resident of Henry County 
 since boyhood, where he has followed the vocation 
 of farming. At present he is the proprietor of 1 60 
 acres, the major portion of which is in an advanced 
 state of cultivation. 
 
 Mr. Johnston is yet enjoying a life of single-bless- 
 edness. Politically, he is a believer in and a sup- 
 porter of the principles of the Democratic party. 
 
 §*ric Westerlund, a farmer, residing on sec- 
 tion 28, Osco Township, is a native of 
 
 jj-agy Sweden, having been born in that country 
 
 ■$*■ June 18, 1836. Mr. Westerlund continued to 
 reside in his native country until the fall of 
 1850, when, at the age of 14 years, he ac- 
 companied his parents across the black deep and 
 landed in America. His mother died on the voy- 
 age, and her grave was the black deep of the ocean. 
 Mr. Westerlund continued to reside with his father, 
 who had located in Andover Township, this county, 
 until he had obtained his majority. On becoming 
 his own man he went forth to fight the battles of life 
 single-handed and alone, and his first work in which 
 he realized a remuneration from others was that of 
 farming. He continued to " work out " for a time, 
 and then purchased 80 acres located on section 28, 
 
 Osco Township, upon which he settled, and at once 
 entered vigorously and actively upon the task of im- 
 provement and cultivation, and where he is at pres- 
 ent residing. He has fine improvements upon his 
 farm ; has erected a nice residence and barn, and 
 by economy and energetic labor has increased his 
 landed interests until at present he is the proprietor 
 of 290 acres of good farm land, the larger portion of 
 which is under an advanced state of cultivation. 
 Mr. Westerlund keeps on his farm about 40 head of 
 cattle, 12 head of horses and colts, and fattens from 
 60 to 100 head of hogs annually, and is meeting with 
 financial success in the vocation which he has fol- 
 lowed all his life, that of agriculture. 
 
 Mr. Westerlund was united in marriage at Moline, 
 111., Feb. 7, 1857, to Christine Anderson, who was 
 born in Sweden, Jan. 30, 1843, an d of their union six 
 children have been born, namely: Sarah E., Emma 
 C, Sophia J., John O., Annie and Julius O. The 
 father and mother are members of the Swedish 
 Lutheran Church. In politics Mr. Westerlund 
 affiliates with the Republican party. 
 
 ^ bner O. Warner, proprietor of the New 
 Kewanee House, Kewanee, 111., was born 
 in Oneida Co., N. Y., Feb. 8, 1845, and is 
 the youngest of four sons born to Amos and 
 Polly (Parmalee) Warner, natives of Connect- 
 icut, and descended from the English. The 
 elder Mr. Warner, who was a farmer by occupation 
 in his life-time, died in Oneida County when Abner 
 was about six years of age. 
 
 When about ten years old, the subject of our 
 sketch began clerking in a general store at Higgins- 
 ville, N. Y., and from that time on until about 18 
 years of age, he was a professional "counter jumper," 
 interspersing the service, however, with attendance 
 at the Oneida Seminary. Before he had arrived at 
 the age of 19, he was engaged in a mercantile busi- 
 ness in the city of Buffalo, where he remained for 
 probably six years, closing up his establishment 
 during the non-navigation period, and clerked for 
 various other concerns. Among the many, he spent 
 two winters as clerk at the Drovers' Hotel, Hudson 
 City, N. J. It was probably at the latter place he 
 imbibed his first ideas of hotel-keeping, though, as 
 will be seen, it was many years before he became 
 
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 ;< 
 
 B 
 
. 490 
 
 ) 
 
 -^&k — ^v^ran^^ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 "mine host of ye hotel." From Hudson City, we 
 next find him in the flour and feed business at 
 Springfield, Mass., and from there to Elyria, Ohio, 
 as book-keeper, etc., in a mercantile house, where he 
 remained about six years. He was evidently head- 
 ing for the great West by slow and easy stages, for 
 the next time we meet him he is clerking in a gro- 
 cery store in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1879 he struck 
 Kewanee, and engaged at once in the produce busi- 
 ness, which he followed with considerable success for 
 about three years. 
 
 In 1882 his opportunity came, and we find him 
 smilingly welcoming "ye guests" to the old Kewanee 
 House as its landlord. The " New Kewanee" was 
 completed in 1884, and Mr. Warner, who, by the 
 way, is a bachelor, at once fitted it up, and at this 
 writing we find him deservedly the popular man, and 
 running the best kept and equipped hotel on the line 
 of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, be- 
 tween Chicago and Galesburg. 
 
 ,A/v\~-£-. 
 
 m - Roderick Murehison 
 
 Of the many prom- 
 inent well-to-do farmers of Wethersfield 
 Township who are of Scotch nativity, Mr. 
 Roderick Murehison is one of the best known. 
 His farm is located on section 13, and consists 
 of 348 acres of fine, tillable land. He is a 
 son of Finley and Catherine (McLean) Murehison, 
 who were formerly of Scotland, but in 185 1 became 
 residents of Henry County. The elder Murehison 
 died in Wethersfield Township July 15, 1872. Mrs. 
 Murehison is now living, in good health, at over 80 
 years of age. She is grandmother to about 50 chil- 
 dren, also great-grandmother to 15 more. They had 
 a family of 12 children, of whom Roderick was the 
 youngest. He was born before his parents left Scot- 
 land, the date of his birth being July r7, 1849. He 
 was reared and educated n Henry County, being 
 brought here when only two years of age, and has 
 spent his life upon the farm. 
 
 Mr. Murehison was married in Galva Township, this 
 county, on New Year's day, 1873. Miss Bessie, daught- 
 er of John and Flora (McRae) Cameron, was the bride. 
 Her parents came to America in 1849, and three years 
 later located in Stark Co., 111. They subsequently 
 moved to Henry County, but in 1883 went to Iowa. 
 
 Mrs. M. was the second of a family of five children 
 and was born in Stark Co., 111., Sept. 20, ^54. Five 
 children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Murehison, 
 to whom they have given the following names : Finley 
 A., John C, Flora A. C, Nora L. and Nettie J. 
 Mrs. M. is a membe* of the Presbyterian Church. 
 
 vs 
 
 (avid Patty, deceased, formerly residing in 
 jk Walnut Grove Township, Ki.ox County, 
 this State, was born Aug. 12, 1827, in 
 County Down, Ireland. The Patty family 
 were of Scotch extraction, the ancestors of the 
 same having emigrated to Ireland during the re- 
 ligious persecutions in Scotland, and settling in the 
 northern portion of that country. David Patty was 
 a son of Thomas and Mary (Watson) Patty, whose 
 parents were natives of Scotland. Thomas Patty, 
 father of the subject of this notice, together with his 
 wife and eight children, moved from" the Green Isle 
 to the Isle of Man, where the father and mother both 
 died. The parents of the mother were Protestants 
 in Ireland, and were persecuted by the Catholics, 
 and, to avoid persecution, also emigrated to the Isle 
 of Man. 
 
 David Patty, the subject of this sketch, grew to 
 manhood on the Isle of Man. His younger years, 
 prior to the age of 1 8, were passed on the farm. On 
 arriving at that age in life, he went to Liverpool, 
 Eng., where he became a member of the Liverpool 
 Police, and was occupied in that vocation for four 
 years. He was united in marriage, at that metropo- 
 lis, to Miss Margaret Kermode, who was born Feb. 
 16, 1824, on the Isle of Man. She went to Liver- 
 pool with her father, seven years before her marriage. 
 Her father died in 1868, in Knox County, this State. 
 Her mother's name was Ann Kione, who died on the 
 Isle of Man, in r833, having been born there in 
 1796. She had three children, two of whom are de- 
 ceased. Mr. and Mrs. Patty, soon after their mar- 
 riage, emigrated to the United States, and located at 
 Brimfield, this State, where he was foreman for J. 
 M. Wiley, who conducted a large farm for four years. 
 Mr. Wiley came to Lynn Township, Knox County, 
 and farmed there one year. He then removed to tel- 
 ler Towhship, and after seven years' farming, he went 
 to Walnut Grove Township, Knox County, and lived 
 there four years, until his death, which occurred in 
 
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 fy 
 
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 if 
 
 §\®%&t^ 
 
 -^g^ — @tK>hik 
 
$<§&§• 
 
 •*& k <5\ ®nmK> 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
 491 
 
 C3 
 
 November, 1868. The year before his death he had 
 purchased 80 acres of land on section 35, Galva 
 Township, this county, where his family now reside, 
 and to which they removed the spring after his death. 
 He was the father of five children, — Mary E., de- 
 ceased; Mrs. Eliza A. Riner; Wesley D., now re- 
 siding on the old homestead ; Frank A., deceased, 
 aged seven years ; Julia E., deceased, aged 20 years, 
 and the wife of Arthur Aby. 
 
 Mrs. Patty is a member of the Methodist Episco- 
 pal Church. Wesley D. is engaged in conducting 
 the old homestead, on section 35, Galva Township, 
 with whom his mother is at present residing. He is 
 meeting with success in his chosen vocation, agri- 
 culture, and politically is identified with the Prohibi- 
 tion party. 
 
 oseph Bobb. It was not until about 1854 
 i that some of the best land in Illinois was 
 made accessible to the settlers.- At that 
 time the old Military Tract Railroad was com- 
 pleted from Mendota to Galesburg, which, 
 with its extensions north to Chicago and in all 
 directions to Quincy, Burlington and Peoria, opened 
 up the magnificent district known as the Military 
 Tract. Among those to come in and take advantage 
 of the situation was Joseph Robb, who now resides 
 upon an excellent farm of 240 acres of land on sec- 
 tion 27, of Wethersfield Township. 
 
 He was born in Ireland, March 5, 1825, and came 
 to America with his parents, Nathan and Eleanor 
 (Monteith) Robb, in 1832. They first settled in 
 Franklin Co., N. Y., where they lived until 1853, 
 when they came to Stark Co., 111. They subsequently 
 moved to Little Rock, Ark., where they died. Joseph 
 lived at home until 26 years of age, when for two 
 years longer he lived in Stark County, and the fol- 
 lowing year he passed in Marshall Co., 111. He then, 
 in 1855, came to Henry County and made a perma- 
 nent settlement, and has been successful in his call- 
 ing. He has taken great interest in the local affairs 
 of his township, and has served as Assessor, Com- 
 missioner of Highways, Constable and School Di- 
 rector. Politically, he is a Republican. Both he 
 and his wife are members of the Methodist Episco- 
 pal Church. 
 Mr. Robb was married in Marshall Co., 111., May 
 
 20, 1853, to Martha J., daughter of Samuel B. and 
 Rachel (Hornmett) McLaughlin. Mrs. Robb was 
 born in Peoria Co., 111., March 9, 1836. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Robb have seven children living, viz. : Clara 
 J., Samuel I., Rachel E., Mary L., Eva J., Ethel A. 
 and Joseph M. The deceased are Lewis A., Elmer 
 L. and Mabel B. 
 
 eorge Winters. One of Henry County's 
 prosperous, energetic and respected citi- 
 K zens is Mr. George Winters, who is en- 
 gaged in agricultural pursuits on section 24 
 of Cornwall Township. He was born in Lin- 
 colnshire, England, in the year 1832, and re- 
 mained in his native country until he attained the age 
 of 25 years, when he concluded to emigrate to the 
 New World, the land of possibilities, and on the 16th 
 of July, 1858, Mr. Winters arrived in Annawan, this 
 county. In 1867 he made a purchase of 280 acres 
 of land on his present site, where he and his family 
 have since resided. Mr. Winters entered vigorously 
 and actively upon the improvement of his land and 
 it is now under a high state of cultivation. He has 
 erected upon his farm a frame house and all neces- 
 sary outbuildings, and has quite a desirable home, 
 with all modern conveniences. 
 
 He was married before his emigration to the Uni- 
 ted States, on the 13th of May, 1858, the lady chosen 
 for his companion being Miss Mary Gash. Of their 
 union one son, William R., was born March 1, i860. 
 Religiously, Mr. W. is liberal in his opinions, and po- 
 litically is a Republican. 
 
 afeeth H. Moon is a citizen of the township 
 of Annawan and belongs to the farming 
 portion of the community of Henry Coun- 
 
 *'<('^ 
 
 '''%& 
 
 ¥ 
 
 ^ 
 
 # 
 
 ty. He is located oh section 10, where he is 
 the owner of 156 acres of land, on which he 
 has been occupied in the pursuit of mixed 
 husbandry. He was born in Yorkshire, England, 
 and came to the United States in his infancy with 
 with his parents. His father, Steven Moon, settled 
 in the township of Annawan in 1853, and reared his 
 
 family there on the home estate. 
 
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 492 
 
 ./•X 1 
 
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 f*i^ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 Mr. Moon married Margaret A. McNeely Feb. 23, 
 1876. She was born in Henry County Aug. 4, 1852. 
 To their household have been added three children, 
 whose births occurred in the following order : Ar- 
 thur C, Jan. 25, 1877 ; Iva D.,Sept. 30, 1878; Ray- 
 mond C, April 8, t88t. 
 
 The farm of Mr. Moon is desirably located, ad- 
 joining the town plat of the village of Annawan, and 
 has on it an excellent dwelling with other suitable 
 and necessary farm buildings. He is a Republican 
 in his political connections and opinions. He has 
 served the township in which he resides in the ca- 
 pacity of Highway Commissioner for eight years 
 past, and has also held the office of School Di- 
 rector. He has been Assessor of Annawan Town- 
 ship three years and has filled the position of Post- 
 master two years. 
 
 :lazy Schmitt, a farmer on section 4, Alba 
 Township, came to Henry County in 1853. 
 He bought 40 acres of land, on which he 
 proceeded to apply the habits he had formed 
 in his native country, and with such good 
 judgment and industrious application that he 
 is now the owner of 311 acres, which is in excellent 
 condition for prosperous farming. He is a native of 
 Alsace, France, one of the provinces that have been 
 recovered from the French by the German armies 
 within a few years past and where the people were in 
 the habit of using the German language, which is 
 still spoken by the members of the Schmitt family. 
 
 Mr. Schmitt was born Feb. 7, 1822, and came to 
 the United States in 1849. He landed at New York 
 and located in Pennsylvania, where he was a resi- 
 dent three years. He came thence, as has been 
 stated, and has since been one of the best and most 
 respected of the citizens of his township. He was 
 married in February, T852, to Mary Schorter, and 
 they have four children. William is the husband of 
 Eliza Smith. John, George and Josephine are un- 
 married. Mrs. Schmitt was born in the same jpart 
 of the country as her husband, March r6, 1830. She 
 had a brother, a half-sister and a half brother. Jo- 
 seph Schorter is deceased, as is her half-brother, 
 Lourin Metz. Josephine Metz is still living. 
 
 Mr. Schmitt is a fine sample of the best grade of 
 his countrymen and represents the courtesy and 
 high-bred civility of the race to which he belongs. 
 The family are Catholics. 
 
 •mBjiSif&gsr 
 
 -wg&S/OTW** 
 
 551 \enry Scott, a resident of section 14, Weth- 
 ersfield Township, and one of. the energetic 
 and prosperous farmers of Henry County, 
 is a son of Andrew and Ellen (Mitchell) Scott 
 natives of Scotland, where they remained all 
 their lives, their death occurring in the old 
 country. * 
 
 Henry, our subject, was born in Scotland, Sept. r9, 
 1 8 14, and was the second in order of birth in a 
 family of five children. In 1840 he emigrated to 
 the United States, being then 25 years of age, and 
 for ten years engaged in working at the shoemaker's 
 trade, in New York City, which he had learned in 
 the country of his nativity. About the year 1849, he 
 went to California in search of gold, but, not meet- 
 ing with satisfactory success, remained only about 
 two years and again returned to New York city, 
 where he lived for one year. His health having 
 been impaired while in California, he returned to 
 Scotland for the purpose of recuperating, and also to 
 visit the scenes of his boyhood. In the summer of 
 1855 we find him tilling a farm in Elmira Township, 
 Stark Co., 111., which he had purchased and where 
 he lived for about six years. At the end of that 
 time, finding better facilities for farming in this 
 county, he made a change of his location to section 
 14 of Wethersfield Township. Here he erected good 
 farm buildings, and brought his place to a high state 
 of cultivation. He owns 160 acres of good tillable 
 land here. 
 
 Mr. Scott and Miss Catherine Rutherford were 
 married in Wethersfield Township, in February, 1869. 
 Mrs. Scott was born Dec. 5, 1829, and is a daughter 
 of George and Jane (Rutherford) Rutherford, who 
 were born, lived and died in Scotland. Mrs. Scott 
 had previously been the wife of Thomas Trumbull, 
 who died in Wethersfield Township, April 20, 1853. 
 Thomas Trumbull, her only child by this marriage, 
 now lives in Nebraska. Mrs. Scott came to America 
 when 22 years of age, and by her present marriage is 
 the mother of two children, — Jane R. and Ella M- 
 
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 -^?<%ri 
 
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^T^DD^mif^T^ >«€^- 
 
 
 ESC 
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 (^ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 Jane • is the wife of Thomas F. Oliver, a farmer of 
 Wethersfield Township; and Ella, the wife of Wm. 
 E. Scott, of Kansas. Mr." and Mrs. Scott are mem- 
 bers of the Presbyterian Church, and he affiliates 
 with the Republican party. 
 
 hristopher G. Taylor, Secretary of the 
 Kewanee Wagon Company, was born in 
 Yorkshire, Eng., Jan. 16, 1840, and came 
 $fi to America in 1852. His parents, George 
 j ^ and Esther (Grundell) Taylor, also of York- 
 { shire, reared four sons and one daughter, 
 Christopher being the eldest of the five. Arriving 
 in the United States, the family repaired at once to 
 Newark, N. J., and there lived up to 1854, removing 
 thence to Janesville, Wis., and in 1856 to Kewanee. 
 Here the two old people died, Mr. Taylor in Decem- 
 ber, 1884, at the age of 73, and his relict in June, 
 1883, aged about 75 years. 
 
 The subject of this sketch began the wagon-mak- 
 er's trade when about 20 years of age, and with the 
 exception of a year or two milling has followed it 
 ever since. He was with the O'Brien Manufacturing 
 Company, and at the organization of the Kewanee 
 Wagon Company was made its secretary. 
 
 -43 
 
 * A 
 
 7~T 
 
 =H=£t- 
 
 obert P. Booth, a farmer located on sec- 
 tion 24, in the township of Annawan, was 
 born in Yorkshire, England, March 21, 
 1846. He came with his parents to America 
 when but a lad, and they settled in Henry 
 County, 111. He became a resident of Henry 
 County in 1854 and in 1879 he bought the farm on 
 which he is now prosecuting the business which he 
 chooses as a life occupation. He was married to 
 Helen Moon Feb. 26, 1870, by Rev. Charles Daw- 
 son, of the Primitive Methodist Church. They have 
 had five children, of whom one is deceased. Mrs. 
 Booth was born Nov. 3, 1853, in Henry County. 
 Their children were born in the order in which their 
 names are here given: Ida, Jan. 1, 187 1 (died Sept. 
 11, 1876); Martha D., March 21, 1873 ; Minerva M., 
 Feb. 17, 1875; Lawrence E., July 6, 1878; Robert 
 Ray, Nov. 6, 1884. Mr. Booth is one of the indus- 
 
 trious and frugal members of the community of the 
 township in which he lives and is managing his 
 property according to the most approved methods of 
 modern farming. His cattle is of the Short-horn 
 graded variety, and the swine on the place are of 
 Poland-China blood. His horses are principally 
 three-fourths Normans. The value of his estate is 
 increased by a stream of living water which trav- 
 erses the fields. The farm includes 240 acres, all 
 being under excellent cultivation The fruit on the 
 place comprises apples, cherries and a variety of 
 small fruit. 
 
 -o— <5- 
 
 -e~°- 
 
 mzi A. Crane, owner of 360 acres of land, 
 located on section 22, Osco Township, is a 
 son of Elias and Esther (Maxwell) Crane 
 natives of New Tersey, where they married, 
 settled and lived until their deaths. They 
 were the parents of six children, John, Mary 
 A., Phebe, Susan M., Elias M. and Amzi A. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was born in Union Co., 
 N. J., Nov. 6, 1829, and his early life, until the age 
 of 21 years, was passed on his father's farm and in 
 attending school. He then obtained a position in 
 New York city in a grocery and provision store, in 
 which he remained about eight months, when, on 
 account of ill health, he came on a visit to the West, 
 and being pleased with the country determined to 
 make his home here. He then returned East and 
 in a few months again came West, this time for a 
 permanent settlement. In the spring of 1853 he 
 came to Henry County, where he has since lived. 
 He first purchased 160 acres on section 22, Osco 
 Township, where he has erected fine buildings and is 
 now the proprietor of 360 acres, most of which is 
 under a high state of cultivation. He keeps from 
 100 to 200 head of Hereford cattle, six horses, and 
 fattens about 25 head of hogs annually. 
 
 Amzi A. Crane was married in Trivoli, Peoria Co., 
 111., Sept. 13, 1854, to Emeline C. Potter, daughter 
 of Elias and Ann (Crane) Potter, natives of New Jer- 
 sey, where they married and settled; in 183 1 they re- 
 moved to Peoria Co., 111., where they lived until 
 about 1867 ; then they removed to Farmington, Ful- 
 ton Co., 111., where they now reside. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Potter are the parents of four children, — Susan E., 
 
 <5 
 
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 gfgdtf 
 
 g»- 
 
 ■^t* e^OM&A©- 
 
- 494 
 
 zJ&k 6V<^BB 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 1 
 
 V£ 
 
 / 
 ■ ■ , V 
 
 Emeline C, Mary C, Louisa A. Emeline C. (Mrs. 
 Crane, wife of our subject) was born in New Jersey, 
 July 24, 1835. Mr. and Mrs. Crane are the parents 
 of three children, — Franklin P., born July 9, 1855 ; 
 Hattie M., born March 1, 1859; and Anna E., born 
 August 1, 1 86 1. Franklin P. resides in Kansas 
 City, engaged in the stock business, is the husband 
 of Nettie May, a native of Mercer Co., 111., and Min- 
 nie B., their daughter. Hattie M. is the wife of How- 
 ard H. Smith and resides in Osco Township and is 
 the mother of one child, Clarence C, born June 2, 
 1885 ; and Anna E. resides with her parents in Osco 
 Township. 
 
 Mr. Crane has held the office of Supervisor three 
 terms, Township Treasurer 15 years, Township As- 
 sessor and other minor offices. Mr. and Mrs. C. are 
 active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 In politics he is identified with the Republican party. 
 
 •'■jlexander Rule. This gentleman, though 
 i born across the ocean, was one of the early 
 pioneers of Henry County. He has given 
 "Iff n ' s ''fe' s en<orts t0 agricultural pursuits, and 
 has a fine farm on section 24, of Wethersfield 
 Township. He was born in Dumfriesshire, 
 Scotland, Oct. 2r, 1820, and passed most of his 
 time in that country, until 1845, when he emigrated 
 to America. 
 
 In that early day he found his way to Henry 
 County, where he located when but few of the sturdy 
 pioneers had arrived within its borders. He has 
 since made this his home. His parents were Alex- 
 ander and Jane (Reed) Rule, and of their eight chil- 
 dren the subject of this sketch was the youngest. 
 Alexander enjoyed only limited advantages for an 
 education, but made good use of them. Mr. Rule 
 experienced the hardships that fall to the lot of all 
 settlers in a new country. He went to work with 
 a will, however, and has not only been successful 
 from a business point, but has also exerted a good in- 
 fluence in the community ; and has not only done 
 considerable towards developing the material re- 
 Sources of the county, but also much toward elevat- 
 ing the moral status of the community. He owns a 
 farm of 240 acres, most of which is tillable. Upon 
 this he has a fine large residence and splendid farm 
 
 buildings. He also owns 40 acres in Stark County. 
 In politics he is identified with the Republican party, 
 and his wife and two daughters are members of the 
 United Presbyterian Church. 
 
 Mr. Rule was married in Elmira Township, Stark 
 Co., 111., May 30, 1848, to Beatrice Oliver, who was 
 born in Scotland, March 13, 1818. Her parents 
 were Thomas and Margaret (Fife) Oliver. She was 
 the third of a family of ten children. Maggie and 
 Eliza J. are the names of the two children reared by 
 Mr. and Mrs. Rule. The latter is the wife of Peter 
 Hyer. 
 
 'ohn Nightingale, merchant and Post- 
 |r master at Morristown, this county, is a 
 native of England, in which country he was 
 born Aug. 7, 1830, and there resided until he 
 reached his 20th year, following the occupa- 
 tion of* a tailor, which trade he had learned 
 after an apprenticeship of seven years. 
 
 In 185 1 Mr. Nigtingale emigrated to the United 
 States, and lived near Rome, N. Y., where he fol- 
 lowed his trade for some eight years. Leaving the 
 latter place, he moved to Davenport, Iowa, and 
 worked at his trade in that city for two years. In 
 January, 1861, Mr. Nightingale came to Morristown, 
 this county, where he has since resided. He has 
 been Postmaster at that place for four years, receiv- 
 ing his last appointment during the administration 
 of President Arthur. In connection with his office 
 he has a general stock of merchandise, and by fair 
 and honest dealings has established a good and pay- 
 ing business. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Nightingale took place in the 
 land of his nativity, May 15, 1849, when Miss Eliza- 
 beth Monkman became his wife. She was a native 
 of England. Five children were born of their union, 
 namely : George H, born in England ; Frank, 
 Charles W., Bessie aad Thomas; the last four, born 
 in this country, and died in their infahey, all of 
 whom have been placed beneath the sod, their souls 
 returning to God who gave them. 
 
 Mr. Nightingale, in addition to his office of Post- 
 master and his business, has held the position of 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY 
 
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 School Director at Morristown. He is the owner of 
 two houses and several lots in the village. Polit- 
 ically, he is a believer in and a supporter of the 
 principles of the Democratic party. 
 
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 -*— 
 
 illiam G. Howland, Vice-President of the 
 Kewanee Wagon Company, is a Manx- 
 man, being born on the Isle of Man, June 
 20, 1845, and was the eldestof two sons and 
 three daughters, born to Hewey and Eliza- 
 beth Howland. His father was a farmer. Wil- 
 liam began to learn the trade of blacksmith 
 when he was about sixteen years of age. He came 
 to America in 1 866, and to Kewanee the same year. 
 He was an employee of the O'Brien Manufacturing 
 Co., when that concern sold out to the company of 
 which he is now Vice-President. Before leaving the 
 Isle of Man, he was. married to Miss Mary Skinner, 
 who died in Kewanee in 1871, leaving three chil- 
 dren: Jennie, Ann and Alice. In 1873 he married 
 his second wife, Mary Miles, who died in 187 6, leav- 
 ing one child, George, and in 1880 he found his third 
 wife, in the person of Miss Laura Price, by whom he 
 had two children born to him : Thomas and W. 
 May. 
 
 ^<00« 
 
 !,harles F. Sultzer, a resident on section 
 17, of Wethersfield Township, was born in 
 Peoria Co., 111., Aug. 15, 1841, and is a 
 son of Frederick C. and Fredericka (Fritz) 
 Sultzer, natives of Germany. Their family 
 comprised four children, of whom Charles, 
 our subject, was the second in order of birth. He 
 remained at home, assisting in the labors on the 
 farm and alternating them with attendance at the 
 district schools, until he attained the age of 22 years, 
 when he engaged in threshing and farming. With 
 his father, he came into Henry County, locating 
 upon a tract of land of 160 acres, which he pur- 
 chased and entered vigorously and actively upon the 
 task of its improvement and cultivation. This land 
 is located in Wethersfield Township, his present 
 place of residence, where he has remained since that 
 early period. 
 Mr. Sultzer was united in marriage, in Wethers- 
 
 field Township, on the 1st of January, 1868, choos- 
 ing for his companion and helpmeet Miss Mary 
 Wiley, daughter of James and Nancy (Holmes) 
 Wiley, natives of Ireland. She was the eldest of 
 her parents' family, consisting of eight children, and 
 was born in Philadelphia, Pa., Aug. 1, T845. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Sultzer have become the parents of two 
 children, as follows : Laura E. and Lillie F. ; the 
 former was but five years of age when she died. 
 
 Mr. Sultzer has held the office of School Director 
 of his township, and politically is identified with the 
 Republican party. Mrs. Sultzer is a member of the 
 Congregational Church. 
 
 homas Brady, wholesale and retail dealer 
 in malt liquors, Kewanee, 111., is a native 
 of County Cavan, Ireland, and son of 
 Patrick and Catherine (McCabe) Brady, who 
 reared to man and womanhood eight children 
 and buried four in infancy. Thomas Brady 
 was born May 3, 1845, an d came to America in 
 1863. Two older sisters had preceded him to this 
 country by a few years, and with th3m,in New York, 
 he spent his first three weeks in the " new country." 
 From New York he went to Chicago, where he got 
 employment of the Michigan Central Railway Com- 
 pany as check clerk, a position he filled about 13 
 months. From that time oh, for six months, he was 
 a railroad man ; with the Illinois Central a few 
 months at Cairo, III., as check clerk; then back to 
 Chicago where, in different departments, he was with 
 the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Company 1 1 years. 
 It was with this company, in the capacity of car re- 
 pairer, that he came to Kewanee in 1865 and filled the 
 position seven years. His next employment was 
 with the Haxtun Steam Heater Company, and in 
 1873 he engaged in the liquor business, which, with 
 the exception of a year or two, he has since followed. 
 He owns a farm of 160 acres in Kewanee and Burns 
 Townships; some three or four houses and lots in 
 Kewanee village; carries on his liquor business, and 
 is an extensive bottler of malt liquors and soda water. 
 All Mr. B. has he has acquired by his individual 
 industry, for he came to this country as poor as pio- 
 neers generally were. 
 
 Independent in politics, devoted to his business, a 
 I 
 
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 ■6v<?n n &n n*>^ — ?^k 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 consistent member of the Catholic Church and a 
 highly respected citizen. He was married at Kewa- 
 nee, April 5, 1866, to Miss Rose Ann Traynor, a 
 native of Ireland, and has had born to him nine 
 ^a. children, — Katie Ann, John P., Thomas, Frank, 
 Mamie, Martha, Willie, Rose and James, who died 
 in infancy. 
 
 L. Wiley, President of the Bank of Galva, 
 
 , is among the prominent and wealthy men 
 
 of Henry County who came here in an 
 
 
 P*< early day, and here laid the foundation of a 
 fortune. He was born March 23, 181 9, in Rock- 
 ingham Township, Windham Co., Vt. His 
 grandfather was Robert Wiley, whose biography, to- 
 gether with a genealogy of the Wiley family, appears 
 in another sketch. Our subject's parents were John 
 and Randilla (Weaver) Wiley, both natives of Ver- 
 mont. The former, John Wiley, was born March 5, 
 1795, in Rockingham, Windham Co., Vt., and died 
 Feb. 10, 1866, in Saxton River, Vt. By occupation 
 he was a farmer, and a quiet, unassuming man, mod- 
 erate in all his views and actions, and early in life 
 instilled the value of good principle, industry and 
 frugality into his son, D. L. Wiley, our subject, for 
 which the latter became so well known in this com- 
 munity. He generally voted the Democratic ticket, 
 differing in that respect from his son, who early be- 
 came imbued with the principles of the Republican 
 party, with which he has been identified all his life, 
 yet being perfectly independent, voting for the best 
 man. 
 
 John Wiley, the father, was united in marriage 
 April 22, 1817, in Rockingham, Vt., to Randilla 
 Weaver, who was a daughter of Daniel Weaver She 
 was born Sept. 3, 1793, in Windham County, and be- 
 came the mother of nine children, viz. : Lucius S., 
 Daniel Leveret, Edward, Mary F., William, Robert, 
 Hascall, Myron and Milton. Mary F. was the former 
 wife of Charles B. Day, of Peoria. Of the above 
 children, only our subject, Hascall, Robert and Mil- 
 ton are living. Hascall resides on the old home- 
 stead in Rockingham, Milton in Saxton River, Vt., 
 and Robert in Brimfield, Peoria Co., 111. 
 
 D. L. Wiley, whose name heads this sketch, was 
 primarily educated in his native school district, and 
 
 $«3^ff" 
 
 also attended about two years at the neighboring 
 academy. He is self-educated as far as business is 
 concerned. In early life he worked on a farm, but 
 for several years was also engaged in mercantile 
 business. In the summer of 1844 he came to Brim- 
 field, 111., where he first engaged in farming, and 
 then merchandised one year. He next came to 
 Galva, 111., in the spring of 1855, where he engaged 
 in farming, doing considerable hard manual work. 
 Later, he resided in Galva, but continued the super- 
 intending of his farm in the meantime. He has been 
 fairly successful, and his success can be attributed to 
 his indomitable perseverance, frugality and energy. 
 
 Inheriting these sterling qualities, no doubt, from 
 his native Green Mountain State, which has fur- 
 nished so many of our foremost men in social, busi- 
 ness or political circles, in January, 1865, he, in part- 
 nership with others, started the First National Bank 
 in Galva; and when the charter expired the banking 
 business was continued under the name of L. M. 
 Yocum & Co., our subject being President of the 
 bank. Within the last decade Mr. Wiley has largely 
 engaged in the real-estate business in Monona 
 County, Iowa, where he has 1,000 acres of land, all 
 of which is in a high state of cultivation. This land 
 he has principally improved, and since he made the 
 purchase it has risen in value until he now has a 
 very valuable possession. 
 
 Mr. Wiley was joined in matrimony Aug. 5, 1846, 
 in his native State, with Miss Mary Billings, who was 
 born July 30, 181 8, in Rockingham, Windham Co., 
 Vt., where she died, June 1, 1851. She was a 
 daughter of Samuel and Susannah (Divoll) Billings, 
 natives of Massachusetts. They died in Windham 
 County, where they Yiere highly respected citizens. 
 Mrs. Mary Wiley became the mother of two chil- 
 dren, Flora B. and William F. The former is the 
 wife of W. L. Wiley, and is the mother of four chil- 
 dren, namely : Mary, Everett, Stella and Fred. 
 William F. married Florence Munger, who is the 
 mother of three children, viz. : lone B., Agnes and 
 Florence. The two children of Mr. Wiley, whose 
 name heads this notice, reside in Monona County, 
 where W. F. is one of the first Short-horn breeders 
 in the State of Iowa, on the farms formerly owned 
 by their enterprising sire. Daniel L. was rnarried a 
 second time, Feb. 27, r854, to Miss Sarah F. Davis, 
 who was born Sept. 26, 1832, in Rockingham, Vt. 
 She is a daughter of John H. Davis, and is the 
 
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 ■^V^ll II® U Of>^ — 5aa€^K- 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
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 mother of four children. Stella, who died in 1880, 
 aged 23 years, and Amy, born 1868. The two others 
 died in infancy. 
 
 Thus we have related the biography of Daniel 
 Leveret Wiley, and to-day, in the evening of life, 
 while the darkening shadows are gently and silently 
 approaching, he can cast a retrospective glance on his 
 career in life and be contented with the view. 
 
 ':. oyal Franklin Bailey was born in the 
 town of Rockingham, Windham County, 
 ?E5p^' State of "Vermont, in November, 1831. 
 ffe| Came to Galva, Henry Co., 111., in 1857, 
 where he has since resided and " paid his 
 taxes like the average law-abiding citizen." 
 In politics he is an " Abraham Lincoln Republi- 
 can;" in religion, a "Bob Ingersoll Baptist;" in 
 morals, a " George Washington : " " he can't tell a 
 lie." Hence this history. " Sic transit gloria mundi! " 
 
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 1 illiam Oliver, resident on section 23, of 
 Wethersfield Township, is a progressive 
 and well-to-do farmer, and a son of Thomas 
 and Margaret (Fife) Oliver, who came to 
 America with their family in 1837, and lo- 
 cated in Stark County the following year, at 
 which place they remained and died. 
 
 William Oliver, subject of this biographical notice, 
 was the sixth in order of birth in his parents' family, 
 consisting of ten children, and on his emigration to 
 America with his parents was but ten years old. He 
 received an education such as the common schools 
 of that early period afforded, and remained at home 
 until 27 years of age, meanwhile engaging in agri- 
 cultural pursuits in the vicinity. Since his location 
 in this county he has become the possessor and owner 
 of 470 acres of good, tillable land, on which he is 
 at present residing. Upon his farm he has erected 
 a splendid residence, and all other necessary build- 
 ings, besides having put the land in a good state of 
 cultivation. 
 
 Miss Elizabeth Turnbull, who was born in Scot- 
 land, Nov. 18, 1828, was the lady with whom Mr. 
 Oliver was united in marriage, in Elmira Township, 
 
 Stark County, April 3, 1853. Her parents, William 
 and Mary (Horning) Turnbull, emigrated to the 
 United States in 1849, and settled in Stark County, 
 where they died. Mr. and Mrs. Oliver have had their 
 home circle blessed by the birth of ten children, — 
 Mary E., Thomas F., William P., Adson R., George, 
 Andrew, Annie, John H., Ellen and Jennie. Mary 
 E. is the wife of Archibald Turner, and they re- 
 side in Iowa. Mr. Oliver has served his township in 
 the minor offices, and is at present one of the 
 School Commissioners, and he, with his wife, are 
 members of the Presbyterian Church. In politics, 
 he affiliates with the Republican party. 
 
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 ohn S. Wilson, residing at Orion, and en- 
 gaged in general farming, is a native of 
 Sparta, 111., where he was born Jan. 3, 
 1844. The father, David E., formerly from 
 South Carolina, and a farmer, was united in 
 marriage after he had come to Illinois with his 
 parents, who were Americans, and who settled in the 
 southwestern part of this State. The lady of his 
 choice was Miss Margaret A. Stewart. After mar- 
 riage they went to Wisconsin, in the year 1846, Mr. 
 David E. having visited it as a volunteer soldier in 
 1840. The mother died there when her son John S. 
 was only about 1 1 years of age. 
 
 After the mother's death he resided with his father 
 until he attained the age of 17 years, when he came 
 to Illinois and learned the trade of carpenter and 
 joiner. He afterward worked for a time as a " jour,'' 
 and started then on his own account. He settled in 
 Edford Township, this county, for a while, and in 
 1875 purchased 80 acres of good farming land. On 
 the latter he has since made his home, erecting a 
 good residence. 
 
 John S., our subject, formed a matrimonial alli- 
 ance, in Grant Co., Wis., Sept. 16, 1863, with Mary 
 Gee, who was born in Ohio, near Salem. She came 
 West with her parents, who settled in Wisconsin, in 
 Grant County, when she was but a mere child, and 
 died at her home in Edford Township, this county, 
 in 1869. She had become the mother of one child, 
 Maggie B. 
 
 May 26, 1870, Mr. Wilson was again married, to 
 Miss Edna E. Scott, in Edford Township. She was 
 
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 498 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 born in Cook Co., this State, Sept. 12, 1844, a daugh- 
 ter of Alvin and Louisa Scott, natives of Connecticut 
 and New Hampshire respectively. They were farm- 
 ers, and came to Cook County, where they were mar- 
 ried. Mrs. Wilson was the eldest daughter and 
 eldest child but one of a family of seven children. 
 The father died at an advanced age, in t868, in 
 Cook County, but the mother is still living in Edford 
 Township. Mrs. Wilson began teaching when she 
 was 19 years of age, having received an excellent 
 education, and followed the same for several years. 
 She has become the mother of three children, one 
 deceased. The living are Evalyn E., who was born 
 Feb. 19, r876, and Lawrence O., born March 9, 
 1879. 
 
 Mr. W. affiliates with the Republican party in 
 political sentiment. As to religious matters both 
 himself and wife are tolerant ; that is, they do not 
 believe any one will be sent into endless torment be- 
 cause of difference in religious belief. 
 
 ^«s$«aiMe><ss 
 
 l^harles H. Thompson, the only gentleman 
 who is engaged exclusively in the livery 
 rifP ><V business at Kewanee, 111., was born in 
 Monmouth Co., N. J., Aug. 9, 1854, and was 
 the third child of Samuel and Ellen (Hen- 
 drickson) Thompson, natives of the same 
 county. Mr. Thompson was educated at Trenton, 
 N. J., in the Model School, at which institution he 
 lacked, on account of sickness, eight weeks of gradu- 
 ating. He began his studies with a view to adopt- 
 ing the legal profession, but, finding it incompatible, 
 abandoned the idea at an early age. He developed 
 a " weakness " for horses when a mere youth, — in 
 fact, he was but 13 years of age when he drove a 
 " speeder '' at the county races. From New Jersey 
 he removed to Peoria Co., 111., in 1877, and there, at 
 the town of Princeville, carried on a livery stable 
 about three years. 
 
 After farming four years, he came to Kewanee, 
 where, in November, 1883, he engaged in his present 
 business, that of keeping a livery, sale and feed 
 stable. In the spring of r88s, he was elected Consta- 
 ble, an office he is filling at this writing (August, 
 1885). 
 
 On New Year's Day, 1879, he was married, at 
 Princeville, to Miss Louise Calhoun, a native of 
 
 Peoria Co., 111., and daughter of Dr. Henry E. Cal- 
 houn, of that place. Pearl H., Paul (who died in 
 June, r883, at the age of three months) and Zora, 
 are the names of their two sons and one daughter. 
 
 In politics, Mr. T. is a Republican, and is an act- 
 ive worker in that party. 
 
 jpl! eorge H. Loomis, resident on section 33, 
 ! ^^^|| in the township of Geneseo, was born in 
 Ksj— K the State of Maine. His birth occurred in 
 ^ > that part of the town of Milburn now included 
 in the village of Skowhegan, in the county of 
 Somerset. The date was July 10, 1821. Sam- 
 uel Loomis, his father, was a native of Massachu- 
 setts, and he married Lydia Hutchins. She was 
 born in Maine. The father went, after he had 
 passed some time in the city near where he was 
 born in the employ of a baker, to Maine, whither his 
 parents had preceded him, and where they were 
 among the pioneer settlers. He bought a consider- 
 able tract of timber land in the place now occupied 
 as the site of Skowhegan, and there he cleared a 
 farm from the heavy timber, which covered the en- 
 tire State before it was settled to any extent. In 
 1835 he went thence to the township of Madison, 
 and there bought a farm on which he was the resi- 
 dent owner six years. At the end of that time he 
 rented the place and went to the village of Skowhe- 
 gan, where he bought the homestead of his father, 
 and lived on the place where he was born until his 
 death. 
 
 Mr. Loomis of this sketch was reared on the farm 
 of his father, and obtained his education in the pub- 
 lic schools. He remained at home in order to assist 
 on the farm until he was 25, when the death of his 
 father occurred, and he continued to live with his 
 mother on the place until 1863. In that year he 
 sold it, and in the year succeeding he came to Henry 
 County. He at once bought 80 acres in the town- 
 ship of Munson, located on section 4. He built a 
 house, a stable and a corn-crib, and dug a well and 
 a cistern and made other improvements. This place 
 was in his possession until 1869, when he bought the 
 farm he now owns and occupies on section 33 in the 
 township of Geneseo. He is the proprietor of 116 
 acres, all of which is in a finely improved condition. 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 St Mr. Loomis was married in February, 1848, to 
 *& Elizabeth McClure, and they have had five children, 
 i » four of whom are' living : Samuel J. is a business 
 ' ' man of Walnut, Iowa ; John M. is a resident of Pitts- 
 A. burg, Kan. ; Henry lives in Geneseo ; Walter L. is 
 still with his parents. Scott was born Jan. 23, 1861, 
 and died March 13, 1866. Mrs. Loomis was born 
 July 13, 1826, in Somerset Co., Me. 
 
 9000« 
 
 eorge Day, one of the prosperous and en- 
 ergetic farmers of Wethersfield Township, 
 where he is a resident on section 20, was 
 born in Richland Co., Ohio, March 23, 1818. 
 His parents, Lewis and Mary (Hull) Day, were 
 natives of New Jersey. They were united in 
 marriage and settled in Pennsylvania, where they 
 lived several years, when they removed into Rich- 
 ^ land Co., Ohio, in which county they died. 
 
 George was the fifth in order of birth of his parents' 
 family of 1 1 children. He received a common-school 
 education, and lived at home under the parents' in- 
 fluence until he attained the age of 21 years, when 
 he came to what is now Richland Co., 111., where he 
 made a purchase of 160 acres of land, and another of 
 40 acres in Crawford County, when he again returned 
 to Richland County, Ohio. About four years later he 
 exchanged his Illinois land for a farm near Mans- 
 field, Ohio, where he located and lived about six 
 years, when he again sold, and this time came West 
 into Illinois. Locating in the spring of r8si in 
 Henry County, he soon made a purchase of 160 
 acres of land in Wethersfield Township, on section 
 20, his present homestead, where he settled and has 
 lived with the exception of three years, most of which 
 time he lived in Pennsylvania. To his first purchase 
 of 160 acres here, he has added until he now owns 
 240 acres, which by his industry and hard labor he 
 has under excellent cultivation and improvement, 
 with a fine substantial residence thereon, barns and 
 necessary outbuildings. 
 
 Mr. Day was first married in Richland Co., Ohio, 
 Aug. 28, 1845, to Miss Elizabeth Ferguson, who was 
 a native of Ohio. She died in Wethersfield Town- 
 ship, Sept. 1, 1852. He then formed a second 
 matrimonial alliance in Peoria, 111., the lady chosen 
 for his wife being Miss Elizabeth Gaskill, who was 
 
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 born in McLean Co., 111. By this second marriage 
 have been born seven children, namely: Losson L., 
 Frances, Erna, Lewis L., Abby, Nora and Elzey H. 
 The eldest, Losson L., is deceased. In politics Mr. 
 Day is independent. 
 
 .0^0- 
 
 sharies Bauer, a prominent farmer and 
 , stock-grower, resident at Kewanee, Henry 
 
 \£j 
 
 
 Co., 111., was born at Wittenburg, Germany, 
 Oct. 4, 1840, and came to America in 1861. 
 
 1 * His brother had preceded him to this country 
 a few years, and was at Kewanee, engaged in 
 the butchering business, when Charles arrived. 
 
 After about four years of association with his 
 brother, he engaged in farming and has since fol- 
 lowed it, and for ten or a dozen years of the time 
 he also carried on market and butchering business. 
 His parents, Daniel and Mary (Merz) Bauer, reared 
 three sons and two daughters, the subject of this 
 sketch being next to the eldest of the five. He was 
 educated in Germany, in his native language, and 
 after coming to America learned to read and write fJ5> 
 English. sb 
 
 He was married at Kewanee in 1865, to Miss ^ 
 Katherine Zeang, a native of Germany, and has had ^ . 
 born to him five children, — Augest, John, Willie, 
 Came and Katie. 
 
 Mr. Bauer owns one of the finest farms in the 
 county. It contains about 300 acres, all in a high 
 state of cultivation, stocked and fully equipped with 
 the newest improved agricultural implements and 
 machinery. Though eminently able to live without 
 work, he prefers to keep in the harness, and every 
 day finds him at his post. 
 
 |» rman R. Warner. In 1846, when only a 
 boy of 1 1 years, Orman R. Warner, who is 
 to-day living upon a fine farm on section 
 10, of Burns Township, accompanied his 
 parents to Henry County. Here he was 
 reared, received a good common-school edu- 
 cation, embarked upon his business career, in 
 which he has been very successful, and has become 
 one of the prominent men of the community. The 
 confidence in his business judgment by the people of 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 the township was demonstrated when they elected 
 him Assessor, which position he now fills. 
 
 Mr. Warner was born in Leeds Co., Upper Can- 
 ada, March 22, 1835. His parents, Ralph and Clara 
 (Keeler) Warner, were natives of New York State. 
 They were married, moved to Canada, and remained 
 in the Dominion until 1846, when they came into 
 Henry County, and made their home in Burns Town- 
 ship, where they lived until they died, Mr. Warner's 
 death occurring Oct. 22, 1851, and that of Mrs. 
 Warner, Aug. 12, 1880. Orman was the ninth of a 
 family of 1 1 children born to them. He remained 
 at home until 23 years of age, working on his father's 
 farm, and attending the district schools. He was 
 married on New Year's Day, 1858, to Miss Ruth, 
 daughter of Henry and Annie (Breese) Cofner. who 
 were also early settlers of Henry County, and natives 
 of Ohio. In 1854 they came to Burns Township, 
 where they remained until 1868, when they removed 
 to Union Co., Iowa. Ruth was the third of a family 
 of ten children, and waft born in Knox Co., Ohio, 
 Oct. 3, 1837. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Warner have three children, to 
 whom they have given the following names : Lartie 
 M., Samuel C. and Morton K. Lartie is the wife of 
 Hilbert C. Doty, of Nebraska; Samuel was married 
 to Margaret J. Anderson, and resides in Burns Town- 
 ship. 
 
 Mr. Warner has been prominent in the political 
 affairs of his township, and has served for two years 
 as Collector, and for T4 years as Assessor, besides 
 filling other positions. Both he and his wife are 
 members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Po- 
 litically, he is identified with the Democratic party. 
 
 -H- 
 
 
 ^ohn Laird, a gentleman who has devoted 
 30 years of active, earnest labor to farming, 
 1 |V but is now living in retirement on section 
 24, of Oxford Township, is a native of the Key- 
 stone State. He was born in Franklin Co., 
 Pa., June 5, 1817. His parents, Samuel and 
 Elizabeth (Campbell) Laird, were natives of Ireland 
 and Virginia respectively. The elder Laird followed 
 tailoring for a business, and also instructed his son, 
 John, in the art of the trade, which he not only fol- 
 lowed until he left the parental roof, which he did at 
 
 the age of 22 years, but also for. many years after- 
 ward. In Concord, Franklin Co., Pa., he handled 
 the goose, and used the shears and needle for 16 
 years. In 1855, in order to better his condition in 
 life, finding very meager opportunities to do so at the 
 old home, he came West, and located in the Prairie 
 State. He purchased 75 acres of land in Oxford 
 Township, this county, upon which he settled ; since 
 then he has added 106 acres, and has now a fine, 
 well equipped and improved farm of 181 acres. 
 During the meantime he has bought other farms and 
 sold them. 
 
 Mr. Laird was married to Miss Mary Ragan, a 
 native of Pennsylvania. To them have been born 
 two children, — Allen and Alfred. The former was 
 married to Miss Priscilla Hiller. Mrs. Laird died at 
 her home Nov. n, 1884. She was well known and 
 respected throughout the neighborhood. 
 
 Politically, Mr. Laird is a Democrat, and is con- 
 nected with the Presbyterian Church at Woodhull. 
 He is looked upon as one of the solid and representa- 
 tive men of Oxford Township. 
 
 ahum H. Flagg, Edford Township, came 
 to Henry County in 187 1. He was born 
 in Boylston, Worcester Co., Mass., Jan. 9, 
 T821. He is the oldest son of Levi and 
 1(5 Alothina (Houghton) Flagg, both of whom were 
 born in the same town where the son first saw the 
 light. They were of English descent. Mr. Flagg 
 attained to the estate of manhood in his native town 
 and was trained to farming, which had been the 
 business of his ancestors for many generations. He 
 received his education in the public schools and was 
 afterward sent one term to the High School at Lei- 
 cester, in his native State. After arriving at the 
 period of his legal freedom he passed two seasons 
 with a carpenter and joiner, and then went to 
 Worcester, where he operated independently as a 
 builder until the year in which he removed to Illi- 
 nois. 
 
 Shortly after his arrival in Henry County, asso- 
 ciated with a man named Dennis, living on section 
 23, they bought 80 acres on section 16, in Edford 
 Township, and they continued to manage their 
 farming relations jointly until 1874, when they made 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 a division and Mr. Flagg located on section 23. He 
 has attended to his farm since and has also worked 
 at his trade. 
 
 He was married, Nov. 17, 1842, to Eunice S. 
 Maynard. She was born in the same town as her 
 husband, Aug. 20, 1824, and died April 12, 1870. 
 She became the mother of three children, only one 
 of whom is now living. His name is George H. 
 Flagg, and he is a resident of Worcester, Mass. 
 
 :• eter Johnson, engaged by Culver & King, 
 ; in the farm implement business at Galva 
 &'$ was born Oct. 3, 1840, in Malung, Sweden. 
 He is a son of John and Martha Johnson, na- 
 tives of the same country. His father died 
 shortly after he came to the United States, in 
 1847, in Victoria, Knox Co., 111. The Johnson family 
 originated in the Province of Dalanar, Sweden. The 
 parents joined the colony and came to this country, 
 and John Johnson, the father of the subject of this 
 notice, was the man who carried Eric Jansen, the 
 founder of the colony, from Sweden to Christianstadt 
 in Norway, while Eric was fleeing from Sweden, pur- 
 sued by the authorities and a religious mob. The 
 parents came here in 1846, in the fall, and settled at 
 B shop Hill, this county. Soon after, John Johnson 
 and wife left the colony and settled in Victoria, where 
 he followed his trade, that of a carpenter, and where 
 he died soon after. His wife bore him eight chil- 
 dren, — John, Christine, Martha, Kate, Peter, Betsey, 
 by her first husband ; and Fred Gloom by her second 
 hu band, P. J. Gloom, deceased. She is still living 
 in Bishop Hill, aged 7 6 years. 
 
 Peter Johnson received only a limited education, 
 the same being acquired at Bishop Hill during the 
 time .his parents were members of the colony, the 
 major portion of his early life having been passed 
 on the farm. In 1861 he enlisted in Co. D, 57th 111. 
 Vol. Inf., as private, and was promoted Sergeant. 
 He was all through the war, participating in the bat- 
 tles of Eort Donelson, Pittsburg Landing, siege and 
 battle of Corinth, Atlanta Gap, and was also with 
 Sherman in his famous march to the sea, and partici- 
 pated in many minor engagements and skirmishes, 
 and was at the Grand Review at Washington. He 
 received an honorable discharge in July, 1865, and 
 
 returned to Bishop Hill, where, doffing his uniform 
 and laying aside his accoutrements of war, he once 
 more entered upon the civil pursuits of life, and for 
 one year was occupied in farming. He then aban- 
 doned the farm and learned the wagon-maker's trade, 
 which he followed for a number of years. 
 
 Mr. Johnson has held several township offices, 
 such as Collector, etc., and in 1876 was elected 
 Sheriff of Henry County, which he filled one term, 
 and for the next two years was Deputy Sheriff under 
 William Van Nice. After that he engaged in house 
 carpenter work, and followed it for several, years. In 
 the spring of 1882 he removed to Galva, where he 
 has been employed by Carver & King in the sale of 
 farm implements. Mr. Johnson was married in July, 
 1870, to Miss Christine Nordstadt, daughter of Olof 
 D. Nordstadt, a native of Sweden, and in which 
 Mrs. Johnson was born. She is the mother of four 
 children by Mr. Johnson, only one of whom, Fred 
 William, is living, the others having died in infancy. 
 Mrs. Johnson is a member of-the Swedish Method- 
 ist Church, and politically Mr. J. is a Republican. 
 Socially, he is a member of the A. O. U. W. 
 
 -~S- 
 
 -£~- 
 
 lisha R. Woleott. The subject of this 
 narrative is one of the oldest settlers of 
 Henry County, and one of the first to lo- 
 cate in Wethersfield Township, where he now 
 In the spring of 1837, in company with, 
 or as a member of, the Wethersfield Colony, he 
 came into Henry County. He had one share in the 
 colony, which comprised 182^ acres of land, 160 of 
 which lay on section 7 of what is now Wethersfield 
 Township. Upon this Mr. Woleott settled and be- 
 gan its improvement, and here for well-nigh half a 
 century he has lived. He owns upward of 240 acres 
 of good tillable land and 130 acres of timber land. 
 His stock comprises about 50 head of cattle, 18 
 horses and colts and 100 head of sheep. 
 
 Mr. Woleott was born in Wethersfield, Conn., 
 Dec, 30, 1816. Her parents, Elisha and Mary 
 Robbins) Woleott, were also natives of Connecticut, 
 where they lived, labored and died. Elisha was the 
 third of a family of ten children, and lived with his 
 parents until 20 years of age, when we find him 
 locating upon the wild prairie of Henry County 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 x^t: ^^^D fl@MH^A^ ^jkl 
 
• VV - 'S 
 
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 S°4 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 His long residence here justly entitles him to be 
 looked upon as one of the fathers of the county. 
 Many hard experiences that he has met during this 
 half century would require a large volume to re- 
 count. The lot of a pioneer at its best is one of 
 hardship, inconvenience and suffering ; but he has 
 accomplished a great work in assisting to open up 
 one of the fairest garden spots in the Prairie State. 
 The memory of such men should be held dear to 
 posterity. Politically, Mr. W. is identified with the 
 Republican party, but in temperance principles he 
 is a Prohibitionist. 
 
 As a man eminently worthy to represent the old 
 pioneers of Henry County in the gallery of portraits 
 in this Album, we place Mr. Wolcott's portrait on 
 the page preceding this sketch. 
 
 4= 
 
 =*- 
 
 erman Herbner, farmer, Galva, was born 
 . Jan. 29, i83i,in Holtehousen, Cur Hessen, 
 Germany, where his ancestors lived many 
 years. Henry Herbner, the grandfather of our 
 subject, was a farmer at the above place, dying 
 there, aged 96, as did his wife, Elizabeth Ben- 
 der, and their six children. Of these, Herman, who 
 had followed in the same occupation as his father, 
 died, aged 66 years and 9 months. He had formed 
 a matrimonial alliance with Miss Elizabeth, and she 
 died at the same place, aged 58 years. Of their 
 union were ten children, namely: Conrad, Henry, 
 Cort, Valentine, Harry, Lewis, Herman, Peter, Hein- 
 rich and Catherine. Three are deceased : Harry 
 was killed in Pennsylvania ; Peter served his coun- 
 try as a soldier, and after returning home died ; and 
 Valentine. Five emigrated to America, Henry 
 coming in 1840, locating near Philadelphia, Pa. In 
 1856 he came to this county, but not until a year 
 later did he come to Galva Township ; Harry emi- 
 grated to the United States in 1846, our subject in 
 1850, his brother Valentine in 1853, and Peter, his 
 brother, in 1854. 
 
 Herman Herbner, whose name heads this bio- 
 graphical notice, was educated in his native country. 
 After arriving in America he worked from 1850 to 1856 
 by the month, in Montgomery Co., Pa. He next came 
 to Belvidere, Boone Co., 111., where he went to farm- 
 ing, engaging in the same until the spring of 1857, 
 
 when he emigrated to Galva Township, this county, 
 and has resided here ever since. Mr. Herbner is 
 the proprietor of 40 acres of land in Galva Town- 
 ship, and 80 acres in Burns Township. 
 
 Mr. Herbner, who commenced in life with but lit- 
 tle if anything, and has accumulated some of this 
 world's goods, is a man well liked and respected by 
 all in his community, and an energetic, persevering 
 and industrious gentleman. 
 
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 illiam L. Barnes, of Geneseo, is one of the 
 most prominent citizens of Henry County 
 as an agriculturist. He is a man who 
 enjoys the esteem of the community, of 
 which he has been a member for 30 years, 
 to an uncommon degree. His traits of char- 
 acter are such as to render him a popular and reli- 
 able citizen, and he is prized for his geniality of 
 temperament, his large-hearted generosity and the 
 characteristic that is comprised in the term " whole- 
 souled." He is the owner of an extensive acreage 
 in the townships of Munson and Cornwall. 
 
 Mr. Barnes was born in East Hampton, Long 
 Island, N. Y., Sept. 2, 1823, and is the son of Joseph 
 and Phebe (Miller) Barnes. He was brought up in 
 the town of his nativity and there took the first im- 
 portant step of his life. On the 23d day of November, 
 1853, he was married to Betsey Miller. She was a 
 native of the same town in which her husband was 
 born, and there her youth and earlier years were 
 passed. She was the daughter of Uriah Miller. 
 After their marriage they remained resident on the 
 historic island three years, and there their first child 
 was born. His birth took place May 3, 1855. His 
 name is William K. Barnes and he is a citizen of 
 Kansas. 
 
 In April, 1856, Mr. Barnes removed his family and 
 interests to Henry County. He purchased land in 
 the township of Munson, in the vicinity of Genesep, 
 and is still a heavy land-holder there. His estate 
 contains nearly 700 acres 'and is considered one of 
 the most valuable farms in the whole county. Mr. 
 Barnes is still interested in the personal supervision 
 of his property. He is a Republican in his political 
 preferences, but has never taken an aggressive posi- 
 tion in the arena of politics and has never been an 
 aspirant for office. Some of those of a quiet char- 
 
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(£/§>*€**»- 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 e! St 
 
 acter have been held by him, but he has never de- 
 sired the prominence of public position. 
 
 Four children were added to the household while 
 they were still residents of Munson. Joseph married 
 Mary Upson and is a resident of Douglas Co., Minn. 
 Fannie is the wife of C. B. Miller, one of the genial 
 hosts of the Geneseo House. Henry is operating 
 with his brother Joseph in the banking business in 
 Minnesota. Nathan, the youngest, is now a student 
 in Knox College at Galesburg. The mother and 
 daughters are members of the Congregational Church 
 at Geneseo. Mr. Barnes was brought up in the 
 faith of his forefathers, — the Presbyterian creed — 
 but is disposed to regard with a liberal spirit the 
 opinions of those who differ from the tenets of that 
 religious organization. 
 
 The family removed to Geneseo in the fall of 
 1880. 
 
 ^~ 
 
 ^V^ ^ 
 
 illiam Ours, a resident of sectio'n 29, 
 Wethersfield Township, where "he is en- 
 'O g a g e d in agricultural pursuits, is a son of 
 ■ Jacob and Nancy (Crislip) Ours, both natives 
 of Virginia, who lived and died there. Wil- 
 liam was the eldest of their family, which con- 
 sisted of three children, — William, Mary A. and 
 Rebecca — and was born in Virginia, April 26, 1822. 
 He left the State of his nativity when about 24 years 
 of age, going to Kosciusko Co., Ind., where he made 
 a purchase of a farm and settled, remaining until the 
 year 1864. He then came into Henry County and 
 bought 160 acres in Wethersfield Township, on sec- 
 tion 29, his present place of residence, and began 
 the task of its improvement and cultivation. He 
 has erected a substantial residence and other neces- 
 sary farm buildings, and, besides this property, he is 
 the owner and proprietor of 1 60 acres of land in 
 Stark County, this State. 
 
 In Kosciusko Co., Ind., he formed a matrimonial 
 alliance with Eliza A. Goodale, the event occurring 
 on the 2d of December, 1849. She is the daughter 
 of Joel D. and Eliza B. (Kimball) Goodale, who 
 were natives of New Hampshire. Her parents set- 
 tled in Livingston Co., N. Y., where her mother died. 
 Her father, Mr. Goodale, died Aug. 21, 1885. He 
 and his wife were the parents of eight children, as 
 follows: Joel H., Artemus K., Udolphus C, Gideon 
 
 G., Frederick X., Eliza A. (Mrs. Ours), Gustavus L. 
 and Enos J. ; Eliza was born in Livingston Co., N. 
 Y., Oct. 15, 1826. Mr. and Mrs. Ours' family 
 comprised the following named children : Eliza A., 
 Emma G, William G. G., Samantha M., Charles F., 
 Eliza A. and Mary L. Eliza A., the first child, is 
 deceased ; Samantha M. is the wife of John Lind- 
 strom, and they reside in Kewanee. Politically 
 speaking, Mr. Ours is a Republican. 
 
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 -a$3^ ©A^IIIK 
 
 larwel B. Whitney. In 1854, when Thomas 
 Whitney, with his family, came into Henry 
 County, Jarwel B. Whitney, his son, was a 
 lad of 13 years of age. The elder Whitney 
 ^u settled on a farm in Burns Township, where 
 Jarwel B. was reared and educated, and grew 
 to manhood, and, with the exception of two years 
 spent in Knox County, and three yeara' service in 
 the war, he has made his residence. 
 
 He was born in Ripley Co., Ind., Nov. 17, 1841. 
 His mother, Lydia (Tufts) Whitney, was a native of 
 Maine, which State was also the birthplace of his. 
 father. They both died in Burns Township. J. B. 
 owned a good farm, comprising a quarter of section 
 22, upon which he has good farm buildings. In 1862, 
 when the President of the United States was calling 
 for more troops to suppress the rebellion, on the 9th 
 day of August of that year, Mr. Whitney enlisted in 
 112th 111. Vol. Inf. He did three years of good ser- 
 vice, and during Sanders' raid in East Tennessee 
 he was taken prisoner, and remained in confinement 
 in the rebel prisons for about six months. During 
 this period he experienced prison life at Knoxville, 
 and at the well-known and infamous Libby Prison 
 pen. 
 
 Mr. Whitney was married in Henry Co., 111., Dec. 
 31, 1872, to Carrie Henderson. This lady was born 
 in Logan Co., Ohio, Sept. 12, 185 r. Of the four 
 children born to them, Ida M. and George H. are 
 the only ones living: the other two died in infancy. 
 Mrs. Whitney's parents, Robert and Margaret (Mc- 
 Davitt) Henderson, were natives of the Buckeye 
 State, where the former died, and the latter is a resi- 
 dent of this county. 
 
 Mr. Whitney has served the township as Clerk 
 
 M&*r9 **^" 
 
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 V) 
 
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506 
 
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 -&$&s: — &r®M®M® «fd ^^k- 
 
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 $@§X@\I 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 and in other positions, being elected on the Republi- 
 can ticket. Mrs. W. is a member of the Presby- 
 terian Church. 
 
 rtephen Moon, residing on section 34, Anna- 
 wan Township, is a farmer by occupation, 
 and was born in Yorkshire, Eng., Feb. 2, 
 182 1. In 185 1 he emigrated to America, lo- 
 cating at New York for a short time, when he 
 came further West, into the State of Illinois, 
 and worked by the month for about a year, in this 
 county. He then purchased 80 acres in Annawan 
 Township, which he endeavored to put under excel- 
 lent cultivation, and later made other purchases, 
 until he now has 320 acres, on which he is now re- 
 siding. Mr. Moon is engaged quite extensively in 
 general farming, keeping some of the highest grade 
 of cattle. He has a herd of Short-horn, and one or 
 two thoroughbreds. His horses are English Draft. 
 Upon his farm he has several springs, and also 100 
 * acres of timber land outside of his large farm, which 
 is well stocked. 
 
 Mr. Moon entered the married state November, 
 1849, in Yorkshire, England, the lady of his choice 
 being Miss Sarah Petch, a native of that place. She 
 was born Feb. 6, 1831, and of their union have been 
 born six children, as follows : Seth H., born Nov. 
 11, 1850; Ellen, Nov. 3, 1852; Thomas P., Oct. 17, 
 1854; Mary, Sept. 10, 1856; Elizabeth, Nov. 5, 
 1858; Hannah M., July 19, 1864. 
 
 -ra-H- 
 
 * * 
 
 T~T 
 
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 ohn K. Warner. One of the prominent 
 and leading farmers of Burns Township is 
 f John K. Warner. He is engaged in gen- 
 eral agriculture on section 15. Here he owns 
 an excellent farm of 216 acres, most of which 
 is tillable, and upon which he has erected a 
 fine residence and good farm buildings. He was 
 born in Upper Canada, Oct. 24, 1830, and when 
 about 15 years old came with his parents to Henry 
 County, since which time he has made this his home 
 and has grown up to be one of the well-to-do farm- 
 ers of Burns. His parents, Ralph and Clara (Keeler) 
 
 Warner, are noticed in the sketch of O. R. Warner, 
 the brother of John K. 
 
 One of the greatest events in the life of Mr. War- 
 ner occurred on New Year's Day in the year 1857. 
 Upon that day he and Miss Almina W Ladd were 
 united in marriage. The ceremony was celebrated 
 at Cambridge. Mrs. Warner is a native of New 
 York, having been born in Oneida County, May 25, 
 1837. Her parents, Andrew and Mary (Robinson) 
 Ladd, were also natives of the Empire State. Mrs. 
 Warner was the eldest of their family of five chil- 
 dren, and she is the mother of a family of four, as 
 follows: Ella R., Fred B., Ralph B. and John R. 
 Ella is the wife of Ezra Brasel, a farmer of Burns 
 Township, and the mother of four children,--Blanche, 
 born Nov. 9, 1876; Lora, March 13, 1881; Maud, 
 July 5, 1883; and Lenora, deceased. 
 
 * -«- * 
 
 M. McClanahan, A. M.,M. D., practicing 
 physician at Woodhull since March, 1882, 
 was born in Mercer County, this State. His 
 parents were Dr. John P. and Margaret (Jones) 
 McClanahan, who were natives respectively of 
 Ohio and Kentucky, and settled at Norwood, 
 this State, in 1856, where his father practiced his 
 profession for several years and then moved to Alexis, 
 Mercer County, where he is still engaged in the 
 practice of his profession. He was a surgeon in the 
 army two years, when he resigned on account of ill 
 health. 
 
 Dr. McClanahan, whose name heads this bio- 
 graphical sketch, had received a collegiate education 
 in his youth, and at the age of 18 he commenced the 
 study of medicine with his father ; and at the age of 
 21 he graduated at the Jefferson Medical College, in 
 Philadelphia, receiving a gold medal for his pro- 
 ficiency in surgery. He received the degree of 
 Master of Arts from Monmouth College in 1882, and 
 accepted an appointment as Hospital Resident Phy- 
 sician at Philadelphia upon a competitive examina- 
 tion. He was a Resident Physician of the Jefferson 
 Medical College Hospital for one year, and then, in 
 partnership with his father, he was a practitioner in 
 Mercer Co., 111. He was then appointed by the 
 general Government as physician at Fort Belknap, 
 Montana. At the end of a year's service there, he 
 
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 -z^&K — ^v&q n •§ n Of >^ — 5s«€»^ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 resigned and came to Woodhull, this county, where 
 he has since been engaged in the practice of his 
 chosen calling, with satisfactory success. He is a 
 member in high standing, of the " regular " school. 
 
 The Doctor is a Republican in his political views, 
 and, with his wife, belongs to the Presbyterian 
 Church. He has been President of the Village 
 Board of Trustees. He is also the proprietor of a 
 drug store in Woodhull, which he purchased in 1882. 
 He is yet comparatively a young man, and is rising 
 in his profession, and is highly esteemed by the 
 community which he has selected for his home. 
 
 The Doctor was married Sept. 6, 1883, to Miss 
 Nellie Holloway, a native of Illinois and the daugh- 
 ter of Robert Holloway. They have one daughter, 
 named Kate. 
 
 F'ohn Rogers. In the early part of 1852 
 
 !?■ John Rogers came West from Ohio, and 
 
 with his wife located upon some land in 
 
 Burns Township. During these 33 years he 
 It has since resided here and is known far and 
 
 wide as a reputable, well-to-do farmer. His 
 residence is located on section 20, and upon the 
 home farm he has good, comfortable buildings of all 
 kinds. The number of his a. res has increased until 
 to-day he is the possessor of 400 acres of excellent 
 farming land. Mr. Rogers was born in Belmont, 
 Ohio, Aug. 14, 1820. When he was three years old 
 his parents moved to Tuscarawas County, the same 
 State, where they resided for 19 years. They subse- 
 quently moved to Harrison Co., Ohio, where they 
 lived for nine years. His father, Joseph Rogers, was 
 a native of Maryland, as was also his wife, Mary 
 Gilchell. As early as 1802 they came into Ohio, 
 where they spent the remainder of their lives. 
 
 Mr. Rogers was married while living in Harrison 
 Co., Ohio, May 20, 1850, to Catherine Huston. That 
 was the county of her nativity, and the date of her 
 birth was Aug. 20, 1831. Her parents, Edward and 
 Catherine (Lamb) Huston, had long been residents 
 of that section of Ohio. Mrs. Rogers died at her 
 home in Burns Township, Jan. 29, 1864, She had, 
 however, become the mother of eight children, — 
 three sons and five daughters, as follows: Joseph, 
 Edward, Jacob, Christina E. and Edith, who are liv- 
 
 ing; and Mary C, Harriet J and Carrie E., who are 
 deceased. 
 
 Mr. Rogers has held some of the minor offices of 
 the township, and casts his hallot with the Repub- 
 licans. The family are members of the Free-Will 
 Baptist Church. 
 
 ohn J. Corkill, residing on section 25, 
 Galva Township, is a native of the Isle of 
 Man, having been born on that island, 
 Sept. 7, 185 r. He is a son of John and Mar- 
 garet (Kermode) Corkill, natives of the same 
 island, and where his mother died, aged 42 
 years, leaving to the care of her husband four chil- 
 dren, namely: Mrs. Ellen Lewen, who died in Ford 
 County, this State; Mrs. Margaret Anderson, who 
 also died in Ford County; John J., the subject of 
 this notice; and Mary, who died in her 15th year. 
 The father emigrated to this country in 1866, land- 
 ing at Portland, Me., and coming direct to Galva, 
 this county, where he engaged in the occupation of 
 farming. He was again married and is at present 
 residing in Ford County, this State. 
 
 John J. Corkill, whose biography we write, was 15 
 years of age when he emigrated to the United States. 
 After arriving in this county he was occupied for five 
 years in farming, then went into the coal business, 
 in which he was engaged for ten years, working a 
 shaft for himself. He was one of a company of 
 three who conducted three shafts near Galva, and 
 finally sold out to the Herdien Coal Company. He 
 met with financial success in that business, and in 
 1870 purchased 160 acres of land, located on section 
 25, in Galva Township, on which he located and 
 entered energetically and vigorously upon its im- 
 provement and on which he is at present residing, 
 meeting with success in his chosen vocation. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Corkill occurred Jan. 25, 
 1872, the lady of his choice being Miss Isabella 
 Lewen, a native of the Isle of Man, where she was 
 born in 1848. She is the daughter of Robert Lewen, 
 and has borne her husband three children, — Pearl 
 Idella, Merrick J. and Ella May. 
 
 Politically, Mr. Corkill votes with the Republican 
 party, and both he and his wife are connected with 
 
 
 
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 -2^^ ^A^H Mllf^^9 ^^^- 
 
2^i# 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church. Socially, Mr. 
 Corkill is a member of the A. 0. U. W., belonging to 
 Bailey Lodge, No. 135, at Galva. 
 
 4- 
 
 -J- 
 
 eter Herdien, Secretary and Treasurer of 
 
 the Herdien Coal Company, of Galva, 111., 
 
 Sp^ and Vice-President of the Farmers' & Mer- 
 
 i J chants' National Bank, was born May 23, 1844, 
 
 ^ at Lingbo, Shog Socken, Sweden. He is the 
 
 Jl 
 
 son of Hans Hanson, whose military name was 
 Herdelin, acquired while five years in the National 
 Guards. His son Peter took his military name when 
 he came to Aperica. His mother was Catherine 
 Johnson, and is in Sweden. She was the mother of 
 three children, viz. : Hans Hansen, deceased, his 
 death occurring a year ago, aged 47 years; Chris- 
 tine, residing in Sweden ; and our subject. The 
 father died in his native country in 1865, aged 55 
 years. 
 
 Peter acquired his education, which was but a 
 limited one, in his native country, coming to Amer- 
 ica in August, 1864, landing in Oneida, Knox Co., 
 and the first fall after his arrival there worked by the 
 month. That winter he went into Knoxville, where 
 he engaged to work in a cabinet-shop, and then 
 learned carpentering, which occupation he followed 
 for five years in Knox County. He went next to 
 Woodhull, and engaged in a furniture store, remain- 
 ing there a year, and in 1870 came to Galva. Here, 
 in partnership with O. L. Peterson, he bought out 
 L. Heddstrom, and has since conducted the business 
 successfully. He and his partner started a branch 
 store in Cambridge, which they ran for one year, 
 then selling out to J. C. Runstrum. In 1876 he be- 
 came interested in the mining business to some 
 extent, selling coal. 
 
 Next he went to Kearney, Neb., at which place he 
 started another branch furniture store, continuing 
 the same for a year. Selling out, he and his partner 
 engaged in the coal business, by forming a company 
 of seven, and under the name of the " Galva Mining 
 Company ;" they then bought out the other coal 
 firm, and changed the name of the "Galva Mining 
 Company " to the " Herdien Coal Company." In 
 r88o they bought out Lewen, Corkill & Co., dividing 
 their stock into 100 shares, which are all sold. The 
 
 firm running opposition started up afterward, and 
 again the Herdien Coal Company bought them out. 
 
 Mr. Herdien was married Nov. 6, 1870, in Victo- 
 ria, to Margaret Johnson, daughter of Louis Johnson, 
 who came here in 1867, and settled in Center Prairiei 
 Knox County. She was born July 9, 1848, in Sweden, 
 and has become the mother of three children, viz. : 
 Jennie M., born Oct. 17, 1871; Hebron Walter L, 
 born Aug. 8, 1874; and Elmer Forest S., born May 
 22, 1876. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. H. are members of the Swedish 
 Methodist Church, and Mr. H. belongs to the I. 0. 
 O. F. 
 
 As a man who started in life with nothing, he has 
 accumulated some of this world's goods, and through 
 his industry, perseverance and energy has done ex- 
 ceedingly well. He is a respected and representa- 
 tive citizen. 
 
 ra Parker. There are a number of prom- 
 inent and well-to-do farmers in Burns 
 Township, of whom Mr. Ira Parker is one 
 of the best known. His home farm is located 
 upon section 9, where he has 340 acres of ex- 
 cellent land. His farm is well equipped, and 
 he has one of the most pleasant residences in Henry 
 County. 
 
 Our subject is a native of Delaware Co., N. Y., 
 where he was born April 12, 1809. Joshua Parker, 
 his father, and Susanna (Ransom) Parker, his mother, 
 were also natives of New York State, and both died 
 in Wayne County, of that State. They had 1 1 chil- 
 dren, of whom Ira was the ninth. When 18 years 
 of age he left home and began to make his own living. 
 For a time he worked at the painter's trade and 
 again during the winter taught school. We find him 
 in the States of Louisiana and Mississippi during 
 the next five years, where he also engaged in teach- 
 ing. In 1853, about the time the railroad was built 
 through the southeastern part of the county, many 
 new settlers came into Henry County ; among these 
 was Mr. Ira Parker. He soon found a fine location 
 and made a settlement, which was at the very place 
 where he is now living. 
 
 The year following Mr. Parker's advent into Henry 
 County we find him taking a very prominent part in 
 
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 ^g^ r q/^ h h@h!h^a^ — ^^c^ 
 
6^HH®DHf^^ z^sr 
 
 
 4H 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 5°9 
 
 1 
 
 a wedding ceremony, Miss Mary L. Woodruff being 
 a necessary second party. Their pilgrimage together, 
 however, was very short, as the following year, 1855, 
 Mrs. Parker died. One child was born of this union, 
 Laura A., who is now the wife of Marion T. Whitney, 
 of Lynn Co., Ore. Upon the 16th of September, 
 1858, Mr. Parker was a second time married. Mary 
 L. Coul, a lady who was born in Putnam Co., N. Y., 
 joined him in the holy bonds of matrimony. Mrs. 
 Parker is the daughter of Elijah T. and Caroline 
 (Hinman) Coul, both of whom were natives of the 
 Empire State. They came to Henry County, how- 
 ever, in 1855, and are now residents of Kewanee. 
 Mary L. was the elder of two children, and was born 
 Oct. 12, 1835. Mr. and Mrs. Parker have four 
 children, only two of whom are living, — Perry C. and 
 Schuyler R. Ira V. and Carrie L. are deceased. 
 Mr. Parker has been prominent in the public affairs 
 of his township, and for four years has served it as 
 Supervisor and also filled other official positions. 
 Politically, he is a Republican. 
 
 A. Grove, physician, Galva, was bom 
 Dec. 26, 1840, in Highland Co., Ohio. 
 Si^-, The family is of English extraction. The 
 progenitor of the family in America was 
 • Rev. Richard Grove, born in Liverpool, 
 where many prominent families by that name 
 reside. He was a minister of the old High Church, 
 and was educated in England ; emigrated to Amer- 
 ica, and located at Richmond, Va. It is supposed 
 that he was sent over prior to the Revolution, about 
 the year 1760. Here he labored until his death, 
 which occurred shortly after the Revolution. He 
 was united in marriage in England, and became the 
 father of four children. Of these George Grove was 
 the great-grandfather, and he was engaged as a 
 farmer in Virginia, and also owned a large tobacco 
 plantation in Loudoun Co., Va. He was also a 
 slave-holder, and his demise occurred in Virginia. 
 Several children were born to Mr. and Mrs. George 
 Grove, namely : Thomas, who went to Highland Co., 
 Ohio, when quite a boy, and there engaged in farm- 
 ing; while there he was united in marriage with Miss 
 
 Woods; they both died, leaving a family of 14 chil- 
 dren, of whom 10 reached maturity; seven are now 
 living, one of whom is a physician at Tipton, Tipton 
 Co., Ind., and another brother is in Carthage, 111., 
 engaged as a merchant; James M. is the father of 
 our subject. He was born May 17, 1818, in High- 
 land Co., Ohio. He was reared on the old home- 
 stead, assisting in farming. In the winter of 1838 
 he was married to Sarah Hamwick, who was born in 
 Highland Co., Ohio. She became the mother of our 
 subject, and died the day of his birth. Her parents 
 were Rev. and Rebecca (Thurman) Hamrick. Her 
 mother was an aunt of Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio; 
 they both died there. James Grove was married a 
 second time, to Elizabeth Faris, who was born in 
 1828, in Maysville, Ky., the. daughter of Joseph 
 Faris, farmer in Kentucky. She and her husband 
 became the parents of a family of six children, viz. : 
 Thomas B., a miner in Idaho; Mrs. Emma Beeson, 
 of Red Oak, Iowa ; Ida and Minerva, who is the 
 wife of Charles Cook, a teacher in Nebraska ; James 
 M. entered upon a mercantile career soon after he 
 was married; in 1863 he entered the drug business, 
 in Maquon, Knox County, to which place he came 
 in 1858; when in Ohio he was a prominent local 
 politician. 
 
 W. A. Grove, whose name heads this sketch, was 
 educated in the Greenfield High School, where he 
 graduated in the spring of T856, His medical edu- 
 cation was received in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the 
 Miami Medical College, at which place he grad- 
 uated March 6, 1865. He located first in Maquon, 
 practiced there successfully, for a young man, for 
 five years, then went to Victoria, Knox Co., and in 
 June, 1875, he located in Galva. He has been a 
 successful physician, having built up a remunerative 
 practice, and enjoying the esteem and confidence of 
 the people to an enviable degree. 
 
 Mr. Grove formed a matrimonial alliance April 9, 
 1873, in Victoria, with Lizzie Jarnagin, born April 
 14, 1854, in Victoria. She is the daughter of J. L. 
 Jarnagin, a wealthy retired farmer of that place. Of 
 their union have been born two children, — Pearl, 
 born March 14, 1875, and Grace, March 19, 1880. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Dr. Grove are members of the Metho- 
 dist Episcopal Church. Mr. G. is also a member of 
 the Order of A. F. & A. M. Politically, he is a be- 
 liever in the principles of the Democratic party. 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 £"ohn E. Norling, engaged in the drug busi- 
 er ness at Galva, was born Jan. 13, 1859, in 
 ^* Bishop Hill, this county, and is a son of 
 Andrew and Elizabeth Norling, natives of 
 Stalba Nora Socken, Sweden. They came to 
 America four years after the Colony which set- 
 tled in this county, arriving in New York Dec. 15, 
 1854, and in Galva, this county, Dec. 28, of the same 
 year. On their arrival here they settled at Bishop 
 Hill and connected themselves with the Colony, but 
 left the same on its breaking up and settled in Galva 
 Township, four miles north of Galva village, on sec- 
 tion 17, where they are at present residing and have 
 a farm of 122 acres. Their children were seven, 
 viz. : Peter O., Andrew D., John E., our subject, 
 Amanda, Matilda, Lillie and Alfred. The eldest is 
 married to Amanda Nordstadt, daughter of Olaf 
 Nordstadt, who has borne him two children, — Mil- 
 ford P. and LeRoy Arthur. Peter O. now has a 
 grocery in Peoria, where he resides, and is also in 
 partnership with John E., subject of this notice. 
 
 The latter received a good English education in 
 the district schools of his native county. His par- 
 ents being poor, he was unable to acquire a collegi- 
 ate education, but commenced the study of pharma- 
 cy under Malcom Berg, a graduate of a famous 
 institution of learning in Sweden. He studied under 
 Mr. Berg about nine months, after which he en- 
 gaged in clerking for L. P. Ek, whom he accom- 
 panied 'to Kearney, Neb., and where he remained 
 four months, when he returned with Mr. Ek to Gal- 
 va, this county, and worked for him here a short 
 time. He then, in partnership with his brothers, 
 Peter O. and Andrew D., purchased the interest of 
 Mr. Ek in the business. This was Feb. 20, 1880, 
 and the firm was known as Norling Bros. At that 
 time the firm did a large business, having a brahch 
 store at Nekoma and Bishop Hill, and also at the 
 same time had a dry-goods and grocery store at 
 Nekoma, besides being interested in a sheep ranch 
 in Sherman County, Neb. In February, 1883, they 
 sold the dry-goods and grocery store and in January 
 sold their drug store. Mr. Norling of this sketch was 
 at that time running the Galva store. May 9, r883, 
 they dissolved partnership, Andrew and John E. 
 
 taking the sheep ranch and the store at Bishop Hill 
 and Peter O. the Galva store. The former, Andrew, 
 was engaged in running the Bishop Hill store, and 
 Jan. 20, 1884, John E., subject of this notice, bought 
 a branch store in Sutton, Neb., which he conducted 
 until Sept. 25, of that year, when he sold it and in- 
 vested more capital in the cattle and land business, 
 having in the meantime also disposed of his interest 
 in the Bishop Hill store. April 15, John E. and his 
 brother Andrew bought out the Galva store, Peter 0. 
 going to Peoria, and John E. is at present conduct- 
 ing the same at that place, the business being that 
 of drugs, paints, oils, etc. 
 
 Mr. Norling, politically, is a believer in the tenets 
 of the Democratic party. Socially, he is a member 
 of the A. F. & A. M. His brother, with whom he 
 has been engaged in business so long, is also a mem- 
 ber of the A. F. & A. M., of the I. 0.0. F. and the 
 A. O. U. W., and of which society Peter O. is like- 
 wise a member. 
 
 esley Hoppoek, one of the early settlers 
 
 of Wethersfield Township, came here with 
 
 his parents in 1850, and is a resident on 
 
 section 25, where he is engaged extensively 
 
 in agricultural pursuits. He was born Aug. 
 
 J 9, 1 840, in New Jersey, and is a son of John 
 and Margaret (Hackett) Hoppoek, who died in 
 Henry County, this township, the father Aug. 16, 
 1868, the mother July 1, 1884. 
 
 Wesley Hoppoek, of this sketch, was the 10th in 
 order of birth of a family of 13 children, and his 
 education was received principally in the district 
 schools of Henry County. Remaining at home with 
 his parents until he was 21 years of age, he assisted 
 considerably on the farm and in the maintenance of 
 the family, and at the age mentioned above he began 
 farming for himself in Wethersfield Township, and 
 has to-day a fine farm of 210 acres, all of which is 
 under the finest improvements and cultivation, which- 
 is attributable to his steady and hard labor. Upon 
 his farm he has erected a fine residence, which is 
 heated throughout with steam, and also has all 
 necessary out-buildings, besides having all the land 
 fenced mostly with hedge. 
 
 Mr. Hoppoek, on the 24th day of March, 1873, 
 was married, in the city of Kewanee, to Miss Eliza, 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 <§* 
 
 daughter of Moses and Catherine (Taylor) Jones, 
 both natives of England, who came to Henry County 
 in 1863. Mrs. Jones died in January, 1869, but 
 Mr. Jones still survives. Of a family of five chil- 
 dren, Mrs. Hoppock was the eldest, and was born 
 in Pennsylvania, Oct. 4, 1849; the names of the 
 children of Mr. and Mrs. Hoppock are as follows : 
 Alice M.,born Jan. 26, 1874; Bertha E., Feb. 15, 
 1877; Lettie M. and Nellie M. (twins), Feb. 10, 
 1879; and Ernest E., Feb. 1, 1881. Mrs. Hoppock 
 died in Wethersfield Township, Feb. 28, 1881, and 
 was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 Politically, Mr. H. is identified with the Republican 
 party. 
 
 imeon Mathews is one of an increasing 
 class of well-to-do farmers who are retiring 
 from active labors. They have spent the 
 better part of their lives at hard, unceasing 
 labor, and now in their old age have wisely 
 determined to live at ease and in the enjoy- 
 ment of the fruits of their earnest efforts. 
 
 In 1848 Mr. Mathews made his advent into Henry 
 county and soon found a desirable location on sec- 
 tion 9 of Burns Towriship. Here he began to im- 
 prove a farm and since then has made his home 
 here. Long years ago Mr. Mathews was regarded 
 as one of the leading spirits in the community, and 
 has ever been held in high esteem by his fellow pio- 
 neers. He was born in Connecticut, April 17, 1812. 
 His parents were also natives of that State, where 
 they passed their lives. Simeon, his father, and 
 Rhoda (Rice) Mathews, his mother, were prominent 
 New Englanders and reared a family of ten children, 
 of whom our subject was the sixth. 
 
 Simeon passed the early years of his life in Con- 
 necticut, attending the common schools, and learned 
 the trade of carpenter and cabinet-maker. In 1834, 
 he left Connecticut and came to Ohio, where at 
 different places he worked at his trade. After spend- 
 ing 14 years in that State and feeling that his best 
 move was to locate on some land, he came West and 
 in the fertile Military Tract of Illinois made a loca- 
 tion. 
 
 Mr. Mathews, while living in Ohio, in September, 
 1836, was married to Phebe J. Rogers. She was 
 
 born in that State and became the mother of three 
 children, — Thomas L., David J. and Chauncy. All 
 of the children, with their mother, have been laid at 
 rest. Thomas L. was a member of the 112th 111. 
 Vol. Inf., and died in the hospital at Knoxville, 
 Tenn., from injuries received in the head from fall- 
 ing off a rock about three feet high. David J. and 
 Chauncy died in Ohio. Mrs. Mathews died in Burns 
 Township, March 27, 1868. Mr. Mathews was sub- 
 sequently married to Mrs. Minerva Andrew, daugh- 
 ter of Jacob S. and Polly (Hinman) Hemingway, 
 Sept. 13, 1870. She was the widow of Ojrin An- 
 drew, who died in Osco Township, this county. By 
 her former marriage she was the mother of five chil- 
 dren, viz.: Watson L., Wallace W., Lucy A., Willis 
 and Charles. Watson was a member of the 112th 
 111. Vol. Inf., and was killed at the battle of Resaca, 
 Ga. Lucy A. was the wife of William Simonton and 
 died in Iowa in August, 1878, leaving three children, 
 — Frank, Minnie and Orrin. Willis was married 
 to Sarah A. Hill, who bore him three children, 
 — Ida M. Emma F. and Cora J. Wallace W. and 
 Charles reside in Cass Co., Iowa. Mrs. Mathews 
 was born in Litchfield Co., Conn., Feb. 27, 1816. 
 Mr. Mathews is a member of the Free-Will Baptist 
 Church, while Mrs. M. is connected with the Con- 
 gregational Church. 
 
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 esse R. Heath, Jr., of Annawan Township, 
 has been a resident of Henry County since 
 the first of January, 1855. He located on 
 section 14, on which he lived one year, and at 
 ]C the expiration of that time he settled on sec- 
 I tion 1 6, where he has since carried on his bus- 
 iness as a farmer. He 'owns 80 acres of land and it 
 is all under cultivation. He is a native of the State 
 of New Hampshire and was born in Merrimac 
 County, Oct. 9, 1822. When he was 14, he accom- 
 panied his parents to the State of New- York. His 
 father, Jesse Heath, Sr.,was born in the same county 
 in which his son first saw the light, Jan. 12, 1787. 
 The mother of Mr. Heath, Abigail Robbins, before 
 her marriage, was born Oct. 16, 1788. She was mar- 
 ried Feb. 4, 1808, and was a native of the State of 
 New Hampshire. She bore six children, who were 
 born as follows : Thomas J., Nov. 6, 1808 ; Hannah 
 
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 -^^ 6V£HiraiH->r 
 
 -4^t^f@Vf 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
 
 R., Oct. 17, 1811 ; James S., July 14, 1816; Gilman, 
 July 9, 1817; John G., May 4, 1819. Gilman 
 died Jan. 7, 1818 and Hannah July 13, 1877. 
 The demise of the father occurred Oct. 27, 
 1840. That of his wife took place Sept. 17, 
 1874. Mr. Heath was united in marriage to Matil- 
 da M. Boss, Oct. 14, 1845. She was born March 11, 
 1822, in the city of Rochester, N. Y. Their mar- 
 riage took place in Clarkson, in Monroe Co., N. Y. 
 They have had four children and their respective 
 births are recorded as follows : Francis E., Sept. 14, 
 1846; Eugene A., Jan. 4, 1849; Julia D., Nov. 6, 
 1856; George A., Jan. 10, 1859. The eldest daugh- 
 ter died March 30, 1850. 
 
 Mr. Heath is a Republican in his political views. 
 He has officiated in several local offices, among which 
 are those of Commissioner of Highways, School 
 Trustee and School Director. His farm is one of 
 the most valuable for its size in Henry County and 
 it is arranged for the rearing of a large amount of 
 stock. His barn, which is the largest in the county, 
 is 1O0 feet by 84 feet in dimensions. He is en- 
 gaged in raising thoroughbred Short-horn Durham 
 cattle; has 108 head of full-blood registered stock. 
 
 isacfir®^' 
 
 K"H->"©£SW3W» 
 
 alker Espey. Just after the Chicago, 
 Burlington & Quincy Railroad had been 
 been built, land all along its line was rap- 
 idly taken up by settlers. Among those 
 who located near that portion of it which 
 runs through Henry County, was Mr. Walker 
 Espey, who lives on section 32 of Wethersfield Town- 
 ship. He was born in Fayette Co., Pa., Aug. 4, 
 1814. There he passed his early life and lived un- 
 til 1857. He was employed in farming and other 
 occupations there, where he was also married and 
 settled down in a home of his own. In June of the 
 year named he came West and made his home in 
 Stark Co., 111. For seven years he lived there, en- 
 gaged in farming, .when he came over into Henry 
 County and located on 80 acres of land on section 
 32 of Wethersfield Township. Besides this farm 
 here, he owns 100 acfes in Stark County. He takes 
 an active interest in public matters and is a well 
 known and highly respected citizen. Politically, he 
 
 a 
 
 \ 
 
 votes with the Democrats, and he and his wife are 
 members of the United Presbyterian Church. 
 
 As above stated, Mr. Espey was married in Fay- 
 ette Co., Pa., the date of this event being Dec. 14, 
 1836. The lady who then joined her fortunes with 
 his and has been a helpmeet for well-nigh half a 
 century, was Elizabeth S. Torrence, daughter of 
 Hugh Torrence, a well known citizen of Fayette 
 County. She was born Nov. 3, 1808, and became 
 the mother of five children, — James, Margaret W., 
 Mary J., Richard G. and Isabella C. James is de- 
 ceased. 
 
 J. D. Dickinson, physician at Galva, is 
 ^ a son °f Richard and Edna (Needham) 
 JraV" Dickinson, and was born Jan. 13, r846, at 
 j^ft Oberlin, Lorain Co., Ohio. Mr. Richard 
 Dickinson, the father of our subject, was 
 born Aug. 2r, i8r8, in Randolph, Portage 
 Co., Ohio. He is still living, his place of residence 
 being Grinnell, Poweshiek Co., Iowa, to which he 
 removed in March, r884, and while there was en- 
 gaged in farming. Jesse Dickinson, the grandfather, 
 was born in Massachusetts. His occupation was 
 that of a farmer, and in the War of 18 12 he was one 
 of the brave soldiers. At the age of r4 he came as 
 far West as Randolph, Portage Co., Ohio, and there 
 lived. After marrying at the latter place, they went 
 to Hudson, Summit Co., Ohio, and from there to 
 Henry County, where he died, Feb. — , 1878, aged 
 87 years. He was married twice and had a family 
 of six children, and he was of English extraction. 
 
 Mrs. Edna (Needham) Dickinson was born March, 
 1 814, in Massachusetts. Shortly after her birth she 
 was taken to Coventry, Tolland Co., Conn., by her 
 parents,, atwhich place she was educated and reared. 
 At the age of T9 years she came to New York State 
 and then to Oberlin, where she attended the Ladies' 
 Seminary. She died in Wethersfield, this county, 
 in March, 1868, and was the mother of three chil- 
 dren, viz.: Jesse D., Oliver W., of Grinnell, Iowa, 
 and George A., a teacher of Kewanee. 
 
 Our subject was educated in Kewanee, having 
 come to Wethersfield in June, 1850, with his parents. 
 He was a student at Wheaton College and then at- 
 tended the Hahnemann Medical College, Chicago, at 
 
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s&k ©V^illDSBDi^ 
 
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 rr- 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 -20&KT 
 
 5*3 
 
 *?M 
 
 which he graduated March 19, 1874, and in the 
 spring of 1875 located at Wataga, Knox Co., 111., 
 where he followed his profession, having practiced 
 during the intervening time at Kewanee with Dr. 
 Parsons, who had been his preceptor for a period of 
 nearly three years. He remained at Wataga for 
 nearly three years, when he came to Galva, where 
 he built up a fine and lucrative practice, and one 
 quite as satisfactory to himself as to his patrons. 
 
 Dr. Dickinson was married in this county Oct. 13, 
 1875, to Miss Eva Ray, who was born Aug. 27, 
 1854, in St. Lawrence Co., N. Y., and is the daugh- 
 ter of O. L. Ray, now of Pierson, Mich. Both him- 
 self and wife are members of the Congregational 
 Church. He is also a member of the A. O. U. W., 
 is a member of the Homeopathic Medical Associa- 
 tion, and politically he is a Republican. 
 
 oseph Durmann. This gentleman, al- 
 though beginning his active career under 
 unfavorable circumstances, is to-day one 
 the leading agriculturists of Henry County. 
 He resides on section 33, Colona Township, 
 and is engaged in general farming. He was 
 born in Bavaria, Germany, Dec. 15, 1813. His 
 father, Mike Durmann, was a German farmer, and 
 died in his native country when Joseph was 17 
 years of age. In 1839, in order to secure better ad- 
 vantages for accumulating a competency, young 
 Joseph Durmann left his native land and sailed for 
 the United States. After a time we find him located 
 in Ohio, and later on in the city of Rock Island. 
 While living here he was married, on the 21st of 
 April, 1845, in the city of Davenport, to Miss 
 Amanda Killing. His wife was also of German na- 
 tivity, but had come to America with her parents, 
 who located at Davenport, when she was quite 
 young. 
 
 After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Durmann set- 
 tled in Rock Island city, where for several years Mr. 
 Durmann followed the trade of cooper. This he had 
 learned when a young man in his native country. 
 He was a successful and skillful workman, and by 
 perseverance and economy had accumulated a little 
 means, so that by the year 1867 he was ready to 
 assume the quiet, peaceful life of a farmer. At that 
 time he came into Colona Township, where he pur- 
 
 @J 
 
 chased 320 acres of land. This he has brought to 
 an excellent -state of cultivation and made upon it 
 splendid improvements. He has also been enabled 
 to increase his landed estate to 540 acres, and now 
 has one of the best improved and most profitable 
 farms in Henry County. He is one of the honest 
 but shrewd and hard-working farmers we find scat- 
 tered throughout the Northwest, who came here with 
 the honest and worthy purpose of securing a home. 
 He is a highly respected citizen of the community in 
 which he resides, and has served it in some of the 
 minor official positions. Politically, he is a Demo- 
 crat. He has visited his native country since living 
 in Henry County, but much prefers, as a place to 
 live, the home offered by his adopted country. 
 
 Mr. D. visited his native country in 1873, travel- 
 ing through it, visiting his relatives in Bavaria, 
 thence by the River Rhine to Prussia, his wife's na- 
 tive country. During this visit he received from his 
 brother a rare present in the way of a cane, it being 
 over 350 years old. 
 
 The children that have been born to Mr. and Mrs. 
 Durmann are five in number, viz. : Frank, who is 
 married and is one of the farmers of Colona Town- 
 ship, as is also John, the third child ; Joseph, the 
 second, lives at home, as also do William and Mary. 
 
 ■enjamin Sanford Eldridge, a resident of 
 Galva, this county, was born March 22, 
 1827, in West Springfield, Hampton Co., 
 Mass. The Eldridge family are of Scotch 
 extraction. The grandfather, Mulferd Eld- 
 ridge, was a wheelwright by profession. His 
 father died while he was young, and young Mulferd 
 and his mother removed from Maine to Connecticut, 
 drawing a small hand-cart, which contained all their 
 earthly possessions,' to the latter State. Capt. Mul- 
 ferd Eldridge was married in Connecticut to Miss 
 Coggswell. She was the mother of four children, 
 namely. Elisha, Mrs. Sarah Sackett, Benjamin, and 
 Mrs. Lora Fowler. The parents removed to West 
 Springfield, where the wife and mother died. He 
 was a second time married, to a Mrs. White. Elisha 
 ■ Eldridge was born in Berlin, Conn., and died in 
 1877, in Ann Arbor, Mich., aged 87 years. During 
 his early life he was a teacher, and taught 14 sue- 
 
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 <M 
 
 HENRY 
 
 COUNTY. 
 
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 cessive winters. Afterwards, he was engaged in 
 farming, and in his old age came and lived with his 
 youngest daughter. He was a very religious man 
 and had been Deacon in the Congregational Church 
 from the time he attained the age of 22 years, 
 when he was converted, until his death. His father, 
 Mulferd, was an Episcopalian, and his grand-daugh- 
 ter, Mrs. Hannah (Sackett) Hume, was a missionary 
 to India, and her two sons and one daughter are at 
 the present time missionaries in Bombay, that coun- 
 try. The children are Robert, Edward and Sarah, 
 all of whom are well educated. Edward is located 
 in Ahmednaggar, India. Their mother is yet living, 
 in New Haven, Conn., aged 92 years. Elisha Eld- 
 ridge was married in West Springfield, Mass., to 
 Tryphena Bagg, a native of that State, where she 
 died. She was a daughter of Oliver Bagg, and was 
 the mother of seven children : Oliver B., James 
 D., both deceased; James D. (second); Mrs. Sarah 
 C. Hive and Samuel Mulferd ; Benjamin Sanford, 
 subject of this notice, and Mrs. Lora A. Page. 
 
 Benjamin S. Eldridge, subject of this sketch, re- 
 ceived a limited education in his native villiage. He 
 also attended school at East Hampton, — Williston 
 Seminary. After leaving the seminary he went to 
 Hartford, Conn., where he engaged to learn the car- 
 penter's trade, and worked at it for two years. He 
 then engaged as a clerk in the store of Dennison, 
 Morgan & Son, where he remained for three and a 
 half years. At the expiration of this time he left 
 his position, which was a lucrative and important one, 
 and came to this State, arriving here in September, 
 1847, and settling in Farmington, Fulton County. 
 From the latter connty he went to Henry, 111., 
 where he and his brother Samuel M. were engaged 
 in merchandising for one year. Abandoning the 
 mercantile business, the engaged in farming, which 
 occupation he followed for 19 years. In partnership 
 with his brother, he purchased at first 220 acres of 
 land, located four miles northwest of Henry, for 
 which he paid $[2.50 per acre, the same being im- 
 proved. After three years he sold out to his brother 
 and invested the proceeds in stock, and was engaged 
 in raising stock for two years. He then purchased 
 another interest in the same farm, which his brother 
 cultivated, his brother owning half the stock. 
 
 Mr. Eldridge was united in marriage to Nancy 
 A. Lee, Nov. 9, 1859. She was born April 20, 
 i83i,in Williston, Vt, and died in Galva, Dec. 5, 
 
 1874, leaving two children, Charles E., born April 
 8, 1 86 1 ; and Delia, born Sept. 24, 1865. Mr. Eld- 
 ridge sold his real estate and went to Chicago, where 
 he intended to engage in the real-estate business, 
 but having passed a life of activity on the farm, he 
 could not endure city life, and was compelled to go 
 back to the more active labors of the farm. After 
 a residence of one year in Chicago, he located in 
 Galva, where he invested in real-estate, purchasing 
 15 acres of land adjoining the north part of town, 
 which he laid out in lots. He erected a residence 
 that year, and at one time was the owner of 1,000 
 acres of land. He is at present principally inter- 
 ested in land near Galva, Ida Co., Iowa, where his 
 son resides, and where Mr. Eldridge owns 1,600 
 acres. He is also engaged in raising Short-horn cat- 
 tle and Clydesdale horses, which he keeps on his 
 farm near Galva. 
 
 Mr. Eldridge was united a second time in marri- 
 age, June 13, 1876, with Ellen Cornelia Merriam, 
 born April 18, 1844, in Poultney, Vt. She has 
 borne him two children, William Franklin and Ernest 
 Garfield, the former having been born Aug. 29, 
 1878, and the latter Sept. 19, 1881. The parents of 
 Mrs. Eldridge were William P. and Armenia (Gid- 
 dings) Merriam, natives of New York and Connecti- 
 cut respectively. Her mother's parents were Solomon 
 and Martha (Paine) Giddings and her father followed 
 the occupation of a farmer. The genealogy of the 
 Giddings family existing in the Eastern States is 
 traced back to England. Mrs. Eldridge was edu- 
 cated at the female seminary at Granville, N. Y., 
 where she graduated with the highest honors. She 
 then engaged in teaching, which profession she fol- 
 lowed in Ohio, Illinois and Wisconsin for ten years, 
 after which she entered the Michigan University at 
 Ann Arbor, where she finished her education. At 
 the latter institution she was a kind of privileged 
 character, and interested herself in religious work. 
 She was looked upon as a mother by the young girls 
 of that institution, and was greatly respected for 
 her influence upon their morals and her kindness at 
 that time is remembered even to the present. She is 
 now the Superintendent of the infant department of 
 that institution, into which she has gathered many 
 little wanderers. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Eldridge are active members Of the 
 Congregational Church and Mrs. Eldridge is noted 
 for the activity she displays in the Sabbath-school. 
 
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 -«8» 
 
HENR Y CO UNT Y. 
 
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 sis 
 
 
 
 Both have done a noble work among the neglected 
 and poor as well as illiterate classes, during the last 
 decade. During the sunset of their lives they look 
 back upon the past and contemplate with pleasure 
 the good they have done for others. 
 
 ames Andrews, a farmer on section 7, in 
 the township of Geneseo, has been a resi- 
 dent of Henry County since 1854. He 
 was born in Trumbull Co., Ohio, April 23, 
 1829. Wells and Nancy (Harper) Andrews, 
 his parents, were born respectively in the 
 States of Connecticut and Virginia. His mother 
 was the daughter of John Harper, a Virginian of the 
 old school, and who was the parent of 29 children. 
 She was number 28 in order of birth. The paternal 
 grandfather was born in Connecticut and was one of 
 the pioneers of the Western Reserve, in Ohio. 
 
 The senior Andrews was in his childhood when 
 his parents removed to Ohio. They were not poor 
 nor obscure, and they took to the Buckeye State the 
 training and ideas of which the value had been 
 proved in the East. Accordingly, they gave their 
 children the best advantages of education they could 
 command, and the father of Mr. Andrews, after ob- 
 taining a fair-preliminary education, was sent to the 
 college at Cannonsburg, in Pennsylvania. There he 
 completed a full course of study and was graduated. 
 Afterward he went to North Carolina and taught 
 school for a time, going thence to Virginia, where he 
 entered the ministry of the Presbyterian Church. 
 He was married while officiating in the capacity of a 
 clergyman in the South, and after a time returned to 
 Ohio. He was engaged in the discharge of minis- 
 terial duties in Hartford, Trumbull County, and in 
 1 836 was called to the Professorship of the Univer- 
 sity of Ohio, at Athens. He filled the chair to which 
 he was appointed seven years. In 1843 he came to 
 Illinois. The journey was made via the river route, 
 over the Ohio, Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. A 
 location was made at Washington, Tazewell County, 
 where the senior Andrews bought large tracts of 
 land. His family occupied the farm and the father 
 resumed preaching. After a residence of a few years 
 at Washington, a farm near Tremont was purchased, 
 on which they resided until 1856, when it was sold 
 
 and the family returned to Washington. The father 
 died there in 1869. There were eight children. 
 
 Mr. Andrews of this sketch was the fourth son. 
 When he was 14 he came to Illinois with the family 
 of his father. He attained to the age and growth of 
 manhood in Tazewell County, and was reared and 
 educated on the farm. He was under the care and 
 authority of his parents until the expiration of the 
 period required by law, and when he was 21 he took 
 the direction of his affairs into his own hands. His 
 father gave him a quarter-section 'of land in Taze- 
 well County and he began the work of improvement 
 on it. He plowed and fenced a portion of the estate 
 and continued to hold possession of it until 1854, 
 when he came to Henry County. He at once bought 
 land in the townships of Edford and Colona, all of 
 which was in a wild and uncultivated condition. 
 After breaking and fencing a portion'of the property, 
 he bought section 7 in the township of Geneseo, on 
 which no improvements had been made. Two years 
 later he erected a house on the place. A little later 
 he sold one-half of the section and the remainder 
 has since been retained by him. It is all in an ex- 
 cellent condition of improvement. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Andrews and [Mary Etta 
 Campbell took place March 28, 1862. She was 
 born in St. Lawrence Co., N. Y., and is the daughter 
 of Hiram and Elvira (Lowell) Campbell. The chil- 
 dren of Mr. and Mrs. Andrews are named Charles 
 C, John, William L., James H., Robert L., George 
 H., Mary B., Jessie C, Maud V. and Hiram W. 
 
 -««« Nf^ •¥»*■ 
 
 .ohn A. Larson, a resident of the village of 
 Andover, is a Justice of the Peace and 
 farmer. He was born in Ryda, Uppeby 
 Parish, Sweden, in 1826. His parents were 
 Lewis Johnson, a farmer, and Ingrad Peterson, 
 natives also of that country. The father died 
 in the parish of his nativity, and the mother after- 
 ward emigrated to America and lived with her son 
 Jonas in Andover Township until her death. 
 
 John A., our subject, the third in the above family, 
 was a member of the parental household until he 
 was about 2 2 years old, was educated by his mother's 
 spinning-wheel, learned practical mechanics in his 
 father's " cobbler shop," and on leaving home he 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 found it necessary to sell his birthright to an older 
 brother, to secure the means wherewith to cross the 
 seas to the land of golden opportunities. He arrived 
 at the village of Andover on the 4th of August, 1848. 
 He commenced work at the wagon-maker.'s trade in 
 Galesburg, 111., for which he at first received $6 a 
 month and board, which was equal to about a year's 
 wages in Sweden at that time. Thus he continued 
 from 1848 to 1853; but during this time, in Febru- 
 ary, 1850, he started on a trip to California, in com- 
 pany with William Skinner and Sebastian Adams, 
 Americans. They made their journey over the plains 
 by wagon, finally arriving at Weaverville in August 
 of that year. For the first year he followed mining, 
 with 'fair success, averaging about $5 a day; but at 
 the end of this year Mr. Larson left California and 
 returned to the " States " by way of the Isthmus of 
 Panama, arriving at Galesburg, Knox County, in 
 October. During that fall he purchased from Rev. 
 Ithamar Pillsbury no acres of timber and prairie 
 land, which included two village lots in Andover. 
 After his marriage, in 1853, he settled upon this pur- 
 chase, where he has since resided and made a com- 
 fortable home. 
 
 Mr. Larson entered the bonds of matrimony in 
 Galesburg, 111., with Miss Martha Headstrum, 
 daughter of a Swedish farmer. She was born in the 
 parish of Alfta, Sweden, in 1830, and came to 
 America with her parents, locating in Weller Town- 
 ship, in 1847 ; but her parents, who joined the colony 
 at Bishop Hill, died soon after the colony arrived, 
 and she and two brothers moved to Galesburg, where 
 she resided until her marriage. Mrs. Larson died 
 in the village of Andover, Sept. 20, 1878, aged 49 
 years. Her eight children are all living. 
 
 * -«- * 
 
 'acob Cosner, farmer, section n, Burns 
 |r- Township, was born in Coshocton Co., 
 l^>v Ohio, Sept. n, 1809. There he lived until 
 1838, when he came to Henry County and lo- 
 yC cated in Wethersfield Township, being among 
 the very earliest pioneers to locate in Henry 
 County. He remained there but three years, for in 
 184 1 we find him tilling the soil in Burns Township. 
 Here he owns T62 acres of land. 
 
 Mr. Cosner was married in Wethersfield Town- 
 
 ship, Feb. 5, 1 84 1, to Sarah Leonard, daughter of 
 Samuel and Phebe Leonard. She was born in Penn- 
 sylvania, Jan. 6, 1820. Ten children were born to 
 them, four of whom survived. These are well known 
 in the community where they reside. The living are 
 William H., whose sketch is given in this volume ; 
 Abraham S., Amanda B. and Francis M. Amanda 
 is the wife of Lewis E. Wilhelm, of Burns Township. 
 The deceased members of the family are Sylvester 
 R., Benton B., Sarah S., Mathew P., Ruea R. and 
 Cyntha M. 
 
 Mr. Cosner was Postmaster at Burns postoffice for 
 seven years, and Road Commissioner six years, and 
 has served as School Director. Since he voted for 
 General Jackson he has ever been a Democrat. 
 
 rank M. McDonald, engaged in general 
 farming and stock-raising on section 2r, 
 "^ Western Township, was born in Rural 
 Township, Rock Island County, Sept. 5, 1852. 
 His parents, James B. and Jane (Spivey) Mc- 
 Donald, were natives of Kentucky, of Scotch 
 descent, and were married in Tippecanoe Co., Ind., 
 and at once came to Rock Island Co., 111., settling in 
 Rural Township, before improvements had com- 
 menced in that locality. They set to work with 
 characteristic energy, and have increased their acre- 
 age and improved their farm until they now have 
 one of the best in that township. They also own a 
 quarter-section in Western Township, this county, 
 also well improved. 
 
 Frank M., the second in the family of five chil- 
 dren, was a member of the parental household, and 
 attended school in his native township, until he was 
 18 years of age. At the age of 20 he was married, 
 and lived in Rock Island County one year, then re- 
 moving into Pre-emption Township, Mercer County, 
 where he purchased 80 acres of good farming land; 
 after occupying this for four years, he bought 153 
 acres of section 21, Western Township, this county, 
 which he has brought from an inferior to a very su- 
 perior state of cultivation. 
 
 The date of Mr. McDonald's marriage was April 
 3, 1872, in Rural Township, Rock Island County, 
 when he wedded Miss Frances E. Goodlow. She- 
 was born in Pre-emption Township, Mercer County, 
 
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 -^am^Mi>^ — '^^- 
 
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 ■^c^ — '— 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 Si7 
 
 I 
 
 Feb. 2, 1853. Her parents, Thomas and Margaret 
 Goodlow, were born respectively in Ontario, Prov- 
 ince of Canada, and Ireland. Her mother came to 
 Ontario when quite small, and afterward both her 
 parents came to the United States, where, in the city 
 of Philadelphia, they were married. After their mar- 
 riage they came to Rock Island County, where the 
 father died July 12, 1868. Her mother is at present 
 residing with her daughter, Sarah Goodlow, who re- 
 sides in Mercer County. Mrs. McDonald was reared 
 and educated in Pre-emption, Mercer County, and 
 there resided until her marriage. She is the mother 
 of two children by Mr. McDonald, — Bertha Maud, 
 born March 28, 1873; and Jessie J., born Dec. 22, 
 1877. 
 
 In his political views Mr. McDonald is a Demo- 
 crat. 
 
 His brothers and sisters are as follows : Jasper 
 M. is a successful attomey-at-law in the city of Chi- 
 cago; Lawrence is a resident of Western Township; 
 Etta R. is living at home, and James Sherman is 
 also yet a member of the parental household. 
 
 ^<sMI>fe>$ 
 
 fj\ 
 
 rites of Mr. Brown and Miss Drusilla A. Smith were 
 observed. Miss Smith was a daughter of John and 
 Hannah M. Smith, natives of Ohio and Pennsylva- 
 nia respectively. They came to Henry County in 
 1856, and were well known early pioneers here. Her 
 father died at Cairo, 111., while a member ol the 124th 
 111. Vol. Inf. His widow resides in Dakota. They 
 had a family of ten children, of whom Drusilla was 
 the fifth. She was born in Morrow County, Ohio, 
 April 13, 1846. The children of Mr. and Mrs. 
 Brown bear the following names : Edward F., George 
 H., Mary E., Laura I., Lydia J., Benjamin C. and 
 Maggie A. Mary died when 22 months old. 
 
 ..0^0- 
 
 *&_^- 
 
 enjamin J. Brown. Burns Township is 
 settled with an intelligent, well-to-do 
 class of farmers, prominent among whom 
 is Benjamin J. Brown. His farm is on sec- 
 tion 8, where he has 200 acress of land. In 
 Westchester Co., N. Y., on the 14th of Octo- 
 ber, 1836, there was born to Coles J. and Sally M. 
 (Cole) Brown, a son, to whom they gave the name 
 of Benjamin J., and of whom this biography is writ- 
 ten. His parents were also natives of the Empire 
 State, but in 1855 came West and found a home in 
 Burns Township, Henry County, where they reside 
 at the present writing. Benjamin was the eldest of 
 their three children. They sent him to the common 
 schools and required his assistance at home. Early 
 in life, however, he began to teach school, and about 
 five years were spent in New York and Illinois in 
 this profession. He came here a young man, and 
 has since taken an active interest in the affairs of 
 j* the community where he has resided. For fifteen 
 . f years he has served as Justice of the Peace, and has 
 ^ a ' s0 been Town Treasurer. In politics he adheres 
 *' to Republican principles. 
 ^» At Kewanee, on the 3d of May, 1866, the wedding 
 
 osea r. Bliss is a retired farmer on sec- 
 tion 36 of the township of Geneseo. He 
 was born in Lewis Co., N. Y., Oct. 13, 
 1809. He is the eldest son of Isaac and Han- 
 nah (Brown) Bliss. His father was a native of 
 Hebron, Conn., and his mother was born in 
 Massachusetts. The senior Bliss went to the State 
 of New York when a young man, where he met and 
 married his wife in the city of Utica. After their 
 union they located in Lewis County, and were early 
 settlers in that part of the State. 
 
 Mr.. Bliss, Sr., bought a tract of the land of the 
 county, which was in the heavy timber that was 
 characteristic of the Empire State, made a small 
 clearing and erected on it a little log house for the 
 shelter of himself and wife, and proceeded with 
 vigor in the work of improvement. He was the 
 occupant of the place until 1 844, when he made a 
 removal to Ohio. The son who is the subject of 
 this sketch was then a resident of that State, and 
 the father remained in the land of the Buckeye two 
 years. He had a younger son in the city of Mem- 
 phis, and at the end of the time mentioned he went 
 there to remain for a time. While there he died 
 with the cholera. His wife had died several years 
 previously. 
 
 Mr. Bliss grew to manhood in the county of Lewis 
 and was brought up on the farm. He was educated 
 in the subscription school. The first important 
 event of his life was his marriage to Amy Briggs. 
 Their union was consummated Nov. 18, 1830. She 
 was born in Rome, N. Y., March 5, 1810, and is 
 the daughter of Michael and Olivia (Waterhouse) 
 
 
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 -&&s— — ©VC*I1 D3£ll D& v r j aC^sr 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 Biiggs. Her father was a native of the State of Ver- 
 mont, and her mother was born in the State of Con- 
 necticut. They were early settlers in the county of 
 Oneida. At the date of his marriage Mr. Bliss 
 bought a farm near Martinsburg, where he was a 
 resident four years. They then went to Ohio, and 
 settled in the part of the State which was then in- 
 cluded in Concord Township, Lake County. 
 
 The family settled on a tract of timber land on 
 which a log house had been erected. The residence 
 there was maintained until 1853. In that year they 
 came to Illinois. They made their first location in 
 the township of Loraine, where Mr. Bliss bought 
 640 acres of land, of which 120 acres were under 
 cultivation. Mr. Bliss retained the ownership of the 
 place three years, when he sold out and bought im- 
 proved land in the township of Atkinson, which was 
 situated on section 30. He improved a good farm, 
 and was its resident owner four years, when he 
 bought a place on section 3, in Geneseo Township, 
 on which a small frame house had been erected. 
 There had also been improvements made on 40 
 acres, which had been placed under a slight degree 
 of cultivation. In 1862 he bought a farm on section 
 36, Geneseo Township, and has since occupied this 
 farm continuously. It contains 120 acres, and lies 
 partly in the township of Atkinson. 
 
 Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. 
 Bliss, viz. : George, who lives in Evansville, Ind.; 
 Henry, who is a citizen of Alameda Co., Cal. ; Rosal- 
 tha, who is the wife of Samuel Taylor, of Greene 
 Co., Iowa; and Fred, who is a resident of the city of 
 Des Moines, in that State. 
 
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 A. Maokey, Postmaster at Woodhull, was 
 born in the State of Pennsylvania, April 
 22, 1056, and is a son of William A. and 
 Emily (Hammond) Mackey, natives also of 
 the same ; his father was a merchant and also 
 engaged in the tanning business. 
 Mr. Mackey received a fine education, and at the 
 age of 17 years, being in the oil regions of Pennsyl- 
 vania, became agent for the collection of funds in 
 that section of the State for a manufacturer of mu- 
 sical instruments. At the age of 18 years he came 
 to Illinois and engaged as a clerk in a dry-goods 
 2^^ @-A<Nflfr 
 
 store in Woodhull, and continued in that position 
 from 1875 to 1882, when he was appointed Postmas- 
 ter, which office he now holds. In 1883 he accepted 
 a position in the Farmers' Bank as head book-keeper 
 and assistant cashier, which position he still occupies. 
 He is also a School Trustee, and a member of the 
 Village Board of Trustees. He is a rising young 
 man of Woodhull. He also owns 160 rcres of land 
 in Kansas, and a residence in Woodhull. 
 
 He was married to Miss Carrie L. Woods (see 
 sketch of R. L. Woods) Feb. 22, 1883. They are 
 members of the Presbyterian Church. 
 
 •-: #~# *- 
 
 5 ric Gabrielson, banker, at Orion, and one 
 of the leading and prominent business 
 men of Northwestern Illinois, was born in 
 Sweden, Feb. 18, 1849. His father, Charles 
 Gabrielson, was a farmer in Sweden, where he 
 » married Mary Bengson, also a native of that 
 country. The family consisted of four children, be- 
 sides the parents, when they came to America. They 
 soon made their way to Andover, this county, where, 
 in 1854, they located. The mother died at her home 
 in that township, that same year, being taken away 
 with many others by that terrible epidemic, the 
 cholera, which raged so here at that time. The father 
 subsequently married Catherina Johnson, and now 
 resides in retirement from the scenes of active life in 
 Andover. 
 
 Erick was the youngest but oneof a family of six 
 children. He was reared and educated in the pub- 
 lic schools of this county, living under the parental 
 roof until he was 24 years of age. During the latter 
 years of this period he was engaged in farming and 
 stock shipping, and dealing in real estate in An- 
 dover. His business qualifications, which are of the 
 highest order, are largely the gift of nature, but his 
 early training had the tendency to develop and culti- 
 vate them. After his marrjage, he moved to Orion, 
 where he had established a grocery store in May, 
 1874. In the same month of the year r882, he sold 
 his business to the Orion Mercantile Co., which was 
 organized with a capital stock of $20,000. He took 
 in exchange for his business one-half interest of the 
 entire ftock of the concern, which he still retains. 
 On the 5th of December, 1879, he established the 
 
 
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■-'.';.*• 
 
$ 
 
 1=3 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 -^gy^kKT 
 
 
 5" 
 
 Bank of Orion, with a limited stock. This has since 
 been increased with a large amount of capital, which, 
 together with the skillful management of Mr. G., the 
 bank is now on a safe financial footing. It is a 
 strictly commercial bank, and does all legitimate 
 banking business, and also takes real-estate loans 
 from Eastern capitalists. The amount deposited 
 with the bank is usually $50,000. Mr. G. has also 
 80 acres of land on section 2 1 of Western Township, 
 and 10,000 acres in Nebraska and Colorado; and 
 he also deals largely in real estate. Besides, he is 
 agent for the various foreign steamship lines. He is 
 also Village Treasurer and has served as Trustee. 
 Politically, he is thoroughly independent, taking a 
 liberal view in all matters relating to politics as well 
 as religion. 
 
 The subject of this personal sketch was -married on 
 the 5th of August, 1874, at the residence of his 
 wife's parents in Western Township, to Josephine, 
 daughter of Gust, and Anna (Carlson) Huflund. Mrs. 
 G.'s parents were farmers in Sweden, their native 
 country, where they were married. After this event, 
 they came to America and located in Rock Island, 
 where, on the first of January, 1850, Mrs. G. was 
 born. Her parents now reside in Western Town- 
 ship, where they settled on a farm her father had 
 purchased from the Government, when she was but 
 a mere child. The record of the children born to 
 Mr. and Mrs. G. is given as follows : Estella, born 
 Dec. 31, 1875; Almeda, Nov. 2, 1877; Charles E., 
 Dec. 17, 1879; Esther, Nov. 10, 1882; and Mamie, 
 Feb. 10, 1884. 
 
 hristena Gochenouer, resident on section 
 10, Annawan Township, is the widow of 
 John Gochenouer, who died on his home- 
 stead in the same township, July 10, 1873. 
 He was born in Rockingham Co., Va., in 
 June, 1803. His marriage to Christena Har- 
 mon occurred Oct. 15, 1835. 
 
 Mr. Gochenouer was twice married, and of the 
 12 children of whom he became the father, nine still 
 survive. They were born as follows : Henry, March 
 28, 1826; Elizabeth, Dec. n, 1830, Adam, May 2r, 
 1832; William, Feb. 2r, 1834; John M., Dec. 16, 
 1837; Mary E., Nov. 14, 1839; Joseph, Feb. 18, 
 1843; Rebeca Jane, May 19, 1845; Sarah M., July 
 
 S^f*. a^ei ^A^Mft 
 
 7, 1849; Clarissa M., May 1, 1852; Nancy E., 
 March 10, 1854; Barbara A., Nov. 1, 1835. All of 
 the above who are living are well married and regard 
 their aged mother with the filial devotion which is 
 due to her advanced years and the manner in which 
 she has discharged her duties to her household. 
 Joseph entered the army during the Civil War and 
 was accidentally shot at Cairo, 111., Oct. 20, 1861. 
 
 Mr. Gochenouer accumulated a considerable prop- 
 erty and was, at the date of his death, the owner of 
 405 acres of land on which his widow has continued 
 to carry out his plans since he left her to go to a bet- 
 ter country. The illness of the father was long and 
 at the last peculiarly distressing. He was for a long 
 term of years a devoted Christian, and was for 38 
 years a Class-leader in the United Brethren Church. 
 His closing hours were full of peace and trust in the 
 promises in which he had put his faith all his life. 
 He came to Henry County in 1858. Mrs. Gochen- 
 ouer has been a member of the same Church to which 
 her husband belonged since the age of 15. She 
 has nine children' living, 47 grandchildren and 19 
 great-grandchildren. 
 
 ames M. Welton, who has followed the oc- 
 
 ''- cupation of farming' during his entire life, 
 
 and is at present the owner of 280 acres 
 
 of well improved land, located on section 14, 
 jt Osco Township, where he resides, is a son of 
 Lester C. and Ora (Mathews) Welton, natives 
 Connecticut. The parents were married and 
 settled in Connecticut, subsequently coming to Peo- 
 ria County, this State, where they resided until 1855. 
 During that year they came to this county and 
 located in Osco Township, and there resided until 
 1877, when they removed to Cambridge, and thence, 
 in the fall of 1883, went to Kansas, where they are 
 at present living. Their children were James M., 
 Ellen E., Merritt H. and Margaret A. 
 
 The gentleman whose name heads this article was 
 born in Tivoli Township, Peoria County, this State, 
 Nov. 2, 1846, and was about nine years old when 
 his parents came to this county. His education was 
 acquired in the common schools and in a select 
 school in Geneseo. The vocation of his life has 
 been that of an agriculturist, and he has been a 
 
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 522 
 
 Q s - 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
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 E3 
 
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 resident of Henry County since 1855. His landed 
 interest at the present time consists of 280 acres, 
 located on section 14, Osco Township, all of which 
 is under an advanced state of cultivation. 
 
 Mr. Welton was married in the township in which 
 he at present resides Nov. 20, 1872, to Sarah A. 
 Sherrard, daughter of William and Elizabeth (Bald- 
 win) Sherrard, natives of Pennsylvania. They were 
 the parents of 12 children — Joseph R., Samuel T., 
 David S., Sarah A., John C, Louisa, George W., La 
 Fayette and Frank; three died in infancy; Sarah A. 
 (Mrs. Welton) was born in Lawrence Co., Pa., Dec. 
 11, 1847. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Welton 
 are six in number — Luella J., Ora E., Lester C, 
 James A. and Frank E. ; Rollin S. died when about 
 three years old. 
 
 Mr. Welton has held several of the minor offices 
 within the gift of the citizens of his township. He 
 and his wife are believers in the tenets of the Episco- 
 pal Church. Politically, Mr. W. casts his vote with 
 the Republican party. 
 
 The portrait of Mr. Welton, on the opposite page, 
 is a necessary addition to the collection made for 
 this Album. 
 
 *■ — 
 
 arriet E. Haxby, widow of the late John H. 
 Haxby, of Annawan Township. Mr. 
 Haxby had secured and brought to a high 
 state of cultivation a farm of 320 acres on sec- 
 tion 28 of that township. Here he lived, took 
 a deep interest in the welfare of the community 
 and was a highly esteemed citizen. He was born 
 Jan. 11, 1840, in Scott Co., 111., of English parents. 
 He was reared and educated in this State, and quite 
 early in the history of this county became a resident 
 nere. Sept. 6, 1865, he was married to Miss Harriet 
 E. Dewitt, by the Rev. W. J. Beck, of the Kewanee 
 Baptist Church. Mrs. Haxby was born in Kewanee 
 Township, this county, Feb. 22,1851. They lived 
 happily together until the death of Mr. Haxby, and 
 became the parents of four children, born in the fol- 
 lowing order: George H, born Sept. 25, 1867 ; Luella 
 A., Oct. 18, 1869 ; William, Oct. 2, 187 1 ; and Myr- 
 tle J., March 23, 1876. 
 
 In March, 1883, Mr. Haxby was seized with a se- 
 vere attack of pleuro-pneumonia, which, after a 
 
 struggle of seven days, conquered its victim. During 
 the last days of his illness his mind wandered some. 
 He had lived a true man, and died at peace with all 
 the world, and with a firm hope of receiving the fu- 
 ture reward. He was a kind and affectionate hus- 
 band, and a tender, watchful father. Politically,-he 
 was a Republican, and had served in some of the lo- 
 cal official positions with satisfaction to the public. 
 With good business judgment and ability, Mrs. 
 Haxby is managing the 320-acre farm he left her. 
 Upon this she has a good two-story dwelling, and fair 
 outbuildings. 
 
 nomas Bolen, a pioneer of the township Of 
 Loraine, in which he has been a resident 
 since 1857, without intermission, was born 
 in Jefferson Co., Ohio, Dec. 13, 1813. He is 
 the son of Thomas Bolen. His parents were 
 natives of Virginia, and early settlers in the 
 State of Ohio. His mother died when he was but 
 three years old, and he was soon provided with a 
 step-mother by the second marriage of his father. 
 
 Mr. Bolen remained in the county in which he was 
 born until he was 13, when his father died. He then 
 went to Guernsey County, in that State, and was a 
 member of the family of his uncle two years. He 
 was then 1 5 , and took the control of his own fortunes 
 into his own hands. When he was a year older he 
 apprenticed himself to a gunsmith at Centerville, 
 Carroll Co., Ohio, when he had acquired a complete 
 knowledge of the business he operated as a journey- 
 man, and worked in various cities in the United 
 States, until 1840, when he came to Henry County 
 for the first time. He entered land on section 7, in 
 the township of Loraine, which was then designated 
 by the figures which marked its position on the 
 charts of the Government officials. He cut logs, 
 built a cabin, which he covered with clapboards, and 
 obtained lumber from Whiteside County to finish it. 
 After four or five years he built a blacksmith shop, 
 and opened a business in that line for the accommo- 
 dation of his neighbors, and it proved a benefit to 
 the commuunity as well as a material means of good 
 to himself. In the spring of 1850 he set out at the 
 head of a party who desired to cross the plains to 
 California. They left Henry County on the first of 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 April of the year named, and went to Council Bluffs. 
 They left there May ist, and arrived at Georgetown 
 Aug. 2d following. Mr. Bolen found no difficulty in 
 obtaining work at his trade, which he followed there 
 two years. He operated as a gunsmith and as a 
 blacksmith. He returned in 1852 to Henry County, 
 coming back by the way of the Isthmus. In 1854 he 
 went back to California, and, remembering the com- 
 forts of his route of return to the East, he went 
 there by the same. He opened a shop at George- 
 town and transacted a thriving business, furnishing 
 the interior establishments with materials. In 1855 
 he was made Deputy Sheriff of the place where he 
 resided, and he served in that position nearly three 
 years. He resigned in order to return to Henry 
 County, which he did in the year named, and he has 
 since been a permanent resident of his farm. He 
 has worked at the business of a blacksmith 20 years, 
 and gunsmith 40 years, in all abovit 60 years, and has 
 hired the work of his farm done by others who made 
 farming their calling. He is the present owner of 
 120 acres. At one time he was the proprietor of 200 
 acres, but he sold a portion as he had more than he 
 could manage to good advantage. He is the owner 
 of a tract of land containing 160 acres, in York Co., 
 Neb. He has held the office of Constable several 
 years, and has also officiated as School Director. 
 
 Mr. Bolen has been married twice. He was united 
 in matrimony with Mary A. Davis in r832. She was 
 a native of Virginia, and died after giving birth to 
 three children. Only one survives : Julia A. lives 
 in Nebraska. In 1844 Mr. Bolen was married to 
 Lydia Potts. They have had three children : Lydia 
 is the wife of Fayette Martin, of Whiteside County. 
 Nancy married Edward Somers, and they reside in 
 Whiteside County. Washington R., the oldest, 
 lives on the homestead. 
 
 illiam H. Cosner, farmer on section 14, 
 Burns Township, was born in Kewanee 
 Township, Jan. 5, 1842, where he was 
 reared and received a good common-school 
 education. He is one of the few active bus- 
 iness men of to-day that one meets in Henry 
 County who are natives of the county. It will be 
 noticed in reading the sketches in this book that a 
 
 vast majority of the men were born in the Eastern 
 States or across the ocean. The parents of Mr. Cos- 
 ner are Jacob and Sarah (Leonard) Cosner, both of 
 whom are natives of the Buckeye State. Mr. C. was 
 married in .Burns Township, on New Year's Day, 
 1864, to Adelaide, daughter of C. O. and Philena 
 Wedge. She was born in Wethersfield Township, 
 May 14, 1844, and has borne to heV husband two 
 children, — William O. and Ceria C. Mr. Cosner is 
 the owner of 172% acres of fine land. 
 
 Mr. Cosner has held some of the minor offices of 
 his township, to the satisfaction of the public, and 
 politically is a Democrat. Mrs. C. is a member of 
 the Methodist Church. 
 
 ■»>v\/*.'"\££j2j2/@'S©'»*' 
 
 ■gg-S/ZW^-v/VA/v 
 
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 ..udson B. Engle, residing at Orion, and en- 
 gaged in general farming and the raising of 
 stock, is a native of Burlington Co., N. J., 
 where he was born Nov. 4, 1820. The father, 
 Joseph Engle, was a native of the same county, 
 where he was married to Hannah H. Burr, a 
 native also of the same State, and a second cousin 
 to Aaron Burr. They became the parents of seven 
 children, of whom our subject was the eldest son 
 and third child. 
 
 His father died when he was about ten years of 
 age. He continued to reside with his mother, help- 
 ing her along in her trouble to provide for her family 
 until he was 17 years of age, when he became an ap- 
 prentice to learn the wagon-maker's trade, under 
 David Heaton, of Moorestown, N. J. After working 
 for four years for Mr. Heaton, he came West with 
 his mother and two sisters and three other brothers, 
 the family locating at Richland Grove, Mercer 
 County. They endured many hardships on their 
 journey westward, which was made all the way over- 
 land in three wagons and with six horses. They were 
 on the road two months, and during the time never 
 slept in a house, and, as one might naturally expect, 
 experienced many hardships. In the spring of 1848, 
 three years after their arrival, the family moved into 
 Western Township and purchased 40 acres of land 
 on section 22. 
 
 Mr. Engle, however, had come to Orion the year 
 before, and was married Nov. n, T847, to Miss 
 Sarah Elwell, daughter of Perly and Sarah (Stanley) 
 
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 0) 
 
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 > 524 
 
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 HENR Y CO UNT Y. 
 
 i 
 
 Elwell. Her father died in Massachusetts, and her 
 mother married again, came to Illinois, and settled 
 in Western Township, in 1843, where they were very 
 early and well-known settlers. The wedding of Mr. 
 Engle was the first to be celebrated in Western Town- 
 ship. At that time there were but five houses with- 
 in its borders. They have since made this a place 
 of their permanent residence, where Mr. Engle owns 
 115 acres of land, all under the plow, and adjoining 
 the village corporation line on the north. Mr. Engle 
 deals in high grades of swine and cattle. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. E. are active members of the Baptist 
 Church, and Mr. E. is a Trustee. Mr. Engle is a 
 believer in, and a supporter of, the principles advo- 
 cated by the Republican party. 
 
 ^%' y**y^ ; — »-^ 
 
 yman Lyon, of the township of Geneseo, 
 was the first settler in the part of Henry 
 County in which he is now a resident. He 
 was born Sept. 15, 1814, in Woodstock, Conn., 
 and is the son of Uriah and Jerusha (Nooning) 
 Lyon. His parents were both of English de- 
 scent and were born respectively in Connecticut and 
 Vermont. The father of his mother was a soldier of 
 the War of the Revolution. Mr. Lyon is the fourth 
 in order of birth of a family of 1 1 children. The 
 family being large and the parents not in affluent 
 circumstances, it became necessary for the children 
 to aid in their own maintenance at as early an age 
 as possible, and Mr. Lyon obtained employment in 
 the neighborhood where his family were residents at 
 the age of nine. He continued to assist in this 
 manner in the cares of his parents until he was his 
 own man. At 21 he entered upon the acquirement 
 of the trade of a shoemaker. After obtaining an 
 understanding of the details of that profession he 
 passed the winter seasons in its pursuit and in the 
 summers worked as a farm assistant. 
 
 April 6, 1841, he was united in marriage to Olive 
 H. W. Buck. Mrs. Lyon was born in Pomfret, Conn., 
 July 8, 1823, and is the daughter of Aaron and 
 Mercy (Sprague) Buck. The former was a native of 
 Connecticut and the latter of M assachusetts. A t the 
 time of their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Lyon settled in 
 Union, in their native State, where the former bought 
 a farm. He retained his ownership therein until 
 
 1850. In that year he located in Henry County. 
 He first bought a residence in Geneseo, where the 
 family resided until 1853- Mr. Lyon then made a 
 purchase of land on section 17, which was entirely 
 uncultivated. He paid for it the Government price 
 of $1.25 per acre. The farm contains 60 acres and 
 is all under cultivation of a most creditable type. It 
 is enclosed and supplied with all necessary and 
 suitable farm buildings. 
 
 At the time Mr. and Mrs. Lyon took possession of 
 their place they were without neighbors and they 
 kept open house in true pioneer style for all comers. 
 They acquired a well-deserved reputation for hospi- 
 tality, and their efforts for the comfort of the strangers 
 who called at their door is remembered most heartily 
 by those who were the recipients of their considera- 
 tion while engaged in the work of prospecting for a 
 location or in preparing their own homes. 
 
 The record of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Lyon 
 is as follows : Alvin M. lives in the township of 
 Edford. Mary is the wife of Hiram P. Roundtree, 
 a teacher of elocution in the city of Chicago. Sarah 
 is also a teacher of elocution at Bloomington. Frank 
 is a citizen of Grand Forks, Dak. The son first 
 named was born in Union, Conn., July 4, 1843, and 
 married Achsah Adams. They have six children. 
 
 *-* 
 
 -5— 
 
 l^enry Goembel, a retired farmer, resident at 
 Geneseo, is a native of the State of Hesse, 
 in Germany, and was born June 14, 1822, 
 on the river Fulda, a tributary of the Rhine, in 
 the village of Nederaula. He is the oldest son 
 of Sebastian and Anna Goembel, both of Hes- 
 sian birth. His grandfather was one of the Hessian 
 soldiers who were hired to the English by his Gov- 
 ernment to aid the British in the War of the Revolu- 
 tion, or, as is claimed, was sold by the German ruler, 
 as that nation holds the ownership of its subjects to 
 a certain age, or until a certain amount of military 
 duty is performed. The ancestor who came to 
 America under such circumstances was taken pris- 
 oner at New York, and after his release became a 
 loyal adherent of the government of the Colonies. 
 He was engaged some time as a clerk, and after the 
 declaration of peace he returned to the land of his 
 nativity. There he reared a family, and in 1834 
 
 ! 
 
 
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 fggf'Vg^^* 
 
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 MS* 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 his son, Sebastian, accompanied by his wife and 
 eight children, sailed from Bremen for the United 
 States. They were on. the sea 69 days, and landed 
 at the port of New Orleans. They came -to America 
 on a German sailing-vessel, named the Ernest Gus- 
 tav. After a stay of two weeks at the Crescent Cily, 
 they set out for St. Louis. However, they debarked 
 at Havana, 111., and continued their stay there a 
 month. At the end of that time they went to Peoria, 
 which was then celled Fort Clark. 
 
 The elder Goembel bought a claim on Farm Creek, 
 in Tazewell County, or rather took possession and 
 held it until the land sales came on, when he se- 
 cured his title. At the time he bought the claim of 
 the first who had settled on it, a log house had been 
 built, and that was the sole improvement on the 
 entire track. Mr. Goembel placed the entire estate 
 under the best character of improvements, and 
 erected an excellent class of buildings thereon. 
 After a residence on the property of several years, he 
 removed to Washington, in the same county. There 
 the family remained, and there the father and mother 
 both died. Six of their eight children are yet living. 
 Mr. Goembel, of this sketch, grew to the estate of 
 manhood in the county of Tazewell. He was an 
 inmate of the family of his father until 1849. In 
 that year he bought timber land, situated about one 
 and a half miles from the place of his father, and 
 there he settled. He built a frame house ; and as 
 he had a natural faculty for the use of tools he did 
 the main part of the work on it himself. He was 
 the owner and occupant of the place until 1864. He 
 then sold the farm, which contained 200 acres, and 
 of which the half part was improved. In October 
 of the year named he came to Henry County. He 
 located in the township of Alba, where he purchased 
 200 acres of land. It had at the time a reasonably 
 good set of frame buildings on it, and he proceeded 
 with the work of its improvement. He was pros- 
 pered in all his plans, and made additional pur- 
 chases until he became the proprietor of 700 acres. 
 He is still the owner of the farm, which he rented in 
 187 1, and removed to the vicinity of the city of Gen- 
 eseo. He bought 40 acres lying adjoining the town- 
 plat, and has since purchased several acres in addi- 
 tion. He is also the owner of two farms in the town- 
 ship of Phenix. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Goembel to Catharine Fey 
 took place in 1849. She is a native of the same 
 
 German province from whence her husband came. 
 Their children are Zachariah T., who lives in the 
 township of Phenix ; Charles C, of Alba Township ; 
 Anna, wife of Joseph Greenwood ; Elizabeth (Mrs. 
 Lawrence Seyler) lives in Audubon Co., Iowa; 
 John H., of Phenix Township; Millie, Henry L. and 
 Kittie at home. 
 
 ames Gaster, Postmaster at Galva, this 
 county, was born Dec. 29, 1834, in Fulton 
 Co., Pa., and is the son of Jacob and Nancy 
 (Miller) Gaster, born in the same county and 
 State, the county then being called Bedford. 
 The grandfather of Mr. Gaster of this sketch 
 was a native of Germany, a son of Jacob Gaster and 
 a farmer by occupation. He lived and died on the 
 old homestead in Pennsylvania, his birth having oc- 
 curred in 1800. He was married to Nancy Miller, 
 daughter oT John Miller. She died in the fall of 
 1 86 1, after having borne her husband 11 children, 
 namely, John, Sarah A., Philip M., Jacob, James, 
 Elizabeth, Rebecca. Peter, Daniel, William, and a 
 child who died in infancy. 
 
 James Gaster was educated in the district schools 
 of his native county, and followed the vocation of 
 farming on the parental homestead until he attained 
 the age of 19 years. He was then apprenticed to 
 learn the house-carpenter's trade, which he followed 
 until he had attained his 22d year. On arriving at 
 that age, he came to Galva, this county, where he 
 was engaged in milling for many years in the Galva 
 Mills. 
 
 Mr. Gaster enlisted in the war for the Union, Aug. 
 12, 1862, and served until June 20, 1865, when he 
 received his discharge. He enlisted in Co. G, 1 1 »th 
 111. Vol. Inf., Capt. James McCarthy, and was with 
 Major-General A. E. Burnside in the campaigns of 
 Kentucky and Tennessee, in 1862-3, Major-General 
 Sherman in the Georgia campaign, in 1864, Major- 
 General G. H. Thomas, in the Tennessee campaign, 
 in 1864, Major-General Schofield in the campaign of 
 North Carolina, in 1865, and was with the company 
 when the last shot was fired at Goldsboro, N. C, 
 April 5, 1865. He has participated in 22 general 
 engagements and 75 skirmishes, principal among 
 
 I 
 
 
 ^^z — ^a<^ii d® dii*^a^ — ^^^ 
 
 
 mm 
 
526 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 8 
 
 
 which were Monticello, Ky., Campbell's Station, 
 Knoxville, Bean Station, Dandridge, Kelly's Ford, 
 Muddy Creek, Tenn., Resaca, New Hope Church, 
 Pine Mountain, Kenesaw Mountain, Utaw Creek, 
 Atlanta, Rough and Ready, and Jonesboro, Ga.. 
 Columbia, Frankville, Nashville, Tenn., Fort Ander- 
 son, Town Creek, Wilmington and Goldsboro, N. C. 
 He was a brave soldier, and was never known to 
 shirk when duty called him. 
 
 After the war was over Mr. Gaster returned to 
 Galva, and once more entered upon the peaceful 
 pursuits of life. He again engaged in milling, which 
 he followed for some time, and in the winter of 1872 
 went into the grocery business, which he followed for 
 about a year. In 1883, Feb. 27, he was appointed 
 Postmaster at Galva by President Chester A. Arthur, 
 which position he has held until the present time. 
 
 Mr. Gaster formed a matrimonial alliance Aug. 10, 
 1865, in Tiskilwa, Bureau Co., 111., with Miss Amy 
 A. Greeley, daughter of Moses P. Greeley, an old 
 settler of Peoria County and also of Bureau County. 
 Her father came to Bureau County in 1853, and died 
 at Tiskilwa, Dec. 27, 1862. 
 
 The progenitors of the Greeley family were three 
 brothers, who came from England. Horace Greeley 
 claimed to be a descendant from one of the brothers, 
 and the family to which the parents of Mrs. Gaster 
 belonged descended from another of the three broth- 
 ers. Mrs. Gaster was born May 25, 1841, in Buda, 
 Bureau County, this State. Of her union with Mr. 
 Gaster four children have been born, — Chloe M., 
 Cora J., William and Nellie O. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Gaster are both members of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. Politically, he is a 
 Reuublican, and socially a member of the G. A. R., 
 of which organization he is Senior Vice Commander. 
 
 ames Fell, who is farming on section 5, 
 
 £ Burns Township, was born in Scotland, 
 
 May 22, 1832. When an ambitious young 
 
 man of 20 years of age, he determined to come 
 
 to the New World. After arriving on our 
 
 shores he soon made his way to Stark Co., 
 
 For four years he remained there, engaged in 
 
 agricultural pursuits, when, in 1856, he came to 
 
 Henry County and located in Cornwall Township. 
 
 Here he remained for six years, when we again find 
 him in Stark County. For two years he made that 
 place his home, when he was again attracted to Corn- 
 wall, where he passed another two years. He then 
 came to Burns Township, where he has since lived, . 
 and where he is the owner of 360 acres of land, all 
 tillable. He has held several of the minor offices of 
 the township, and is regarded as one of the solid, 
 well-to-do men of Burns. 
 
 Mr. Fell was married while living in Cornwall 
 Township, to Miss Hattie Campbell, a lady of Scotch 
 ancestry, and who was born in Ross Co., Ohio, Jan. 
 22, 1841. Their marriage occurred on the 19th of 
 October, 1858. James W., Walter A. and John C. 
 are the names of their three children. Mrs. Fell is 
 a member of the Free- Will Baptist Church, and po- 
 litically Mr. Fell is a Republican. 
 
 oseph Morton. This gentleman is devoting 
 his attention to general farming and the 
 raising of stock upon section 2, Western 
 Township. He is the son of Zalmuna and 
 Clarissa (Moshall) Morton, who were natives 
 respectively of Massachusetts and New Jersey. 
 Both had, however, gone to Cincinnati, Ohio, previ- 
 ous to their marriage, which event was celebrated 
 about the year 1823. His father was a merchant 
 and contractor, and after their marriage they lived at 
 the Queen City for some years, when they moved to 
 Butler Co., Ohio, and located at Middleton. In the 
 autumn of 1848 the family came to Adams Co., 111., 
 and settled upon a farm near Quincy, where they 
 spent the remainder of their lives, both parents dying 
 in 1854. They were interred at the cemetery at 
 Columbus, Adams County. Three of the older 
 brothers continued to reside in that county, two sis- 
 ters in Henry County, and one near Greenfield, 
 Iowa. 
 
 Joseph Morion lived at home with his parents, 
 attending school at the Methodist Seminary and 
 Presbyterian High School, then located at Quincy. 
 At the age of 2 1 he began teaching school in Adams 
 County, and followed the profession for nine years, 
 when he turned his attention to farming, having 
 during the meantime married, as he desired to '' set- 
 tle down " in life. Miss Margaret J. Cate, daughter 
 
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 i 
 
 E 
 ( 
 
 <; 
 
 fc 
 
 ^ ^ Q/ €Wl®ll)K> fl *9 55 ^^ 
 
-6V^HlIl®Mf>^ — 7t&Kr 
 
 -^§J(@V^ 
 
 HENR Y CO VNT Y. 
 
 5 2 7 
 
 I 
 
 of Joseph and Sarah J. (Wilson) Cate, was the lady 
 of his choice. The ceremony took place at the resi- 
 dence of Mr. Cate, near Hamilton, Hancock Co., 
 111., on the 13th of October,]i868. Mr. Cate and his 
 wife were both natives of New Hampshire, and were 
 early pioneers to Illinois, coming in 1837, and were 
 married a year later. The former is deceased, and 
 Mrs. Cate is living near Hamilton. Mrs. Morton 
 was born near Quincy, Dec. 10, 1841. She resided 
 at home, attending the school at Quincy and at 
 Hamilton, and began to teach when a young lady, 
 which profession she followed until her marriage. 
 The home of Mr. and Mrs. Morton has been blessed 
 by eight children, one only of whom is deceased. 
 Clarissa "Jennie " is the name of the eldest, and the 
 others were born in the following order: George M., 
 Clarence E., Lewella A., Margaret " Josie," Horatio 
 H., Joseph R., and Henry A., deceased. 
 
 In 1872, four years after his marriage, Mr. Morton 
 came from Geneseo Township, this county, where he 
 had lived for three years, to Western Township, 
 having puschased 160 acres of land in the year 1856 
 on section 2, where he has since lived and been a 
 successful farmer. He also has another quarter- 
 section of land, which is pretty well improved, in 
 Republic Co., Kan. Both Mr. and Mrs. Morton are 
 members of the Lutheran Church, and Mr. M. is 
 Clerk and Treasurer of the congregation, and Clerk 
 of the Board of his district. 
 
 Samuel Pettit, a well known agriculturist of 
 Annawan Township and an old pioneer of 
 this section of the county, who resides on 
 seetion 32, was born in Cambridgeshire, Eng., 
 Jan. 7, 1821. He spent 11 years of service in 
 the English army, and for six years was sta- 
 tioned in Canada. However, quite early in the set- 
 tlement of the fertile prairies of Henry County, he 
 found his way here in 1855, and secured a quarter 
 of section 32, of Annawan Township. At that time 
 this was but partially improved. Here he has made 
 his home ever since and developed his farm to a 
 good state of cultivation. 
 
 While living in Canada, Mr. Pettit met and was 
 married to Mrs. Sophronia Rohrer, a native of the 
 Dominion. She was born July 15, 1820, and was 
 
 -*€^ — £A 
 
 married April 8, 1855. They became the parents of 
 eight children, a record of whom is given as follows : 
 Priscilla Rohrer was born Feb. 17, 1841 ; Alveretta 
 Rohrer, Jan. 8, 1853 ; Alfred W. Pettit, Aug. 8, 1853; 
 David N., Sept. 25, 1854; Sarah E., July 29, 1856; 
 Alvin A., March 1, 1858; John M., Jan. 6, i860; 
 Giles M., May 6, 1863. Alvin married Miss Eliza- 
 beth Carter, June 1, 1881, and they have one child, 
 Eslie A., born June 27, 1883. Mrs. Alvin Pettit 
 was born Feb. 25, 1861. The family are members 
 of the Baptist Church, and all, of them are strongly 
 imbued with the political sentiments of the Repub- 
 lican party. 
 
 @) 
 
 ^ooo« 
 
 nomas Reese, a farmer on section 29, Co- 
 lona Township, has been a citizen of Henry 
 County since 1856. He is a native of 
 Caermarthen, Wales, and was born Sept. 26, 
 1835. His parents were natives of the same 
 country, and their names'were'Rollin and Lucy 
 (Bowen) Reese. 
 
 Mr. Reese was reared to manhood on the farm o 
 his father in the county of his nativity, and at the 
 age of 14 he entered the mines in the vicinity and 
 was employed in the Welsh collieries until 1854. In 
 that year he came to the United States. He went 
 to Ohio, where he obtained work in the coal mines, 
 and remained there until 1856, the year in which he 
 came to Henry County. He first engaged in coal- 
 mining in the Aldrich mine in the township of 
 Geneseo, where he operated three years, and at the 
 end of that time he went to Coal Valley, and was 
 similarly employed there until 1865. He had saved 
 his earnings with the purpose of some time engaging 
 in some other avenue of employ or in some other 
 mode of life, and in the last year he bought a farm 
 lying on sections 29 and 32. The place had a house 
 on it and his family were its occupants until 1876. 
 Mr. Reese had prospered in his agricultural opera- 
 tions, and had meanwhile purchased the southeast 
 quarter of section 29, on which a portion of his farm 
 was already situated, and in the year named the 
 household took possession of the house on the new 
 farm. Mr. Reese is the proprietor of 320 acres of 
 land, all in excellent condition, well fenced and with 
 pasture for the supply of the stock on the place. 
 He has never married. His parents and several 
 
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 s*^\l><£t~ ^^ 
 
 528 
 
 HENRY COUNTY, 
 
 
 
 sisters came to America with him and the former 
 were members of his household as long as their lives 
 continued. His mother died in the fall of [865, and 
 the demise of his father took place in 1881. Four 
 sisters are still living: Mary is the wife of David 
 Hughes, and they live in Wales; Hannah married 
 Win. Phillips, of Carroll Co., Iowa; Jemima married 
 Daniel Christmas, of the same county in Iowa ; and 
 Ann is the wife of Jacob Morgan, and they live near 
 her sisters. 
 
 — *-## ! ■ ■ 
 
 •WW 
 
 enjamin W. Seaton, proprietor of the 
 Prairie Chief, published at Cambridge, 
 and who may be said to have passed al- 
 
 ^ most a life-time in the publishing business, 
 was born in Howden, Yorkshire, Eng., Jan. 
 13, 1825. He was the youngest of Joseph 
 and Elizabeth Seaton 's 13 children, of whom eight, 
 four girls and four boys, emigrated to this country in 
 1830, settling in Utica, N. Y., in June of that year. 
 
 At the age of 14 years Benjamin was apprenticed 
 to Bennett, Backus & Hawley, publishers of the Bap- 
 tist Register, and also booksellers, in Utica. Mr. 
 Seaton served seven years' apprenticeship at the 
 printing business, and, after serving out his time, he 
 spent four years in the law office of Crafts & Beards- 
 ley. In those days it took seven years to "make"' 
 a lawyer, unless the applicant had a diploma from 
 some college. On the 30th of December, 1849, Mr. 
 Seaton was united in marriage with Miss Julia E. 
 Bond, and the next year they came West, and settled 
 in the then "wonderful" city of Chicago, which con- 
 tained 28,000 inhabitants. 
 
 On arriving in Chicago, Mr. Seaton for a few 
 months worked as "jour" in.the offices of the Chicago 
 Democrat and New Covenant. He then became one 
 of the editors of the Chicago ^Daily Argus, the first 
 paper to place the name of Stephen A. Douglas at 
 the head of its columns in 1851 as a candidate for 
 the Presidency. In 1852, the Argus was sold to 
 John L. Scripps and William Bross, who changed 
 the name to the Democratic Press. Mr. Seaton 
 then devoted his time to job printing, and followed 
 that business until he was induced to go to Prairie 
 City, McDonough Co., this State, to take charge of 
 the Chronicle, which he did, and at the end of the 
 
 first year discontinued the same. In June, 1858, he 
 moved to Kewanee, and there became "boss" printer 
 in the Dial office. During the year he managed 
 that paper the office paid all expenses, and left quite 
 a large balance in the treasury. So well pleased 
 were the owners of the paper with his "industry and 
 perseverance" that they offered to give him the office 
 if he would publish a Republican paper, but he did 
 not know how; and so declined the offer that possibly 
 contained a fortune. Soon after, the Dial was sold 
 to Mr. Wheeler, a former editor of the Chicago Trib- 
 une. In the spring of i860 Mr. Seaton went to 
 Chicago and opened a job department for Jones, 
 Perdue & Small, stationers. This was the founda- 
 tion of the now celebrated " J. M. W. Jones Print- 
 ing-House." 
 
 In December, 1862, Mr. Seaton started the Galva 
 Union, which paper he continued to publish until 
 1864, when the Republicans thought they must have 
 a party organ, and made some tempting offers to in- 
 duce the editor to become a Republican ; but he was 
 not for sale, and so the establishment was sold to Capt. 
 Johnson, and he retired to a farm on section 16, 
 Wethersfield Township, where he remained until 
 1868, when he started the Prairie Chief at Galva, 
 but afterwards removed it to Toulon, and conducted 
 the paper at that place until December, 187 1, when 
 he made another removal, taking his paper to Cam- 
 bridge, where it took the patronage of the Cambridge 
 Democrat, that paper becoming defunct. The 
 Prairie Chief, at present, is one of the solid papers 
 of the county, and there are only two papers in the 
 county — the Geneseo Republic and the Cambridge 
 Chronicle — ihat are older than it is. The Chief 
 has never known any other editor or manager. It is 
 his favorite child, though he has three sons and three 
 daughters living. His eldest son, Frank, died in 
 1879, at the age of 27 years. 
 
 9<OC>^ 
 
 JPiM B. Cole. The subject of the following 
 pS££ brief personal sketch, Mr. A. B. Cole, is a 
 jjfe* well-to-do farmer upon section 28, Oxford 
 ^}j» Township. He was born in .Chenango Co., 
 ft N. Y., April 13, 1806. His parents, Amos and 
 I Dinah (Crowfoot) Cole, were natives of Rhode 
 Island. Mr. Cole remained under the paternal roof 
 until he was 2 1 years of age ; during the meantime 
 
 M&A^ ^g^r: 
 
 -®®§ 
 
6V«&[Wf> 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 S 2 9 
 
 I! 
 
 
 (!) 
 
 he received a good common-school education and 
 assisted his parents. 
 
 After leaving home he worked out by the month for 
 four years, when he bought 40 acres of land in Madi- 
 son Co., N. Y. There he remained engaged for six 
 years, when he sold his New York property and left 
 for the West. He soon found himself in Oxford 
 Township, this county, arriving as early as June' 
 1839. He was therefore one of the pioneers of the 
 county. For 12 years he labored at blacksmithing. 
 He then entered from the Government 80 acres of 
 land on section 28. To this he subsequently added 
 160 acres. Though coming to the county without a 
 great deal of means, and having to spend so many 
 years at his trade, he has become one of the promi- 
 nent and representative citizens of Henry County. 
 Though not a politician, he has been called upon by 
 his neighbors and fellow citizens to serve as Justice 
 of the Peace and Supervisor, and also to fill the re- 
 sponsible offices of County Treasurer, County Com- 
 missioner and County Assessor. Politically, he is an 
 independent Democrat. 
 
 While living in the East, Mr. Cole and Miss Au- 
 gusta Briggs, a native of Massachusetts, were united 
 in marriage. This event was celebrated Nov. 24, 
 1830. To them have been born five children, four 
 of whom are living, — Martha, Festus C, Amos and 
 Lucy. The first is the wife of A. C. Lockwood, of 
 Mercer County; Feslus married Elizabeth Taze ; 
 Amos was married to Miss Kate Emerick ; Lucy is 
 the wife of W. W. Shakles. 
 
 Mrs. Cole died in August, 1877, and Mr. Cole is 
 now living in retirement on his farm in Oxford 
 Township. 
 
 avid H. Smith, one of the successful farm- 
 
 II. ers of Osco Township, as well as one of the 
 
 respected and representative men of Henry 
 
 'j$£ County, is a resident on section 1 2 . His par- 
 
 ' H e'nts, Nathan and Susannah (Howard) Smith, 
 
 were natives of Pennsylvania, and settled in 
 
 Ohio, .where they resided until their deaths. 
 
 David H., our subject, was the fourth in order of 
 birth of a family of six children, and the eldest son, 
 and was born in Morgan Co., Ohio, Jan. 7, 1834. 
 There he resided until about 21 years of age, attend- 
 
 ing the common schools, and also the Ohio University 
 at Athens, Ohio, about two years, when he went to 
 La Fayette Co., Wis., where he resided seven years, 
 being engaged in farming and mercantile business, 
 and then at times he was employed in teaching. In 
 1861 he came to Henry County, and for five years 
 he rented land and worked the same, at the expira- 
 tion of which time he purchased 80 acres on section 
 12, Osco Township, his present location, has erected 
 splendid buildings, and is now the owner of 160 
 acres, having made subsequent purchases ; and his 
 land is all tillable. He has taught school in Henry 
 County four winters. 
 
 Mr. Smith was married in La Fayette Co., Wis., 
 Oct. 25, 1855, to Esther Sornborger, daughter of 
 George and Hannah (Olmstead) Sornborger, natives 
 of New York State. Mrs. S. was born in Delaware 
 Co., N. Y., March 31, 1834. The children of Mr. 
 and Mrs. Smith are six in number, — Howard H , 
 Charles M., Will C, Myra E., Ella, who died when 
 two years old, and Kittie, who died when five months 
 old. 
 
 For five years he has been a member of the Board 
 of Road Commissioners, and has held other minor 
 offices of his township. Mr. and Mrs. S. are mem- 
 bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in 
 politics he is identified with the Republican party. 
 
 'ohn S. Parsons. In 1856 Mr. Parsons came 
 ^ from Rock Island County into Henry, and 
 shortly afterward purchased 80 acres of 
 land on section 21, Osco Township, where he 
 settled. Here he has since lived, and is looked 
 upon as one of the most highly respected and 
 well-to-do farmers of Osco. He is a son of George 
 H. and Henrietta (Carey) Parsons, who were na- 
 tives and residents of Maryland all their lives. The 
 eldest of their family of seven children was John S., 
 who was born in Worcester Co., Md., March 27, 
 1824. . Here the earlier years of his life were spent 
 growing up to manhood and receiving a good prac- 
 tical education. The last years of his residence in' 
 Maryland he was engaged in farming. In the spring 
 of 1852 he came West, and soon found a location in 
 Rock Island County, where for four years he re- 
 mained working out by the month. The opportu- 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 nities for accumulating anything by such means is 
 meagre at all times, but especially so in pioneer 
 times, when people had but very little money ; and 
 the early settlers themselves were sturdy, vigorous 
 and hard-working men. Mr. Parsons, however, must 
 have saved a little, for we soon find him in this 
 county, and the owner of 8o acres of land. He 
 erected good buildings on his farm, which now com- 
 prises 70 acres of good tillable land. 
 
 Shortly after he removed to Henry County, Mr. 
 Parsons felt that the wisest course for him to pursue 
 was to secure the advice, assistance and help of a 
 good wife. This he found in the person of Miss 
 Mary D. Carroll, the date of the wedding being Oct. 
 21, T857, in Henry County. Mrs. Parsons is the 
 daughter of Anthony W. and Belinda (Root) Carroll. 
 The former was a native of Pennsylvania, while 
 her mother was a Massachusetts lady. Her parents 
 settled in Licking Co., Ohio, where her mother died 
 May 27, T865. Her father went West, and died at 
 Olathe, Kan., April 27, 1822. Mrs. Parsons was the 
 eldest of a large family, consisting of eight children, 
 and was born in Muskingum Co., Ohio, April 2, r827. 
 She has been an active, enterprising lady in the 
 community as well as an excellent wife. She has 
 served her district in the capacity of School Director 
 for two years. Both herself and husband are mem- 
 bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 eonard H. Richards made his first pur- 
 chase of land in Henry County in 1870. 
 He was born in Cattaraugus Co., N. Y., 
 April 11, 1836. He is the fourth son of John 
 /*, M. and Mary (Morfit) Richards. His father was 
 ;_ born in the State of Vermont and his mother in 
 Connecticut. They were among the earliest settlers 
 in the State of New York and of the county where 
 their son was born. The senior bought land in the 
 dense timber, where he cleared a farm, and was its 
 owner and occupant until he removed his family to 
 Erie County, in the same State, in 1848. They con- 
 tinued to live there until 1856, when they came to 
 Illinois and located in Whiteside County. They 
 settled in the vicinity of Leon, where the parents 
 passed the remaining years of their lives. They 
 died in 1866 and 1868 respectively. 
 
 Mr. Richards came to Illinois on his own account 
 when 18. He rented a farm in Cook County in the 
 township of Lyons. He operated there two years, 
 and in 1856 came to Whiteside County. He was a 
 farmer there until the second year of the Civil War. 
 August T4 he enlisted in Co. D, 75th 111. Vol. Inf., 
 and continued in the military service of the United 
 States until the war was ended. He was a partici- 
 pant in the battles of Mission Ridge, Buzzard's 
 Roost, Dalton, Kenesaw Mountain, Lookout Moun- 
 tain and Nashville. He received an honorable dis- 
 charge June 12, 1865. On being mustered out he 
 returned to Whiteside County, and continued to 
 operate there until the year that has been mentioned 
 as that in which he came to the township of York- 
 town. He made a purchase of land on section 3, 
 where he has since prosecuted his farming projects. 
 He is engaged in what is known as mixed husbandry 
 and is also occupied in rearing horses and cattle. 
 
 Mr. Richards was married Sept. 26, 1861, to Hor- 
 tensia Sabin. She was born in Portage Co., Ohio, 
 Sept. 7, 1843. Otis W. and Stella M. are the names 
 of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Richards. 
 
 I \ ichard Williamson, a farmer on section 6, 
 in the town ship of Munson, came to Henry 
 County in 1856. He was born in the 
 
 township of Kingwood, in Hunterdon Co., N. 
 
 J., Aug. 4, 1817. His parents, Derrick and 
 
 Catharine (Lafler) Williamson, were born in 
 the same State, and were residents of the same town- 
 ship until he was 14, when they removed to Amwell 
 Township, in that part of Hunterdon County which 
 has since been set off to Mercer County. That was 
 his home through the remaining years of his minor- 
 ity, and he was reared on the homestead estate. He 
 became his own master at the age of 19, and he 
 readily obtained employment in the neighborhood, 
 where he had lived long enough to become well 
 known. 
 
 Sept. 13, 1845, he was married to Amanda P. 
 Quick. She was born in the township of Hopewen, 
 in (then) Hunterdon County, and is the daughter of 
 Joseph and Phebe (Primmer) Quick. The day of 
 her birth was Jan. 29, 1825. The young couple 
 rented a farm in Mercer County, and were farmers 
 there until their removal to Illinois, in the year which 
 
 
 
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HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 531 
 
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 has been mentioned. Mr. Williamson bought 122 
 acres of land in Munson Township, for which he 
 paid $15 per acre. It was located on the section on 
 which he has since lived, and was in an uncultivated 
 condition. He erected a farm house, and entered 
 with the greatest vigor into the work of improve- 
 ment. All of the estate is now under cultivation, 
 and is all fenced. Many trees have been set out of 
 several kinds, and the place is a fair manifestation of 
 the good judgment and industrious perseverance of 
 the proprietor. 
 
 The family of Mr. Williamson comprises two 
 children. Calvin J. was born in Hopewell Town- 
 ship, in Mercer Co., N. J., Oct. 26, 1847. He mar- 
 ried Sarah McCarthy, and they have two children, — 
 Lillie and Laura C. Sallie was born in the same 
 township, Oct. 7, 1856, and she is the wife of Jacob 
 Winans, who is also a native of the same State. They 
 live in the township of Cambridge, in Henry 
 County. 
 
 The parents belong to the Presbyterian Church. 
 
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 K«jr-»@&@*Z'33». 
 
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 1 illiain Roberts, farmer, section 16, Burns 
 Township. In the year 1833 there jour- 
 neyed westward from New York in the 
 the old mode of conveyance a family headed 
 by Michael Roberts. He and his wife, who 
 was formerly Miss Minerva Atchison, had six 
 children at that time, the youngest of whom, or the 
 next to the youngest rather, was William. This 
 infant grew up to be William Roberts, the gentle- 
 man whose name heads this biography. He was 
 born in Monroe Co., N. Y., Nov 5, 1831. His 
 parents stopped for a time in Peoria Co., 111., but 
 soon moved into Fulton County, where they lived 
 and were well known for a number of years. In 
 1854 they came into Henry County and settled upon 
 a piece of land in Burns Township, where the family 
 have since made their home. Mr. Roberts has a 
 nice farm here of 121 acres, all of which is tillable. 
 He has erected fine farm buildings, and is looked 
 upon as an enterprising farmer. His parents, Michael 
 and Minerva (Atchison) Roberts, were also natives 
 of Monroe Co., N. Y., and William was the sixth of 
 a family of 12 children born to them, and at the 
 time they moved West he was but two years old. 
 
 While living in Fulton County, Mr. Roberts and 
 Miss Esther Green were united in marriage. This 
 important event in their lives occurred Dec. 30, 
 1852. The lady was born in Niagara Co., N. Y., on 
 Christmas Day of 1837, and is a daughter of William 
 and Esther (Atchinon) Green, also natives of the 
 Empire State, and the second of their four children. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Roberts have had six children, name- 
 ly : Ida I., Emma L., Frank E., Elmer E., Laura 
 V. and Roscoe. Ida and Frank are deceased. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. R. are members of the Free-Will 
 Baptist Church, and in political sentiment Mr. Rob- 
 erts is inclined toward the Republican party. 
 
 ohn L. Jennings. In 1850 Mr. Levi Jen- 
 nings, who was a native of Virginia, came 
 with his family to Henry County. Among 
 his children was a lad ten years of" age, who 
 has since become a prominent and active cit- 
 izen of the county. The name of this lad was 
 John L. Jennings, who to-day resides upon section 
 7 of Burns Township, and owns a magnificent farm 
 of 320 acres. The wife of Levi Jennings was Susan 
 H., nee Shepherd, a native of Ohio. 
 
 John L., as might be expected, during the early 
 years of his life enjoyed only meager advantages for 
 an education. He was, however, permitted to attend 
 the Lombard University at Galesburg, and at the 
 the age of 20 started out to, earn his own livelihood. 
 He engaged in agricultural pursuits principally, and 
 has been a resident here since 1850, when he came 
 to Henry County, as above stated. He is the owner 
 and proprietor of 320 acres of good tillable land, hav- 
 ing built upon the same fine buildings, and he is 
 regarded as one of the leading and enterprising 
 farmers of Burns Township. 
 
 Mr. Jennings was first married at Toulon, Stark 
 Co., 111., in September of i860, to Mary J. Collins. 
 His second marriage occurred at Princeton, 111., in 
 August, 1867, to Mary J. Beck. Jan. 28, 1875, he 
 was married to his present wife, Sarah E. Oliver. 
 He is the father of two children, John L., Jr., and 
 Roy F. Aug. 15, 1862, when President Lincoln 
 called for more troops, Mr. Jennings enlisted in Co. 
 H, 1 1 2th 111. Vol. Inf., and served his country brave- 
 ly for three years. He served as Color Sergeant of 
 the regiment, and at the battle of Knoxville, Tenn., 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY, 
 
 Nov., 1863, he was wounded in the thigh, and at the 
 battle of Eutaw Creek, Ga., received a wound in the 
 right leg, and at the battle of Franklin. Tenn., Nov. 
 30, 1864, he was again a victim of a rebel missile, 
 receiving a wound in the stomach. Mr. Jennings is 
 a member of the G. A. R., and is identified with A. 
 Dunn Post, of Cambridge. He is a Royal Arch 
 Mason, and politically, has been identified with the 
 Republican party, but is now a Free-Trader. 
 
 : oyal G. Crouch, came to the township of 
 Atkinson, where he is an agriculturist, in 
 in 1878. He has a farm of 160 acres on 
 V<y\ section 16, where he is pursuing his plans 
 with the success his industry and good man- 
 agement deserve. He was born March 2, 
 1831, in the State of Vermont, and his property gives 
 evidence that he has inherited the practical judgment 
 and thrifty habits which characterize the stock in 
 which he had his origin. When he reached the age 
 of 20 he learned the trade of a brick and plaster ma- 
 son. He served his apprenticeship in Rutland, Vt., 
 and after passing three years in that place he went 
 to Troy, N. Y., and was occupied there one year in 
 the same vocation. He came thence to Henry 
 County and worked at the same business in Gene- 
 [( ) seo, where he operated as a contractor and took jobs. 
 In the year 1878 he bought a farm of 160 acres in 
 Atkinson Township and has been a resident theVe 
 since. He is a Republican in his political views. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Crouch and Mary E. Hunt 
 was celebrated Jan. 1, 1855. They have had five 
 children. Mary Edna was born June t, 1856; 
 George H., Sept. ro, 1857; Herbert R., July 25, 
 1862 ; David W., April 9, 1859; Merritt G., Nov. 17, 
 1874. Mrs. Crouch was born in Vermont Oct. 15, 
 1835. She is aCongregationalist in religious views. 
 
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 i illiam Sherrard, proprietor of 1 68 acres 
 of good farm land, located on section 36, 
 Osco Township, where he follows the vo- 
 cation of an agriculturist, is one of the suc- 
 cessful farmers as well as the respected 
 citizens of Henry County. The parents of Mr. 
 Sherrard, whose name stands at the head of this 
 sketch, were David and Elizabeth (Gilbert) Sherrard, 
 "-v, natives of Pennsylvania and Scotland respectively. 
 
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 They were married and settled in Pennsylvania, and 
 subsequently emigrated to Mercer County, this State, 
 in 1853, where they resided until their deaths^ 
 
 The gentleman of whom we write was the second 
 child in order of birth in a family of seven children, 
 and was born in Franklin Co., Pa., Dec. 12, 181 2. 
 At the age of 18, he was apprenticed for three years 
 to learn the blacksmith's trade, and followed the 
 same for three years, after which he engaged in 
 farming. He first purchased a farm in Lawrence 
 Co., Pa., on which he resided and cultivated until 
 1865. In the spring of that year he came to this 
 county and bought 168 acres of land in Osco Town- 
 ship. On this land he located with his family and 
 entered vigorously and energetically upon its im- 
 provement and cultivation, and has continued to re- 
 side thereon until the present time, meeting with 
 success in his chosen vocation, agriculture. His 
 farm presents the appearance of energy, and is in- 
 dicative of what may be accomplished by one pos- 
 sessed of the push and energy of its proprietor. 
 , The marriage of Mr. Sherrard took place in Law- 
 rence Co., Pa., and the lady selected to accompany 
 him through the trials of the future was Miss Eliza- 
 beth, the accomplished daughter of Samuel and 
 Mary (Hazen) Baldwin, natives of Pennsylvania. 
 Mrs. Sherrard was born in Lawrence Co., Pa., July 
 18, 1817, and has borne her husband 12 children, 
 namely: Joseph R., S. Theo, David S., Sarah, John 
 C, Lou, George W., Gilbert L. and James F. are 
 the living, and William, James and an infant are de- 
 ceased. Joseph R. resides in Pennsylvania; S. 
 Theo is a resident of Iowa ; and David S. lives in 
 Kansas; Sarah became the wife of James M. Wel- 
 ton, who resides in Osco Township; John C. is liv- 
 ing in Cambridge Township; Lou is the wife of 
 Merritt Welton, a resident of Iowa; George W. re- 
 sides at home with his father; and Gilbert L. is 
 living in Kansas, while James F. resides in Ohio. 
 
 Mrs. Sherrard died in Osco Township, April 14, 
 1865, and Mr. Sherrard was again married, in Penn- 
 sylvania, in October, 1869, to Angeline Cunningham, 
 a native of Pennsylvania. She died in Osco Town- 
 ship, July 2, 1881, and Mr. Sherwood formed a third 
 matrimonial alliance, in Munson Township, this 
 county, Nov. 24, 1883, with Mrs. Barbara Walker, 
 widow of David Walker, who was killed July 24, 
 1 88 1, by a team running away with a reaper. He 
 was in the act of unhitching the horses, when they 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 533 
 
 started to run, throwing him on the machine, which 
 caused his death. 
 
 Mr. Sherrard and wife are members of the Presby- 
 terian Church, as likewise was Mr. S.'s second wife, 
 his first wife having been a member of the Baptist 
 Church. Politically, Mr. Sherrard is a believer in 
 and a supporter of the principles advocated by the 
 Republican party. 
 
 ■£S$ 
 
 obert W. Wolever. As early as 1837, 
 John E. Wolever, the father of our subject, 
 came from New York to Illinois, and 
 eventually became one of the prominent 
 pioneers of Henry County. John E. was born 
 in Warren Co., N. Y., Oct. 2, 1809, and on 
 coming to Illinois located at Rochester, Peoria 
 County, at the place now known as Elmore. He 
 lived here for a nnmber of years, and in 1852 came 
 north, and found a location at Geneseo, where, how- 
 ever, he only remained for about six months, when 
 he removed to Galva. The railroad was just being 
 built through this place, and considerable induce- 
 ments were held out to him to start a hotel. This 
 he did, and opened the Galva House, which he con- 
 ducted with some success for three years, when he 
 sold out his hotel interests, and made some other im- 
 provements in ihe village. He remained in Galva 
 until the spring of i860, when he sold his property 
 there, and bought 166 acres on sections 4 and 5 of 
 Cornwall Township. It was at the time slightly im- 
 proved, but he made large additions in the way of 
 improvements, and brought it to a high state of culti- 
 vation. In 1834 he married Miss Margaret Hul- 
 sizer, who was born March 4, 1819. Her death oc- 
 curred on the 8th of May, 1880, his demise being 
 on the 4th of October, 1844, leaving a splendid 
 record as a pioneer and worthy citizen. 
 
 Robert W. Wolever, who is farming on section 4, 
 of Cornwall Township, was born while his parents 
 were living in Peoria County, the date of his birth 
 being Nov. 23, 1844. He remained with his parents 
 until he gained his majority, with the exception of the 
 time spent in the army. The President kept calling 
 for troops, and although Robert was but 1 6 years of 
 age, yet he was determined to shoulder the musket. 
 He joined Co. H, 57th 111. Vol. Inf., under Capt. 
 
 Robbins, of Bureau County, and was mustered in at 
 Camp Douglas, Chicago, Dec. 26, 1861. During 
 the following winter, Feb. 10, 1862, his regiment 
 started for Fort Donelson, and he participated in that 
 fight. He then proceeded to Pittsburg Landing, and 
 took part in the battle of Shiloh, where the 57th lost 
 very heavily. He also took part in the siege of Cor- 
 inth, and remained in that place until Nov. 12, 1863, 
 when he was ordered to Middle Tennessee, and as- 
 signed to garrison duty, while Sherman was prepar- 
 ing his campaign to Atlanta. He served in the At- 
 lanta campaign, and engaged in all its eventful 
 battles. He then did garrison duty at Rome, Ga., 
 and in June, 1864, was in the battle of Altoona. On 
 Dec. 26, of that year, he was discharged at Savan- 
 nah, Ga., and was mustered out at Chicago, June 10, 
 1865. 
 
 Shortly after his return home, Mr. Wolever was 
 married to Miss Mahala Fry, daughter of Abraham 
 and Margaret Fry, pioneers of Henry County. Their 
 wedding occurred Oct. 21, 1865. Mrs. Wolever be- 
 came the mother of one child, Cora, who was born 
 Aug. 9, 1866. In less than a year, May 23, 1867, 
 the mother died. Mr. Wolever subsequently mar- 
 ried Miss Rosena Foster. Their wedding occurred 
 on the 23d of September, 1868. Four children have 
 been born to them, as follows : Eletha, May 9, 1869; 
 Lotta, Aug. 5, 187 1 ; Calvin F., June 16, 1875 > an d 
 Lucy, May 26, 1881. 
 
 * -^- * 
 
 ffcjflenjamin Records, residing on section 36, 
 Osco Township, where he follows the vo- 
 cation of a farmer, is the owner of 240 
 W* acres of land, located on sections 25 and 36 
 of that township. The parents of Mr. Rec- 
 ords were natives of the State of Pennsyl- 
 vania and were by name Philip and Sarah (Hill) 
 Records. The father died in his native State and 
 the mother still survives. Benjamin was the oldest 
 in order of birth of a family of five children. He 
 was born in Crawford Co., Pa., June 10, 1829. His 
 education was acquired in the common schools and 
 he resided on the parental homestead, assisting in 
 the labors on the farm, until he attained the age of 
 23 years. 
 On attaining the age above mentioned, Mr. Rec 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 ords was employed for about two years in the lum- 
 ber woods, after which he purchased a farm in 
 Crawford County, on which he located and cultivated 
 until the fall of 1863. At that time he came to 
 Mercer County, this State, and there he resided for 
 one and a half years, when he removed to Knox 
 County, and in the spring of 1866 came to this 
 county. On arriving here, he purchased 80 acres of 
 land in Burns Township, on which he resided until 
 the spring of 1875, when he made another move, lo- 
 cating in Osco Township, where he purchased 280 
 acres of land on sections 25 and 36. He settled 
 with his family on section 36 and has continued to 
 reside thereon up to the present writing, 1885. He 
 subsequently disposed of 40 acres of his original 
 purchase, and at present is the owner of 240 acres 
 in the county, all of which is tillable and in a first- 
 class farming condition. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Records took place in Ve- 
 nango Co., Pa., Oct. 15, 1855, and the lady selected 
 to become his wife was Miss Sarah A. Deets, a na- 
 tive of the county in which they were married, where 
 she was born April 7, 1834. Her patents were Jo- 
 seph and Sarah (Cousins) Deets. 
 
 The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Records are 
 as follows: Andrew J., Ella J., Benjamin S., Frank 
 S., Emery and Florence (deceased). Mr. Records 
 has held the position of School Director and Over- 
 seer of Highways in his township, and, politically, 
 casts his vote with the Republican party. He and 
 his wife are devoted adherents to the tenets of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 l,ndrew G. Anderson, owning 250 acres of 
 land, located on section 17, Osco Town- 
 ship, was born in Sweden, April 3, 1839. 
 Mr. Anderson lived in his native country until 
 he attained the age of 12 years, when he was 
 brought by his parents to the United States. 
 He continued to reside with his parents until two 
 years after obtaining his majority, when he left the 
 parental homestead, and set forth to do for himself 
 in life. Soon thereafter, he purchased a farm in 
 company with C. J. Hoflund. Not long afterward 
 they divided their land, and Mr. Anderson traded 
 his portion for the farm on which he at present re- 
 sides. His farm comprises, as stated, 250 acres of 
 
 good tillable land, and he has erected thereon a fine 
 frame residence, together with good substantial out- 
 buildings, and improved his place until it presents an 
 appearance second to none in the township. 
 
 Mr. Anderson was married in Andover Township, 
 March 12, 1869, to Mary Ellen Johnson, who was 
 born in that township, Nov. 1,1850. Her parents 
 were natives of Sweden. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson 
 have become the parents of seven children, whose 
 names are : Vernie E., Frank H., Mabel E., Andrew 
 H, Hannah C, George L. and Nora C. The latter 
 died June 20, 1885, while in her 5th year. Mr. and 
 Mrs. A. are faithful adherents to the tenets of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. Politically, Mr. An- 
 derson affiliates with the Republican party. He has 
 held the position of School Director in his township, 
 and is noted for the push and energy he displays in 
 the management of his farm. 
 
 ohn H. Smith, a substantial citizen of 
 Geneseo Township, is one of the foremost 
 of the self-made men of Henry County. 
 He is a pioneer of the township of Edford of 
 185 1, and was a resident of that section of the 
 county until 1864, when he came to the place 
 where he has since resided. 
 
 He was born in Prussia Nov. 15, 1820. From the 
 age of seven until he was 14 he was in the schools 
 of his native town, according to the laws of that 
 country, which controls the minority period of all 
 male children. From the age of nine he was in the 
 habit of rising at four o'clock in the morning for the 
 purpose of herding cattle until the hour of school. 
 At noon he resumed the care of the herds and took 
 charge of them until dark, receiving for the service 
 72 cents a month. When he was 14 he hired out 
 on a farm for the stipulated sum of $16 per year, and 
 a year later he was paid $18 for the same amount of 
 labor. Meanwhile one of his brothers had come to 
 the United States, and when he reached the age of 
 20 years John received $5° fr° m nlm t0 P av ms ^ are 
 to this country. He sailed from one of the German 
 ports and landed in the city of Baltimore after a sea 
 voyage of seven weeks. On his arrival he found he 
 had $7.50 remaining of the amount with which he 
 set out. He went at first to Cumberland, Md., and 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 535 
 
 
 
 from there to Somerset Co., Pa., where he was em- 
 ployed as a farm assistant at $5 per month. He 
 worked eight months at that rate and then obtained 
 a situation where he received a remuneration of $84 
 a year. The first money he earned he used to reim- 
 burse his brother in order to start fair in the New 
 World. After that he lived frugally and saved his 
 earnings to lay the foundations of the competency 
 which he now enjoys. It may be remarked in passing 
 that they who come to America in hope and courage, 
 and manfully place their shoulders to the wheel of 
 work and progress, such as the customs of the land 
 afford opportunity for doing, rarely fail to reap the 
 reward of industry and honorable effort. Mr. Smith 
 remained on a farm three years and then passed two 
 years in Cumberland in the capacity of a hostler 
 connected with a hotel. He then purchased a team 
 of six horses and engaged in the transportation 
 business, carrying goods from Cumberland to the 
 towns of the interior. Four years later his business 
 was brought to a termination by the advent of the 
 railroad. 
 
 In company with his brother William he then came 
 to Illinois. They traveled to Alton by the river 
 route, which was then the medium of the travel to 
 the West. From Alton they came on foot to Henry 
 County. They bought 320 acres in the township 
 which is now called Edford, but which then was un- 
 organized. The tract referred to was all prairie and 
 and they purchased 80 acres additional, which was 
 covered with trees. After completing their purchase 
 they returned to Cumberland for their families. In 
 the spring of the next year they took possession of 
 their land in Henry County. They made their sec- 
 ond trip to Illinois by the same route as at first, with 
 the exception of landing at Rock Island. There 
 they bought a wagon and a pair of horses and came 
 to their location in township 18. The brothers 
 worked their estate in company until 1853, when 
 they divided, each taking 160 acres of prairie and 40 
 acres of timber. Mr. Smith built a house for his 
 family on the prairie portion of his properly on sec- 
 tion 32, and proceeded to put the entire place in 
 good agricultural condition. He also planted trees 
 and was the owner and occupant of the place until 
 1864, when he came to section 16, in the township 
 of Geneseo. His first purchase included 165 acres 
 of land in the immediate vicinity of the city of Gene- 
 seo, and he has prospered until he is at present the 
 
 proprietary owner of 700 acres of land situated on 
 sections 9 and 16, located in a solid body. The 
 property on section 16 has a good outfit of frame 
 buildings and the second farm, on section 9, is sup- 
 plied with a brick house and frame barn. The 
 business of Mr. Smith is a stock and grain farmer. 
 
 He was married in November, 1849, to Ann 
 Meese, in Somerset Co., Pa. They have four chil- 
 dren. Elizabeth is the wife of Aaron Ott, and they 
 live in Kansas. Nancy married Peter Drum, a resi- 
 dent of Geneseo. Mary E. and John H. are the two 
 younger. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are members of the 
 Evangelical Church. 
 
 — .S6U- 
 
 H. Swain. The current year — 1885 — 
 completes three decades in which the 
 gentleman whose name appears at the 
 P beginning of this sketch has been a resident 
 of Henry County. He has devoted his time 
 ' and attention to the development of his agricul- 
 tural interests and is the proprietor of a good farm 
 on section 23, in the township of Munson. No im- 
 provements had been made on the place previous to 
 its becoming his property, and as soon as he became 
 the owner he erected a small frame house for a 
 residence. The frame house which now adds to the 
 value and appearance of the place is a commodious 
 structure, well adapted to the purpose for which it is 
 designed, and the remainder of the buildings on the 
 farm are of a corresponding character. The place 
 is also supplied with trees of different varieties. 
 
 Mr. Swain was born at Brentwood, Rockingham 
 Co., N. H., Oct 18, T821, and is the son of Stephen 
 and Hannah (Davis) Swain. The son was reared on 
 the home farm and trained in a knowledge of the 
 business of a farmer. He received his education in 
 the public schools. At the age of 22 he went to 
 Boston, Mass., to learn the trade of a carpenter, and 
 he operated there five years. He went thence to 
 Lawrence and continued to reside there until his 
 removal to Illinois in the year stated as that in which 
 he came to Henry County. 
 
 Mr. Swain was joined in marriage with Susan M. 
 Simonton, Oct. 18, 1846. She is a native of the 
 province of New Brunswick and was brought up in 
 Portland, Me. They have eight surviving children : 
 
 ( 5 
 
 s 
 
 I 
 
 ^^ — e^n fl#»>^ — ^^~ 
 
 &&$ 
 
I 
 
 ^:^ 
 
 5i^nii i tr 
 
 536 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 ^ 
 
 (!) 
 
 George lives in Cass Co., Iowa. Annie M. is the 
 wife of Eliphalet Chichester, of Shelby Co., Iowa. 
 Benjamin R. is a citizen of Hamilton Co., Iowa. 
 Edith married Roderick Ayres, and they live in 
 Marion Co., Iowa. Alfred and Lizzie live at home. 
 The latter is a prominent and popular teacher. Cora 
 is the wife of Willard Petty e, and they are residents 
 of Harlan Co., Neb. Lester is the youngest and 
 lives at home. The mother was born Oct. 22, 1823. 
 The family are members of the Baptist Church. 
 
 r lonzo Morgan is a pioneer of Henry Coun- 
 |£ ty and also of Munson Township, where 
 he settled in 1853. His farm is situated 
 on section 29, and he is considered one of the 
 representative agriculturists of this part of 
 the county. He was born at Alexander Bay, 
 in St. Lawrence Co., N. Y., on a farm located on the 
 banks of the river of the same name. His birth oc- 
 curred March 31, 1824. His father, Pliny W. Mor- 
 'gan, was a native of the same State and was de- 
 scended from Connecticut parentage. The latter 
 was born in Oneida Co., N. Y., in 1802. His family 
 were among the pioneers of that county. He married 
 Hannah Porter in 1822. She was born in Connecti- 
 cut. They were residents of St. Lawrence County, 
 where they went soon after their marriage, but a short 
 time, and then went to Steuben Township, in the 
 county of Oneida. The elder Morgan was a shoe- 
 maker and removed his family to those places in 
 which he was able to obtain patronage in his busi- 
 ness, as the customs of those days and that period 
 differed greatly from the present. In 1840 he bought 
 a farm in Oneida County and was occupied in the 
 pursuit of agriculture thereon until the date of his 
 removal to Henry County. The first land of which 
 he was the owner was located on section 34, and he 
 retained his claim upon it until 1858, when he sold 
 it and removed to the township of Cornwall. There 
 he bought 80 acres of uncultivated land on section 
 16, where he proceeded to improve a farm, and 
 erected a good set of necessary farm buildings. This 
 continued in his possession until 1867. When he 
 sold the place he removed to the city of Geneseoand 
 established his residence, which he maintained there 
 until 1 88 1, when he went to Davenport. In the year 
 1883 he died, in that city. He was twice married. 
 
 The issue of the first marriage was four children. 
 All but one, the subject of this biographical narra- 
 tion, died in infancy. The first wife died Feb. 26, 
 1828. The second wife before her marriage was 
 Miss Ruey Hamilton. They had two children. Al- 
 bert W. lives at Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Herbert J. is 
 a citizen cf Chicago. 
 
 Mr. Morgan, of this sketch, was but four years 
 old when he lost his mother, and as soon as he was 
 old enough he took into his own hands the question 
 of sustaining himself. He worked as a farm assist- 
 ant in Oneida County, and at first was able to com- 
 mand but $6 per month. However, that was a 
 difficulty that was substantially remedied by the 
 lapse of time, and as he was able to increase his 
 usefulness his wages increased in proportion. 
 
 In 1844 he became a married man. His union 
 with Martha P. Tuttle occurred on the 4th day of Au- 
 gust, in the year named. Mrs. Morgan is the daugh- 
 ter of Orris and Amy (Smith) Tuttle. Her parents 
 were both born in Camden, N. Y. Her grandparents 
 in both lines of descent were natives of the State of 
 Connecticut. Her father was the first white male 
 child born in Camden. Mr. and Mrs. Morgan set- 
 tled, after their union in the bonds of matrimony, in 
 Onondaga Co., N. Y., where they occupied a rented 
 farm four years. In 1848 they came to Illinois. 
 They made the journey thither by canal to Buffalo, 
 and from there by the lakes to Chicago. From there 
 they took passage on the Illinois Canal to LaSalle, 
 whence they went on the river of the same name to 
 Peoria. 
 
 They bought a farm in the township of Tri- 
 voli in Peoria County, after they had been there two 
 years, during which time Mr. Morgan was operating 
 as an agriculturist. The purchase included but 40 
 acres, and it was of the quality of land known there 
 as hazel-brush land. He built a frame house on it, 
 16 x 1 8 feet in dimensions, " grubbed " a few acres, 
 and occupied the place until 1853. In 1852 he came 
 to Henry County and entered 80 acres of land situa- 
 ted on the east half of the southeast quarter of sec- 
 tion 29, in the township where he is at present a 
 resident. After making his claim he returned to 
 Peoria County and remained until the fall of the next 
 year, when he took possession of his property in 
 Henry County. He had employed assistance to 
 break a few acres in the previous summer and to 
 build a house, of which the family took possession on 
 
 ^2T 
 


 I 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 -54^«sr 
 
 541 
 
 their removal hither. In the spring of 1854 Mr. 
 Morgan entered into the work of putting the place 
 under the best grade of cultivation. The, stock he 
 owned at that time consisted of a pair of horses, a 
 cow and calf and one hog. At first he interested 
 himself in the work of raising grain. For some years 
 past he has given his attention to stock-raising. He 
 has made further purchases of land and is now, the 
 owner of 270 acres, which is all enclosed and is either 
 under improvement or is in pasture He keeps an 
 average of 40 head of cattle, six or eight horses and 
 a drove of hogs. 
 
 Adelbert L., the oldest child of Mr. and Mrs. 
 Morgan, lives in the city of Chicago. Edgar W. 
 removed to Colorado. Amanda A. is the wife of 
 Edward C. Sayre, of Munson Township. 
 
 •Kaeflrt&S®*' — m 
 
 *§&®&im* 
 
 ohn Lyle, of Kewanee, was born at or near 
 
 f Paisley, in Scotland, July 29, 1806, and was 
 
 brought by his mother to America in t8i6. 
 
 His father, William Lyle, inherited a small 
 ]£ estate at Alexandria, Va., and in the year of 
 
 1810 left his family in* the old country for the 
 express purpose of realizing upon it and returning to 
 Scotland ; but when once in the United States he 
 found the country and the people so congenial that 
 he decided to remain. So, when his family arrived 
 they found him at Alexandria, where, instead of hav- 
 ing prepared for them a home, his generosity had 
 gotten the better of his judgment, and his appetite 
 for strong drink had caused him to waste the sub- 
 stance of his inheritance. Thus they were in a 
 strange land without money. After probably two 
 years' stay at Alexandria, they removed to Caledonia 
 Co., Vt, where the senior Mr. Lyle died, in 1834, at 
 the age of 66 years.- 
 
 In 1836 the subject of this sketch came into Stark 
 County and entered a tract of land in Elmira Town- 
 ship, and the following year his mother and two of 
 his brothers removed from Vermont, and the little 
 family was once more united. The old lady lived to 
 -be 95 years of age, and died at the home of her son 
 Thomas, who was the youngest of the family.. (See 
 biography of Thomas Lyle.) John Lyle received a 
 limited education at the subscription schools, and 
 when 17 years of age bought his time from his father, 
 
 3*$%t& ^A^flfl< 
 
 paying him therefor, as soon as he could earn it, the 
 sum of $75. After striking out for himself his first 
 employment was as a charcoal burner at Chester- 
 field, N. Y., where he worked for four years, and, as 
 he says, sowed his " wild oats." He was 30 years of 
 age when he came into Illinois, and for the succeed- 
 ing ten years a fair estimate places his labor upon 
 the farm at not less than 18 hours out of every 24. 
 His inheritance consisted in an iron constitution and 
 a physique capable of extraordinary endurance. 
 From the age of 1 2 years up to nearly four score he 
 labored like a hireling, and a success of his efforts 
 will only partially appear in his history. How many 
 farms he purchased and improved is forgotten even 
 by himself, though his mind and memory are as 
 bright at this writing (July, 1885) as if he were but 
 40 years. Within the past ten years over $75,000 of 
 his well earned money has been wiped out by bank- 
 rupts, and it is related that in one single instance he 
 canceled a mortgage claim of $56,000 in exchange 
 for a two-year-old stallion, worth probably less than 
 $1,500. His files contain stacks of outlawed notes 
 and mortgages, and the aggregate value of such pa- 
 per yet in force is unknown to himself. To his three 
 grandchildren, who since the death of his son con- 
 stitute his only heirs, he has given in money and 
 other property not less than $120,000, and yet the 
 sum of his possessions, for one who has made his 
 money as he has, is quite large. He has~not made 
 his money as a gambler in margins, nor as a stock 
 jobber or Government contractor, nor indeed at the 
 expense of his less fortunate neighbors, but as a 
 quiet, unostentatious farmer, a laborer, by the buy- 
 ing of unimproved lands and converting them into 
 improved property and fine farms, and disposing of 
 them at their legitimately appreciated value ; by these 
 and similar methods his money has been made, and 
 his residuary possessions we say are remarkable. 
 
 On the 24th day of May, 1864, he enlisted as a 
 patriot soldier in Co. K, 134th 111. Vol. Inf., and 
 served until the expiration of his term, Oct. 25 of 
 the same year. . When the company arrived in Chi- 
 cago, examinations preliminary to being mustered 
 into service disclosed the fact of his age,, and his en- 
 rollment was peremptorily refused. This was a 
 sad disappointment to him, and he. returned to Ke- 
 wanee. Here he visited a barber shop and had his 
 gray hairs blackened, and returned with some new 
 recruits to Chicago. Not even his old comrades 
 
 
 
 feE 
 
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 -a#g ^ ffV &BMMffrg^ 
 
 4^K@V| 
 
 542 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 J 
 
 
 ) 
 
 ft 
 
 
 -t 
 
 recognized him. Concealing his real age from the 
 officer, that matter was no longer in the way; but he 
 had another difficulty to overcome. When a young 
 man and while engaged upon the construction of a 
 house in Vermont, a brother workman accidentally 
 thrust the blade of an ax obliquely through his left 
 hand ; this permanently disabled that member. In 
 order to conceal another fact that would undoubtedly 
 debar enrollment upon his second application, Mr. 
 Lyle held the wounded hand behind him while the 
 examining surgeon thumped his chest and held his 
 ear to his heart, and went through the various ma- 
 neuvers usual in such cases, and when the officer 
 passed to an examination of the volunteer's " rear 
 elevation " the wounded hand was immediately 
 passed to the front and the good right hand took its 
 place in the rear! Thus, one hand was examined 
 twice, the recruit was accepted, and at once took his 
 march to the front. While in the army he did his 
 full share of duty, both as a soldier and a forager; in 
 fact, it is claimed that he could scent a chicken roost 
 farther than any other man in the company, and that 
 his " mess " never suffered fiom a lack of variety of 
 the delicacies of the season. 
 
 In the summer of 1863 Mr. Lyle, loaded with all 
 sorts of keepsakes and kindly remembrances, visited 
 the " boys " at Vicksburg, and by permission of the 
 commanding officer accompanied the army six weeks 
 upon the Meridian campaign. It was probably 
 upon that occasion that his extraordinary ability as a 
 "forager" first displayed itself. It is said that upon 
 one occasion he had so many chickens strung upon 
 an old musket that they weighed him down, and he 
 decided to reconnoiter for a beast of burden. Learn- 
 ing that there were a couple of mules upon a certain 
 plantation in the neighborhood, he proceeded to pay 
 his respects to the barn in which they were confined, 
 with a view to " borrowing " one of them for a few 
 days! As he neared the barn-yard the planter came 
 out of the stable leading the two animals to water. 
 That settled it. He knew at 6nce that neither of 
 those mules was for " loan," and he retraced his 
 steps to camp. Relating his experience to the 
 " boys," one of them volunteered to bring in a quad- 
 ruped of some sort upon short notice. The terms 
 were accepted, and when the army moved again the 
 " boss forager " was mounted. 
 
 Years after the war was over, a Baptist minister 
 from Mississippi visited Kewanee upon his errands 
 
 of mercy, and while here and in company with Mr. 
 Lyle related how that, in the summer of 1863, the 
 Union army "had depleted his hen roosts, gleaned his 
 fields and his gardens, stripped his fruit-trees and 
 ransacked his pantry, and worst of all a soldier led 
 away the last old mule that had been left him to 
 draw his family to and from church. The mule was 
 minutely described and the picture was complete. 
 The whilom owner of the contraband donkey and 
 the man who rode it away upon the Meridian cam- 
 paign stood face to face ! 
 
 June 19, 1833, Mr. Lyle was married, in Vermont, 
 to Miss Hester D. Craig, who through all the long 
 years of toil, accompanied often by hardship, has 
 been his faithful companion, sharing alike his pleas- 
 ures and his sorrows. Their only child, George 
 Lyle, was born in October, 1834, and died May 19, 
 1862. 
 
 But few men are more deserving a prominent 
 place in the history of this county than Mr. John 
 Lyle. Few, if any, have done more toward its im- 
 provement; have exhibited greater enterprise or led 
 a more energetic life. To his memory, for it is 
 worthy of perpetuation, we place a full-page portrait 
 of Mr. Lyle in this Album, and as a fitting and 
 worthy companion to his we place the portrait of his 
 wife. She has been a co-worker with him in his 
 many labors. 
 
 eorge Poppleton, a well known, respected 
 and thrifty farmer of Osco Township, 
 his residence being on sectior 24, was 
 born in Lincolnshire, England, August 15, 
 1831. His parents were William and Mary 
 (Bannister) Poppleton, natives of Lincoln- 
 shire, Eng., and of their family often children George, 
 our subject, was the ninth in order of birth. 
 
 He lived at home, under the influence of his par- 
 ents, until 1851, meanwhile assisting his father on 
 the farm and attending school winters, but we are 
 sorry to say his school privileges were somewhat 
 limited. In the spring of 1851 he came to America, 
 and lived in Niagara County, N. Y., for three and a 
 half years, learning the carpenter's trade in the 
 meantime, and in 1855 came to Geneseo, 111., where 
 he worked at his trade for four years. He then pur- 
 chased forty acres in Osco Township, on section 24, 
 
 -^€»^ S^DHSniK-^A© : *€^ 
 
 
 
 i 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 * , 
 
 •!* 
 
 543 
 
 his present homestead, where he settled and has 
 since been a resident. He has built a fine set of 
 buildings upon his farm and is now the owner and 
 possessor of 353 acres of land, all highly cultivated. 
 Mr. Poppleton was married in Cambridge, 111., 
 Dec. 31, 1855, to Esther Hall, daughter of John and 
 Jane (Baiiey) Hall, natives of Ireland. She was the 
 youngest of a family of eight children, and was born 
 in the North of Ireland, May 8, 1835. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Poppleton are the parents of six children, viz. : Mary 
 J., George B., Britton L., Sherman W., John W., 
 Esther A. George B. was united in marriage Oct. 
 3, 1881, to Hattie W. Jackson. They have two 
 children, — Ruby and Ray. Mr. P. has held several 
 of the minor offices of the township. In politics he 
 affiliates with the Republican party. Mr. and Mrs. 
 P. are members of the Episcopal Church. 
 
 ames Withrow, a farmer of Henry County, 
 |^ was born Feb. t, 1833, at Shawneetown, Gal- 
 latin Co., 111., and is the son of Neely and 
 Polly (Eveleth) Withrow, pioneers of the same 
 county, and of whom an account is given on 
 another page of this work. He came to this 
 county with his parents, and underwent the expe- 
 riences of the son of a pioneer in an unsettled coun- 
 try. The educational facilities were of the same 
 primitive fashion as the other surroundings, and the 
 privileges were of the same grade. His life was 
 passed on the farm until the country had need of 
 his services in her defense, and he'made three efforts 
 to enroll as a soldier, but in vain, as he was physic- 
 ally disabled, and there was no such thing as escap- 
 ing the vigilant eye of the examining surgeon. He 
 was obliged to be content with the life of a civilian. 
 His marriage to Mary A., daughter of Jonathan 
 and Charlotte Allen, took place Oct. 3, 1857. She 
 was born in the State of Pennsylvania. Their chil- 
 dren are three in number — two sons and a daughter. 
 Arthur married Luella Cherry and lives in Phenix 
 Township. Mary A. died when she was three years 
 old. Edward E. is a resident of Phenix. The mother 
 died April 23, 1875. 
 
 The family removed to Geneseo in 1865, and, with 
 the exception of one year, have been here ever since. 
 In 1875 they were on the farm. The estate of Mr. 
 
 Withrow contains 240 acres in Phenix Township, 
 and 40 acres situated in the vicinity 'of Geneseo. 
 He is also the owner of 240 acres in Nebraska. It 
 is located in Merrick County, and joins the village 
 called Central City. 
 
 In political connection Mr. Withrow is a Repub- 
 lican of decided stripe, and he has been prominent 
 in the local offices of the county. He has served 
 14 years as Deputy Sheriff, and has been Constable 
 12 years. He has officiated in the capacity of City 
 Marshal two years. The Fair Grounds of Geneseo 
 are on his property, and he takes great interest in 
 good trotting stock. 
 
 amuel Peterson, living on section 15, Osco 
 Township, and one of the largest land- 
 owners in that township, as well as one of 
 the successful farmers and respected citizens 
 of Henry County, is a native of Sweden. He 
 was. born in that country Jan. 23, 1836, and on 
 attaining the age of majority, in 1857, he emigrated 
 to the United States. 
 
 On coming to this country, Mr. Peterson located 
 in Iowa, where he resided until i860. In the fall of 
 that year he came to this county and for three years 
 rented land which he cultivated. At the expiration 
 of that time he purchased a tract of land in Osco 
 Township, on which he moved with his family. At 
 the present time he is the owner of 7 84 acres in Osco 
 Township, a large proportion of which is under an 
 advanced state of cultivation. He is also the owner 
 of mill property in Orion and has several hundred 
 acres of land in Minnesota and Iowa. He keeps 
 about 60 head of cattle, 24 head of horses and' fat- 
 tens about 100 head of hogs on his place annually. 
 From the foregoing, we see that Mr. Peterson has 
 accumulated largely of real-estate and personal 
 property. Possessing but little with which to com- 
 mence a life of business activity on arriving in this 
 country, he has by good judgment and energetic ef- 
 fort procured a competency, and to his own indomit- 
 able perseverance, coupled with the active co-opera- 
 tion of his good wife, may be ascribed all the honor. 
 He is a gentleman whose word is accepted as equal 
 to his bond ; a respected citizen and a progressive 
 and successful follower of his vocation in life. 
 
 
 9 
 
 ^ 
 & 
 
 
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 $\@H3a<t~ 
 
 -^g ^ &^ ®m®w&*?s — *%^. 
 
 -f^t^l 
 
^ 
 
 
 ■^k — ©V4>H BSD Hf»^%— ^€^- 
 
 -««§ 
 
 544 
 
 1=3 
 
 1=3 
 
 f 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 Mr. Peterson was married in this country March 
 22, 1865, to Miss Anna M. Mangulson, a native of 
 Sweden, where she was born Oct. 1, 1847. The is- 
 sue of their union is ten children, seven living and 
 three deceased. The living are John L., Delia, Ly- 
 dia W., Otis F., Phebe E., Clifford R. and Florence, 
 and the deceased were named' Gilmore, Theresa and 
 Oscar. Iii politics Mr. Peterson is identified with the 
 Republican party. 
 
 <wv •nvmsM&gt* 
 
 »»^a/zwOTv. -w~». 
 
 X eely Withrow, deceased, was a pioneer of 
 Henry County, of 1835. He arrived here 
 in August of that year, and was a resident 
 of the township of Phenix ever after until 
 his death, which took place Jan. 25, 1839, and 
 which was the result of an accident. He was 
 born near the city of Louisville, Ky., Feb. 16, i8ro, 
 and was brought up a farmer. William Withrow, his 
 father, removed with his family to Shawneetown, 
 111., in 1828. Mr. Withrow of this sketch was mar- 
 ried in that place to Polly Eveleth. She was a native 
 of Pennsylvania, and was born Feb. 12, 1806. Their 
 marriage occurred May 20, 1830. 
 
 Mr. Withrow was the owner of a tract of land in 
 White County, and they were its occupants until 
 1833, \,hen they came to Henry County. They came 
 hither in company with several other families, and 
 all traveled in the primitive manner in vogue in those 
 days, there being no method of public conveyance, 
 and the days of railroads in unsettled regions being 
 things of a later period of civilization. But the long 
 tedious progress was not without its benefit, and fam- 
 ilies became closer knit together in the days that 
 were of necessity wearisome ; and their new homes 
 did not seem so desolate and remote from the limits 
 of civilization left behind, when contrasted with the 
 monotonous journey that extended through several 
 weeks. Their means of locomotion included both 
 horse and ox teams, and all the ins and outs of the 
 domestic machinery were kept in operation. The 
 cooking was done by the wayside, and at night they 
 slept in their wagons. Mr. Withrow stopped a few 
 months at Knoxville, and in the month of August 
 pushed on to Henry County. He made a stop at 
 Red Oak Grove, where he took a claim and prepared 
 
 to establish a permanent residence. He built a 
 pioneer's cabin of logs in the primitive method of 
 those that wrought with such facilities as the times 
 and place afforded, and covered the structure with 
 clapboards and laid a floor with puncheon, there be- 
 ing no lumber in the State. In the fall of the next 
 year he came to what is now Phenix Township. 
 He sold his claim in Red Oak, and secured another 
 on section 20 of the township named. He made the 
 same preparations for living, and followed the same 
 plans in his building. The roof, as in the other in- 
 stance, was of clapboards, and the floor and doors 
 were of puncheon. He was the owner of several 
 head of cattle, and he did his first breaking with 
 oxen. He was killed by being thrown from a sleigh. 
 His widow was married Feb. 24, 1841, to Harvey 
 Hickox. He died Nov. 4, 1853, and she is a mem- 
 ber of the family of her son Amariah. The children 
 of the first marriage are Amariah, James N., John 
 Wesley, Lucy and Neely. Two of three children 
 born of the second marriage are not living. Eunice, 
 the only survivor, is the wife of Asaph King, of Cen- 
 tral City, Mo. 
 
 Neely Withrow was the first Justice of the Peace 
 in the township of Phenix. There was no county 
 jail, and he had a big blo~k in his house in which he 
 drove staples, to which he was in the habit of chain- 
 ing prisoners. They could then reach the fire and 
 go to bed when occasion demanded. Mr. Withrow 
 is recorded as one of the first voters at the first elec- 
 tion held in the county, June ro, T837. The oldest 
 son married Mary Houston, and lives in Phenix 
 Township. James married Mary Allen, and they 
 reside at Geneseo. John W. married Arvilla Allea, 
 and is a citizen of Hanna Township. Lucy is the 
 wife of Robert Barge, of Central City, Neb. Neely 
 married Ellen Paddock, and they live at the place 
 last named. 
 
 rv^iff* 
 
 #ss>- 
 
 ■n A 
 
 £«!» 
 
 ohn Robb, an agriculturist in the township 
 f of Munson, became a land-holder in Henry 
 County in 1858. He is a native of Penn- 
 sylvania, and his ancestors for many years 
 %F were born in the same State. His great-grand- 
 ' ? father was the owner of immense tracts of land, 
 and the inheritance belonging to the grandfather of 
 
<§J 
 
 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 —a 
 
 i^^v|| 
 
 545 
 
 (& 
 
 Mr. Robb im.luded 700 acres. He died in Pennsyl- 
 vania, in the same house in which he was born, at 
 the age of 85. 
 
 Mr. Robb was born Aug. 16, 181 2, and is the 
 third son of James and Sarah (Russell) Robb. Par- 
 ents and son were born in Chester County in the 
 Keystone State. 
 
 The family removed to Ohio when the son was 15. 
 The settlement was made in Wayne County, where 
 the subject of this sketch grew to manhood. Before 
 he was 20, he was occupied as an assistant on the 
 homestead farm of his father, and at that age he de- 
 termined to learn a trade, and served an apprentice- 
 ship at that of carpenter and builder. He operated 
 in Wayne County until 1855, when he went to Iowa. 
 He located in Johnson County and secured the title 
 to 80 acres of land. The tract was in a wild condi- 
 tion and he passed three succeeding years in the 
 capacity of a renter. 
 
 In that year he came to Illinois and located in 
 Henry County. He passed the first year in the 
 the township of Osco, and in 1859 bought the farm 
 on which he has since operated and made a success 
 of agriculture. It is located on section 8. Since 
 1862 Mr. Robb has given his undivided attention to 
 his farming, and has continued to increase his estate 
 until he is at present the proprietor of nearly 80 
 acres. The immense property is all under good im- 
 provements, and all the appurtenances of the place 
 are of a character suited to its extent and the meth- 
 ods of management practiced by the owner. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Robb and Ann Elliott oc- 
 curred in 1 8s 5. The children which were born of 
 their union are three in number : Nathan lives in 
 Adair Co., Iowa; Walter C. lives at home, also the 
 youngest child, Simon E. Mrs. Robb was born 
 April 13, 1825, in Wayne Co., Ohio. She and her 
 husband are Presbyterians in religious belief and 
 connection. 
 
 f ohn Wachs, a farmer residing on section 
 13, Cornwall Township, is a native of 
 Switzerland, in which country he was born 
 Jan. 7, 1851. At the age of four years he ac- 
 companied his step-mother and uncle to the 
 United States, his father having preceded them 
 to this country two years before. Mr. Wachs, his 
 
 uncle and step-mother, after a pleasant voyage across 
 the briny waters, landed at New York, where, after 
 remaining a few days, they went to Ohio, remained 
 about three months, and then came to Kewanee, 
 this county. The father of Mr. Wachs, of this 
 sketch, was also a native of Switzerland, having been 
 born in that country in May, 1828. He married 
 Miss Cathrina Schwab in 1849, m Switzerland. 
 She died in 1852, leaving one child, John, the sub- 
 ject of this sketch. 
 
 Mr. Wachs was married to Miss Catherine E. 
 Knapper, Feb. 26, 1878. She was born in this 
 county, and her father, Gottlieb Knapper, was a 
 native of Wurtemberg, Germany, and on the 18th of 
 February, 182 1, he first saw the light of day in that 
 country. He was united in marriage with Christina 
 Kingsinger in 1839. 
 
 Mr. Wachs, of whom we write, is. at present the 
 proprietor of 280 acres of good farm land, 120 of it 
 being in Annawan Township, and the remainder in 
 Cornwall Township. Of their union four children 
 were born, — Jacob B., Catherine E., Bertha M. and 
 John William. They are all members of the Presby- 
 terian Church. Politically, Mr. Wachs is liberal in 
 his views. 
 
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 illiam L. Robinson, a farmer of Munson 
 Township, has been a resident of the 
 County since 1855. He was born in 
 Clermont Co., Ohio (Stone Lick Township), 
 Marrh 17, 1825. He is the only s6n of 
 John and Phebe (Hall) Robinson. His grand- 
 father, whose name was John Robinson, was born in 
 the capital city of Ireland, and emigrated to this 
 country about 1800. He came with a nephew who 
 had the same name — John Robinson. The former 
 settled at first in Virginia and went thence to Penn- 
 sylvania. At a date somewhat later he removed to 
 Ohio and settled in the county in which the subject 
 of this sketch was born. He died there about 181 1. 
 Richard Hall, the grandfather on the maternal side, 
 was a resident in the State of Ohio, and gained con- 
 siderable notoriety as an Indian fighter, as in those 
 days the depredations of the red men demanded all 
 possible vigilance and courage on the part of the 
 whites. John Robinson died in Clermont County, 
 
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 546 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 in 1828. His wife died there in 1857. She was 
 born Jan. 1, 1795. 
 
 Mr. Robinson was but three years of age when his 
 father died. He lived with his mother until he was 
 11, when he went to reside with an older sister in 
 Hamilton Co., Ohio, and he made his home with 
 her for three years. He then returned to his mother 
 and was with her -two years. He had acquired a 
 good education, which enabled him to teach, and he 
 followed that occupation six years. He had also 
 fitted himself for the career of a builder, if necessity 
 or opportunity should demand. In 1850 he came to 
 Illinois. He operated as a book agent in Peoria for 
 six months and then returned to his native State. 
 After teaching a term of school in Goshen, Ohio, he 
 returned to Peoria County and engaged in the busi- 
 ness of a carpenter. He was married there March 
 30, 1851, to Mrs. Catherine (Jameson) Hedstrom. 
 She was born in Litchfield, Conn., and is the daugh- 
 ter of Thomas and Laura (Ford) Jameson. Her 
 birth took place Dec. 20, 1823. She was the widow 
 of John Hedstrom. 
 
 After the marriage of Mr. Robinson, he and his 
 wife went to Knoxville, and he there managed the 
 same business as he had followed at Brimfield, 
 where he was married. Six months later, they re- 
 turned to Peoria County. He passed six months in 
 the same employ in the same township, and then be- 
 came a land-holder there by the purchase of a farm. 
 He passed the years that intervened between that 
 time and 1855 in that business in Brimfield Town- 
 ship. He then sold the farm and came to Henry 
 County, reaching his destination in October. He 
 bought land in what was then township 16, now 
 Munson. It was located on section 23, and a house 
 had been nearly completed by its former owner, and 
 it constituted the entire improvements on the farm. 
 The new proprietor went on with the improvements 
 and erected all the buildings and put the place un- 
 der excellent culture. In December, i860, the 
 family residence was destroyed by fire, and that now 
 occupied by them was built soon after. 
 
 The children belonging to the household, now liv- 
 ing, are four in number : Melvina is the wife of the 
 Rev. J. D. Calhoun, a preacher in the Methodist 
 Church, now stationed at Port Byron ; Ellen L. is 
 the wife of Rev. H. K. Metcalf, who is the Pastor of 
 a Church in New Boston, Mercer Co., 111. ; John F. 
 is a preacher in the interests of the same denomina- 
 
 tion, and is connected with the Conference of Cen- 
 tral Illinois: he is officiating on the Rock River 
 Circuit. Albert J. was born Jan. 1, 1859, and died 
 Aug. 12, 1884, in Omaha, Neb. He was one of the 
 head clerks in the office of the Pacific Express Com- 
 pany in that city. Florence M. is the name of the 
 youngest. She and her mother are members of the 
 Methodist Church. 
 
 *-<# 
 
 &£stf 
 
 mira (Clapp) Stoughton, natives of Connecticut. 
 The parents of Mr. Stoughton, of this sketch, 
 were united in marriage and sett'ed in Ashtabula 
 Ohio, where they resided until their deaths. 
 Eight children were born of their union : Jonathan 
 C, Aura A., Mary, Emily, Hardin, Sarah, Henry E. 
 and Sophronia A. 
 
 Henry E. Stoughton, the gentleman whose name 
 heads this notice, is a native of Ohio, having been 
 been born in Ashtabula County, that State, April 15, 
 1837. The years of his minority were passed on the 
 farm, and in attending the common schools of his 
 native county. He remained under the parental 
 roof-tree until he was 23 years of age, passing the 
 major portion of his life on the farm and in learning 
 the blacksmith's trade. Reaching that age in life, 
 he left the old homestead, and for nearly three years 
 worked at his trade. 
 
 Aug. 25, 1864, Mr. Stoughton enlisted in the 177th 
 Ohio Vol. Inf., and fought in defense of his country's 
 flag until the close of war, July 7, 1865. After this 
 Mr. Stoughton returned to Ohio, where he remained 
 until the following February, 1866, variously occupied, 
 when he came to this county and purchased 40 acres 
 of land located in Osco Township. He afterward 
 sold his 40 acres and purchased 80 acres where he is 
 at present residing, on section 22, same township. 
 Mr. Stoughton, by energetic effort and economy, has 
 succeeded in increasing his landed interests until at 
 present he is the proprietor of a farm containing 200 
 acres of well improved land. He has erected on his 
 farm good buildings, thoroughly and completely 
 fenced it, and its appearance is indicative of that 
 energy possessed by its proprietor. 
 
 Mr. Stoughton, March 26, 1861, chose Miss Phi- 
 
 
 enry E. Stoughton, the owner of 200 acres of 
 . good farming land in Osco Township, and re- 
 siding on section22,is asonof Henry and Al- 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 547 
 
 W 
 
 lenda Richmond as the lady to share his joys and sor- 
 rows, successes and reverses, through the future, and 
 they were united in marriage in Ashtabula County, 
 Ohio. She was the daughter of Alanson and Ase- 
 nath Richmond, natives of New York, and was born 
 in Ashtabula County, Ohio, Feb. r, 1841. Of their 
 union five children were born, — Fitz J., Henry L., 
 Eddie, Frank L. and Bertha M. The demise of 
 Eddie occurred when he was three years of age. 
 
 Mr. S tough ton has held the office of Collector, 
 School Trustee, School Treasurer ai.d Township As- 
 sessor, and in politics is a stanch Republican. So- 
 cially, Mr. Stoughton is a member of the Order of 
 Masonry. He is a gentleman respected for his 
 straightforward and manly dealings with his fellow- 
 man, and his accumulations are the outgrowth of an 
 energetic disposition. 
 
 lbridge D. Richardson, cashier of the Far- 
 mers' National Bank at Cambridge, as a 
 native of the Green Mountain State. He 
 was born July 21, 1839, in Pomfret, Windsor 
 Co., Vt. The family to which he belonged is 
 of English extraction and settled in the State 
 of Massachusetts. Mr. Richardson is the fourth in 
 descent from Elijah Richardson, and the son of the 
 latter, Baruch Richardson, was a farmer in the State 
 mentioned as being the first in which the family lo- 
 cated. James H. Richardson, the son of Baruch, 
 was born in Barnard, Vermont. He was educated 
 in that State as a physician and a graduate from the 
 Medical College at Woodstock, Vt , which in its pri- 
 mal days had the reputation of supplying some of 
 the best qualified medical practitioners known in the 
 profession. He established his business at Westford, 
 in the same State, and went thence later in life to 
 Winooski, in the immediate vicinity of the city of Bur- 
 lington, where he is at present located. He married 
 Barbara B. Gibson, who is a native of Pomfret, Vt. 
 She is the daughter of William and Susan (Burns) 
 Gibson and her parents were also born in Vermont. 
 On her mother's side the family is of Scotch extrac- 
 tion. They had four children. Elbridge D. is the 
 oldest. Mrs. Ellen M. (Richardson) Allen is a resi- 
 dent of Vermont, as is Mrs. Susan G. (Richardson) 
 Allen. Clara is deceased. She died at the age of 15. 
 
 In October, 1865, Mr. Richardson came to Cam- 
 bridge. He passed about three years in the sale of 
 groceries, and, selling out at the end of that time, he 
 embarked in trade in hardware. He was interested 
 in that line of traffic five years. During the time, he 
 was appointed Postmaster at Cambridge, receiving 
 his appointment from President Grant in 1870. He 
 discharged the duties of the position until 1881. In 
 Sept., 1873, Mr. Richardson entered the employ of 
 C. R. Wheeler & Co., private bankers at Cambridge, 
 in the capacity of book-keeper. He continued in 
 their service until July, i88r, when he was appointed 
 assistant cashier of the First National Bank at Cam- 
 bridge. In October, of the same year, he received 
 his appointment to the position in which he has since 
 officiated. He has the reputation of being a most 
 reliable and efficient accountant. 
 
 His marriage to Sarah M. Alfred took place May 
 31, 1865, at Fairfax, Vt. She was born in Berk- 
 shire, Vermont, June 30, 1839, and is the daughter 
 of Samuel D. and Polly (Smith) Alfred. Her parents 
 were natives respectively of Massachusetts and Ver- 
 mont. Her father is of English descent. The 
 two children of Mr. and Mrs. Richardson were born 
 as follows: Mary H, Oct. 2, 1867, and Clara G., 
 Aug. 2, 1870. 
 
 In his political connection and faith Mr. Richard- 
 son is a strong Republican. He is a member of the 
 Order of Masonry. 
 
 ^aniel Hagin, member of the firm of Gaines 
 & Hagin, at Cambridge, has been a busi- 
 ness man of Henry County since 1874. 
 He was born in Lansing, Tompkins Co., N. 
 , Feb. 12, 1842. His paternal grandfather, 
 Charles Hagin, was a native of Ireland. The 
 latter was a soldier in the British army, and was 
 brought to America to fight the Colonists, who were 
 in armed rebellion against unjust taxation. He was 
 in sympathy with the cause of the rebels, and had 
 too strong a proclivity to taste the sweets of liberty 
 hirhself to. feel much like aiding in the troubles of 
 others coming from the same source, and he ex- 
 changed his red-coat for the nondescript uniform of 
 the Continental Army. He fought valiantly, and 
 was made a Lieutenant. He lost an arm in the 
 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
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 cause he served. After the termination of the war 
 he settled at Syracuse in the State of New York. 
 His wife was Miss Mary Smith, who was a relative 
 of Governor Yost, of Pennsylvania. Their children 
 were named Francis S., John B., Sally (Mrs. Howe), 
 Charles C, Matilda (Mrs. Teeter), and Barnard M. 
 The oldest son was born Feb. 12, 1816, in Lansing, 
 N. Y., and died in the same place July 2, 1883. He 
 was a soldier in the war of the Rebellion, and en- 
 listed in the 109th Regt. N. Y. Vol. Inf., and was 
 enrolled in Co. G. He was in the battles of the 
 Wilderness, at Spottsylvania and North Anna. 
 
 Catherine Teeter, who became his wife, was born 
 in Lansing, N. Y., May 1, 1832. She died there 
 July 8, 1856. She was one of a family including one 
 on and nine daughters. She became the mother of 
 eight children, — Daniel, Mrs. Flaville Etter, Charles 
 M. and Franklin M. (twins), Amsey, George, Seth 
 (deceased) and Mary. Franklin M. and George 
 were enrolled soldiers in the 15th N. Y. Vol. Cav. ; 
 Amsey and George are deceased. 
 
 Mr. Hagin was educated in the place where he 
 was born, and after finishing his studies he engaged 
 in the business of a farmer until he entered the mil- 
 itary service of the United States. Aug. 2, 1862, he 
 enlisted in the 109th Regt. N. Y. Vol. Inf., and was 
 under rebel fire in the actions in the Wilderness, 
 North and South Anna, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, 
 and the campaign in the vicinity of Richmond. 
 After the war was closed he returned to his nat ve 
 State, and was a grain operator at Ithaca, and he 
 also interested himself in building canal boats and in 
 that variety of navigation for about four years. In 
 1866 he came to Cambridge, and through the first 
 year he was interested in farming. He went to the 
 pineries of the North, and from there returned to his 
 native State. He resumed his old interests in the 
 construction of canal-boats, and on the canal, and 
 passed several years in that avenue of business. In 
 March, 1874, he returned to Cambridge, and formed 
 the partnership in which he is at present interested. 
 
 Mr. Hagin was married Aog. 20, 1868, in Erie, 
 Pa., to Dovia G. Owen. She was born Aug. 3, 1849, 
 in Warren Co., Pa. John Owen, her great-grand- 
 father, was 108 years of age when he died. He 
 was a soldier in the French and Indian wars and in 
 the Revolutionary struggle. Reuben Fenton, late 
 ex-Governor of the State of New York, was one of his 
 grandsons. His son, Eben Owen, was the father of 
 
 Eben G. Owen, who died Aug. 2, 1864, in Warren 
 Co., Pa. The latter married Sarah S. Loucks, and 
 they had the following children : Mrs. Terrissa H. 
 Middaugh, Mrs. Dovia G. Hagin, Mrs. Odessa Ment- 
 zer and Mrs. Alissa M. Mentzer. The children of 
 Mr. and Mrs. Hagen were born as follows : Fred E., 
 June 3, 1869; Frank G, June 26, 1873; Eddie S., 
 March 7, 1878; Alissa L., Jan. 10, 1881. 
 
 'ohn D. Hill, a farmer of the township of 
 jjjf- Munson, is the son of William T. Hill, of 
 whom a sketch is to be found on another 
 page. He was born in Rappahannock Co., 
 Va., March 19, 1843. An account of the re- 
 moval of the family to Illinois is given in con- 
 nection with the sketch referred to, and Mr. Hill 
 celebrated his arrival at the age of 12 years while on 
 the journey hither. He passed the remainder of his 
 minority on the farm in Munson Township where he 
 attended the public schools. In 1862 he entered 
 the military service of the United States. He en- 
 listed in Co. C, 112th Regt. 111. Vol. Inf., and re- 
 mained in active military duty three years. He 
 received his discharge after the close of the war. 
 The list of battles in which he was a participant are 
 as follows : Knoxville, Sanders' Raid, Bean Station, 
 Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain, Pine Mountain, Eutaw 
 Creek, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Franklin, Nashville, Wil- 
 mington (N. C), Fort Anderson, Kelly's Ford, Dand- 
 ridge, and many others of greater or less importance. 
 During the last year of the war he was the color- 
 bearer. June 20, 1865, he found himself at liberty 
 to return to home and friends. 
 
 His marriage to Esther, daughter of Buenos and 
 Sarah (Osborn) Ayers, took place Sept. 30, 1867. 
 Mrs. Hill was born May 14, 1845, in Hicksville, 
 Ohio. Her parents are at present residing in Gen- 
 eseo, but they were then farmers in Munson Town- 
 ship. 
 
 In February, 1868, Mr. Hill bought land in Iowa, 
 but he did not remove to it, and later he exchanged 
 it for land in the township of Cambridge, Henry 
 County. Of that he took possession in 1872. Mean- 
 while he was the manager of the farm of Mr. Ayers. 
 After a residence of two years in Cambridge, Mr. 
 Hill sold the property there and bought a considera- 
 
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 HENRY 
 
 COUNTY. 
 
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 ble tract of real estate on sections 7 and 8 in Mun- 
 son Township. The family have since been its 
 occupants, and their residence is located on the west 
 half of section 8. In 1880 Mr. Hill bought the west 
 half of the northwest quarter of section 17 in the 
 same township, and he is now the owner of 243 
 acres of good land under the best type of improve- 
 ments. He is interested in rearing Hereford cattle. 
 His horses are of good grades and he turns off a 
 large number of hogs from his estate yearly. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Hill are members of the Christian 
 Church. 
 
 -5- 
 
 #-# 
 
 Iraf uman Woodward, a successful farmer of 
 EJylf this county, residing on section 21, Osco 
 Township, is a son of Hiram and Cynthia 
 (Root) Woodward, natives of Vermont and 
 Ohio. The grandfather of Mr. Woodward of 
 this sketch, Asa Woodward, was a soldier in 
 the Revolutionary War. Luman's father and moth- 
 er after marriage settled in Licking Co., Ohio, where 
 they resided following the vocation of farming until 
 1852, when they came to this county with a team 
 and wagon and settled in Osco Township. For a 
 more extended notice of their lives see the biogra- 
 phy of Hiram Woodward, elsewhere in this volume. 
 The children of the parents were nine in number. 
 
 Luman Woodward was the eldest in order of birth 
 of the children of his parent's family. He was born 
 in Licking Co., Ohio, Feb. 4, 1831. The school 
 privileges of Mr. Woodward were limited, and his 
 accumulation of practical knowledge is due to his 
 own individual efforts, and what education he is pos- 
 sessed of was acquired by the same perseverance on 
 his own part as the practical knowledge that he pos- 
 sesses. He resided at home or. his father's farm in 
 Licking Co., Ohio, assisting him in the labors thereon 
 until 1 85 1. In the spring of 1855, Mr. Woodward 
 came with his wife and one child to this county, and 
 purchased 60 acres of land on section 21, Osco 
 Township. He with his family settled on his land 
 and engaged vigorously and energetically upon the 
 task of its improvement and cultivation. He has 
 erected fine buildings, set out numerous shade trees 
 on his farm, and by economy and energetic labor has 
 increased his landed interests until he is at present 
 
 ^§i^ a^ y QJ^ QW\ 
 
 the owner of a fine farm containing 140 acres, all of 
 which is under an advanced state of cultivation. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Woodward took place in 
 Licking Co., Ohio, Aug. 15, 1852, and the lady 
 chosen to accompany him through the trials of the 
 future was Miss Laura, the accomplished daughter 
 of Norman and Mary (Edelblute) Woodworth, na- 
 tives of Vermont and Virginia respectively. After 
 her parents' marriage they settled in Licking Co., 
 Ohio, where they reared a family of six children, 
 namely : Charles, Laura, Rebecca, Gilmore, Seibert 
 and Norman, and where they continued to reside un- 
 til their deaths. 
 
 Mrs. Woodward was born in Licking Co., Ohio, 
 Aug. n, 1834. She has borne her husband one 
 child, Cynthia Alice, who was married to John W. 
 Hadley, a resident of Newman, Jasper Co., Iowa, 
 and who were the parents of two children, Mary A. 
 and Laura M. Mary A. died April 24, 1882, in her 
 27th year, of diptheria, and Laura M. died in 1864. 
 
 Mr. Woodward has held the office of Commission- 
 er of Highways, as well as other minor offices within 
 the gift of the people of his township. Politically, 
 he is a believer in and supporter of the principles 
 advocated by the Republican party. 
 
 In selecting persons in different parts of the county 
 to represent the different callings and professions in 
 the portrait department of this work, we find in Osco 
 Township a number of truly representative agricult- 
 urists. Prominent among these, however, ranks Mr. 
 Woodward, of this sketch, and we give his portrait 
 in connection with this sketch. 
 
 A .1. ■ ! ■ .1. <■ ' { ~ 
 
 .ohn W. Chapman, father of Chapman 
 Brothers, editors of the Chronicle, pub- 
 lished at Cambridge, was born Feb. 10, 
 1835, in Madison, Ind. He is the son of John 
 and Mary A. (McKin) Chapman, who were 
 natives of the State of Ohio. The family to 
 which he belongs is of English extraction, his grand- 
 father, John Chapman, having descended from that 
 nationality. The latter was a resident of Lancaster 
 Co., Pa. His son John was the father of five child- 
 ren, — Elizabeth V., Henry C, William (deceased), 
 John W. and M. Frances. 
 John Chapman, Sr., was born in Ohio, and died in 
 
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552 
 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 Madison, Ind., in 1841, at the age of 41. In early 
 life he was a boatman on the Ohio River, and in 
 later years he was a magistrate in the city of Madi- 
 son. He also served as City Marshal and as City 
 Assessor. He was a man of excellent abilities and 
 was the recipient of general esteem. 
 
 His son, John W. Chapman, was reared in Madison, 
 and there made himself ready for the contest of life 
 by learning the trade of wagon-maker. March 2, 
 1858, he was married to Catherine Sturgis. She was 
 the daughter of Levick and Mary (Simons) Sturgis, 
 and died Oct. 25, 1883, at the age of 45. The 
 three children to whom she gave birth are living, and 
 are named William O., J. Harvey and Emma E. 
 Mr. Chapman afterward removed to Indianapolis, 
 where he followed his trade for eight years. In 
 April, 1876, he came thence to Cambridge, and has 
 since been occupied in the pursuit of his vocation 
 here. 
 
 His sons were educated in the public schools of 
 Indianapolis, and began their acquaintance with 
 journalism in that city, in the capacity of newsboys, 
 which was their occupation while attending school. 
 In the year succeeding that in which the family 
 came to Cambridge, William O. Chapman, of the 
 Chronicle, entered the office of that journal, then in 
 the hands of George C. Smithe, and began to obtain 
 a knowledge of the trade of a printer. He passed 
 one year subsequently in Rock Island and at Daven- 
 port working at his trade. When Harvey Chapman 
 reached the age of 14, he became at attache of the 
 Chronicle office, where he also learned his trade. 
 February r, 1885, the two brothers took charge of 
 the paper, and are engaged in its successful manage- 
 ment. 
 
 red Stahl is a farmer on section 13, Mun- 
 son Township, and is engaged in the man- 
 agement of 144 acres of valuable land. 
 He is a native of Germany, and was born in 
 /JRC the Province of Holstein, Jan. 17, 1842. He 
 attended the schools of his native country as 
 long as the law prescribed, and at 16 he went to 
 work on a farm. He continued in that employ until 
 he came to America. 
 
 In 1867 he set out for a land which he had reason 
 to believe afforded a chance for a poor man to secure 
 
 the privileges which he believed were the inherent 
 right of every man, and he landed at Quebec, in the 
 Dominion of Canada. After a stay of two days he 
 left that city for Chicago. Arriving there, he made 
 no stop, but at once set out from there for Henry 
 County. He found a cousin — Charles Stahl — with 
 whom he remained a short time. He speedily ob- 
 tained work, and he operated as a farm assistant 
 until 1869. 
 
 In that year he was married to Minnie Peterson. 
 She is a native of Sweden, and was born Feb. 1, 
 i84r. As soon as he was married Mr. Stahl rented 
 land and conducted his affairs after that method two 
 years. In 187 1 he bought a farm on section 13. 
 There was a house on the place, which he has re- 
 built, and he has also erected a good frame barn, 
 having a stone basement. Mr. Stahl is interested in 
 raising stock and grain. 
 
 He and his wife are the parents of four children, 
 named Emil, Jennie, Nellie and Mabel. 
 
 -£3- 
 
 teenry L. Goold, dealer in fine furniture, 
 pii^ pianos and organs, at Kewanee, 111., was 
 born in Knox County, this State, Dec. 26, 
 1850. His parents, Sylvester and Ella T. 
 (Macklin) Goold, natives of Vermont and Dela- 
 ware respectively, reared a family of two sons 
 and one daughter, Henry being the eldest. Sylves- 
 ter Goold was for many years a merchant in Galva, 
 and carried on farming and stock trading pretty ex- 
 tensively at the same time. In T877 he removed to 
 San Benito Co., Cal., where he has since been en- 
 gaged in the live-stock business. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was brought up on his 
 father's farm and liberally educated at commor. 
 schools, graduating at the Galva High School in 1869, 
 and subsequently spending two years at the Evanston 
 University. In the spring of 1872 he went to Cali- 
 fornia and remained about three years teaching 
 school, keeping books and . civil-engineering. Re- 
 turning to Illinois in 1875, he at once formed a part- 
 nership with a Mr. Fairbanks, and engaged in his 
 present business. In 1879 a third party was ad- 
 mitted to the firm, changing the style to Fairbanks, 
 Goold & Blanchard, and in 1881 Mr. Goold became 
 sole proprietor. In addition to the furniture and 
 
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 A^flMIl^ 1 ^ ^g^ 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 553 
 
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 musical instrument business, he is the most exten- 
 sive undertaker in the village. He is largely inter- 
 ested in agriculture in Iowa and Nebraska ; is a 
 stockholder in the " Haxtun Steam Heater Works," 
 Kewanee, and also in the First National Bank of 
 that place. For so young a man, Mr. Goold's suc- 
 cess has been decidedly flattering. Not a cent has 
 been given him. What he has he has worked for. 
 He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd 
 Fellows and prominently identified with the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church. 
 -In April, 1875, he was married at Galva, 111., to 
 Miss Florence F. Hurd, who died in 1881, aged 
 about 28 years, leaving three children: Ellen 
 Frances, Theodore, Fred and Harry. Feb. 5, 1884, 
 at Kewanee, Mr. Goold contracted a second mar- 
 riage, the lady being Miss Matilda Wentworth, the 
 accomplished daughter of John Wentworth, Esq., re- 
 tired contractor and builder, formerly of Maine, but 
 has made his home in Kewanee since 1881. 
 
 eorge Goodrich, jeweler at Cambridge, 
 was born in 1829, in Hamilton, Madison 
 Co., N. Y. The family is of Scotch and 
 English extraction. Their ancestors settled 
 in the State of Connecticut. Henry C. Good- 
 rich removed from the "land of wooden nut- 
 megs" to the State of New York with his family in 
 1812, and 'there died, at the age of 65 years. His 
 demise occurred in 1848. He was a citizen of 
 prominence, and was active in the affairs of the State 
 militia, in which he was a Captain. By occupation 
 he was a farmer. He'was married in Connecticut to 
 Sally Gillett, a native of that State. She died in 
 Hamilton, N. Y. Of the 12 children of which she 
 became the mother seven reached maturity. Mrs. 
 Eunice Martin is a resident of Oneida, 111. George 
 is the next in order. Parma still survives. Two 
 daughters, Mary and Ellen, died in Knox Co , 111. 
 Five children died in the State of New York. 
 
 Mr. Goodrich was reared on a farm till he was of 
 age. He then learned the trade of a millwright, and 
 followed it in connection with the business of a car- 
 penter until he came in 1849 to Victoria, Knox Co., 
 111., where he was similarly occupied until the spring 
 oi 1853, when he yielded to the desire to see the El 
 
 ^^^ — &m>m 
 
 Dorado of the American Continent, and joined a 
 company of 20 men, who crossed the plains to Cali- 
 fornia. The entire trip was made without accident. 
 In California Mr. Goodrich operated in the mines 
 six years, but with unsatisfactory results after the 
 first. He then went to the Redwood country, where 
 he joined a logging camp. He passed three years 
 there, and operated meanwhile to some extent as a 
 mechanic. Finally he interested himself in farming, 
 in which he passed seven years, with excellent suc- 
 cess. He managed a cattle ranch, and owned a 
 great number of working oxen, with which he hauled 
 his supplies — sometimes adistance of from 30 to 150 
 miles, as occasion demanded. He made from $r,ooo 
 to $3,000 annually. He remained on the Pacific 
 coast 17 years, and at the expiration of that time he 
 returned to Knox Co., 111. He rested there a year, 
 and then came to Cambridge, where he embarked in 
 the sale of drugs, and also maintained a boot and 
 shoe store. Not long afterward he opened the busi- 
 ness of a jeweler, in partnership with John A. Hart, 
 now a resident of Oskaloosa, Kan. The latter rela- 
 tion continued five years, and at the end of that time 
 Mr. Goodrich bought the interest of his partner, and 
 has since managed the business alone. The drug 
 interest in which he had a share was terminated at 
 the end of six months by its destruction by fire. 
 During the last ten years he has been engaged in the 
 management of a saloon and billiard hall. Mr. 
 Goodrich has devoted much interest to the advance- 
 ment of the business prosperity of Cambridge, and 
 has erected a number of business buildings. 
 
 The Rebellion and its several issues made him a 
 Republican, and he has since been unswervingly de- 
 voted to the interests of that party. 
 
 S<Ot* 
 
 _arl Swiger is one of the representative 
 agriculturists of the county, where he has 
 resided since i860. He was born in Sax- 
 ony, Germany, Feb. 7, 1836. Carl and Chris- 
 tina (Richter) Swiger, his parents, were also 
 of German birth. After he passed the time 
 required by law in attendance at school he was put 
 to work on a farm. He was 24 when he left the land 
 of his birth for the New World. He crossed the 
 ocean on a sail vessel, and after a voyage of six 
 weeks landed at the port of New Orleans. He stayed 
 
 
 0) 
 

 (9 
 
 
 (fa 
 
 r 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 in the Crescent City two days, and proceeded thence 
 to St. Louis. He remained there two days, and then 
 came to Rock Island. The next day he came to 
 Henry County. He was the possessor of $10 when 
 he arrived in the county, where he is now an inde- 
 pendent land-holder. He engaged in farming in 
 Munson Township and did his first work for D. P. 
 Merrill. 
 
 In September, in 1861, he enlisted in the Ninth 
 111. Cav., enrolling in Co. B. He obtained a dis- 
 charge for disability in June, 1862, and returned to 
 the township from which he enlisted. For several 
 months he was unable to do any work, and as soon 
 as he was sufficiently recovered he again interested 
 himself in farming. He entered the employ of the 
 same man — Mr. Merrill. In 1867 he bought 80 
 acres of land on section 10, where he operated with 
 the most unqualified success as an agriculturist. In 
 1371 he exchanged the property for the place where 
 he has since lived and carried on his plans with the 
 same good results. The farm is situated on section 
 9, and is supplied with good and creditable farm fix- 
 tures. The buildings are of the same type, and the 
 place is increased in value and appearance by the 
 addition of fruit and shade trees. Mr. Swiger raises 
 stock and grain, and is interested in the dairy busi- 
 ness. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Swiger and Miss Theresa 
 Miller occurred Oct. 26, 1867. Their children are 
 named Hattie and Frank. Mrs. Swiger was born in 
 Saxony, Germany. Both herself and husband are 
 members of the Lutheran Church. 
 
 i illiam H. Terpening. The name that 
 opens this biographical notice will be rec- 
 ognized as that of a pioneer of Munson 
 Township of 1851. Mr. Terpening was born 
 in the township of Virgil, Cortland Co., N. 
 , April 22, 181 8. His father, Henry Ter- 
 pening, was born in Ulster Co., N. Y., and married 
 Sarah Byram, a native of the State of Vermont. 
 They located their home in the county where their 
 son was born, about the year 181 2. The father 
 was a carpenter and joiner by profession, and he 
 purchased a tract of land which was covered with 
 the heavy forest for which the Empire State was 
 
 
 .o, A 
 
 m® 
 
 noted in its primeval days, and, as he wished to 
 follow his trade, he employed assistance in the labor 
 of clearing the farm in Virgil Township. After some 
 years he abandoned his business as a builder, and 
 and gave his undivided attention to farming. His 
 wife died on the homestead, and he was again mar- 
 ried. He went to the village of Cortland to pass the 
 closing years of his life, and died there, at the age 
 of 78. 
 
 Mr. Terpening of this sketch was instructed in the 
 details of farming, and also in those of the trade of 
 a carpenter, by his father, and acquired a complete 
 knowledge of both by working under the competent 
 instructions of his sire. He was the assistant-on the 
 farm and in the work of a carpenteruntil he was 20, 
 when he was released from his obligation to his par- 
 ents and commenced the world in his own interest. 
 He started for the West, and went to Brownsville, 
 Union Co., Ind., where he worked as a carpenter a 
 year. At the end of that time he bought a saw-mill ( n 
 and engaged in the lumber business. He also pur- ^ 
 chased land and erected a commodious frame house 
 This was burned five years later, and he lost his mill J}{{ 
 on a judgment held against the man from whom he §j§ 
 had bought the property, and these disasters, both 5j^ 
 coming together, nearly ruined him in a financial Q 
 sense. He went to Fayette County in the Hoosier 4 
 State, and there, in company with a man named / >J 
 Sands, he built a saw-mill two miles from Conners- 
 ville, and operated as a business man four years. 
 He then sold his interest in the mill, and went to 
 Cincinnati, Ohio, where he obtained employment at 
 his trade until the year he came to Illinois. He set- 
 tled in Henry County in June, and made a claim on 
 section 36, in what was then township 16, and is now 
 included in the territory of Munson. Mr. Terpening 
 commenced the building of a house, but did not com- 
 plete it, as he went to Knox County, and remained 
 until late in the month of December. He then re- 
 turned to Henry County, and brought his family back 
 with him. As their own abode was not ready for 
 their accommodation, they lived in another until the 
 following March, when Mr. Terpening completed the 
 house he had begun on first coming to the county. | 
 They took possession of it as soon as possible, and V 
 the proprietor at once began the improvement of the Jy 
 land. He secured his claim from the Government, pj\ 
 and was its occupant until 1855. ®j 
 
 In that year he sold the place, and with his family ^ 
 
 :9 
 
@)^Ǥ* 
 
 -z$^z 6V^D H&Hfl& v^e) j d&K- 
 
 ^m^\4§l 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 555 
 
 
 
 started for Iowa. He was a second time a pioneer, 
 and he settled among the first in Union County, 
 where he entered 560 acres of land. He also bought 
 an improved claim of 160 acres, which contained a 
 house. He entered with energy into the work of an 
 agriculturist on an extensive scale, and continued to 
 increase his acreage until he was the owner of i.too 
 acres. He also took an active part in matters per- 
 taining to the general welfare of the public, and he 
 was elected to fill the position of Justice of the Peace 
 and as Supervisor. After a residence there of nine 
 years he returned to the township of Munson. He 
 had rented the estate in Iowa, and he bought 168 
 acres on section 27. No improvements had been 
 made on it, and he has placed the whole under the 
 best type of cultivation. He has erected good build- 
 ings and improved the acreage of the farm, and has 
 operated in the same methods to which he has been 
 accustomed all his life, and has increased his estate 
 in Munson Township until he is the owner of 284 
 acres. Mr. Terpening is interested in raising stock 
 and in mixed husbandry. 
 
 While a resident of Iowa he enlisted as a soldier 
 in the cause of the Union. He was enrolled in Au- 
 gust, 1 863, in the 29th Iowa Regt., I. V. I , and after 
 staying in the camp at Council Bluffs two months he 
 fell ill, and was discharged as unfit for the rugged 
 duties of a soldier. His sons, George and Clinton, 
 enlisted in 1863, in the 12th 111. Cav., and each 
 served nearly three years. Both were minors at the 
 time they enlisted, and both returned with health 
 permanently impaired. They receive a pension of 
 $12 monthly. 
 
 Mr. Terpening is a man of uncommon abilities. 
 He has a well-stored mind, is a great reader and a 
 -close observer of all things that have a beneficial 
 effect on the mental powers. In political faith he is 
 an adherent of the National Greenback party, and 
 holds to tolerant religious views. He is a pleasant 
 companion socially, and has a good understanding 
 and control of fluent speech. 
 
 June 18, 1839, Mr. Terpening was married to 
 Eliza A. Mason. She is a native of Cincinnati, and 
 was born May 4, 1816. The record of the children 
 which constitute the issue of the union is as follows : 
 Martha is the wife of Samuel Wilson, and they are 
 living in Republic Co., Kan. ; Missouri A. married 
 William Reese, who was a soldier in the 4th Iowa 
 Vol., and died in the military service of the United 
 
 States; she afterward married George A. Terpening, 
 her cousin, and lives in Munson Township; George 
 A. lives in Republic Co., Kan., and is a farmer there, 
 and Justice of the Peace ; Clinton W. is a photog- 
 rapher in Bedford, Iowa; Francis is a prominent 
 citizen of Washington Co., Kan. ; he is a farmer and 
 merchant at Alba, and also officiates as Postmaster; 
 Melissa A. married E. G. Ball, of Chicago; Minnie 
 married William Hutchinson, and they are residents 
 of the township of Munson ; Marion is a business 
 man in Creston Iowa; he is a druggist and an ex- 
 tensive farmer ; Charles S. lives in Washington Ter- 
 ritory; he is a teacher by profession and is also 
 interested in farming; Mary E. is married to James 
 Orr, of Cornwall Township, this county. 
 
 ohn A. Schoettler, dealer in groceries, etc., 
 at Cambridge, was born in the township of 
 Concord, in Bureau Co., 111., Aug. 26, 1852. 
 He is the son of Frederick and Maria (Schwar- 
 zentraub) Schoettler, both of whom were na- 
 tives of Germany. The former was born in 
 Hesse and the latter in Bath. The father died in 
 Bureau County in 1879, and the mother in the same 
 county Jan ; 10 of the same year. His death took 
 place July 30. They came to Illinois and settled in 
 the county where they passed the remaining years of 
 their lives, in the year 1842. They located in the 
 vicinity of Tiskilwa. Their children were ten in 
 number, and were named Christian L., Jacob F., 
 Mary Eliza, Joseph W., John A., Emma F., Amelia 
 F., Mina L., George E. and Ellen L. All are living 
 and married, with two exceptions. 
 
 The gentleman of whom this sketch is given was 
 educated in the county where he was born, and after 
 passing some years in the labors of the homestead, 
 he went to Buda, 111., and entered the employ of B. 
 F. Waite, who was engaged in the business of a mer- 
 chant at that place. He operated as a clerk about 
 13 months, and then commenced to work in a similar 
 capacity in the interests of B. N. Stevens & Sons, in 
 Tiskilwa. He remained in their employ a year, and 
 passed the year ensuing in farming on the home- 
 stead. The next year he traveled in Nebraska, and 
 when his journeying was ended he returned to Buda 
 and passed a year in the prosecution of the work of 
 
 y 
 & 
 
 
 zm$$p: q^^uji^iiii^a^ ^^_ 
 
2ir 
 
 556 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 f 
 
 > 
 
 a carpenter there. He came to Cambridge from the 
 place last mentioned and operated in the capacity of 
 Assistant Postmaster under W. J. Vannice. He 
 filled that position two years, and next received an 
 appointment as postal clerk on the railroad between 
 Bureau and Peoria. He ran between the two points 
 15 months, and at the end of that time he came 
 again to Cambridge. He opened the line of business 
 in which he has since been engaged, and which he 
 is conducting with satisfactory results. 
 
 His marriage to Eliza R. Buck took place Feb. 18, 
 1885. She is a native of the township of Munson, 
 in Henry County, where she was born May 7, 1857. 
 She is the daughter of Edmund and Margaretta 
 (Woolsey) Buck. Her father is a pioneer of the 
 county. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Schoettler are connected by mem- 
 bership with the Congregational Church. He is a 
 member of the I. O. G. T., and has been identified 
 with no party in politics, but has acted independ- 
 ently. 
 
 '[juiigust Samuelson, engaged in farming on 
 section 34, is one of the prosperous and 
 energetic farmers of Osco Township. He 
 was born in Sweden, Oct. n, 1839, and came 
 to America in 185 1 with his parents, who 
 located in Western Township, this county, 
 where the father died. Mrs. Samuelson still sur- 
 vives. 
 
 August is the youngest of his parents' family of ten 
 children, and lived at home, attending the district 
 schools in the acquisition of an English education, 
 and actively engaged with his father in the pursuits 
 of the farm until he was 28 years of age. At that 
 period in life occurred one of the most important 
 events of our subject, which was his marriage, in 
 Rock Island County, on the 24th of October, 1867, 
 to Matilda L. Anderson, also a native of Sweden. 
 She was born Jan. 1, 1851, and was but a child of 
 six years when with her grandmother they emigrated 
 to the New World. 
 
 In the fall of 1870, August, of whom we write, made 
 a purchase of a tract of land of 1 60 acres, located on 
 section 34, Osco Township, his present site, and up- 
 on the same entered immediately on its improvement 
 jind cultivation, and now has some of the finest land, 
 
 being in excellent condition, in his township. He 
 has also increased his landed interests by subse- 
 quent purchases, until he is now the possessor and 
 proprietor of 274 acres of good tillable land in this 
 county. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Samuelson have had their home 
 blessed by the birth of five children, — Emil G., Etta 
 A., Ely A., Lillie G. and August W. being their 
 names. Mr. Samuelson and family are members of 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church, and politically Mr. 
 S.'s affiliations are with the Republican party. 
 
 ohn W. Crawford, of the township of 
 Munson, has resided in Henry County 
 since he came hither in 1850. He at that 
 
 f time located on section 31, of what was then 
 town 16, and is now Munson. He is therefore 
 justly entitled to the cognomen of a pioneer of 
 the county. 
 
 He was born in Bowling Green, Warren Co., Ky., 
 Sept. 18, 1828, and is the son of John and Elizabeth 
 (Howard) Crawford. His father was a native of Vir- 
 ginia, and was a preacher in the Cumberland Pres- 
 byterian Church. When he was still a young man he 
 left his native State to settle in Kentucky, where he 
 remained until 1833, the year in which he came to 
 Illinois. He set out with his wife and four children, 
 and with two pair of oxen and a wagon, in company 
 with a party of pilgrims with the same object in view 
 as led the great army of pioneers to the Prairie State. 
 The entire party led the lives of gipsies while they 
 were on the journey ; and, when it is remembered 
 that it is a fast growing custom for the delicate and 
 refined in higher social circles, to make such trips for 
 the sake of their novelty and adventure, as well as 
 for health, it may well be conjectured that the trav- 
 elers in search of homes found something to make 
 their travel pleasant and profitable. They located in 
 Knox County. The father of Mr. Crawford bought 
 land of the United States Government, on which the 
 city of Abingdon is now built. He erected a log 
 house, which had a puncheon floor and was roofed 
 with clapboards. He was occupied with his farming 
 and preaching at that place until his death. His 
 widow still owns a farm in the vicinity of Abingdon, 
 where she makes her home. 
 
 Mr. Crawford remained on the farm of his father 
 
 i. 
 ® 
 
■^v&dii&hh& '/c) j^ k- 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 -4*^$v|!§ 
 
 V 
 
 
 I 
 
 557 
 
 until 1850, when he came, as has been stated, to 
 Henry County. The place where he bought this 
 tract of land was all wild prairie, and cut logs and 
 had them sawed into material suitable for a frame 
 house, which he built for the accommodation of his 
 family, and which was 16 x 18 feet in dimensions. 
 He broke first 40 acres and fenced it. He was the 
 owner and occupant of that place until he exchanged 
 it for land on section 19 in the same township, which 
 transaction took place in 1852. In the spring of 
 1855 he commenced the work of breaking the acres 
 of his new farm, and in the fall he erected a house 
 and removed thither. He still holds the place and 
 has added to its dimensions until it comprises 240 
 acres. It has all been improved and good and suit- 
 able buildings erected. Mr. Crawford has set out a 
 considerable variety of trees. 
 
 He was married Aug. 14, 185 1, to Mary E. Snyder. 
 Mrs. Crawford was born in Warren Co., Ohio, was the 
 daughter of Frederick and Hannah (High) Snyder. 
 She became the mother of three children : Libbie H. 
 is the wife of William Sheaffer, Farragut, Iowa ; Ida J. 
 married Byron Markham, who lives in Washington, 
 Kan. ; Clara A. is the wife of George Howard, and 
 they reside near Shenandoah, Iowa. The mother died 
 Nov. 3, 1863. Julia Morrow became her successor 
 June 14, 1864, and of the second marriage there are 
 six children: Nory Ella, who died Aug. 5, 1883; 
 Minnie M., Arthur J., John W., Jay Edson and Jes- 
 sie Martin. 
 
 Mr. Crawford is an Elder in the Presbyterian 
 Church, and his wife is a member of the same or- 
 ganization. 
 
 i,ri Wilson, a citizen of Cambridge, where he 
 is living in retirement from active life, has 
 been a resident of Henry County since 
 1855, when he settled on a farm of 100 acres 
 in Burns Township. He continued its occu- 
 pant until the spring of 1882, when he removed 
 to Cambridge. He operated as a general farmer 
 and stockman, reaping the reward of industry and 
 frugality. He made additional purchases of land, 
 and is now the owner of 195 acres in Burns Town- 
 ship, which is in profitable agricultural condition. 
 Mr. Wilson was born April 3, 1819, in Otsego Co., 
 
 N. Y. His parents, John and Jane (Decker) Wil- 
 son, were born in the State of New York. The 
 family of the former was of Scotch origin. Jacob 
 Decker, the maternal grandsire, was of Dutch ex- 
 traction. John Wilson died in the State of New 
 York. Eight children were born to himself and wife, 
 in the following order: Jessie, Marvin, Harriet, 
 Asenath, Uri, Ahira, James and John. Jessie went 
 to Michigan. Marvin became a soldier in the Civil 
 War, and died in the summer of 1885. The other 
 children, with the exception of Mr. Wilson, of this 
 sketch, went to Iowa. 
 
 The latter was a farmer in his native State. In 
 February, 1855, he came to Henry County, and in 
 the fall of that year he located in Burns Township. 
 He is a Republican, and while a resident there he 
 filled several local official positions. 
 
 He was married April 5, 1840, in Friendship, Alle- 
 gany Co., N. Y., to Rebecca Britton, who has borne 
 eight children. Selecta (Mrs. Clark) is not living; 
 Sylvia is Mrs. Taylor ; Nathaniel, Ersula (deceased), 
 Sarah, Emma, Julia and Etta were born in the order 
 named. 
 
 Mrs. Wilson was born June 26, 18 19, in Lycoming 
 Co., Pa. Nathaniel and Hannah (Howe) Britton, 
 her parents, were natives of Pennsylvania, of Ger- 
 man descent. William Howe, her paternal grand- 
 father, was a soldier of the Revolution. 
 
 eorge W. Benedict, Supervisor of Cornwall 
 Township, and a general farmer, residing 
 " K on section 15, is a New Englander by 
 birth. He is the son of Elijah and Dolly 
 (Foster) Benedict, also natives of the Green 
 Mountain State. They married and settled in 
 Cornwall, Vt., where they lived until 1841, when they 
 came to Morton, Tazewell Co., 111. Here they lived 
 until 1852, when they moved still further northward 
 and settled in Cornwall Township, Henry County. 
 Here the elder Benedict died, May 6, 1876. His 
 widow still survives him and resides in Cornwall. 
 They had born to them a family of five children, as 
 follows: Elijah F., Abel E., Rollin Z., George W. 
 and Albert J. Rollin Z. died when about seven years 
 of age. 
 
 George W. was born in Cornwall, Vt., Oct. 4, 1836. 
 
 1 
 
 •3 
 
 
 o) 
 
 a<g» r 0/^ (SSM^AS ^^^ 
 
m 
 
 gs»- 
 
 ^nn&niif^^ 
 
 558 
 
 "TJT 
 
 HENRY COUNTY 
 
 
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 f 
 
 ^ 
 
 > 
 
 6) 
 
 He received a good common-school education, which 
 was supplemented by an attendance at the academy 
 at Geneseo and at Knox Academy, Galesburg. He 
 has devoted his efforts to general farming, with the 
 exception of three years spent in the army in the de- 
 fense of his country's flag. He enlisted Aug. 9, 
 1862, in the 112th 111. Vol. Inf., and for nearly three 
 fears faithfully served his country. He was discharged 
 at Alexandria, Va., and at once returned to his home 
 in Cornwall Township, where he has since lived. 
 Here he owns a farm of 165 acres, most of which is 
 tillable. He has been entrusted with the affairs of 
 his township as Supervisor, and given a prominent 
 position in the management of the affairs of his coun- 
 ty for five years. He has also served as Township 
 Clerk for several years, and was Justice of the Peace 
 for eight years. The people have also called upon 
 him to serve as Collector and School Director. In 
 fact, he has "gone the rounds" of all the offices of 
 his township. He is an active worker in the ranks 
 of the Republican party. 
 
 Mr. Benedict was married in Burns Township, this 
 county, on the 25th of May, 1869, to Lydia A. 
 Brown. She was the daughter of Coles J. and Sally 
 M. (Coul) Brown, and was born in Putnam Co., N. 
 Y., Jan. 30, 1844. She was the youngest of a fam- 
 ily of three children, the two older being Benja- 
 min J. and James B. Her children number three : 
 Minerva E., Rollin I. and Mary K. 
 
 "wvvt •"\4£J2 J 27© V §@' 1 
 
 StSOTJlwWvv 
 
 lames Mascall, resident at Cambridge, is a 
 pioneer of Henry County of 1838. He was 
 born Jan. 29, 1814, in East Kent, Eng- 
 land, and is the son of John and Elizabeth 
 (Neeves) Mascall. His parents came to 
 America with their surviving children in 1830. 
 A fuller account of them is given in connection with 
 the sketch of Richard Mascall, which appears else- 
 where in this volume. The family lived in Litch- 
 field, Bradford Co., Pa., eight years, when they came 
 to Illinois, and after a short stay in Stark County, 
 in June, 1838, they came to Henry County. The 
 first business outside of his farming (and this was 18 
 years after coming to Henry County) in which Mr. 
 Mascall was^engaged was the sale of groceries and 
 provisions at Cambridge, and in the spring of 1838 
 
 he bought 160 acres of land on section 15, in Cam- 
 bridge Township. This was the beginning of his 
 transactions in real estate, and he has pursued his 
 business schemes and relations until he is one of the 
 solid men of Henry County. His first land entry in- 
 cluded 80 acres, and he is now the owner of an es- 
 tate of 1,300 acres in excellent agricultural condition. 
 The first few years were full of struggle. He realized 
 small proceeds from his crops and at the time he was 
 ready to settle in life, in 1848, he was the possessor 
 of a cash capital of about $40, with which to fit 
 his home for living purposes and to pay his taxes. 
 
 He was married April 4, 1848, in Cambridge, to 
 Mary A. Lilly. She was born Aug. 1, 1827, in 
 Oneida Co., N. Y., and is the daughter of Carlo H. 
 and Wealthy (Ladd) Lilly. Her paternal grand- 
 father was named Norman Lilly, and was a native of 
 New England. Her mother was the daughter of 
 Jeremiah and Mary (Franks) Ladd, the former a na- 
 tive of England. Carlo Lilly and his wife were born 
 in the State of New York, where the father died, 
 and the mother died in the township of Andover, 
 Henry Co., 111., whither she came in June, 1846. 
 The had eight children. The children of Mr. and 
 Mrs. Mascall are six in number: John R., Mrs. 
 Sallie J. Walline, Daniel S., Mrs. Anna Perkins, Mrs. 
 Mary Melloy and Emma L. 
 
 The business career of Mr. Mascall is one of 
 marked interest, from the fact that he has for years 
 labored under the most disheartening circumstances, 
 such as would have relegated most men to oblivion 
 and life-long poverty. Since 1856 he has not ex- 
 perienced a day of firm, sound health. In the first 
 days of that year he sprained his knee and he has 
 suffered from unremitting lameness since that date, 
 30 years ago, and much of, the time he has been 
 compelled to use crutches. Notwithstanding his in- 
 firmity, he never allowed his large and increasing 
 business relations to grow less or be interrupted. In 
 April, 1863, he incidentally pricked his right hand 
 with a needle, and although the injury was seemingly 
 very slight, the puncture not being deep enough to 
 draw blood, the hand became permanently lame. In 
 1882 his other hand became lame. The crowning 
 affliction which overtook -Mr. Mascall was the loss of 
 his eyesight, which occurred in 1878, as then a 
 cataract commenced on the right eye. He can now 
 descern daylight, but, since 1879, has been wholly 
 unable to read or use his eyes in business. 
 
 V® 
 
 I 
 
 
 ®hh$a© 
 
p(/J^M^v^ 
 
#*- 
 
 -^&s: SV^IIItW^r 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 561 ~r '- 
 
 He is now a member of the mercantile firm of 
 Mascall, Walline & Co., dry goods and groceries. He 
 has been in the mercantile business for 28 years, and 
 also heavily engaged in buying and selling stock and 
 grain for about five years since he came to Cam- 
 bridge. 
 
 
 t 
 
 I iram Woodward, residing on section 2 1 , 
 Osco Township, is a son of Asa and Ruth 
 (Joy) Woodward, natives of Connecticut 
 and Massachusetts. The parents of Hiram 
 Woodward were married and settled in Ver- 
 mont, and in 181 8 remov.ed to Licking Co., 
 Ohio, where the father died Aug. 30, 1837. The 
 mother's demise occurred in Knox County, that 
 State, June 22, 1853. Asa Woodward was a soldier 
 in the War of the Revolution, and was with Wash- 
 ington at Valley Forge. He was also with Ethan 
 Allen at the taking of Ticonderoga, where through 
 the strategy of their Colonel not a man was lost or a 
 single drop of blood shed. The children of Asa and 
 Ruth Woodward were nine in number, namely : 
 Sally, Margaret, Masury and Asa B. (twins), Eben- 
 ezer G., Arunah, Hiram, John M. and Sarah. 
 
 Hiram Woodward, whose name heads this sketch, 
 was bom in Cornwall, Addison Co., Vt, July 6, 1807. 
 He continued to reside in his native State until he 
 attained the age of 1 1 years, when he accompanied 
 his father to Licking Co., Ohio. What schooling Mr. 
 Woodward has received was acquired in a log school 
 house in Licking Co., Ohio. He resided at home, 
 assisting in the maintenance of the family by work- 
 ing on the farm, until he attained the age of 24 years. 
 In the fall of 1852 Mr. Woodward came to this 
 county and " took up " 320 acres of Government 
 land in Osco Township, on a portion of which he 
 has resided until the present time. He has disposed 
 of all his landed interests in^he county except one- 
 quarter of section 21, Osco Township. On this traet 
 he has resided, passing the sunset of his years in 
 peace and quiet, respected by all who know him as 
 a gentleman, fair and honest in his dealings with his 
 fellow-man, and one who possesses a heart that al- 
 ways responds to the sufferings, afflictions and 
 troubles of others. 
 
 Mr. Woodward was married in Granville, Licking 
 Co., Ohio, Oct. 1, 1829, to Cynthia Root, daughter 
 
 of Noble and Damaris (Bennett) Root, natives of 
 Massachusetts, and whose children were seven in 
 number, named: Alanson, Belinda, Cynthia, Re- 
 becca, Laura, Orrila and Amanda. Cynthia (Mrs. 
 Woodward) was born in Granville, Ohio, Feb. 28, 
 18 10. She has borne to her husband eight children : 
 Luman, Laurinda, Amanda, Jerusha, Eben, Frank- 
 lin, Mary and Martha. Jerusha, Mary and Martha 
 are deceased. 
 
 Mr. Woodward has held the office of Supervisor 
 two terms, and likewise other minor offices within 
 the gift of the people of his township. He and his 
 wife are members of the Presbyterian Church, and 
 politically Mr. W. is identified with the Republican 
 party. 
 
 For over 30 years he has lived in this community. 
 Indeed, the community has grown up around him. 
 As a venerable patriarch, and one who has done 
 much hard work and given much valuable aid to- 
 ward building up the county and moulding the 
 character of the people, his memory should be 
 cherished and preserved. It will live in the minds 
 of those who know him personally as long as they 
 live, but the generations to come will know nothing 
 of his labors, his trials and good works unless some 
 means are taken to hand down to them a record of 
 his life. This brief sketch and the accompanying 
 portrait will serve to perpetuate the memory of a 
 good pioneer of Henry County. 
 
 ~4S*- 
 
 enry Boomer, a prominent agriculturist of 
 the township of Atkinson, has been con- 
 nected with the business interests of Henry 
 
 County since his permanent removal to the 
 State in 1862 His farm is located on section 
 28 and contains 205 acres- The land is of ex- 
 cellent type and is well fitted for the prosecution of 
 the plans of the owner. Two pood dwellings have 
 been erected on the place, two barns of extra dimen- 
 sions and two smaller ones. 
 
 Mr. Boomer was born in the State of New York, 
 July 23, 1826. Michael Boomer, his father, was born 
 April 23, 1794, and he married Martha Moore, who 
 was born in 1795. The son was an inmate of the pa- 
 rental home until his minority was passed. He came, 
 on being released from his obligations to his parents, 
 to Illinois, and located at Elgin in 1847. He was 
 
 \k 
 
 
 
 $f^K 
 
 ■^«ys — @?A<*iiii®iin&4£ — *^*- 
 

 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 •^HxxflS^ 
 
 ■<J 
 
 i 
 
 
 there about a year and then returned to his native 
 State. He continued there three years and was mar- 
 ried meanwhile. Julia Wood became his wife March 
 i, 1849. She was born in the State of New York, 
 Aug. 10, 1828. James Wood, her father, was born 
 April 22, 1779. Barbara Ireland Wood, her mother, 
 was born Oct. 3, 1785. In 185 1 Mr. Boomer re- 
 turned to Illinois and passed a season in trapping on 
 Fox River, catching mink and beaver. He made 
 about $600 for the season's work. He spent another 
 year in his native State, and in 1852 came to Aurora. 
 In the course of the next year he removed to LaSalle 
 County and there engaged in farming during the next 
 nine years. He came thence, as has been stated, to 
 Henry County. Mr. Boomer is an adherent of the 
 Greenback party. 
 
 The children of Mr. and Mrs. Boomer are four in 
 number, and are named Emma G., Herbert E., 
 Gertie A. and Jay A. 
 
 ,oses Adams, a former citizen of Munson 
 Township, at present residing in Chicago, 
 is a native of the State of Maine and re- 
 ^*f\ moved to Henry County in 1852. He was 
 a citizen of the same township until his re- 
 moval to Chicago in 1877. He was born in 
 Old Falmouth, Cumberland Co., Me., Dec. 21, 181 1, 
 and is the second son of Moses and Sarah (Skillin) 
 Adams. The grandfather of our subject was a 
 soldier of the War of the Revolution, and was in 
 the fight at Bunker Hill. He was in the Colonial 
 service throughout the war and after the declaration 
 of peace he settled near Portland, Me. He was 
 born in Newbury, Mass. The father of Mr. Adams 
 inherited the traits of his father, and when the second 
 war with the British Government was declared he 
 enlisted in the defense of his country. He was bom 
 Sept. 16, 1775. After his marriage he settled at 
 Portland in Maine. The family removed there when 
 the son who is represented in this sketch was about 
 16. The latter was apprenticed to a merchant and 
 was in the same employ five years, officiating as a 
 clerk. When he was 21 his employer set him up in 
 business in Portland and he conducted his commer- 
 cial operations there 16 years. A disastrous fire 
 ruined him in a financial sense, or nearly so~ and he 
 
 returned to his former station of clerk. He engaged 
 at first as an assistant in a warehouse and later as a 
 clerk in a store. He came West in 1851 and was 
 employed in the positions last named in La Salle, 111. 
 
 In 1 85 2 he came to Henry County and entered a 
 claim of land in Munson Township, or what is now 
 known as such. It was situated on the northwest 
 quarter of section 22. He took possession of the 
 place as resident owner and manager in 1854, and 
 occupied it as long as he remained in the county. 
 Mr. Adams is a member of the fraternity of Masons 
 and also belongs to the I. O. O. F. He has been 
 connected with the latter since December,. 1843. 
 He was brought up in the tenets of the Presbyterian 
 Church, but he is now a believer in the principles of 
 the Universalist Church. He is a firm believer in 
 the doctrine of the final subjugation of sin and the 
 restoration of all mankind to a reconciliation with 
 the Savior. 
 
 In 1835 Mr. Adams formed a matrimonial alliance 
 with Frances E. Cutler. She was born in Medford, 
 Mass., May 26, 1811, and died in Munson Town- 
 ship, Aug. T7, 1867. Seven of the children of which 
 she became the mother are living : Frank, the old- 
 est son, was a soldier in the 14th 111. Cav., and was 
 for a long time a prisoner at Andersonville: his 
 health was injured beyond recovery by the privations 
 he endured, and he is now a resident of Topeka, 
 Kan. ; Moses A. lives in Cook County ; Edward is 
 an engineer in Oregon; Sarah M. is the widow of 
 Asa Smith: he served in the 124th 111. Vol. Inf., and 
 lost his life in the war; Elethea is the widow of 
 Lorenzo Eldredge; Mary married Henry Boyce; 
 Charlotte L. is the youngest. 
 
 harles F. Wennerstrum, a merchant of 
 I^IJS Cambridge, was born July 29, 1852, in 
 g Nye, near Hwetlanda, Sweden, and is the son 
 of Jonas P. and Frederika (Lindgren) Wenner- 
 l strum. The former died in that place (in f 
 which he was also born), March 8, 1885. He was 
 70 years and six months old. The mother is still 
 living. Her children are Hilda, C. F. and Johan. ( 
 Mr. Wennerstrom obtained such education as was ^ 
 possible in his circumstances in his native land, and ( 
 came thence to the United States in i860. , 
 
 -mmB^rB — ^^^- 
 

 -6V^HM@ D Df^V^ — >4;^- 
 
 
 1=1 
 
 I 
 
 E3 
 
 f 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 5 6 3 
 
 He located in Woodhull, this county, and was at 
 first employed as a farm assistant. He operated in 
 that capacity until 1874, when he entered the em- 
 ployment of Mr. J. D. Bell, a merchant in that 
 place, and continued in the same service three years, 
 during which time he went to Nebraska in the inter- 
 ests of his employer to take charge of his large farm. 
 He remained there seven months, from March 17 to 
 Nov. 10, 1877. In the fall of 1877 he went to Mo- 
 line, near Rock Island, and became an assistant in 
 the mercantile establishment of J. W. S. Home. He 
 was in the employ of that gentleman until the spring 
 of 1878, when he went to Texas. After a short stay 
 there he returned to thi North and made a brief tarry 
 in the State of Kansas. In the fall of the same year 
 he returned to Henry County. In the spring of the 
 year succeeding he became a clerk in the mercantile 
 establishment of John Johnson, of Osco, and contin- 
 ued in his employ-two years. He next obtained a 
 situation at Woodhull in the same capacity and was 
 in that place one year in the interest of Edward Wea 
 ver & Co. In the spring of 1882 he formed a part- 
 nership with James Mascall and P. E. Walline, of 
 Cambridge. They have one of the finest business 
 houses in this locality and are engaged in the prose- 
 cution of a popular and prosperous trade. Messrs. 
 Walline & Wennerstrum are the agents for all the 
 trans-Atlantic steamship lines, and also buy foreign 
 exchange for the accommodation of the traveling 
 public in this vicinity. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Wennerstrum to Tillie Wen- 
 trand occurred Jan. 18, 1880, at Cambridge. She 
 was born June 1, 1856, in Sweden. They have a 
 daughter, Winnifred, who was born Aug. 20, 1883. 
 Mrs. Wennerstrum is a member of the Methodist 
 Church. Mr. Wennerstrum is a Republican in his 
 political sympathies, and he is a member of the 
 Order of Masonry. 
 
 -■o+o«> 
 
 eorge Walker, a fanner in the township of 
 Munson, is the youngest of six brothers 
 who came to Henry County in 1858. 
 
 James remained for a few years in this county 
 
 and then removed to Iowa, where he died. 
 
 David located in Cambridge and died there. 
 
 was for some years a resident in Munson 
 
 Alexander lives in Cambridge Township. William is 
 a citizen of Cornwall Township. Helen, a sister, 
 married James Richmond and settled in Adair Co., 
 Iowa. 
 
 Mr. Walker was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, 
 in 1839. He was reared in the shire where he was 
 born and in 1858 he came to Amercia. He sailed 
 from his native land in August and landed at the 
 port of Quebec after a voyage of seven weeks and 
 five days. He came directly to Henry County and 
 remained a year. In company with his brothers he 
 rented land in Munson and Cornwall Townships. 
 They managed the land which they had taken five 
 years and at the end of that time three of the broth- 
 ers bought the southwest quarter of section 9 in Mun- 
 son Township. Soon after Mr. Walker, of this sketch, 
 bought 80 acres of land on section 27. The broth- 
 ers operated together for two years. From that time 
 Mr. Walker has managed his affairs alone. He broke 
 the land on section 27 and retained possession of it 
 two years. On selling it, he bought the south half of 
 the southeast quarter of section 8, and has since 
 made additions to his estate until he is the owner of 
 264 acres of land, which is all improved and consti- 
 tutes a valuable estate. The family residence is lo- 
 cated on section 16. 
 
 Mr. Walker married Ruth Ann Owen, and they 
 have two children, — Nina May and George Albert. 
 Mrs. Walker was born in Indiana. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Walker attend the Presbyterian 
 Church, of which she has been a member since Oct. 
 5, 1847. 
 
 ia&BJ®^r— w> 
 
 K«h-»*©£SX3OT»«» 
 
 Township and removed to Grand Forks Co., Dak. T, 
 
 ^.dward Bell, deceased, formerly a farmer on 
 section 20 of Western Township, is son 
 of Josiah and Sarah Bell, who were na- 
 tives of Tennessee and died in Ohio State 
 when Edward was very young. His mother 
 died of cancer, after having gone to Preble Co.» 
 Ohio, when Edward was somewhat grown up. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was married three times. 
 The first time he wedded Miss M. McWhinney, who 
 died in Ohio, leaving one child, Angie by name. She 
 married Eugene Mercer and resides in San Buena- 
 ventura, Ventura Co., Cal. Mr. Bell's second wife 
 was Miss Elizabeth Adams, whom he married in 
 
 (>*7 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 £±. 
 
 ■3^r- 
 
 4^>C^ } 
 
m> 
 
 E^e^ET" 
 
 ry 
 
 T^Mmwi>^T 
 
 ^^ 
 
 $@&c@y{ 
 
 564 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 I 
 
 v<) 
 
 Preble County, Ohio, and who died in Western 
 Township, this county, about 1865, leaving two 
 children, — Herbert J., who has since died of con- 
 sumption, and Albert W., now living in Norlhville, 
 Spink Co., Dak. Mr. Bell's third marriage was to 
 Miss Sarah J. McHenry, daughter of John and Mary 
 (Williamson) McHenry, natives of Indiana Co., Pa. 
 The latter were married in that county, and Mrs. 
 Bell, of this sketch, was born April 18, 1835. Her 
 father was a farmer and came to Illinois when their 
 daughter was about. 17 years old, settling in Western 
 Township, this county, where she lived until her 
 marriage. Her parents afterward, in T879, removed 
 to Lynn Co., Kan. They are now aged respectively 
 76 and 75 years. 
 
 After his marriage Mr. Bell settled on a farm in 
 Western Township, where he finally died, May 6th, 
 1872, at the age of 48 years. Mrs. B. is the mother 
 of four children, two of whom are deceased. The 
 living are John and Elmer, and Laura and Maria 
 died when young. Mrs. B. is a member of the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church, as was also her husband. 
 He had been Justice of the Peace of his township 
 for 12 years before his death; was a Republican, and 
 was an exemplary citizen, a devoted husband and 
 father, and his loss was borne by a large circle of ac- 
 quaintances. Mrs. Bell has a quarter-section of 
 land in her homestead and it is managed by her sons. 
 
 harles Van Housen, a prominent citizen 
 of Munson Township, was born Jan. 6, 
 1824, in Greene Co., N. Y. He is the 
 son of Cornelius and Harriet (Hogabome) 
 ?^ Van Housen, and they were born in Coxsackie, 
 Cumberland Co., N. Y. Mr. Van Housen 
 grew to manhood in Lexington, where he was born 
 and was reared a farmer. The most important event 
 of his early manhood was his marriage to Elizabeth 
 Smith. She was born in Prattsville, Greene Co., N. 
 Y., |and was married to Mr. Van Housen Nov. 17, 
 1847. They took possession of a rented farm in 
 Lexington and were its occupants until 1859, when 
 they came to Illinois. They passed three years in 
 La Salle County, where they first located, renting 
 land in the township of Tonica. In 1862 they re- 
 moved for a permanency to Henry County. Mr. 
 
 Van Housen bought a farm on section 14 in the 
 same township where he is now a resident. He was 
 at first the proprietor of 80 acres, but by a later pur- 
 chase has increased his possessions and is now the 
 owner of 120 acres, all of it being in a valuable and 
 well improved state. 
 
 Hezekiah, the oldest son, lives in Laramie, Wy- 
 oming Territory ; Arlington is a resident of Colfax, 
 Neb.; Romain is living at the same place; Lora is 
 the wife of Warren Cramer, and they are settled in 
 Munson Township; Iretus lives at home. The par- 
 ents are connected in membership with the Christian 
 Church. Mrs. Van Housen is the daughter of Hez- 
 ekiah and Chloe Smith. 
 
 g.hobal V. Deem, a resident of Galva, who is 
 now engaged in the buying and selling of ( 
 
 [Vs horses, was born Aug. 1, 1849, in Darke* 
 County, Ohio, and is a son of Adam C. and (I 
 Catherine (Vail) Deem. The latter is a' 
 daughter of Shobal and Elizabeth Vail, and i 
 her home was blessed with two children, our subject 1 
 and his brother Adam. S 
 
 Adam C. Deem, the father of our subject, was born * 
 in 1813, in Butler Co., Ohio, and died April 3, 1876, ( 
 north of Galva. He was in the mercantile and mill- 
 ing business in Ohio, and in March, 1857, came to 
 Geneseo, Henry Co., 111., and there was engaged in 
 the grain trade and in milling for many years. La- 
 ter he came to Galva Township and located on the 
 south half of section 15, and in the year 1865 pur- 
 chased 520 acres of land there, of which the sons 
 are now the owners. Catherine (Vail) Deem, the 
 mother of the subject, was born in Middletown, But- 
 ler Co., Ohio, Feb. 27, 1815, and died at her home 
 north of Galva, March 9, 1880. 
 
 Shobal V., whose name heads this notice, was 
 reared on a farm, alternating his labors thereon by 
 attendance at the district schools' of his native State * 
 and also of this county in the acquisition of an edu- 
 cation. From 1878 to 1883 he was engaged in the 
 cattle trade in Nebraska, on the South and North 
 Loop river. Since then he has been dealing in 
 horses. 
 
 September 23, 1873, Mr. Deem was united in mar- 
 riage near LaFayette, 111., the lady whom he chose "| 
 
 A^- 
 
I 
 
 1 
 
 E3 
 
 6 
 
 « I* 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 565 
 
 to share his successes and reverses, joys and sor- 
 rows, being Miss Happie Emery, daughter of Jacob 
 and Lydia (Parish) Emery, both old pioneers of 
 Stark County. Mrs. Deem was 'born Feb. 25, 1853, 
 neat LaFayette, same place where married, and of 
 her marriage to Mr. D. has been born one boy, 
 Frank E., born Aug. 25, 1879. Mrs. D. is a mem- 
 ber of the Congregational Church, and her husband 
 is a Republican in political matters. 
 
 Mrs. Happie Deem's parents were born, the for- 
 mer in Mifflinsburg, formerly called Yunksmanstown, 
 Pa., Jan. 16, 1803, and the latter Jan. 4, 1813, in 
 Leeds Co., Canada. 
 
 In the 17th century, William and John Emery, 
 two brothers, emigrated to the United States from 
 Europe. William was a ship-carpenter and settled 
 in Maine. John was the progenitor of the Emery 
 family in this country. His son, John Emery, Jr., 
 was a noted and wealthy man. He had one daugh- 
 ter and eight sons. Of these Conrad was a black- 
 smith, and married Sarah Fisher, who was born in 
 Pennsylvania. Her mother, Mrs. Mary (Brock) 
 Fisher, was a native of Philadelphia and a relative 
 of Sir Robert Peel. Conrad Emery was born in New 
 Jersey, and became the father of 13 children, 11 of 
 whom reached maturity. His son, Jacob Emery, 
 was also a blacksmith in early life, but afterward a 
 successful farmer in Stark County, to which he came 
 as early as 1835. 
 
 evi Fronk, a thriving farmer of Cornwall 
 Township, residing on section r6, of which 
 he owns a quarter, was born Dec. 4, 1815, 
 in Pennsylvania. • He is a son of Henry and 
 fa Sarah (Buchannan) Fronk, natives of Pennsyl- 
 vania.- He remained with his parents until he 
 was 22 years of age, spending most of his time. work- 
 ing on the home farm and very little of it in attend- 
 ing the common schools. While living in Pennsyl- 
 vania, Jan. 1, 1838, he was married to Miss Nancy 
 Shields, who was born in the Keystone State in 1822. 
 They had born to them a family of ten children, as 
 follows: Mary Henrietta, Sarah E., Rebecca J., 
 Henry Benson, Margaret, Tansey, John, Cyrus (de- 
 ceased), Chauncy, Matilda, Joseph and Clementine. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Fronk have 28 grandchildren and two 
 
 <*A3IM 
 
 great-grandchildren. Mr. Fronk has a good sub- 
 stantial house on his farm, and by his industry and 
 energy has placed it under excellent cultivation and 
 improvement. Religiously, they are Baptists. Mr. 
 Fronk is a Republican in political sentiment. 
 
 -~3- 
 
 -e~- 
 
 <>> 
 
 jilliamT. Hill is a pioneer of Henry County 
 of 1855, and has been for 30 years a resi- 
 dent within her borders. He was born 
 April 10, 182 1, in Culpeper Co., Va., and is 
 the oldest son of John K. and Grace (Jenk- 
 ' ins) Hill. His father and mother were both 
 born in the Old Dominion, and the former was a sol- 
 dier of the War of 181 2. 
 
 The son was still in infancy when the parents re- 
 moved to that part of Culpeper County which has 
 since been set off to Rappahannock County, in the 
 same State, and there he attained to the period of < 
 his legal freedom. He was brought up on the farm, fy 
 March 30, 1841, he was united in marriage to Eliza- ^ 
 beth Buckhart. She was born in Rappahannock <j$J 
 County Jan. r3, 1821. They resided in the same ^ 
 county until r845, when they removed to Rockingham ^ 
 County, also in Virginia, and there Mr. Hill was a <: 
 farmer six years. He then went to Augusta County, r y\ 
 where he rented a farm, and was its manager four 
 years. In 1855 he started with his wife and nine 
 children for the far West, as Illinois was then styled. 
 The party traveled in the manner then popular and 
 also convenient, with teams, transporting the family 
 and household belongings to the new home. Mr. 
 Hill and his family journeyed with two-horse teams 
 and two wagons, and passed 30 days on the route 
 between the Virginia home and Henry County. He 
 had previously come alone to the county and had 
 rented a farm in the township of Cornwall. On that 
 place they lived two years, and Mr. Hill then bought 
 160 acres of land in its natural prairie condition in 
 Munson Township, on section 24. There had been 
 no house built, and the new proprietor erected a 
 frame building, of which the household took posses- 
 sion as soon as it was completed, in November, 1856. 
 In the same year Mr. Hill broke a few acres of the 
 land, and in 1857 he harvested the first crop that 
 was grown on the property. That farm is all enclosed 
 and improved and Mr. Hill has made additional 
 
 ^3" 
 
 ■*ty^®J*M» 
 
566 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 -i^^c^vi 
 
 
 6 
 
 <£» 
 
 
 sn 
 
 purchases until he is the owner of 280 acres. The 
 entire acreage is in valuable condition for farming 
 purposes. He is the proprietor of 240 acres in Ne- 
 braska. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Hill have been the parents of 14 
 children; 12 are still living. John is a resident of 
 the same township, where his father first settled on 
 his own estate. George R. lives on the homestead. 
 Elizabeth S. is the wife of George Dugdale, of the 
 township of Cornwall. Julia F. is deceased. Ed- 
 ward L. lives in Geneseo. Victoria R. married 
 Porter Liken, of Munson Township. Mary E. and 
 her husband, Adam Young, are residents of Black 
 Hawk Co., Iowa. Philip D. lives in Geneseo. Jen- 
 nie A. married Herman Wiedenhoeft, of the township 
 of Munson. James N. is a citizen of Colfax Co., 
 Neb. Emma P. married James Callender, and they 
 are residents in the county in Nebraska last named. 
 Stephen R. is a citizen of Geneseo. Estelle L. is 
 the youngest daughter, and lives at home. The 
 oldest son, William J., was born in Rappahannock 
 Co.,Va,Jan. 15, 1842. At the age of 20 he became 
 a soldier. He enlisted in August, r862, in Co. C, 
 112th Regiment 111. Vol. Inf. He was killed in the 
 battle of Kenesaw Mountain June 17, 1864. Julia, 
 the deceased daughter, was born Feb. 20, 1848, and 
 was the wife of Samuel G. Murphy. She died Dec. 
 24, 1884, leaving four children. Mrs. Hill died Oct. 
 2, 1884. She and her husband belonged to the Chris- 
 tian Church. 
 
 George R. Hill, third son of the subject of this 
 sketch, was born in Virginia, Aug. 13, T844. He 
 was past ten years of age when he accompanied the 
 family of his father to Henry County. He was 
 brought up on the homestead in Munson, and ob- 
 tained a good degree of education in the public 
 schools of that township. He passed one year at 
 the University of Kentucky, at Lexington, which ad- 
 vanced him in learning to a satisfactory degree. At 
 22 he commenced teaching and passed the alternate 
 winter sessions of eight years in that vocation. He 
 operated as a farmer during the remaining portions 
 of the year. 
 
 His marriage to Mary M. Taylor took place Dec. 
 31, 1873. She was born in Cornwall Township, and 
 is the daughter of John and Elizabeth (Ogden) Tay- 
 lor. After their marriage they commenced the world 
 in their own behalf on a farm in Cornwall. They 
 
 were its occupants eight years and at the end of that 
 time they went to Sully Co., D. T. Mr. Hill pre- 
 empted r6o acres and also secured a tree claim of 
 the same acreage. 1 He remained in the territory two 
 years and returned to the State of Illinois, to the 
 township he had lived in in his boyhood, and where 
 he has since resided, on the same estate where he 
 was reared. He still retains the ownership of his 
 land in Dakota. He is a member of the A. O. U. 
 W., Dakota Lodge, No. 1 1. While a resident of the 
 township of Cornwall he acted in the capacity of 
 Justice of the Peace and also as Assessor. 
 
 His family now includes four children, — George 
 B., Arthur E., Roy and Eva. 
 
 Tea&ert&f©'* 
 
 -»@£@<ZOT*<» 
 
 !|p||afrvid ft. Wimermark, M. D., was born in 
 [ Sweden, March 28, 1857, and is the son of 
 Claes B. and Louise E. (Lundberg) Wimer- 
 %ffi mark. He received his literary education in 
 the Stockholm Lyceum and took a regular 
 1 course at the Pharmaceutical Institute of 
 Stockholm and was graduated in 1876. From 1876 
 to '79 inclusive, he held the position of prescription 
 clerk in Stockholm and Karlstad. 
 
 The subject of this biographical notice emigrated 
 from Sweden to America in April, 1879, coming di- 
 rect to Galesburg, 111. Shortly afterward he went to 
 Cambridge, of the same State, but remained but a 
 short time and returned again to Galesburg, where 
 he purchased a drug store. He continued in busi- 
 ness at the latter place but a year, when he sold out, 
 and returned to Cambridge, at which place he re- 
 sumed the drug business in May, 1881, and pursued 
 the study of medicine with Dr. J. L. Bryan, of that 
 place. In September, 1882, he sold out his drug 
 store in Cambridge and removed to Chicago, where 
 he attended three courses of lectures at the Rush 
 Medical College of that city, and graduated Feb. 21, 
 1884. Mr. Wimermark then came to Moline, and 
 the following April began practice. In June, 1885, 
 Dr. W. removed to Cambridge, his former home, and 
 is there engaged in his profession. 
 
 Dr. Wimermark was united in marriage at Cam- 
 bridge, 111., Jan. 25, 1880, to Mrs. Pauline Nelson, 
 widow of Albert John Nelson, and daughter of John 
 Hjelm. Mrs. Wimermark was born in Arv{ka, Swe- 
 
 ■^ a 4>IW@llll$A£ ^^ 
 
-4*§^®Y(|I§ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 S67 
 
 •^g den, and had two children (daughters) by her former 
 marriage. Dr. Wimermark is a member of the Mo- 
 line Medical Society and of the Town and Illinois 
 Central District Medical Association ; is an Odd 
 Fellow and a member of the Order of Modern Wood- 
 men. He and his wife are members of the First 
 Baptist Church of Cambridge. 
 
 He was naturalized in Rock Island County, 111., in 
 April, 1884, and votes the Republican ticket. Dr. 
 Wimermark is a young physician of fine attainments 
 and begins practice with flattering prospects of suc- 
 cess. 
 
 V 
 
 A 
 
 (i) 
 
 <& 
 
 « ■■» 
 
 I 
 
 |=enry Kuhl is a farmer in the township of 
 Munson and he has been a citizen of Hen- 
 ry County since 1856. He was born May 
 14, 1816, in Holstein, Germany. After reaching 
 the age required by law he attended school un- 
 til he was 16, and after that, as long as he re- 
 mained in his native country, he worked on a farm. 
 He came thence to America in 1853. He made 
 the voyage on a sailing vessel and after a voyage of 
 40 days landed at New York. He proceeded to 
 Chicago and from there to Davenport. He remained 
 in the city last named four weeks and then came to 
 this county. He went to work on the railroad a 
 short time and then found a situation on a farm as 
 an assistant. He then rented land and made a little 
 start on his own account. 
 
 In 1857 he bought 80 acres of land in this 
 county and settled on it during the progress of 
 the Civil War. He placed the land under improve- 
 ments and built a house. His family were its oc- 
 cupants ten years. Mr. Kuhl then exchanged the 
 property for 160 acres on section 10 in the township 
 of Munson. The place is now well improved. He 
 has since bought 80 acres on section 4 of the same 
 township and is at present the owner of 240 acres in 
 all. The whole acreage is in a condition for profit- 
 able farming. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Kuhl and Mary Westphal 
 occurred in 1858. Their eight children are named 
 Lena D., Henry O., Matilda, August, Herman, 
 George, Willie and Lewis. Lena is married to 
 Christ Schroeder, of Munson Township ; Henry is a 
 
 citizen of the same ; Matilda is the wife of Ernest 
 Weinrich.of Geneseo; the others are unmarried. 
 
 The members of the family are connected with 
 the Lutheran Church. 
 
 athaniel Bartlett Gould, President of the 
 First National Bank, of Cambridge, and 
 one of the enterprising and public-spir- 
 ited citizens of that place, has been identi- 
 lk fied with its interests since 1856. He was born 
 March 31, 1828, in Piermont, N. H. His earliest 
 traceable ancestor, Zaccheus Gould, was born in 
 England about the year 1589, and came, as nearly 
 as has been ascertained, to the American Continent 
 about 20 years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth 
 Rock. He finally fixed his permanent residence at 
 Topsfield, Mass., where he died about 1670. Phebe 
 Gould, his wife, died in 1663, leaving six daughters 
 and a son, all of whom reached mature life and be- 
 came heads of families. (An incomplete genealogy of 
 the descendants of Zaccheus Gould was published 
 at Salem, Mass., in 1872. The preliminary investi- 
 gations showed them to be numerous and of honor- 
 able record, representing the professions and various 
 branches of industry.) Amos Gould, Sr., the pater- 
 nal grandfather of N. B. Gould, was a soldier in the 
 War of the Revolution, and subsequent to that 
 struggle he removed from Massachusetts to Canaan, 
 N. H. He married Rebecca Perley, and they reared 
 13 children. 
 
 N. B. Gould is the son of Amos, Jr., and Nancy 
 (Harris) Bartlett Gould. His mother was a de- 
 scendant of one of the prominent Colonial families 
 and was the daughter of Nathaniel and Susannah 
 (Clark) Bartlett. Her father was a farmer and was 
 one of the original Trustees of Canaan, where he 
 became wealthy and influential. His demise oc- 
 curred about 1841. The death of his wife transpired 
 some years earlier. A considerable account of the 
 parents of Mr. Gould is given on another page of 
 this volume in connection with the personal narration 
 of Amos Gould. Their family included nine chil- 
 dren, who were born in the following order : Hon. 
 John M. Gould, resident at Moline; Amos; a 
 daughter who died; Lyfe Y., Nathaniel B., Nancy 
 J. (Mrs. John Dean) Dan W., George D., Susannah 
 
 
 el 
 
 3gys @;A<j!||n®DII<$AS ^f©*^ 
 

 
 mmmt^ 
 
 ^H? 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 <■> 
 
 C. (Mrs. B. H. Burroughs) and Lora H. The latter 
 j, is deceased; she was the first wife of John Dean, 
 who married her eldest sister after her death. The 
 members of the family are so located that they can 
 A), assemble together at very short notice, which is 
 somewhat remarkable, as is the order in which the 
 sons and daughters were born. The father died at 
 Moline in February, 1864. The demise of the 
 mother took place at Cambridge in December, 1884. 
 Mr. Gould was brought up in the method common 
 to the training of the sons of New England farmers. 
 He obtained a thorough knowledge of agriculture 
 and received a common-school education. He re- 
 mained in his native State until 1857. He grew up 
 with the ambition and high spirit which in the cases 
 of so many sons of New England have made them 
 such valuable factors in the development of the West. 
 The home farm contained 100 acres, which was 
 valuable property, as are the farms of New England, 
 but it was inadequate to the ambitious ideas of Mr. 
 P" Gould. He was a hardy, rugged son of the Old 
 S$'. Granite State, and his native hills seemed close, its 
 t3 valleys narrow and the outlook altogether promised 
 >$? little of advancement, either in fame or fortune. His 
 oldest brother 'had come, in 1844, to Illinois, and 
 had already accomplished the initiatory to a success- 
 ful career as a business man, and had been prominent 
 in citizenship. His rapid progress heralded much 
 to the younger brother, to whom the New England 
 hills seemed only a restraint to a natural ambition to 
 make his way in the world. 
 
 In r85i Mr. Gould came to Moline, Rock Island 
 County, and entered the employ of John Deere, an 
 extensive manufacturer of that place, in whose inter- 
 ests he was, for a period of five years, a traveling 
 salesman. 
 
 Again his field of operation seemed to yield little 
 opportunity of advancement, and he settled, in 1856, 
 at Cambridge which, for several reasons, appeared a 
 desirable point of location. He and his brother 
 Amos engaged in the joint management of the Cam- 
 bridge House, and they operated together in that 
 line of business until the fall of i860, when Mr. 
 Gould, of this sketch, sold out to his brother. In 
 the spring of r86i he took possession of 400 acres of 
 unimproved land, lying on section 1, in the township 
 of Cambridge. He built a frame house, which his 
 family occupied three years, and during that time he 
 bought 400 acres additional and placed 640 acres 
 
 (!) 
 
 under the best type of agricultural improvements. 
 The original property is still in his possession, and 
 the whole estate forms one of the best improved 
 farms in the county, with suitable buildings, and it is 
 also well-stocked with graded and thoroughbred 
 cattle. Mr. Gould personally superintends its man- 
 agement. 
 
 In 1864 he removed to Cambridge, where he 
 bought 145 acres of land, now included within the 
 village corporation, and which was then an unbroken 
 prairie. In 1868, associated with his brother Amos, 
 he bought 80 acres additional, and in the same year 
 160 acres was platted under the name of Gould's 
 addition. Since that time he has devoted the greater* 
 part of his time to the improvement of his town 
 property, erecting buildings and trafficking in town 
 real estate. 
 
 Mr. Gould has exercised unremitting activity in 
 the interests of the village and township of Cam- 
 bridge since his connection with them began. He 
 officiated with them 16 years as Supervisor of the 
 township, and was made Chairman of the Building 
 Committee that had charge of trre erection of the 
 fine court-house at Cambridge. 
 
 Mr. Gould is one of the foremost citizens in his in- 
 terest in and devotion to educational matters, and he 
 has acted nine years as School Director. He has 
 also been actively interested in the affairs of the 
 Agricultural Society of Henry County. 
 
 In July, 1881, the First National Bank at Cam- 
 bridge was organized, with Mr. Gould as its Presi- 
 dent, Henry White, Vice-President, and F. G. 
 Welton, Cashier. The latter gentlemen have ex- 
 changed their official positions and Mr. Gould still 
 retains the incumbency of chief. 
 
 Although not a declared adherent of any denomin- 
 ational body, Mr. Gould recognizes the influence 
 and moral bearing of religious institutions on society 
 and is a liberal contributor to their support. 
 
 His ancestors were Democrats of the Jacksonian 
 type, but he was trained under the influence of New 
 England institutions, which bred in him independ- 
 ence of thought and sentiment, and he imbibed 
 therewith the principles of liberty which have formed 
 the basis Of his political faith. He cast his first Presi- 
 dential vote for John v P. Hale in 1852. Though 
 warned that his vote would be wasted, he sturdily 
 adhered to the principles he had formed. He held to 
 Free-Soil opinions until the organization of the Re- 
 

 ^ 
 
@*$iiiasiii8* 
 
 X 
 
 (!) 
 
 (3* 
 
 «! » 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 "^T^/^S^" 
 
 S7* < 
 
 publican party, when he fell into its ranks and has 
 since acted uncompromisingly under its banners. 
 
 Mr. Gould was united in marriage to Mary Jane, 
 daughter of Levi and Susan (Huls) Jennings, Nov. 
 24, 1859. She was born Nov. 14, 1838, in Peoria 
 Co., 111., and came with her parents to Henry 
 County in 1849. A biographical sketch of her family 
 is given on other pages. 
 
 Two daughters were born to Mr. and Mrs Gould. 
 Nellie L., born Oct. 20, 1863, died Feb. 23, 1879, 
 aged 15 years and four months. She was the child 
 of many hopes and extraordinary promise, and, her 
 death in the dawn of womanhood was a sharp afflic- 
 tion to her family, and to a large circle of friends. 
 She went from life before the corroding hand of the 
 world had touched the bloom of her girlhood. Her 
 lovely character had so endeared her to the circle 
 in which she moved that her early death came to all 
 like a personal loss. Her illness was brief in its 
 fatal work, and before it was realized that the hand 
 of disease was laid on one of the village favorites, 
 the " bell's deep knelling " told of her passage to the 
 land of perennial youth. Condolences came in pro- 
 fusion; a wealth of floral offerings paid generous 
 tribute to her worth; all that the occasion could 
 prompt transpired, but they were but trifles in the 
 light of the remembrance in which she is still held, 
 though she has been hidden several years by the 
 " green curtain that never outward swings." Katie 
 M. was born Nov. 29, 1865, and around her cluster 
 the hopes and desires of the parents who delight in 
 her as the treasure of their home. 
 
 -5- 
 
 harles F. Weinrieh. is a practical farmer, 
 
 dairyman and stockman of the township 
 
 of Munson. His farm is located on sec- 
 
 $fo tion 9. He was born in Saxony, Germany, 
 
 J |J March 19, 1841, and is the son of John and 
 
 l| Rosa Weinrieh. They were born in the same 
 
 province as their son. From the age of six to 14 the 
 
 latter went to school. He then operated as a farm 
 
 assistant until 1825, when he came to the United 
 
 States. He made the passage across the ocean in a 
 
 sailing vessel and the voyage consumed five weeks 
 
 and two days. He landed at New York and at once 
 
 came to Henry County. He obtained a situation as 
 
 a farm hand and worked by the month until he be- 
 
 came a land-holder himself. In 1878 he bought the 
 farm which is still his property. He is the owner of 
 120 acres under good improvement. It is also 
 supplied with all necessary and suitable farm build- 
 ings. 
 
 His union in marriage to Metta Schrader took 
 place in 1872. They have now (1885) the following 
 children : Edward J., Frank O., Anna E. and Min- 
 nie L. Their mother was born in Oldenburg, Ger- 
 many. Mr. and Mrs. Weinrieh are members of the 
 Lutheran Church. 
 
 §J\©)^F 
 
 ~& 
 
 ared H. Smith, farmer, section 22, Osco 
 Township, was born in Litchfield Co., 
 Conn., Nov. 18, 1827, his parents being 
 Anson and Abigail (Holt) Smith, residents in 
 that county. His education was such as the 
 common-school system then gave, and, aided 
 by the practical knowledge gained by spending his 
 early years on the home farm, did much towards 
 forming those traits of character that later years have 
 made manifest. 
 
 When 27 years old he settled in Henry Co., 111., 
 and in the fall of 1853 purchased the quarter-section 
 upon which he now resides. Improvements were 
 made as rapidly and thoroughly as circumstances 
 would permit. Property was added to property 
 until at present writing his landed interests are of 
 great extent and value. His present position is a 
 legitimate result brought out of normal conditions by 
 the indomitable energy and will that characterize 
 the man. 
 
 Mr. Smith was married in Connecticut, Oct. 1, 
 1854, to Miss J. A. Welton, of Litchfield County, a 
 woman of rare worth, whose devotion deadened the 
 most trying features of pioneer life. To her interest 
 and care must be attributed much of the success 
 that marked the few years of married life, and one 
 could not in justice speak of Mr. S. without noting 
 the life of one who demonstrated her love by the 
 sincerity of her deeds. She is indeed to be consid- 
 ered a faithful wife in the highest sense, a mother 
 whose husband and children will ever hold in mem- 
 ory and call her '' blessed." Three children were 
 born to them : Amelia M., Anson W. and Myra J. 
 
 K 
 
 *& 
 
 I 
 
 
 &&: @^<*||||@||||&4<§ ^€3^- 
 
/" 
 
 572 
 
 #^ 
 
 -^^ K ' G\ 4»BD*>V 
 
 "^-T^j/'iv 
 
 -i^(@vS- 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 Mrs. Smith entered into rest Feb. 17, 1863. Anson 
 W. died Feb. 24, 1865. Amelia M., now Mrs. M. 
 Nash, resides in Adair Co., Iowa. Myra J., now 
 Mrs. W. F. West, resides in Osco Township. 
 
 Aug. 18, 1864, Mr. Smith was married to Miss 
 Mary E. Knowles, daughter of Henry and Eliza 
 (Radbourne) Knowles, an estimable woman, emin- 
 ently fitted for the requirements and cares of the 
 position. Keenly alive to responsibilities, apprecia- 
 tive, full of sympathy, one gladly traces her influence 
 in every subsequent advancement. They are blessed 
 with six children Henry A., Anna E., Jared H., 
 George R., Charles E. and Mary E. 
 
 Mr. Smith has held from time to time positions of 
 honor and trust in his county and township, and is 
 deeply interested in' educational and eleemosynary 
 work. As one of the founders of Grace Church 
 Parish, and Warden, he has proven his love for the 
 Church of which he and his family are honored 
 members. In all respects he is a representative of 
 the old-time energy and enterprise. As a Christian 
 gentleman, an earnest and solid citizen, Mr. Smith is 
 prominent in spite of his reticence, and is as widely 
 known for the integrity and nobility of his character 
 as for his industry and usefulness; and therefore no 
 man in the county is more worthy to be represented 
 in the collection of portraits in this Album than he. 
 Our artist has accordingly given the delineations of 
 his features upon a page in close proximity. 
 
 |&,dward Ferkinson, a farmer on section 17, 
 
 Cornwall Township, is a son of William 
 Perkinson, a native of Queen's Co., Ire- 
 -?^>- land, where they lived and died. Edward was 
 born at the same place in r8i8, and when a 
 young man, 18 years of age, started for the 
 New World, landing at Quebec, Canada, where he 
 remained for five years. He then went to Rutland, 
 Vt., stopped for another year; then to Dutchess Co., 
 N. Y., where he spent 18 months, when he made 
 another move, this time going to Luzerne Co., Pa. 
 Here he remained and made his home until after his 
 marriage. 
 
 After this event in his life, he and his wife- started 
 West, and in June, 1853, reached Henry Co., 111., 
 and on section 17 of Cornwall Township, their pres- 
 
 ent location, they settled. Here they have 80 acres 
 of good land. While living in Pennsylvania, Mr. 
 Perkinson met and wedded, as above stated, Miss 
 Catherine J. Evans, a native of Pennsylvania. Mrs. 
 P. is a member of the Methodist Church, while her 
 husband is a Catholic in belief and a Democrat in 
 politics. 
 
 lexandor F. Murphy, a well-known and 
 prominent farmer of Henry County, and at 
 present in Geneseo, where he has moved 
 for the purpose of educating his children, is a 
 son of John Murphy, a native of Trumbull Co., 
 Ohio, and was born Oct. 22, 1804. The elder 
 Murphy moved with his parents in 18 1 6 to Allegheny 
 Co., Pa., where he married Miss Elizabeth Bigger- 
 staff. Their wedding occurred Jan. 20, 183c. After 
 remaining there for some time, he came West, and in 
 November, 1844, located in Fulton Co., 111. 
 
 He remained there for ten years, when he removed 
 into Henry County, and located in Cornwall Town- 
 ship. His wife, who had journeyed and labored with 
 him for nearly half a century, died in 1879. They 
 were the parents of eight children, among the eldest 
 of whom was Alexander F. The elder Murphy is 
 living in this county, and, for a man of his age, is 
 enjoying good health, is active, and retains his men- 
 tal faculties to a good degree. 
 
 Alexander F. Murphy was born Dec. 20, 1834, in 
 Allegheny Co., Pa., was brought West by his parents, 
 and Aug. 13, 1859, was united in marriage with Miss 
 Mary H. Goshorn, a native of Ohio, and of German 
 ancestry. Four children, two sons and two daugh- 
 ters, have come to bless their home, namely : George 
 W., born June 16, i860; Dora J., ADril 16,1863; 
 Nellie E., Aug. 22, 1869; and John H, March 9, 
 1877. Dora has been a student of Prof. Gardner's, 
 of Hillsdale, Mich., and is highly accomplished as 
 an artist. She possesses rare ability as a portrait 
 and landscape artist, and the family have some very 
 fine specimens of her work. At present she is en- 
 gaged in painting some portraits and some fine land- 
 scapes. 
 
 Mr. Murphy has a splendid farm of 240 acres, 
 upon which he has a good frame dwelling and reason- 
 ably good outbuildings. It is carried on by his son, 
 
 »>>^ ^^ *"* 
 
 I 
 
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 - fo@SX <§rV 
 
 r ^ 
 
 I 
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 (!) 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 573 
 
 1£W 
 y 
 
 George W. The family are members of the Free 
 Baptist Church, and Mr. Murphy claims to be an 
 "Independent Temperance Republican." 
 
 H. Long, a farmer residing on section 29, 
 Cornwall Township, was born Nov. 17, 
 1837, in Virginia. Mr. Long came West 
 with his parents when he was 19 years old and 
 located with them in Henry County in 1857. 
 His years, prior to attaining his majority, were 
 passed on the farm, and his education was limited 
 on account of the necessity which required his act- 
 ive labors to assist in the maintenance of the family. 
 The marriage of Mr. Long to Miss Almira Casteel 
 took place Oct. 9, 1864. She died in 1875, and he 
 remained a widower for three years, when he formed 
 a second matrimonial alliance,with Sarah Zumerman, 
 the date of their wedding being Oct. 4, 1878. Of 
 the latter the deceased are : Mary B., Bertha, John 
 W. and Jewit R. Those living are Edwin, Frank 
 and Anna. 
 
 Mr. Long is liberal in his political views, voting 
 for the best man regardless of party issues. 
 
 fames Orr, a well-known farmer of Corn- 
 Ifc wall Township, and who is comfortably lo- 
 cated on section 9, is a son of James Orr, 
 a native of Ireland. About the year 1845 he 
 jC came to America, where he reared a highly 
 
 respectable family. He is now deceased. 
 James, Jr., was born May n, 1856, in this county, 
 whither his parents had moved. He remained an 
 inmate of his father's home until he was 2 1 years of 
 age, when he began to work at different places in 
 the neighborhood. He was reared on the home farm 
 in Henry County, and received his education in the 
 district schools of the vicinity. He is one of the 
 very few of the active business men of the county of 
 to-day who are natives of the county. He has a good 
 farm of 160 acres, well improved, and provided with 
 a good two-story frame dwelling. He has an excel- 
 lent grade of stock, and supplies the creamery at 
 Geneseo with a large quantity of milk. He is a gen- 
 
 erous, good-hearted man, liberal to the poor, and 
 always willing to help when his services are needed. 
 Politically, he is a Greenbacker. 
 
 Mr. Orr was married to Miss Mary Terpening, 
 who, like her husband, is a native of this county, and 
 a daughter of one of the early settlers. The cere- 
 mony was solemnized Dec. 20, 1882, the Rev. Bush- 
 nell, of Geneseo, officiating. 
 
 -5-~ 
 
 •5- 
 
 *-* 
 
 arlos G. Jewell, a retired farmer, residing 
 at Galva, was born Feb. 26, i8r6, in 
 Winchester, Cheshire Co., N. H., his an- ( 
 cestry being of English origin. His first 
 American progenitor, Thomas Jewell, was 
 born in England, came to Boston, and bought 
 land in that vicinity in 1639, and his descendants, 
 the ancestry of our subject, in line, were Joseph for 
 three generations, then Asahel and Rufus, the latter 
 being the father of Carlos G. Mr. Rufus Jewell, who 
 was by occupation a farmer, was born June 28, 1782, 
 in Winchester, N. H, and died there May 19, 1842. 
 He married Olive Pratt, Dec. 25, 1805, who became 
 the mother of ten children, and is now deceased. 
 Mr. Jewell, after her death, married Elizabeth 
 French, and by her had one child. 
 
 The subject of our sketch was educated in his 
 native district, brought up on a farm, came West in 
 1846, landing at Chicago June r, and settled in Wil- 
 mington, 111., where he lived for nearly 20 years, and 
 where he was moderately successful in farming pur- 
 suits. He then resided in Joliet one summer, in- 
 tending to go to Georgia ; but instead of emigrating 
 southward he settled near Aurora, 111., where he 
 remained until 1870; then, after spending a short 
 time in Iowa, he returned to this State, and since 
 then has resided at Galva. Here he followed farm- 
 ing the first three years, when his son took charge of 
 the place, and in August, 1 881, he sold the farm, 
 and is now enjoying the fruits of a well-spent life and 
 a hard-earned competency, in the retirement of a 
 comfortable home. * 
 
 Mr. Jewell has been married twice. His first wife, 
 Melancy Cass, died in New Hampshire, leaving 
 one son, Le Roy, who was afterward killed in our 
 late war, on the skirmish line in front of Dalton, Ga. 
 His second and present wife was Amy Cook, who 
 
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 vifiq^}^) 
 
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 rJ&K 6V^KIIIH1>V 
 
 
 r 
 
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 [=3 
 
 f* 
 
 574 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 was born in Milford, Mass. By the present matri- 
 monial union there are four children living, namely : 
 Mrs. Maryette Crocker, of Ohio; Albert, of Mis- 
 souri; William, also of Missouri ; and Mrs. Charlotte 
 Best. 
 
 Mr. Jewell, in his religious sentiments, sympa- 
 thizes with the doctrines of the New Jerusalem 
 Church, and politically, he chooses from the candi- 
 dates of the various parties, principally Democratic. 
 
 -S3 
 
 A k 
 
 T - T 
 
 A A 
 
 T~Y 
 
 £t- 
 
 ft 1 
 
 £enry W. Ole has but recently embarked in 
 W^ farming. In 1879 he left Geneseo, where he 
 had been working for Esquire Harper for 
 13 years, and bought 80 acres of land on sec- 
 tion s, of Cornwall Township. His native 
 place is England, where, in Somersetshire, 
 3, 1844, he was born. His father, William O., 
 was born June 7, 1818, and still lives on the old 
 place in England. Henry came to America and 
 landed at New York city, May 5, 1866, and from 
 there came direct to Geneseo, and was engaged as 
 above stated. 
 
 Just prior to his leaving England, he was married 
 to Miss Frances Ward, March 29, 1866. She died 
 March 3, 1875, and on June n, of the following 
 year, Mr. O. was married to Eunice M. Kewer. By 
 his former wife he had two children, and the present 
 Mrs. O. has borne him a like number. The names 
 of the four are : Edwin Morris, Jennie Helena, 
 Francis William and Susan Alice. 
 
 Mr. Ole is an Episcopalian, while his wife is con- 
 nected with the Methodist Church. 
 
 eorge B. Phillips is a farmer on section 
 18, Cambridge Township, where he has a 
 "* fine location overlooking the village of 
 Cambridge and the surrounding country. He 
 was born Jan. 12, 1823, in Berkshire, Tioga 
 Co., N. Y. The family is of English extrac- 
 tion and is the same to which Wendell Phillips 
 traces his origin. Asa Phillips, the grandfather of 
 Mr. Phillips, was born in Massachusetts in 1754. 
 He was one of the most daring soldiers of the War 
 
 of the Revolution, and was specially commended for 
 bravery at the battle of White Plains, After the 
 action at that place his clothes bore the proofs of 
 having been pierced by upwards of 20 bullets. He 
 was a personal friend of Gen. Washington, and was 
 detailed for dangerous and important services, which 
 he successfully accomplished. He was at one time 
 sick, and wishing to go outside the lines, he applied 
 to Gen. Washington for a pass. He received one 
 permitting him to go when and where and stay as 
 long as he desired. When it was shown to a superior 
 officer, he remarked, " There is not another man in 
 the army that could get such a .pass as that." He 
 was married in the Bay State, in 1779, to Lurinda 
 Warren, who was a near relative of Gen. Joseph 
 Warren, of Revolutionary fame. They had nine 
 children, as follows : Eunice, Asa, Daniel, Thomas, 
 Elisha, Isaac, Clark, Lurinda and Samuel. After 
 their children were grown and settled in life, they re- 
 moved to Cortland Co., N. Y., to live with their son 
 Daniel, where the one died in 1828, aged 74, and 
 the other in 1838, aged 80 years. 
 
 Daniel Phillips, the father of Mr. Phillips of this 
 personal narration, was born in Windsor, Mass., in 
 1788, and died at Dryden, Tompkins Co., N. Y., at 
 the age of 82. He was a commissioned officer in 
 the War of t8t2, and afterward removed to Berk- j\ 
 shire, N. Y., where he married Lydia C. Belcher, (JJ 
 who was bom Feb. 13, t8oi, in Cherry Valley, N. 
 Y. "She died in Dryden, N. Y., Sept. 19, 1878, 
 when 77 years of age. She was the daughter of 
 Elijah and Lydia (Clark) Belcher. Her father was 
 born in Massachusetts, resided a short time in Cherry 
 Valley and finally settled in Berkshire, N. Y., where 
 he died. His eldest brother, Jonathan Belcher, was 
 a soldier in the War of 1812, and died on board of a 
 British prison ship. 
 
 Mr. Phillips was the eldest of the children of his 
 parents, of whom six attained to the age of maturity. 
 They were named Henry M., who was a soldier and 
 lost his life in the Civil War; Aaron P., Mrs. Maria 
 L. Keeny, Mrs. Mary E. Sears and Susan Olive. 
 The latter is deceased. 
 
 Mr. Phillips was reared on a farm in his native 
 State, where he obtained a good education and for 
 some time was engaged in the business of teaching 
 school. He came to Henry County in October, 
 1855, and during that winter taught school in the # 
 
 
 V 
 
||§Y@)$«® 
 
 -^k — 6v^hm®im&<* 
 
 ^ 
 
 -f*§§»£©\ 
 
 
 I 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 m 
 
 575 
 
 village of Andover and music in both Cambridge 
 and Andover, and the following spring opened a- 
 new- farm on the prairie in the township of Osco. In 
 1857 he removed to Cambridge and passed eight 
 years there in business. He then bought a farm of 
 140-acres, situated southeast of the village, and on 
 which he has since resided. 
 
 Mr. Phillips is a Republican in political relations, 
 and a friend of all religious and moral movements. 
 He and his family are all active members of the 
 Congregational Church. His marriage to Sarah C. 
 Benedict took place at Scipio, Cayuga Co., N. Y., 
 May 13, 1851. She was the youngest daughter of 
 Uriah and Sally (North) Benedict. Her parents 
 were natives respectively of Norwalk, Conn., and 
 New York city. Mr. and Mrs. Phillips have eight 
 children, — Emma M., Charles H., Florence A., Louis 
 B., Fannie M., La Villa, Eloise and Lydia C. 
 Charles H., the eldest son, is a graduate of Hamilton 
 College and of Auburn (N. Y.) Theological Semi- 
 nary, and is now preaching in Dakota. Louis B., 
 the second son, was married Jan. 4, 1883, to Cora 
 V. Howe, and has one daughter, Ethel M., and has 
 settled on the home farm. 
 
 W. Gamble, the subject of this personal 
 sketch, is one of the early settlers of Oxford 
 Township, and one of its prominent farm- 
 ers. He located on section 24 of that town- 
 ship in 1857, where he has since remained. 
 His parents, Samuel and Isabelle (Wilson) 
 Gamble, came from Pennsylvania, their native State, 
 and located upon part of the same section during 
 that year. Both of them died upon this place, the 
 former in 1870, and the latter in 1863. 
 
 T. W. was born in Perry Co., Pa., April 19, 1830, 
 and remained with the " old folks," assisting on the 
 farm for a time and going to school, until 23 years of 
 age. At 19, however, he was apprenticed to learn 
 the harnessmaker and saddler's trade. At this he 
 worked four years, when, in 1855, feeling that he 
 could better his condition in life, he came West and 
 located in Abingdon, Knox Co., 111., where for two 
 years he worked at his trade. In 1857, as above 
 stated, he purchased 80. acres of his present farm. 
 Subsequently he secured as much more, and since 
 
 that time, with the exception of 14 months spent in 
 Cambridge in a hotel enterprise, he has resided there. 
 Politically, Mr. G. is a Democrat, and, with his wife 
 and six children, is a member of the Presbyterian 
 Church, and of that body he is Elder. He is also 
 serving as School Director, and is looked upon as one 
 of the solid and influential men of Oxford Township, 
 Sept. 2r, 1854, in Franklin Co., Pa., Mr. Gamble 
 and Miss Margaret C. Elder were united in mar- 
 riage. She is the daughter of Matthew and Nancy 
 (McConnell) Elder. Eight children have been born 
 to bless their home. These have been named in the 
 order of their birth, as follows : Isabelle, Annettie, 
 Aramantha, Kate M., Carrie L., Lloyd^E., Nellie T. 
 and Myrtle L. The deceased are Nora and an in- 
 fant. 
 
 -4- 
 
 -4- 
 
 $ 
 
 \ 
 
 erome Black. A prominent and extensive 
 land-owner, a large stock-dealer, and one 
 of the highly respected citizens of Corn- 
 wall Township, is Mr. Jerome Black. His gjft 
 residence is located upon section 14, where he ers 
 has a fine farm. Altogether, he owns 680 ^j\* 
 acres of good farm land, all well improved and J\ 
 equipped for farming, and is an extensive dealer in , N 
 cattle and horses. He was a Christmas gift to his 
 parents in the year 1844, while they were residing 
 in Knox Co., Ohio. He remained with them until 
 he was 17 years of age, when he entered the service 
 of his country, enlisting in the 43d Ohio Vol. Inf., 
 under Captain Eckheat, and was mustered in at Mt. 
 Vernon, Ohio. He served his country faithfully for 
 three years and seven months, and has a very inter- 
 esting and eventful military career. He participated 
 in some of the most eventful conflicts of that terrible 
 struggle. Among the first service he did was at the 
 siege of New Madrid, Mo. ; next at the famous con- 
 flict of Island No. 10, and in the spring of 1862 he 
 participated in the siege of Corinth, and in the au- 
 tumn actively engaged in the battle at that place, 
 which was among the most severe of the war. 
 
 About the time that Grant made siege to Vicks- 
 burg, his regiment was on duty at Memphis, Tenn., 
 where they remained for six months, when they were 
 ordered to the vicinity of Decatur, where most of the 
 regiment enlisted as veterans. They then returned 
 
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 to Memphis, and subsequently marched on to Deca- 
 tur, Ala., then to Chattanooga; then joined the main 
 army, and engaged in the battle of Resaca, Ga. ; the 
 following July found them in front of Atlanta, and 
 he participated in the battles of the 22d and 28th, 
 and was also in the battle of Dasal ; he was also at 
 Jonesboro, and accompanied Sherman on his famous 
 march to the sea. On July 22, 1865, he was mus- 
 tered out at Columbus, Ohio. During all these 
 years of hard service he was fortunate in not receiv- 
 ing any of the enemy's missiles. He returned home 
 and soon found his way West. 
 
 Mr. Black came to Henry County in 1865, and 
 made his location in Cornwall Township. April 22, 
 1874, he was married to Miss Catherine J. Orr, by 
 the Rev. F. J. Moffitt. Mrs. Black was born March 
 8, 1846, in County Antrim, Ireland, and was brought 
 to America by her parents in 1849. The four chil- 
 dren of Mr. and Mrs. Black are Sarah E., John M., 
 Paul J. and Frank. The family are members of the 
 Christian Church, and in politics Mr. B. is a Repub- 
 lican. 
 
 « 
 
 |^ F. Hathaway, an industrious and enter- 
 JL prising citizen of Galva Township, Henry 
 County, 111., residing at Galva, was born 
 Oct. 2r, 1821, in Adams Towhship, Berkshire, 
 Co., Mass. His parents are of English extrac- 
 tion, Jeptha Hathaway, the father, having been 
 born in 1777, in Bristol, Rhode Island, and died in 
 1852, at the age of 75 years, in Adrian, Mich. He 
 was a painter in early life. He formed a matrimo- 
 nial alliance in early life with Nancy Albro, a New 
 Englander, who died in Berkshire Co., Mass., in 
 1842, leaving a family of ten children to mourn their 
 loss. The following are their names : Adeline, Eliza- 
 beth, William, Abbie, Sarah, Lydia, Celinda, Arthur 
 F., Ephraim F. and Jane. Qf these Mrs. Adeline 
 Beals, Mrs. Sarah Drew, and Mrs. Lydia Smith, re- 
 side in Adrian, Mich. Mr. H.'s ancestors were 
 Quakers in religious belief. 
 
 Our subject was reared in Massachusetts, and at 
 the age of 15 years came West, with the intention of 
 living with a brother in Michigan, but at which place 
 he did not remain long. Came as far as Chicago, 
 111., and in 1839 returned, continuing backward and 
 forward several times, and engaging in various occu- 
 
 pations, namely, teaming, stage-driving, rafting, etc. 
 In 1850, at the time of the " gold " fever, he joined 
 the " West-bound throng," and in company with 
 three men, all from Pennsylvania — Thomas Free- 
 man, Amos Biddle and Ira Marsey — they started 
 across the country in a wagon, for the land of gold. 
 May 8th they left St. Joseph, Mo., in safety, and 
 then continued their journey, arriving at Weaver- 
 town, Cal., August 8th of the same year. While in 
 California he engaged in mining nearly all the 
 time, and had various success. In November, 
 1852, he returned to New - York, via Isthmus of 
 Panama, by steamer. From New York he went to 
 the pineries of Michigan, where he became a partner 
 in the firm of Jacob, Henry & Aaron Beidler — one 
 in the oldest lumber houses in existence in Chicago 
 at the present day. Mr. Hathaway remained with 
 the, firm for three years, being fairly successful in 
 that line of business, he being in the pineries with 
 headquarters at Muskegon, Mich. From there he 
 came, Jan. 12, 1856, to Galva, and at this latter 
 place he was engaged in the lumber business until 
 1874, when he went to farming, continuing the same 
 until 1883. He then moved to town, where he is at 
 present residing. Mr. Hathaway is the owner of 
 some land, having over 600 acres near Galva, be- 
 sides considerable in Iowa and Nebraska. 
 
 Mr. H. was united in marriage in Muskegon, 
 Mich., to Jane Mowatt, a native of Scotland, and 
 who has become the mother of six children, four of 
 whom survived : Celinda is the wife of A. A. Barlow, 
 who affiliates with the Republican party; Abbie, 
 Jeptha B. and Jane, are the remainder of those who 
 survived, the deceased being Ida and Adeline. 
 
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 I acob Long, a farmer residing on section 
 Wilt 3 1 ! Cornwall Township, is a native of Vir- 
 1 ginia, where he was born March 5, 1808. 
 The father of Mr. Long whose name stands at 
 the head of this biographical notice, by name 
 John Long, was a native of Pennsylvania, in 
 which State he was born in 1788. In 1812 he moved 
 to Virginia, where he engaged in the occupation of 
 farming, and where he continued to reside until the 
 date of his death, in Rockingham Co., that State, in 
 1823. 
 Jacob Long, of whom we write, has supported 
 
HENR Y CO UNT Y. 
 
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 577 
 
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 himself ever since he was 14 years of age, following 
 the vocation of a farmer. He came to this State in 
 1857 from Virginia, and rented land from William 
 O. Clark and others, and was engaged in farming on' 
 rented land until 1863. "During that year he pur- 
 chased 80 acres, located on section 31, and after- 
 wards purchased 80 acres additional, and is at pres- 
 ent the proprietor of 160 acres of as good farming 
 land as can be found in Henry County. He has a 
 fine brick residence on his farm, two-stories in height, 
 and also another residence, frame, one and a half 
 stories, together with good and substantial outbuild- 
 ings, and his farm is indicative of that energy and 
 perseverance of which Mr. Long is possessed. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Long to Nancy Ryan took 
 place Sept. 5, 1832, Rev. Kilpatrick officiating. 
 Mrs. Long was born in Virginia, Jan. 26, 181 1, and 
 has borne her husband ten children, three daughters 
 and seven sons, namely: Charles M., John, Wil- 
 liam T., Jewet H., Mary S., Catherine A., Rebecca, 
 Robert, James S. and Jacob O. Mr. and Mrs. Long 
 are members of the United Brethren Church. In 
 politics Mr. Long affiliates with the Democratic 
 party. 
 
 ohn Sears, residing on section 22, Cornwall 
 Township, and the owner of 400 acres of 
 good farm land located thereon, is a native 
 of Connecticut, having been born in Litchfield 
 County, that State, May 20, 1818. The father 
 of Mr. Sears of this sketch, John Sears, Sr., 
 was born in Connecticut in 1785, and died in On- 
 tario Co., N. Y.,in October; i860. He married Miss 
 Almira Gould, a native of Connecticut, who departed 
 this life in her 80th year. 
 
 John Sears, Jr., the gentleman whose name stands 
 at the head of this notice, formed a matrimonial alli- 
 ance with Miss Mary W. Jewett, Sept. 17, 1856, Rev. 
 William Jewett, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 officiating. She was born and reared in Connecticut. 
 After marriage, in 1856, they came to this county, 
 where Mr. Sears purchased 400 acres of good tillable 
 land on section 22, Cornwall township. On this 
 land they located and entered vigorously and en- 
 ergetically upon its cultivation and improvement, 
 determined not only to make it a home for them- 
 
 selves in time to come, but for their children. Mr. 
 Sears erected on this land good farm buildings, and 
 otherwise improved it, and to-day they are the joint 
 owners of a farm which is not only indicative of a 
 life of labor, but is also a pleasant and profitable 
 home for themselves and children. 
 
 The union of Mr. and Mrs. Sears has been blessed 
 by the birth of seven children, six of whom are liv- 
 ing. The record is as follows: Mary J., married 
 to Doctor J. Porter; Frank S., John S., Jr., Sarah, 
 Nellie, whose demise occurred in 1884, William H. 
 and Jessie L. 
 
 -S3- 
 
 -E4- 
 
 illiam L. Gochenouer, of the township 
 of Annawan, is a respected citizen of 
 Henry County, whither he removed in the 
 year 1856. He is located on section 15, 
 where he is the owner of 40 acres of excel- 
 lent land under good cultivation. 
 He is a native of the State of Ohio, and was first 
 introduced to the light of day in Warren County, 
 Feb. 21, 1834. When he was one year past his ma- 
 jority he came to Henry County to make a perma- 
 nent home for himself, and at first he purchased 80 
 acres on section 16, which he sold in 1861 and en- 
 listed in the military service of his country. The 
 Civil War made a change in his prospects, as there 
 was no use in trying to establish a home in a land 
 which was torn by a struggle between the different 
 sections ; and he felt it his duty to aid in securing the 
 peace that was so necessary to all concerned. He 
 enrolled in Co. I, 27th Regt. 111. Vol. Inf., in August, 
 1861, and was mustered into the army of the United 
 States at. Camp Butler, Sept. 5, 1861. The company 
 was commanded by Captain Merrill, and the regi- 
 ment by Col. N. B. Buford. After the process of as- 
 signment to the service the regiment was ordered to 
 Cairo, 111., and remained there until March 10, 1862. 
 On that day the command was sent to Island No. 
 10, but Mr. Gochenour was at home on sick leave. 
 He rejoined his company at Big Springs, Miss., on 
 the 14th day of July. He was a participant in the 
 battle of Belmont, Mo., and in September, 1862, he 
 was in the siege of Nashville. Dec. 30 of the same 
 year he fought at Stone River, and in the three days 
 succeeding, — Jan. 30 and 31 and Feb. 1, — through 
 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 which the action there continued. On the first day 
 of the fight he was conscious that he was hit by a 
 bullet, and ascertained that the missile had pene- 
 trated several folds of his blanket and also his over- 
 coat, after which it fell to the ground, without having 
 the smallest scratch inflicted on his person. Follow- 
 ing is the list of battles in which he took an active 
 part: Winchester, Jan. 3, 1862; Franklin, Feb. 23, 
 1863; Columbia, Hoovers' Gap, Salem, Gay's Gap, 
 Fairfield, Tullahoma, Chickamauga (Sept 19 and 20, 
 1863), Kossville, Chattanooga, Mission Ridge (Nov. 
 28), Dandridge, Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca, Calhoun, 
 New Hope, Ackworth, Pine-Top Hill, Nickajack, 
 Kenesaw, Honey Creek and Peach-Tree Creek. At 
 At the last named place he was shot through the calf 
 of one of his legs, July 20, 1863. He afterwards 
 fought at Spring Hill, Franklin and at the siege of 
 Nashville. He was mustered out at Louisville, Ky., 
 July 9, 1865, and received his discharge at Camp 
 Butler, 111. He is the recipient of $6 a month as a 
 pension. On his return to Henry County, he bought 
 the farm on which he is now living, and on which he 
 is engaged in mixed farming. 
 
 He was married March 8, i860, to Elmira L. Ca- 
 rey. Their children number four : Lillie L. was born 
 Oct. 17, 1867; Ada F., Nov. 28, 1872; Olive M., 
 March 29, 1875 ; Anna C, July 8, 1880. The mother 
 is a native of Warren Co., Ohio, where she was born 
 May 1, 1841. 
 
 In his political connection Mr. Gochenouer is a 
 Republican. He has held the positions of School 
 Director and Road Commissioner. In the first he 
 officiated three years. He is a member of the Grand 
 Army Post at Annawan, and with his wife belongs to 
 the United Brethren Church. 
 
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 avid T. Dickey, a prosperous and well-to- 
 
 IL do farmer as well as representative citizen 
 
 of Henry County, is a resident of section 
 
 He was born Dec. 
 
 3 
 
 j^*» 27, Cornwall Township. 
 
 flf J 9> 1835, in Grayson County, Ky., near Mam- 
 moth Cave, and is a son of Samuel and 
 Elizabeth (Cooper) Dickey, natives respectively of 
 Chester Co., Pa., and Ohio. Samuel (the father) 
 was born in 1802 and married in Louisville, Ky., 
 in 1831. 
 
 Ai§)$«§§f§« ^g^e: P-A 
 
 David T., our subject, received such educational 
 advantages as was possible in that early day, and 
 farmed with his father on the old homestead when 
 opportunity afforded ; so our subject was thoroughly 
 initiated in a farmer's life and the duties of such. In 
 1855 Mr. Dickey removed into Cornwall Township, 
 where he is now the possessor of a tract of land of 
 560 acres, all improved, which by his indomitable 
 energy and perseverance he has brought to a high 
 state of cultivation. He has succeeded in life, and 
 eflgages quite extensively in raising fine grades of 
 cattle and fattens large numbers of hogs for the mar- 
 ; ket each year. His farm is considered to be second 
 'to none in the township, having upon the same a 
 good dwelling, barn, and the land all fenced. 
 
 David T. Dickey and Miss Eliza E. Peterson were 
 united in the holy bonds of matrimony in Fulton 
 County, this State, on the 4th day of April, 186 1. 
 Mrs. Dickey was born in Crawford Co., Pa., Sept. 
 18, 1836. Her father died in Pennsylvania in the 
 year 1845, a °d three years later Mrs. Dickey came 
 to Fulton County, this State, and located near Can- 
 ton, where she remained until her marriage. Mr. 
 ! and Mrs. Dickey have become the parents of three 
 1 children, two of whom survive, as follows : Arthur 
 J., born Sept. 23, 1863; Gracy L., born Sept. 4, 1866; 
 and Allie A., born Jan. 20, 1862, died March 12, 
 same year. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Dickey are members of the Free 
 Baptist Church, and in his political affiliations Mr. 
 D. is a Republican. 
 
 iram F. Humphrey. Among those who 
 very early in the history of Henry County 
 came here to make their homes, is the sub- 
 ject of the following biographical sketch. He 
 resides on sec'ion 23 of Annawan Township, 
 where he has 340 acres of excellent farming 
 land, and a well improved and equipped farm. He 
 came to Illinois as early as 1849, and located at 
 Elmwood, Peoria County. Here he worked by the 
 month for a year and a half, when the advantages 
 that Annawan Township afforded for_ a young man 
 were made known to him. He soon found his way 
 here and began breaking prairie. In 1855 he bought 
 100 acres of land in this township, to which he has 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 vi* since added at different times until now he has a 
 rR splendid farm of 340 acres. 
 
 Mr. Humphrey was born in Ashtabula Co., Ohio, 
 Dec. 18, 1825. When but a small lad his parents 
 moved into Michigan, where they resided for five 
 years. They then moved into Indiana, where Hi- 
 ram E. spent the next five years of his life. As 
 might be expected, the advantages thus offered him 
 for an education were very limited. Shortly after his 
 arrival in Henry County, or rather after the purchase 
 of his farm, he was married to Miss Martha Becker, 
 by Elder McDermott, of the Baptist Church. This 
 important event in his life occurred Sept, 2 1 , 1856. 
 The lady who had thus signified her desire to join 
 with him in the ups and downs of life, was born May 
 5, r835, in Norfolk Co., Ontario, Canada. Five years 
 previously she had accompanied her parents to the 
 United States. Five children have blessed this mar- 
 riage, and these have been given the following names 
 in the order of their birth: John A., Minnie E., 
 > Franklin G., Jennie M. and Charles A. 
 
 Mr. Humphrey devotes considerable attention to 
 S his Short-horn cattle, and Norman and Clydesdale 
 j^J and English Draft horses. He has a well-improved 
 55 farm, upon which he has erected a two-stoty dwell- 
 !0J ing, 45 x 60 feet in size, has two good barns, put 
 S down about 500 rods of tile drain, and has some five 
 i ") miles of hedge fence on the farm. He is an esteem- 
 ed and respected citizen of the community, and has 
 served his people in several official positions. 
 
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 enry Stickney. Among the prominent and 
 influential pioneers of Henry County, was 
 Mr. Henry Stickney, who arrived here in 
 April, 1862, and for the years he lived perhaps 
 was one of the most highly esteemed men of 
 his neighborhood. He was born in Grafton 
 Co., Vt., June 29, 1807. He was educated and 
 reared, there, and on June 20, 1837, was married to 
 Miss N. A. Wood. This esteemed lady was also of 
 (3* New England birth, having been born in Rindge, N. 
 H., Feb. 22, 1810. A few years after his marriage, 
 Mr. Stickney, hearing such glowing accounts of the 
 fertility of the Valley of the Mississippi, determined 
 to come Westward and seek a location. He found a 
 suitable place in the southwestern part of Henry 
 County, where he became one of the leading spirits 
 
 in moulding the affairs of that section. He was not 
 only one of the early settlers of Henry County, but 
 a man who was universally respected for his habits 
 of industry and economy. He was a self-made man 
 in every particular, starling in life with a limited 
 education and without means. By his own efforts, 
 however, he was able to leave an estate valued at 
 over $50,000. He died Nov. 16, 1866, and his loss 
 was keenly felt by the community. William C. and 
 Alfred Stickney, both prominent citizens of Clover 
 Township, are his sons. A sketch of each is' given 
 in this volume. 
 
 Prominent among that already large and rapidly 
 increasing number of sturdy old pioneers who have 
 been laid at rest from the trials and tribulations of 
 life, is Mr. Henry Stickney, and as such is eminently 
 worthy to be represented in the portrait gallery as 
 given in this volume. We give his portrait in con- 
 nection with this sketch. 
 
 -43- 
 
 — E3- 
 
 onathan Shaw, of the township of Anna- 
 wan, is one of the prominent agriculturists 
 of Henry County. He is the proprietor of 
 530 acres of land located on section 21. The 
 estate is in excellent farming condition and 
 
 '^ supplied with all necessary and modern fix- 
 tures for the best type of mixed husbandry. Mr. 
 Shaw has served in several official positions, among 
 which are Supervisor and School Trustee. He has 
 J>een prominent in the Masonic Order since 1870. 
 
 He was born in Wayne Co., Ind., May 12, 1824. 
 His father, Benjamin Shaw, was born in Pennsyl- 
 vania in 1799, and married Elsie Moore in 1820. 
 She was a native of Tennessee, where she was born 
 in 1804. They became the parents of nine children, 
 whose births occurred as follows: Maria, March 
 12, 1821; Amanda, Aug. 18, T822; Jonathan, May 
 12, 1824; Phebe, April 24, 1826; Milton, March 
 29, 1828; John, born in 1830, died when he was two 
 years old; Lewis, March 16, 1832; Nathan, Aug. 1, 
 1834; Eliza J., Sept. 27, 1837. Tne father died 
 April 17, 1849; his wife's decease took place in 
 1873. They were members of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church and they passed their lives in con- 
 sistent conformity with their religious professions. 
 
 Mr. Shaw passed the first ^24 years of his life on 
 
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 HJENkY COUNTY. 
 
 
 
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 the farm of his father, and was occupied generally 
 after the manner of farmers' sons in labor on the 
 homestead and in early attendance at the common 
 school. In 1845 he attended the University at La 
 Porte, Ind. April 3, 1849, he was married to Eliza- 
 beth E. Everts. She was born at Athens, Ohio. 
 The children who have been added to the household 
 of Mr. and Mrs. Shaw were born as follows : Enter 
 E., March 24, 1851 (see sketch); Hattie E., Aug. 9, 
 1853; Ruth Ella, April, 1856 (died Aug. 3, 1858); 
 Alvin'A., July 16, 1859; Wellington J., Aug. 2, 
 1861; Wheelock B., March 18, 1863; Achsah May, 
 May 14, 1866; Herman, Oct. 24, 1868 (died Dec. 13 
 of the same year). 
 
 Wheelock Everts, the father of Mrs. Shaw, was 
 born Nov. 17, 1785, in Rutland, Vt. He was mar- 
 ried in 1820 to Miss Ruth Brown, who was a native 
 of Pennsylvania and was born Feb. 16, 1792. Fol- 
 lowing are the names and dates of birth of their 
 children: Achsah A., March 17, 1821; Josephus 
 B., Dec. 14, 1823; Alvin, Jan. 12, 1825; Elizabeth 
 E., June 26, 1827; Gustavus A., April 9, 1830; 
 James M., Oct. 30, 1832. Mr. Everts died from ac- 
 cident, Feb. 16, 1836. His wife's demise took place 
 March 15, 1870. 
 
 eorge H. Schrader is one of the enterpris- 
 ing farmers of Edford Township and is 
 K extensively engaged in general farming 
 and in raising stock. He was born in Olden- 
 burg, Germany, Oct. 19, 1834. His parents, 
 John and Catherine (Wicker) Schrader, were 
 natives of the same part of Germany. 
 
 The experiences of Mr. Schrader in his youth in 
 his native country were of the same character of 
 those of other children in the class to which he be- 
 longed by birth, and he attended school there as the 
 law required. When about 17 years of age he made 
 his way to a seaport to embark for the United States. 
 He set out on a sail vessel and after a passage of 42 
 days he landed at the port of New Orleans, June 1, 
 1852. He came thence immediately to Rock Island 
 County and engaged in farming in the township of 
 Hampton. When he landed at Hampton, he had 
 $12.50 in money in his possession. During the first 
 summer he received $7 per month for his labor, and 
 
 in the winter that succeeded he attended school, do- 
 ing chores for his board. He operated as an assist- 
 ant on a farm until 1859, when he bought a tract of 
 land in Hampton Township. He resided on the 
 place four years, and in 1863 he came to Edford 
 Township. One year subsequent he passed in the 
 capacity of a renter. In 1864 he bought 80 acres of 
 land on section 15, and the place has since been his 
 home and field of operation. He is now the owner 
 of 240 acres of land, all of which is in a fine state of 
 improvement. He is engaged largely in the duties 
 of a general farmer and also of raising fine grades of 
 stock. 
 
 Mr. Schrader was married in 1859 to Wilhelmina 
 Weigand, a native of Prussia. They have seven 
 children, — Henrietta P., born Oct. 13, 1863; Martha 
 F., Feb. 25, 1866; John H, Feb. ir, 1868; Charles 
 F., June 21, 1870; Minnie L., Oct. 5, 1874; Louie 
 A., April 25, 1876; Elmer A., Feb. 12, 1881. 
 
 ,harles Nelson, a farmer on section 14, 
 Munson Township, is a native of Sweden. 
 His parents belonged to the laboring class, 
 and as soon as he was of sufficient age he 
 was placed at work. Since that date he has 
 earned his own livelihood. He was born 
 Sept. 20, 1826, and came to America in 1852. He 
 made the voyage across the ocean in a sailing vessel 
 and landed at Quebec, Canada, after a passage of 
 uncommon length. He came directly from the Do- 
 minion to Henry County, and at once found employ 
 as a farm assistant. He was a faithful and indus- 
 trious workman and had no difficulty in obtaining all 
 the employment he needed. He was able to com- 
 mand good wages, and in 1859 he bought a farm on 
 the section which has been mentioned as the place 
 of his residence. He found himself in the position 
 which he held in his imagination when he came to 
 this country — that of the owner of the soil whereon 
 he expected to expend the labor of his life. He was 
 then thetowner of a pair of horses and two cows, and 
 with this outfit he commenced his career as an in- 
 dependent American farmer. His place is all under 
 improvements and fitted with farm buildings and 
 other fixtures of the best kind. His prosperity has 
 enabled him to continue his purchases of land until 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY 
 
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 h« is the owner of a farm of 200 acres. The place is 
 well stocked. 
 
 In the same year in which he settled in life as a 
 farmer on his own account he was married to Miss 
 Hannah Armstrong. She was born March 17, 1831, 
 in Oneida Co., N. Y. The family includes five chil- 
 dren. Justina C. is the wife of George Hutchinson, 
 to whom she was married March 15, 1882. They 
 settled in the township where she was born. Etta 
 V., Mamie M., Willie C. and Freddie J. are the 
 names of the other children. The two oldest daugh- 
 ters have been teachers in the public schools. This 
 is a fact that hardly entered into the father's plans 
 when, in the land of his birth, he saw a possibility of 
 becoming a responsible citizen of a republic. 
 
 yW^-*" 
 
 • ohnM. Burns, one of the extensive farmers 
 and stock raisers, residing on section 30, 
 Western Township, and one of the ener- 
 getic and reliable citizens of Henry County, 
 was born in Finley Township, Allegheny Co., 
 Pa., Sept. 9, 1826. 
 
 The grandfather of the subject of this notice, Alex. 
 Burns, was a native of Scotland, and of Scotch an- 
 cestry. He was a direct descendant of the famous 
 Scottish bard, Robert Burns, and of about the third 
 generation. He emigrated to the United States, and 
 settled in Allegheny Co., Pa., when he was a young 
 man, and was married there. 
 
 After the grandparents were married, the grand- 
 father followed the occupation of a farmer, and 
 during the time the Indians were numerous, were 
 constantly harassed by them, and underwent all the 
 experiences incident to the early settlement of a new 
 country in that county and State. They died in 
 Allegheny Co., Pa., after they had improved a farm 
 from the wild and uncultivated condition which it 
 presented when they first settled on it. Their family 
 owned a whole township of land in that county, the 
 major part of which is yet owned by the offsprings of 
 the original progenitors. The grandfather was a 
 popular Presbyterian, and a prominent citizen of his 
 day and generation. His family was large, consist- 
 ing of some 12 dhildren, of whom Robert, named in 
 honor of the poet, and the father of our subject, was 
 the younger son. He was reared on the farm in Al- 
 
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 legheny County, and attended the common schools, 
 receiving a fair English education, and was married 
 in the county of his nativity to Miss Jane Marshall, 
 a daughter of John Marshall, who emigrated from 
 Scotland to this country previous to his marriage. 
 He married Jane McBride, who was of American 
 parentage, and he followed the occupation of a farmer 
 in Allegheny County, where both died some years 
 ago. The father of the subject of this notice was 
 born Feb. 1, 1797, and died at his residence March 
 22, 1874. The mother was bojn May 10, 1803, and 
 died Jan. 4, 1880. They had met with considerable 
 success in the vocation of their lives, and were 
 prominent and highly respected citizens in the com- 
 munity in which they resided. Their union was 
 blessed with ten children, four sons and six daugh- 
 ters, of whom John M. was the third in order of 
 birth. All the children lived until they attained 
 the age of majority, and eight of the number yet 
 survive. 
 
 John M. Burns, subject of this biographical notice, 
 resided at home and assisted his father on the farm, 
 alternating his labors thereon by attendance at the 
 common schools, and continuing to reside with his 
 parents until he developed into manhood. He was 
 united in marriage in Finley Township, Allegheny 
 Co., Pa., Oct. 18, 1849, with Miss Esther Meanor, 
 the only child of Samuel and Mary (Meanor) Meanor, 
 natives of that county and State, of American 
 ■ parentage, and of Scotch descent. Her father was 
 a farmer, and also a carpenter by trade, and lived all 
 his life in that county, and there died Aug. 22, 1875. 
 The mother also died there June 22, 1849. They 
 were both active members of the Presbyterian 
 Church, of which the father was an Elder, and both 
 were highly respected citizens of the community in 
 which they resided. 
 
 Mrs. Burns was born in Finley Township, Jan. 29, 
 1828. The parental instruction which she received, 
 and the religious influence surrounding her early 
 life, were such as to develop in her a remarkable 
 amount of social and religious qualities, and physical 
 mental strength. She remained at home until her 
 marriage, and, being the only daughter, was so in- 
 structed as to be thoroughly prepared for an active 
 life of effort and real good. Their two children, 
 John Sanford and Mary J., were born Nov. 25, 1851, 
 and Sept. 17, 1855 respectively. The former was 
 married in Rural Township, Rock Island Co!, 111., 
 
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 1 
 
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 HENR Y CO UNTY. 
 
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 Feb. 20, 1884, to Miss Belle Coffee. She was born 
 and reared in that county, and their only child was 
 born June 30, 1885, and christened Clifford C. They 
 now reside in Rural Township, where they are en- 
 gaged in farming. The young Mr. Burns had a 
 good practical training in commercial matters, and 
 was well fitted for a business career. Mary J. was 
 married Sept. 26, 1883, to Dr. L. L. Long, a skillful 
 physician of Toulon, Stark Co., 111., where the Doc- 
 tor is having a remarkably successful practice. They 
 are the parents of one child, Bessie E., born Sept. 
 16, 1884. 
 
 Two years after his marriage, on the 2d of Janu- 
 ary, Mr. Burns started for California, via Panama 
 and the water route, and landed at his destination, 
 Gold Hill, June 1, T852. The trip was made in 
 search of gold, and on the whole was a successful one, 
 although he experienced considerable hardships and 
 exposure. He returned in 1854, arriving home Dec. 
 8. One year later they came West, and made a 
 purchase of 351 acres of prairie land, which he has 
 made one of the best farms in the county. He now 
 has 560 acres, and one of the most pleasant and de- 
 lightful homes in the county. Mr. and Mrs. Burns 
 are active members of the Presbyterian Church, and 
 politically he is a sound Republican. 
 
 Mr. B. takes considerable interest in the relics of 
 the past, and among those he has in his possession 
 are two canes, made out of the logs of the old cabin 
 home in which he was born and reared. It was a 
 rude log cabin, with puncheon floor. The canes are 
 fine specimens of workmanship, one having a large 
 gold head upon it, the other headed with cherry 
 wood, made from the door of the hut. 
 
 #** 
 
 ^mer E. Shaw, a farmer in the township of 
 Annawan, resident on section 22, was born 
 March 24, 185 1, in the county of La Porte, 
 Ind. He is the son of Jonathan Shaw, and a 
 full sketch of his parents appears on another 
 page. He passed the first 26 years of his life 
 in the home of his boyhood as was the assistant of 
 his father on the farm. He obtained his education 
 in the common schools, and later was an attendant 
 at the college in Grinnell, Iowa. He went after- 
 wards to the Normal School in the place of the same 
 
 name in Illinois, which he attended about one year. 
 He went thence to Little Rock, Ark., and from there 
 six months later down the river on a steamboat trip, 
 returning by land. 
 
 He was married to Annie M. Davidson, March 
 8, 1877. They have three children, — EmerB., born 
 June n, 1878; Clifford, July 10, 1880; and Martha 
 E., April 16, 1885. Mrs. Shaw was born Feb. 22, 
 1859. Mr. Shaw is engaged in farming and is the 
 owner of about 40 acres of land. The place is well 
 fitted with good and necessary buildings. 
 
 auies Ringle, of Munson Township, re- 
 \ moved to Henry County in 1856. He was 
 4 born in Westmoreland Co., Pa., April 3, 
 1837, and is the son of Joseph and Mary A. 
 (Whitesel) Ringle. The personal account of 
 the parents is given on other pages of this 
 work. The maternal grandparents of Mr.' Ringle 
 were natives of Holland. His grandfather Ringle 
 was a soldier in the War of the Revolution, and 
 after the war was ended settled in Pennsylvania. 
 
 Mr. Ringle passed the years of his youth and mi- 
 nority in the county where he was born, and remained 
 there until he came to Illinois. He was 19 when he 
 set out from his home with four horses and a wagon 
 to make an overland trip to Henry County. He 
 passed 30 days on the road, and spent the first win- 
 ter in the family of the Rev. Mr. Leavenworth. In 
 the following spring the parents followed the son to 
 Henry County. The father bought a farm in what 
 is now the township of Osco, which was situated on 
 section 14. That township was then known as " 16." 
 It was all in its primal condition of unbroken prairie. 
 The senior Ringle was the resident owner of the 
 place seven years, and at the end of that time re- 
 moved to Cambridge." 
 
 Mr. Ringle is the oldest son, and he remained 
 with his parents until he became the head of a family 
 of his own. His marriage to Miss Caroline Lamp- 
 rey took place July 22, 1862. Mrs. Ringle is the 
 daughter of Eli and Hannah (Sanborn) Lamprey, 
 and was born in Rockingham Co., N. H. After 
 their marriage they passed a year and a half on the 
 homestead, and in 1864 Mr. Ringle bought 80 acres 
 of land on section 18, in Munson Township. He 
 
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 ■^ti!i»>^ — w- 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
 -®4^ 
 
 5«s 
 
 l 
 
 <§* 
 
 * » 
 
 erected farm buildings and was the occupant of the 
 place until 1868, when he sold it and bought 164 
 acres on section 7, and has since lived on the place. 
 The farm is a valuable one, and supplied with mod- 
 ern fixtures of the most approved style. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Ringle are members of the Presby- 
 terian Church in Munson. 
 
 vwH" 
 
 '. on. Hilton M. Ford, real-estate dealer and 
 T formerly a merchant, residing at Galva, 
 was born Jan. 13, 1823, in Milo, Yates Co.) 
 N. Y. His grandfather Ford was a native of 
 Connecticut, where he married, spent an active 
 life and died. Of his children, Dyer Ford, the 
 father of our subject, was born at Hampton, Wind- 
 ham Co., Conn., May 8, 1798. He was a school- 
 teacher during his early life, but in i8i8he removed 
 to Western New York, where he became a prominent 
 merchant. He removed from West Dresden, Yates 
 Co., to Pultney, Steuben Co., N. Y.,and subsequent- 
 ly moved to IPainted Post, and in 1844 he came 
 West and located in McHenry Co., 111. Some three 
 years later he removed to Galesburg, that his chil- 
 dren might enjoy better educational advantages. In 
 that city he was also engaged in the mercantile bus- 
 iness. In 1856 he removed to Viola, Mercer Coun- 
 ty, where he remained in active mercantile life until 
 1865, when he returned to Knox County, locating at 
 Oneida, where, on the 30th day of December, 1884, 
 he died at the age of nearly 87 years, standing at the 
 time of his death the representative head of five liv- 
 ing generations. He was twice married, the first 
 time in 181 9, to Louisa Morris, who died ten years 
 later. She was the daughter of Stephen Morris and 
 the mother of four children who reached the age of 
 maturity, viz. : Mrs. Esther Miller, deceased, the 
 subject of this sketch, Mrs. Chloe C. Barnett, and 
 James B. Ford, deceased. He was again married in 
 1 83 1 to Sophia Wollage, of New York. She died; at 
 Oneida, 111., Jan. 5, 1881. 
 
 He united with the Presbyterian Church in the 
 State of New York in 1835, and lived an humble, 
 consistent christian life. In his day he was an active 
 business man and a useful and highly respected and 
 honored citizen. 
 Milton M. Ford, whose name heads this sketch, 
 
 was educated principally in the common-schools of 
 the State of his nativity, and attended one winter the 
 Academy at Penn Yan, New York. However, with 
 these limited advantages, he devoted much of his 
 time while engaged at work to reading and studying, 
 until he acquired an excellent general education. 
 During his early life he clerked for his father until 
 the age of 16 years, when his parents went to Paint- 
 ed Post and he to Penn Yan, and there engaged as a 
 clerk, for Charles C Sheppard, one of the leading 
 and most successful merchants in the county of 
 Yates. At the age of 23 years he became partner, 
 under the firm name of Sheppard & Ford, Mr. Shep- 
 pard withdrawing from active business, throwing the 
 responsibility and active duties of the establishment 
 upon his partner, the management of which proved 
 successful and satisfactory. In 185 1 he visited his 
 father at Galesburg. 111., and became owner of his 
 first real estate by location of some of the Govern- 
 ment land then subject to entry in Henry County. 
 This being a profitable investment w he again returned 
 to the State in 1856 on an exploring tour and pur- 
 chased on joint account for Mr. Sheppard and him- 
 self a large quantity of land in Lee and Mercer 
 and for himself in Knox and Henry Counties. In 
 1858 he sold out his mercantile interests in New 
 York, and in i860 removed with his family to Galva, 
 that he might be near his lands, and again entered 
 into active mercantile business, to which he added 
 the lending of money, and has successfully handled 
 large amounts of Eastern capital as investment for 
 others. Since that time he has resided there, and 
 has always been identified with the business interest 
 and whatever contributed most to the strength, pros- 
 perity and upbuilding of the town and her citizens. 
 When a lad and clerk in New York, he studied law 
 and was admitted to the Bar in Illinois in 1868, but 
 has never made the practice of this profession a bus- 
 iness, using it only as a means to assist him in con- 
 ducting his real-estate enterprises. Mr. Ford, since 
 his residence in this county, has taken an active part 
 in political matters and has had conferred upon him 
 by the citizens of his county and his party political 
 honors and offices. For years he was Chairman of 
 the Republican Congressional Committee, and has 
 been otherwise instrumental in serving the party 
 whose cause he advocates. In 1864 he was elected 
 to the Legislature from the 46th District. He was 
 Chairman and member of important committees. In 
 
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 <*■ ©r^HaSH!!^ 
 
ges- 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 I 
 
 i: 
 
 * 
 
 
 1878 he was again elected to the General Assembly, 
 this time to represent the 21st Senatorial District, and 
 during the session served as Chairman of the Com- 
 mittee on Finance and a member of the Committees 
 on the Judicial Department, Revenue Appropriations, 
 Insurance, State Charitable Institutions, Miscellany 
 and on Congressional and Senatorial Appointments. 
 During this session he took an active part in further- 
 ing the interests of the temperance petition presented 
 to the Senate by the members of the W. C. T. U. 
 
 Mr. Ford was married at Bath, N. Y., Jan. 13, 
 1846, to Miss Laura Spencer, a native of Columbia 
 Co., N. Y. She is the mother of three children, who 
 have reached maturity, namely : Florence, now the 
 wife of Dr. B. S. Peck, of Strausburg, Neb. ; Dyer 
 Ford resides at the same place and is engaged in 
 the mercantile business with Dr. Peck. He married 
 Mary E. Mitchell, daughter of Col. A. L. Mitchell, 
 of Davenport, Iowa. Jennie S., their youngest child, 
 now resides at home. Mr. and Mrs. Ford and all 
 their children are members of the Congregational 
 Church, of which Mr. Ford has been a Trustee ever 
 since he came to Galva. He is an active, enter- 
 prising man, and takes a deep interest in everything 
 pertaining to the general welfare. 
 
 ->i-$ <xS#«IW®>o *~-f<" • 
 
 rittan Hadley, a resident of Cambridge, is 
 the acting cashier and book-keeper in the 
 First National Bank in the place where he 
 ® has been a citizen since 1878. He was born 
 Feb. 4, 1856, in Geueseo, 111., and he is the 
 son of Jeremiah and Martha (Poppleton) 
 Hadley, who were natives of Lincolnshire, England. 
 They came to this country in their early lives, and 
 were married in the State of New York. After their, 
 union in the bonds of matrimony they settled in the 
 vicinity of Lockport, N. Y., where the senior Hadley 
 was a farmer. They removed to Henry County and 
 settled finally in Munson Township, where they are 
 still residing. A sketch of their lives will be found 
 elsewhere in this volume. They are the parents of 
 five children, born in the following order: John W., 
 Brittan, Mrs. Emma E. Call, Franklin J. and Lester 
 G. John W. married Alice Woodward, of Osco 
 Township, and now resides in Jasper Co., Iowa. She 
 is the daughter of Luman Woodward (see sketch), of 
 the township of Osco, in Henry County, 
 
 Mr. Hadley was educated in the county where he 
 was born. He was employed on the home farm in 
 early life. He entered the mercantile house of 
 Messrs. Hagin, Gould & Tee, of Cambridge, 111., in 
 1877, an< ^ operated in their interests about four years. 
 In September, i88r, ne accepted the position in which 
 he is now acting. In his political connection he is 
 identified with the Republican party. 
 
 hilip B. Keeler, Chairman of the Board of 
 Henry County Supervisors, residing at Ke- 
 Ep^S' wanee, was born at Clarendon, N. Y., Aug. 
 27, T843. He was the youngest son born of 
 Ira B. and Clarissa H. (Foley) Keeler, natives 
 of the State of New York, and of English and 
 Irish descent, respectively. The elder Mr. Keeler 
 was, by occupation, a contractor and buildsr of 
 ability, and his mechanical genius was transmitted 
 largely to his son whose name stands at the head of 
 this sketch. Philip was only seven years old when 
 his father died, and from that early age was thrown 
 largely upon his own resources. At" the common 
 schools of his native State he -acquired something of 
 a juvenile education, which was subsequently aug- 
 mented, materially, at the High School of Kewanee. 
 His mother removed from York State to Kewanee 
 in 1859, arid 'here Mr. Keeler learned the trade of 
 watch-maker, and worked at the same for about three 
 years. When about 19 years of age, he abandoned 
 watch-making and took up the machinist's trade, and 
 in less than a year had the great misforune to lose 
 his right hand and a portion of the fore-arm. The 
 accident, serious as it was, did not keep him back in 
 the least, nor, in fact, did it drive him from his trade, 
 for with his one hand he successfully manipulated 
 the machine for about three years. 
 
 In 1866, Mr. Keeler engaged in the sewing-machine 
 and musical instrument business, and has since fol- 
 lowed it with success. He has served the public 
 two terms as Tax Collector, and is at this writing, 
 October, 1885, serving his third term as Supervisor. 
 Mr. Keeler is an active worker in the ranks of the 
 Republican party, and a prominent member of the 
 I. O. O. F., belonging to the Encampment, also to 
 the Grand Lodge, to which organization he has been 
 a representative, continuously, since 1872. 
 What of this world's goods Mr. Keeler has en- 
 
 I 
 
 Vi 
 
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 (! 
 
 1 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
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 1 
 
 I 
 
 (^ 
 
 « * 
 
 joyed, have been acquired by his individual efforts 
 and industry, and his credit and good name in the 
 community indicate conclusively that, unless more 
 serious ill-luck happens than has hitherto befallen 
 him, old age will find him possessed of a sufficient 
 competency to retire in independence and peace. 
 
 Mr. Keeler was united in marriage, Dec. 22, 1866, 
 at Peoria, 111., to Miss Mary F. Whittemore, who 
 has borne him one son, — Rufus W., a recent gradu- 
 ate of the Kewanee School, and who is possessed of 
 much of his father's faith and ingenuity. 
 
 en. John H. Howe, deceased, formerly a 
 resident of Kewanee, was born in Riga, 
 ""* N. Y., Sept. 12, 1822, and died at Laredo, 
 Texas, April 3, 1873. The parents of Gen- 
 ; ; eral Howe were Joseph and Eunice (Smith) 
 f Howe, natives of Vermont, of English extrac- 
 tion, who followed the vocation of agriculture, and 
 who brought their six sons and one daughter up to 
 rural pursuits. The family removed to Pennsylva- 
 nia in 1834, and there the father and mother spent 
 their lives. 
 
 John H., whose name stands at the head of this 
 biography, after attending several winrers in the pub- 
 lic schools of this neighborhood, was, at the age of 
 15 years, sent to Grand River Institute, at Austin- 
 burg, Ashtabula Co., Ohio, where he spent four years, 
 going thence to Kingsville Academy in the same 
 county. From the age of about ten years, he enter- 
 tained the idea of studying law, and as soon as op- 
 portunity afforded he took up the study. When 
 22 years of age he was examined by the two distin- 
 guished lawyers and statesmen known to American 
 history as Joshua R. Giddings and Benjamin F. 
 Wade ; was admitted to the Bar, and soon afterward 
 hung out his shingle at Monroe, Ashtabula Co., 
 Ohio, where he followed his profession for about two 
 years. From Monroe he removed to Union ville, 
 Lake County, same State, and there practiced his 
 profession a short time. While at Kingsville Acad- 
 emy he formed the acquaintance of Miss Julia A., 
 the accomplished daughter of Amasa and Rosalinda 
 (Watrous) Castle, of Ashtabula, at which place, on 
 the 27th of March, 1845, he married. Her father 
 was one of the old defenders of Ashtabula against 
 
 the British, and spent the years of his life in that 
 town, dying in 1870, at the age of 84 years, his wife 
 having preceded him to the land of the hereafter the 
 year before, in the 83d year of her age. 
 
 In 1855 Mr. Howe came to Kewanee, this State, 
 and continued the practice of his profession at that 
 place until i860, when he was elected to the Circuit 
 Judgeship to fill out the unexpired term of Judge* 
 Drury, resigned. In 1862 Judge Howe enlisted in 
 the service of the United States in the war for the 
 Union, and on the organization of the 124th 111. Vol. 
 Inf. became Lieutenant Colonel of the Regiment. 
 He was with the regiment all the time ; was brevetted 
 Colonel, and in March, 1865, brevetted Brigadier 
 General. His commission, however, did not reach 
 him until after his discharge, in August, 1865, it 
 having been returned to Gov. Oglesby from the Dead 
 Letter Office, and forwarded to Gen. Howe's home. 
 Following is a copy : 
 
 " State of Illinois, 
 Executive Department, Springfield, 
 
 May 23, 1865. 
 "Brevet Brigadier-General John H. Howe, 
 
 Kewanee, J 11. : 
 
 " General : — I have the honor to enclose to you 
 Commission conferring on you the rank of Brigadier- 
 General of United States Volunteers, by brevet. I 
 congratulate you upon this mark of confidence from 
 the Government. It is a suitable recognition of your 
 valuable services against treason and rebellion, and 
 in favor of liberty and union. The Commission was 
 received from the Secretary of War to-day. 
 " Very res'p., 
 
 " Your obedient servant, 
 
 " R. J. Oglesby, Governor'' 
 
 He served his country faithfully, and with his reg- 
 iment participated in the battles of Thompson's Hill, 
 near Port Gibson, Raymond, Jackson, Champion 
 Hill, Big Black River, Vicksburg, Jackson Cross 
 Roads, Benton, Yazoo City, and finally Spanish 
 Fort, near Mobile, April 8, 1865. He was discharged 
 along with his regiment at Chicago, August, 1865, 
 when he returned home and resumed his law prac- 
 tice, in which he excelled as advocate, and was em- 
 ployed in most of the principal cases in Henry and 
 Stark counties. 
 
 During the campaign of 1868 he was an active 
 worker and efficient speaker for the election of his 
 old commander, Gen. Grant, to the Presidency. In 
 March, 1869, he was appointed by President Grant 
 the first Chief Justice of Wyoming Territory, in 
 
 
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 i 
 
 HENRY 
 
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 COUNTY. 
 
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 ® 
 
 S* which position he served about two years. Previous 
 
 */R to holding his first term of Court, through his advice 
 
 £% Gov. Campbell signed the bill of the Territorial 
 
 J Legislature allowing women to vote, hold office and 
 
 A) serve on juries ; and the first women who ever sat 
 
 as jurors and grand jurors in America performed 
 
 this service in his Court. 
 
 He resigned his office in 1871 and returned home, 
 where he again took up the practice of law. But 
 shortly afterwards his health failed him, and he 
 gradually declined until pulmonary consumption set 
 in. In January, 1873, his friends, alarmed at his de- 
 clining health, urged him to go South, that he might 
 have the benefit of a milder climate, and besought 
 the President for an appointment for him as Secretary 
 of a Commission authorized by a resolution of Con- 
 gress in T872 to investigate certain causes of com- 
 plaint against Mexicans along the border of Texas. 
 Accordingly, on the 9th of January, he was duly ap- 
 pointed, and soon after, in company with his wife, 
 started for the Texas frontier. But it was too late! 
 His health failed rapidly, and he expired at Laredo, 
 == Texas, April 3, 1873. His remains were brought 
 «V home for burial. 
 
 ?jS Such, briefly, are the outlines of the life of one of 
 \/ Kewanee's most worthy and honored citizens, a man 
 who filled a large place in the hearts of the people of 
 v ) Henry County, and whose influence will be long 
 felt in the community of which he was a member. 
 Coming to Kewanee while the town was in its in- 
 fancy, he at once entered zealously into all its public 
 improvements. He aided and encouraged the es- 
 tablishment of schools, churches, lyceums and libra- 
 ries, and all that might contribute to the moral or 
 intellectual welfare of the community. As a lawyer 
 and Judge, he stood deservedly high, always advising 
 peaceable adjustment of difficulties rather than by 
 litigation, where it could be done without a sacrifice 
 of rights. As an advocate, he was a leader of the 
 Henry County Bar. A friend always to the poor, 
 generous to a fault, he did not accumulate as much 
 property as a man of more sordid disposition would 
 
 Ihave done with his opportunities, though he left his 
 t family in quite comfortable circumstances. A true 
 ~ ( ,K friend, a kind husband and father, and upright 
 y£ Judge and citizen, an able lawyer, a faithful and 
 , fi,) heroic soldier, such was Judge Howe, whose memory 
 v^. will ever be green in the hearts of all who knew him. 
 
 The General was a Mason and an Odd Fellow, and 
 was buried in the honors of the society first named, 
 in which the military also participated. 
 
 Mrs. Howe was in early life a school-teacher and 
 enjoyed the distinction of being one of the most thor- 
 ough mathematicians in the country where she taught. 
 After marriage she mastered civil engineeering, and 
 aided her husband in his various business un- 
 dertakings. In 1850 her husband was appointed 
 Census Enumerator for Unionville, Ohio, a work 
 thoroughly completed by him without assistance 
 other than hers. The money earned by their united 
 efforts at that time paid for the first home they ever 
 owned. Mr. and Mrs. H. buried four children in in- 
 fancy and raised four to adult age. Their eldest, 
 Edward E., is a telegraph operator at Kewanee; 
 Emma is the wife A. J. Higby, of Hutchinson, Kan. ; 
 and Jessie F. and Julia, two handsome and accom- 
 plished young ladies, are at home with their mother. 
 
 ^-S/OTJr»^'W»v>. 
 
 ~»"»/V.~\42j2£/©>S@''« 
 
 ewis Hoppock. One of the prominent 
 settlers who came into Henry County be- 
 fore the advent of railroad was Mr. John 
 X*^ Hoppock. He came in T851 and located in 
 Wethersfreld Township, where he reared a large 
 and respected family, and was himself highly 
 esteemed. His wife, who was Miss Margaret Hack- 
 ett, was a native of New Jersey, and he was also born 
 in the same State. Both died in this township. 
 Father died Aug. 16, 1864; mother died July r, 
 1884. 
 
 Lewis was the fifth in order of birth of a family of 
 13 children, and educationally enjoyed only such 
 means as the common schools of an early day afforded. 
 He continued to assist his father on the farm and 
 labor in his behalf until 2r years of age. For eight 
 years subsequently he rented a farm in Wethersfield 
 and tried his hand in managing it for himself. In 
 this enterprise he was reasonably successful, and at 
 the end of this engagement he purchased 66 acres 
 on section. 15, of the same township. Here he set- 
 tled and has since made his home, with the exception 
 of two years spent in Kewanee. He also passed 
 about a year in Kansas and seven months in Dakota, 
 seeking to improve his impaired health. He has 
 erected a fine residence, which is heated throughout 
 
 |§R®£«- 
 
 _>■* 
 
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 j^SH- 
 
 ■^ k ' (^v ^MU^ si r O ^ &^- 
 
 %T&*. 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 with steam, and is one of the "model dwellings of the 
 county. His outbuildings and farm equipments are 
 of superior quality. He has succeeded so well that 
 he now owns his home farm, comprising 306 acres 
 of land, besides a small timber lot in Stark County. 
 He is looked upon as one of the enterprising and 
 progressive farmers of Henry County. 
 
 Mr. Hoppock was married at Kewanee, April 19, 
 1865, to Huldah R., daughter of Israel and Sophia 
 (Peticard) Cross. Her parents were among the very 
 earliest settlers of Henry County, coming from Wash- 
 ington Co., Ohio, in 1848, and locating in Wethers- 
 field Township, where they became prominent and 
 well-known pioneers. Mr. Cross died November, 
 1855, and Mrs. Cross died Oct. 20, 1878. Huldah 
 R. was the youngest of the nine children born to 
 them. Her birth-place is Washington Co., Ohio, 
 and her birth-day July 31, 1841. Her only child, 
 Alfred G., resides at their home. Both she and her 
 husband are members of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, and in political sentiments Mr. H. is de- 
 cidedly Republican. 
 
 homas Lyle, retired farmer, resident of Ke- 
 wanee, III., is a native of Paisley, Scotland, 
 and a son of William and Jannett Lyle. 
 He was born March 18. 1809, and brought by 
 his mother to America when about seven 
 years of age. (See biography of John Lyle for 
 early history of the family.) 
 
 The circumstances of the family were such as to 
 limit the opportunities of the children as to educa- 
 tion, though Thomas, by a few months' attendance at 
 school, before leaving Scotland, and later in Ver- 
 mont, succeeded in acquiring a fair English educa- 
 tion. Like his brother John, he purchased his time 
 from his father, when about 17 years of age, and 
 from that time forward worked for himself. Before 
 leaving Vermont, which he did in 1837, he worked 
 four years as stone-cutter upon the construction of 
 the Vermont State-house at Montpelier. From Ver- 
 mont the family came to Illinois, stopping in Stark 
 County, where the subject of this sketch carried on 
 farming and stock-raising upon an extensive plan 
 until 1876. He also bought and sold lands, and 
 altogether steadily increased his worldly possessions 
 
 until he was not only able to establish his children 
 well on the road to fortune, but also to retire with a 
 handsome competency, which he did in 1877. His 
 mother died in Stark County, as did also his brother, 
 William. His oldest brother, Robert, remained in 
 the old country until sent for by the family. He 
 came to Illinois and settled in Bureau County, where 
 his wife soon afterwards died and was buried. 
 Robert survived his wife by about one year, and died 
 Oct. 10, 1871, at the home of his brother, Thomas. 
 
 Since 1877 Mr. Lyle has lived in Kewanee. In 
 1884 he was stricken with paralysis, and has since 
 been more or less an invalid. His youngest daugh- 
 ter, Emily, watches over and attends him with the 
 tender care and solicitude characteristic of an affec- 
 tionate and dutiful daughter. 
 
 Mr. Lyle was married at Groton, Vt., Feb. 19, 
 1837, to Miss Mary Jane Craig, who died July 23, 
 1855, at the age of 36 years, 9 months and 22 days, 
 leaving six children hat of a family of ten she had 
 borne to Mr. Lyle. The record of the dead is as fol- 
 lows: Infant son, not named, died April 1,1845, 
 aged two months and four days; James B., born Feb. 
 14, 1845, died Oct. 14, 1854, aged nine years and 
 eight months; Jane died Aug. 19, 1855, aged 27 
 days; Thomas, Jr., died Aug. 22, 1855, aged one 
 month. The last two were twins, and were born 
 July 22, 1855. Of the living children, we make the 
 following memoranda: Hellen F., born Nov. 13, 
 1837; Mary, born Sept. 12, 1839, widow of Asa A. 
 Bunton, deceased, resides in Stark County ; Lucy C, 
 born June 30, 1841, wife of Thomas Robinson, of 
 Kewanee ; Carlos B., born Nov. 1, 1842, a farmer 
 in Stark County; Emily, born July 6, 1849, at home 
 with her father; and Horace E., born May 3, 1852, 
 is a farmer upon the old homestead in Stark County. 
 
 In the early history of Stark County, Mr. Lyle was 
 one of its most prominent citizens. He was County 
 Commissioner, an office he held when the law 
 changed the system to the Supervisory, the one now 
 in vogue, and he became the first Supervisor of his 
 township. He was Postmaster of Elmira for 14 
 years, and Constable for four. Mr. Lyle is truly a 
 self-made man. The biography of John Lyle, found 
 in another part of this volume, tells the story of 
 their early struggles, but success has crowned the 
 efforts of each, and alike they have worked that 
 others might not want. The portrait of Mr. Lyle is 
 given in this Album as that of a venerable and highly 
 
 •i 
 
 SSI 
 
 g 
 
 % 
 
 h 
 
 
 :1S>a^ — ^^- 
 
&N^$ 
 
 w?3^ 
 
 592 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 -4^^®\| 
 
 
 (!) 
 
 esteemed pioneer of this portion of the Prairie State. 
 This sketch and this portrait will be an enduring 
 monument to his sacrifices and labors. Soon the 
 last of the noble race of pioneers will sleep- peace- 
 fully in their graves. Soon, too, their foot-prints and 
 finger-marks will disappear. People who are now 
 new settlers will be:ome old settlers then, and those 
 who took the country in its native wildness will be 
 long forgotten if some means are not taken to per- 
 petuate their memories. 
 
 -MSfr- 
 
 ohn Sieben, of the township of Loraine, is 
 the oldest son of Joseph and Apollonia 
 (Gabel) Sieben, and was born in the vil- 
 lage of Abenheim, in Hesse Darmstadt, Ger- 
 [c many, near the city of Worms, in the province 
 of Osthofen. The date of his birth is June 1 6, 
 1836. At the age of six he was sent to school and 
 continued there according to law until he was 14. 
 He then went to the city of Mainz to learn the trade 
 of a shoemaker. He found everything distasteful, 
 and after a few days returned to his home. His fa- 
 ther had been in comfortable circumstances, but 
 about this time had lost his property by becoming 
 security for others, and the family began to make 
 preparations to come to America. August 8, 1852, 
 they started from Mainz on a steamboat on the 
 river Rhine, and went thence to Rotterdam, whence 
 they proceeded to London. There they took pas- 
 sage on a sailing vessel for the United Stales, arriv- 
 ing in New York after a voyage of 48 days. They 
 were 48 days in making the trip from Mainz to the 
 port where they landed on the shores of the Ameri- 
 can Continent. The family came direct to Chicago, 
 where the mother was taken ill and they were obliged 
 to remain in the Garden City. She died in the Jan- 
 uary following. In February, 1853, the father, with 
 six of his seven motherless children, came to White- 
 side County and located on the Rock river bottom, 
 near Crandall's Ferry. They were in debt $175. 
 They rented a farm and took possession of a vacant 
 cabin, and as it was in a rather dilapidated condi- 
 tion, they made it comfortable by chinking it with 
 mud. The father obtained work, for which he re- 
 ceived 50 cents a day, and two of the sons went to 
 work for the sums of 30 and 25 cents respectively. 
 
 They had to board themselves. In 1856 the log 
 house was burned. The mishap occurred in the 
 day-time when all the family were absent but the 
 step-mother. The entire contents were destroyed. 
 They then moved into another house, which they 
 rented. The second marriag£/-6f the father took 
 place in 1856. He was a resident of Whiteside 
 County until his death, which transpired in 1858. 
 
 Mr. Sieben was 16 when he came to this country 
 with his parents. He commenced work in White- 
 side County, at the rate of 30 cents a day and 
 boarded himself, but as he learned the ways and 
 language of this country he was able to command 
 larger pay. In the summer of 1853 he was employ- 
 ed by Lyman Warren at $8 per month, and in the 
 winter succeeding he went to school, working for his 
 board in the family of Mr. Warren. He was in the 
 same employ during the next season and he received 
 $10 a month. The next year Mr. Warren paid him 
 $[2 per month. The next year he worked for his 
 father, who had rented a farm in Portland Town- 
 ship. The_ next year he was employed by Jacob 
 Arnett and received $1 6 per month. He continued 
 in the same employ two seasons. Believing that he 
 could operate to his own advantage on a farm, he 
 rented a tract of land of Lewis Arnett, Sr., which he 
 managed two years, working it on shares. Through 
 the season of 1862 he broke prairie. The next year 
 he worked for William Arnett, and at the termina- 
 tion of his term of service rented a farm of his em- 
 ployer. He continued its management one year and 
 then went to Whiteside County, where he rented a 
 farm for three years of Jacob Arnett. During that 
 time he bought 65 acres of land on section 3, in the 
 township of Loraine, and he took possession of his 
 property in 1868. He was the occupant of the 
 place two years. In January, 1869, he bought the 
 farm on which he* has pursued the business which he 
 selected as the vocation of his life. It is located on 
 the same section of the same township. At the time 
 he made his purchase there was a house on the, 
 place, to which he has made an addition and has 
 built a good frame barn. His industry and good 
 management have met the usual reward, and he is at 
 present the owner of 315 acres of land, which is in 
 first-clase condition for farming purposes. In addi- 
 tion to the usual avenues of mixed husbandry, Mr. 
 Sieben is engaged in the business of a dairyman and 
 sells the cream product to the creameries. 
 
 I§^\®%m? 
 
 -o 
 
 A<^n!i@iiiif^9 — *^- 
 
-6V^illIl@tlIlf^f^ >*€»k: 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 X 
 
 I 
 
 a 
 I 
 
 (3* 
 
 «» 
 
 Nov. 8, 1864, his marriage to Louisa, daughter of 
 Jacob and Elizabeth Rapp, was consummated. Al- 
 bert Wesley, Hattie Martha, Sarah Louvina, Clara 
 Priscilla, George Henry and Floyd Jerome are the 
 names of the children now belonging to the house- 
 hold. The parents are members of the German 
 Evangelical Church. 
 
 on. Levi North, attorney and counselor at 
 law, Kewanee, 111., was born at Turin, 
 Lewis Co., N. Y., March 12, 1821. His 
 parents, Darius and Joanna (Hurlbert) North, 
 natives of Connecticut and Massachusetts re- 
 spectively, and of English extraction, removed 
 in 1829 to Highmarket, an adjoining town, and five 
 years later, on to Mt. Vernon, Ohio. 
 
 The senior Mr. North was a farmer by occupation 
 and brought his sons up to that honorable vocation, 
 though it appears that Levi was more of a mechan- 
 ical than agricultural turn. His education was 
 limited to the log-cabin schools of early days, with 
 possibly a few months at a little academy at Louis- 
 ville, N. Y., before he was 16 years of age. -Just 
 what accident led to the discovery that he really 
 possessed a talent for drawing, does not appear ; but 
 certain it is that with opportunity he would have 
 made his mark in the field of fine arts. As it was, 
 he practiced more or less at the easel, doing some 
 portraits with creditable success, and finally, when 
 about 18 years of age, determined to abandon every- 
 thing else and devote his time to art. He was finan- 
 cially poor, untaught and untraveled, and the 
 undertaking was a great one. He took his studies 
 from life, not having the benefit of a reputably good 
 painting before he was 20 years of age. However, 
 like many another man who has achieved greatness 
 by not knowing how much greatness had preceded 
 him, therefore knowing of nothing to discourage him, 
 he itinerated from place to place, borrowed what 
 books he could and read them ; painted the images of 
 the handsomest styles, made himself popular with 
 respectable and intelligent people and absorbed alto- 
 gether a pretty wide range of ideas. 
 
 In the winter of 1841-2, he took in the Ohio Legis- 
 lature from the galleries, and also listened to learned 
 dissertations upon legal questions by eminent law- 
 
 yers before the United States Courts, and he became 
 seized of new ambitions. To his knowledge of paint- 
 ing, anatomy, physiology and medicine l\e would add 
 something of law; and to that end, in the winter fol- 
 lowing he began the study of Blackstone at Mt. Ver- 
 non, Ohio, with the Hon. E. W. Cotton as preceptor. 
 For two years he alternated between teaching and 
 painting, Blackstone and Chitty, and in October, 
 1 845, he stood a good examination and was admitted 
 to the Bar. It appears he studied law as an accom- 
 plishment merely and with no immediate purpose to 
 enter the practice. As an artist he became ac- 
 quainted with a number of professional men, and 
 profited largely by their association. He possessed 
 an inquisitive disposition, a retentive memory and a 
 practicable adaptability in the methods of appropri- 
 ating and utilizing everything in the way of learning 
 that came in his way. Thus, what he lacked by 
 early education he more than made up by absorp- 
 tion. 
 
 In 1847 he left Ohio, and drifted to Peoria, 111., 
 where he applied himself to painting for nearly a 
 year; and, removing thence to Princeton, he was 
 variously employed for several years. In 1853 he 
 became clerk to Judge Kelsey, real-estate agent, and 
 soon afterward was elected Justice of the Peace. 
 The duties of this office brought him again to con- 
 sider the law, into which he almost involuntarily 
 drifted, and to which he has since devoted most of 
 his time. Coming to Kewanee in i860, he formed a 
 partnership with Judge John H. Howe, now deceased, 
 in the practice of law, and continued it up to 1869. 
 In politics he was originally a Democrat, but left that 
 party as early as 1843-4, to join his fortunes with 
 that of the Liberty party. Into this he plunged with 
 all his spirit and strength, and in 1844 " stumped " 
 his district in behalf of James G. Birney for Presi- 
 dent. For one year he constituted one of the few 
 men in Peoria County that publicly advocated the 
 peremptory abolition of slavery, and the times afforded 
 him oportunities for airing his unpopular ideas to his 
 heart's content. He was always ready to debate the 
 negro question, publicly or privately, and in so doing 
 " crossed swords " with men who afterward, and 
 when the struggle for the life or death of slavery 
 drenched a nation in blood, became eminent in the 
 affaire of the nation. 
 
 In 1848, while making a trip around the lakes on 
 a steamer, in company with. several other passengers, 
 
 & 
 
 9 
 
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 ci) 
 
 %&*&*- 
 
 >^^ — ^^tjjj^nijf^A^ — :s *€^ 
 
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> 594 
 
 ifi^ 
 
 ■ry 
 
 vC>HII»>^ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 > 
 
 consisting of ladies and gentlemen, a political debate 
 was planned to take place in the cabin. Mr. North 
 was to present the cause of the Free-Soil party, and, 
 as he supposed, a young gentleman of the name of 
 Daniel Driscoll, from Stark County, was to place the 
 Whig party properly " before the world," or before 
 that portion of it then floating over Lake Michigan 
 in the good ship "Globe." Mr. North opened the 
 debate, when, to his surprise, Mr. Driscoll presented 
 to the audience the Hon. Abraham Lincoln, then a 
 Member of Congress ! The minutes of that debate 
 are " not of record," but with Mr. North's vigorous 
 manner of disposing of a pro-slavery adversary upon 
 the shortest notice, and with Mr. Lincoln's well- 
 known ability to sustain himself upon all occasions, 
 either on land or sea, and as both gentlemen repre- 
 sented a common cause, at least in one essential par- 
 ticular, viz., antagonism to the Democratic party, it 
 is safe to presume that the casus belli received a 
 thorough ventilation, and that the slave oligarchy 
 and the party of Calhoun, Clay and Benton received 
 but few friendly allusions from either of the dispu- 
 tants. Though a rank Republican, Mr. North has 
 always retained a liberal independence, differing with 
 his party upon various questions, upon various times, 
 and never faltering in announcing publicly his opin- 
 ions. He is an able writer as well as speaker, and 
 the metropolitan as well as local press publish much 
 from his pen. 
 
 In 187 1-2 he represented Henry County in the 
 Legislature, and took a prominent part in the revision 
 of the statutes and. in adapting them to the new 
 Constitution. He bitterly opposed extremely high 
 salaries for State officers, and led the majority in 
 the contest against them. He aided in the passage 
 of the liquor-license law, requiring saloon-keepers to 
 give bonds for the payment of damages resulting 
 from their traffic. He was the champion of the pres- 
 ent popular penitentiary system of Illinois, and did 
 much toward its adoption. 
 
 In the practice of his profession he differs from 
 many eminent lawyers, and it is difficult to see 
 wherein he is not right. He claims that the profes- 
 sion does not require a sacrifice of manhood ; that a 
 lawyer has no right to be a " journeyman liar,'' and 
 that it is as wrong for him to lie for a client as it 
 would be for him to lie for himself; and, finally, that 
 the lawyers are about as honest as their clients re- 
 
 quire them to be, or public opinion will sustain them 
 in being. 
 
 Sept. 18, 1847, Mr. North was married, at Chester- 
 ville, Ohio, to Miss Laura Johnson, who died Oct. 
 18, 1852, leaving one child, Maria, now Mrs. D. L. 
 Murchison, of Wethersfield (see sketch of D. L. 
 Murchison, this volume). At Dixon, 111., March 9, 
 1863, Mr. North married his present wife, nee Miss 
 Charlotte C. Strong, and of his children we make the 
 following memoranda : Milo, his eldest son, died in 
 1880, when about 24 years of age ; Foster and Ar- 
 thur Tappan, graduated at the University of Illinois 
 in June, 1885 ; the youngest, Charles Kelsey, is at 
 home. 
 
 In 1873, through the publishing house of Calle- 
 ghan & Co., Chicago, Mr. North gave to the legal 
 profession his "Treatise on Practice in the Probate 
 Courts," — a work of standard authority in the State, 
 and furnishing a base for all subsequent revisions 
 upon the subjects treated. 
 
 * -«- + 
 
 'ohn Burns is a resident on section 17, An- : 
 % dover Township, where he has followed 
 the occupation of, a farmer since 1852. He 
 was born in Somerset Co., Me., March 4 
 yL 1825. In 1851 Mr. Burns was united in mar- 
 riage with Miss Gratia A. Weston, a native of 
 Somerset Co., Me., where she was born in 1824. 
 After marriage, in 1852, they came to this State and 
 county, and located in Annawan Township, where he 
 purchased 80 acres of land, on which he settled and , 
 at once entered vigorously and actively upon the task 
 of its improvement and cultivation. By strict at- ' 
 tention to his business, energy and economy he has , 
 been enabled to make subsequent purchases and at 
 present is the proprietor of 190 acres. His farm has 
 a good residence upon it, 28 x 34 feet in dimensions, 
 and one and a half stories high. His barn is 36 x 40 
 feet in dimensions, with 18 posts. He also has a 
 double corn-crib, 24x32 feet, on his farm, and is 1 
 meeting with success in his chosen vocation, agri- 
 culture. He has held the office of School Director, 
 and religiously he and his wife are members of the 
 Baptist Chun h. 
 
 Mr. Burns has considerable stock on his farm, 
 consisting of some 25 head of graded cattle and sev- 
 
HENR Y CO UNT Y. 
 
 («) 
 
 & 
 
 
 eral fine Clydesdale horses. The father of Mr. Bums, 
 Samuel S. Burns, was born July 31, 1791, in New 
 Hampshire. He married Miss Anna Weston, April 
 26, i8r3,in Maine, and died Aug. 7, 1885. She died 
 March 14, 1873. Of their union 13 children were 
 born, namely : William Burns, Feb. 20, 1814 ; Ben- 
 jamin W., Aug. 22, 1815 ; Ann, Sept. 17, 1817 ; 
 Samuel, Aug. 22, 1819; Nathan, Aug. 20, 1821 ; 
 Electa, April 1, 1823 ; John, March 4, 1825 : Ester 
 W., April 30, 1827 ; Mary, Dec. 14, 1829; Emeline, 
 Jan. 14, 1832 ; Almeda, Jan. 24, 1835 ; Caroline, 
 Feb. 21, 1837; and Robert, May 18, 1839. 
 
 The father of Mrs. Burns, Joseph Weston, was 
 born in Bloomfield, Me., Oct. 28, 1794, and married 
 Miss Hannah Webb Nov. 9,1816. She was born 
 July 1, 1795, and bore her husband six children. 
 Joseph W., born Feb. 4, 1818; Jamss W., born June 
 20,1821; Gratia A., June 29, 1824; Charles, May 
 3, 1831 ; Emily R., Aug. 30, 1838 ; Sarah, March 6, 
 1843. The mother died in Buda, this State, Dec. 9, 
 1878, and the father still survives at the age of 91 
 years. 
 
 Politically, he is a Republican, and religiously a 
 member of the Congregational Church. 
 
 H. Lyman, of the firm of Lay & Lyman, 
 leading dry -goods and clothing merchants 
 of Kewanee, 111., is a native of White River 
 Junction, Vt., where he was born June 3, 
 1852. His parents were George and Mi- 
 nerva (Briggs) Lyman. (See biography of 
 Elias Lyman, this volume.) Mr. Lyman was the 
 youngest of n children, born to his parents, and 
 well educated at his native place and at Norwich, 
 Vt. In 1869 he came to Kewanee and began clerk- 
 ing for the firm of Lyman & Lay,and in 1874 became 
 a member of the firm, changing its style to Lyman, 
 Lay & Lyman, he being the junior partner. The 
 senior member of the firm, Mr. Elias Lyman, retired 
 in 1883, since a hen the present "firm has existed. 
 Mr. Lyman was one of the principal organizers of 
 the Union National Bank in 1881. (See Union Na- 
 tional Bank, this volume.) Since that date he has 
 held uninterruptedly the office of Vice-President. 
 
 He is a member of the Congregational Church, 
 identified with no secret order, takes no part in poli- 
 
 tics, but attends strictly to business, and enjoys being 
 a member pre-eminently of the largest business house 
 of its line in Kewanee. 
 
 Mr. Lyman was married at Kewanee, July 19, 
 1877, to Miss Elizabeth W. Stevens, daughter of 
 William W. Stevens, Esq., of this city. 
 
 ■ } aniel Ketchum, one of the prominent 
 ■L farmers of Cornwall Township, this county, 
 residing on section 23, and the owner of 
 i^T 240 acres of land located on sections 22, 
 23 and 26, all of which is under an advanced 
 state of cultivation, is a native of Ohio. He 
 was born in Crawford County, that State, May 12, 
 1831, and remained on the parental homestead, aid- 
 ing in the maintenance of the family by working on 
 the farm, and attending the common schools, until he 
 attained his majority. 
 
 Mr. Ketchum's marriage took place Feb. 7, 1856, 
 when Miss Mary C. McVicker became his wife. She 
 was born in Ohio, Oct. 19, 1833. 
 
 In 1852 Mr. Ketchum came to Illinois and located 
 in Marshall County, where he was married, as stated. 
 Soon after marriage Mr. Ketchum purchased 160 
 acres of land on sections 23 and 22, to which he has 
 added by subsequent purchases 80 acres on section 
 26, same township, making his present landed inter- 
 ests in Cornwall Township 240 acres, all of which is 
 under an advanced state of cultivation. The chil- 
 dren of Mr. and Mrs. Ketchum are Frank D., Hattie 
 S., Effie V. and Nellie M. Mr. Ketchum, in addition 
 to agricultural duties on the farm, devotes a large 
 part of his time to the raising of stock. He has 
 some 21 head of three-quarter blood horses and 
 one Short-horn bull, a thoroughbred. Mr. Ketchum 
 came to this county Feb. 23, 1863. His father en- 
 tered 320 acres of land and subsequently gave to his 
 son 80 acres, on which he started in this county ; and 
 by energetic effort and economy' his accumulations 
 have been increased in real estate and personal 
 property more than too per cent; and he is meeting 
 with success in his chosen vocation, agriculture. 
 
 Archibald McVicker, the father of Mrs. Ketchum, 
 wife of the subject of this notice, was a native of Vir- 
 ginia, in which State he was born in 1806. He 
 married Miss Susan Custer in 1825, and his death 
 
 i 
 
 y 
 & 
 
 (D 
 
 a 
 
 ~*4m i sm®*& 
 
 ^•';-..? 
 
6V$HH®nil*>^ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
 
 occurred in 187 1, she following him to the land of 
 the hereafter seven years later, in 1878. The mother 
 of Mr. Ketchum, of this sketch, whose maiden name 
 was Harriet Smith, was born Nov. 19, 1809. Daniel's 
 father, Eddi Ketchum, was born Oct. 19, 1802. 
 They were married Dec. 8, 1827, in Crawford Co., 
 Ohio. 
 
 bed Price, engaged in the. brick business at 
 Galva, was born April 22, 1834, in Sussex 
 Co., N. J. The progenitor of the Price fam- 
 ily in America, was the great-grandfather of 
 Obed. He was born in Wales, and emigrated 
 to this country, settling in New Jersey, where 
 his descendants are at present residing. His son, 
 David Price, was a mason by occupation, and died in 
 New Jersey. He was a " fifer " in the Revolutionary 
 War, and received his discharge at Trenton, N. J. 
 He was united in marriage to Anna Ayers, who was 
 born and died in that State. She bore him eight 
 children, namely : John H., Ezekiel, Aaron, Samuel, 
 Robert, James, Margaret (Mrs. Ryrick) and Archi- 
 bald. Of these Samuel Price was born March 13, 
 1798, and died in Galva, Feb. 4, 1863. He was a 
 plasterer and mason by trade, and followed the same 
 in his native State. He came here in 1854, and for 
 a short time followed his trade in this county, the 
 latter years of his life being passed on the farm. He 
 and his wife were members of the Methodist Episco- 
 pal Church, and he was a Class-leader in that de- 
 nomination. He was united in marriage March ir, 
 1820, to Mary Wilson, born Feb. 28, 1795, in New 
 Jersey. She died here Oct. 28, 1880, at the resi- 
 dence of the subject of this sketch. She was a 
 daughter of Mahlon Wilson, and bore her husband 
 six children : Aaron W., Catherine J., Wilson, Mary 
 A., Archibald and Obed, the subject of this notice. 
 Obed Price was educated in New Jersey, where, 
 on attaining a suitable age, he worked at the cooper's 
 trade; then farmed a few years; then learned the 
 mason's trade, which latter he followed until 1856. 
 In November of that year he came to this State, and 
 settled in Galva, this county, where he worked at his 
 trade for two years. Since 1856 he has been engaged 
 in contract work. In 1878 he formed a partnership 
 with Mr. R. Payne, and they have been principally 
 engaged in the manufacture of brick since that time, 
 
 having operated a brick-yard several years in Galva. 
 They put in machinery, and the yard has at present 
 a capacity for turning out 25,000 to 30,000 brick 
 per day, the average demand being about 20,000 
 per day. Mr. Price does the superintending of the 
 building department of the works, and Mr. Payne 
 superintends the yards. They use a 15-horse power 
 engine, and the Henry Martin Stock Brick Machine, 
 and employ from 25 to 30 men. Mr. Price has also 
 traveled in Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska in the inter- 
 est of the Henry Stock Brick Machine, for which he 
 and his partner are agents. Both Mr. Price and his 
 partner deserves considerable credit for what they 
 have done for the town of Galva. 
 
 Mr. Price was married in Galva, 111., Dec. 29, 
 1859, to Mary Abbott, who was born Sept. 29, 1839, 
 in Northumberland County, now Carbon County, Pa. 
 She was the daughter of William and Elizabeth 
 (Marsden) Abbott, natives of England. Her father 
 died in White Haven, Pa., and her mother is at pres- 
 ent residing in Iowa. Mrs. Price has borne her hus- 
 band two children: Mary E. and Archibald W., the 
 former having been born Sept. 15, i860, and the lat- 
 ter April 29, 1865. Religiously, Mr. and Mrs. Price, 
 together with their daughters, are members of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 rank S. Rosseter, A. B, A. M., attorney 
 
 and counselor at law, at Kewanee, 111., 
 
 n began life for himself as a teacher in the 
 
 8 
 
 common schools of Henry County, 111., when 
 about 20 years of age. The year following his 
 advent as a pedagogue, he was called to the 
 position of Principal of the High School of Kewanee, 
 a place he filled with much credit to himself and to 
 the entire satisfaction of the public. Leaving Ke- 
 wanee, he was immediately employed as Superin- 
 tendent of the Schools of Toulon, county seat of 
 Stark, and filled the office four years. 
 
 While discharging his duties as an educator, he 
 was studying the fundamental principles of law, and 
 in 1880, with the Hon. Miles A. Fuller, of Toulon, 
 as preceptor, began reading with a view of devoting 
 his time to the legal profession. In March, 1882, he 
 was admitted to the Bar in the city of Chicago, and 
 soon afterwards, at Kewanee, formed a partnership 
 
 •*&* — £A&nn®nti& \c) > g^ 
 

 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 K:„ji 
 
 -«eg 
 
 »fS^§§ 
 
 S97 
 
 with C. K. Ladd, and entered fully into the practice 
 of his profession. This partnership terminated in 
 March, 1885, and the following April Mr. R. opened 
 at Kewanee an office for the practice of law. In 
 the same mouth he was elected Justice of the Peace, 
 a position he is filling at this date. In the spring of 
 1885 he canvassed the county, preliminary to a 
 candidacy for the County Judgeship for the unex- 
 pired term of Judge Hinman, deceased ; but, feeling 
 that youth should defer to age, he tacitly withdrew 
 and endorsed a rival candidate for the place. Mr. 
 Rosseter is a young man of much more than ordi- 
 nary attainments, and the writer of this sketch pre- 
 dicts for him a future of marked possibilities. Mr. 
 R. is a member of Wethersfield Lodge, I. O. O. F., 
 being a Past Grand ; also a member of Wethersfield 
 Encampment, I. O. O. F. 
 
 He was born at Marietta, Ohio, April 18, 1858, 
 and was second in order of birth of three sons and 
 one daughter of Prof. Geo. R. Rosseter, LL. D., 
 deceased, and Elizabeth P. (Clark) Rosseter, natives 
 of Boston, Mass., and Danbury, Conn., respectively, 
 and of old English, probably Norman, extraction. 
 His primary education was acquired at the public 
 schools of Marietta, Ohio, and he completed his edu- 
 cation at Marietta College, where he graduated in 
 1877, and from which institution he received the de- 
 gree of A. M. in 1880. 
 
 Mr. R. was married at Toulon, 111., Dec. 25, 1882, 
 to Miss Luella M., daughter of Orlando Brace, Esq., 
 Treasurer of Stark County, 111., and his two children 
 are named respectively Myrtle B. and Ethel L. 
 
 =H»H+- 
 
 feremiah Hadley, of the township of Mun- 
 IJjj 1 son, has been a resident in Henry County 
 since the year 1854. He was born in the 
 village of Bunker Hill, in Lincolnshire, Eng- 
 land, March 19, 1827. He remained in the 
 shire where he was born until he had passed 
 the years of his minority, and in 185 1 he came to the 
 United States. 
 
 He at first located in Niagara County, N. Y., and 
 settled on a farm near the lake, where he lived 
 until 1854, when he came to Henry County. He 
 operated in the capacity of a renter of farms three 
 years. He then bought land in the township of 
 
 a^^c e^B || 
 
 Osco, which he managed until 1866, when he sold 
 that property, and bought 96 acres on section 19 in 
 Munson Township, on which he now resides. He is 
 at present also the owner of 62 acres additional, situ- 
 ated on section 18 in the same township. The 
 entire acreage is under cultivation of the best type. 
 The buildings are of a class which do credit to the 
 judgment and good sense of the proprietor of the 
 estate. 
 
 Mr. Hadley was joined in marriage with Martha 
 Poppleton, in the State of New York, in 1853. Mrs. 
 Hadley was rx>rn in Seasend, Lincolnshire, England, 
 and is the mother of five children, — John, Brittan 
 (see sketch), Emma, Frank and Lester; John is a 
 resident in Jasper Co., Iowa; Emma is the wife of 
 Charles Call, of Munson Township. The parents 
 are communicants in the Episcopal Church. 
 
 H'HH dolph Maul, baker and dealer in groceries, 
 confectionery, etc., at Kewanee, 111., was 
 born at Weida, Germany, July 12, 1830, 
 and came to America in 1854. His first em- 
 ployment in this country was in a flouring-mill 
 near Newark, N. J., where he worked about 
 one year. From Newark he went to Fredericksburg, 
 Va., and on to Richmond, and again to Burlington, 
 Iowa, all the time employed at milling. In 1857 he 
 returned to Germany for a visit, came back to Amer- 
 ica, and for several years followed almost anything 
 that promised reasonable pay for honest work. After 
 spending a year at a petroleum manufactory he came 
 West, and, at Kewanee, has been in his present busi- 
 ness since June, 1863. He is also in the fire insur- 
 ance business, agent for steam-ship lines, dealer in 
 lands, etc. Mr. Maul began life a poor boy in a 
 strange land, but by persistent, hard and honest toil 
 he has met with a reasonable success in accumulat- 
 ing property. In 1870 he attended the golden wed- 
 ding of his parents in " Faderland," Gottlieb and 
 Johanna (Koch) Maul, both since dead. The old 
 gentleman died in 1878, at the age of 83 years, and 
 the old lady three years before, aged about 75 years. 
 Mr. Maul used to be a Republican, but in late 
 years he has been strictly independent. He held the 
 office of Assistant Supervisor several years, was on 
 the Board of Education 1 1 years, Town Board four 
 
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 S98 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 or five years, and on the Kewanee Library Board 
 ever since its organization. Of the last named Board 
 he has served several terms as Vice-President, and 
 of the School Board he was 1 r years Secretary. In 
 addition to this multiplicity of interests he is Treas- 
 urer of the I. O. O. F. of Kewanee Lodge. 
 
 Mr. Maul was united in marriage at Galesburg, 
 111., in August, 1863, to Miss Mary James, a native 
 of North Carolina, and his children bear the follow- 
 ing names: Hettie M., teacher in Kewanee public 
 schools; Emma, also teacher in public schools; Ed- 
 ward; a printer ; and William and Lina at home. 
 
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 '. ufus D. King, a citizen of Cambridge, now 
 retired from active business life, was born 
 Dec. 23, 1819, in Franklin Co., Me., and 
 is of mixed English and Scotch descent. The 
 first Governor of Maine, William King, was a 
 descendant of the ancestral stock which came 
 from England. The great-grandfather of Mr. King 
 was somewhat conspicuous for his small stature, but 
 was proportionately prominent for courage. The son 
 of the latter, Ichabod King, was a soldier of the War 
 of the Revolution. He was born in Massachusetts, 
 and located in Minot, Me., where he died at the age 
 of 60. He was a farmer by vocation. He and his 
 wife, Mary King, were the parents of six children — 
 three sons and three daughters. 
 
 Their son Rufus was born in Minot, Me., and was 
 educated in his native place. His birth occurred in 
 1791, and he died in Franklin County, in his native 
 State, March 29, 1849. He was a physician, and 
 won great celebrity for skill and ability in his profes- 
 sion. He was a ripe scholar, though he never had 
 the advantages of a course of collegiate study. In 
 him were combined all the most admirable traits of a 
 man of learning, a gentleman of the old school, and 
 a citizen who won the respect and permanent esteem 
 of all with whom he came in contact. One of his 
 prominent characteristics was an excellent memory. 
 The eldest of his brothers, Elijah, was a graduate of 
 Bowdoin College. The latter went to the State of 
 Georgia. He entered the ministry, and after re- 
 moval to the South he married the daughter of a 
 planter and reared several children. Curus King, 
 
 another brother, was a farmer, and remained on the 
 old King homestead in Maine. He became wealthy. 
 The oldest sister, Mrs. Mary Burs, is deceased. Sa- 
 rah married Mr. Crooker, who attained celebrity as 
 a machinist, and was a man of fine scholarly attain- 
 ments. The youngest daughter, Mrs. Rhoanna 
 Crooker, married a merchant of Minot, Me. 
 
 Rufus King, the father of the gentleman who is 
 represented in this account, was married to Elizabeth 
 Pratt. She was born in 1800, and died in August, 
 185 1, in Prattsburg, Ind. She became the mother of 
 three children, — Rufus D., George C. and Mary E. ; 
 the latter married a man named Clark. Mr. King 
 of this sketch is the sole survivor. He was educated 
 in the State where he was born, and was engaged in 
 farming in the intervals of school, and after finishing 
 his education he was a teacher. In May, 1850, he 
 came to \he West, and brought with him his mother 
 and sister. They went at first to Prattsburg, in 
 Indiana, and remained there three years. Mr. King 
 came to Illinois in 1852, and engaged in farming 
 in Marshall County. He made his first entry into 
 Henry County, July 4, 1855. He purchased a fine 
 farm of 220 acres in the township of Burns, of which 
 he was the resident owner and occupant until 1883, 
 when he sold the place. He removed to Cambridge, 
 to make it his permanent home, in March, 1882. 
 
 Mrs. Elizabeth (Pratt) King was a daughter of 
 Elijah Pratt. He was a soldie*, of the war of the 
 Revolution, and was in that service throughout its 
 whole extent, doing duty in behalf of liberty fully 
 seven years. He lived to nearly 90 years of age, and 
 was known far and wide as " Father Pratt." At the 
 age of 75 years he rode a four-year-old colt a dis- 
 tance of 35 miles to obtain his pension, starting at 
 sunrise and returning at sundown of the same day. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. King to Rebecca J. Whitney 
 took place Feb. 25, 1854, in Milan, Ripley Co., Ind. 
 She was born June 16, 1834, in Mainville, Warren 
 Co., Ohio. Mrs. King is the daughter of Thomas 
 and Lydia (Tufts) Whitney. Her parents came to 
 Henry County in 1855. They passed the remainder 
 of their lives in Burns Township, where they still are 
 represented by their children. They are the parents 
 of four children : George is a missionary and teacher 
 near Bozeman, Montana Ter. ; he is laboring in the 
 interests of the Methodist Church: Alfred R. is Judge 
 of the Court of Delta Co., Col., and is Mayor of that 
 city; Watson E. is a druggist at Cambridge,, and 
 
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 Minr.ie E. is a student at Hedding College. The 
 oldest son married Alice Jones, and they have one 
 child, named Lowell R. ; A. R. King married Annie 
 Caldwell; E. W. married Mary Ferguson. 
 
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 omeo W. Jones, a farmer and stock-raiser 
 of Galva Township, was born May 28, 
 1835, in Lebanon, Ohio, of Welsh extrac- 
 tion. His grandfather, John Jones, emigrated 
 from Whitehall, N. Y., where he had followed 
 farming and reared his family, to La Fayette, 
 Ind., where he died in 1836. His children were six 
 in number, namely : Hiram, Hannah, Almon, Dex- 
 ter, Minerva and Jarvis D. Hiram was educated in 
 Whitehall, N. Y., graduated in Middlebury, Vt., in 
 1832, taught Latin and Greek in a select school, 
 studied law in Lebanon, Ohio, under the instructions 
 of the celebrated Thomas Corwin, was admitted to 
 the Bar there, practiced his profession at Eaton, 
 Preble Co., Ohio, for 15 years, then followed farm- 
 ing until 1857 near Brimfield, Peoria Co., 111., then 
 resided in Galesburg, 111., for a number of years to 
 educate his boys, and finally returned to Brimfield, 
 in 1862, where he died, Sept. 29, the same year, aged 
 57 years. He was Mayor of Eaton, Ohio, and filled 
 the office of County Clerk for about ten years. He 
 was a Whig and then a Republican ; was married in 
 Hamilton, Ohio, in 1834, to Miss Julia Woodmansee, 
 a native of Washington Co., Pa. When but two or 
 three years old, her family removed with her to Cin- 
 cinnati, Ohio, where she was educated. Her father, 
 Daniel Woodmansee, was at one time a State Sen- 
 ator of Ohio, and defended the project of the Miami 
 Canal, which created great excitement at that time. 
 Mrs. J. was born March 21, 1809, in Washington 
 Co., Pa. She is yet living, in Brimfield, 111., and has 
 been the mother of four children, viz. : Romeo W., 
 Montague J., Almon C, who died while a student of 
 Knox College, and Corydon D. 
 
 Mr. R. W. Jones, the subject of this sketch, at- 
 tended the common school and the academy at 
 Brimfield and followed farming, while in youth, and 
 then was a clerk in a drug store while in Brimfield, 
 until the commencement of the late war. 
 
 He enlisted for the Union cause Aug. 8, 1862, in 
 the Seventh Regt. 111. Vol. Inf., Co. J, as a private, 
 
 and in the spring of 1863 he was honorably dis- 
 charged at Memphis, Tenn ; and then he joined the 
 First Mississippi Mounted Rifles, which was com- 
 posed largely of East Tennessee men. He was 
 commissioned First Lieutenant of Co. C, and held 
 that office until the close of the war; was for nine 
 months a recruiting officer for that regiment, and 
 during his service he participated in several skir- 
 mishes and battles. 
 
 After the war, he located in Galva, this county, 
 where he has since resided. He was engaged in a 
 lumber yard from 1865 to 187 1, since which time 
 he has employed himself in agricultural pursuits and 
 in raising live stock. 
 
 He was married May 5, 1865, in Brimfield, 111., to 
 Miss Arabella Guyer, who was born Jan. 31, 1843, 
 in that village, being a daughter of Lazarus L. 
 Guyer, a pioneer of that county. The children of 
 Mr. and Mrs. Jones are six in number, named Nettie 
 G., Almon Rosco, Louise, Paul R., Julia R. and 
 Ernest, besides one deceased, named Romeo Guyer, 
 who died Aug. 17, 1881, aged nearly n years. Mrs. 
 Jones' father was United States Government Asses- 
 sor for a period of nine years, and is yet living, in 
 Brimfield, a prominent citizen, and taking great in- 
 terest in religious matters, especially in Sunday- 
 school work. He married Elvira Wiley, a sister of 
 James M. Wiley, of Galva. 
 
 Mr. Jones is a Republican in politics, and is a 
 member of the G. A. R. and of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church, of which latter society Mrs. J. is also 
 a member. 
 
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 lenry White, senior member of the hardware 
 flf firm of White & Weir, Cambridge, was born 
 in Salem, Washington Co., N. Y., July 17, 
 1836. James White, the father of Mr. White 
 of this sketch, was born in the North of Ireland 
 and came to this country when quite young 
 and was a soldier in the War of 18 12. He was en- 
 gaged in farming both before the war and after, and 
 died from the effects of a fall from an apple-tree in 
 1840. He married Jane Hall, who was a native of 
 Argyle, Washington County. She died at Salem, in 
 1872, after becoming the mother of 12 children. 
 
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 600 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 Five of her sons are now living in the State of Illi- 
 nois. 
 
 Mr. White attended school in West Hebron in 
 the county where he was born, and when he was 
 ready to settle himself in business he acquired a 
 knowledge of the trade of a joiner and pattern-maker. 
 He passed about six years in the pursuit of these, 
 and in 1862 came to Henry County. He bought 
 out a hardware store at Geneseo and the new firm 
 was known as White & Tuttle. They were engaged 
 in the prosecution of their joint interests until the 
 spring of 1871, when Mr. White sold his interest, 
 and in the autumn of the same year he opened the 
 business which he is now conducting at Cambridge. 
 The building of the railroad through the place at- 
 tracted him hither. In 1872 he admitted J. I. Weir 
 to partnership. Mr. White is the cashier of the 
 First National Bank at Cambridge. In his political 
 preference he is a Republican. He is President of 
 the Board of Village Trustees. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. White to Sarah C. Irwin took 
 place in Southwest Oswego, N. Y., Dec. 24, 1858. 
 She died Sept. 4, 1866. Mr. White was again mar- 
 ried, Oct. 4, 187 1, in Cazenovia, N. Y., to Hattie E. 
 Sims, and they have had four children, — Frank J., 
 born Jan. 13, 1873, died July 20, of the same year; 
 Katie L., born May T3, 1875 ; Harrie S., Sept. 30, 
 1878; Herbert D., July 14, 1884. The mother was 
 born Feb. 12, 1844. 
 
 Mr. White is a member of I. O. O. F. at Cam- 
 bridge. 
 
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 obert Moore, retired farmer, resident at 
 Kewanee, 111., was born in Luzerne Co., 
 Pa., Aug. 23, 1834, and was second in a 
 'iv$\ family of three sons and three daughters, 
 born to John R. and Sarah (Bodle) Moore, 
 natives of Pennsylvania and New York re- 
 spectively. 
 
 The senior Mr. Moore was ,a farmer in his life- 
 time, and brought up his sons to that vocation. The 
 family came into Henry County in 1855, a "d settled 
 upon a farm of 187 acres in Wethersfield Township, 
 and about two miles southeast of Kewanee. Here 
 the two old people spent the rest of their lives, the 
 old gentleman dying in 1863, at the age of about 60 
 
 years, and the old lady Nov. 12, 1869, aged 63 
 years. 
 
 August rr, 1862, Mr. Moore enlisted in Kewanee 
 as a private soldier in Co. F, 124th 111. Vol. Inf., and 
 served up to April 17, 1863, when, on account of 
 physical disability, he was discharged at Lake Prov- 
 ince, La. Returning from the war, he engaged again 
 at farming, and followed it up to 1869, when, in 
 company with his brother, he embarked fn the gro- 
 cery business at Kewanee, and followed it about 
 three years. In T870 or '71, he returned to his farm, 
 from which he finally retired in 1876. 
 
 July 4, 1874, he was married, at Chicago, 111., to 
 Mrs. Lucy Pease, nee Gray, whose first husband died 
 in Libby Prison. This accomplished lady now pre- 
 sides over their elegant home in Kewanee. Mr. 
 Moore is a member of the Masonic Order, and at 
 this writing, August, 1885, holding the rank of Post 
 Adjutant of the G. A. R. He is no politician in the 
 strict meaning of the term, though he votes the Re- 
 publican ticket, and is a strong Prohibitionist, upon 
 which issue he was elected to the office of Trustee. 
 
 ]||.teph.en Ordway, a farmer of Galva, was 
 born May 10, 1815, in Tunbridge, Orange 
 Co., Vt. His first progenitors in America 
 were two brothers, who came from Scotland 
 about two centuries ago, one of whom settled 
 in Rhode Island, and has numerous descend- 
 ants ; the other, who was the grandfather of Stephen, 
 located in Orange Co., Vt , where he followed farm- 
 ing and raised a family of 24 children, all of whom 
 reached maturity, and remained members of the 
 farming community. One of these, Oliver Ordway, 
 was born in that county and died there, aged 54 
 years. He married Judie White, also a native of 
 that county, who died in the same county, aged 
 nearly 70 years, after having become the mother of 
 nine children, — Alvin, Hiram, Joel, Stephen (our 
 subject), Alonzo, Luther, Edson, Stillman and Cle- 
 mentina. 
 
 Mr. Stephen Ordway was educated primarily in 
 his native State, reared on' a farm, and has been a 
 successful farmer all his life. From Vermont he re- 
 moved to Glens Falls, N. Y., at the age of 19 years, 
 and three years later he came to this State, settled in 
 
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-2$^ 6*9<*DD&J!fl&^ 5a«€»K- 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 601 
 
 Stark County, in June, 1837, thus being a pioneer of 
 that county. After working by the month for a time, 
 he purchased 40 acres of land, in 1843, anc ^ paid for 
 the same with brick, of which he was a manufacturer. 
 He subsequently purchased more land until he had 
 a total of 181 acres in La Fayette Township, that 
 county. This he sold, and in 1870 bought six acres 
 near Galva, on section 14, joining the northeast part 
 of the village, where he now resides, enjoying the 
 comforts of a well earned competency. In the eve- 
 ning of life, while the shadows are gathering about 
 him, he can look back upon his career and be con- 
 tented, for his home is a well furnished, beautiful 
 and quiet place, and he is a man respected through- 
 out the community. 
 
 Mr. Ordway was married in Stark County (then a 
 part of Knox County), Aug. 24, 1840, to Miss Phoebe 
 Steits, who was born Nov. 7, 1825, in Sussex Co., N. 
 J., and was a daughter of Jacob and Ada (Ayres) 
 
 f< ' Steits, also natives of New Jersey, of English extrac- 
 > tion, and who died in Kansas. 
 
 ^ Mr. Ordway is a Republican in his political senti- 
 
 S ments. 
 
 ust Johnson, of the township of Atkinson, 
 is a citizen of the United States by adop- 
 tion, having been born in Sweden. His 
 birth occurred on April 2, 1850. He was the 
 son of Johannes and Eliza (Oloff) Johnson, 
 both born in Smoland, Sweden. The former 
 was born March 12, 1807, and died April 8, 1885. 
 The latter was born Dec. 12, 1820, and died March 
 12, 1880. He had passed the period of his minority 
 when he came, in 1872, to America. He landed at 
 New York, and came at once to Kewanee, in Henry 
 County. The first three months after his arrival in 
 Illinois he was occupied in mining for coal. He was 
 employed by the month while acting in that capacity, 
 and in 1875 he began to rent land, and has since 
 been interested in the pursuit of a farmer, and has 
 operated in the same method. He is at present the 
 manager of 440 acres of land. 
 
 His marriage to Mary C. Johnson took place Feb. 
 22, 1882. She was born Feb. 22, 1864, and is the 
 daughter of Lars and Caroline (Nelson) Johnson. 
 They were natives of Sweden. The father was born 
 March 1, 1825, and is still living. Her mother was 
 
 born about the year 1840, and died Oct. 1, 1872. 
 The father now lives in Geneseo Township. They 
 have become the parents of two children — Rudolph 
 Ray Bender, born May 20, 1883, and Forest Sylves- 
 ter, born Nov. 17, 1884. The mother is a native of 
 Henry County. Mr. Johnson is a Republican in his 
 political relations. He and his wife are members of 
 of the Lutheran Church at Geneseo. 
 
 fbraham J. Rockafellow, deceased, form- 
 ierly a resident of Galva, was born July 28, 
 1819, in Somerset Co., N. J., and came to 
 this county in 1837. His first wife was Sarah 
 S. Newcomb, who was born Dec. 29, 1822, in 
 Missouri, to which State her parents, Charles 
 and Bettie Newcomb, emigrated from Keene, N. H-i 
 in 1817; the latter, after residing there five years', 
 removed to Springfield, 111., and then to Fulton 
 County, this State. 
 
 Mr. R. was married first in February, 1841. His 
 wife died Feb. 19, 1868, after having become the 
 mother of seven children, viz ; Charles, a prominept 
 man and druggist at Hot Springs, Ark. ; Mrs. Mary 
 McCorkill, of Wyoming; Benton, of Atlantic, Iowa; 
 Emelie, wife of M. Anderson, of Shenandoah, Iowa; 
 Mrs. Rose Saunders, of Bradford, 111., and Fannie 
 and Jennie. Mr. Rockafellow was married a second 
 time Nov. 18, 1869, in Galesburg, to Miss Jane C. 
 Young, who was born April 17, 1835, in Orange Co., 
 N. Y., a daughter of Andrew M. and Isabella (Trim- 
 ble) Young. Her parents died in New York, their 
 native State. Her father, who was a prominent 
 member of the farming community, and the last of 
 his family, was of Holland extraction, a soldier in 
 the War of 18 12, and was the father of eight chil- 
 dren, — John, Elizabeth, Adeline, Isabella, Mary, 
 Jane C, Sarah arid Andrew. Mary became the first 
 wife of H. Knox Taylor, and died in St. Paul, Minn., 
 July 9, 1885. Mrs. Young was born in 1800, and 
 died in 1845. 
 
 The ancestors of Mr. Rockafellow were of Holland 
 extraction. His father, William, was, a native of New 
 Jersey, and his son, Abraham J., was reared and 
 educated in that State. When he became a young 
 man he came to Fulton County, this State, where he 
 followed the trade of blacksmithing, and in 1837 he 
 
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 602 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 removed to Galva, this county, where he became a 
 successful farmer and stock-raiser. Mrs. Jane C. 
 Rockafellow is the mother of one child, Freddie S., 
 who was born Nov. 3, 187 1. She is a member of the 
 Congregational Church. Mr. R. was a man of great 
 force of character, and well known and admired for 
 his many good qualities of head and heart. He died 
 Dec. 11, 1881. 
 
 #-#* 
 
 dward C. Rosseter, A. B., A. M., who 
 
 at this writing, August, 1885, is filling the 
 dual position of Superintendent of the Ke- 
 wanee schools, and School Superintendent of 
 Henry Co., 111., is a graduate of Marietta (Ohio) 
 College, at which institution his father, George 
 R. Rosseter, now deceased, also graduated, and was 
 for many years Professor of Mathematics. Soon 
 after completing his education, which was in 1870, 
 Mr. Rosseter obtained a position upon the engineer 
 corps of a railroad then building through his native 
 town, and remained in the employ of the company 
 some four years, during which time he was engaged 
 in almost all the departments of railroad engineering. 
 He came into Henry County in 1875, and for two 
 years had charge of district schools near Woodhull. 
 In 1877 he became Principal of the public schools of 
 Wethersfield, coming thence to Kewanee, where, dur- 
 ing the year 1879-80 he conducted the High School. 
 From 1877 to 1880, he held the office of County Sur- 
 veyor, and the latter year was made Superintendent 
 of all the Kewanee schools. In 1882 he was elected 
 to the office of County Superintendent, a position he 
 will probably relinquish at the end of this term on 
 account of additional duties which, under the law of 
 1885, are so greatly increased as to render it im- 
 possible for one man to fill the two positions. 
 
 His parents, George R. and Elizabeth P. (Clark) 
 Rosseter, were natives respectively of Boston, Mass., 
 and Danbury, Conn., and reared three sons to man- 
 hood and buried two daughters and one son in in- 
 fancy. The parents are dead, Mrs. R. dying in 
 i860, and Prof. R. in 1882, in the 56th year of his 
 age. 
 
 The subject of this sketch is a Republican in poli- 
 tics, a member of the Congregational Church, and 
 
 identified with the Masonic fraternity and Independ- 
 ent Order of Odd Fellows. 
 
 His first wife, nee Miss Blanch Pray, to whom 
 he was married at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., in 1877, 
 died in 1882, leaving one child, Frank S. June 30, 
 1884, Mr. Rosseter was married to his present wife, 
 nee Miss Jenny B. Kearny, of Washington, D. C. 
 
 From the foregoing recital of simple facts the 
 reader can form but one conclusion as to the char- 
 acter and worth of Mr. Rosseter. That he is in 
 every way worthy of the high trusts (and what trust 
 can be greater than the care and training of the 
 youth of our land ?) is conclusive ; and any attempted 
 eulogium from the pen of the biographer would be 
 useless. 
 
 -0^0.. 
 
 .amuel H. Dickey, one of the wealthy and 
 extensive land owners of Henry County, 
 where on section 24, Cornwall Township, 
 he is the proprietor of 405 acres of excellent 
 farm land, is also engaged in the hardware 
 business in Kewanee, which he has carried on 
 for eight years, and also has a hotel which at pres- 
 ent is rented, having sufficient business to occupy 
 his time besides that. 
 
 He was born March 5, 1843, and is a native of 
 Kentucky. He lived with his parents until he 
 gained his majority, but at the age of eight years, in 
 the year 1851, he accompanied his parents to Fulton 
 County, this State, where they located at Canton 
 and remained four years. Their next move was to 
 Henry County, when they located in Cornwall Town- 
 ship, where Mr. Samuel H. Dickey, our subject, has 
 since remained a resident. Assisting in the labors % 
 on the farm of his father, he became thoroughly J 
 initiated in that vocation, and therefore when he 
 made various purchases of land, understood how to 
 improve and cultivate the same ; and by his indom- 
 itable energy, hard labor and industry, has, as above 
 stated, 405 acres of farm land in an excellent state 
 of cultivation. Upon the same he has a good, sub- ' 
 stantial dwelling, 28 x 40 feet in dimensions, and all 
 other necessary outbuildings. His orchard contains * 
 some 200 apple-trees. He is interested chiefly in ( 
 raising Short- horn cattle and has a herd of some 18 y t 
 thoroughbreds. ( 
 
 Mr. Dickey was married on the 7 th of September, 
 
 V 
 
 
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 (3* 
 
 I 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 603 
 
 1870, Miss Allie Turner being the lady chosen to 
 share his joys and sorrows, successes and reverses, 
 through life. The Rev. Mitchell, of Gallipolis, Ohio, 
 officiated, they being married in that State. Mrs. 
 Dickie was born in Gallia Co., Ohio, Jan. 9, 1850, 
 and of their union have been born five children, 'four 
 of whom survive : Charlie A., born Sept. 21, 1871 ; 
 Mary, born Dec. n, 1873, died Oct. 3, 1875; Daisy 
 D., born March 24, 1877 ; Allis L., Sept. 10, 1879; 
 and Willie, Aug. 14, 1881. 
 
 i- He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and 
 in politics affiliates with the Republican party. 
 
 Sfh 
 
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 K<H">*@S-§<3OT»»* 
 
 C. Nichols, M. D., a distinguished physi- 
 jjj" cian and surgeon of Kewanee, 111., son of 
 the Rev. John B. and Mary E. (Hutton) 
 Nichols, both deceased, was born at Ports- 
 mouth, Ohio, March 9, 1844. His father, a 
 minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 removed to Iowa in 1845, and there died in 1862 at 
 the age of 54, his wife having died ten years earlier, 
 at the age of 38 years. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was well educated at 
 the Mt. Vernon (Iowa) schools, and graduated at the 
 Rush Medical College, Chicago, in 1880, with the 
 degree of M. D., and at Kewanee entered at once 
 upon the practice of his profession. His earliest 
 ambition was to be a lawyer ; but, getting into the 
 drug business at Wyoming, Iowa, and following it 
 for about seven years, he turned his attention to 
 medicine, a'science he understands thoroughly and 
 practices with great success. 
 
 In August, 1861, at Monticello, Iowa, he enlisted as 
 a private soldier in Co. D, Iowa Vol. Inf., and served 
 to July, 1865, when he was mustered out with the 
 rank of duty Sergeant. He was in the battle of 
 Pea Ridge; with Gen. Curtis to Vicksburg; on Sher- 
 man's march to the sea; in the Grand Review at 
 Washington ; was wounded eight different times and 
 saw as much actual service as any man in the army. 
 
 Nov. io, 1877, the Doctor was married at Ke- 
 wanee, 111., to Miss Maria L. Sykes, a talented teacher 
 for eight years in the public schools, four years as 
 Principal of the Geneseo schools, and four years at 
 Wyoming, Iowa, where she met and captivated the 
 Doctor. They have two children — Gena V. and 
 
 Hiram O. The Doctor belongs to the I. O. O. F., 
 A. O. U. W., K. of H., Woodmen of America and 
 G. A. R. 
 
 He is no politician; no fanatic; no " crank." Be- 
 lieves in attending strictly to his own business, and 
 has found that not altogether universal practice a 
 good one. 
 
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 »^a/ZrOT»v.'vwv 
 
 braham Try, deceased, was one of the early 
 pioneers of this part of Illinois, having lo- 
 cated in Bureau County as early as 1845. 
 Ten years later he moved into Henry County, 
 locating in Cornwall Township, where for 27 
 years he was a prominent, well-to-do and 
 highly respected citizen. His death, which occurred 
 April 11, 1883, was not only a loss to "the family, but 
 to the community in which he so long resided. His 
 aged widow, with whom he had lived for over half a 
 century, survives him. and is living on the old home 
 farm on section 9 of Cornwall Township, and is at 
 present 74 years of age. It was on the isl of Sep- 
 tember, 1831, that Abraham Fry and Miss Margaret 
 Loughrey were united in marriage. This event took 
 place in Licking Co., Ohio. Mrs. Fry was born in 
 Huntingdon Co., Pennsylvania, in 181 1, and is of 
 Irish parentage. When six years of age, her parents 
 moved to Ohio end located in Licking County, where 
 she met and married Mr. Fry. She is the mother of 
 11 children, five of whom are deceased. The names 
 of these are Joel, Abraham, Mahala, Sarah and 
 Isaac. Those living are Mary F., Amos, James, 
 Lemuel, Almira and Charles; She has 24 grand- 
 children now living. Her family are members of the 
 Congregational Church. 
 
 «*/\» E « !,_ 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ •♦-frXA* 1 
 
 ^ 
 & 
 
 
 ohn H. Mannon, A. M., M. D., a promin- 
 inent young physician and surgeon of Ke- 
 * i "'"" s ' wanee, 111., is a son of John and Matilda 
 (McFerson) Mannon, natives of the State of 
 Ohio, and of Irish and Scotch extraction re- 
 spectively, and was born at Red Oak, Ohio, 
 Feb. 2, 1 85 1. The elder Mannon, now a retired 
 citizen of Monmouth, 111., was by occupation a farm- 
 er, and brought his five sons up to follow his foot- 
 
 <$A-£ 
 
 o. 
 
 
;^Y®£^K 
 
 ^c^ 
 
 ^V&HH&HtH^ v^e) > 4»g- 
 
 604 
 
 HENRY 
 
 COUNTY. 
 
 4^^C(^v| 
 
 steps, though the profession of our subject, as well 
 as another son, who is a physician, resident in Cin- 
 cinnati, Ohio, shows that they did not all take kindly 
 to agriculture. 
 
 The family came to Illinois in 1855, and settled in 
 Warren County. Here Jqhn H. entered Monmouth 
 College, at which institution he graduated as A. B. in 
 the class of 1876, and began at once the study of 
 medicine. In the spring of 1877 he entered the 
 office of Drs. Wallace & Troutman, of MonmQuth, 
 and after reading with them about one year went to 
 Rush Medical College, Chicago, where he graduated 
 as M. D. in 1880. Two weeks after leaving Chi- 
 cago, he began the practice of medicine at Kewanee, 
 where he rapidly attained a front frank in his profes- 
 sion. He is a member of various medical societies, 
 and is identified with the Presbyterian Church. 
 
 At Monmouth, 111., Dec. 24, 1878, the Doctor was 
 married to Miss Mary E. Hill, a native of that place 
 and the accomplished daughter of William Hill, now 
 deceased. The Doctor's only child is named Mae. 
 
 jjjWrson Jones, of Cambridge, was born Jan. 6, 
 isifig 1834, in the town of Potton, in Canada, just 
 N^y across the Vermont line. He is of Welsh 
 extraction, his great-grandfather having come 
 from that country to America. Daniel Jones, 
 son of the latter, was born in Massachusetts. 
 The family settled near Charleston and two of the 
 brothers of the latter were soldiers of the Revolution. 
 They entered into the merits of that contest at an 
 early period and were at the battle of Bunker Hill. 
 One of them was on the detailed duty of setting fire 
 to the city of Charleston, the same one being a cler- 
 gyman and left a record of duty well done. He 
 preached in the interests of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, and died in Potton at the age of 91. He 
 married Jane Miller, who was a member of a family 
 that belonged to a colony that settled at Potton, and 
 where she lived to attain to a green old age. She 
 was the mother of seven children, — Daniel, Joseph, 
 Mary A., James, Rockwell (deceased), Albert and 
 Jane. 
 The oldest was born Feb. 22, 1808, in Pot- 
 
 ton and died at Galesburg, 111., Nov. 8, 1883. He 
 came first to Knoxville in '1836. He became a 
 prominent citizen there and was called to fill several 
 township offices. In the formation of the Abolition- 
 ist party he was actively interested in the organiza- 
 tion of the local parly and received the .nomination 
 for Congress from his District. This was about the 
 year 1848. He was one of the leaders in all mat- 
 ters of importance in the vicinity of his home, and he 
 wielded a powerful influence, as was to be expected 
 from a man of his temperament. He was self-edu- 
 cated, and having formed his views by observation, 
 his convictions were strong and his judgment of the 
 most reliable character. Atlanta Bartlett, who be- 
 came his wife March 2, 1830, was a native of Ver- 
 mont. She died Aug. 27, 1868, aged 56. The chil- 
 dren of which she became the mother were named as 
 follows : Mandana, Louisa, Orson, Atlanta (died in 
 infancy), Granville, Norval and Corwin. Orson, the 
 oldest son, was educated in Knox and Henry Coun- 
 ties and finished his educational course at Knox 
 College. Before he was 19 he was a pupil in the 
 common schools and also assisted on the farm. At 
 the age named he began his career as a collegiate 
 student. After leaving college, he went to Iowa and 
 there put into practical operation the knowledge of 
 engineering which he had acquired in Illinois. He 
 assisted in the survey of the American Central 
 Railroad from Galva to New Boston, which line is 
 now a branch of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
 Railroad. His next business was in instructing the 
 surveyor of Mercer County in the details of his duties, 
 and he went to Iowa to aid in the State surveys. In 
 1857 he returned to Oxford Township, in Henry 
 County, and has since resided in Illinois. On com- 
 ing hither he interested himself in farming and pur- 
 sued that vocation until the outbreak of the Civil 
 War. 
 
 Aug. 4, 1862, he enlisted. At the time of the 
 enlistment of the colored troops he passed the re- 
 quired examination and was commissioned Second 
 Lieutenant. Soon after he was promoted to the po- 
 sition of First Lieutenant and was placed in com- 
 mand of Company F, 14th U. S. C. V. I., in which 
 office he passed most of the time. He was mustered 
 out of the service March 26, 1866, at Chattanooga. 
 He was under fire at Fort Donelson, Dalton, Deca- 
 tur, also aj Nashville and in other engagements. In 
 the same spring in which he left the army he settled 
 
 -^ r Qf '&ti n@nii^A^- 
 
$(^K 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 •^>S@Y 
 
 r^ei 
 
 601; 
 
 > 
 
 I 
 
 I=X 
 
 f 
 
 G\ 
 
 on the farm in the township of Oxford, and was in- 
 terested in agriculture until the spring of 1885, when 
 he removed to Cambridge. In the summer of 1881 
 he had been elected to the position of County Sur- 
 veyor and is still the incumbent of the office. 
 
 He has been twice married. His first wife, who 
 was Amelia Sexton previous to her marriage, died 
 soon after that event. May 29, i860, he contracted 
 a second matrimonial alliance, with Helen P. Bart- 
 lett. She was born Oct. 30, 1839, in Geneseo, and 
 is the daughter of William C. and Katherine (Cul- 
 ver) Bartlett. Her parents were natives of Boone's 
 Creek, N. Y., and Plattsburg, Clinton Co., N. Y., re- 
 spectively. Her father was born in December, 1798, 
 and.the birth of her mother occurred April 14, 1803. 
 The latter was the daughter of David and Katherine 
 (Calender) Culver, and died Dec. 23, 1880, in New 
 Windsor, III. She was the mother of 15 children, 
 and ten of them reached maturity. The latter were 
 named Edwin C, Orin M., Mrs. Catherine A. Ad- 
 ams, Mrs. Sarah A. Artz, Mrs. Celinda Saul, Mrs. 
 Helen P. Jones and Homer M. Mrs. Angeline Mer- 
 riman, David C, Mrs. Amanda H. Merriman are 
 deceased. 
 
 William C. Bartlett, the father of Mrs. Jones, was 
 one of the earliest of the permanent settlers in Hen- 
 ry County, whither he came in November, 1836. He 
 was the first to build a house within the present cor- 
 porate limits of the city of Geneseo. He was a 
 member of the family of Mr. Jones during the clos- 
 ing years of his life and died Sept. 5, 1878. By 
 occupation he was a tanner and a shoemaker, but 
 operated little in either capacity in Henry County. 
 He was a farmer and located on the site of Geneseo. 
 He was a member of the Geneseo Colony and was 
 one of the first to remove his family to Henry County 
 after the agents had made the selection of the loca- 
 tion. In 1848 he went from Henry County to 
 Tazewell County and was resident there until 1866, 
 when he made another transfer, to Aledo, Mercer 
 Co., 111., and in his old age, in July, 1872, he return- 
 ed to his first love, Henry County, becoming a mem- 
 ber of the household of his son-in-law. He united 
 with the Methodist Church when he reached his 
 majority and was all his life active in religious work. 
 
 The family of Mt. and Mrs. Jones includes two 
 children. Frederick D. is a graduate of Knox Col- 
 lege and is a student of law in the office of Shepard 
 
 & Marston, at Cambridge. Minerva G. is the 
 younger. 
 
 Mr. Jones is a Republican in political sentiment, 
 and he and his wife are members of the Congrega- 
 tional Church. He is also a member of the Grand 
 Army of the Republic. 
 
 ewia E. Hunt, engaged in farming on sec- 
 tion 25, Cornwall Township, was born in 
 York State, Jan. 6, 1829. In September 
 1842, Mr. Hunt came to Henry County with 
 his father, Thomas Hunt. The father was 
 born in 1793 in Roxbury, Litchfield Co., Conn.' 
 and died in 1861. 
 
 Lewis Hunt, the gentleman whose name stands at 
 the head of this notice, was married to Miss Sarah 
 Romig, Jan. 26,1860. Of their union five children 
 have been born, — John W., Edward O. and Clarinda 
 C. are living; the deceased are Leonidas F. and 
 Edgar I. 
 
 Mr. Hunt is the proprietor of 160 acres of good 
 farm land, located on section 25, all of his land be- 
 ing under an advanced state of cultivation. In ad- 
 dition to the cultivation of his land, Mr. Hunt has 
 devoted a portion of his time to stock. He has 
 some three-quarter-blooded Short-horn cattle and 
 also a span of Morgan horses. In politics, he is a 
 believer in and a supporter of the principles of the 
 Republican party. 
 
 -£3 
 
 
 A i 
 
 IT 
 
 S3- 
 
 yfy 
 
 @5«§®f$- 
 
 -^ ^ o/ '&iin 
 
 onrad Seyller is a prosperous farmer of 
 Yorktown Township, and is a resident on 
 section 1 6. He was born in the province of 
 Alsace in France, Nov. 19, 1840. His pa- 
 rents, George and Catherine Seyller, were 
 both n'atives of that province, which is now in 
 the hands of the Germans. The son was sent to 
 school, and after arriving at suitable age operated as 
 an assistant on his father's farm. The whole family 
 came to America in 1855. They were 28 days in 
 crossing the ocean and landed at the port of New 
 York. They came thence to Illinois and made a 
 stay of some months at Naperville. In February 
 they came to Henry County. They determined to 
 
 I 
 
 
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606 
 
 ~»€a 
 
 ■€v4>Dn^nnf^^ — >^»sr 
 
 »(@\ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 ■ 
 
 T 
 
 
 
 locate in the township where the son is still a resi- 
 dent and where the father proceeded to buy a farm 
 on section 17. At the time of the purchase the place 
 was in its natural condition and without a house to 
 shelter the family. The small house, 16x16 feet in 
 extent, was constructed with all possible dispatch, 
 which formed the family abode for only a few years, 
 as their circumstances improved with such rapidity 
 that in a short time a good frame house replaced 
 that of the first days. The father was the occupant 
 of the farm on which he first tasted the sweets of be- 
 ing a land-holder until the death of his wife. He 
 the sold the farm and removed to Peru, in La Salle 
 County, where he still resides. 
 
 Mr. Seyller was an inmate of the parental home 
 until he reached his majority. He then bought 160 
 acres on sections 9 and 8 in the same township, and 
 proceeded with the work of farming in his own be- 
 half. He was successful in his plans and operations, 
 and in 1875 sold the place and bought 320 acres on 
 sections 10 and n. In 1885 he made a further pur- 
 chase of 80 acres on section 3 in Yorktown Township, 
 and is now the proprietor of 400 acres in the best 
 possible farming condition. 
 
 In 1861 Mr. Seyller was married to Josephine 
 Clementz. She was born in the province of Alsace. 
 Their children are seven in number, and are named 
 Augustus, Josephine, William, Matilda, Hattie, Ed- 
 ward and Maiy. 
 
 H$=$=£t- 
 
 ohn Churchill, a farmer on section 25, 
 Geneseo Township, has lived in Henry 
 County since 1852. He was born in Som- 
 erset Co., Me., June 6, 1836, and is the son of 
 Asa and Mary (Holden) Churchill. His father 
 was born in the same county where the pro- 
 genitors of the family were among the-pioneer set- 
 tlers, and he was deprived of him by death when 1 1 
 years old. After that event he was the master of his 
 own fortunes. He became a member of the family of 
 Major Webb in his native county, with whom he re- 
 sided three years. He continued to find employment 
 in Somerset County until he came to Illinois. He 
 was then 16. He was induced to come here by the 
 fact that some acquaintances had come and found 
 
 
 remunerative employ. He operated as a farm assist- 
 ant and rented land to work on his own account until 
 1862, when he enlisted. He enrolled himself a 
 soldier of the United States on the 10th of August, 
 in Co. C, 93d Reg. 111. Vols. He was in the service 
 until the end of the contest. Among the battles in 
 which he was under fire were those of the siege and 
 capture of Vicksburg, Jackson, Champion Hill, Mis- 
 sion Ridge, and many others of greater or less im- 
 portance. In 1864 he sustained injuries in a railroad 
 collision and was transferred to Co. H, 23d V. R. C. 
 He received a final and honorable discharge Aug. 18, 
 1865. He came back to the State and passed ten 
 years in Bureau County. In 1875 ne bought the 
 farm on which he is now a resident. It is well im- 
 proved and is supplied with excellent buildings. 
 
 Sept. 27, 1870, he was joined in marriage with 
 Harriet L. Parker, and they have one child — Asa 
 Emery. Mrs. Churchill is the daughter of Emery 
 and Delopha (Bailey) Parker. Her parents were 
 early settlers in the State of Ohio, and were both na- 
 tives of New Hampshire. 
 
 rederick Kaiser, one of the large land 
 owners and respected citizens of Cornwall 
 Township, as well as successful farmers 
 of Henry County, residing on section n, was 
 ^&, born Oct. 23, 1827, in Switzerland, and within 
 i 18 miles of the capital, Berne. 
 Mr. Kaiser resided in the land of his nativity un- 
 til he attained his 16 year, in 1843, when, hoping to 
 better his financial condition, he emigrated to the 
 United States, and soon after landing at an Eastern 
 seaport he made his way to Ohio, where for ten 
 years he was engaged in the occupation of fanning ; 
 from the latter State Mr. Kaiser came to this county, 
 where he has resided until the present time. He is 
 now the proprietor of 400 acres of good farm land, 
 240 of the same being in Cornwall and the remain- 
 der in Annawan Township. In addition to the cul- 
 tivation of his land, he devotes a large portion of his 
 time to buying, selling and feeding stock. He also 
 raises a great many heavy horses and roadsters, and 
 feeds sheep and swine for the Eastern market. In 
 his vocation in life Mr. Kaiser is meeting with that 
 success which energy and perseverance, coupled with 
 
 -C 
 
 ^<m®m<>^ 
 
0O*>y 
 

 
 <§* 
 
 «i9i 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
 1 
 
 609 ■• 
 
 push and good judgment are sure to bring. Socially, 
 
 he is a member of the A. F. & A. M., and politically, 
 
 he votes with the Republican party. 
 
 The father of Mr. Kaiser was born in Switzerland, 
 
 A. Jan. 1, 1796, and his mother in June of the same 
 
 ^ year. She was but 19 years old at the date of her 
 
 marriage and became the mother of five sons and 
 
 three daughters, namely : Elizabeth, Mary Ann, 
 
 John, Frederick, Margaret, Alex., Albert and Jacob. 
 
 Frederick, John and Margaret are the only survivors. 
 
 tharles Kent, a retired farmer, resident at 
 Kewanee, and a native of "Greenfield, N. 
 Y., is the only son of Ebenezer and Laura 
 (Belden) Kent, natives of Vermont and New 
 York respectively. He was born Aug. n, 
 182 1. After the death of his mother, Mr. 
 Kent's father removed to Wyoming Co., N. Y., 
 accompanied by his two children, in 1823. In 
 Greenfield, N. Y., the senior Kent had followed 
 blacksmithing, but on arriving in Wyoming County 
 engaged in the occupation of a farmer. He lived to 
 attain the venerable age of 91 years, and died in 
 November, 1884, at the home of his daughter, Mrs. 
 Brown, of Wethersfield, this county. 
 
 In 1844, Charles Kent came West, entered a tract 
 of land in Bureau County, which he improved and 
 lived upon for ten years. In 1854-5 he removed to 
 Galesburg, Knox County, and in the neighborhood 
 of that city he was engaged in farming on a small 
 place for a few years. In 1864 he came into Ke- 
 wanee and purchased a tract of land in the vicinity 
 of that place, and subsequently purchased other 
 tracts, and there followed the occupation of a farmer 
 until 1884, meeting with success in that vocation. 
 During this year he rented his lands and retired 
 from the aclive labors of life. 
 
 While a citizen of Bureau County, Mr. Kent was 
 several years Township Clerk and Supervisor. Since 
 coming to this county he has served as School Trus- 
 tee at various times. In early life he was a Whig 
 in politics, but afterwards he espoused the cause of 
 the Liberty party, and later on, at the organization 
 of the Republican party, he joined its ranks and has 
 since voted that ticket without exception. 
 
 Mr. Kent was the builder of his own fortune. He 
 inherited a sound constitution and a level head. He 
 
 cultivated upon the one a rugged physique and upon ' 
 the other a well stored mind. His accumulation of' 
 this world's goods is attributable to his industry, per- 
 severance and good judgment. 
 
 Mr. Kent was united in marriage with Miss , 
 Lucinda M! Hurd, of Wyoming Co., N. Y., who came 
 West long before Horace Greeley's advice was ut- 
 tered, and " grew up." Mr. Kent was one of the 
 original stockholders of the Union National Bank of 
 Kewanee, and has been one of its Directors since its 
 organization. He and his wife are members of the ■ 
 Congregational Church, to the support of which they , 
 give liberally from their ample means. 
 
 We present the portrait of Mr. Kent in this volume 
 in connection with this sketch, as a man who is 
 eminently worthy of having his portrait classed with 
 those who are representative men of the county. He 
 possesses many excellent qualities as a citizen, and 
 in pioneer days in Illinois did much to forward its 
 development. 
 
 —-<&- 
 
 -O—o- 
 
 ESS 
 
 ichard Payne, brick manufacturer, Galva, 
 is a native of England, and was born in 
 Oswestry, Shropshire, in that country, May 
 12, 1828. His father, Thomas Payne, was 
 also a native of England, where he married 
 Catherine Richards, also of English birth, but 
 of Welsh extraction. His grandfather, also named 
 Thomas Payne, was born in Fitz, Eng. He was a 
 farmer and brick-maker, and died at the age of 79 
 years, in Oswestry, leaving a large estate. His wife, 
 Anna Payne, was born in Meidstown, County Kent, 
 England, and lived to be 101 years old. They reared 
 a family of six children, namely : Thomas, the father 
 of our subject ; Sarah Ann, James, William and Han- 
 nah, all of whom are deceased. Thomas was born 
 Dec. 21, 1785, in Oswestry, and died in March, 1881, 
 aged nearly 96 years. He was also a brick-maker in 
 early life, but came to this country in 1850, and 
 located in Whitefield Township, Marshall Co., 111., 
 where he died. His wife, Catherine Richard, was 
 born at the same place, and was the daughter of 
 Thomas Richard. She died about 1857, nine chil- 
 dren having been born of this couple, as follows : 
 Thomas, John, Anna (now Mrs. Jarvis), Edward, 
 
 a ^r:, Q/ >4»W1®I1I1& \G) ^ C3^ 
 
 *ji 
 
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 >v- 
 
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 ■cr 
 
 "2&Qfr 
 
 ii^ 
 
 6lO 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 4^^((®V| 
 
 
 Richard, Ann (now Mrs. Roummel), William, George 
 and Mary (the latter deceased). 
 
 Mr. Payne was reared and educated in his native 
 country, and came to America with his parents. He 
 resided with them in Marshall Co., 111., until 1856, in 
 the meantime joining with them in the brick-making 
 business. In April, [865, he came to Galva, and for 
 many years made brick in the old-fashioned way, by 
 hand. This required a great deal of hard work, but 
 he met with fair success. In the spring of 1878 he 
 formed a partnership with Obed Price, which has 
 continued to the present time, and the firm is now 
 known as Payne & Price. Prior to 1878 Mr. Payne 
 employed about ten hands. At that time he intro- 
 duced horse-power, and two years later his business 
 had increased so that it demanded greater facilities. 
 He then put in an 18-horse-power engine, which runs 
 a Henry Martin Stock Brick Machine. This machine 
 has a capacity of 25,000 bricks per day. The firm 
 employ about 25 men in the factory and in shipping. 
 Mr. Payne devotes his attention to the superintend- 
 ing of the factory, while his partner attends to the 
 contracting department. 
 
 Mr. Payne was married in Ottawa, 111., to Miss 
 Emelia Roe, who is now deceased. She became the 
 mother of two children — Nellie and Thomas R. She 
 died at Galva, Jan., 1882. She was the daughter of 
 Thomas Roe, of English ancestry. Mr. Payne was 
 married a second time, to Mrs. Jennie Prescott. 
 
 tSjejZCrtBSS'* 
 
 •K<i — >*@§-SX3OT»<» 
 
 lliott Hinman, lumber merchant at Cam- 
 , bridge, and the sole representative of that 
 ^ line of traffic at this place, is a native of 
 Henry County. He was born Aug. 31, 1853, 
 in Osco Township, and is the son of R. H. 
 Hinman, who is still living there. He was 
 educated in this county, and after he arrived at the 
 age of manhood he gave his attention to the pursuit 
 of a farmer. Soon after he went to Cambridge, and, 
 associated with S. C. Welton, he embarked in the 
 business which has since engaged his attention. In 
 1 88 1 Mr. Welton went to Florida, and Mr. Hinman 
 has since conducted his affairs alone. He holds the 
 monopoly at Cambridge, having bought out the lum- 
 ber establishment of J. W. Stewart, who was his only 
 
 competitor. Mr. Hinman is a member of the Ma- 
 sonic fraternity at Cambridge. 
 
 He was married here Oct. 30, 1879, to Nora No- 
 lind, who was born in Muscatine Co., Iowa. They 
 have two children : Fannie was born Sept. 2, 
 Susan E. was born Dec. 22, 1884. 
 
 1880; 
 
 J&hriBtian L. Heaps, a well-known agricul- 
 I* turist, having a farm on section 19, Anna- 
 ■ " wan Township, is a native of Lancaster 
 Co., Pa., where he was born, June 1, 1835. 
 Here he lived until 1842, when he came with 
 his parents to Illinois. For four years they 
 lived in Adams County, when they came further 
 north, and located in Rock Co., Wis. Here they re- 
 mained but 18 months, when the elder Heaps came 
 into Annawan Township, and pre-empted a quarter 
 of section 32, where he still lives. William G., the 
 gentleman referred to, became one of the prominent 
 and early settlers of the township. A sketch of him 
 appears elsewhere in this volume. 
 
 Mr. Heaps, on his farm of 160 acres, has a good, 
 comfortable dwelling^and farm buildings. He is de- 
 voting his attention to some extent to breeding Short- 
 horn cattle and Norman horses. His hogs are of 
 the Poland-China variety. He has been a member 
 of the A. F. & A. M. Order, and has been a visitor 
 to the Grand Lodge and Grand Chapter convened at 
 Chicago. The family are members of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church, and, politically, he is a man of 
 independent views. 
 
 Mr. Heaps formed a' matrimonial alliance with 
 Miss Margaret Clement, Oct. 28, 1858. She was a 
 native of Hamilton, Canada, where she was born 
 July 18, 1840. She came to Illinois with her parents 
 in 1849, and was reared and educated in Cornwall 
 Township, this county, where her father, Robert 
 Clement, had located. He had married in 1827 
 Miss Margaret Jones, this event occurring in Antrim 
 Co., Ireland. The following year they came to Can- 
 ada, and became the parents of nine children, of 
 whom Margaret was the seventh. The record of the 
 children born to Mr. and Mrs. Heaps reads as fol- 
 lows : Mary A., born Dec. 1, i860; John B., March 
 14, 1863; William G., April 22, 1865 ; Harmon, Jan. 
 9, 1867; Chancy B., Feb. 15, 1868; Christian L. 
 
 «£j* 
 
 K®^^t- 
 
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 d 
 
 i 
 
^BBll&' /c) > fe&gr 
 
 /iX-ir\ 
 
 *■.:_■ i 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 6n 
 
 Edwin 
 
 Nellie 
 
 G., Sept. 23, 1874. There have been five deaths in 
 the family, as follows: William G. died Sept. 8, 
 1865; John B., Dec. 8, 1866; Harmon C, Feb. 5, 
 1867; Christian, Aug. 23, 1870; and Mary A., April 
 28, 1883. 
 
 - i > frs§* 
 
 thel V. Bronson, one of the pioneers of 
 Kewanee, and from 1855 to 1875 propri- 
 etor of the old "Kewanee House," first 
 Jl&- hotel erected in the village, youngest son of 
 Virtue and Nancy (McNeil) Bronson, natives of 
 Connecticut and New York State respectively, 
 and of old English extraction, was born in Canan- 
 daigua, Ontario Co., N. Y., Feb. t, 1813. 
 The Bransons were among the very earliest settlers 
 ^ of Waterbury, Conn., and many of the name are yet 
 ^ found in the various New England States. Virtue 
 Bronson was a surveyor by profession, and having re- 
 moved from Connecticut to Richmond, N. Y., in 
 1818, conducted the survey of what has since been 
 known as the "Holland Purchase." From Richmond 
 he removed to Sheldon, Geneseo County, the same 
 State, in 1820, and there died, June 4, 1823, at the 
 age of 45 years. Of his children, three sons and 
 two daughters, that grew to be men and women, the 
 subject of this sketch, Ethel V. Bronson, is the only 
 one living at this writing, July, 1885. The elder 
 Mr. B. left his family in limited circumstances, and 
 the sons were early in life thrown upon their own re- 
 sources. In common with his brothers, Ethel V. 
 labored upon the farm during the farming season, 
 and walked two miles to a country school during the 
 winters. When about 15 years of age he secured 
 employment in a mercantile establishment, receiving 
 as payment for his services for a time, his board and 
 clothing, and afterward the sum of $5 per month in 
 money ; but, as he grew in years and usefulness, his 
 wages were advanced from time to time, and he was 
 enabled to lay by his small savings, and in a few 
 years to engage in a business for himself. 
 
 His first store was started at Warsaw ; from there 
 he went to North Java, and in 1846 back to Warsaw, 
 where he remained two years, and then began the 
 
 <? 
 
 > 
 (!) 
 
 manufacture of stoves and agricultural implements 
 
 at Cuylerville, N. Y. In 1854 he came West, stop- 
 ping at Rockford, 111., from the fall of that year until 
 the spring of 1855, at which time he came to Kewa- 
 nee and bought the "Kewanee House," a hostlery he 
 presided over for 20 years. For years aud, years the 
 "Kewanee" was the only hotel in the village, and the 
 number of persons who partook of its "good cheer" 
 during the administration of Mr. Bronson would 
 probably exceed Grant's majority over Greeley. In 
 1875 Mr. B. retired from hotel business, and in 1883 
 sold the property to a Mr. Merritt, who replaced the 
 "old frame" with a brick structure, which hears upon 
 its side wall "The New Kewanee," and upon the 
 stained glass over its threshold a quotation from Sir 
 Walter Scott's Lady of the Lake. 
 
 Mr. Bronson has always been a public-spirited 
 man, and from a handsome competency, the result 
 wholly of his individual efforts and industry, has 
 given liberally to such enterprises as have had a 
 tendency to advance the interests of the community 
 in which he has lived. He was prominently identi- 
 fied with the organization of the Old Muscatine, Ke- 
 wanee & Eastern Railway enterprises, and became 
 the President of that company ; also of the Conti- 
 nental Railway Company, a gigantic undertaking, 
 having in view the construction of a trunk line from 
 New York City to Council Bluffs, la. The interests 
 alike of public charities and local Churches have 
 been advanced by his labor and his lucre. The 
 Episcopal Church at Kewanee credits him with its 
 greatest individual financial assistance. He was not 
 only active in its organization, but the subscription 
 roll also shows that he set opposite his name $1,500. 
 So with all the other Churches. They all credit him 
 with donations at various times with various sums. 
 
 Though an active Republican worker, he has sought 
 no political preferment, his only public office-hold- 
 ing in the county being that of Commissioner of 
 Highways, a "thank you" kind of a job ; and in the 
 State a member of the Board of Governors of the 
 Woman's Hospital, also a position of trust without 
 emolument. 
 
 In October, 1844, ac the town of York, Livingston 
 Co., N. Y., he was married to Sarah A. Weller, who 
 died at the age of 66 years. Of the two sons born 
 to them and an adopted daughter reared by them, 
 neither one is living. Melfred G., born Aug. ir, 
 1845, died May 15, r86i ; William Henry, born Dec. 
 25, 1851, died Jan. 5, 1852; and Lida P., born Oct. 
 
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 V 
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 612 
 
 ->k€^ 6V&lllfflIIf>7^ ^€»k- 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 6, 1858, died Dec. 4, 1880. Thus his children, like 
 the wife of his early manhood, his companion through 
 the struggles of so many years, have all preceded 
 him to that other shore where his faith in a crucified 
 Redeemer tells him he shall meet them when his pil- 
 grimage upon this earth shall have reached an end. 
 The present Mrs. Bronson, nee Mrs. Betsey Ann 
 Hoxey, to whom he was married at Bay St. Louis, 
 Miss., March 28, 1885, is a native of Providence, R. 
 I. They met and their union was planned while win- 
 tering in the sunny South. 
 
 -13- 
 
 -E2- 
 
 ^ohn A. Swanson, residing in Galva, was 
 born Dec. 8, 1846, in Smoland, Hoallanda 
 Soken, Jonkopings Lan, Sweden. He is 
 a son of Charles J. and Christine (Swanson) 
 Swanson, natives of Sweden. Charles J. Swan- 
 son was born Jan. 7, 1822. He was a soldier 
 for 19 years in the Swedish Army, and after that 
 he followed the occupation of a farmer. He was 
 married in Sweden and became the father of nine 
 children, four of whom he brought to America, 
 namely : Matilda, John A., Charles A., Louisa, 
 Gust. A., and Frank W. and an infant who died 
 were born at Galesburg. Charles J. Swanson came 
 to this country in 1857, arriving here Aug. 8, of that 
 year. He located at Galesburg, in this State, where 
 he worked at the carpenter trade in Brown's Corn- 
 Planter Works for eight years. He then engaged in 
 farming in Lynn Township, which occupation he fol- 
 lowed until the date of his death, which occurred 
 May T4, 1883, when in his 6 2d year. His wife is 
 still living in Galva. She was born Feb. 5, 1822, in 
 Sweden. 
 
 John A. Swanson, subject of this notice, received 
 his education principally in Knox County, this State, 
 and followed the occupation of a farmer during his 
 early life. He enlisted in Co. B, 7 2d 111. Vol. Inf., 
 Dec. n, 1863, at Galesburg, and went to Springfield, 
 this State. From there he went to Vicksb.urg, and 
 his regiment participated in the following engage- 
 ments : Siege and capture of Vicksburg, Columbus, 
 Franklin and Nashville, Tenn. On their retreat from 
 Nashville to Franklin Mr. Swanson and nearly 300 
 of his regiment were taken prisoners, the date there- 
 of being Nov. 30, 1864, and were released in March, 
 
 1865, at which time Mr. Swanson only weighed 97 
 pounds. The regiment went out 800 strong in the 
 battle of Franklin, and returned with less than 400 
 men. Mr. Swanson, with other prisoners, were ta- 
 ken to Andersonville, Ga., where he remained four 
 and a half months, was then paroled and sent home, 
 and shortly afterward the war closed. Socially, Mr. 
 S. is a member of the G. A. R. 
 
 After the war closed he returned to Galva, doffed 
 his uniform, laid aside his accoutrements of war, and 
 once more entered upon the peaceful pursuits of life. 
 He engaged in clerking at Galva and Cambridge, and 
 was occupied at the latter place three and a half 
 years. In March, 1881, he formed a partnership 
 with Nels Runquist and engaged in the grocery and 
 provision business, which co-partnership lasted for 
 six months, when another was formed with Lewis 
 Larson as partner, which terminated after three 
 months, when Mr. Swanson conducted the business 
 alone for three years. He sold out in January, 1885, 
 to Nelson & Larson, intending to go West. Since 
 April he has been employed by Butters & Obers in 
 the implement business until lately, when he again 
 engaged in business for himself. 
 
 Mr. Swanson was married in Galva, Jan. 30, 1873, 
 to Miss Ida M. Mollburg, a daughter of Swan and 
 and Sarah Mollburg. She was born Aug. 22, 1852, 
 in Kalmar Lan, Molella Soken, in Sweden, and has 
 borne her husband two children, — John A. I., born 
 in Galva, Nov. 7, 1873; and LillieO., in Cambridge, 
 Feb. 10, 1875. Socially, Mr. Swanson is a member 
 of the I. O. O. F. and the A. O. U. W., and politically 
 he is in sympathy with the tenets of the Republican 
 party. 
 
 - o ' : ? — £-y^ — i : ■ » ■ 
 
 ndrew G. Larson, engaged as a farmer on 
 
 X section 28, Osco Township, was born in 
 
 Sweden, July 25, 1837. 
 
 He continued to 
 reside in his native country until the summer 
 of i860, when he came to America and worked 
 by the month in Andover Township, this 
 County, about four years, when he bought 80 acres 
 of land in Osco Township, located on section 28, 
 where he erected good, substantial buildings and has 
 since continued to reside until the present time. He 
 now is the owner of 280 acres in this county, all of 
 which is in an advanced state of cultivation. 
 
 Mr. Andrew G. Larson formed a matrimonial alli- 
 
 Cc 
 
 i 
 
 ■^^imm&a^ — *m^ *mg£@jM 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 613 
 
 I 
 
 ance at Moline, 111., Nov. 1, 1866, with Tilda L. 
 Hokonson, who was born in Sweden,' May 18, 1846. 
 They are the parents of eight children,— Andrew J., 
 Henry J., "Carl R. and Gust. A., and four are deceas- 
 ed, as follows : L. Edward met with his death from 
 an accident received by a corn-stalk cutter; Nellie 
 A. was injured while at school from a blow accident- 
 ally given by a school-mate. Two died in infancy. 
 Mr. Larson is independent in his political views. 
 
 "ohn George Weidlein, a farmer of Edford 
 Township, was born in Osco Township, in 
 the county in which his entire life has been 
 passed. He is the son of John and Eleanora 
 ^f Weidlein, of whom a full account is given else- 
 V where in this volume. His birth occurred 
 Sept. 25, 1854, three years after the removal of his 
 parents to Henry County. He is the fifth child in 
 order of birth, and he received his education in the 
 district schools of his native township and in Edford 
 Township, whither the family removed when the son 
 was one year old. 
 
 The latter was married in March, 1881, to Bertha 
 Reader. She was born in Michigan. He is now the 
 occupant of the homestead of his father and is en- 
 gaged in general farming and in raising stock. 
 
 Mrs. Weidlein is the daughter of Henry and Cath- 
 erine (Kime) Reader, and she was born in the town of 
 Medina, Lenawee Co., Mich. She is the mother of 
 one child, named Hallie Earl. Mr. and Mrs. Weid- 
 lein are members of the Lutheran Chnrch at Morris- 
 town. The parents of Mrs. Weidlein were natives 
 of the State of New York. 
 
 « ■» 
 
 [dim N. Carter, a retired farmer, residing on 
 section 14, Galva Township, was born Jan. 
 29, 1829, in Ashland Co., Ohio, his pater- 
 nal ancestors being derived from Scotland. 
 His grandfather, Carter, settled in Pennsyl- 
 vania, where he was a farmer, and he finally 
 died in Ohio. His son, William Carter, was born in 
 the latter State, was also a farmer, came to Galva 
 about 1855, and died there, at the age of 74 years. 
 His wife was Margaret Casebeer, who was born in 
 Ohio, and is yet living, aged 85 years. Of her 16 
 
 children, the following are living: Daniel, Nancy, 
 Mary A., Leanna, John N., Eliza Jane, Wesley, 
 George, Charles and Clarissa. 
 
 Mr. Carter, whose name heads this sketch, was 
 reared until he was 10 years of age in Ashland Co., 
 Ohio; in 1839 he came to Stark Co., 111., where, 
 after he commenced in life for himself, he purchased 
 80 acres of land in partnership with his father; he 
 sold this, and afterward bought other land in this 
 county, where he now owns 200 acres of land in 
 Burns Township, and 20 acres on Galva Township, 
 on section 14, where he now resides. He came here 
 in the fall of 1882, to enjoy a life of retirement as the 
 fruits of a well-earned competency, and also to edu- 
 cate his children. In his political views he is a 
 Greenbacker. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Carter took place Jan. 9, 
 1859, in this county, when for his wife he chose Miss 
 Abby A. Decker, who was born Feb. 27, 1841, in New 
 Jersey, opposite New York city. Her parents were 
 John I. and Abigail (Deckland) Decker, natives also 
 of the State of New Jersey, and of English extrac- 
 tion. Her mother died in this county, but her father 
 is still living in Kansas, aged 70 years. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Carter have had nine children, 
 eight of whom are living : Alba, John, William, Sher- 
 man, Ella, Ada, George, Paulina and Maud (de- 
 ceased). 
 
 ffeugh G. Carson, a pioneer of Henry County, 
 and long an active farmer, but now living 
 
 T in retirement at Kewanee, was born in. Salt 
 
 Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, May 22, 1823. 
 1 His parents, John and Elizabeth (Buckmaster) 
 Carson, natives of Pennsylvania and of Scotch- 
 Irish and English extraction respectively, were mar- 
 ried in Wayne Co., Ohio, where seven of their eight 
 children (four sons and four daughters) were born, 
 the eighth having been born in Henry Co., 111. At 
 this writing (July, 1885,) three of the sons and one 
 of the daughters are living. 
 
 •The senior Mr. Carson was in his life -time a 
 farmer, and brought his sons up to that vocation. 
 The family came into Illinois in 1836 and settled 
 on a farm of r6o acres, in Wethersfield Township, 
 about three and one- half miles from where Kewanee 
 now stands. Upon this farm the two old people 
 (though neither of them was very old) spent the re- 
 
 9 
 
 6 
 
 C!> 
 
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 A©- 
 
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 IK-"'!. 
 
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 «4t@^ 
 
 =f7 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
 mainder of their lives. Mr. Carson died in 1 841, at 
 the age of 43 years, and his widow in 1850, aged 50 
 years. At the time of his death Mr. C. was filling 
 the offices of Justice of the Peace and County Com- 
 missioner. After his father's death, Hugh G. became 
 the main stay of the family, and to his credit be it 
 said he discharged his duties faithfully. . In 1846 he 
 purchased the interests of his brothers and sisters in 
 and to the old homestead, and thereon began life 
 for himself. In 1861 he quit farming and removed 
 to town, but in 1865 returned to the old place and 
 there lived until March, 1881, when he finally re- 
 tired to the village of Kewanee. The Carsons were 
 truly pioneers of this part of Henry County. The 
 Kilvington family, with whom Robert Coltis was 
 living, were the only people in this part of the coun- 
 try at that time, though two or three other families 
 followed later in the fall. The postoffice was at La 
 Fayette, Stark County. 
 
 Mr. Carson was married in Burns Township, this 
 county, Dec. 14, 1843, to Miss Emily Ann Doty, 
 daughter of Timothy Doty, deceased, and a native of 
 Ohio. Their children bear the following names : 
 Mary E., John H., who was a soldier in the late war, 
 a member of Co. F., 124th 111. Vol. Inf., and served 
 three years. He is now running a stock ranch in 
 Nebraska ; Sarah S., widow of William T. Orr ; Flor- 
 ence G. died Sept. 10, 1878, and was the wife of 
 Samuel R. Parker ; Rosa V. (Mrs. O. W. Smith, of 
 Valparaiso, Ind.); Franklin R., D. D. S., La Porte, 
 Ind. ; and Ida N. 
 
 In politics, up to 1856, Mr. Carson had been a 
 Democrat, but in that year he assisted in the organi- 
 zation of a Fremont club, and has ever since been a 
 Republican. He is a member of the Congregational 
 Church, a Freemason and a citizen respected by all 
 who know him. 
 
 4** 
 
 -S— 
 
 rancis Newton Hammond, of Galva, was 
 |C born Dec. 22, 1830, in the Western Re- 
 n\ serve, formerlv called the " Connecticut 
 
 serve, formerly called the "Connecticut 
 
 Reserve,' in Bath Township, Summit Co., 
 
 ?Ml Ohio. The progenitors of this family were two 
 
 Hammond families who came from England. 
 
 One settled in Virginia in 1605, and two brothers 
 
 settled in Massachusetts in 1635. The history of 
 
 this family is traced back to the 16th century, and 
 a coat of arms is found granted in 1548. 
 
 Thomas Hammond came from England in 1636, 
 and settled in Hingham, Mass., where he was one of 
 the pioneers. He had land granted him, and on the 
 9th of March, 1637, he took the Freemason's oath. 
 In 1640 he removed to Newton, where Elizabeth was 
 born, Sept. 13, and Thomas Sept. 30, 1675. His 
 estate after his death was appraised at ,£1,139 J< >s. 
 and 2d. His wife, Elizabeth, was executrix, and four 
 children are named in the will : Sarah, who mar- 
 ried a Mr. Steadman ; Elizabeth, who is now Mrs. 
 George Woodward; Thomas and Nathaniel. To 
 Thomas he gave the homestead and the barn. The 
 following items are in the bill I Nathaniel is to have 
 one-third part of the fruit of the orchard, year by 
 year, until he has an orchard of his own, and the use 
 of the barn until his brother Thomas shall assist 
 him in the erection of one. 
 
 The wife of Thomas Hammond, Sr., was Elizabeth* 
 Cason, of Lavanham, England. Thomas Ham- 
 mond, Jr., married Elizabeth Steadman, and they 
 are the parents of five children. Of these Isaac, 
 born Oct. 20, 1668, married Ann Hendrick, and 
 their family comprised seven children. Elijah, of 
 this family, was born Oct. 7 , 17 1 1, and married Mary 
 Kingsbury, Oct. 31, 1732. Of their union three 
 children were born, Hannah being one of them, and 
 who married Joseph Tucker ; Priscilla, who became 
 Mrs. Capt. Jonathan Birge; her husband fell in bat- 
 tle in the War of the Revolution ; and Nathaniel, 
 who married Dorothy Tucker, and they became the 
 parents of nine children. The mother then dying, 
 Mr. Nathaniel Hammond formed a second matri- 
 monial alliance, with Eleanor Olmsted, and by the 
 latter union there were seven children born, making 
 a total of 16 children: Jason, born Feb. 1, 1762, at 
 Bolton, Mass., was united in marriage, April 24, 
 1788, with Rachel Hale, daughter of Theodore Hale, 
 of Glastonbury, Conn. Mr. Jason Hammond's de- 
 mise occurred Sept. 21, 1830, aged 68 years, 7 
 months, and 25 days. His wife died Nov. n, 1842, 
 aged 83 years and 1 1 'months, leaving a family of six 
 children. Of these, Horatio was born Oct. 24, 1798, 
 in Bolton, Mass., and chose for the lady who was to 
 share his varied experiences in this checkered life, 
 Miss Louisa Fisk, with whom he was united in mat- 
 rimony, April 14, 1825. They became the parents 
 of 11 children, namely: Francis N., born Dec. 22, 
 
 ■^^^ — ©a4?h n® nn>> a ^ — ^^ 
 
 -«g 
 
^er 
 
 TT7 
 
 HENRY COUNTY 
 
 
 
 E3 
 & 
 
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 6iS 
 
 1830, and who married Elizabeth A. Morey, now de- 
 ceased ; she was the mother of three children, viz. : 
 Charles N., Sarah, M., wife of F. J. Ay res, and 
 Anna M. 
 
 Our subject was married a second lime, Nov. 9, 
 1869, in Galva, 111., to Caroline M. Ogg, who was 
 born Aug, 1, 1839, in Clermont Co., Ohio, daughter 
 of Joel and Sarah (Kugler) Ogg, natives respectively 
 of Harrisburg, Pa., and Hamilton Co., Ohio. They 
 came to Illinois in the spring of 1856, settling in 
 Knox County, where he died July 12, 1861, aged 62 
 years. He was a careful and energetic farmer, and 
 a member of the A. F. & A. M. Their family con- 
 sisted of four children. 
 
 Mrs. Hammond had a family of three children — 
 Mary Edna, born Nov. 2, 187 1, in this county; 
 Roland and Everett, born Feb. 2, 1877. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Hammond are members of the Congregational 
 Church. He was always a Whig during the days of 
 that party, but is now a warm Republican. 
 
 Mr. Hammond was educated in his native coun- 
 try, Ohio, and at Knox College, Galesburg, 111. In 
 July, 1848, he came here with his parents. He 
 farmed quite extensively in Knox County, handling 
 considerable stock, and came to Galva in Novem- 
 ber, 1870. He has been a grain-buyer, and inter- 
 ested in broom-corn business, shipping all over the 
 United States, and has been very successful, which 
 is attributable to his energy and strict attention to 
 business. 
 
 ^avid Luther, a resident on section 17, in 
 the township of Geneseo, has lived in 
 Henry County since February, 1849. He 
 was born March 1, 1828, in Livingston Co., 
 N. Y., and is the fifth son of Jacob and 
 Louisa Luther. His parents were natives of 
 Germany, and were born in one of the small cities 
 on the River Rhine. They came in very early life 
 to the United States; and after tne birth of their son 
 they removed from the State of New York to Penn- 
 sylvania. They were residents of the Keystone 
 State ten years, and in 1838 came thence to Illinois. 
 They arrived in Chicago in the fall, and passed the 
 winter ensuing in that city. In the spring of the 
 next year they went to O'Plain in Lake County, 
 
 which is situated 22 miles northwest of Chicago. 
 The father there bought 80 acres of land, on which 
 the family were the first settlers. The tract was en- 
 tirely in its original condition and there the home- 
 stead was established. Mr. Luther lived there with 
 his parents until he was 14, when he went to Chicago 
 to learn the business of a cabinet-maker. After an 
 apprenticeship of three years he went thence to Mil- 
 waukee. He was occupied in the prosecution of his 
 trade there two years. At the end of that time he 
 returned to O'Plain and passed a season on the 
 farm. He went next to Peoria, and in the winter of 
 1849 came to Henry County. After a visit of a few 
 weeks with the family of Jacob Arnett in Whiteside 
 County, he entered a claim of land in the township 
 of Yorktown, or what is now known by that name. 
 The tract included 200 acres. He erected a cabin 
 of poplar logs, 12 x 15 feet in dimensions. The roof 
 was covered with the variety of shingles called 
 "shakes," which Mr. Luther split himself, and the 
 floor was of puncheon. Mr. Luther arranged for the 
 lighting of hts abode by placing three lights of glass 
 — all he had — over the door. Hardly were they in 
 place before a severe hail storm utterly destroyed 
 them. Mr. Luther built a wagon in the same year 
 in which he settled in Yorktown. He made the 
 wheels by sawing sections from the ends of logs. 
 The wheels were solid, and the hubs were made in 
 the proper place from the same blocks. As wagon- 
 grease was not plenty, the music of Mr. Luther's vehi- 
 cle came to be a familiar sound to the neighbors for 
 five miles around, as it could be heard that distance! 
 After he had used the wagon several years he sold it 
 for $25. After securing a shelter he entered into the 
 work of improving his land. He placed 80 acres 
 under good cultivation and also enclosed the same. 
 He next bought 40 acres on which there had been a 
 small house erected. He retained his ownership 
 therein until 1857, when he made an exchange for 
 property in Geneseo, and removed his family there. 
 In 1869 he became the owner of the farm on which 
 he is now a resident, by purchase. The estate con- 
 tains 108 acres, and it is all under the best type of 
 improvements. Mr. Luther is also the owner of 62 
 acres of land in the vicinity of Geneseo, and has 
 some village property. One of the operations of 
 Mr. Luther a short time after coming to the county 
 deserves mention as a pioneer exploit. In 185 1 
 he set out for Milwaukee, accompanied by his wife 
 
 
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 e^nirati^A^ — s^^. 
 
 -«# 
 
 
s~ 616 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 4*§^(@\ 
 
 
 
 f 
 
 
 and one child, who could not be left without the 
 mother's care. They traveled thither with five yoke 
 of oxen and camped on the route. In the Cream 
 City he sold four yokes of the cattle and invested 
 the proceeds in furniture and in the payment for his 
 land at Dixon, where they stopped for the purpose 
 on their way home. Mr. Luther is a man of modest 
 pretensions, and fully merits all that the term " self- 
 made " may mean. 
 
 His union in marriage to Caroline Esslinger, 
 took place in Milwaukee, Wis., Feb. 9, 1847. She 
 was a native of Zell, Wurtemberg, Germany, and 
 was born May 3, 1828. The children of Mr. and 
 Mrs. Luther are named William and Abraham. They 
 are the only survivors of 12 children of whom they 
 became the parents. They are both residents of 
 Geneseo. The oldest was born in Greenfield, Wis., 
 Dec. 19, 1848. He married Susan Byers, and they 
 have four children : Pearl, Berenice, Mabel and 
 Floss. Abraham was born at Hoop-pole Grove, in 
 Henry County, Jan. 12, 1851. He married Lydia 
 Mertz. She was born at Downer's Grove, Cook Co., 
 III. They have four children : Cora, Sarah, Caroline 
 and Fayette. All the children are daughters. 
 
 The Luthers, father and sons, are Republicans of 
 the most radical type. 
 
 Mrs. Luther, the mother, died March 28, 1874. 
 She was a woman of consistent Christian character, 
 and her memory is preserved by her husband and 
 sons as their most precious heritage. 
 
 She was the daughter of Geo. G. Esslinger. He 
 was a frolicsome youth in his early life, and was in 
 demand at all the merry-makings in his vicinity, as 
 he was an expert fiddler. Later he was converted, 
 traded his fiddle for a pig, and passed his remaining 
 . years in the capacity of a preacher in the German 
 Evangelical Church. 
 
 ohn Samuelson, who is the owner of 400 
 acres on sections 25 and 26, Western 
 Township, was born in the central portion 
 \U of the kingdom of Sweden, on the estate of 
 Esther Galon, Dec. 25, 1835. His father, 
 Samuel, was born in that section of the coun- 
 try, and married Anna Nelson ; and after they had 
 seven children, the parents and four sons came to 
 
 i* 
 
 America, in 1851. At first they stopped for & whil 
 at Buffalo, N. Y., remaining there until the summe 
 of 1852, when all the family came to Illinois. Th 
 senior Samuelson entered 80 acres of land in West 
 ern Township, this county, and the two oldest son 
 worked by the month to pay for the same. Th 
 oldest son is still a resident on it, and holds it in hii 
 own name. The family started out to establish ; 
 home in this county with no means except their owi 
 mental and muscular abilities; and they have, b] 
 their industry and economy, honest and high aims o 
 purpose, prospered in a manner characteristic of th< 
 Scandinavian people. The father died about 1865 
 and the mother yet survives. Of the seven children 
 six are still living. 
 
 Mr. John Samuelson, the youngest son but one ir 
 the above family, was a member of the parental 
 household until he responded to the first call foi 
 Union troops to fight the bloody battles of the South, 
 His enlistment dates September, i86t, when he be- 
 came a member of Co. C, 43d Regt. 111. Vol. Inf. 
 under Col. Wright, of the Army of the Cumberland 
 and of the Western Army. During his term ol 
 service he participated in the battles of Shiloh, April 
 6 and 7, 1862; siege of Corinth, May, 1862; Salem 
 Cemetery, Dec. 19, 1862 ; skirmishes around Somer- 
 ville, Term., April and May, 1862; Vicksburg, June 
 and July, 1863; Little Rock, Ark., September, 1863: 
 Prairie Dum, April, 1864 ; Jenkins' Ferry, April 30, 
 1864; Fort Henry, etc, etc. Mr. S. was promoted 
 first to the position of Corporal, then to that of Ser- 
 geant, in which rank he was finally discharged, with 
 honorable mention, at Springfield, 111., Sept. 26, 
 1864. At no time was he absent from his regiment 
 or unable to be on duty. 
 
 Returning home with a halo of military glory, he 
 purchased a quarter-section nf prairie land in West- 
 ern Township, was married and settled upon thai 
 place, which he still occupies. He has increased il 
 to its present dimensions by additional purchases, 
 and made the whole valuable by his judicious man- 
 agement and persistent industry. The farm was 
 formerly owned by the Bishop Hill Colony, which 
 came here in r848. Mr. S. has held nearly all the 
 offices of his Church (Swedish Methodist), and is 
 now a Trustee of that body. He has also beer 
 Township Collector, School Trustee nine years, and 
 is now Road Commissioner. He faithfully votes the 
 Republican ticket. 
 
 
 .^^ — ©^^n fl@pn<^A^ — s^c 
 
$ if ■fV&tei* 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 4^^ 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 May 31, 1862, is the date of Mr. Samuelson's 
 marriage to Mary Larson, daughter of L. M. and 
 Mary C. (Djursted) Peterson. Her mother died in 
 her native country, about 1867, and her father is yet 
 living, also in Sweden. Mrs. S. was born in 1846, 
 in that country, and came to America when a young 
 woman. Of the nine children who have been born 
 in the family of Mr. and Mrs. Samuelson, four died 
 in infancy. The living are John, Archie, William, 
 Guy and Mary. 
 
 jj^on. Wilder W. Warner, Postmaster, station 
 agent and dealer in grain and stock, and 
 owner of the cheese factory, grain elevaton 
 etc., at Warner, was born in Bolton, Worcester 
 Co., Mass., Oct. 10, 1828. His father, Elias 
 Warner, was the youngest son of Elias, Sr., who 
 was also a native of the same county in which our 
 subject was born. He was one of the patriots dur- 
 ing that eventful period in the history of our country 
 when the Colonists were fighting for their independ- 
 ence. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, 
 and fought at the battle of Bunker Hill. He was 
 married to Abigail Priest, also a member of a New 
 England family, and of English parentage. The ori- 
 gin of the Warner family in America, according to 
 tradition, was from four brothers who came from 
 England early in the history of the American Colo- 
 nies, and purchased a strip of land in Massachusetts 
 in and near Harvard, one mile wide and six miles 
 long. The father of Wilder W., being in the fourth 
 generation from the above mentioned brothers, own- 
 ed a portion of the land purchased by the original set- 
 tlers, which also remains in the family until this day. 
 By profession he was a physician, and practiced most 
 of his life in Middlesex Co., Mass., where he died in 
 1875. I" Worcester County, he was married to Miss 
 Mary A. Lawrence, a member of the old family of 
 Lawrences, which are well known in New England 
 history. She died on the 14th of July, 1845. 
 
 Our subject was the second of a family of six 
 children, the elder of whom was Quincy A., now de- 
 ceased ; the next, Rowena B., also deceased ; the 
 fourth, Susan G. ; the fifth, Sarah J. ; and the young- 
 est, Martha M., who is now deceased. Susan and 
 Sarah are married and are living in Massachusetts. 
 
 Wilder W. lived at home until he was 13 years of 
 age. He then began to work out for the purpose of 
 securing means whereby to educate himself. With 
 characteristic energy and economy he thus earned and 
 saved $700, which he paid out towards securing his 
 education. He completed his school days at Groton 
 Academy, New Ipswich Academy, and at the East 
 Hampton Institute. He was then ready to embark 
 upon the scenes of an active business career, and, 
 like thousands of others in the older and thickly 
 settled East, he turned his face Westward, where he 
 hoped to find better advantages than were offered at 
 his own home. Accordingly, in September, 1849, he 
 set out for the West. He secured a second-class pas- 
 sage to Chicago, and from there set out on foot for 
 the city of Rock Island. Possessing an excellent 
 education, as well as rare natural qualifications, he 
 was not long in securing a position as a teacher. For 
 some time he taught school, He subsequently 
 went to Andover, where he taught school for a time 
 and then went to Dixon for the purpose of entering 
 Government land, the land office being located at 
 that place. In this way he secured t6o acres on sec- 
 tion 17, Western Township, when he left the school- 
 room and turned his attention to agricultural pur- 
 suits. In this line he has been quite successful, and 
 now owns more than 400 acres of land here, besides 
 other land in the West. 
 
 A man possessing a good education is always a 
 valuable aid in a new country, and Mr. Warner's 
 services and the lareje information he possessed were 
 greatly demanded and often brought in requisition in 
 the early history of Henry County, as indeed they are 
 at present. He was elected Justice of the Peace 
 when 2 1 years of age, and performed the duties of 
 that office upwards of 25 years, during which time 
 he settled up without a lawsuit a majority of the 
 cases brought before him. He was also made Su- 
 pervisor in the early history of the township of 
 Western, and held that office when elected to repre- 
 sent the people of Henry and Rock Island Counties 
 in the 28th General Assembly. He filled this posi- 
 tion, as he has every other which has devolved upon 
 him, with marked ability and with excellent satisfac- 
 tion to the people of his district. Politically, he is 
 a stanch Republican, and an active member of that 
 organization, and one of the important factors in the 
 success of his party in his district. 
 
 Mr. Warner possesses many strong traits of char- 
 
 i 
 
 y 
 & 
 
 < 
 
 r o^ mmm>*<sr 
 
V 6zo 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
 acter, and a man of his qualities' naturally wields 
 large personal influence in moulding the affairs of 
 his community. In business life he has been quite 
 successful. He has scrupulously avoided the snag up- 
 on which so many otherwise excellent business men 
 are wrecked — that of going in debt. He has a pecu- 
 liar abhorrence of debt, and he never permits himself 
 to go in debt ; nor does he ever give his note. Another 
 underlying principle that seems to have guided him 
 away from the shoals of bankruptcy, is his aversion 
 to reckless speculation. He does not believe in get- 
 ting something for nothing, or in making the hazard- 
 ous attempt. 
 
 As one of the county's representative business 
 men, as well as one of its respected and honored pio- 
 neers, we place Mr. Warner's portrait in this volume. 
 It is engraved from a photograph recently taken. 
 
 H. Gaines, senior member of the mer- 
 cantile firm of Gaines & Hagin, at Cam- 
 bridge, was born Jan. 10, 1852, in the 
 township where he is at present in business. 
 He is the son of Sylvester Gaines. In the 
 spring of 1848 the latter came to Henry 
 County, accompanied by his brother, Nelson Gaines, 
 of whom a sketch appears on another page. They 
 settled in the township of Cambridge and began the 
 sale of merchandise. The county seat had been 
 transferred from Morristown to Cambridge, and the 
 affairs of that place seemed to take on added dignity 
 and to be in the condition meant by the phrase, " look- 
 ing up." 
 
 Mr. Gaines was reared in the town where he was 
 born to the age of seven years, when he went to Pike 
 County, where his father kept store one year. He 
 then returned to this county and went to Geneseo. 
 There he attended school, and he was also employed 
 in the store there and at Cleveland at a later period. 
 In 1871, after the fire, he went to Chicago and en- 
 tered the service of Field, Leiter & Co., with whom 
 he remained a year. He then returned to Cambridge 
 and embarked in the lumber business. He operated 
 in that line four years and was associated with a man 
 named Stewart. In 1878 he bought the interest of 
 F. C. Gould, who was in business with Mr. Hagin, 
 the present partner of Mr. Gaines, and the firm be- 
 came Gaines' & Hagin. They are engaged in the 
 
 sale of groceries and crockery, and are doing a pros- 
 perous business. In 1881 Mr. Gaines and the 
 gentleman with whom he is associated formed a part- 
 nership with W. H. Laws & Co., and went into the 
 drug business. Two years later the interest of Mr. 
 Laws was bought by the other members of the firm, 
 which then became Dan Hagin & Co. 
 
 Mr. Gaines is a Republican and has filled various 
 town offices. He is a member of the of I. O. O. F. 
 
 Oct. 3, 1876, he was married to Fannie B. Page, 
 of Menlo, Iowa. 
 
 g"aA**^: 
 
 If dam Lieberknecht. of Geneseo, is a prom- 
 f inent citizen in the city in which he resides, 
 a both from the fact that he is the proprietor 
 
 of one of its leading journals and that he is 
 untiring in his practical efforts to promote the 
 substantial interests of the place. He was born 
 in Germany, May 8, 1835, and is the son of John 
 and Christina Lieberknecht. 
 
 He was r7 when he exchanged his home in "Das 
 Faderland " for the chances of winning the rewards 
 of industry and integrity in the New World. He 
 reached the city of New York in 1852, and entered 
 a printing-office to acquire a practical understanding 
 of the "black art." He was occupied there three 
 years and in 1835 came to Rock Island, where he 
 operated in the manner common to the craft and 
 became a journeyman printer. In 1857 he came to 
 Geneseo and entered into an engagement in the 
 office of the paper of which he is the proprietor. He 
 officiated as foreman until i860, when he purchased 
 a half interest, and in 1878 he became sole proprie- 
 tor by buying the remainder of the property. 
 
 The Geneseo Republic was established in 1856, by 
 J. S. Hyatt, during the first Republican campaign, 
 and has been conducted in the interest of that or- 
 ganization ever since, with the exception of about 
 three years, when it was of no • decided connection 
 but was managed on an independent basis. Since 
 it became the property of its present owner the 
 journal has partaken of the character of its manager, 
 and has been outspoken and inflexible in its tone 
 and advocating the principles of the Republican 
 party. It is a nine-column folio and is issued weekly 
 with a nine-column supplement. 
 
 Since his removal to Geneseo, Mr. Lieberknecht 
 
 A 
 
 
 J^fyf^M^- 
 
 ±4M 
 
^JP 1 ? 
 
 
 TT 
 
 -«^; 
 
 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 621 
 
 t 
 
 fa 
 
 & 
 
 has been actively interested in the projects designed 
 to advance the permanent interests of the place. 
 He has served as Trustee of the township and has 
 been a member of the Geneseo Board of Education. 
 In the spring of 1885 he was made President of the 
 Board of Canal Commissioners. At the time of the 
 establishment of the Normal School at Geneseo, he 
 was one of the first to discover all it promised to a 
 town which should secure it, and he gave substantial 
 proof of the sincerity of his opinions by contributing 
 liberally to the end desired. "By their works ye 
 shall know them." 
 
 Mr. Lieberknecht was united in marriage to Caro- 
 line Kiefer in 1859, at Geneseo, and they had one 
 child, who is living. He is named Frank. The 
 mother died in the fall of 1864. In the fall of 1865, 
 Mr. Lieberknecht was married to RosinaRieger, and 
 they have tbree children, — William, Charles and 
 Emma. The mother was removed by death, in 
 January, 1874. The third marriage of the father, to 
 Priscilla Fehlman, took place in November, 1875, 
 and they are the parents of two children, — Amelia 
 and Leonora. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Lieberknecht are members of the 
 Evangelical Association in reiigious connection. 
 
 t 
 
 «Si 
 
 \/ 
 
 ) 
 
 ~w\. ■*<*£££/©£©'■ 
 
 i^*>§V2f30»v*'Wx/v 
 
 ^dwin Wallace Houghton. Among the 
 
 most enterprising as well as energetic 
 
 j^U^ business men of Galva, is the gentleman 
 
 whose name heads this sketch. The ancestors 
 
 of Mr. Houghton were of English extraction. 
 
 His grandfather, Luther Houghton, was a na- 
 tive of Windsor, Vt., and was a farmer by occupa- 
 tion and struggled for the liberty of the Colonists in 
 the War of the Revolution. He was married in the 
 Green Mountain State, to Miss Munn, and they re- 
 moved to the State of New York, where they con- 
 tinued to reside until their deaths. Their children 
 were five in number, — Loren, Leonard, Luther War- 
 ren, Eunice and Abigail. Luther Warren is the only 
 survivor. He was born in 1799, in Windsor, Vt., 
 but was reared on a farm in New York, whither his 
 parents had removed at an early day. He was mar- 
 ried in the latter State to Alzina Mason, who was 
 born in Oneida, that State, in 181 1. Both are yet 
 living, in Guthrie Co., Iowa. They became the par- 
 
 ents of 1 1 children, seven of whom yet survive, viz. : 
 Caroline, Edwin W. (subject of this sketch), Cor- 
 delia, Alvira, Charles, Wesley and Addie. Of the 
 deceased, Selden was the only one who reached ma- 
 turity. The parents moved West during the late 
 Civil War, and settled in Guthrie County, where 
 they are yet living. 
 
 Edwin Wallace Houghton was educated in his 
 native State. He was reared on a farm, and at the 
 age of 22 years had mastered the carpenter's trade, 
 which he followed for nearly two years, and then 
 engaged in the lumber and hardware business at 
 Wyanet, Bureau County, this State. After continu- 
 ing in the business 15 years, and meeting with finan- 
 cial success, he came to this county, where he 
 engaged in the same business three years. In De- 
 cember, 1882, he came to Galva, and there conducts 
 a large business, under the name of Houghton & 
 Co. He has also branch stores at Altona, Bradford 
 and Buda. Their lumber and supplies are received 
 direct from the pineries, and they are specially pre- 
 pared to fill all orders of contractors and builders, 
 and constantly invite inspection of their prices. Be- 
 sides assuming the general management of all the 
 yards, he is also a director of the Galva Gas Works. 
 
 Mr. Houghton was married in his native county 
 in New York, in December, i860, to Miss Adeline 
 Bean, a native of that State, where she was born in 
 1835. The names of their children are: Hattie, 
 Orren, Shelden, Warren Orrison, Edwin, Jr., and 
 Blanche Estelle. Religiously, Mr. and Mrs. Hough- 
 ton, together with their eldest daughter, Hattie, are 
 active members of the Congregational Church. So- 
 cially, Mr. H. is a member of the A. F. & A. M. 
 The success of his life is due to his own indomitable 
 energy, good judgment and perseverance. 
 
 I 
 
 *»!• 
 
 M. H. Hunter is a prosperous farmer of the 
 f township of Man son. He was born in the 
 county of Muskingum, Ohio, Dec. 5, 1847. 
 His parents, William and Margaret (Dugan) 
 Hunter, were born in Ireland, and came in 
 childhood to America. They were members of 
 families in the north of Ireland, and were Presby- 
 terians. They sprung from ancestry who went from 
 Scotland to Ireland to escape the persecutions of 
 
 4r^ 3*$$»l>e «4^^ 
 
 
 
•&&K 6V4>BH@fl Df>^ ?*&*r 
 
 622 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 X 
 
 & 
 
 V 
 
 b 
 
 the Scottish " kirk." They were married in Ohio, 
 and lived in Muskingum County until 1856, when a 
 removal was made to Illinois, and they settled in 
 Peoria County, where they remained three years. In 
 the fall of 1858 the father came to Henry County, 
 and located a tract of land which contained 120 
 acres. It was situated on section 25, of township 
 16, which is now called Munson. In the spring of 
 the next year — T859 — the father removed his family 
 to the new farm, and they took possession of a 
 small frame house that had been erected on the 
 place. There was also a straw-covered stable, and 
 these were all the buildings on the place. The 
 father and his sons devoted their attention and en- 
 ergies to the improvement of the home. The elder 
 Hunter was a man of industrious habits and good 
 judgment, and the farm was soon under excellent 
 cultivation. Good buildings were also erected, and 
 other changes made, which improved the appearance 
 of the place and added to its value. The death of 
 the father occurred in 1874, when he was 74 years 
 of age. The mother died in December, 1884. 
 
 The son, who is the subject of this sketch, was 
 less than ten years of age when his parents came to 
 Munson Township. He passed the remaining por- 
 tion of his minority in the town where he is now a 
 citizen, and was there educated in the public schools. 
 He was a member of the family of his parents as 
 long as the lived, and at the death of his father he 
 assumed charge of the homestead. 
 
 In 1875 he was married to Miss Maggie J. Fergu- 
 son, and they have two children, — Willie F. and 
 Carrie B. 
 
 Mrs. Hunter is the daughter of George and Ann 
 (Hall) Ferguson, who were pioneers of the township 
 of Cornwall. 
 
 1 iram T. Lay, head of the firm of Lay & 
 Lyman, the largest and most complete 
 mercantile establishment in Kewanee, 111., 
 fed was born at Kenosha, Wis., Jan. 16, 1839. His 
 parents, Nelson and Maryette (Towsley) Lay, 
 were born respectively in the States of Con- 
 necticut and New York. (See biography of Nelson 
 Lay, this volume.) 
 
 Hiram T. Lay was educated at the common 
 
 ^^ — g7^nn®nn& \c) ^ c^ 
 
 schools of Kenosha, Wis., and was 16 years of age 
 when he came to Kewanee. Here he entered the 
 mercantile establishment of his father as clerk, and 
 from that time to the present he has continued in 
 the business. His clerical experience was with Nel- ( 
 son Lay (his father), Lay & Tenney, Tenney & 
 Howard, Tenney, Hardy & Co., Little, Perkins & 
 Co., assignee of Little, Perkins & Co., assignee of C. 
 N. Cutter, Lay & Mclntyre, and Parker & Galloway. 
 The SDring of i860 found him trying his hand at 
 mining in Colorado, with what success does not ■ 
 appear. Any way, he was there but a few months, < 
 when he returned to Kewanee and with his father 
 engaged for a few months in the grain business. He ; 
 was variously engaged during the succeeding three 
 years, and in the spring of 1864 entered the service 
 of the United States as First Lieutenant of Co. H, 
 134th 111. Vol. Inf., and served to the expiration of 
 his term. 
 
 Returning from the army to Kewanee, Mr. Lay 
 again entered the employment of Mr. H. C. Parker, 
 and in January, 1865, accepted a clerkship in J. R. j 
 Payson's general insurance agency, Chicago, where 1 
 he remained for one month. In February, of 1865, j 
 he returned to Kewanee, entering" the employ of J 
 Elias Lyman, March^ 1867, becoming a partner in » 
 his business. W. H. Lyman became a member of ' 
 the firm of Lyman, Lay & Lyman in 1874, and in I 
 1883 the senior member retired, and the present firm 
 was created. This firm is the outgrowth of the pio- 
 neer dry-goods house of Willard & Morse, who were 
 succeeded by Parish & Faulkner, they by Willard & 
 Lyman, they by Lyman & Trask, they in turn by 
 Elias Lyman, and he by Lyman & Lay and Lyman, ] 
 Lay & Lyman, and they, on May 29, 1883, by the \ 
 present firm of Lay & Lyman. The business history j 
 of this house from the beginning has been highly 
 creditable to its various owners, and under the 
 management of none has it been more so than under 
 the gentleman now at its head. Mr. Lay was one 
 of the organizers of the First National Bank of Ke- 
 wanee, and was one of its Directors for two years. , 
 He also helped to organize the Union National 
 Bank, and is now a stockholder 
 
 He is no office-seeker, though somewhat interested 
 in the success of the Republican party at all times. 
 The only organization he is identified with, asjde 
 from the Congregational Church, is the G. A. R. 
 November, 1861, he was married at Maiden, Bureau 
 
$<§iX#» J ' 
 
 @/ 
 
 E3 
 
 1=3 
 
 =3 
 753 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 -+*%mx%® 
 
 01 
 
 623 
 
 Go., 111., to Miss Martha Morrill, the accomplished 
 daughter of Asa Morrill, a native of Vermont and a 
 cousin of the distinguished Senator of that name. 
 Mr. Lay's children are Carliss W., now a farmer in 
 this county; Maryette, Frank M., Louie E. and 
 Henry H. 
 
 
 fj'eter E. Walline, a merchant of Cambridge, 
 was born Jan. 7, 1850, in Nora, Upland, 
 
 JEp^ Sweden. He is the son of Olaf E. and 
 EbD Brigitta (Peterson) Walline, who were natives 
 ■WS* of the same place in the old country. They 
 
 ^ came to America in 1868, and located at once 
 on their arrival in this land, in Henry County. They 
 made their settlement at Bishop Hill, and are now 
 living in the township of Andover. Mrs. Margaret 
 Olenius, Eric (deceased), Olaf and Peter E. are the 
 the names of all the children of which they became 
 the parents. 
 
 In the spring of 1867, Mr. Walline came to the 
 United States and settled in Altona, Knox Co., 111. 
 He was there employed a short time as a clerk, and 
 ■on coming to Henry County bought a tract of land 
 situated south of the village of Cambridge. It con- 
 tained 80 acres, and not long after he added a sim- 
 ilar amount and found himself the independent 
 possessor of 160 acres of land in good farming con- 
 dition. He is still the proprietor of the tract which 
 made him a land-holder under the laws of a Repub- 
 lic. In 1875 he came to Cambridge and passed a 
 short time in the capacity of a clerk in a mercantile 
 establishment, but soon returned to look after the 
 interests of his farm. In 1880 he bought an inter- 
 est in the mercantile concern of J. Mascall, Dimick 
 & Co., the firm style becoming J. Mascall, Dimick 
 & Walline. Two years later Mr. Dimick retired, 
 and Mr. C. F. Wennerstrum was admitted in his 
 place. The establishment is one of the most popu- 
 lar and extensive in the place where it is located, 
 and the assortment of goods kept in stock is such as 
 to meet the demands of the local trade. In addition 
 to his business and other relations in Henry County, 
 Mr. Walline is part owner of 640 acres of land in 
 Minnesota. 
 
 He is what would be termed a self-educated man. 
 When he came to America and set himself up in 
 
 business he was comparatively without means or 
 influence. His cash capital on opening relations in 
 Henry County amounted to but $2.50. In political 
 connection he is not identified with either the Demo- 
 cratic or Republican party, but has adopted the 
 principles of the Prohibitionists. He is a member 
 of the Order of Good Templars. 
 
 Mrs. Jennie S. Walline is the daughter of James 
 Mascall, Esq., of Cambridge. She is a native of 
 the county where she is a resident, and was born 
 June 27, 1853. Her marriage to Mi. Walline took 
 place Nov. 17, 1874. To her and her husband four 
 children have been born, in the following order: 
 Emily I., Oct. 1, 1877; Austin, Oct. 31, 1884; Lu- 
 ella, deceased, and an infant. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Walline are members of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church. 
 
 •3*£^C- 
 
 obert Linton, retired farmer and mechanic, 
 resident at Kewanee, 111., was born in 
 County Down, Ireland, April 1, 1803, and 
 came to America in 1827. For 19 years he 
 resided in the city of Philadelphia, worked 
 six years at his trade of carpenter and 
 joiner and served on the police force for 13 consecu- 
 tive years. In 1846 he left the police force of his 
 own volition, and removed to Lancaster, Pa., where 
 he was engaged in farming and boating for about 
 eight years. In 1854 he came West and lived at 
 Cornwall, Henry Co., 111., about 1 1 years, remov- 
 ing thence to Kewanee, where he has since lived, 
 having retired from active business in 1869. He re- 
 ceived a common-school education in Ireland, where 
 he was brought up to the trade of carpenter and 
 in the faith of the Episcopal Church. At this writ- 
 ing, however, and for many years past, he has 
 been a consistent member of the Primitive Methodist 
 Church. 
 
 The day he was 24 years of age, and just before 
 leaving the Green Isle, he was married to Jane Orr, 
 who accompanied him to the New World and lived 
 with him, sharing alike his joys and sorrows for 
 about 30 years. She died at Cornwall in 1857, leav- 
 ing three children: Mary Jane (Mrs. Ackman, de- 
 ceased), Samuel, a resident of Black River Falls, 
 Wis., and Margaret Ann (Mrs. Morrow). In 1862, 
 at Wethersfield, Henry County, Mr. Linton was mar- 
 
 
 
 ( 
 
 fa 
 
v, 624 
 
 rJ& K 0\ &D RS&ll Df-> s/ r 6 — ?&^^- 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 <* 
 
 r 
 
 
 
 £ 
 
 
 
 ried to Sarah Martin, a native of County Down, Ire- 
 land, who died at Kewanee, Feb. 17, i8'8r, leaving 
 one child, — Sarah Jane, now living at home with her 
 father. 
 
 Mr. Lintonn landed in America, as have thou- 
 sands of his countrymen, possessed of naught but 
 strong hands and a willing and honest heart. For 
 more than 50 years, aided by a prudent, industrious 
 and Christian wife, he fought life's battles, aye, from 
 year to year, from manhood to middle age and still on 
 through the declining years, until by the immutable 
 laws of God the seasons of more than three-fourths 
 of a century have bleached his once raven locks to 
 the whiteness of snow, Robert Linton has practiced 
 lessons of honest toil. In a little box house at the 
 rear of his comfortable residence, even at this writ- 
 ing, the octogenarian may be found turning the old 
 style lathe with a treadle, and forging from the sea- 
 soned wood some little article of usefulness for the 
 household. His long, white hair floats back from his 
 forehead and his kindly face clearly shaven greets 
 you with a smile. His hand is steady and his eyes 
 are yet bright, but, unlike the pages of a book that 
 tells briefly the outlines of his simple life, he will not 
 live always in this world, but by the great wisdom of 
 the Creator, his earthly career will be closed by his 
 usefulness, and the spirit which never grows old 
 shall fly away to join those he loves in life so much 
 and whose memory in death was ever so dear. 
 
 -c^3- 
 
 -8>-°- 
 
 eter G. Johnson, a farmer in the township 
 I j ; of Munson, is a self-made man in every 
 |l K£?-^ sense, and also an independent thinker. 
 §^J He was born in Smolen, Sweden, Feb. 28, 
 1838, and is the son of John and Anna John- 
 son. His parents were poor and could give 
 him but few advantages. His own mother died 
 when he was two years old, and he was soon pro- 
 vided with a stepmother by his father's second mar- 
 riage. He was under home care until he was eight 
 years of age, and he then went to live with his grand- 
 mother on his mother's side, and was brought up by 
 her. He was put to work as soon as he was large 
 enough to earn anything, and the pay he received 
 for the labor of a year would amount only to a dollar 
 in the currency of the United States. As he grew 
 
 older and stronger he was able to earn more, and 
 when he was 15 he received for the service of a year 
 $3 in money, a suit of linen clothes and two shirts. 
 
 In 1866 he came to America. He landed at New 
 York after a voyage of a month's duration. Imme- 
 diately after reaching the shores of this country he 
 came to Geneseo. Instead of having money to help 
 himself with in a strange land, he was in debt $20, 
 and as he wished to present a tidy appearance, he 
 borrowed $io more to purchase some clothes. He 
 found no trouble in obtaining employment as a farm 
 assistant, and he worked for his first employer, Bruce 
 Paul, one year. He then thought that he could 
 operate profitably on his own account, and he rented 
 land, wnich he continued to manage until 1876. In 
 that year he bought the farm which he now owns 
 and which is situated in section 3. The place con- 
 tains 160 acres, which is all under improvement. It 
 is all enclosed and supplied with good and suitable 
 buildings. The vicinity of the residence is beautified 
 with trees that have been set out by the proprietor. 
 
 Mr. Johnson and Miss Caroline Linquist were 
 united in marriage Dec. 26, 1869. Mrs Johnson is 
 a native of Sweden. Their children are named Delia 
 C, Jennie A., Jessie and Florence O. 
 
 ^SHJH*^ 
 
 |,lijari T. Cowl, retired farmer living at Ke- 
 wanee, was born in Sullivan County, State 
 of New York, at a place now called Wertz- 
 
 burg, Nov. 21, 1808. His parents, William and 
 Lydia (Perry) Cowl, natives of Cape Cod and 
 the county of Putnam respectively, reared five 
 sons and three daughters, Elijah T. being the third 
 in the order of birth. The senior Mr. Cowl was a 
 tanner and currier by trade, and the subject of this 
 sketch alternated his labors, before arriving at his 
 majority, between those of farming and the trade of 
 his father. The family removed from Sullivan to 
 Putnam County in 1817, and there the two old peo- 
 ple spent the remainder of their lives, Mr. Cowl dying 
 in 1853, at the age of 72 years, and Mrs. C. four 
 years later, at the age of 70 years. 
 
 Elijah T. Cowl remained with his parents until he 
 was about 25 years of age, at which time he set up 
 for himself. In 1 849 he left Putnam County and 
 removed to the State of Connecticut, where he fol- 
 lowed farming about five years. In 1854 he came 
 
 ■^a^oot&a^ — ^^^ 
 
ggifS- 
 
 -?t& ^ ^ QWMtoW^r 
 
 
 •$@J§J(@\4' 
 
 m 
 
 ^m 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 625 
 
 ) 
 
 
 into Henry County and purchased a farm in Wethers- 
 field Township, from which he removed into Burns 
 Township three years later. At the last named 
 place he resided until 1833, when he retired from 
 manual labor and took up his abode in the village of 
 Kewanee. 
 
 In December, 1834, in the county of Putnam, in 
 his native State, Mr. Cowl married Miss Caroline 
 Hinman, and their union, always a happy one, was 
 blessed with two children — Mary, the estimable and 
 amiable wife of Mr. Ira Parker, a farmer of Burns 
 Township, Henry Co., 111., and Lydia A., the hand- 
 some and accomplished Mrs. Charles Burti , whose 
 husband is a wealthy stock dealer and ranch owner 
 of Kansas. 
 
 Originally, Mr. C. was a Whig, but upon the de- 
 mise of that party, like a large majority of is whilom 
 adherents, he became a Republican, to which party 
 his loyalty is unimpeachable. In the battle of life 
 he began as he continued, relying upon his own re- 
 sources. The legacy left to him was that of a strong 
 physique, an iron constitution and a well balanced 
 head. He has been the recipient of no gifts, no 
 gratuities. Aided only by the good woman who 
 early in life allied her fortune with his, he has, to use 
 • a homely phrase, " paddled his own canoe; " and the 
 story of his many trials, of his struggles, of his de- 
 feats, disappointments and ultimate successes can 
 not be told in his history ; for it, like the life of a sol- 
 dier in Sherman's grand march from Atlanta to the 
 sea, is but the recital of an individual experience, a 
 common factor in the mighty army of hardy pioneers 
 who preceded civilization as it were, and by their 
 daring and endurance made life in the newer States 
 not only possible but in thousands of cases luxurious. 
 
 harles J. Hofland, Treasurer of Henry 
 County, is a citizen of the United States 
 by adoption. He is the oldest child of 
 G. P. and Anna B. Hofland, and was born 
 Oct. n, 1834, in Djurrdala Parish, Province 
 of Kalmar, Sweden. He came to America 
 with his parents in the year 1850, who came at once 
 to Illinois and settled in Western Township, Henry 
 County, where the parents are now living. Mr. H. 
 is the oldest of nine children born to his parents, 
 seven of whom are now living. 
 
 Mr. Hofland, of this sketch, has followed the pur- 
 suit of farming since his advent into the country ex- 
 cept for five years, from 185 1 to 1856, which he spent 
 in the lumber business in Wisconsin. He returned 
 to Illinois and was on New Year's day, 1859, married 
 to Miss Ch'istine Anderson, of Andover. She was 
 born in Sweden, Feb. n, 1841, and came to this 
 country in 1852. Mr. and Mrs. Hofland have had 
 five children, born in the following order: Edmond 
 (deceased), Julia, Charlie E., Almeda C. and Oli- 
 ver E. 
 
 In 1865 Mr. Hofland bought a farm in Osco 
 Township, and is now the owner of ..294 acres of 
 choice land as his homestead. He was elected 
 Treasurer of Henry County in the fall of 1882. This 
 position he is now occupying with credit to himself 
 and with satisfaction to the people of the county. 
 Botli himself and wife are members of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church. Politically, he is a staunch Re- 
 publican. 
 
 % 
 
 <*> 
 
 f)$«§Kf» 
 
 9^Q 
 
 a Tgi tarks N. Barker, merchant at Annawan, is 
 a native of the State of New York. He was 
 (jS born Jan. 1, 1835, in Oswego County, in 
 the town of Albion. He was reared in the place 
 of his nativity and remained with his parents 
 until he was 23 years old. He was engaged 
 on the farm and worked in the blacksmith shop of 
 his father. The last four winters that he remained 
 in his native State he was engaged in teaching, and 
 after he came to Illinois he was similarly employed 
 through one winter season. He was married Jan. 1, 
 1862, to Helen J. Hartley. She was born Nov. 27, 
 1840, in Bureau County; has three children living, 
 born as follows : Frank S., Dec. 5, 1864; Duke F., 
 March 17, 1868; Sadie A., Aug. 9, 1875. The father 
 of Mrs. Barker, James B. Hartley, was born in Penn- 
 sylvania, Dec. 25, 1818. He married Sarah Fritchey 
 in 1839. She was born April 17,1819. They had 
 13 children, named Mathias.F., Helen J., Lois S., 
 Maria L., Robert M., John H, Ida B., Charles W., 
 Augusta J., Emma J., Jessie F., Harry and Mary. 
 They are all living. 
 
 Mr. Barker is the son of Ebenezer Barker, who 
 was a native of Bridgewater, N. Y., and was born 
 Nov. 17, 1800. He was married to Clarissa M. Starks, 
 
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 §*!£*(<$ 
 
 626 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 I 
 
 June 22, 1823. She was a native of Massachusetts, 
 where she was born March 12, 1805. They had 13 
 children, of whom Mr. Barker, of, this sketch is the 
 oldest son. Polly B. was born May 25, 1824; Clar- 
 issa M., Sept. 25, 1825; Susan, Aug. 21, 1827; 
 Mary A., Feb. 7, 1829; Electa J., Jan. 31, 1830; 
 Eliza C, July 22, 1832; Sarah A., May 2, 1837; 
 John, March 29, 1839 ; Harriet A., Jan. n, 1842; 
 Francis M., Jan. 21, 1844; G. Scott, Oct. 30, 1846; 
 William L., Sept. 14, 1850. The father was a black- 
 smith by trade, as was his father and grandfather be- 
 fore him. The mother died Sept. 15, 1879. The 
 death of the father took place Jan. 2, 1881. 
 
 Li 1859 Mr. Barker came to the village of Anna- 
 wan and established himself in the business of a 
 blacksmith, in which he was engaged until he de- 
 cided to change his calling for that in which he has 
 since operated. Feb. 14, 1866, he purchased a stock 
 of general merchandise and has since been engaged 
 in the management of a successful and prosperous 
 trade. He has been prominent in the discharge of 
 the duties to which he has been called in the public 
 interest and has served two years as Justice of the 
 Peace. He has officiated as School Treasurer ten 
 years. He is connected in membership with the 
 Order of Masonry and belongs to Annawan Lodge, 
 No. 433. He has held and is still holding official 
 positions in the organization. He is a Republican 
 in political connection. 
 
 fames E. Breckenridge, residing at Galva, 
 
 r was born July 7, 1834, in Bourbon Co., 
 
 Ky., and is a son of Oliver H. P. and 
 
 Nancy (Ellis) Breckenridge. The Brecken- 
 
 ridge family came from Scotland to America in 
 an early day, and settled in Virginia. The 
 grandfather of James E. (John Breckenridge) moved 
 to Bourbon Co., Ky., when he was a young man, and 
 there followed the occupation of a farmer. He was 
 married twice, his first wife being Miss M. Duncan, a 
 native of Kentucky, and a sister of Governor Joseph 
 Duncan, of this State, and was the mother of Oliver 
 H. P. Breckenridge, who was the father of the sub- 
 ject of this notice. His mother died when he was 
 six weeks old, and his father was a second time mar- 
 
 S£\ 
 
 ried, to Nancy Brooks, also a native of Kentucky 
 
 She is yet living near Paris, that State, and "is the 
 mother of eight children, five boys and three girls. 
 Her husband died in Kentucky in 1853, aged 81 
 years. He was a farmer by occupation. The father 
 of our subject removed to Schuyler County, this 
 State, in 1852, where he resided until the following 
 year, when he returned to Kentucky on a visit, and 
 theredied,in 1853, at the age of 51 years. He married 
 Nancy Ellis in Bourbon County, who is yet living in 
 Plattsburg, Mo., aged 7 1 years. She bore him eight 
 children, namely : James E., subject of this notice ; 
 Mary J., Susan, Sarah Ann, John B., and three who 
 died in infancy. 
 
 James E., whose name heads this sketch, attended 
 school in a log school-house in Kentucky, about three 
 months in the year, until he attained the age of 16 
 years, devoting his other time to assisting his father 
 on the farm. Arriving at the age mentioned, he en- 
 gaged in farming, in which vocation he continued in 
 Kentucky until he came to this State with his father, 
 who located in Schuyler County, and there continued 
 his former occupation. In September, 1861, James 
 E. enlisted in Co. E, 7th Mo. Cav., and remained in 
 the army until 1862. At the expiration of his time 
 of enlistment he came back to this State and engaged 
 in railroading on the Wabash Railroad, at Denver, c 
 this State, and on the Keokuk & Clayton Branch, as 
 a section hand. Soon afterward he was promoted to 
 the position of section foreman, but quit the road and 
 engaged to work for the Rockford, Rock Island & St. 
 Louis, now the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Rail- 
 road, where he took charge of a construction train, 
 and was conductor of thesame for six months. Hewas 
 then promoted to the office of Road Master, and held 
 that position about one year, when he resigned and 
 engaged as a freight conductor for the same road. 
 He was conductor on a freight train for about nine 
 months, then passenger conductor, and was again 
 made Road Master. Dec. 1, 1865, when the road 
 changed hands, Mr. Breckenridge one evening re- 
 signed his position, and the next morning he took a 
 similar position on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pa- 
 cific Railroad, which he held until May, 1877, when 
 he was transferred to the Rock Island & Peoria Rail- 
 road, under the same management, and which posi- 
 tion he has continued to hold until the present time. 
 He has resided in Galva since 1878, having lived in 
 Rock Island and Cambridge previous to that time. 
 Mr. Breckenridge was married Dec. 31, 1857, in 
 
 ^5 
 
 
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 HENR Y CO UNT Y. 
 
 4^5^ 
 
 627 
 
 Augusta, Hancock County, this State, to Mary A. 
 Pitney, daughter of Samuel Pitney, and a native of 
 Ohio. She has become the mother of four children : 
 Julius, Susan E., Nannie and Ransom C, an infant 
 son, deceased. Socially, Mr. Breckenridge is a mem- 
 ber of the A. F. & A. M., and is one of the popular 
 railroad men of this section of the country. 
 
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 TT 
 
 £*- 
 
 ion. Nelson Lay, of Kewanee, is a native of 
 Saybrook, Conn., second son of Jeremiah 
 and Sallie (Ingham) Lay, and was born Jan. 
 20, 1812. From Saybrook the family removed 
 to Madison Co., N. Y., in 1824, and there re- 
 sided up to 1846, when they removed to Keno- 
 sha, Wis., whither the subject of this sketch had 
 preceded them by it years. 
 
 Mr. Lay's education was limited to such as could 
 be acquired at the common schools of New York 
 State, but this appears to have been sufficient to en- 
 able him to conduct successfully the various business 
 enterprises in which he subsequently engaged. At 
 Oneida Lake, N. YT, he served an apprenticeship as 
 a carpenter and joiner, and devoted his time to that 
 trade until about 28 years of age. At Kenosha, 
 Wis., to which place he emigrated in 1835, he was in 
 mercantile business from 1842 to 1853, and suc- 
 ceeded thereat in accumulating a considerable sum 
 of money. Early in 1854 he removed from Wiscon- 
 sin to Henry Co., 111., and was at the village of 
 Wethersfield when the Chicago, Builington & Qtiincy 
 Railroad was completed through to Galesburg. His 
 shrewd business" knowledge taught him that Wethers- 
 field as a town had fulfilled its mission, and that 
 business would find its headquarters for this neigh- 
 borhood thenceforth at the railroad station. So, as- 
 sociated with Messrs. Howard, Little and Tenney, a 
 quarter-section of land was purchased adjacent the 
 railway, and the town of Kewanee laid out. His 
 first business in the new town was that of merchant, 
 an enterprise he abandoned before the end of the 
 first year. He handled lumber about three years, 
 and in the meantime became pretty extensively in- 
 terested in Western lands, the traffic in which soon 
 grew to such proportions as to require his whole at- 
 tention. In 1859 he again embarked in mercantile 
 business, and the same year organized the Kewanee 
 
 Bank, — a short-lived enterprise which disappeared 
 from the financial world along with many similar in- 
 stitutions just before the war. 
 
 In 1863 he was elected on the Republican ticket 
 to the Illinois House of Representatives, and for two 
 years tried his hand at law-making; and in 1865 re- 
 moved to Chicago, where for 18 years he was a suc- 
 cessful grain and commission merchant. Having 
 by industry and untiring application to business ac- 
 cumulated a handsome competency, he returned to 
 Kewanee in 1883 and retired to private life, with the 
 commendable intention of spending the rest of his 
 days in a peaceful forgetfulness of the trials and 
 troubles of the business world. 
 
 Mr. Lay was married at Kenosha, Wis., May 29, 
 1 836, to Miss Maryette Towsley, a native of the State 
 of New York, and of the eight children born to them 
 we have the following memoranda : Hiram T., a 
 merchant of the firm of Lay & Lyman, Kewanee; 
 Fannie L. (Mrs. W. A. Pierce, of Chicago) ; Mary 
 Jane, deceased, was the wife of Rev. C. A. Towle, 
 of the Congregational Church; Nellie (Mrs. N. W. 
 Watson, of Chicago) ; Charles N. died in infancy ; 
 Charles C, now a resident of Chicago: Edward F. 
 died when about 20 months old, and Richard E., a 
 resident of Chicago. 
 
 Both Mr. and Mrs. Lay are consistent members of 
 the Congregational Church. 
 
 * -&^-4 
 
 ohn Armstrong. One of the best im- 
 proved farms of Henry County is owned 
 ,07V 1 -"? and cultivated by the gentleman whose 
 name heads this sketch. His fine residence is 
 located on section 14, of Wethersfield Town- 
 ship, where he owns 480 acres of land, all of 
 which is tillable. He has recently erected a fine 
 residence, which is large and commodious and sec- 
 ond to none in the county. Fine and well-stocked 
 out-buildings are liberally provided for his stock. 
 He keeps about 100 head of cattle, 16 horses, and 
 usually fattens about 150 hogs annually. Mr. Arm- 
 strong is recognized as one of the leading and most 
 prosperous farmers in Henry County. He is a highly 
 respected citizen and an earnest worker for the best 
 interests of the township. Politically, he is a Repub- 
 lican, but in temperance principles a Prohibitionist. 
 
 
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 628 
 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 Together with his wife, he belongs to the American 
 Presbyterian Church. He has served his community 
 as School Director for many years, and takes a deep 
 interest in educational matters. 
 
 John Armstrong is a son of James and Sibella 
 (Elliott) Armstrong, natives of Scotland. They came 
 to America in 1855, and located in Stark Co., 111., 
 where they spent the remainder of their lives. John 
 was the sixth child of a family of about eight chil- 
 dren, was born in Scotland, Aug. 6, 1838, and was 
 therefore only 16 when his parents came across the 
 ocean. He received his education in Scotland, and 
 has always been engaged in agricultural pursuits. 
 After living in Stark County for ten years he came 
 over into Henry County, and located in Wethersfield 
 Township. 
 
 He was married in Bureau Co., 111., Jan. 31, 1865, 
 to Jane, daughter of John and Jane (Hume) Rule. 
 This lady was also of Scottish birth and ancestry, 
 and the second of a family of ten children. She was 
 born Sept. 24, 1844, and came to America with her 
 parents in 1853. The names of Mr. and Mrs. Arm- 
 strong's seven children are: Jane, James E., John 
 A., Robert, George A., Sibella and Kate E. 
 
 oshua Cole, a well-to-do and respected 
 farmer of Wethersfield Township, where 
 he resides on section 14, h a son of Eze- 
 kiel and Maria (Smith) Cole, both natives of 
 Ohio. They came to Henry County in the 
 fall of 1850, and settled in Wethersfield Town- 
 ship, where the father died the following year, Octo- 
 ber, 185 1 ; the mother still survives. Their family 
 consisted of eight children, of whom Joshua was the 
 eldest, having been born in Harrison Co., Ohio, Oct. 
 29, 1837. 
 
 He (Joshua) received the training of the common 
 schools of his district, came into Henry County, this 
 State, in the spring of 1851, and began immediately 
 in the occupation of an agriculturist. He has 330 
 acres of valuable land, on which he entered vigor- 
 ously and energetically into the the task of its culti- 
 vation and improvement, and has made this his 
 home, residing here ever since. 
 
 Mr. Cole was united in the holy bonds of matri- 
 mony in Wethersfield Township, on the 6th of Feb- 
 
 ruary, 1859, to Miss Susan Hoppock, a native of New 
 Jersey, and daughter of John and Margaret (Hackett) 
 Hoppock. Mr. and Mrs. Cole have had their home 
 circle blessed by the birth of eight children, as fol- 
 lows : Mary C, Joseph T., Elton G., Martha M., 
 William H., Wesley E., Otis R. and Earnest 0. Mr. 
 Cole has served his township as School Director for 
 five years, and, religiously, is a member of the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church. In politics, he affiliates 
 with the Republican party. 
 
 -£3- 
 
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 ohn Seott, Sr., retired farmer residing at 
 t Kewanee, Henry Co., 111., was born at 
 ''' Banff, Scotland, May 10, 1810, removed to 
 England in 1832, and from there to America 
 in 1844. His parents, Alexander and Chris- 
 tina (Campbell) Scott, natives of Scotland, 
 reared three sons and two daughters, John being the 
 eldest but one. The senior Mr. Scott was a shoe- 
 maker by trade, and died when the subject of this 
 sketch was but five years of age, leaving the family 
 in limited circumstances. He was a worthy brother 
 Mason, however, and that most benevolent of all 
 orders paid to the use of his widow and children an- 
 nually the sum of 40 pounds as long as they remained 
 in need of it. 
 
 John was educated to a limited extent at the com- 
 mon schools of his native place, and while yet young 
 learned the trade of blacksmith, at which he worked 
 several years. For five years after coming to this 
 country he was the only blacksmith in the neighbor- 
 hood of his premises. His first home in Henry 
 County was in Kewanee Township, whither he re- 
 moved in 1845, and it consisted of a small log cabin 
 on the road leading from Peru to Rock Island. For 
 many years he did his milling at the latter place, a 
 distance of 40 miles from his cabin. Upon his farm, 
 consisting first of a 160- acre tract, increased after- 
 ward to 460 acres, lies probably 200 acres of fine 
 bituminous coal. Some seven years before coal was 
 discovered in his neighborhood, he dreamed of find- 
 ing large quantities of the article at a certain point 
 on his land ; so, when the prospector put in an ap- 
 pearance, Mr. S. took him at once to a spot remem- 
 bered since his dream, and there the expert soon 
 disclosed to view a rich and paying vein of the only 
 
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 I 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 629 
 
 thing thought to be lacking in the greatest agricultu- 
 ral country on earth. Mr. Scott rented out his farm 
 in 1883 and removed to the town of Kewanee, where 
 he proposes spending the rest of his life in a well 
 earned peace and freedom from the toils and cares 
 of every business. 
 
 While in England, in the county of Surrey, Mr. 
 Scott was married, when about 22 years of age, to 
 Miss Mercy Paice, who was born in Surrey, April 15, 
 1812. Of the six children born to Mr. and Mrs. 
 Scott, three sons accompanied them from England, 
 and the following brief history tells aH the writer 
 knows of the offspring : Isabella J. was the wife of 
 Stephen Brown, and died Jan. 15, T867, leaving the 
 child to which she gave her life. The child was 
 named for its mother, and is now the wife of Charles 
 J. Bridges, of Kewanee. The first-born was named 
 William, now a successful farmer and stock-broker 
 of Kansas ; Alexander is a farmer in Kewanee Town- 
 ship, and John is a dealer in agricultural implements. 
 A daughter, Jane, died in England, and Mary Ann 
 in Henry County, Sept. 14, 1852. 
 
 a Politically, Mr. Scott is a Democrat, and religiously 
 
 $5 is a Presbyterian. 
 
 arrett Brown, engaged as a farmer on sec- 
 tion 5, Wethersfield Township, was born 
 in Bucks Co., Pa, Aug. 23, 1833. His 
 parents, James and Lutitia (Holland) Brown, 
 were also natives of the Keystone State, and 
 passed all their lives there. They had eight 
 children. 
 
 Mr. Garrett Brown, the seventh in order of birth 
 in the above family, was three years of age when his 
 father died, and he was then taken by an uncle, 
 with whom he lived until he was 1 6 years old. He 
 then worked out by the month until 1855, in the 
 spring of which year he came to this county, locating 
 in Wethersfield Township, where he has since resided. 
 He is the owner of 128 acres of land, most of which 
 is cultivated. Mr. Brown is an exemplary citizen 
 and farmer, and has served the public in the capac- 
 ity of School Director and School Trustee. His 
 political views are in keeping witli the principles of 
 the Republican party, and both himself and Mrs. B. 
 are members of the Baptist Church. 
 
 He was married in Montgomery Co., Pa., March 
 
 T 3> 1855, to Miss Ellen, daughter of Thomas and 
 (Ellen) Wright Taylor, who were natives also of the 
 Keystone State. Mr. Taylor died in Philadelphia, 
 Pa., July 10, 1856, and Mrs. Taylor died in Wethers- 
 field Township, this county, Feb. 16, 1879. Mrs. 
 Brown, the fourth in order of birth in a family of 
 seven children, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., Nov. 
 6, 1835 ; and the children of Mr. and Mrs. Brown 
 have been three in number — Thomas T., Emma L., 
 who died in infancy, and Anna M. 
 
 -» i< - • 
 
 gfeylvanus W. Warner, the leading grain 
 dealer of Kewanee, III, was born in the 
 county of Leeds, Canada, Feb. 9, 1817. In 
 
 -3^»c @^K ; .<D D3£IW>^-r S ^ )K 
 
 1838 lie came into Stark Co., 111., farmed there 
 two years, and removed into Henry County, 
 where he purchased two 80-acre tracts of 
 land, one in Burns Township on section 15, where 
 he made his home, and the other in Kewanee on 
 section 19. Other tracts of land were added to his 
 possessions from time to time, all of which he sold 
 after removing into the town of Kewanee, which he 
 did in 1855. His first business after coming into the 
 town was that of grocer, which received his attention 
 a year or two. He next went into the buying and 
 shipping of grain, a business he has followed regu- 
 larly ever since. 
 
 In 1860-1 he held the office of Township Assessor, 
 and a year or so later was elected Supervisor. When 
 he arrived in Stark County, in 1838, he had but $12 
 in money, but the opportunity was ripe to such men 
 as he, and his efforts were fruitful of good in that 
 they tended to build ud a new country and add in- 
 crease upon increase even unto the possession of a 
 handsome competency. His early education was 
 limited to such as the common schools of Canada 
 afforded, but his interests have never suffered from 
 lack of business knowledge. His parents, Ralph and 
 Clara (Keeler) Warner, natives of the State of Con- 
 necticut and Canada respectively, removed to lilt 
 nois in 1845 and spent the rest of their lives in 
 Henry County, the old gentleman dying in 1851, at 
 the age of 57 years, and the old lady in 1879, aged 
 28. They reared six sons and five daughters, three 
 of the latter being dead at this writing (August, 
 i88 S ). 
 
 Mr. Warner is a Royal Arch Mason, a member of 
 
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 9 
 
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 r. 
 
A 630 
 
 t? 
 
 \j<*llll®IID*>^ ^&®r 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 I 
 
 the Baptist Church, and votes the Republican ticket. 
 He was married in Stark Co., 111., July 8, 1847, to 
 Etnaline Otis, a native of Ohio, and daughter of 
 Edward Otis, a farmer by occupation. Of the six 
 children born they have buried four, — -three in in- 
 fancy and one, Lucy A., their eldest, in 1866, aged 
 18 years. Vina is now the wife of H. C. Hunting- 
 ton, a merchant at Ames, Iowa, and Adelia is at 
 home with her parents. 
 
 ^oooe 
 
 enry Johnson, of the firm of Owen & John- 
 son, general merchants, doing business at 
 Orion, was born in Sweden, June 22, 1832. 
 His father, Samuel Johnson, was also a native 
 
 tof Sweden, and during his active life was en- 
 gaged in farming. He is now living a retired 
 life at Orion, at the advanced age of 80 years. The 
 mother of Henry, Christine Johnson, was also born 
 in Sweden. 
 
 At the early age of 13 our subject came to Amer- 
 ica with his parents, who first settled at Buffalo, N. 
 Y. Two years later they came further West and lo- 
 cated in Andover Township, where the mother died 
 of cholera during the terrible rage of that epidemic in 
 1853. Henry was the second child of a family of 
 three children. He left home when only 14 years 
 old and worked as a farm boy for the neighboring 
 farmers, who also gave him the advantage of attend- 
 ing school during the winter season. He learned 
 the business of brick making at Rock Island, and in 
 1854 established a brick-yard in Andover, which en- 
 terprise he abandoned after 18 months. He then 
 engaged as a clerk in a store at Andover, where he 
 remained for some years. After he closed this en- 
 gagement he devoted some time to fanning, princi- 
 pally in Western Township. In 1873 he built a mill 
 and in company with Lloyd & Peterson began its 
 operation. He conducted the mill and was its prin- 
 cipal business manager of the entire concern, and is 
 yet the company in the firm which is now styled 
 Johnson & Co. The mill has a capacity of 300 
 bushels a day. In 1882 Mr. Johnson purchased a 
 half interest in the general mercantile store of John 
 Owen, which he yet retains. The stock invoices at 
 from $7,000 to $10,000, and the firm does an excel- 
 lent business. 
 
 Mr. Johnson was married in Andover, on the 1st 
 
 of May, 1858, to Miss Catherine Olson. Miss Olson 
 was a native of Sweden and came to the United 
 States when a small child with her parents ; at least, 
 she started with both of them, but while on the 
 ocean her father took sick and died, and his body 
 was consigned to a watery grave. The mother, thus 
 bereft of her husband, came on with her four chil- 
 dren, two sons and two daughters. They made their 
 way to Andover Township, where the mother subse- 
 quently married, and shortly after this event died. 
 After the death of her mother, Mrs. Johnson worked 
 in the homes of some of the people of the county 
 until her marriage. The two children she has borne 
 to Mr. Johnson are Oscar L., born Aug. 1, 1773, and 
 Oliver, April 17, 1876. 
 
 Mr. Johnson has for some time been a member of 
 the Village Board. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. 
 ( and A. O. U. W. Politically, he is a National Green- 
 backer. 
 
 hadrach T. Miles, of the firm of Miles & 
 Minnick, grocers, at Kewanee. (See bi- 
 ography of W. A. Minnick). This firm 
 was organized and began business as dealers in 
 staple and fancy groceries, glass and crockery 
 wares, in March, 1867, and is at this writing ( 
 (July, 1885) the oldest establishment of the kind in 
 the town. The firm is composed of the subject of 
 this sketch and Mr. W. A. Minnick. 
 
 Mr. Miles is a native of Philadelphia, Pa., where 
 he was born, Nov. r8, r827. His parents, William 
 and Sarah (Jones) Miles, descended respectively 
 from Welsh and Scotch ancestry, and were natives of 
 Philadelphia County, now and for many years past 
 incorporated into the city of that name. They reared 
 a family of five sons and four daughters. The elder 
 Mr. Miles was a farmer and the gentleman whose 
 name stands at the head of this article devoted most 
 of his time to that worthy vocation, until probaly 46 
 years of age. At the public schools of his native f 
 place he acquired a fair English education, which has 
 been materially augmented by readng, by study and 
 by such experience as is naturally incident to a busy ' 
 life. I 
 
 He gave up farming in 1867 and removed to Ke- ' 
 wanee and engaged in his present business. As a 
 farmer, he was industrious and honorable and en- 
 
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 few-.''. 
 
 
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 I 
 
 a 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 631 *^\ 
 
 joyed the [highest esteem of hjs neighbors. As a 
 merchant he sought to build a trade upon purely bus- 
 iness principles, relying strictly upon the idea that 
 " honesty is the best policy, " and the experience of 
 nearly a fifth part of a century has fully attested the 
 wisdom of his undertakings. Since coming here he 
 has served the people three years as a member of the 
 Town Board and ten years upon the Board of Edu- 
 cation. He is prominently identified with the Inde- 
 pendent Order of Odd Fellows, has filled all the 
 official chairs in their course and is[at present Chap- 
 lain of the Kewanee Lodge. In politics he is a Re- 
 publican, while his religious convictions are firmly 
 anchored with the Baptist Church. When about 25 
 years of age he was married, at Philadelphia, to Miss 
 Anna M. Eisenbrey, a lady of German descent and a 
 native of the" City of Brotherly Love." Of the 13 chil- 
 dren born to them, n are living : Sallie, Rena, Frank, 
 Annie, William, Harry, Duffield, Kate, Edward, Mat- 
 thew and May. W. P. died when about two years of 
 age and Louis lived to be nearly four. Mr. Miles' 
 father and mother died in Philadelphia, he at the age 
 of 83 years and she at 76 years. 
 
 Si'ndrew Sunquist, residing in Galva, where 
 If he is engaged in the service of the Hardien 
 Hf^sT Coal Company, is a native of Sweden, hav- 
 ing been born in Darlarna, that country, Jan. 
 18, 1845. His parents were Andrew Hanson 
 and Kestine (Larson) Sunquist, who both re- 
 side in Galva, to which place they came in 1872. 
 Their family comprises ten children, only four of 
 whom are living, namely : Martha, wife of John 
 Boostum; Erick ; Christine, wife of Frederick Pe- 
 terson, of Bloomington ; and Andrew, the subject of 
 this biographical notice. 
 
 Andrew Sunquist was educated in Sweden. He 
 came to the United States at the age of 25 years, and 
 on landing at an Eastern seaport came direct to 
 Galva, this county. On arriving here, July 13, 1858, 
 he worked at various occupations in the cotintry and 
 village, and in February of the year following he 
 began mining coal. He has continually followed 
 that vocation, except about three summers spent at 
 his trade, that of a carpenter. Sept. 1, 1876, he 
 commenced work for the Galva Mining Company, 
 
 §|a@>»<#« 
 
 _— . 
 
 A^ran^ 
 
 now known as the Hardien Coal Company. He is 
 at present superintendent of the company and also 
 a share-holder in the same. 
 
 Mr. Sunquist was united in marriage, at Galva, to 
 Miss Anna Erickson, a native of Sweden, and a 
 daughter of Erick Anderson, who died in the old 
 old country. Politically, Mr. S. affiliates with the 
 Republican party. He and his wife are members of 
 the Swedish Lutheran Church. 
 
 ^avid Strohecker, of the township of Cam- 
 Jl bridge, is a resident on section2. He was 
 ^ born Nov. 2, 1802, in Berks Co., Pa. His 
 parents, Daniel and Leah (Garber) Stroheck- 
 er, were natives of the same county and there 
 passed nearly the entire extent of their lives. 
 They died in Northumberland Co., Pa. They were 
 the parents of r2 children. The family descent is of 
 German origin. The paternal grandfather, Daniel 
 Strohecker, was born in thai country, and when he 
 came to the United States he settled in Pennsylva- 
 nia. His son, John Strohecker, was one of the sol- 
 diers of the Revolution. The latter was a brick-layer 
 by trade and in his later life he was interested in 
 farming. He married in Pennsylvania and there 
 reared a family of eight children. He never remov- 
 ed from the State. His son, Daniel Strohecker, mar- 
 ried Leah Garber, who was a native of the Keystone 
 State. Her father, John Garber, was born in the 
 same State and was a soldier in the Revolutionary 
 War. He, too, afterwards became a farmer. Father 
 and mother both died in Pennsylvania. 
 
 Mr. Strohecker grew to manhood in the State 
 where he was born and passed forty years of active 
 life as a brick-layer. In April, 1865, he came to 
 Henry County, and at first bought 80 acres of land 
 in the township of Cambridge. Soon after he bought 
 another like amount of land and the estate now in- 
 cludes 166 acres in the best possible condition for 
 prosperous farming. The estate is the accumula- 
 tion of the proprietor in his own unaided strength and 
 perseverance. He has passed most of his life in 
 hard labor. In his political connection and views he 
 is a Republican. 
 
 He formed a matrimonial alliance with Sarah 
 Hummel, May 14, 1824. She was born in Berks 
 Co., Pa., and the name of her father was John Hum- 
 
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 -©■V&H fl&fl D^r& 3»&#S5- 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 mel. The issue of their marriage was eight children. 
 Dr. George W. is deceased. Sevilla S. married a 
 man named Zimmerman. Benavel, John, Catherine 
 L. (deceased), Mrs. Mary Thompson and Henry C. 
 are^the names that complete the list. The last named 
 was a soldier in the Civil War, where he lost his 
 life, in the Army of the Cumberland. Reuben still 
 resides with his parents. He was married in Penn- 
 sylvania to Hannah Hime. Her father was a native 
 of Pennsylvania and was of German extraction. The 
 young people have three children, named Henry 
 Calvin, Mrs. Johanna Steckhouse and Laura E. 
 
 *— «- + 
 
 jharles G. Howell. Upon section 28, of 
 Western Township, resides Mr. Charles 
 G. Howell, one' of the representative agri- 
 culturists of Henry County, and a gentleman 
 well and favorably known throughout the 
 county. He was born in Monongalia Co., 
 W. Va., Jan. 20, 1837. His father, Leven Howell, 
 was the nth child : hence the name. He belonged 
 to an old Virginia family of English ancestry, and 
 grew to manhood in old Virginia, but came into the 
 territory now known as West Virginia, where he was 
 married to Anna King, a native of the same place 
 where her husband was hoin. After their marriage 
 they improved a farm in the dense unbroken forest 
 of West Virginia, living in the woods in a log-cabin. 
 The father was a minister of the Old-School Baptist 
 Church formerly, but latei in life connected himself 
 with the Missionary Baptist Church, in which de- ' 
 nomination he preached until his death, which oc- 
 curred in the same county in which he had settled 
 so early in its history. His life was that of a worthy 
 citizen and a zealous minister of the gospel. He 
 demonstrated his interests in and his devotion to his 
 religious sentiments most strikingly at one time. He 
 was a mason by trade, and the congregation for 
 which he labored had begun the erection of a church, 
 but was compelled to abandon the work upon it for 
 lack of means. With characteristic energy he set 
 about the work himself, and laid the brick, put on 
 the plaster and completed the edifice. The building 
 stands to this day, and is used by the congregation 
 of the faith he had so often zealously preached to. 
 At the time of its completion it was valued at $5,000. 
 
 It is still in a fair state of preservation, and is a 
 monument to the worthy builder, who received no 
 assistance or remuneration for its erection. Another 
 instance illustrating his devotion to his righteous 
 faith is shown in the following incident: A little 
 later on and in another neighborhood, he made the 
 brick and erected a new church building, with but 
 little money consideration outside of the help ren- 
 dered by Mr. Ellis Holland, now of Osco Township, 
 this county. To these two zealous and devoted 
 workers, must be added the honored name of Mr. 
 Reason Holland, the father of Ellis, now deceased. 
 
 Rev. Howell's pastorate extended over nearly half 
 a century, during which time he labored as a faithful 
 and devoted follower of his Master, and was especi- 
 ally adapted to the time and condition of society 
 existing in the section of country where he labored. 
 We find but few such noble, hard-working and self- 
 sacrificing Christians to-day as he was.' He was 
 born Nov. 21, 1799, and after a remarkably useful 
 life, passed to his reward on the 9th of May, 1868. 
 His wife, who was born on the 23d of August, 1797, 
 died February, 1858. 
 
 Charles G. was the youngest of a family consisting 
 of eight sons and one daughter, six of the former and 
 the latter still survive. The daughter and four of 
 the sons are yet living, in West Virginia. Our sub- 
 ject attended the district schools and worked on the 
 homestead until he arrived at man's estate. About 
 this time, his life was overshadowed by the death of 
 his mother. On leaving home he followed the 
 plastering business, which trade he had learned 
 principally under the instructions of his father. He 
 continued in this business in his native county for 
 about ten years. During this time he was married 
 near the place where he was born, Sept. 30, i860, 
 the ceremony being performed at the residence of 
 the bride's parents, the lady being Miss Sarah C, 
 eldest daughter of Caple and Susanna (Smith) Hol- 
 land. Her parents were natives of the Keystone 
 State and of American parentage. Both came to 
 West Virginia before their marriage, and after that 
 event lived upon a farm in Monongalia County, 
 where the father died, March 5, 1858. The mother 
 is yet living with her youngest son, Lewis P. Holland, 
 who lives on the old Holland homestead. Mrs. 
 Howell was born in Monongalia County, Aug. 10, 
 1835. She is the mother of seven children, who have 
 been named as follows : Rebecca J., Susan 0., 
 
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V 
 
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 ■5a4»K— 6V^D USD D& -/0 ^t^s: 4*^@\|1| 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 633 
 
 Blanche B. and Jessie F. (twins), Lavina A. and 
 Anna H., now living; and Samuel O., deceased in 
 January, 1875. 
 
 Mr. Howell continued to reside in Monongalia 
 County for some years after his marriage, and during 
 the meantime added to his calling that of farming. 
 It was while he was living in the State of Virginia, 
 before that section where he resided was set off and 
 called West Virginia, and while the State was under 
 the reign of rebel sentiment, Mr. Howell bravely 
 stepped forward to defend the stars and stripes. On 
 the 14th of August, 1862, he enlisted in the 14th 
 W. Va. Vol. Inf., Co. C, which joined the army of 
 the Shenandoah Valley, under Gen. Hunter. He 
 participated in no active engagement, but was with 
 the regiment, being assigned to the Quartermaster's 
 Department. He was honorably discharged at the 
 close of the war, July 3, r86s, having served nearly 
 three years. 
 
 In April, 1869, in order to secure a wider field in 
 which to labor, he set out for the then far West, 
 finding his way to Henry County, where, in Osco 
 Township, he purchased 160 acres of well -improved 
 land. Here he resided for 12 years, when he sold 
 this farm and purchased another quarter-section of 
 improved land, where he now resides and has an 
 elegant home and a well developed farm. Mr. 
 Howell has always had a deep interest in the schools 
 of his township, and was a Director nearly all of the 
 time he lived in Osco The family is connected 
 with the Baptist Church, in which Mr. Howell is an 
 active factor. He is a reliable and uncompromising 
 Republican, and highly esteemed and well known 
 throughout his section of the county. 
 
 ^ilson A. Minniek, of the firm of Miles & 
 Minnick, dealers in staple and fancy gro- 
 ceries, crockery, glassware, etc., at Ke- 
 $ wanee, 111., is a native of Mercersburg, Pa., 
 and a son of Peter W. and Mary A. (Geyer) 
 Minnick, also natives of Pennsylvania and of 
 German extraction. 
 
 Wilson A. was next oldest in a fanily of three sons 
 and four daughters, and was born Feb. 2r, 1842. 
 His elder brother, John W., was a volunteer soldier 
 in the war for the Union, and was killed at the bat- 
 tle of Stone River. His father, a merchant tailor in 
 
 his lifetime, died at Kewanee, in 1856, at the age of 
 40 years, and his mother (July, 1885) is about 67 
 years of age and resides in Kewanee. In 1856 the 
 family came to Kewanee and Mr. Minnick soon af- 
 terward began his career as a grocer's clerk, a posi- 
 tion he continued to fill for ir consecutive years. In 
 1867 the firm of which he is now a member was or- 
 ganized (see biography of Shadrach T. Miles), which 
 hundreds of his friends patronized, and his estab- 
 lishment took rank as among the very foremost (if 
 not indeed the lead) in their line in Kewanee. 
 
 At Kewanee, Dec. 24, 1868, lie was married to 
 Miss Angelia E., the accomplished daughter of Asa 
 Morrill, Esq., of North Danville, Vt. They have five 
 children: Edwin M., Edith M., Guy F., Paul W. 
 and Morrill. Both Mr. and Mrs. Minnick are con- 
 sistent men.bers of the Congregational Church, of 
 which society at Kewanee Mr. Minnick '■has been 
 Treasurer for more than a dozen years. 
 
 In the battle of life Mr. M. has depended wholly 
 upon his own resources, the recipient of no gratui- 
 ties, legacies or gifts ; and what he has enjoyed and 
 has of this world's goods have been acquired by his 
 individual effort and industry. 
 
 •no/W «<*2£2/©-f@'"4 
 
 i^S/iW^'VM* 
 
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 eorge Allen Vawter, dentist, at Cam- 
 bridge, was born at Macomb, McDonough 
 Co., 111., Jan. 4, 1858. He was educated 
 in the public schools of Macomb, and com- 
 pleted a full course of study there, graduating 
 ing in June, 1876. He attended school for 
 nine years, and nine months in the year, and was 
 never tardy, and, with the exception of one week's 
 sickness, not absent a single day from school in all 
 that time. In the succeeding winter after gruduat- 
 ing, he taught a term of school in the township of 
 Bethel, in the same county. At the expiration of 
 this engagement, in February, 1877, he commenced 
 the study of dentistry in the office of Dr. H. H. 
 Whissen, of Macomb. He continued under the pre- 
 ceptorship of Dr. Whissen until the spring of 1878, 
 when the two formed a partnership, and Mr. Vawter 
 passed most of his time in traveling to the adjacent 
 towns, where he practiced his profession and worked 
 in the interest of the Macomb office until the follow- 
 ing winter. He then again became a teacher, taking 
 
 C» 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 |j@§jC<|>V 
 
 
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 a school in Mound Township, McDonough County. 
 
 At the expiration of the term of school, which oc- 
 curred in March, 1879, lie came to Cambridge and 
 commenced the practice of dentistry. He was young, 
 and the possessor of only about $roo, and had for 
 competition a man of age and experience ; but by a 
 strict attention to the details of his 'profession he 
 soon established a prosperous business, and has at 
 present one of the finest dental offices in this part of 
 the State. 
 
 He has dealt to a considerable extent in Western 
 lands, and also in property in Cambridge. From his 
 profession, and by a careful investment of his earn- 
 ings, he has succeeded in placing himself in comfort- 
 able circumstances. 
 
 Mr. Vawter was married to Nellie I. Gould, at 
 Cambridge, Nov. 14, 1883. Mrs. Vawter was born 
 at Piermont, Grafton Co., N. H., Oct. 15, i860, and 
 is the daughter of L. Y. and O. P. Gould, of Cam- 
 bridge. The family moved to Cambridge in the 
 spring of 1868. 
 
 Dr. Vawter is the son of Allen T. Vawter and 
 Florinda Elizabeth (Kellogg) Vawter. His father 
 was born in Cumberland Co., Ky., Dec. 14, 1830, 
 and came thence with his parents to McDonough 
 County in the fall of 1833. Sept. rr, 1851, another 
 removal was effected, when they moved to Macomb, 
 where the parents still reside. In the paternal line 
 Dr. Vawter is able to trace his ancestors for a period 
 of 200 years. The first progenitors of the family 
 in this country settled in Virginia, where Russell 
 Vawter, his great-grandfather, was born. The latter 
 lived all his life in his native county of Culpeper. 
 His son, Beverly Vawter, was born in Culpeper Co., 
 Va., Sept. 22, 1782. He passed the years of his 
 minority there, and when he had attained his legal 
 freedom he went to North Carolina. Jan. 13, 1807, 
 he was married to Elizabeth Hutchins. In 1813 he 
 removed his family to Kentucky, and from thence to 
 McDonough Co., 111., in October, 1833. His death 
 transpired April 21, 1845. He was a soldier in the 
 War of 1812. Dr. Vawter's mother was born June 
 9, 1836. Her father was a native of the State of 
 New York, and lost his life, in 1864, in the military 
 service of the United States in the War of the Rebell- 
 ion. The parents of Dr. Vawter were married 
 March 14, 1854. They had seven children, of whom 
 four are living. 
 
 ^g^ OA <-> 
 
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 eorge D. Elliott, manufacturer and dealer 
 in harness and saddlery, Kewanee, 111., 
 K was born at the United States Arsenal, 
 Pittsburg, Pa., July 8, 1823. His parents, 
 James, a Sergeant in the United States Army, 
 and Mary (Mayhew) Elliott, natives of Dur- 
 ham, Eng., and Kennebec, Maine, respectively, were 
 married at Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, and of the n chil- 
 dren (nine sons and two daughters) born to them, 
 the subject of this sketch was the eldest but two. 
 James came to America in 18 18, and three years 
 afterward entered the United States Army as a 
 private soldier and served for a period of five years. 
 He was an only child, and his father, who was a 
 saddler to Lord Durham, gave him an academic 
 education. The then Lord Durham was an exten- 
 sive coal operator, and saddler Elliott, who had ac- 
 cumulated some money, invested it in the stocks of 
 a rival mining company, which act so enraged his 
 lordship that he withdrew his patronage from Elliott. 
 The new coal company failed, and in 1826 the old 
 gentleman followed his son to the United States. 
 He located at Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, and died before 
 the then current year. 
 
 After leaving the army, Sergeant Elliott returned 
 to his trade of saddler at Mt. Pleasant, and there re- 
 mained up to 1854, at which time he came to 
 Kewanee. A part of the farm upon which he settled 
 here is now known as Elliott's Addition, and the rest 
 of it was laid out by the parties to whom tie sold it, 
 and is now known as " Morse's Addition to Ke- 
 wanee." 
 
 The old gentleman removed to Chicago in 1870; 
 was there during the great fire, and returned to Ke- 
 wanee, where he died in July of the following year, 
 aged about 76 years. His wife had died at Kewanee 
 in 1868, aged 72 years. 
 
 George D. Elliott learned the trade of his father 
 and of his grandfather, and, with the exception of a 
 few years devoted to teaching in the public schools, 
 has devoted his time to it. He was educated at Mt. 
 Pleasant, Ohio, and was about 22 years of age when 
 he began teaching. At the outbreak of the Mexican 
 War, he entered the service of the United States as 
 an artisan, and left Pittsburg in October, 1846, in 
 the Quartermaster's Department for Mexico, At the 
 

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 ^?. H.$*~-r •& 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 *m£m\$$i 
 
 637 
 
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 end of about six months he returned to Pittsburg, 
 where he was employed in the Government Arsenal 
 until the close of the war, when he made his way 
 back to Ml. Pleasant. In 1854 he made a trip of 
 discovery in the West, and the following year brought 
 his family to Kewanee. Three of his brothers were 
 in the Union Army during the Rebellion, and one of 
 them lost his life at the battle of Mission Ridge. 
 Since coming to Kewanee, Mr. Elliott has held var- 
 ious offices, and at this writing (August, 1885) is 
 serving his tenth year as a member of the School 
 Board. 
 
 In politics he is a Republican, coming from the 
 old Whig party; in religious views he is liberal, 
 though identified more or less prominently with the 
 Episcopal Church. He is a member of Kewanee 
 Lodge, No. 159, F. & A. M., and holds the office of 
 Scribe in Kewanee Chapter, No. 47. 
 
 At Cadiz, Ohio, April 4, 1849, he was married to 
 Miss Adaline McCormick, a native of that town, and 
 daughter of the Hon. Samuel McCormick, now de- 
 ceased. Mr. and Mrs. Elliott have had born to 
 them eight children as follows : Frank, now in busi- 
 ness with his father; Kate, in the millinery business 
 at Kewanee; Eric, dealer in carriage goods at Peoria, 
 III.; Maude (Mrs. A. M. Hewlett, Kewanee) ; Ward 
 B., carriage trimmer, Kewanee ; Harry and Addie, 
 at home; and Dick S., agent of the American Ex- 
 press Company, at Pacific Junction, Iowa. 
 
 i,yrus Houghton Brooks, a wealthy farmer 
 residing in Galva, was born Sept. 17, 1828, 
 in Chester, Vt., his ancestry being of 
 English origin. Three brothers, Solomon, 
 David and Daniel, came from the Old to the 
 New World together. Solomon, who settled 
 in Chester, Vt., was the father of Nathan Brooks, 
 and his son, Solomon Brooks, Jr., was born June 13, 
 1769, and married Amelia Fisher, who was born 
 Oct. r6, 1773. His oldest brother, David Brooks, 
 was a soldier in the War of the Revolution. Mr. 
 Solomon Brooks had five children : Cyrus, George, 
 Mary, Martha and Elvira, the latter of whom is de- 
 ceased. Their parents moved to Brimfield, Peoria 
 Co., 111., where they died. Mrs. B.'s father, Asa 
 Fisher, was a son of Benjamin Fisher, and married 
 
 Ester Metcalf, whose mother was Abigail Colben. 
 
 George Brooks, son of Solomon, was born Dec. 2, 
 1802, in Chester, Windsor Co., Vt., and he is yet 
 living, in Galva. He first came to Olney, Richland 
 Co., 111., arriving there Oct. 1, 1841, and after a resi- 
 dence there of three years, in September, 1844, he 
 removed to Brimfield, above mentioned, and in Feb- 
 ruary, 1864, he came to Galva. He was married 
 Nov. 8, 1824, to Clina Houghton, who was born Aug. 
 3, 1806, in Windsor, Vt., and she died July 24, 1877, 
 — a woman eminent for her piety. Her father, Da- 
 rius Houghton, was born Nov. 3, 1780, and her 
 mother, Almira, was born July 7, 1783, and died in 
 September, 1876, at the age of 93 years. Mrs. Clina 
 Brooks was the mother of eight children, namely : 
 Cyrus H. (our subject), Elzina, Orin D., Darius H., 
 Mary, Henry (deceased), Amelia and Luther, — all 
 the living of whom are married and have children. 
 It is worthy of remark that only one of this family 
 of eight children are deceased, and also of Solomon 
 Brooks' family of five children only one is deceased. 
 Mr. George Brooks was married the second time, 
 July 25,1879, to Mrs. Permelia Bradford, who was 
 born Nov. 2, 181 1. 
 
 Mr. Cyrus H. Brooks, whose name heads this no- 
 tice, had no school advantages in early life. He was 
 was reared on a farm, and has been a steady, hard- 
 laboring man all his life. Coming to this State with 
 his father, he remained with him until he was 26 
 years old. He bought for his father the first home 
 farm, consisting of 80 acres of land. He has done 
 well by his parents, and has subsequently been 
 greatly blessed in the accumulation of this world's 
 goods. In March, 1858, he came to Knox County 
 and purchased 80 acres of land on section 1, in Wal- 
 nut Grove Township, near Galva. After farming 
 there for 20 years, in the spring of 1878, he removed 
 into Galva, where he now resides. At present he is 
 the owner of 883 acres in this State, Iowa and Kan- 
 sas, viz. : 403 acres in Illinois, 320 in Iowa, and 160 
 in Kansas. 
 
 Mr. Brooks has been married twice. His first wife, 
 Louisa Reed, is now deceased. His present wife, 
 Amelia J. (Miles) Houghton, was born Feb. 19, 1857, 
 in New York city, and is the daughter of Freeman 
 Miles. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Brooks are 
 five in number, and are named Le Roy L., Elsey, 
 (deceased), Emma, Eleura and Rosa. The parents 
 and all the children are members of the Congrega- 
 
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 V® 
 
 
 
 ^Q& — e^nn&WH^A^ — ^^^~ 
 
 4^%&/4 
 
638 
 
 
 v<&Dt]®HHf^§ — ^&sr 
 
 m&\{ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 tional Church; and Mr. B. is Republican in political 
 opinion. 
 
 Mr. Brooks came to this section of Illinois when 
 a young man. The country was then new and un- 
 cultivated, and he went to work with a will and en- 
 ergy characteristic of the man, and did a great deal 
 toward transforming the wild prairie of the Military 
 Tract into one of the most fertile spots on the globe. 
 His memory as one of the industrious pioneers is 
 worthy of perpetuation, and as a means of doing this, 
 as well as to place him among the best men of the 
 county, we insert his portrait in this volume in con- 
 nection with this sketch. 
 
 'ared C. Kinsey, grocer at Cambridge, came 
 j|p to Henry Co., 111., from Coshocton Co.,, 
 Ohio, in March, 1863. His family is from 
 Bucks Co., Pa., which is as far back as he has 
 any knowledge. Ulysses Kinsey, grandfather 
 of Jared C , moved from Bucks County to 
 Coshocton Co., Ohio, about the year 1820. Uriah 
 Kinsey, son of Ulysses and father of Jared C, 
 established a woolen mill on Paddy's Fork of Tom- 
 ica shortly after moving to Ohio, the motive power 
 of which was a tread-wheel propelled by oxen. 
 
 He was married Aug. 17, 1824, to Margaret Chal- 
 fant, daughter of Mordecai and Mary Chalfant, the 
 latter being a sister of Jacob Strawn, for years the 
 famous Illinois cattle king. By this union seven 
 children were born, — four sons and three daughters. 
 Three of the children died in their infancy. Phcebe 
 died at the age of 32, unmarried. Lydia was mar- 
 ried twice. Her first husband was Win. Smith, by 
 whom she had two children, named Phebe Francis 
 and George F. Her second husband was Isaac 
 Camp, by whom she had one child, Andrew D. She 
 died Dec. 27, 1 86 1, aged 33 years. Jacob S. Kinsey 
 studied medicine under Dr. Benj. F. Lemert, of 
 Dresden, Ohio; graduated at the Ohio Medical Col- 
 lege in 1859-60; entered the volunteer service as 
 Surgeon of the gun-boat " Cincinnati;" was in the 
 first engagement at Fort Donelson; resigned on ac- 
 count of sickness in 1862; came to Cambridge and 
 commenced the practice of medicine, in March, 1863. 
 He so continued filling a prominent place in the 
 medical fraternity till the time of his death, which 
 occurred May 3, T874, when he was 37 years of age. 
 
 The subject of this sketch, Jared C. Kinsey, was 
 born July 12, 1834; was educated after leaving the 
 district school at West Bedford Academy, in Coshoc- 
 ton Co., Ohio. He read law with Judge Simmons, 
 of Coshocton, and was admitted to the Bar in June, 
 1859; removed with the family to Henry Co., 111., in 
 March, 1863. The war demoralizing the values of 
 almost everything, he tried his hand at farming for 
 three years, two and one-half miles west of Cam- 
 bridge. In December, 1866, he opened up a drug 
 and book store in Cambridge, which he continued 
 till July 17, 1882, when he disposed of his stock and 
 entered upon a new field of labor, that of selling 
 goods on the road for a Chicago firm. Tiring of 
 this, he opened a grocery store in January, 1885, 
 in which he is now prosperously engaged. 
 
 Oct. 2, 1855, he was married to Miss Catherine 
 E. Kesler, of West Carlisle, Ohio, by whom he has 
 had six children, named respectively : Addie H., 
 Osman Leigh, Alice May, Florence, Carroll B. and 
 Effie. His wife, Catherine E., having died in Jan- 
 uary, 1869, he married Miss Sarah A. Hawley, of 
 Mt. Vernon, Ohio, Oct. 18, 1869, by whom he has 
 had five children, viz. : Infant, dead-bom ; Kate, 
 Earl S., Emma, Louise and Edith Clare, all of whom, 
 by both wives, are living at this writing (1885) ex- 
 cept the infant above noted. 
 
 Mr. Kinsey has been a believer in the Jeffersonian 
 school of politics, — that all powers not expressly 
 delegated to the general Government are reserved to 
 the States. 
 
 avid N. Busenbark, retired farmer and 
 , resident at Cambridge, was born March 
 
 -1 A"*-- 
 
 s-^DII&OD?^^ 
 
 ^2. 
 
 22, 1819, in Butler Co., Ohio. John Bus- 
 enbark, his grandfather, was of German de- 
 2|j scent and belonged to a family that originally 
 settled and lived many years in the State of 
 New Jersey. The grandsire went to Butler Co., Ohio, 
 where he died. He married Jane Naylor, and they 
 reared four sons and three daughters, born in the fol- 
 lowing order: Elizabeth, Robert, James, Reading, 
 William, Sarah and Ellen. Robert,, the eldest son, 
 was born March 6, 1793, in New Jersey, and died 
 Dec. n, 1872, in Ohio, whither he removed in 1811. 
 He became a farmer in the Buckeye State, where he 
 was marriedto Margaret Stout. She was a native of 
 
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 <M§«;>^© — >■ 
 
 I 
 
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 HENRY 
 
 -«, - f< 
 
 COUNTY. 
 
 
 New York city, born Feb. 25, 1799, and died in 
 Ohio, March, 1877. Her children were named Eliza- 
 beth, David N., Reading, Robert, Loyal F., Mary E., 
 John, James and Margaret. 
 
 D. N. Busenbark was a resident of his native State 
 through his boyhood, youth and manhood until i860, 
 and was thoroughly trained in the business of a 
 farmer. In the year named he came to Henry 
 County and bought 160 acres of land in Munson 
 Township, which is still in his possession, and he is 
 also the owner of 80 acres in Osco Township. He 
 was a resident on his estate in the former township 
 until his removal, in January, 1884, to Cambridge. 
 The land on which he settled on coming to Henry 
 County, was in a wholly wild condition, and it will 
 now rank in agricultural advancement with the gen- 
 eral condition of farms in the county. In political 
 affiliation, Mr. Busenbark is a Republican. 
 
 He was married May 7, 1846, in Butler Co., Ohio, 
 to Mary A. Smith. She was born in that county 
 July 9, 1822, and is the daughter of Daniel and 
 Mary (Jacobi) Smith. Her parents were native of 
 Pennsylvania. The births of the children of Mr. 
 and Mrs. Busenbark occurred in the following order : 
 George S., Oct. 8, 1848; John, May 31, 1851; Rob- 
 ert, July 25, 1853; Katie, July 7, 1856; Emma M., 
 Nov. 5, 1859; Mary M., April 6, 1867. The latter 
 is the only child who was born after the removal of 
 the family to Henry County. Katie, the oldest 
 daughter, is now Mrs. E. Ayres. Mrs. Busenbark is 
 a member of the Christian Church. 
 
 eorge W. Cataow, agent of the American 
 Express Company at Kewanee, was born 
 at Akron, Ohio, Aug. 24, 1830. His par- 
 ents, George and Nancy (Hogue) Cahow, na- 
 tives respectively of the State of Maryland- 
 and Dublin Harbor, were married in Ohio, 
 where their two sons were born. The senior Mr. 
 Cahow, who was a farmer and came to Illinois in 
 1858, lived at the village of Cambridge the rest of 
 his life, dying in 1863, at the age of 70 years. His 
 wife died in Ohio, in 1841, at the age of 33 years. 
 
 George W., the subject of our sketch, after a few 
 months' attendance at the public schools of his native 
 State, found it impracticable in his circumstances to 
 devote the time necessary to the acquirement of an 
 
 education ; so he was compelled to begin life for 
 himself with but a scant knowledge of books. At 
 this writing, however, one has but to meet him to 
 know that he has not let the weeds grow in his mind. 
 He has read, he has studied, he has worked and he 
 has accomplished much. At the age of 18, he 
 learned the potter's trade at Middleburg, Ohio, and 
 followed it afterward a few years. 
 
 In 1855 he landed in Tiskilwa, Bureau Co., 111., 
 and in 1858 he came to Cambridge, this county, 
 where he farmed about four years, moving thence to 
 Kewanee, where he engaged in the grocery business 
 up to 1866. In December of the last named year 
 he was appointed agent by the American Express 
 Company, a position he has since filled, with much 
 credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of his 
 employers. Mr. Cahow belongs to the Orders of 
 Masons and Odd Fellows; is not an office-seeker 
 nor an offensive partisan, though a substantial Dem- 
 ocrat. Since coming here, he has served the people 
 three or four terms as Town Trustee, which consti- 
 tutes the sum of his office-holding. 
 
 He was married at New Portage, Ohio, in August, 
 1854, to Miss Mary Smith, a native of that town, 
 and their only child, Anna, is an accomplished 
 young lady teacher in the Kewanee public schools. 
 
 9 
 
 <D$f§i*5-' 
 
 ^A<^ 
 
 *8Hu 
 
 Augustus Little, one of Henry County's 
 prominent and well-to-do farmers, resides 
 on section 9, Wethersfield Township. He 
 f \%\ was k° rn U1 Hollis, N. H., Sept. 16, 1825, and 
 is the son of Abner B. and Nancy (Tenney) 
 Little, both natives of New Hampshire. They 
 came to Henry County in the spring of 1837, and 
 settled in Wethersfield Township, where they both 
 died, she (Mrs. Little) July 6, 1847, and the 
 father in September, 1863, aged 90 years. Their 
 family comprised 13 children, as follows: Mary B., 
 Catherine M., Elizabeth B., William T., Caleb J., 
 Henry G., Ruth C , Laura A., Caroline W., Augustus 
 and Sarah F., and two who are deceased, — Samuel 
 A. and one an infant. 
 
 R. Augustus, our subject, was but n years of age 
 when he came to Henry County with his parent-;. 
 His education was received principally in the dis- 
 trict schools of this county, remaining at home with 
 his parents nearly the entire time. He occupies 
 
 '> 
 
 < 
 
 •>«<■ 
 
^VS»BD& 
 
 HENRY 
 
 COUNTY. 
 
 their old homestead, and is the owner of 21; J^ acres 
 of some of the most valuable land in Wethersfield 
 Township, most of which is tillable. 
 
 Mr. R. Augustus Little was united in marriage, 
 . April 8, 1852, the lady "whom he chose to be his 
 companion and helpmeet through life being Lavantia 
 Irwin, daughter of William and Catherine (Forman) 
 Irwin, natives of New York and Pennsylvania re- 
 spectively. They settled in 'Delaware Co., N. Y., 
 where she, the mother, died in May, 1832. He, 
 the father, came to Henry County in the fall of 1839; 
 he died in October, 1841. Of their union were born 
 T2 children, namely: John, Margaret, Phebe, Jacob 
 F., Elizabeth, Mary Jane, Caroline, William, Cath- 
 erine D., Lavantia and Lavenia. Lavantia (Mrs. 
 Little) was born in Courtright, Delaware Co., N. Y., 
 May 6, 1832. Mr. and Mrs. L. are the parents of 
 ir children, viz." :~ Ralph I., Walter A., Frank E., 
 Clarence F., Lewis H., Mary A., Nancy E., Roy A., 
 Charles T. and two deceased, — Clara and an infant. 
 Mr. Little has held several of the minor offices of 
 ^ his township. He and his wife are members of the 
 ^ Presbyterian Church, and he has led the choir nearly 
 Qt& every year, in various churches, since he was 20 years 
 jE* of age. Mr. L. and his estimable wife are very hos- 
 &L pitable and kind people, and occupy an honored 
 position in the community where they live. In poli- 
 tics he is identified with the Republican party. 
 
 V 
 
 -<~D- 
 
 -S«- 
 
 ren H. Loomis, dealer in agricultural im- 
 yjft plements, and a pioneer business man of 
 Kewanee (in fact, the time of his begin- 
 ning business at this place antedates that of 
 any other man now living and in business 
 here), was boin in Coventry," Conn., June 171 
 1822, and was one of three sons and five daughters 
 born to Selah and Esther (Howard) Loomis, natives 
 of Connecticut and Massachusetts respectively. In 
 (5* 1833 the family removed from Connecticut to Mich- 
 igan, and from there 17 years later to Wethersfield, 
 Henry Co., 111. Later on, the senior Mr. L. re- 
 moved into Kewanee, where he and his aged wife 
 \( ended their days, — he in the year 1871, at the age of 
 86, and she a year earlier, at the age of 84. 
 Oren H. Loomis had attended school a short time 
 
 before the family left Connecticut, and after arriving 
 in Michigan finished his education at the White 
 Pigeon branch of the Michigan University. Here 
 for one year he was Professor of Mathematics, and 
 for the succeeding five years taught in the district 
 schools of the Badger State. In r847 he taught at 
 Freeport, 111., and in 1849 came to Wethersfield, 
 where he followed farming about three years. Sept. 
 1, 1854, at Kewanee then just laid out, he engaged in 
 the grain business and shipped the first car load of 
 grain ever loaded at Kewanee. In 1855, with his 
 associates, he built the first steam elevator erected 
 at Kewanee. The building was burned in 18 — , 
 after he had severed his connection with it. 
 
 He followed grain business eight years, and in 
 T862 engaged in the agricultural implement trade, 
 from which he retired in T870. For three years he 
 followed farming, and returned to Kewanee, bought 
 back his agricultural implement business, and has 
 devoted his time to it since. 
 
 Mr. L. has always been an ardent Republican in 
 politics, — in fact, he was one of the twelve men that 
 organized that party in Henry County, in 1854. The 
 only office he appears to have held was that of Jus- 
 tice of the Peace, away back in r867 or '68, and 
 School Trustee for many years. He was one of the 
 projectors of, and was prominently identified with, the 
 organization and establishment of the old Wethers- 
 field and Kewanee Academy, and finally engineered 
 its transfer to common-school purposes. It is now 
 the higher department of the Kewanee schools. 
 Both education and religion have had Mr. Loomis' 
 best efforts all his life. He is a member of the Con 
 gregational Church, and since coming into Henry 
 has had charge of the Wethersfield and Kewanee 
 Sabbath-schools, altogether upwards of 3r years. Al- 
 ways a useful member of society, Mr. Loomis' ab- 
 sence, which must of necessity come with the years, 
 will be felt by the best people as will probably be the 
 loss of no other mm in this community. 
 
 He was married first at Edwardsburg, Mich., in 
 1846, to Miss Rosetta Rogers, who died in Edwards- 
 burg in the spring of r849- O n August 27, r8so, 
 at East Hamburg, N. Y., he was united in marriage 
 with Miss Cornelia A. Starkweather. Of the chil- 
 dren born to them we make the following brief 
 memoranda : Niles H. is a farmer in Kansas ; 
 Henry L. is a merchant in Kewanee ; Lucy (Mrs. 
 W. E. Terry, of Galesburg, 111.) ; Rosetta M., now 
 
 -d. 
 
 Ae«niB^^ — s >cr 
 
 4>t^C<^Af 
 
iglD&V^ — vft&tK- 
 
 |*§5&$GJ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 @> 
 
 Mrs. E. A. Hebbard, of Galesburg; Grace E., an 
 artist ; Emma F., wife of Rev. C. S. Leeper, of the 
 Congregational Church, Batavia, 111. ; and Hattie 
 May, at home. Their first born, Francis E., died 
 when about six years of age. 
 
 «»*«fiC/©^@-<— Ws 
 
 *@&a*zrerasi. 
 
 i 
 
 V 
 
 I) 
 
 ol. Sylvester Blish, deceased, was by oc- 
 S kElff cupation a farmer of Kewanee Township, 
 g& was Dorn at Glastonbury, Hartford Co., 
 Conn., Dec. 31, 1790, and died in Wethers- 
 field Township, Henry Co., 111., Oct. 8, 1865. 
 His wife, nee Rhoda Cheney, to whom he was 
 married at Manchester, Conn., Jan. 1, 181 1, died 
 Jan. 9, 1878, in the 84th year of her age. They 
 reared four sons and one daughter. The latter, Pru- 
 dence H, now deceased, was the wife of James 
 Knox, Esq., of Knoxville, 111. Of the sons, the old- 
 est, William H., is a farmer in Wethersfield Town- 
 4£ ship, Henry Co., 111. ; Thomas died at Galena, III., 
 \sa where he had resided for twenty-five years ; Charles 
 $§ C. resides in Kewanee (see biography of Charles C. 
 « Blish), and George C. is a resident of Chicago, 111 , 
 ^ where he is employed as a book-keeper for E. Schnei- 
 der & Co. 
 
 Col. Blish came into Henry County in 1836 as an 
 agent for the Wethersfield Colony in the purchase of 
 land, and settled upon a farm now owned by C. C. 
 Blish, his son, in Wethersfield Township ; and it 
 was upon this farm that he spent the last years of his 
 life. He also owned a tract of land containing some 
 160 acres lying east and adjacent to Main Street, Ke- 
 wanee, a portion of which was included in the orig- 
 inal plat of the village. He began life as a young 
 man with but little of this world's goods, but by in- 
 dustry and good judgment succeeded in accumulat- 
 ing quite a fortune. In politics he was always a 
 Democrat of the most pronounced type, though ex- 
 hibiting but little ambition to hold office. It appears 
 that when the county was young, he held the office 
 of County Commissioner for a term or two, and in 
 after years was a candidate for delegate to the State 
 Constitutional Convention ; but the issues were pure- 
 ly political, and the racMcal element in the county 
 was largely in the ascendency, so a Republican was 
 elected. His generosity at all times corresponded 
 
 with his means; and the hospitality of his household, 
 proverbial in the earliest history of the county, is 
 fully maintained by his descendants. The first two 
 Methodist Episcopal churches erected in Kewanee 
 were built upon lands donated by him. Though the 
 deeds thereto were signed by his sons after his death 
 in the conveyance, the latter carried out the express 
 wish of their parent. The Kewanee Cemetery 
 grounds were also given gratis by Col. Blish, and the 
 Churches of the city, without regard to denomina- 
 tion, found in him a ready and willing helper at all 
 times. 
 
 uncan L. Murchison. There are several 
 
 |i T members of this family who are prominent 
 
 "^ and well-to-do farmers of Wethersfield 
 
 Township. Duncan L. resides on section n, 
 
 where he owns a fine and well-equipped farm. 
 
 Scotland is his native country, and among its 
 rugged hills were his parents, Finley and Catherine 
 (McLean) Murchison, born and reared. Duncan 
 was born June 8, 1845, and in i85r his parents de- 
 termined to move to the New World, where they 
 hoped not only to secure better advantages for 
 themselves, but also to enable their children to enjoy 
 better opportunities for accumulating a competency 
 and for doing good. The parents soon were located 
 on a farm in Wethersfield Township, where the elder 
 Murchison became a prominent and highly respected 
 settler. Until July, 1872, the date of his death, he 
 lived in this township, and the later years of his life 
 were gladdened by witnessing the splendid results 
 of his early and earnest labors. His widow survives 
 him, and resides in Wethersfield Township. The 
 children born to them numbered 12. Of these, 
 Duncan was the next to the youngest ; Roderick, of 
 whom a sketch is given in this work, was the young- 
 est. 
 
 Duncan was only six years old when he left his 
 native land, and therefore received his education in 
 this country. The early pioneer schools, however, 
 did not afford to the young student any great ad- 
 vantages for an education. He was reared and 
 educated upon a farm, and selected for a calling the 
 same business that his parents had followed. In 
 this he has been eminently successful, and is to-day 
 
 3? 
 
 
 (' 
 
 fj^V®))«^f* 
 
 U2> 
 
 A^umi®^ 
 
 •—& 
 
 / 
 
 *® 
 
 j» 
 
 
 
$ 
 
 -/'®3«§»S-- 
 
 642 
 
 •zfefrx: ferv^O 0&0 Df^r^ ^&s- 
 
 • ) 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 ranked among the leading and most prosperous 
 farmers of this section of Henry County. He has a 
 farm of 240 acres, and has erected a magnificent 
 residence and fine and commodious barns, making 
 his a most desirable farm home. 
 
 Mr. Murchison was united in marriage in Wethers- 
 field Township, March it, 1869, with Maria, daughter 
 of Levi and Laura (Johnson) North. Her father 
 was a nacive of New York, while her mother was 
 born in Vermont. They came West and located in 
 Bureau Co., 111., in 1845, where, in 1852, Mrs. Nortli 
 died. Subsequently, Mr. N. re-married and moved 
 to Henry County, and at present is a resident of 
 Kewanee Township. Maria was the only child by 
 the first marriage, and was born at Princeton, 111., 
 Aug. 5, 1850. Mr. and Mrs. Murchison are the 
 parents of seven children, named as follows : Laura 
 C, Mary C, Ross N., Anna S., Duncan Guy, Rob 
 Roy and Nina M. Politically, Mr. M. is a Repub- 
 lican. 
 
 enjamin I. Hulin is a manufacturer of 
 carriages and wagons at Cambridge, and 
 is dealing in agricultural implements. He 
 is the patentee of the Wagon End-Gate and 
 Top-Box Fastener, and is regarded as a solid 
 business man of the place where he is opera- 
 Mr. Hulin was born Sept. 2t, 1842, in Glen- 
 marka, Christianstadt, Sweden, and is the son of Jans 
 Johansen Hulin, who was also a manufacturer of 
 wagons. He died in the land of his birth at the age 
 of 60. He married Hannah Nelson, who also died 
 in Sweden. Of their children, six in number, four 
 are living: Elmer, Nels, Janson, Kyerster and B. I. 
 Mr. Hulin was instructed in the details of his trade 
 by his father, and came to the United States in 1868. 
 He came at once on landing to Monmouth, 111., and 
 obtained a position in the shop of W. W. Church, a 
 wagon-maker. He remained in his employment 14 
 months, and then went to work for the Wier Plow 
 Company at that place. He passed the chief part 
 of the winters in their service for a period of five 
 years. At the end of that time he came to Cam- 
 bridge, and built the shop where he has since been 
 engaged in business on his own account. A further 
 
 notice of his relations is presented in another part of 
 this work. 
 
 Mr. Hulin formed a matrimonial alliance with 
 Sophia Rahn, in March, 187 1. She is a native of 
 Sweden, and came to. America with her mother when 
 she was seven years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Hulin 
 have four children— Hilda Z., Oscar L., Frank L. and 
 Alice E. The parents are members of the Lutheran 
 Church. Mr. Hulin is a Republican in his political 
 connections. 
 
 ■waazcuSMS-"— w> 
 
 *@&®033». 
 
 Bjenry Harms is a farmer on. section 23, Gen- 
 UJSj eseo Township, and has been connected 
 with the agricultural interests of Henry 
 County since the year 1855. He was born 
 in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, Nov. 14 
 1826. When he was nine years of age he was 
 employed as a sheep herder in his native land, and 
 he also took care of a flock of geese, receiving for the 
 double service only $1.50 for the services of an en- 
 tire season. He was in the habit of passing the sum- 
 mer seasons in this method and went to school in 
 the winters. This alternating manner of operation 
 he maintained until he was 14. He was then em- 
 ployed as a farm laborer, and his wages consisted of 
 $8 and a pound of wool yearly, with a few yards 
 of linen cloth. After the first year his wages was in- 
 creased, until finally he received $23 a year. At 
 the age of 22 he went into the German Army, in 
 which he served three years, as the law requires. 
 On the expiration of the period of his enforced mili- 
 tary service, he resumed farming and followed that 
 occupation until he was the possessor of sufficient 
 means to pay his passage to the United States. He 
 was then 28 years of age. He came across the ocean 
 on a sailing vessel and was on the sea 41 days. He 
 came from the port of New York where he landed 
 directly to the city of Davenport. When he reached 
 that place he had $2 in his possession wherewith to 
 begin life in the New World. He had no difficulty 
 in procuring employment and he went to work in the 
 harvest field about 12 miles from the city. He re- 
 mained there a few months and in 1855, in the 
 month of January, he came to Geneseo. He passed 
 ten years in various employments in the city, and at 
 the end of that time he rented a farm. On this he 
 
 it) 
 
 1 
 
 ( 
 
 4 
 
 A<^!l§Bnf>^ ^^^~ 
 
 k@ 
 
%^& 
 
 ■^€$k — -^V^llll^illl^ ^o j fi&sr 
 
 -««§ 
 
 <bf 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 643 
 
 continued his operations until 1875, when he bought 
 the farm on which he has since been an independ- 
 ent farmer. He has erected the necessary build- 
 ings and has rebuilt the house which was on the 
 place. The farm contains 80 acres, and it is all inf- 
 proved and enclosed. Mr. Harms raises stock and 
 has a valuable dairy. 
 
 He was married in April, 1855,10 Eliza Maitiesen. 
 She was a native of the same German province in 
 which her husband was born. She died the Novem- 
 ber following. 
 
 March 7, 1856, Mr. Harms was again married, to 
 Sophia Guldensuph, who was also born in Olden- 
 burg, in Schleswig-Holstein. Two children were born 
 of this marriage : Louis was born Feb. 12, 1857. 
 He has been reared in the county in which he lives, 
 and was educated in the English and German 
 schools of the city of Geneseo. He was married Jan. 
 12, 1882, to Minnie Glawe. She is a native of Pom- 
 erania in Germany, and they have two children — 
 Herbert and Raymond. A daughter, Emma, was 
 born later, who died at the age of five. The son is 
 operating the homestead with the father. 
 
 *»# 
 
 -S- 
 
 ^!|')rif-s/\« 
 
 illiam B. Lee, a prominent business man 
 
 at Cambridge, was born Feb. 17, 1829, on 
 
 " the Isle of Wight, England, and he is the 
 
 X 
 
 1=3 
 ) 
 
 !' son of John and Mary (Hayles) Lee. His 
 
 father was born in Hampshire, England, 
 
 and his mother was a native of the Isle of 
 
 Wight. She was the daughter of an Englishman 
 
 who removed to the United States, and died near 
 
 Alton. 
 
 Mr. Lee came to the country of his adoption in 
 the fall of 1853, and settled in the city of Rochester, 
 N. Y. He was attracted to that place by the oppor- 
 tunities it afforded for obtaining employment, being 
 the " Flour City " of the State, and there he obtained 
 sS. a situation as a miller, which was his trade in his 
 native country. 
 
 In 1856 he came to Illinois, and was interested in 
 milling at Galesburg two years, after which he re- 
 
 f moved to Geneseo in Henry County. He was en- 
 gaged in the same business there until 1874, the 
 \V year in which he removed to Cambridge. He built 
 ^L a flouring mill, which he has since operated. He 
 
 has had several associates in its management, and is 
 now in partnership with J. W. Stewart. They also 
 own an elevator, run b. the same power which oper- 
 ates the mill, and they traffic extensively in grain. 
 
 Mr. Lee was married, on the Isle of Wight, to 
 Caroline King, also a native of the beautiful little 
 island, which w.is recently made famous by the mar- 
 riage of the youngest daughter of the Queen of Eng- 
 land on its soil. Following are the names of the 
 children born to Mr. and Mrs. Lee: Carrie, Jessie, 
 William, Fannie, Albert, Frank, Charles (deceased), 
 Fred and Hugh; the latter is no longer living. 
 
 -S3= 
 
 JLJL 
 
 &- 
 
 r6, 
 
 him. 
 His 
 
 marriage to Mary White transpired Oct. 1, 
 
 v£; 
 
 ^finger Goodley, a farmer on section 
 
 Cambridge Township, was born Sept. n, 
 1822, in Lincolnshire, Eng., and is the son 
 of Ainger and Mary (Watts) Goodley. In the 
 spring of 1850 the family came to the United 
 States, and made their first location in Lake 
 Ohio. They maintained a residence there seven 
 years. The son, who is the subject of this narration, 
 removed to Henry County, and after that occurrence 
 they came hither, and took up their residence here 
 in 1859. The father died in 1874, at the age of 84; 
 the demise of the mother occurred March 14, 187 1, 
 when she was 80. Of ten children of whom they 
 became the parents, only three are living. 
 
 Mr. Goodley of this sketch came to Henry County 
 in 1857, and in the same month in which he arrived 
 in Illinois he settled in the township in which he has 
 since been a resident. At the outset he rented land, 
 and later he bought 80 acres in his own interest. 
 He has prospered in its management, and is now the 
 owner of 376 acres, all in good condition and in a 
 valuable situation. The position of Mr. Goodley is 
 one that affords a strong contrast with that of people 
 of the class to ,hich he belonged in his native land. 
 He has fulfilled the ambition of his life, which was to 
 secure for himself and his children the privileges to 
 which they were heirs by natural inheritance, and for 
 which he came to a country to obtain the privileges 
 denied him in his native land— that of holding an 
 ownership in the soil on which he earned his bread. 
 He has just claim on the esteem of all who know 
 
 V, 
 
 ft 
 
 XL 
 
 f 
 
 ■-) 
 
 siiii^as — a »©^ 
 
 -W&tQh': ',. s 
 
>B8 < t - ■ 
 
 &! 
 
 h 
 
 
 644 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 t::"? 5 : 
 
 1851, at Painesville, Ohio. Mrs. Goodley was born 
 July 24, 1828, in Lincolnshire, England, and she is 
 the daughter of James and Rose (Smith) White. 
 Her father is deceased. Following is the personal 
 record of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Goodley : 
 Anna M. is the wife of John Palmer ; James A. is the 
 oldest son ; John T. is the youngest. 
 
 Mr. Goodley endorses the principles of the Repub- 
 lican party. 
 
 llliam Love, a farmer and stock-raiser, 
 residing on section 27 of Western Town- 
 HT"" ship, and a native of Antrim County, 
 !' Ireland, was bom April T5, 1841. His 
 father, John Love, of whom a sketch is 
 given elsewhere, came to this country in 1849, 
 and located in Bucks Co., Pa. William was the 
 seventh of a family of ten children, consisting of 
 three sons and seven daughters. Coming to America 
 when a small boy, he received most of his education 
 in the common schools of Bucks County, and when a 
 young man of 20, in March, 185 1, he started for the 
 West, and soon found his way to Henry County. 
 Not long after his arrival the war broke out, and the 
 patriotism so characteristic of his nationality was 
 throbbing in his breast and he desired to defend the 
 flag of his adopted country. His patriotism was 
 publicly demonstrated on the 22d of February, 1862, 
 by his enlistment in Co. B, 65th 111. Inf., under 
 Colonel Carner. His regiment was assigned to the 
 Second Brigade, Third Division, and 23d Army Corps, 
 and was in the army under Sherman on his march 
 to Atlanta. His corps was afterward sent back 
 North. Mr. Love participated in all the active en- 
 gagements of the campaign and also fought at Frank- 
 lin and Nashville. He was then sent to Washington, 
 D. C, and later to Fort Fisher, and fought with his 
 regiment at Wilmington, and then joining Sherman 
 marched with him through to the sea. He was hon- 
 orably discharged at Greensburg, N. C, July, 1865, 
 after having served faithfully for more than three 
 years and five months. At the skirmish at Harper's 
 Ferry, three months after his enlistment, he was 
 taken prisoner, but was soon afterward paroled, and 
 was soon discharged. He was slightly wounded at 
 Columbia, Tenn., and at Pine ^Mountain, Ga. He 
 enlisted as a private, but was afterward made a 
 
 Corporal and then Sergeant, and finally Second Lieu- 
 tenant. 
 
 At the close of the war, he returned to Illinois and 
 began to work for the most extensive and successful 
 faniTer of Western Township, which gentleman was 
 destined to be his father-in-law. A few years later, 
 upon May 27 th, 1869, he was united in marriage to 
 his daughter, Miss Isabella Lloyd. She was born 
 on her father's homestead, in Western Township, 
 Nov. 1, 1849. Her father, Mahlon B. Lloyd, had 
 come from Bucks Co., Pa., early in the history of 
 Henry County, and was the first settler to locate in 
 Western Township. He was one of the most suc- 
 cessful farmers and business men of the county, and 
 for a time was engaged in the banking business at 
 Orion, where he established the first bank at that 
 place. When seven years of age, Mrs. Love went 
 to Bucks Co.. Pa., where she lived with an uncle and 
 attended school at Millersville, until she was 17 
 years of age, when she returned to her Western home. 
 She is the mother of five children, — Mahlon R., Ar- 
 thur and Edgar, besides two deceased. 
 
 Mr. Love made his first purchase of land, consist- 
 ing of 160 acres, in 1867, upon section 13, Western 
 Township. Here he settled and operated a farm for 
 some years, but after the death of his father-in-law 
 he' took possession of the old Love homestead. Both 
 Mr. and Mrs. Love are members of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church, and politically, Mr. L. is a stanch 
 Republican. Though not an office-seeker he has 
 held numerous offices of his township. 
 
 -J- 
 
 4«* 
 
 -5— • 
 
 odney E. Linnell is a farmer on section 1 
 in the township of Colona. He was born 
 in Clayton, Jefferson Co., N. Y., May 24, 
 1832. His father, Rufus B. Linnell, was a 
 a native of the same town in which the son 
 was born. His birth occurred there May 10, 
 1803, and he was the second son of Samuel and 
 Sophia Linnell, who were natives of the State of New 
 York. The paternal great-grandfather was of En- 
 glish origin and on coming to America settled on an 
 island in the River St. Lawrence, which has ever 
 since been called by the name of the family. The 
 ancestor of the Linnell generations owned and 
 improved a farm on the island. Rufus B. Lin- 
 nell married Lucy Mellville. She was born in 
 
 
 < 
 
 f 
 
 ^A£«nn$A^ 
 

$^w: 
 
 *ff»- 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 -«# 
 
 §*©^ 
 
 > 
 
 li) 
 
 Oneida Co., N. Y., Feb. io, 1807. They became 
 the parents of eight children, and seven still sur- 
 vive. 
 
 The elder Linnell was a pioneer of Henry County, 
 removing hither in 1844. The little household 
 journeyed in wagons, or rather with a wagon and a 
 buggy. The latter structure proved too frail for the 
 business required of it and on its giving out the 
 whole family proceeded on the route in the wagon. 
 They had with them three good horses. The acci- 
 dent to the light wagon took place while they were 
 in the State .of Ohio. On their arrival the father 
 exchanged a horse for a cooking-stove and ten 
 bushels of corn. The location of their home was 
 made on section 1 of what was then designated 
 township 17, and the farm was in a state of nature. 
 The first business which engaged the attention of 
 the new-comers was the preparation of a domicile in 
 which to shelter themselves, and they proceeded to 
 the erection of a log-house. They then gave their 
 attention to clearing the land, and were occupied in 
 that when the father was killed by the kick of a 
 horse. After the death of his father, Mr. Linnell 
 and an older brother assumed the management of 
 the homestead, which they continued to conduct to- 
 gether some years. 
 
 Mr. Linnell was married, Nov. 27, 1856, to Sarah 
 G. Taylor. She was born in "White Co., 111., and is 
 the daughter of Merritt and Sarah (Hatchell) Taylor. 
 The newly-married people took possession of a por- 
 tion of the homestead situated on section 1, and 
 which is now their property. They have had two 
 children. Lucy A. is the wife of Thomas Cann and 
 they live at Geneseo. Mary B. is the younger and 
 lives with her parents. 
 
 $«-£-*«===— -»- 
 
 iohael Ryan, engaged in farming on sec- 
 tion 3, Wethersfield Township, was born 
 in Ireland about the year 1819. He came 
 ' to America when about 33 years of age and 
 remained one season in Stark County, and in 
 the fall of 1853 came to Henry County. 
 Shortly afterward he located in Wethersfield Town- 
 ship, but for. a time only, as he then removed to 
 Burns Township, where he resided for about 20 
 years, 1 1 years of the time working out by the month. 
 
 Next he returned to Wethersfield, and is now the 
 owner and proprietor of 130 acres in this township, 
 140 acres in Barns and 50 acres in Kewanee Town- 
 ship. 
 
 Michael Ryan was united in the holy bonds of 
 matrimony in Wethersfield, July 10, 1864, the lady 
 who was chosen to be his companion in life being 
 Miss Bridget Ryan, a native of Ireland, who was 
 born in the year 1827. They are members of the 
 Catholic Church and politically, Mr. Ryan is a Re- 
 publican. 
 
 ames Blair, deceased, formerly a resident 
 on section 18, Kewanee Township, was 
 born in Cincinnati, Ohio, July 5, 1829. He 
 continued to reside in the State of his nativity 
 until the year 1849, when he emigrated West, 
 locating in Peoria Co., 111., and lived in Rome 
 until 1854. He afterward came to Bums Township, 
 this county, in which section he remained for two 
 years, and came to Kewanee Township in his next 
 move, where he resided until the date of his death, 
 July 15, 1883. He owned 280 acres of well improved 
 and excellent farm land at the time of his demise, 
 and had erected a fine residence and good outbuild- 
 ings upon the home farm. 
 
 Mr. Blair was married in La Salle Co., 111., Dec. 
 26, 1854, the lady chosen to share his joys and sor- 
 rows, successes and reverses, being Miss Lucy E. 
 Emerson, a native of West Virginia, where she was 
 born May 18, 1830. Her parents, Benjamin and 
 Mary (Hinckley) Emerson, were natives of Maine 
 and Ohio respectively. Mrs. Blair has become the 
 mother of seven children, — Amos L., Augusta V., 
 John L., Benjamin V., Mary E., Sarah E. and Lucy 
 I. Sarah E. died when four years old, in Kewanee 
 Township, March 21, 1868; Augusta V". is the wife 
 of William D. Oliver and resides in Kansas, and 
 they are the parents of one child — Carlos J. Mr. 
 Blair during his life-time held several of the minor of- 
 fices in his township. Mrs. B. is a member of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 The grand old pioneers who came into this section 
 of the Prairie State and reclaimed it from its native 
 condition are fast passing away. One by one they 
 are laid at rest, but the fruits of their labor are being 
 enjoyed by the present generation, and will be by all 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 ^^^ — &<MWM} \9 ^^ z- 
 
<SH&L 
 
 :>>^ 
 
 -6v4»nn& 
 
 /rT) 
 
 648 
 
 HENRY COUNTY 
 
 -5*€^T 
 
 those to come, who know nothing of the hardships 
 endured and the obstacles encountered. Mr. Blair 
 was a young man of 20 years of age when he came 
 West, that he might have better advantages for mak- 
 ing an honest living and saving something for his 
 family. The record of his life tells how wisely he 
 acted, and with what success he lived. He became 
 an important factor in molding the affairs of his new 
 home, and his impress in the early formation of his 
 community is noticable even to this day. A worthy 
 man, a useful life, his memory should be perpet- 
 uated. As a man eminently fitted to be recognized 
 as a representative man of Henry County, we take 
 pleasure in placing his portrait in this Album. 
 
 <<> 
 
 -^-•vt/wfi 
 
 ewis M. Yocum resides at Galva, and was 
 born Feb. 25, 1820, in York Co., Pa. He 
 stands foremost among the self-made and 
 moneyed men in Henry County to-day, to 
 JZ which he came fully 30 years ago. He is a son 
 of Elijah Yocum, who died Sept. 27, 1867, in 
 Ashland Co., Ohio, aged 84 years and 21 days, and 
 Catherine A. (Wagner) Yocum, who died in the 
 same county, May 4, 1857, aged 66 years, two 
 months and two days. They were both natives of 
 Pennsylvania and were married Oct. 20, 1808. The 
 latter was a daughter of John Wagner, and was of 
 German descent. 
 
 At the age of seven years, Mr. Yocum of this 
 sketch removed with his parents to Wayne Co., Ohio, 
 where he was engaged in farming until he attained 
 his 23d year, after which he engaged in various oc- 
 cupations, following the mercantile business for 18 
 years. In the year 1844 he removed to Warsaw, 
 Kosciusko Co., Ind., where he was engaged in mer- 
 chandising. In May, 1850, he removed to Marshall 
 County, this State, where he followed fanning until 
 October, 1855, when he came to Galva, this countv. 
 Before coming here he had rented a store-room and 
 his goods were on the way, and upon reaching Galva 
 he immediately opened a general store. He con- 
 tinued business at that place for nearly 16 years, 
 and then sold out to engage in the banking business. 
 He was one of the founders of what was the First 
 National Bank at Galva. In May, 1878, Mr. Yocum 
 was instrumental in starting a savings bank at Galva, 
 
 which was conducted in connection with the First 
 National, and in January, 1885, at which time the 
 charter of the First National had expired, the 
 two banks were merged into one, and are now con- 
 ducted under the name of L. M. Yocum & Co., and 
 is doing a fine and constantly increasing business, 
 Mr. Yocum being the Vice-President of the same, a 
 position he held in the First National Bank. 
 
 Mr. Yocum is still, to some extent, interested in 
 the real-estate business in the county, but his main 
 real-estate interests are located in the State of Iowa, 
 where he has several thousand acres of choice land, 
 located mostly in Ida County. Of this, 2,000 acres 
 are in a high state of cultivation. Mr. Yocum is 
 also engaged in the banking business in Iowa, hav- 
 ing an interest in the Farmers & Merchants' Bank, 
 in Aurelia, that State, of which he is President, and 
 his only son, Oran E. Yocum, is the cashier, the lat- 
 ter attending to all the business. The business 
 career of Mr. Yocum has been an active, successful 
 and remarkable one, as lie started with comparative- 
 ly nothing in life and to r day is one of the wealthiest 
 men in the county. His accumulations of this 
 world's goods is due to his own indomitable energy, 
 good judgment and perseverance, coupled with 
 fidelity and strict attention to business. Successful 
 business men are not rare in Henry County, but that 
 of Mr. Lewis M. Yocum has been of such a broad 
 character as to demand special attention. 
 
 The business conducted by Mr. Yocum is a forci- 
 ble illustration of what energy, coupled with good 
 judgment, may accomplish; and many a poor man in 
 Henry County who has been induced by Mr. Yocum 
 to work on his Western lands has reason to be thank- 
 ful for his kindness and for his suggestions, and 
 some of them to-day are well-to-do farmers in that 
 State. His banking operations are still conducted 
 by him with vigor, and he finds pleasure in person- 
 ally superintending the details of business which 
 many would leave to others. Thus, in the evening of 
 his life, with an eye still undimmed, he can look 
 back on his past career and be content. 
 
 Mr. Yocum formed a matrimonial alliance May 4, 
 1843, in Holmes Co., Ohio, with Rebecca B. Riddle, 
 born in Wayne County, that State, Nov. 18, 1825. She 
 is a daughter of John and Rebecca (Bonnett) Rid- 
 dle, natives of Pennsylvania; the former died in 
 Chariton, Lucas Co., Iowa, and the latter in Ohio. 
 Their union was blessed by the birth of two chil- 
 
 
 (5 
 
 tf— 
 
 ■s^ y o/^ iraiKfr^ — ^«^ 
 
ev^nn&niH^v^ — ^&^- 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 649 
 
 V 
 
 b 
 
 dren, — Oran E. and Josephine A. The former was 
 born Nov. 18, 1844, in Warsaw, Ind.'He was united 
 in marriage March 3, 1875, with Elizabeth Deviney, 
 a native of Pennsylvania. She has borne him three 
 children, of whom Earl L. is the only survivor. 
 Josephine A., the second child of the subject of this 
 notice, was born in October, 1848, and died May 6, 
 1881, at Aurelia, Iowa, where her husband, J. R. At- 
 wood, was and is engaged in the banking business. 
 
 Politically, Mr. Yocum is identified with the Re- 
 publican party. He and his good helpmeet, who has 
 shared his joys and sorrows, his successes and re- 
 verses for 42 years and more, are both members of 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 Elijah Yocum, the father of the subject of this no- 
 tice, was born in Chester Co., Pa., Sept. 6, 1783, and 
 his wife, Catherine Ann, was born in Cumberland 
 County, same State, March 12, 17 91. He was a 
 carder and fuller, and in an early day was engaged 
 in making carding-niachines. He was a man of 
 business, meeting with moderate success. He. lived 
 in Wayne Co., Ohio, where he purchased a mill six 
 miles south of Wooster, in 1826. He remained there 
 until 1834, when he moved to Holmes Co., Ohio, 
 where he also was engaged in carding and fulling. 
 In 1837 he moved to Ashland County, same State, 
 and became the proprietor of a grist-mill. He 
 visited his children in this State several times before 
 his death. Religiously, he and his wife were mem- 
 bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he 
 was a local preacher. They were the parents of 
 eight children, — Mary Ann (Kaufman), Charles, 
 Matilda (Todd), deceased; John, who died in his 
 13th year; Martha (McClure); Lewis M., James, 
 and Ann Elizabeth (Glenn), deceased. 
 
 ^lijah Storey. Among the enterprising and 
 energetic young farmers of Kewanee Town- 
 ship is the subject of this sketcn, who was 
 'j^p. born here Oct. 29, 185 r, and is a son of Jarius 
 and Nancy (Dingrnan) Storey, who were early 
 pioneers in this county, a sketch of whom may 
 be seen elsewhere in this volume. 
 
 Elijah received the advantages afforded by the dis- 
 trict schools, and remained at home until he attained 
 the age of 21 years. At that age he was united in 
 
 marriage with Miss Lavina McClellan, the event be- 
 ing celebrated on the 27th of February, 1872. She 
 was born in Kendall Co., 111., Sept. T9, 1852. Her 
 mother is deceased. 
 
 After marriage our subject settled on section 5, 
 where he has since resided, and is the proprietor of 
 an excellent farm of 85 acres, all of which he has, by 
 his industry and hard labor, brought into a good 
 state of cultivation, to-day being one of the best 
 farms in his township. Mr. and Mrs. Storey have 
 had born to them five children to bless their home 
 circle; but the eldest, Nellie, died when but a year 
 and 12 days old. The living are: Jarius L., Clar- 
 ence E., Ada and Ida (twins). 
 
 In politics, Mr. Storey affiliates with the Republi- 
 can party. 
 
 -«&- 
 
 -e~- 
 
 '!8&l.»Jte 
 
 |f scar Hallgren, a resident in the township of 
 Cambridge, was born in Ostergotland, Swe- 
 den, Nov. 28, 1847. He is the son of 
 Hampus and Louise (Swanson) Hallgren, who 
 were both natives of Sweden. The father died 
 in his native land, and the mother came to the 
 United States with her son. They made the journey 
 to this country in June, T870. The mother died at 
 Kearney Junction, Neb. A brother of Mr. Hallgren, 
 named Leander, had preceded him to America and 
 was living with an uncle, A. P. Swanson, who came 
 to this county in 1852. Three brothers and four 
 sisters of Mr. Hallgren are residents of Nebraska. 
 Their names are : Oscar, Leander, Margaret, Frank, 
 Emily, Ida, Axtel, Amelia and Jenny. These are 
 the names of all the children in the family. Mar- 
 garet is deceased. 
 
 On his. arrival in this country Mr. Hallgren came 
 to Illinois and rented land in Knox County. He 
 operated there three years, and at the expiration of 
 that time he joined his brother Leander in Henry 
 County. He interested himself in farming and is 
 now the owner of 160 acres of valuable land. 
 
 He was married at Galesburg, 111., to Miss Huldah 
 Swanson. She is a native of Sweden. Of their mar- 
 riage the following children have been born, who are 
 named Phebe, Nancy, Harry and Minnie. 
 
 Mr. Hallgren has taken an active part in all pub- 
 lic matters, and especially in school affairs. He is 
 
 I 
 
 (i) 
 
 .^ r (2/ -&H Q^niB^A^ — 5^^ 
 
 ■$@§Jfl§>/H6#& 
 
650 
 
 -2*&k @V^III1@I1 0&- /C) J &sr 
 
 ^#^f 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 now discharging the duties of School Director. He 
 is extensively engaged in the purchase and sale of 
 broom-corn, which he ships to Chicago. He is the 
 owner of 480 acres of land in Phelps Co., Neb. 
 
 V 
 
 * 
 & 
 
 > 
 
 -43- 
 
 J^,hauncy Bassett, editor, publisher and 
 proprietor of the Kewanee Independent, 
 §P» "*> was born at Smithfield, Bradford Co., Pa., 
 Oct. 25, 1814, and was the sixth in order of 
 birth of five sons and three daughters, bred 
 and reared by his parents, John and Clarissa 
 (Kellogg) Bassett, natives respectively of the States 
 of Rhode Island and Connecticut, and of English an- 
 cestry. 
 
 The subject of our sketch received a common- 
 school education in the schools of his native State, 
 and at the age of 17 began to learn the printer's 
 trade. The Northern Banner, a small weekly sheet 
 published at Towanda, Pa., was the first paper upon 
 which he worked; and, from the fact that about one 
 year from the time he entered the office in company 
 with his brother, he bought the plant.it is evident he 
 had gone into the business with no small degree of 
 eagerness. He held the Banner, however, a short 
 time only, finding, probably, that in those days, as in 
 these, a one-horse weekly newspaper in some -com- 
 munities was "considerable of a white elephant." 
 Any way, the Banner perished, and the afterward 
 renowned David Wilmot was connected with the 
 Towanda Democrat, a paper started by J. J. Cantine, 
 on which Mr. Bassett was employed for a time. 
 Wilmot was editor-in-chief. Leaving the Democrat, 
 Bassett returned to the Banner for a season, and in 
 the fall of r836 started out to see the world, or a 
 part of it; and, after visiting various places without 
 striking a "case," he found himself a "sit" until 
 Congress assembled, when he struck for the Capitol. 
 From here, in a few months he worked his way 
 through Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio, 
 where he formed a limited co-partnership with a- 
 young man, and purchased the Mt. Vernon Demo- 
 cratic Banner, which they parted with in about a 
 year. After a few months of the "jour" printer's 
 usual experience, he drifted back to Coshocton, Ohio, 
 and bought out the Horizon (a paper upon which he 
 had worked before, buying the Mt. Vernon Demo- 
 
 — Q-A 
 
 cratic Banner), and changed its name to the Demo- 
 crat. He managed the Democrat about four years, 
 sold it out, bought it back, and held it about two 
 years longer. Finally parting with it, he was collec- 
 tor of tolls on the Ohio Canal at Roscoe, and during 
 the year of 1855 we find him in charge of the Henry 
 County (111.) Dial, at Kewanee. From that time to 
 the present, the history of the Kewanee press is re- 
 plete with the labors of Chauncy Bassett. He owned 
 and managed the Kewanee Monthly Advertiser for 
 seven or eight years ; started the Union Democrat 
 in 1863, ran it about a year and a half; the Weekly 
 Advertisers 1866; and in 1867 went to Galesburg 
 and took charge of the Galesburg Liberal. He was 
 at Galesburg about a year, and returned to Kewanee, 
 where, from the ashes of the Dial, he reared the Ke- 
 wanee Independent in 1870, a paper acknowledged 
 by all to be an honor to the town of Kewanee, and 
 therefore the highest credit to its able and honorable 
 manager. 
 
 Mr ; Bassett has always been a staunch Democrat, 
 and that his services to that party were of such worth 
 as to attract attention away back in the '50's, is at- 
 tested by his appointment to the Kewanee Postmas- 
 tership by James Buchanan in 1857, and held it 
 until i860. 
 
 He was married at Columbus, Ohio, in 1840, to 
 Miss Ann Eliza Smith, who died April 19, 1882. She 
 was the mother of seven children : Orvil D., book- 
 keeper; William P , died in 1866; Sarah A.; Amelia 
 T., Librarian at Kewanee; A. Smith, printer; Frank 
 H., printer; Anna died in infancy.' 
 
 ifPPli \ k° mas ■*• Worthington, of Cambridge, 
 11 VSsl came to this township in which he lives, in 
 r * 1865. He was born in Doylestown, Bucks 
 Co., Pa., Nov. 29, 1810. The family of which 
 he is a member is of English extraction. His 
 paternal grandfather, David Worthington, was 
 born in the vicinity of Philadelphia. The latter was 
 a farmer, and died in the place where he was born, 
 at the age of 97. He married a lady named Mary 
 Williams, who was of Welsh descent. She became 
 the mother of six children. Of these the youngest, 
 Amos, was born arid died on the homestead. His 
 demise occurred when he was 47. He was a soldier 
 
 () 
 
 I 
 
 (i) 
 
 1 
 
•&^K gV^MBD& v^c) ^ &s- 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 65 r 
 
 | 
 
 I 
 
 in the War of 1812, and after that was ended he 
 passed the remainder of his life on the farm of which 
 he had charge. He married Cynthia Good. Her 
 parents, Jonathan and Mary (Callender) Good, were 
 of the Society of Friends or Quakers. Her earliest 
 ancestors came to this country with William Penn. 
 Mrs. Cynthia Worthington was the mother of ten 
 children, who reached the period of mature life. 
 Four only are now living. Mrs. Hill is a resident 
 of Philadelphia, and Theodore is a resident of Iowa. 
 Mr. Worthington of this sketch is the second in or- 
 der of birth, and at the age of 23 went to Columbus, 
 Ohio, where he operated as a mechanic. He had 
 obtained a complete understanding of the business 
 of a carpenter in the State where he was born. He 
 came West on account of impaired health, and he 
 abandoned the business of his trade and commenced 
 farming. He followed that line of business until his 
 removal to Illinois in 1865, when he came to Cam- 
 bridge Township. At first he bought 140 acres of 
 land, on which the improvements were few. He 
 placed the entire acreage in profitable condition, and 
 was the resident manager of the farm until 1876, 
 when he fixed his abode at Cambridge. He is pass- 
 ing the sunset of his days in the enjoyment of the 
 fruits of a well-spent life. Mr. Worthington is an 
 adherent of the Democratic party. 
 
 He has been thrice wedded. His first wife, Mary 
 Tucker Worthington, was the daughter of Elishaand 
 Mary Tucker, of Doylestown, Pa, their mar- 
 riage occurring December 13, 1832. She died 
 in Columbus, Ohio, March 14, 1838, leaving 
 two sons. The eldest, Samuel A., died Oct. 25, 
 1861, at Summerville, West Virginia. He was an 
 officer in the 12th Regt. Ohio Vol. Theodore T. 
 married Clara Dennison, of Cambridge, 111., and is 
 now a resident in New Tacoma, W. T. His second 
 union was with Margaret E. Knapp, of Marion, 
 Ohio, July 18, 1839. She died June 20. 1842, leav- 
 ing one child, Franklin, who died Oct. 13, 1842. 
 His third union was with Eliza A. Freeman, Feb. 2, 
 1843. She was the daughter of Rev. Elijah and 
 Sarah (Going) Freeman. Of the latter union seven 
 children were born : Sarah L. married T. S. Knapp; 
 Amos E. died in Murfreesboro, Tenn., Feb. 26, 
 1863, in the the service of the United States, in the 
 32d Ohio Vol. Inf.; Martha M. is teaching in the 
 Deaf Mute Institute, Rochester, N. Y. ; William A. 
 married Mary Seaton, of Cambridge, died in Butler 
 
 Co., Nebraska; Carrol E. is in the book and station- 
 ary business at Emporia, Kansas ; Clara E. married 
 George B. Kelsey, and is living near Mt. Vernon, 
 D. T. ; M. M. Lila married E. M. Whitman, an at- 
 torney at Grand Rapids, D. T. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Worthington and all the children 
 are members of the Regular Baptist Church. 
 
 \k eman H. Haaff, of the township of Loraine, 
 is the roost extensive grazer and stock- 
 breeder in Henry County. The name which he 
 represents has its associations with the early 
 history of the State of New York, in which one 
 of his ancestors was a prominent official. His 
 progenitors in the old country were inhabitants of 
 Pomerania, on the shores of the Baltic Sea. The 
 original and proper orthography of the name is Haff, 
 and it signifies "haven." The family takes its pat- 
 ronymic from the marvelous harbors of the province 
 named, in the early days Klein Haff and Gross Haff, 
 but by a later nomenclature, consequent on the chang- 
 es in the provincial relations of the German States, 
 they are now known as the Pomeranian Bay. The 
 preference of Mr. Haaff would have been the angli- 
 cized form of "haven;" but he would thereby be cut 
 off from the family tree. He has, therefore, added an 
 " a " to distinguish himself from his father, instead of 
 using the common form of " junior.'' His primal an- 
 cestor in the United States journeyed to this country 
 via the West Indies, and while making a temporary 
 stay on one of them an earthquake transpired, which 
 so frightened him that he ran to the shore. A 
 French girl, in a similar state of terror, was near him, 
 and they took possession of a boat and drifted out to 
 sea. They were picked up by a passing steamer 
 and carried to New York, where they were married. 
 Mr. Haaff was born in Middlebury, Addison Co., 
 Vt, Oct. 20, 1833. He is the oldest son of Heman 
 H. and Sarah (Tarbell) Haaff. The former was born 
 in Nassau, Rensselaer Co., N. Y., and became an itin- 
 erant preacher of the Baptist Church. He removed 
 his family to the State of New York while his son 
 was yet an infant. He located in the eastern part of 
 that State at first, and preached at Saratoga Springs 
 for a time. He went thence to Oneida County, and 
 subsequently to the counties of Otsego and Genesee. 
 
 
 I 
 
 V 
 
 -eA^roniif^g — ^^ 
 
 
^• s « 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
 
 He was in the ministry more than 30 years, and died 
 in Iowa at the age of 65. 
 
 After obtainirlg a preliminary education, Mr. 
 Haaff attended the university at Madison, and sub- 
 sequently the State and National Law School at 
 Poughkeepsie, graduating with the highest honors of 
 the institution in a class of 50. At 15 he began to 
 teach, and from that time on, 'until he was 24, he 
 was alternately occupied in teaching and attending 
 school. He finished his course of legal study, and 
 came to Illinois in 1854. He taught the Union 
 School in Oswego, Kendall County, two years, and 
 after his admission to the Bar of Illinois, he practiced 
 his profession in the city of Chicago, until the fire of 
 
 1871. While the hot embers were still smoking he 
 bought the remains of a ruined cathedral and also of 
 a brewery. He narrates the struggles he was ob- 
 liged to make to hold possession of his property, and 
 to prevent the vandals from carrying off the precious 
 brick that had suddenly become worth $16 per 1,000. 
 During the frightful winter that succeeded, he was at 
 times compelled to stand on the walls to encourage 
 his men to work, the cold was so bitter, and by April, 
 
 1872, he had succeeded in erecting a block of build- 
 ings, with a frontage of 175 feet and 75 feet high. In 
 December, when the cold was the most intense, all 
 was in readiness to begin the work of reconstruction, 
 and at the iminent risk of his own life he drilled the 
 frozen ground until it was honey- combed with holes, 
 into which he poured a keg of powder, and so made 
 an excavation in which work could be commenced. 
 He was arrested and taken to the office of the mayor. 
 He was discharged from custody, complimented for 
 " pluck," and told to "go ahead," as nobody was 
 hurt. He continued his operations in the line of 
 building, until he had, prior to 1874, erected two oth- 
 er business structures, acting as his own architect, 
 and supervising the workmen in person. 
 
 Mr. Haaff was a Republican until 1884. He aid- 
 ed in the organization of the grand old party in Ken- 
 dall County, and was an associate of Owen Lovejoy. 
 Under the first call of President Lincoln for troops 
 he raised a company, and was promised a commis- 
 sion if he would allow the men he had enrolled 
 to be sent to guard the bridge on the Big Muddy. 
 They were sent, and when the service was per- 
 formed the. officer in command had the superior 
 advantage of having seen service, and he was the 
 one man too many. 
 
 Mr. Haaff received the personal thanks of Presi- 
 dent Lincoln for a service in which he assisted while 
 "the Mississippi River was closed at Cairo. A syn- 
 dicate of pork-packers at Chicago were holding 
 40,000 pdunds of pork, which they were intending to 
 ship South, when the order came closing all trade 
 below Cairo, and they were very much exasperated. 
 They called an indignation meeting, hired Bryan 
 Hall, placarded that city, and announced a meeting 
 of the Republican party to express " our indignation 
 at the outrageous course of the administration in 
 presuming to close up the Mississippi River !" . Mr. 
 Haaff collected a few friends at his office, among 
 whom was the younger Gen. Forsythe, and the 
 younger brother of Judge Blodgett, also a newly 
 elected " justice of the peace," who was known as a 
 " very stubborn man." After some discussion it was 
 agreed that the party should go to Bryan Hall, on 
 the evening announced, and organize and run the 
 meeting themselves ; and they proposed to have in 
 readiness a set of resolutions commending the Ad- 
 ministration for its course. " The plan was that Mr. 
 Haaff should go upon the platform, call the assem- 
 bly to order, and ask for nomination for chairman. 
 Then Forsythe was to nominate the " justice " afore- 
 said, the motion to be seconded by Mr. Blodgett. 
 Mr. Haaff was to declare him elected, and the "jus- 
 tice " was to take possession of the chair, and stick 
 to it like death. Mr. Haaff says : "We knew that it 
 meant a fight, but as the administration had beat us 
 in our attempt to' enlist and fight abroad, we were 
 not averse to a fight at home. We knew that the 
 boss packer could lick any two of us, and that he 
 would as soon fight as eat. We carried out the pro- 
 gramme, and as soon as our man was declared elect- 
 ed, he got into the chair, and none too soon either, 
 for over the seats came a man flying, coat and hat in 
 the air, sleeves up, eyes blood-shot and all ready for 
 war. Three men flew for hirri, and he failed to reach 
 the chairman. In an instant the fellow was in the 
 hands of the police ; some one turned off the gas op- 
 portunely, and the attempt to block the course of the 
 Government went out in the darkness !" 
 
 One of the feats performed by Mr. Haaff while he 
 was a practicing attorney in Chicago illustrates the 
 sort of interest he took in the affairs of his clients. 
 In a family conflict where a father was endeavoring 
 to outwit his son, a stock of goods was in the custody 
 of Sheriff Nelson ; and while the latter was sound 
 
 9 
 
 * 
 & 
 
 
 - s » s — eA€i«®mi&A@ 
 
4>[W&Bnv> 
 
 I 
 
 T=X 
 
 I 
 
 HENR Y CO UN T Y. 
 
 6 53 
 
 asleep at the front door, Mr. Haaff let the property 
 down through a skylight, and the case was settled in 
 favor of his client without recourse to the law. 
 
 Mr. Haaff came to Henry County in 1874 for the 
 purpose of attending to the improvement of 4,000 
 acres of land of which he had become the owner. It 
 was swamp land, and he at opce entered upon the 
 work of reclamation. He has drained a large pro- 
 portion of the estate, made other improvements, and 
 erected a fine residence at a point known as Heman's 
 Grove. A large acreage is now yearly mowed by 
 machinery and is under cultivation. There are 60 
 miles of ditch on the estate of Mr. Haaff in Henry 
 County, and, as a neighbor remarks, " he has made 
 the desert blossom as the rose." He is an ardent 
 advocate of the principles of the Prohibitionists, and 
 is shaping his business to give himself to the work of 
 moral reform in the years to come. 
 
 He was married to Evelyn L. Currier, Oct. 1, 1863. 
 She was born in Wyoming Co., N. Y., and is the 
 daughter of Joseph and Celestia (Foster) Currier. 
 Her father was a merchant, and at the time of his 
 death was engaged in the management of an exten- 
 sive business at Buffalo, N. Y. Mr. and Mrs. Haaff 
 are members of the Baptist Church. 
 
 ~X/W«\i2£l2'@ , i© 
 
 •SSOTTOi'VW 
 
 rancis A. Cook, manufacturer of brick and 
 tile at Cambridge, was born Nov. 8, 1842, 
 " in the township of Wethersfield, Henry 
 County. He was probably descended from 
 English progenitors, as the location of the 
 family in the East would seem to indicate that 
 such is the fact. The earliest ancestors were set- 
 tlers in Salem, Mass. The parents of Mr. Cook, 
 Robert and Martha (Wiggins) Cook, were born in 
 Massachusetts. They came from that State to 
 Henry County in 1840. They settled in the town- 
 ship where the son was born, but later they went to 
 Kewanee, where their deaths occurred. The father 
 was brought up by the father of the lady he mar- 
 ried. He was a tailor by calling, and afterward be- 
 came a farmer in Henry County. His farm was 
 where the village of Kewanee is located. Of the 
 six children born to him and his wife there is only 
 one, the son who is the subject of this personal ac- 
 count residing in the county. The latter was edu- 
 
 cated at Kewanee. He was still in his minority 
 when he entered the military service of the United 
 States. He enrolled as a soldier May 12, 1861, a 
 few days after the first call of President Lincoln for 
 troops. He enlisted in the 7th Regt. Mo. Vol. Inf., 
 in Co. I. His corps commander was Gen. John A. 
 Logan, and he served under him nearly three years. 
 He received an honorable discharge May 14, 1864. 
 Following are the names of some of the actions in 
 which he listened to the whistle of rebel bullets, and 
 with each one came the notion that its special mis- 
 sion was to ascertain his exact whereabouts. He 
 was under fire at Raymond, Jackson, Champion 
 Hills, Vicksburg, and in all the engagements in 
 which his regiment was involved. 
 
 Mr. Cook then returned to his home at Ke- 
 wanee. He passed the next two years in the busi- 
 ness of a painter, and then commenced the manu- 
 facture of brick. He was interested in the business 
 at Kewanee for five years, and at the expiiation of 
 that time he sold his interests there and removed to 
 Cambridge. He at once entered upon the manufac- 
 ture of brick and tile, in which he has since oper- 
 ated. He manufactures annually about 1,800,000 
 brick, or rather that is the capacity of his works. The 
 tile factory can produce 1,000,000 feet yearly. These 
 are the figures if the works are managed separately. 
 Jointly they have the capacity of about a million 
 brick and tile annually. 
 
 Mr. Cook was married Oct. 24, 1867, to Mary De- 
 morro. Their only child, Lettie, died in infancy. 
 Martha is the name of an adopted daughter. 
 
 Mr. Cook is a Republican, and belongs to the 
 G. A. R. 
 
 illiam E. Haxtun, President of the Hax- 
 tun Steam Heater Co., of Kewanee, 111., 
 (see history of Haxtun Steam Heater Co., 
 this volume) was born at Beekman, Dutchess 
 Co., N. Y., Jan. 20. 1832, and was the only 
 son of Elnathan and Maria (DeLong) Haxtun, 
 natives also of the town of Btekman, »nd of English 
 and French extraction respectively. 
 
 The senior Mr. Haxtun was by occupation a farm- 
 er, and also a civil engineer, and the subject of this 
 sketch, who at various New England and New York 
 
 I 
 
 
 ff 
 
 
 S/.2 
 
 
 j^C ^^jjrjgprjj^A^ 3^&. 
 
 4^£<®y s 
 
 r -:^ 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
 
 ■(!) 
 
 academies acquired a first-class education, followed 
 both the occupations of his father until about 38 
 years of age. In 1870 he came to Kewanee, and 
 after trading in Western lands for probably, two 
 years, became interested in and Vice-President of the 
 Anderson Steam Heater Co., a flourishing manufac- 
 turing establishment of this place, and subsequently 
 merged into the present concern of which he is the 
 head. The history of this large industry under the 
 management and direction of Mr. Haxtun renders all 
 the eulogy of the business sagacity and genius of this 
 gentleman unnecessary, and therefore, if dealt in, in 
 this sketch, would be but fulsome and by conse- 
 quence distasteful. 
 
 Mr. Haxtun was married in Dutchess Co., N. Y., 
 Oct. 25, 1858, to Miss Sarah A. Brundige, a native 
 of Chester Co., N. Y., and daughter of Edward Brun- 
 dige, of the same place. Of the children born to 
 this union we have the following brief memoranda : 
 Henry, the eldest, is of the Haxtun Steam Heater 
 Co. ; Maria, Annis B., Elnathan, machinist, employed 
 by Haxtun Steam Heater Co. ; and Edward B., a 
 student. In politics Mr. Haxtun is a Republican, 
 though not an office seeker, as is shown by his 
 record. 
 
 apt. William Irvin, a retired farmer of 
 |F Henry County, and a former railroad con- 
 ^ tractor, is a resident of Geneseo. He was 
 born Nov. 25, 1816, in Lebanon Co., Pa. His 
 father, John Irvin, was a native of Ireland, 
 and left his country during the Rebellion of 
 1799. He married Elizabeth Brown, who was born 
 in Pennsylvania. 
 
 Mr. Irvin was brought up on a farm and thor- 
 oughly instructed in the details of agriculture'. He 
 was mrrried June 19, 1838, to Margaret, daughter of 
 Jacob and Jane Shad el. She was born in Lebanon 
 County, and gave birth to two children. Augustus 
 T. married Ellen Walkey, and is a real-estate agent 
 at Davenport, Io.va. Margaret J. is the wife of 
 Aaron Bollman, and they reside in Falls City, Neb. 
 In 1844 Mr. Irvin came to Chicago, where he ar- 
 rived'May 13. He embarked in mercantile business 
 under the old Tremont House, and he transacted his 
 affairs there one year. At the expiration of that time 
 
 he went to Cedar Creek, Stephenson Co., 111., and 
 there he became interested in the purchase and ship- 
 ment of grain. He continued to operate there until 
 r868. During the second year of the war he entered 
 the military service of the United States, receiving a 
 Captain's commission from Governor Yates, bearing 
 date of Sept., 1862. -He was assigned to the com- 
 mand of Company I, 74th Regt. 111. Vol. Inf., and 
 was in the service one year, being obliged to resign 
 on account of physical disability. Among the ac- 
 tions in which he was a participant was that at Per- 
 ryville, Oct. 8, 1862, at Stone River, and in the 
 battles at Chattanooga, Buzzard's Roost and Lookout 
 Mountain. He resigned in April, T863. The ardu- 
 ous character of the work done by his command is 
 shown by the fact that the company was full when 
 it went to the front, and at the date of the resigna- 
 tion of its Captain only 19 men answered to their 
 names at roll call. 
 
 Mr. Irvin was connected for some years with the ( i) 
 construction of railroads in the State of Illinois. In \ 
 1852 or 1853 he commenced making contracts in the fa 
 interests of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, E5 
 and operated three years under the management of i&) 
 R. V. Mason, and during the time the road between «=» 
 Freeport and Dubuque was built. In 1856 he- took £fr 
 a contract on the line of the Racine & Mississippi ^ 
 Railroad, and after the completion of it he went to • J) 
 Salt Creek and again operated for his former-em- 
 ployers. He next engaged with the builders of the 
 Racine & Mississippi Railroad and took a contract 
 on their line working east from Freeport, and after- 
 ward from Freeport- to Savannah. In connection 
 with Messrs. George and William Green, he aided in 
 the construction of the McGregor & Western Rail- 
 road, and they also assisted in building the Missis- 
 sippi & Western and the line between Quincy and 
 Keokuk. He was the originator of the Rockford, 
 Rock Island & St. Louis Railroad, and was largely 
 interested in its construction, and acted as Assistant 
 Superintendent while it wa.s being built. He was 
 also concerned to some extent in the work on the 
 road between Peoria and Farmington, and on the 
 Chicago & Rock Island route. 
 
 While he was a resident of Pennsylvania he was a 
 Captain in the State militia, and after his removal to 
 Stephenson Co., 111., he officiated as - Postmaster about 
 two years at Cedarville. 
 
 Since his removal to Henry County he has be- 
 
 :s ^* : — g^ng®mi& ^ ^ g^ 
 
 -«! 
 
7P5eS3S^>' > r^-' 
 
 The Prophet 
 
V 
 
 <b 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 657 
 
 come extensively interested in real estate, and owns 
 1,000 acres of farming lands in the townships of 
 Hanna, Colona and Edford, and he is also the pro- 
 prietor of considerable city property in Geneseo. 
 
 Since the family came West five sons have been 
 added to the household. Jacob H. has operated to 
 considerable extent as a railroad man, and is now a 
 hardware dealer and lumber merchant at Jamesport, 
 Mo. He married Lydia A. Coffing, daughter of 
 Courtney Coffing. He died in Pueblo, Dec. 31, 
 1878, leaving one child. The latter lives at Came- 
 ron, Mo. William, the second son, married Florence 
 Hill, and is a farmer near Green River. He has 
 three children. John C. married Emma Johnson, 
 and is engaged in farming near Cleveland, Henry 
 County. Charles C. is a railroad man. The next 
 child in order of birth was a daughter, named Mary 
 E., who was born Dec. 28, 1847, and died March 8, 
 1851. 
 
 - >i 4 <*S>k<^M&><> 
 
 -S— ht 
 
 lames Sadler. One of the pioneers, as well 
 as one of the energetic and progressive 
 farmers of Henry County, is Mr. James 
 
 Sadler, who is a resident on section 1 8, Weth- 
 It ersfield Township, and a native of England, in 
 
 which country he was born, April 14, 1830. 
 His parents, William and Anna (Boise) Sadler, came 
 to America in r8s3 and located in this township, 
 where they afterwards died. Their family comprised 
 14 children, of whom James, our subject, was seventh 
 in order of birth. When 20 years of age he left 
 England for the New World, coming direct to Henry 
 County, where he engaged to work out at farm labor, 
 which he followed for three years. He next rented 
 land for a couple of years and then settled on sec- 
 tion 18, his present place of residence. His first pur- 
 chase was 100 acres, where he entered vigorously 
 and energetically upon the task of its improvement, 
 and has since increased his acreage until he now 
 owns 320 acres of valuable land and all tillable. 
 Upon his fine farm he has erected a splendid resi- 
 dence, barn and other suitable outbuildings, besides 
 having fenced his land. Mr. Sadler is well known as 
 a cordial and hospitable gentleman, and well liked by 
 all with whom he comes in contact. 
 
 He was married in Jefferson Co., N. Y., Nov. 13, 
 1861, to Miss Margaret E. Cassidy, who is of En- 
 
 glish ancestry, and was born in Canada, Feb. 4, 1842. 
 Her parents were Michael and Susan Cassidy. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Sadler's home circle has been blessed by 
 the birth of twelve children, of whom the following is 
 a list: Hattie L., Myron E , Arthur C, Anna I., 
 George E., Thomas W., Emery C, Mary E., Ellen 
 J., William J., Eva L. and an infant unnamed. 
 
 Mr. Saddler has been School Director and Road 
 Commissioner of his township, and politically is iden- 
 tified with the Republican party. 
 
 ^0006 
 
 a-bo-kies-shiek, or White Cloud, the 
 prophet of the Winnebagoes, and com- 
 monly called "The Prophet," was the 
 ^r&)P most prominent Indian that was ever in- 
 timately connected with the history of Hen- 
 ry County. He was born about 1790, and 
 made Prophetstown his home. He was a stout, 
 shrewd-looking Indian; sagacity and cunning were 
 prominent traits of his character and essential to the 
 prophetic pretensions by which he imposed upon the 
 credulity of his ignorant followers. It is claimed 
 that he was one of the chief instigators in bringing 
 on the Black Hawk War. He resided at Prophets- 
 town, where there was a large Indian village. 
 
 Through the generous interest of Hon. Elihu B. 
 Washburne, while Minister Plenipotentiary from this 
 country to the Court of Paris, Whiteside County was 
 enabled to secure a portrait of this noted chief, which 
 now decorates the walls of the Supervisors' room in 
 the Record building at Morrison. It is painted by 
 P. A. Healey, the distinguished American portrait 
 painter, from the original study of George Catlin, the 
 American artist, and one of the most celebrated of 
 Indian painters. It was painted by Mr. Healey in 
 Europe, at the request of Mr. Washburne, and pre- 
 sented by him to Whiteside County as a historic 
 souvenir. This work was greatly admired while on 
 exhibition in the artist's studio at Paris. It is a full- 
 sized portrait and is a work of rare merit. It repre- 
 sents the Prophet standing erect, in full Indian dress, 
 with his blanket thrown over his left shoulder, par- 
 tially folded over one arm, and hanging with careless 
 grace by his side. He stands upon the brow of a 
 hill, while about are some small trees and shrubbery. 
 In the back-ground is the blue sky. In front is a 
 broad expanse of country, over which his eye rests 
 
 
 (5 
 
 *$yi — @tK?ii v&m ^ ~s% *- 
 
.658 
 
 0-7 
 
 «im®iid& 
 
 HENR Y CO UNT Y. 
 
 % 
 
 > 
 
 with a melancholy gaze, contemplating a land that is 
 rapidly fading away from him and his race. Mr. 
 Washbume was cordially received by the people of 
 Whiteside County, whom he had formerly repre- 
 sented for many years in Congress. The presenta- 
 tion of the portrait was made Oct. 27, 1877, at the 
 Fair Grounds, which had been fitted up for the oc- 
 casion, and was preceded by an eloquent address 
 from Mr. Washbume, the donor. It was made a 
 grand occasion, and one long to be remembered by 
 the people of the county. 
 
 In connection with this sketch we give the por- 
 trait of White Cloud, a reproduction of the painting 
 mentioned above. 
 
 -»«S88S&*~ - 
 
 ennetri Murchison, a farmer residing on 
 _ section 19, Wethersfield Township, was 
 
 IPv^' born in Scotland, March 24, 1841. When 
 
 J*iK~ 10 years of age, Mr. Murchison emigrated 
 with his parents, Finley and Catherine (Mc- 
 Lean) Murchison, across the briny waters to 
 this country. Kenneth lived at home until he at- 
 tained the age of 21 years, then he went to Kewanee 
 and engaged in the coal business, and was thus oc- 
 cupied for nearly ten years, at the expiration of 
 which time he returned to his former occupation, 
 farming. He purchased 160 acres on section 19, 
 on which he located and on which he has since 
 lived. He is at present the owner of rjg% acres. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Murchison took place in 
 Stark Co. 111., Oct. 3, 1867, at which time Miss Mar- 
 garet C. McClennan, daughter of John and Flora 
 (Cameron) McClennon, natives of Scotland, became 
 his wife. Her parents emigrated to this country in 
 1852 and located in Stark County, from whence they 
 removed- to Wethersfield Township, this county, 
 where they at present reside. Mrs. Murchison was 
 the fifth in order of birth of a family of six children. 
 She was born in Scotland Nov. 20, 1846, came to 
 this country with her parents and resided with them 
 in Stark County until her marriage. Of her un- 
 ion with Mr. Murchison, nine children were born, 
 seven of whom survive : Donald A., Flora A., 
 Catherine M., Christina H., Margaret A., Bessie M., 
 Mabel, and two who died in infancy. 
 
 Mr. Murchison has held the offices of School Di- 
 
 rector and Overseer of Highways, and in politics 
 votes with the Republican party. His wife is a 
 member of the Presbyterian Church. 
 
 acob Fickling, a farmer of Cambridge 
 Township, resident on section 13, was 
 born Feb. 6. 18 12, in Wilton, Norfolkshire, 
 England. His parents, Nathan and Mary 
 (Stead) Fickling, were natives of England, 
 and they both died in London. They had 
 eight children, named Jacob, Rebecca, John, Sarah, 
 Jabez, Zenas, Jabez (2d) and one other child who 
 died in infancy. The first Jabez fell when he was 
 nine years old and broke his neck. The second 
 child of the same name lived to come to the United 
 States with his brothers John and Ja'rob. 
 
 Jacob landed at Quebec, in June, 1845, after a 
 passage of 52 days. While he was in the queer 
 Canadian city, the great fire occurred there, and he 
 went thence to Toronto, and after a few days passed 
 there in prospecting he proceed to Niagara Falls, 
 and there he found employ at the trade which he 
 had learned in his native land. He went thence to 
 Buffalo, where he took lake passage for Chicago on 
 the steamboat "New Orleans." The boat crossed 
 Lake Erie, but went down in the river St. Clair, 
 while passing through the straits to Lake Huron ; 
 and, instead of going to Chicago, Mr. Fickling went 
 to Detroit. His next removal was to La Fayette, 
 Ind., where he remained until after the Christmas 
 following, working as a shoe-maker. From there he 
 came to Danville, 111., and there he was married. 
 In 1846 he went to Peoria. Not long after he ar- 
 rived there, he and his wife took possession of a 
 farm a short distance from the city, where they lived 
 about 20 years and where their nine children were 
 born. 
 
 In February, 1867, Mr. Fickling sold his farm 
 and removed to Henry County. He bought a farm 
 of 120 acres of an excellent quality of land, of which 
 he took permanent possession and on which he has 
 prosecuted his agricultural projects with satisfactory 
 results. 
 
 His wife's name was Susan Draper before her 
 marriage, and their union was celebrated April 9, 
 1846. Mrs. Fickling was born Dec. . 18, 1823, in 
 
 <5 
 
 I 
 
 < 
 ci) 
 
 SNKsdcsaf* 
 
 *&*- — ^A^HtfcMf^A^- 
 
ii^^f**- 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 <h 
 
 Clermont Co., Ohio. She is the daughter of James 
 and Mary (Peyton) Draper, and her parents were 
 natives of Pennsylvania. They came thence to 
 Vermillion Co., 111., where their lives terminated. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Fielding have ten children, one having 
 been born to them since their removal to the town- 
 ship of Cambridge. Their names are as follows : 
 William Edward, Mrs. Mary Shreck, Sarah J. (died 
 in infancy), Rebecca, Mrs. Lucy Elliott, Mrs. Alice 
 Wasser, James, Mrs. Ida Wilkey, and a second Will- 
 ram, named for the oldest son who lost his life in th,e 
 military service of the United States. The latter 
 was a volunteer soldier and enlisted in Co. B, nth 
 I 111. Vol. Cav. Lucy, wife of Ervin Elliott, is the 
 mother of three som>, — George, Charles and Glenn. 
 
 4=4«- 
 
 <§* 
 
 «!!• 
 
 Lamuel W. Good. The late Samuel W. 
 |j|38ir Good was one of the industrious and pros- 
 •fllllvo perous farmers of Wethersfield Township, 
 where he resided on section i until his death, 
 which occurred Sept. i, 1885, caused by nerv- 
 ous prostration. He was born in Muskingum 
 Ohio, Jan. 28, T834, and was a son of Doring- 
 ton and Alice (Orr) Good. They came to Henry 
 County in 1851 and settled on section 1, Wethers- 
 field Township, where they died five years later. 
 Their family consisted of nine children, of whom 
 Samuel W. was the fifth in order of birth. His ed- 
 ucation was somewhat limited, only having the com- 
 mon-school advantages of that early day. He came 
 to Henry County when about 17 years of age, and 
 was a resident of the same until his death, being 
 engaged in agricultural pursuits He was the owner 
 of 186 acres of good, tillable land. Upon his farm 
 he erected a fine residence of modern style, a suita- 
 ble barn and out-buildings. 
 
 Mr. S. W. Good was united in marriage in Ke- 
 wanee, May 20, 1858, the lady chosen to share his 
 joys and sorrows, successes and reverses, being Miss 
 Mary A., daughter of Samuel and Alice (Dickinson) 
 Northrup, who came from Philadelphia to Henry 
 County, about 1855, and settled in Wethersfield. 
 He remained for awhile at the latter place and then 
 removed to Kewanee, where he died, in January, 
 1868. Mrs. Northrup died in Wethersfield Town- 
 ship, May 26, 187 1. Of their union were born two 
 
 children, — Charles and Mary A., our subject's wife. 
 She was born in Philadelphia, June 15, 1839. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Good were the parents of seven 
 children, namely: Charles N., Frank E., Elmer S., 
 Willis E., Alice L. and Daisy S., besides one who 
 died in infancy. Mr. Good held several township 
 official positions, among which he was School Direc- 
 tor for many years. Politically, he was a believer in 
 the principles advocated by the Republican party. 
 
 * -»- + 
 
 j obert Nelson is a citizen of the township 
 of Cambridge, residing on section 18. He 
 p ' was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, in 
 April, 1817. The family removed in 182410 
 County Donegal, on the " Green Isle," and 
 there made a permanent stay. The parents, 
 Joseph and Bettie (Moore) Nelson, were natives of 
 Ireland, where they passed their entire lives. 
 
 The son, who early determined on coming to 
 America to test the promises of that land which 
 were always the subject of discussion in his native 
 country, fulfilled the purpose in the year 1847. He 
 came here in the spring of the year and made his 
 first location in the city of Philadelphia. After pass- 
 ing a summer there, he went to Delaware, and- was" 
 in the employ of Henry L. Churchman three years 
 as an assistant on the farm. He went from there to 
 the western part of Pennsylvania, and in the autumn 
 of 185 1 returned to Delaware. Later, he went to 
 Davenport, Iowa, and there remained two years and 
 a half. He came thence to Henry County and 
 bought 40 acres of land on the same section on 
 which he still resides. He has brought the best of 
 effort and judgment to operate in the work to which 
 he has devoted his life, and has continued to pur- 
 chase land until he is at present the owner of 280 
 acres in advanced cultivation and in valuable con- 
 dition for mixed husbandry. 
 
 Mr. Nelson has accomplished a great work in 
 making his accumulations under circumstances which 
 would have deterred most men from making any 
 effort whatever. He has practiced the greatest 
 economy and has never tired in industry or perse- 
 verance. In 1858, or about that time, he was seized 
 with lameness in his left leg, which he endured for 
 22 years, and without much intermission in the way 
 
 9 
 
 « 
 & 
 
 0) 
 
 k 
 
 %&%>- 
 
 ■*€3 ^ Q/^ mgMfr 6 ^ — ^^^ 
 
3^#»-' 
 
 <J/ 
 
 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 ratfC^ 
 
 of labor. In thespring of 1880 the limb was ampu- 
 tated. He moves about on his crutches and still 
 superintends the management of his estate. 
 
 In his political views, Mr. Nelson is. in accord 
 with the Democratic party. When he came to 
 America he fell into line with the old Whig element. 
 
 Mr. Nelson was married in the city of Philadel- 
 phia to Ann Johnson. She was born in County 
 Donegal, in Ireland, and was the playmate of her 
 husband in the "land of the shamrock." Mr. and 
 Mrs. Nelson have eight children: Eliza is the wife 
 of Mr. Slack, of Du Page Co., Iowa; James, David, 
 Alexander, Robert and Samuel were next in order of 
 birth; William is deceased; John is the youngest. 
 The father and mother are members of the Congre- 
 gational Church in Cambridge. 
 
 -£-~WV 
 
 Ww^- 
 
 ohn Ringle, a farmer on section 6, Cam- 
 bridge Township, was born May 20, 1841, 
 in Armstrong Co., Pa. He is the son of 
 Joseph and Mary Ann (Whitesel) Ringle, and 
 his parents came to Henry County in 1857. 
 The grandfather of Mr. Ringle, Mathias Ringle, 
 was a soldier in the War of the Revolution, and set- 
 tled in Westmoreland Co., Pa., where his son Joseph 
 was born. The marriage of the latter to Mary Ann 
 Whitesel occurred in 1836. He was a farmer in 
 the township of Osco, where he operated as a renter 
 of land on his removal there. He then became the 
 owner by purchase! of 80 acres of land, on which he 
 prosecuted the business of a farmer with success 
 until 1880, when he transferred his family and inter- 
 ests to Cambridge. The senior Ringle continued to 
 add to his estate until he owned a large acreage,, 
 which he still retains. 
 
 The son who is represented by this personal ac- 
 count was reared in his native State and accom- 
 panied his father's family to Henry County. Four 
 years later the business of all classes was thrown 
 into confusion by the advent of the War of the Re- 
 bellion, and during the issues of the .first year of the 
 struggle, Mr. Ringle entered the military service. 
 He enlisted Sept. 20, 1861, in the Ninth 111. Cav., 
 and was enrolled in Company C. He enlisted at 
 Geneseo, and when the regiment was filled went 
 thence to Camp Douglas, Chicago, where the com- 
 
 mand remained through the winter of 1861-2. In 
 February it went to St. Louis, and after passing two 
 weeks there, proceeded to the seat of war. The first 
 time Mr. Ringle heard the music of the rebel bullets 
 was in the engagement on the Waddell farm, in Ar- 
 kansas. Early in 1862 he was taken sick and passed 
 nearly nine months in the hospital, and was most of 
 that time on provost duty. He continued in the 
 service through the war, and after receiving his dis- 
 charge he returned to Osco Township. A short time 
 after he went to Caldwell Co , Mo., where he spent 
 four years, and during that time was interested in 
 farming. At the expiration of that time he came 
 back to Henry County and bought a farm in the 
 township of Osco. He operated with satisfactory 
 results until he was the proprietor of r5o acres. He 
 sold his possessions in the spring of 1883, and 
 bought the farm in the township of Cambridge on 
 which he has since prosecuted the business of a 
 farmer. The place contains ir7 acres and is located 
 half a mile north of Cambridge. 
 
 He was married to Mary A. Humphrey. She was 
 born in Brooklyn, N. Y. They have three children, 
 — Anna L., Ida A. and Kate L. 
 
 Mr. Ringle is a member of the G. A. R., and was 
 formerly connected with the Union League. He is 
 a Republican. 
 
 a v 
 
 ofe.teph.en M. Williamson, residing on section 
 
 ii 1, Wethersfield Township, where he is en- 
 |\Vs gaged in the vocation of a farmer, is a' son 
 of Peter and Rosanna (Shafer) Williamson, the 
 former a native of Ohio and the latter of Ger- 
 many. They settled in Scioto County, Ohio, 
 and afterward removed to Delaware County, Ind., 
 where they resided until their deaths, 
 
 Stephen M. Williamson was the fifth child in order 
 of birth of a family of ten children. He was born in 
 Delaware County, Ind., Aug. r, ^35. His early 
 years were passed on the farm and in acquiring an 
 education at the common schools. He continued to 
 reside under the parental roof-tree until he attained 
 the age of 23 years, when he came to Bureau Coun- 
 ty, this State. He resided in the latter county until 
 the spring of 187 17 when he sold his farm there, 
 which occupation he had followed, and purchased 
 160 acres of land in Wethersfield Townshiprthis 
 
 V§ 
 
 I 
 
 ® 
 
 (3 
 
 I 
 
 §9^ 
 
 -^^ — ^<>iirain&^ — ^^ 
 
 -*%$&, 
 

 (!) 
 
 ■>4^ — ^V4^llll^DD^r" 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 66 1 
 
 county. In 1878 he built a frame barn on his place, 
 and in 1883 erected as fine a residence on the same 
 as exists in Henry County, and consists of nine 
 rooms, together with halls, etc. In addition to his 
 home farm, Mr. Williamson was the owner of 120 
 acres of land in Neponset Township, Bureau County. 
 He keeps about 35 head of cattle, 15 head of horses 
 and fattens about 100 head of hogs annually. The 
 appearance of his place is indicative of energy, per- 
 severance and economy on the part of its proprietor, 
 and he is living to-day amid pleasant surroundings, 
 the outgrowth of his own toil, good judgment and 
 labor, and meeting with success in his chosen vo- 
 cation. 
 
 Mr. Williamson entered the state of matrimony in 
 Bureau County, this State, Jan. 13, 1859, with Miss 
 Mary J., the accomplished daughter of Timothy and 
 Elizabeth (Russell) Bennett, natives of Ohio. She 
 was born in Wilmington, Clinton Co., Ohio, Sept. 10, 
 1840. They became the parents of six children, four 
 of whom are living, namely : Arrinda, Elmer C, 
 Arthur B. and Rosanna. Willby and Mary are de- 
 ceased. Arrinda is the wife of Rufus D. Lyle, and 
 resides in Neponset Township, Bureau Co., this 
 State. The remaining children are all residing at 
 home. Mr. W. has held many of the minor offices 
 of his township. Politically, he is a believer in the 
 principles advocated by the Democratic party. 
 
 * -^- * 
 
 (^ 
 
 aleb Jewett Tenney Little, retired busu 
 ness man, resident at Kewanee, dates his 
 ancestry upon this continent back to the 
 year 1640, and to the person of George Lit- 
 tle, who in that year landed at Newbury, 
 Mass., from Unicorn Street, near the great 
 London bridge. Tracing the subject of this sketch 
 through the male line, taking the eldest of each re- 
 spective generation, we find that Moses Little suc- 
 ceeded George of Unicorn Street ; that Tristram suc- 
 ceeded Moses ; that Henry succeeded Tristram ; that 
 Henry was followed by a son named for himself, and 
 he by Abner Bailey Little, who was born at New Sa- 
 lem, N. H., and married Nancy Tenney, of Hollis, 
 N. H. They reared four sons and seven daughters. 
 Abner B. began life as a merchant, but abandoned 
 that occupation and ever afterward devoted himself 
 
 to farming. His son Caleb, whose name stands at 
 the head of this sketch, was born at Goffstown, N. 
 H., July 13, 181 1. At the common schools of his 
 native State he acquired a fair English education, 
 and when 1 6 years of age was apprenticed to a black- 
 smith, which trade he learned and followed until 
 about 24 years of age. In 1837 Caleb Little came 
 to Wethersfield, Henry Co., 111., and the following 
 year brought his wife whom he had left behind until 
 he should prepare a home for her. During this year 
 Henry County was organized, and as he intended 
 this to be his future home, he resolved to attend the 
 meeting for the organization of the county, which 
 was held at the house of Geo. Brandenburgh, which 
 was located near the village of Colona, on the banks 
 of Green River. He made the journey from Weth- 
 ersfield to the place of meeting riding a colt without 
 a saddle! His father had preceded him by about 
 one year, and lived in Peoria County up to the fall 
 of 1837, when he too removed to Wethersfield, where 
 he spent the remainder of his days, dying Sept. 16, 
 1863, in the 90th year of his age. The elder Mrs. 
 Little had died 19 years before (in 1846) aged about 
 66 years. 
 
 For 14 years Mr. C. J. T. Little carried on black- 
 smithing at Wethersfield. He then engaged in mer- 
 cantile business and followed that about five years, 
 serving as Postmaster of Wethersfield at the same 
 time. Since he was 18 years of age he has followed 
 auctioneering, at which he made himself so popular 
 that even in his retirement his old neighbors, when 
 they have anything of the kind to be done, give him 
 no peace until he ascends the block and cries off 
 their fatted stock. Since 1870, at which time he 
 sold his last farm, he has not interested himself any 
 in agriculture. In fact, for the last 20 years he has 
 done little else than take the world easy. True, he 
 has cried more farm and stock sales than probably 
 any other two men in the county, but with him auc- 
 tioneering is so nearly a 'labor of love" that it ceases 
 to be labor at all. 
 
 In politics, Mr. Little was originally a Jackson 
 Democrat, but not approving of the men and meas- 
 ures of the party, he left it in 1846. At the outbreak 
 of the Rebellion he identified himself with the Re- 
 publicans, and has since voted and worked with that 
 party. At no time has he been an aspirant to office, 
 though his neighbors have coerced him into various 
 minor positions, such as Assessor, School Director 
 
 9 
 
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 17 
 
 •& 
 
 *<mmw> a <&' 
 
 
 t-i.t. 
 
 \ 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 and School Trustee ; the two last named offices he 
 filled in Wethersfield Township for 23 years. He has 
 been for more than 40 years a consistent member of 
 the Congregational Church, and took a leading part 
 in building the first church edifice, a small log 
 house erected at the village of Wethersfield. He 
 was also as prominently identified with the con- 
 struction of the fine frame structure which replaced 
 the old log building. Through the various struggles of 
 a long life, Mr. Little has been dependent upon his 
 individual industry and effort. The recipient of no 
 gratuities, no gifts, testamentary legatee to no for- 
 tune accumulated by some relative, aided and abet- 
 ted by his industrious, prudent Christian wife, he has 
 fought the battles of life, and it is but truth to say 
 that he has won them. 
 
 May 13, 1834, at Milford, N. H., he was married 
 to Miss Eliza Ann Brooks, daughter of Leonard W. 
 and Sarah (Hosley) Brooks, and a native of Massa- 
 chusetts. To this union eight children have been 
 born, and the following brief memoranda give suffi 
 cient testimony of the fitness of Mr. and Mrs. Lit- 
 tle to rear children : the eldest son, Charles Freder- 
 ick Little, M. D., was born at Milford,- N. H., Jan. 
 27, 1836, graduated as M. D. from Rush Medical 
 College, Chicago,' served through the war as Surgeon 
 of the 19th 111. Vol. Inf., now practicing medicine at 
 Manhattan, Kansas ; Ellen Elvira, born at Weth- 
 ersfield, Oct. 6, 1839, received a thorough education 
 and was married to G. W. Perkins, Esq., when she 
 was only 18 years of age, a wealthy farmer of Far- 
 ragut, Iowa ; he was formerly a prominent teacher 
 in the High School at Danvers, Mass. ; Sarah Jane, 
 borivat Wethersfield, Nov. 7, 1842, also several years 
 a talented teacher in the public schools, married Dr. 
 J. F. Todd, of Chicago ; Harriet Newell, born at 
 Wethersfield, Sept. 7, 1845, a "d accomplished teach- 
 er of music, married to the Rev. Giffen, of the 
 Presbyterian Church, died Sept. 26, 1872, leaving 
 one child, Lida J. Giffen, who has been in the care of 
 her grandparents, Little, since she was 15 months 
 old; William Cutter, born March 17, 1847, by pro- 
 fession a lawyer, and real-estate and money broker 
 and ex-Judge Probate Court, Wichita, Kansas ; Eliza 
 Ann, born July 15, 1849, now Mrs. F. H. Reed, 
 Wethersfield; George Bailey Little, M. D., born 
 April 15, 185 1, a graduate of Rush Medical College, 
 Chicago, practicing physician of Burlington, Iowa; 
 and John Jewett Little, D. D. S., born Feb. 8, 1857, 
 
 graduate of Ann Arbor University, practicing dent- 
 istry at Burlington, Iowa. The children are all 
 members of the Congregational Church. 
 
 May 13, 1884, Mr. and Mrs. Little celebrated, at 
 their home, their golden wedding. All the children 
 of the family were present except Charles F., the 
 oldest son, who was detained at his home in Kansas 
 owing to the sickness of his wife. Besides the chil- 
 dren, there were present some two hundred of their 
 neighbors and friends. The occasion was one that 
 will long be pleasantly remembered by those 
 present. The presents were numerous, and many 
 of them costly, and all very appropriate. All the 
 children present were fine singers, and the exercises 
 were closed'with singing the famous piece, "Sweet- 
 Bye and Bye." 
 
 'Viai 
 
 " m ™ Ma!Bag 
 
 J^?5-F5- 
 
 ■ dim. Newton, a retired farmer, resident at 
 Cambridge, was born April 14, 1827, in 
 'MS,' ' Cheshire, England. His parents, who were 
 Aaron and Elizabeth (Billingriam) Newton 
 passed their whole lives in the same shire. 
 Their children, "Elijah, Thomas, John and An- 
 na, are all deceased save him who is the subject of 
 this personal narration. 
 
 He emigrated to the United States in June, 1854, 
 landing at the port of New York. He went thence' 
 to New Jersey, where he was occupied three years 
 in a hat manufactory. In 1857 he came to Rock 
 Island County, and devoted his time, strength and 
 energies to agricultural pursuits, operating as a 
 renter near the city of Rock Island, and had the 
 satisfaction of winning success. Later he became a 
 land-holder by purchase, and conducted his affairs 
 successfully. After being in New Jersey three years 
 he returned to England, where he remained six 
 months; then returned to Rock Island County, 
 where he remained four years. He came thence to 
 the township of Andover, in Henry County, and 
 bought 160 acres of land, which he managed seven 
 years previous to purchasing, with profitable results. 
 He sold the property in March, 1876, and removed 
 to the village of Cambridge. In May of the same 
 spring, accompanied by his wife, he sailed for Eng- 
 land. May 1st they set sail from the home of their 
 birth, embarking at Liverpool and : landing at Phila- 
 
 
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^SV&MI®!!!!*^® »<£«- 
 
 I 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 66 3 
 
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 delphia, for the purpose of attending the Exposition. 
 Left Liverpool to return July 4 They returned 
 thence to Cambridge, which has since been their 
 home. The marriage of Mr. Newton to Sarah Har- 
 rison took place on Easter Sunday, in April, 1847, in 
 Prestbury Church, in Cheshire, England. The par- 
 ents of Mrs. Newton, Henry and Ann (Quinn) Har- 
 rison, were natives of Northumberlandshire, England. 
 They had six children: Jane was the name ot the 
 oldest , Mary married William Ammond, first mate 
 of the ocean steamship, "City of New York ;" Cath- 
 erine married John Grantham, and died Oct. 7, 
 1881, aged 55 years, leaving four children; Mrs. 
 Newton is the next in order of birth ; Mrs. Ann Dav- 
 enport and Eliza were the youngest. The latter is 
 not living. Miss Emma H. Grantham, niece of Mr. 
 Newton, came to Cambridge from England, in June, 
 1884, and is an inmate of his family. She was a 
 velvet cutter in her native county. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Newton are zealous members of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church. 
 
 ■43*- 
 
 HJH 
 
 -rt*- 
 
 • scar Kreidler, proprietor of the " Enter- 
 prise " Carriage Repository, dealer in car- 
 sMST riages, buggies, etc., and manufacturer of 
 "16A carriage and buggy tops, and making general 
 repairing a specialty, at Kewanee, 111. Such 
 is the reading of the business card of this gen- 
 tleman, and which we insert without apology and 
 without price. Mr. Kreidler is a manufacturer, and 
 therefore, though too young a man to have made any 
 particular history, is entitled to representation in this 
 department of the Album. 
 
 He was born at Newburg, Northampton Co , Pa., 
 Oct. 18, 1859, and was the fifth in order of birth of 
 seven children of John F. and Maria (Miller) Kreid- 
 ler, natives of Pennsylvania and of German descent. 
 His education was limited, as at the age of 1 1 years 
 he began the trade of which he is now master. At 
 the end of an apprenticeship of six years in Penn- 
 sylvania, he came West, spent a year at Eureka, 111., 
 and showed his good judgment by removing to Ke- 
 wanee. He landed here July 8, 1878, and went to 
 work at once for O'Brien Bros, as carriage trimmer. 
 Those people found him so thoroughly up in his 
 trade that when they removed to Ohio, they took 
 
 Mr. K. with them, and with them he remained until 
 November, 1882, when he returned to this place and 
 set up in business. 
 
 July 19, [882, at Kewanee, Mr. Kreidler was mar- 
 ried to Miss Capilola Lampson, a lovely and accom- 
 plished young lady, who yielded up her life April r, 
 1883, and with that of her new-born babe. 
 
 That Mr. Kreidler inherited nothing may be un- 
 derstood from his history ; that he has been success- 
 ful in business is known from his standing. He is a 
 prominent Mason, and, we believe.'a Republican. 
 
 ■>~^Ay«v«iia2^|@*'l 
 
 *g§vS/<7jr2rawvx/v%. 
 
 
 <>> 
 
 ohnson Lorenzo Wilson, residing on sec- 
 tion 27, located adjoining the town of 
 Galva, is a native of Ohio. He was born 
 in St. Albans Tp., Licking Co., that State, Aug. 
 2, 1832. The parents of Mr. Wilson of this 
 sketch were Seuel and Esther (Burnett) Wil- 
 son. He was born in Mew Hampshire, and died in 
 Jay County, Ind., in July, 1857, having removed to 
 Ohio, that State, in 1846. He was a farmer by oc- 
 cupation, and in his religious belief was, from the 
 time he attained the age of manhood, a member of ^ 
 the Baptist Church. His father, grandfather of our 
 subject, was born in New Jersey, was of English ex- 
 traction, and a soldier of the Revolutionary War ; 
 was a farmer by occupation and died in Ohio. 
 Seuel Wilson was a soldier in the War of 1812. 
 Mr. Wilson's parents lived and died in Indiana. 
 
 J. L. Wilson, of whom we write, received his edu- 
 cation principally in Ohio. He removed with his par- 
 ents into Indiana, and from there came to this State, in 
 1854, stopping in Peoria County. He remained there 
 until the spring of that year, when he moved near 
 Elm wood, Knox County, this State, where he followed 
 the occupation of farming for three years. At the 
 expiration of this time, in 1857, he came to Galva, 
 in the neighborhood of which village he rented land 
 and was occupied in its cultivation for two years. 
 Previous to moving here he had purchased land, 
 which during the last few years mentioned he im- 
 proved as time would permit. At first he purchased 
 80 acres, which he afterward sold and purchased an- 
 other 80 east of the present village of Galva. He 
 subsequently bought 40 acres more, and then sold 
 
 £«*- 
 
 the 120 acres, and with the proceeds purchased 100 
 
 
$f§@$- 
 
 -2^ k <5\ &W&M®v c $ ^&k 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
 I 
 
 acres adjoining the present village of Galva, the 
 same being located on section 27, Galva Township, 
 and on which he at present resides. 
 
 Mr. Wilson was united in marriage April n, 1861, 
 with Miss Amanda M. Herbert. She was born in 
 Lewistown, Fulton Co., 111., in 1842. She has borne 
 him seven children: Lillian M., Ralph L., Fred H., 
 Walter, Myrtie E., Katie and Ethel L. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Wilson, together with their children, Lillian and 
 Ralph, are members of the Baptist Church. Polit- 
 ically, Mr. Wilson indorses the party which advocates 
 prohibition. 
 
 ra D. Marston, a practicing attorney, resi- 
 ident at Cambridge, was born April 30, 
 T838, in Parsonsfield, York Co., Maine. 
 His ancestral progenitors were pioneers of 
 New England, and their genealogy is now in 
 process, of compilation (1885). David Mars- 
 ton, his grandfather, was a Revolutionary soldier. 
 His father, Jacob. Marston, was born in Parsonsfield, 
 Maine. He was a stone-cutter by occupation and 
 died at Parsonsfield, as did his wife, Martha (Doe) 
 Marston. They had n children. The mother was 
 the daughter of John and Abigail Doe, and her par- 
 ents of English extraction. 
 
 Mr. Marston grew to the age of 17 years in New 
 England. At 14 he became the arbiter of his own 
 fortunes, and at 17 he came to Henry County, on 
 foot and alone, with not an acquaintance west of 
 New England. He worked one season on a farm in 
 Clover Township, when he entered diligently upon 
 the work of securing an education, employing his 
 leisure to the bast possible advantage in study. At 
 18 he taught school for the first time in Clover 
 Township. He alternately taught and attended 
 school three years. 
 
 In July, i86t, he entered the army, enlisting in 
 the 42d 111. Vol. Inf., in Company B. In August, 
 1862, he rsceived an honorable discharge for disabil- 
 ity. In June, 1865, he began the study of law, which 
 he prosecuted with energetic perseverance, and in 
 November, 1867, was admitted to practice in the 
 State Courts of Illinois. Later ho was admitted to 
 the privileges of the Federal Courts. In 1869 he 
 formed a partnership with Judge J. S. Hinman, and 
 
 they were partners for three years. In 1872 his 
 present relations with the Hon. W. H. Shepard were 
 established. The firm of Shepard & Marston is 
 one of the most reliable in this section, and their 
 business and popularity have increased together 
 from the commencement of their connection. Mr. 
 Marston is popular in his profession through his gen- 
 ial character and his abilities as an attorney. He 
 possesses an available and comprehensive knowl- 
 edge of common and statutory law, and he is able 
 and effective in argument before a jury.- He is con- 
 sidered one of the safest counselors and one-of the 
 best trial lawyers connected with the Bar of Henry 
 County. 
 
 Mr. Marston is a Republican in his political opin- 
 ions. He is a member of Post A. A. Dunn, g! A. R., 
 and of the A. O. U. W. 
 
 He was married May 14, r86i, in Rock Island 
 Co., 111., to Miss C. L. Weir. They have fixchildren. 
 Mrs. Marston was born Nov. 30, 1841, in Mercer 
 Co., 111., and she is the daughter of Thomas M. 
 and Lovina (Whitmore) Weir, who were among the 
 earliest settlers of this county. 
 
 -13- 
 
 -E3- 
 
 ewis Brasel. The year Illinois was admit- \ 
 ted into the Union, Mr. David Brasel came W 
 with his family and located in Green Coun- 
 ty, which at that time was about as far north 
 as any of the sturdy settlers had ventured. In 
 his family was an infant two months old, to 
 whom they gave the name of Lewis, and who is the 
 subject of this personal sketch. JHe is to day a pros- 
 perous farmer, residing upon section n, of Burns 
 Township. 
 
 He was born in Tennessee, Aug, 16, 1818. His 
 parents, David and Anna (Clarksori) Brasel, were 
 also natives of that State. Lewis' was the eldest of 
 their five children, and, as stated above, was an in- 
 fant when they came into the newly made State of 
 Illinois. His parents moved, as many of those ear- 
 liest pioneers did, from county to county. They 
 •seemingly could not endure' to live in a too thickly 
 populated settlement, and consequently, when a few 
 families would move in, they would move on to some 
 new place. Lewis followed them in their wander- 
 ings until he was 21 years of age, when he rented a 
 
 3*$pz ©A4$||1K 
 
f^M 
 
 ®$l§$f$— 
 
 -6V4«liIl&V% 
 
 HENRY COUNTY, 
 
 V 
 
 
 farm in Morgan County. Here, however, he lived 
 but a year, when he moved into Putnam County, 
 where he worked at the carpenter's trade, which he 
 had previously learned, for about three years. He 
 then went to Henry, Marshall County, where for an- 
 other seven years he made his home, working at his 
 trade and farming. This he followed until 1854, 
 when he came into Henry County and purchased a 
 piece of land in Barns Township. He then ceased 
 his moving, for we find him since that day a perma- 
 nent resident of Burns. Here he owns 120 acres of 
 land. 
 
 In Jacksonville, 111., on the 4th of March, 1841, 
 the wedding of Mr. Brasel and Miss Mary Stout oc- 
 curred. She was a daughter of Ezra and Fannie 
 (Robinson) Stout, natives of Ohio. Here she was 
 born, Nov. 25, 1825. Her parents came to Illinois 
 in an early day and for several years lived here, then 
 went to Oregon, where they died. Mrs. Brasel was 
 the eldest of their it children; she has also become 
 the mother of n children, five of whom are de- 
 ceased. Those living are James D., Wiley L., Ezra 
 S., Francis E., Olive E., Ida M. and Eddie K. The 
 deceased are Frances L., Ann E., William H. and 
 Robert J. Olive is the wife of Albert Krause, a 
 farmer of Burns Township ; Ida M. is the widow of 
 Elmer A. Anderson, and resides in Burns Township. 
 Mr. and Mrs. B. are members of the Old-School 
 Baptist Church. He has held some of the minor 
 offices of his towhship and politically is a Democrat. 
 
 -5- 
 
 -f- 
 
 j.rederick Gunther, tile and brick manufac- 
 turer, residing in Kewanee Township, is 
 prominently identified with the interests of 
 the community. His native home is Germany, 
 for in that country, on the 13th of June, 1832, 
 he was born. When a young man he came to 
 America, reaching our shores in August, 1855. He 
 soon found his way West, and we find him directly 
 at work at the mason's trade in Wethersfield Town- 
 ship. This trade he learned in Germany, where he 
 served an apprenticeship of three years. He con- 
 tinued to work at his trade, also devoting some of his 
 time to other occupations, until about 1867. At that 
 date he started a brick-yard in Kewanee Township, 
 west of the village. This he operated for two years, 
 
 when he moved to his present location. In connec- 
 tion with his brick-yard lie is engaged in the manu- 
 facture of tile. In this line he carries on quite an 
 extensive business. He has erected a good house 
 upon his lot, which consists of nine acres of land, 
 and is living in comfortable circumstances. He is a 
 member of the Odd Fellows Order, and in politics is 
 an independent. 
 
 Mr. Gunther was married in Wethersfield Town- 
 ship to Fredericka Brandt. She is also a native of 
 Germany, and was a Christmas present to her purents 
 in the year 1833. Mary, Frank and William are the 
 names of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Gunther. 
 Mary is the wife of Emil F. Speigel, of Wethersfield 
 Township, a sketch of whom is given in this volume. 
 
 ««&fca2/©§@ /K — f§l 
 
 *S&atfrzra». 
 
 ilson Fierce is a resident in the township 
 of Cambridge, and is a farmer of section 
 H§$^°" 33- He * s a native °f Athens Co., Ohio, 
 ~^' and is of German descent, his grandfather, 
 Christopher Fierce, having been born in that 
 country. The former came thence to the United 
 States and located in the State of Virginia. He 
 there engaged in farming and reared his family, 
 which included four sons and four daughters. He 
 was married before he left his native land. His son, 
 Conrad Fierce, was the father of the subject of this 
 sketch. He was also a farmer, and passed his life 
 in the same pursuit in which his father had done be- 
 fore him. Conrad Fierce, father of Wilson Fierce, 
 died in the State of Indiana, April 4, 1840, aged 63. 
 He was married in 1802, to Elizabeth Wilson. She 
 was born in Loudoun Co., Va., and died Sept. 1, 
 1836, in Hamilton Co., Ind., at the age of 54. To 
 her and her husband 12 children were born. Wil- 
 liam, Ebenezer, Frances and Wilson came to the 
 West. Another brother, Clark Fierce, now deceased, 
 settled in Jefferson Co., Iowa. A sister, Mrs. Eliza- 
 beth Hoddy, now deceased, went to Wapello Co., 
 Iowa. Mrs. Margaret Dickinson, another sister, re- 
 moved to Fall City, Richardson Co., Neb. Mrs. 
 Frances Herrold, the eldest, is living in Victoiia, 
 Knox Co, III., at the advanced age of 82 years. 
 The others are not living. 
 
 Mr. Fierce was educated in Hamilton Co., Ind., 
 
 9 
 
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 & 
 
 I 
 
 
 $f@ttf- 
 
 -s ^ Q/* ®M<$NHfo*9 : *®P : - 
 
 4*^£ 
 
%&& ^&k @V4>flH@li U &v 1 ^ ' ^< €^g 
 
 St 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 @* 
 
 «» 
 
 « 
 
 whither his father had removed when he was seven 
 years of age. The latter was a blacksmith, and there 
 he followed that calling. He was married July 16, 
 1846, to Rebecca B. Grubbs, and she survived her 
 marriage but a short time. Mr. Fierce was again 
 married, to Charlotte Gibbs, who was born in Ohio, 
 and died in Cambridge, Aug. 3, 187 1. She was the 
 mother of 1 1 children. Eight of them are now liv- 
 ing: Wellington, Sarah E., Margaret E., Francis E., 
 Jessie M., Mrs. Nellie Dill, deceased, Mrs. Eva M. 
 Dill and Ira E. Mr. Fierce contracted a third mat- 
 rimonial alliance, with Mrs. Phietta Biggerstaff. She 
 is the daughter of Simeon Gibbs. By her first mar- 
 riage she became the mother of nine children. W. 
 L. Day Fierce is the only child born since her sec- 
 ond marriage. 
 
 Mr. Fierce is the owner of 160 acres of land. He 
 came to Illinois in 1849 and settled at first in Knox 
 County, where he lived 12 years. In 1862 he came 
 to Henry County. He is an adherent of the Prohi- 
 bition party, and has held various town offices. He 
 and his wife are members of the United Brethren 
 Church. 
 
 $Wiigust Furst, Jr., residing on section 26 of 
 If, Kewanee Township, was born in Germany, 
 '^ r0a Oct. 13, 1840. His parents, August and 
 Caroline Furst, were also natives of Germany, 
 and emigrated to America in 1857. They 
 located in Henry County, and she (die mother) 
 died in Kewanee Township, in 1884. The father still 
 survives. 
 
 August, Jr., came to the New World with his par- 
 ents, and has resided in this county ever since. He 
 is the possessor and proprietor of 450 acres of valu-' 
 able land, which by his energy, industry and hard 
 labor has been put in a good state of cultivation and 
 improvement. Upon the same he has erected a fine 
 residence, barn and outbuildings, and is a well known, 
 respected and successful farmer. 
 
 Miss Augusta Baartz, daughter of Frederick and 
 Mary Baartz, was the lady chosen to become the 
 wife of our subject, Mr. August Furst, Jr., which 
 event was celebrated on the 1 2th of March, 1863. 
 Her parents came to America in the year 1856 and 
 settled in this connty, where her father died Nov. 4, 
 
 1884. Her mother still survives. Mrs. Furst was 
 born in Germany on the 1 ith of April, 1842, and she 
 has become the mother of seven children, namely: 
 Louisa A., Albert A., Ottila C, Caroline A., Wil- 
 liam F., Theodore and Mary L. The deceased are 
 Louisa A., Theodore and Mary'L. '•> 
 
 Mr. Furst has been School Director of his town- 
 ship, and he and his wife are members of the 
 Evangelical Lutheran Church. In his political faith 
 Mr. F. affiliates with the Republicans. 
 
 -<~9- 
 
 V. Caldwell, the leading apiarist of Henry 
 County, is a farmer in the township of 
 Cambridge and is located on section 5. He 
 was born Dec. 26, 1847, in the city of Phila- 
 delphia, and is the son of Edward and Anna 
 (Hutchinson) Caldwell. His parents are na- 
 tives of the Quaker City and are how living in Burns 
 Township, in Henry County. They came to Illinois 
 in the fall of 1856. They have four children: John 
 V., Mrs. Sarah Howe, Mrs. Emma McCulloh and 
 Mrs. A. R. King. The latter is the wife of the 
 Judge of Delta Co., Col. 
 
 The Caldwell family is of Scotch origin and Irish 
 birth, belonging to the class distinguished as 
 "Scotch-Irish." The first ancestor, John Caldwell, 
 came to the United States in 181 2. He located in 
 Philadelphia, where he pursued his business as a 
 dentist until his death. He married Ann Vollum, 
 who was born in Philadelphia, and was a daughter 
 of Edward and Rachel (Soper) Vollum. Her pa- 
 rents were natives of the part of the State of Mary- 
 land known as the Eastern Shore. That portion of 
 that commonwealth for a long period of years had 
 no municipal divisions. Her father and mother were 
 respectively of Scotch and Welsh descent, and their 
 married life covered a period of 80 years. Her 
 father lived to be 106, and he had been for 80 years 
 a member of the Methodist Church. The mother 
 died at 99. She is the mother of four children, 
 named James, Edward, John and Robert. 
 
 After the death of Mr. Caldwell his widow was 
 again married to James Hutchinson and had three 
 children. They were named William, Mary and 
 Henry. She is yet living in Philadelphia and is 86 
 
 I 
 
 < 
 
 ■%A<air8llll»AS — *$&*- 
 
■^V^Bn&DH*^^ — 3^^ 
 
 £S'B 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 667 
 
 years of age. The mother of Mr. Caldwell, Ann 
 (Hutchinson) Caldwell, was born in Philadelphia, 
 and is a daughter of James and Anna (Scott) Hutclv 
 inson. She is of Irish extraction. 
 
 Mr. Caldwell was brought up in Henry County 
 and has passed his life principally in farming. Since 
 1879 he has devoted much time to the culture of 
 bees. He is noted for his skill in that line of busi- 
 ness and keeps 180 colonies. He ships the product 
 of the hives chiefly to Boston. His farm contains 
 80 acres of land under good cultivation. He is an 
 adherent of the Republican party and has served in 
 the capacity of Collector. He is a member of the 
 Order of Masonry and a member of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church. 
 
 His marriage to Mary L. Funkhouser took place 
 Dec. 24, 1873. Mrs. Caldwell was born March 30, 
 1854, in Beaver Co., Pa., and she is a daughter of 
 Jacob and Hannah (Baldwin) Funkhouser. Her pa- 
 
 ( ( / rents were natives of the same State in which she 
 > was born. Edward V. and Alice Edna are the chil- 
 
 fyi dren of the household. 
 
 lias M. Crane, a business man of Cam- 
 bridge, has been connected with the de- 
 velopment of Henry County since 1854, 
 ^L when he settled in the township of Osco. He 
 was born in Union Co., N. J., Sept. 3, 1827. 
 He attained to the estate of manhood in the 
 State of his nativity and on arriving at an age suitable 
 to embark in active business he interested himself 
 in farming. 
 
 Dec. 10, 1851, he was married to Louisa A. Miller. 
 They have seven children, who are named Britton, 
 Sarah, Josephine, Winfield, John A., Libbie and 
 Etta. 
 
 On coming to this county Mr. Crane located on 
 section 25, in the township of Osco, taking posses- 
 sion of a tract of land four miles southwest of the vil- 
 lage of Cambridge. He followed the calling of a 
 farmer there until his removal to Cambridge in 1883. 
 He is the owner of 610 acres of land, which is chiefly 
 situated in that township. For some years previous 
 to the transfer of his residence and business rela- 
 tions to the place where he is now operating, he was 
 extensively and successfully engaged in the busi- 
 
 
 ness of a stockman. He has given much intelligent 
 attention to the improvement of the stock on his es- 
 tate and exhibits some fine Hereford cattle, includ- 
 ing about 75 animals. Among other interests in 
 which he has been successfully engaged for 20 years 
 past, is the purchase of large quantities of broom- 
 corn for shipment to the Eastern maikets. 
 
 In 1882 he embarked in a mercantile enterprise at 
 Cambridge, and when his relations in that avenue 
 were fairly under way he removed in the year named 
 to that place. Mr. Crane is also engaged in raising 
 stock in Phelps Co., Neb., where he is the owner of 
 three sections of land and a large herd of cattle. 
 
 Politically, Mr. Crane is in harmony with the 
 Democratic party. While a resident of Osco Town- 
 ship, he was frequently called to serve in the vari- 
 ous offices and discharged the duties confided to his 
 care with honor and fidelity. 
 
 athaniel W. Tibbetts, engaged as a farmer 
 on section 27, Kewanee Township, was 
 born in Neponset Township, Bureau Co., 
 111., Nov. 14, 1845, and is a son of James P. 
 4^ and Julia A. (Sayles) Tibbetts, natives of Maine 
 [ and New Hampshire respectively. They were 
 married in Lowell, Mass., and soon afterward came 
 to Heniy County and settled in Wethersfield Town- 
 ship. Later they removed to Neponset Township, 
 in Bureau County, where the mother died Nov. 28, 
 1866. The father still survives. Of their union 
 were born three children, as follows : Nathaniel W., 
 our subject, James G., deceased, and John E. 
 
 Nathaniel W. remained at home until 21 years of 
 age and received a fair education at the common 
 schools. He then bought a farm in Knox County 
 and engaged in agricultural pursuits, which he has 
 since followed. At the latter place lie lived for about 
 a year and a half, when he sold out and removed to 
 Missouri, there making a purchase of another farm, 
 upon which he remained but one year, selling on ac- 
 count of poor health. In 1870, he came into Henry 
 County and located in Kewanee Township on a farm 
 of 70 acres. The same he has put under excellent 
 cultivation and improvement, and made it his per- 
 manent home, residing there ever since. 
 
 In Galesburg, 111., on the 27th of January, 1867, 
 
 <5 
 
 I 
 I 
 
 1 '* 
 
 &&mw>*<& 
 
T^&K 6*7«mi®« B&T^ 
 
 f 
 
 HENR Y CO UNTY. 
 
 Mr. Tibbetts was married to Miss Mary R., daugh- 
 ter of the Rev. Henry S. and Hannah (Huff) Willey, 
 natives of Vermont and Maine respectively. She 
 was born Feb. 12, 1807. He was a Baptist minister 
 (Free-Will), and preached for 42 years. He was 
 born Feb. 4, 1800. At the time of his death he had 
 settled in Hudson village, Me., and there died, July 
 5, 1872, as also did his wife, Nov. 18, 187 r. They 
 had become the parents of nine children, viz. : Henry, 
 .Hiram L., Elizabeth H., Lucena D., Henry S., B. 
 Frank, Mary R., George 'W. M. and Eliza E. Mrs. 
 Tibbetts was born in Dixmont, Me., March 16, 
 
 i843- 
 
 Mr. Tibbetts has been Assessor of Kewanee Town- 
 ship four years and Director in the Farmers' Insur- 
 ance Company for several years. Politically, he is a 
 Republican. 
 
 oieacartiM©*'— §§| 
 
 *©^S*3OT*i 
 
 IILharles M. Samuelson, engaged as a gen- 
 ii? eral farmer on section 35, in Western 
 
 l ip' ,< Township, was born in Central Sweden, 
 wh November, 1828. (See sketch of John Sam- 
 
 ffl uelsori.) Charles M., whose name heads this 
 
 { arlicle, resided at home until 20 years of age, 
 when he went to work for his eldest living brother, 
 Samuel, where he remained for four years. At the 
 expiration of that time, 185 1, he emigrated to the 
 United States, locating at Buffalo, N. Y. ; but in the 
 spring following he came to Andover, Henry Co., 111. 
 He afterward engaged to work on a farm near Gales- 
 burg, 111., at which he continued two years, working 
 for Deacon Chambers; but, wishing to return again 
 to Andover, he left his employment at the latter 
 place and returned. Here he was married, Sep- 
 tember, 1856, to Miss Hannah M. Swanson, who 
 was also a native of Sweden. She came to the 
 United States in the emigration of her father's fam- 
 ily, who settled in Illinois in 1852. (See sketch of 
 J. V. Swanson.) The family of Mr. and Mrs. Sam- 
 uelson now comprises seven children, including one 
 deceased. Their names are: Albert, who is mar- 
 ried, and lives on section 34, Western Township; 
 Peter A., Edward, Victor, Oscar, Hannah and Min- 
 nie, deceased, died in infancy. 
 
 Mr. S. first lived on the homestead his father 
 secured in Western Township, comprising 80 acres. 
 
 He afterward . purchased a 54-acre farm, and; still 
 later increased his possessions to a total of 480 acres. 
 His success as a farmer has been simply remarkable, 
 as, when he arrived at Buffalo from his native coun- 
 try, he had not a single cent, and now he has the 
 fine, large landed possessions referred to, which are 
 well equipped with farm buildings, and in good agri- . 
 cultural condition. ' These are the results of his own 
 industry and economy. 
 
 The family are connected with the Swedish Lu- 
 theran Church, at Orion, of which he is now a Trus- 
 tee, and in politics he is a Republican. 
 
 ■•o$o«« 
 
 WfflW 
 
 f obert Boyd is one of the farmers of Henry 
 County who has reached a prominent po- 
 sition as an agriculturist. He is the pro- 
 prietor of 400 acres of land, finely situated, 
 and in a valuable condition generally. He 
 was torn April 5, 1839, in the city of Montreal) 
 Canada. His ancestral stock is of English origin, and 
 he is the son of James and Margaret (Rutherford) 
 Boyd. In his infancy he was taken from the' Domin- 
 ion to the State of New York, and- he remained in 
 the Empire State until he was eight years of age. He 
 was then brought West by a man named Benjamin 
 Graham. The latter located in Henry County in the 
 fall of 1848, in Ciocker's Grove. Mr. Boyd passed 
 his early life in farm labor, receiving a compensation 
 suited to the kind and quality of the work he was able 
 to perform. He often received only his board, and 
 his wages for a long time was only $8 a month. He 
 was the object of the malice of the man who was his 
 reputed protector, and he was crippled by the effects 
 of his brutality. They parted company at the period 
 when the fatherless child was r4. But he was in- 
 dustrious and honest, and found no difficulty in 
 obtaining work suited to his condition, and managed 
 to save his earning until, in 1864, he was able to buy 
 80 acres of land in Cambridge Township. To this 
 he has added until he enjoys the repute ascribed 
 to him at the beginning of this personal narration. 
 Of the tract of 400 acres of which he is the owner 
 rS4 acres is located adjoining to the village of Cara- 
 brige. Mr. Boyd is a Democrat is political persua- 
 sion. It should have been mentioned in the proper 
 place that his mother, Margaret (Rutherford) Boyd, 
 was a second time married and accompanied her hus 
 
 
 
 ^^ ov^ renii&A^- 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 -3tf€$toK- 
 
 669 
 
 band, Captain William J. H. Lee, of the British army, 
 to India, in the service of England. She remained 
 there 21 years. She returned to London, and at the 
 date of this writing she is in the United States visit- 
 ing her relatives. One of her sons is in the British 
 service in India, and is acting in the capacity of a 
 civil engineer. 
 
 Mr. Boyd was married to Mrs. Catherine (Blink) 
 Diesch. By her first husband she had three chil- 
 dren — Mary, Frank and Ellen. Three sons are 
 included in the household of Mr. and Mrs. Boyd. 
 They are named George H., Robert L. and Charles 
 D. Mr. and Mrs. Boyd are connected in member- 
 ship with the Methodist Church. 
 
 V 
 
 * 
 
 I 
 
 sa 
 
 saac Pyle, engaged as a farmer on section 8, 
 of Kewanee Township, is a son of Samuel 
 and Frances A. (Howell) Pyle, natives of 
 (j Pennsylvania and Virginia respectively. They 
 married and settled in Muskingum Co., Ohio, 
 where they remained until 1856, when they 
 came to Henry County and located in this township. 
 They remained at the latter place, making it their 
 permanent home, at which place the father died, 
 Feb. 12, 1863. The mother still survives, and re- 
 sides on the old homestead. She and her husband 
 became the parents of four children, viz. : James C, 
 William W., Isaac and Samuel A. 
 
 Isaac, our subject, was born in Muskingum Co., 
 Ohio, Aug. 24, 1833, and remained at home until 17 
 years of age, attending the district schools in the 
 acquisition of an English education during the winter 
 seasons and working on his father's farm in the sum- 
 mer. In October, 1856,3s stated above, Isaac came 
 with his father into Henry County, and began at 
 once in the work of agriculture, which he has suc- 
 cessfully followed since. Locating on a tract of land, 
 he began actively and energetically in the task of its 
 improvement and cultivation, and by subsequent 
 purchases is now the owner and proprietor of 260 
 acres of valuable land, his farm being one of the 
 finest in his township. Besides his agricultural pur- 
 suits, he has been also engaged in the business of 
 auctioneering, in company with C. J. T. Little ; was 
 appointed Inspector of the Coal Mines in Henry 
 
 County in September, 1880, which position he still 
 holds, and is sought for to settle various estates, and 
 also chosen the guardian of many children. 
 
 In Vinton Co., Ohio, on the 16th of September, 
 1855, Mr. Pyle was united in the holy bonds of 
 matrimony with Miss Caroline, daughter of Rezin 
 and Nancy (Aikins) Ball, natives of Virginia and 
 Ohio, respectively. They married and settled in 
 Ohio, where they lived for- many years, and then 
 emigrated to Nebraska, where they remained until 
 they died, the mother on the 23d of May, 1863, and 
 Mr. Ball Oct. T2, 1880. Of their union were born 
 seven children, the record being as follows : William 
 B., Eliphalet J., James W., Levi, Sarah A., Artemus 
 M. and Caroline M. The latter, now Mrs. Pyle, 
 was born in Muskingum Co., Ohio, July 19, 1837, 
 and she and her husband have had their home 
 brightened by the birth of eight children, six of whom 
 survived: William M., Ulysses G., Bert M., John 
 H, Nettie and May. The deceased are Charles E. 
 and Alice C. 
 
 Mr Pyle is largely interested in educational mat- 
 ters, and takes a great interest in all matters of that 
 nature, considering that to be the aim of his life. 
 He has served his township in various ways, was 
 Supervisor for four years and has been School Di- 
 rector for many years. Mr. and Mrs. Pyle are active 
 and prominent members of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church. Politically speaking, Mr. P. is a Repub- 
 lican, and in his temperance views he is decided, 
 although not a fanatic, as he is in favor of all meas- 
 ures to resist the great evil. 
 
 -» 
 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 jpLlijan, A. South. Among the many wealthy 
 and respected farmers of Henry County, is 
 classed the subject of this sketch. His 
 jjUji. home is on section 31, of Western Township, 
 where he devotes his attention to raising stock 
 and doing a general farming business. In the 
 township of Dunkard, Greene Co., Pa., on the 8th 
 day of February, 1827, he was born. His father, 
 Elijah South, was also a native of the same township, 
 and of slight German extraction, and by occupation 
 a farmer. The early life of our subject was spent 
 upon his farmer's farm, receiving such advantages 
 for an education as was afforded in the community. 
 
 (® 
 
 €, -a 
 
 X&$ s^t— e?*4jllll®llfl$AS 2a «S^ 
 
6v^misim& v r c) >a €»g 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 \Sf 
 
 
 (!) 
 
 I 
 
 He was married in his native township to Miss 
 Nancy Johnson, who was born and reared in the 
 same neighborhood, and the daughter of a Pennsyl- 
 vania carpenter and cabinet-maker. The grand- 
 parents of our subject on both sides were prominent 
 members of the Quaker Church in Pennsylvania. 
 The grandfather South was a soldier of the Revolu- 
 tionary War, and an uncle of Elijah's served in the 
 War of 1812. The elder South acquired a large 
 property in Greene County, where both the father 
 and mother of our subject died, at the ages of 83 and 
 74 respectively. 
 
 Elijah A. was the second of a family of eight chil- 
 dren, four sons and four daughters, three each of 
 whom are still living. Two of the sons occupy the 
 homestead of the father and grandfather, and which 
 was improved by them. Mr. South lived at home 
 until he was 28 years of age, working on his father's 
 farm, but doing business on his own account. At 
 that age, on the 31st of August, 1854, and in 
 Greene County, he was married to Sarah E., daugh- 
 ter of George and Mary (Bugess) Long, natives of 
 the Keystone State, and prominent farmers in 
 Greene County, where they died. In Prairie Town- 
 ship, of that county, Mrs. S. was born. She spent 
 her younger life at home, attending the schools of 
 her neighborhood. She died at her home in Osco 
 Township, this county, Dec. 4, T865, leaving four 
 children, — Mary A, wife of J. Marion Garland, of 
 Monongalia County, W; Va.; L. G. S., a teacher, 
 and resident of Park City, Montana Territory ; Dora, 
 wife of Edward Stewart, farmer at Colona Town- 
 ship, this county; and Plumer W., residing at home., 
 
 In 1864, Mr. South came to Illinois and located in 
 Osco Township, where, in company with Eli Hol- 
 land, he purchased 265 acres of land, which was at 
 the time partly improved. There he resided for two 
 and a half years, when he purchased 80 acres in an- 
 other part of the township, which he improved and 
 farmed until about 1867, when he sold it and moved 
 to Edford Township, where he secured 200 'acres of 
 partly improved land. This place was destined to 
 be his home for about 15 years. In March, 1882, he 
 came to Western Township, and purchased a 284- 
 acre farm, upon which he now resides. This is one 
 of the best improved farms in the county, and Mr. 
 S. is one of the prominent and successful farmers and 
 stock-raisers of the district. Besides the land he 
 owns here, he has two improved farms in Rock 
 
 Island County, one of 225 acres and the other of 80 
 acres. 
 
 On Jan. 27, 1867, Mr. S. was married the second 
 time, returning to his native county to consummate 
 the ceremony. This time the -union was between 
 himself and Miss Mary Summers, a native of Fay- 
 ette Co., Pa. She had been reared and educated in 
 that county, and lived at home until her marriage. 
 Of this union three children have been born, one of, 
 whom is deceased. They have been named in the 
 order of birth, Sarah E.„ Charles and Guy, who died 
 in infancy. Both Mr. and Mrs. S. are members of 
 the Baptist Church, and the former is Trustee of his 
 Church. 
 
 -*3=r4 
 
 
 £!- 
 
 Lohn Stabler, engaged as a farmer on sec- 
 
 |f tion 35, Kewanee Township, is a son of 
 
 ^^ Robert and Elizabeth (Hood) Stabler, both 
 natives of England. Their family comprised 
 four children, of whom John was the second 
 in order of birth. He was born in England, 
 July r, 1833, and his school advantages were quite 
 limited, being employed on a farm when but nine 
 years of age. On attaining his 20th year he went to 
 Canada, at which place he remained but one year, 
 and in the spring of 1854 came West, locating in 
 Bureau Co., 111. In the latter place he settled, re- 
 siding there until r874,when he came into Kewanee 
 Township, this county, and made a purchase of 290 
 acres of land, upon which he has since been a resi- 
 dent. By his hard labor and industry he improved 
 the same, and has on the place a fine brick residence, 
 barn and other outbuildings, besides having increased 
 his landed interests until he now is the proprietor of 
 390 acres of good valuable land. Besides the land 
 owned in Illinois, he owns 480 acres of fine farming 
 land in Lancaster Co., Neb. When Mr. S.. came to 
 Bureau County he had but $40. He at once en- 
 gaged to work out by the month, doing so for three 
 years, obtaining $14 a month as a salary. 
 
 Mr. Stabler was married in Bureau County, March 
 14, i860, to Miss Emma Burch, a native of England. 
 Of their union have been born six children, of whom 
 the following is a record: May E-, George W., 
 Fanny E., Robert L., Franklin J. and one who died 
 in infancy. May E. is the wife of Wra. S. Lyle, and 
 
 ■^K»nn$ ^ j * g»s 
 
$<ss&t~ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 4fc§JS®Y§§l 
 
 ■J 
 
 671 
 
 1 
 
 S3 
 
 resides in Farragut, Iowa; George W. resides in Bu- 
 reau Co., 111., and the remainder of the children live 
 at home. Mrs. Stabler died in Bureau County, Dec. 
 16, 1870, and Mr. S. was again united in marriage, 
 June 13, 1872, in Kewanee, to Tamar Peart, who 
 was born in Cumberland, England, Oct. 22, 1839. 
 When 16 years of age she came to live in Canada, at 
 which place she remained for somewhat over nine 
 years, then coming to the States. 
 
 Politically, Mr. S. affiliates with the Republican 
 party. He has been School Trustee for eight years, 
 School Director, etc., in his township. 
 
 -* #»-# *- 
 
 bar mbrose Mathews, a retired farmer and re- 
 spected citizen of Henry 'County, residing 
 in the village of Wethersfield, is a son of 
 Ambrose W. and Margaret (Connor) Mathews, 
 the former a native of New Jersey and the lat- 
 ter of New York. The parents of Mr. Mathews 
 of this notice were married and settled in New York, 
 where, after a short residence, they removed to the 
 Western Reserve, in Northern Ohio, from which 
 State they emigrated to Illinois in 1845, settling in 
 Wethersfield Township, this county, where they re- 
 sided until their deaths, hers occurring May 8, 1857, 
 and his June 16, T884. They reared to manhood 
 and womanhood ten children, namely: Charles C, 
 Henry, Nelson J., Uriah V., Enos T., Mary E., 
 Amanda, Ambrose, William and Rosanna. Charles 
 C, Henry, Nelson J. and Enos T. are deceased. 
 Ambrose W., their father, was born Oct. 9, 1792, 
 and his wife Aug. 17, 1790. 
 
 Ambrose, Jr., subject of this notice, was born in 
 Seneca Co., N. Y., Nov. 20, 1831. He was but one 
 year old when his parents removed to Ohio, where 
 he resided with them until 1845. He received a 
 good common-school education in the district schools 
 and assisted his father in the labors of the farm until 
 he arrived at the age of 19 years. At this age in 
 life he was apprenticed to learn the shoemaker's 
 trade, at which he worked for three years. He then 
 came to this county, in 1845, and remained about 
 five years, when he returned to Geauga Co., Ohio, 
 and finished learning his trade. He then returned 
 to this county and worked at his trade in Wethers- 
 field and Kewanee until 1861. During this year he 
 
 9 
 
 dcgftt- 
 
 •^ y Q/^ WK 
 
 enlisted as a private in the 1 24th 111. Vol. Inf., and 
 served until the close of the war. In 1863 he was 
 promoted as Commissary Sergeant of the regiment, 
 and served in that capacity during the remainder of 
 his term of enlistment. He met with many narrow 
 escapes, having received several shots through his 
 clothes ; but during his entire service, and the battles 
 in which he participated, he was never seriously 
 wounded. 
 
 On receiving his discharge he returned to his old 
 home in Wethersfield Township, where, throwing 
 aside his uniform and accoutrements of war, he 
 again entered upon the peaceful pursuits of life. 
 He has since been engaged in agricultural labors, 
 until about 1881, since which time he has followed 
 various occupations. He is the inventor of a force- 
 pump known as the " Little Giant," on which he has 
 received a patent. He manufactured and sold these 
 pumps for about four years, when he was obliged to 
 give up the business on account of ill health. 
 
 Mr. Mathews was united in marriage in Wethers- 
 field, Jan. 1, 1852, with Maria C. Cline, daughter of 
 Daniel and Betsey (Crouse) Cline, natives of New 
 York, in which State, Dutchess County, her father 
 died, Sept. 14, 1837, the date of his birth being June iJY 
 19, 1797. Mrs. Cline came to Henry County with a ^ 
 married daughter in 1844, and settled in Wethers- , X 
 field Township, where she died June 8, r87i, the 
 date of her birth being Aug. 22, 1800. She was the 
 mother of four children — Jane A., George, Maria C. 
 and Mary E. Maria C, wife of the subject of this 
 sketch, was born in Dutchess Co., N. Y., March 16, 
 1828, and came to this county with her mother in 
 1844. Mr. and Mrs. Mathews are the parents of a 
 family of five children, namely: Cora C, Edward, 
 Rosa, Melva and John L. Cora C. is the wife of 
 James Wiley, Jr., and resides in Wethersfield Town- 
 ship. Rosa married George Dustin, who resides in 
 the same township. Edward and John L. are me- 
 chanics, and are employed in the manufacturing 
 establishment of the Haxtun Steam Heater Com- 
 pany. They have buried one child, who died when 
 about nine months old. 
 
 Mr. M. has held the office of Township Assessor 
 almost continuously for about 12 years. He was the 
 first Collector of Wethersfield Township after the W 
 organization of the same, and has held the office of ^7 
 Constable, together with that of other minor offices, v^ 
 
 4> 
 
 j. 
 
$$$$" 
 
 ->4^ — 6V4*IM$I1II&^ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 Vf He is a member of the Julian A. Pratt Post, No. 
 4j 143, G. A. R. 
 
 £ p Religiously, he and his wife are members of the 
 1 ' Congregational Church of Kewanee. Politically, Mr. 
 A M. is a believer in the principles advocated by the 
 Republican party. 
 
 ~> — -—&<¥ 1- 
 
 
 
 «s» 
 
 -'arius Storey, engaged as a farmer on sec- 
 •<■ tion 4, Kewanee Township, was born in 
 Oneida Co., N. Y., on the i8th of March, 
 1828. In 1847 he came West and located in 
 %F in Kewanee Township, this county, where he 
 made a purchase of land, upon which he began 
 the task of its improvement and cultivation and has 
 to day 125 acres of valuable land. 
 
 He was married in this county on the 14th of 
 January, 185 r, the lady whom he chose to be his 
 companion in life being Miss Nancy Dingman, a 
 native of Canada. She has borne her husband four 
 children, as follows : Elijah, Larmer, Jane and 
 Josephine. (See sketch of Elijah elsewhere in this 
 Album.) Mrs. Storey died Jan. 31, 1867, and Mr. 
 S. formed a second matrimonial alliance April 25, 
 1867, with Elizabeth Schwyhart, who was born in 
 Ohio, June 21, 1843. Of the late union has been 
 born one child, Tessa. 
 
 Politically, Mr. S. is identified with the Repub- 
 lican party, and he has served his township as School 
 Director. 
 
 Joseph H. Page is engaged as a general farm- 
 |f er on section 8, Wethersfield Township, 
 ^^ where he was born Sept. 24, 1839. His 
 parents, Hazelton and Mary A. (Cook) Page, 
 were natives of New England, coming to this 
 township from the State of their nativity in 
 1838. Mrs. Page died May 19, 1850, and the father 
 Nov. 9, 1881. Of their union were born five chil- 
 dren,— Robert C, Joseph H., Mary E., Ann J. and 
 Edgar O. Mary E. and Edgar O. are deceased. 
 Ann J. is the wife of Thomas Daniels and resides in 
 Cambridge. 
 
 Joseph H., our subject, remained at home, receiv- 
 ing a good common-school education in the schools 
 
 of Wethersfield Township, and assisted his parents 
 in the labors on the farm. He is now the owner of 
 160 acres of good tillable land in this county, upon 
 which he has erected good buildings, and by his 
 energy and industry has put the farm under excel- 
 lent cultivation and improvement, this being his 
 place of residence. 
 
 Mr. Page was united in marriage in this township, 
 Henry County, Aug. 29, 1863, the lady whom he 
 chose to be his wife being Miss Sarah R. Lester, 
 daughter of Charles and Julia A. (Snyder) Lester. 
 They came to Henry County from Cayauga Co., N. 
 Y., about r842 and settled in Wethersfield Town- 
 ship, where the mother died, Jan. 9, 1859. The 
 father died Feb. 14, 1876. They became the parents 
 of seven children, namely: Jefferson, Sarah R., 
 Champlin M., Parker J, Myron, Phebe A. and 
 Charles. Sarah A., the wife of our subject, was born 
 in Wethersfield Township, Aug. 29, 1845. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Page have a family consisting of 
 four children, viz. : Mary B., Charles H., Guy W. 
 and Frank L. 
 
 Politically, Mr. P. votes according to the princi- 
 ples advocated by the Republican party. 
 
 -0—5 
 
 9 
 
 (3 
 
 ohn H. Allen, druggist at Cambridge, was 
 born Feb. 9, 1843, in Shelby ville, Ind. In 
 ^"3" ancestral descent he is of Scotch-Irish 
 origin, his earliest progenitor having been of 
 that race. His grandfather, Isaac Allen, camt 
 from Scotland to Virginia, and settled there 
 and raised a family. One of them, John Allen, born 
 in 1805, removed thence to Shelby County, Ind., 
 where he was married to Martha Higbe'e. She was 
 a native of the State of Kentucky, and was of Ger- 
 man descent. Six of their nine children are now 
 living. In the spring of 1850 John Allen. removed 
 his family to Mason Co., 111., settling in Havana, 
 where, the lives of his parents terminated. 
 
 Mr. Allen, of this sketch, was educated in Ha- 
 vana, and at the opening of the Rebellion enlisted 
 in the nth 111. Cav., and served four years in the 
 army. Since that time he has been engaged in 
 different mercantile pursuits, for the last eight years 
 of which he has been engaged in the drug business. 
 
 5DH& \9 ^ *^- — «#^«$ 
 
So 
 
 Ox-o'ic'^\j i 
 
 *A-s 
 
 Jj 
 
-fe Y^vjV 
 
rjS>» 
 
 ■6v4>Dll&flll&T^ — ^^K- 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 677 
 
 > 
 
 i 
 
 E3 
 
 ©* 
 
 *? 
 
 having been engaged in that business six years in 
 Ipava, this State, and two years in Cambridge. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Allen to Lovina Marty took 
 place at Havana, 111., and their children are named 
 Emma A., Mattie E., Hattie F., Clara M. and Eu- 
 gene W. Mr. Allen is a Republican in political 
 views and actions, and a member of the A. O. U. W. 
 and Masonic Order. 
 
 ewis Hurd, a practicing physician, residing 
 at Wethersfield, is one of the earliest set- 
 tlers and one of the first medical practi- 
 tioners in Henry County. He came to Illinois 
 J/S in 1836, and after a stay of about one year's 
 duration in that portion of Knox County now 
 included in Stark County, he made a location in 
 Henry County in the same township in which he is 
 now a resident. 
 
 Dr. Hurd is the son of Dr. Thomas B. and Anna 
 (Shepard) Hurd, and was born in Hamilton, Mad- 
 ison Co., N. Y., Aug. 19. 181 1. His parents were 
 natives of Connecticut, where they were married and 
 first settled. Later, they removed to Madison Co., 
 N. Y., and the death of the father transpired there, 
 about 1838. The mother died in the same place at 
 a later date. Their children were named Hepzibah, 
 Thomas B., Orrin S., Lewis and Anna. 
 
 Dr. Hurd was educated primarily in the common 
 schools of his native county, and was the assistant of 
 his father in the cultivation of the medicinal herbs 
 the latter used in his professional labors, as he be- 
 longed to the Thompsonian school. This associa- 
 tion was his first instigation to enter the profession 
 which he has followed incidentally since he was 19 
 years of age. He acquired a practical knowledge of 
 the medicinal virtues of plants and had the benefit 
 of the experience of his father. At r5 he entered 
 Hamilton Academy, which he attended until he was 
 19. He went to Buffalo, N. Y., in 1830, where he 
 began to practice to some extent. But he was prac- 
 tically unknown arid dependent on his own efforts 
 wholly. He is and has been all his life an expert 
 with tools, and while securing a start in Buffalo he 
 secured a maintenance at first by his work as a car- 
 penter until he acquired sufficient practice to pre- 
 clude his labor as a craftsman. At the end of four 
 
 years, he went to Lorain Co., Ohio, on a visit, and 
 while there decided to join a party who were coming 
 to Illinois. The transit over the intervening country 
 was made with horses and a wagon. 
 
 Dr. Hurd arrived in Knox County in 1836, and 
 was not at the time the possessor of a whole dollar. 
 He found an opportunity to teach in a family of 
 Kentuckians, not one of whom knew a letter of the 
 alphabet. This helped him to a home, and he 
 worked as a carpenter to supply himself with neces- 
 sary funds. Accident placed a complicated case of 
 illness in his charge, and his success established his 
 claims as a physician. 
 
 The attractions of the lady he afterwards married 
 brought him to Wethersfield, and he became an in- 
 mate of the family of her father, Abner B. Little. 
 The house was a pioneer's log cabin with one room. 
 The " parlor " was partitioned from the general space 
 by blankets, and comprised about four feet square of 
 territory. In this the " sparking" was carried on to 
 a final consummation, and the marriage was the first 
 in Henry County. Dr. Hurd and his wife removed 
 to the Little homestead and assumed charge of the 
 parents. The place was comparatively new and Dr. 
 Hurd operated as farmer, carpenter and physician. 
 He bought rails to enclose 15 acres, and he built the 
 fence by moonlight and midnight, as his duties 
 through the day absorbed all the time that the gen- 
 eral community was out of bed. After the lapse of 
 two years, he removed to a claim of 160 acres he 
 had made in another part of the town. He broke 
 15 acres, which he fenced after dark in the method 
 known in that period as ditching, the results being a 
 sod fence. He also built a log house, and after he 
 had harvested his crop he found his title was defect- 
 ive and abandoned the claim. He removed to the 
 village of Wethersfield, where he owned ten acres, 
 and built a frame house. His health was at that 
 time seriously impaired by the extraordinary labors 
 he had undergone. Later, he sold his property in 
 Wethersfield and removed to Iowa City, Iowa, with 
 the intention of practicing his profession, but he re- 
 turned to Wethersfield on account of ill health. 
 
 In 1842 he went to Chicago, where he engaged in 
 practice. As he belonged to no regular school, his 
 business was restricted and his patrons were some- 
 times located at remote points. This gave him an 
 opportunity to add other business, and he canvassed 
 Cook County in the interests of the American Bible 
 
 9 
 
 
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dtgttfr* 1 — **&** — ^i$9W$fe^- — s ** e 
 
 & 
 
 Society. He was also the first canvasser for the 
 Western Citizen, the first anti-slavery journal pub- 
 lished in Chicago, and which was established by S. 
 C. Eastman. In 1852 the First Congregational 
 Church of Chicago was organized. It was principal- 
 ly the outgrowth of the efforts of Philo Carpenter, and 
 Dr. Hurd and his wife were among the little com- 
 pany who were its founders. They swelled the num- 
 ber to 30 members. The meetings were held in a 
 school-house, in "Carpenter's Addition, " until the 
 growth of the society warranted the erection of a 
 church and the engagement of a regular pastor. 
 
 Dr. Hurd was the first delegate from Chicago to 
 the first State Anti-Slavery Convention of Illinois, 
 which was held at Alton. His father-in-law, Abner 
 B. Little, cast the first anti-slavery vote in Wethers-, 
 field. He cast the second. 
 
 After a residence of nearly 1 1 years in Chicago, 
 Dr. Hurd went to Springfield, Mass., where he oper- 
 / *» ated successfully as a physician four years, and in 
 \ 1858 he came again to Wethersfield. Two years 
 J later he went to Ann Arboi, Mich., for the purpose 
 of obtaining for his children the advantages of the 
 C3- educational facilities of that place. Meanwhile, the 
 *9§ war came on, and in 1861 he went to the field as a 
 r=a volunteer physician, under the auspices of Hon. 
 \^ Austin Blair, Michigan's "War Governor. " In 1864 
 he returned to Wethersfield and engaged actively in 
 medical practice until 1877. He is- the owner of a 
 farm in Wethersfield Township and resides in the 
 village. 
 
 The marriage of Dr. Hurd and Caroline W. Little 
 was solemnized Aug. 22, 1837. Mrs. Hurd was born 
 in Hollis, N. H, Sept. 15, 1821, and came, in 1836, 
 with her parents, Abner B. and Nancy (Tenney) Lit- 
 tle, to Henry County. (See sketch of R. Augustus 
 Little.) Seven children were born to Dr. and Mrs. 
 Hurd and have all passed to the realms of the here- 
 afcer. Anna Caroline was the third child born in 
 the township of Wethersfield. She was born 
 Aug. 13, 1838; Lewis Gardner was born Oct. 3, 
 1840; Julius Augustus, July 6, 1842; Anna Caro- 
 line (second), Jan. 1, 1848; Eliza Orinette, July 18, 
 1849 ; William Little, April 17, 1852 ; Edwin Henry 
 Nevin, July 1, [854. The oldest son enlisted. at 20, 
 in 1861, in Co. D, 4th Mich. Vol. Inf., and died in 
 Washington, D. C„ March 15, r862, of typhoid pneu- 
 monia. He was one of the band of students who 
 enlisted from the University of Michigan. 
 
 <;> 
 
 Dr. Hurd is a Republican in political connection. 
 , The portraits of himself and wife appear on other 
 pages of this work. The days are not far away 
 when all the pioneers of Henry County will have en- 
 tered the land .which lies forever beyond the front- - 
 iers of this earth. That time will affix the full value 
 to the reminiscences and portraits of that class who 
 bore the burden of the period of first things. 
 
 homas Walsh, farmer, section 10, Cam- 
 bridge Township, was born June 9, 1840, 
 . 5 B?'*t i n County Monaghan, Ireland, and he is 
 
 the son of Francis and Mary (Boyle) Walsh. 
 The parents were also natives of the Emerald 
 Isle, and there the mother died. She had 
 borne six children: Francis, Patrick, James, Thom- 
 as, Catherine and Mary. The three younger sons 
 came to the United States. James and Thomas 
 came hither in 1853. The latter settled on Long 
 Island, where he remained seven years. He then 
 removed to the city of New York, and was a resident 
 there five years ; his brother is a citizen there still. , 
 In March, 1864, he came to Henry County, and in 
 the ensuing years was married to Melinda Funk. 
 He at once engaged in farming, to which he dovoted 
 himself with the thrifty energy of the country of his 
 nativity, and conducted his operations with marked 
 success. He first hired to work by the month,, and 
 then rented until he was in a position to buy a farm 
 for himself, on which he pursued the same wise 
 methods of management, and is now the owner of 
 400 acres of land, all in excellent agricultural condi- 
 tion. Mr. Walsh is also the owner of i,6oo acres of 
 railroad land in Nebraska, for which he is paying 
 with great rapidity, and will soon hold a clear title to 
 a splendid estate. 
 
 .•o$o« 
 
 llli. ugenio K. Hayes, dealer in agricultural im- 
 
 HIp plements, and manufacturer and dealer in 
 
 the Kewanee Check Rower, Hayes' Auto- 
 
 5|v matic Reel, "Boss" Shoveling Board, Kewanee 
 
 " Force Pump, wood cisterns, etc., etc., at Kewa- 
 
 : nee, 111. Mr. Hayes is a distinguished inventor 
 
 and manufacturer, as indicated by his card, which we 
 
 I 
 
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 £3 
 
 ay 
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 £«§§*§• 
 
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 ©V&DIMfW^ — 3<€^c- 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 insert by way of introductory. He was born at La 
 Fayette, 111., May 2r, 1848, and was the only son 
 and youngest of four children of Harry and Harriet 
 (Wright) Hayes, natives of the State of New York. 
 
 The subject of our sketch was reared upon a farm, 
 and at the district schools acquired a fair English edu- 
 cation. Though decidedly of a mechanical turn of 
 mind, he followed agriculture up to the year 1881, at 
 which time he sold out his farm in Wethersfield 
 Township, to which he had removed from Stark 
 County in 1876, and in company with a Mr. Perkins 
 engaged in his present business. Mr. Perkins re- 
 tired from the firm in January, 1883, since which 
 time Mr. Hayes has conducted the business alone. 
 He employs about his shop from 12 to 15 men, keeps 
 on the road from one to three drummers, and sells 
 from J>35 ,000 to $50,000 worth of his own manufac- 
 tured wares annually. The Kewanee Force Pump, 
 of which he is the patentee, is probably the greatest 
 success of the kind in the world. With an ordinary 
 farm pump, operated by one hand, he is able to throw 
 a solid stream of water to the top of a three-story 
 building. Though it is hardly yet upon the market, 
 the indications are that he will sell over 1 ,000 the 
 first year of their manufacture. 
 
 Mr. Hayes takes no part in politics, but attends 
 strictly to business, and bids fair to become one of 
 the leading manufacturers of a town noted for its 
 thrift and enterprise in that direction. 
 
 He was married at Toulon, 111., Jan. 17, 187 1, to 
 Miss Matilda J. Dack, daughter of John Dack, de- 
 ceased, and has born to him five children : Ralph 
 W., Albert L., Forrest, Fred D. and Percy. Both 
 Mr. and Mrs. Hayes are members of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church. 
 
 "*"• 
 
 acob Messmore, Jr., engaged as a farmer 
 on section 4, Kewanee Township, is a son 
 '*"*• of Jacob and Margaret (White) Mess- 
 more, natives of Pennsylvania. They came to 
 It Henry County in 1852, and settled in this 
 township, where they always remained, and 
 their family comprised ten children, of whom Jacob, 
 Jr , was the fourth in order of birth. He was born 
 in Wayne Co., Ohio, Aug. 28, 1840, and was but 12 
 ,years old when his parents came into Henry County, 
 
 and has remained a resident of the same ever since, 
 with the exception of three years during the war, 
 when he enlisted in the cause for the Union ; the 
 date being Aug. 9, 1862, in the 124th 111. Vol. Inf., 
 and served his country faithfully for three years, com- 
 ing home uninjured. Mr. Messmore is the owner 
 and proprietor of 145 acres in this county, which is 
 good, improved land. 
 
 He was united in marriage in Cambridge, 111., 
 April 4, 1864, the lady chosen to share his joys and 
 sorrows, successes and reverses, being Miss Rebecca 
 J. Gochenour, who was born in Ohio, May T9, T846 ; 
 and of this union has been born one child — Emma P. 
 Mr. M. has held the offices of School Director and 
 Highway Commissioner, in his township, and politic- 
 ally is identified with the Republican party. 
 
 Scott Brown, stock dealer, residing at Osco, 
 Osco Township, is a son of John and 
 R Sarah (Kirkpatrick) Brown, his father being 
 niP> a na ti V e of Chester Co., Pa., and his mother of 
 Ohio. After marriage, they settled in Ohio, 
 and soon thereafter removed to Fulton County, 
 this State. His father was engaged in farming in the 
 latter county for a time and the family moved to this 
 county and settled in Osco Township, where he fol- 
 lowed his chosen vocation, that of agriculture, until 
 the date of his death, Oct. 4, 1881. His wife sur- 
 vives him at the venerable age of 82 years, and is 
 still a resident of Osco Township. Their children 
 were five in number,— T. Scott, George C, John G., 
 Mary L. and James M. 
 
 George C. is a resident of Osco Township, this 
 county; John G. resides near Marshalltown, Iowa, 
 where he is engaged in farming; Mary L. was united 
 in marriage to W. L. Hitchcock, who resides in 
 Greenfield, Iowa ; James M. follows the occupation 
 of a farmer in Osco Township. 
 
 T. Scott Brown, subject of this notice, was born in 
 Farmington Township, Fulton County, this State, 
 June 7, 1835. He received a fair education in the 
 district schools of his native county and there resided 
 until the spring of i860, when he removed to this 
 county. On arrival here he rented his father's farm, 
 which he cultivated for about two years. In August, 
 1862, Mr. Brown, whose name heads this notice, en- 
 listed in the 103dm. Vol. Inf., and served his coun 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY 
 
 H!*l^ 
 
 V. 
 
 9 
 
 try until January, 1865. In the skirmish near Co- 
 lumbia, S. C, he received a serious wound from a 
 minie ball in his right arm, in consequence of 
 which he was compelled to have that member am- 
 putated at the shoulder. He enlisted as a private 
 and was promoted First Sergeant. John G. Brown, 
 brother of Mr. Brown of this notice, was also a sol- 
 dier in the war for the Union, having enlisted in the 
 fall of 1861, in the 55th, 111. Vol. Inf., and served his 
 country until the close of the war. 
 
 Mr. Brown of this sketch has held the minor offices 
 of his township, and politically is a believer in and a 
 supporter of the principles of the Republican party. 
 He is a gentleman respected for his straightforward- 
 ness and fair dealings with his fellow man. 
 
 || M. Dorr, residing at Galva, where he is 
 JS engaged in the jewelry business, was 
 ^ born in Columbia Co., N. Y., May 25, 
 1832. The name Dorr seems to be a cor- 
 ruption of the name De Orr. La Fayette, on 
 his last visit to America, called on an uncle 
 of our subject, Elisha Dorr, and asked him where 
 the Dorrs originated. He told him tradition said 
 from England. La Fayette replied that it was not an 
 English name, but that it was undoubtedly from 
 Normandy, a province of France, as the name was 
 common there! There is but one family of Dorrs 
 known in America: .hence they all sprang from the 
 same family. 
 
 Matthew Dorr, grandfather of the subject of this 
 notice, resided in Columbia Co., N. ¥., wher,e he was 
 engaged as a woolen manufacturer, and where, at 
 Dansville, that Slate, he died. He was the father of 
 five children, namely : Abraham, Samuel, Matthew, 
 Jr. (the father of the subject of this notice), Phebe 
 and Sybil. Matthew Dorr, Jr., father of our subject, 
 was born in New York, and died in 1869, in Bureau 
 County, this State, aged 83 years. He was formerly 
 Judge of the Columbia County Court, New York, 
 later a woolen manufacturer, and also a soldier in 
 the War of 181 2. He was Postmaster ten years and 
 Justice of the Peace eight years while in Bureau 
 County, Illinois. He was married to Ann B. Mudge, 
 Jan. 29, 181 r. She died at Neponset, Bureau Coun- 
 ty, this State, in November, 1872, aged 79 years. 
 They were the parents of 12 children,— Adeline S., 
 
 Irene, Elizabeth S., William M., Harriet C, George 
 E., Caroline, Hellen L., Phebe Ann, James Edmund, 
 Byron M. and Samuel. 
 
 Byron M. Dorr, of whom we write, was edu- 
 cated principally at Knox College, this State, and 
 during the two years prior to his majority, was en- 
 gaged in the active labors of the farm. He enlisted 
 in Co. A, 42d Reg. 111. Vol. Inf., as a private, but, 
 the company not being received under the first call 
 of 6,000 by the Governor, he re-enlisted as musician 
 and served nearly eight months, when the regiment 
 bands were discharged by order of Major-General 
 Hallock, and brigade bands formed. After this he 
 returned to Kewanee, and, his health having been 
 greatly impaired, he engaged to learn .the jewelry 
 business at that place. He mastered the same and 
 then went to Neponset, Bureau County, where he en- 
 gaged in business and continued until r869, when he 
 came to Galva and again engaged in the same busi- 
 ness. Mr. Dorr, ever since he came to Galva, has 
 continued in the jewelry business and at present has 
 a first-class store, with a good and constantly in- 
 creasing trade. He has also been engaged as teacher 
 of a band at different times, and is widely known as 
 a musician of fine ability. Politically, he is a be- 
 liever in and a supporter of the principles of the 
 Greenback party. 
 
 Mr. Djrr was united in marriage at Kewanee, 
 Nov. 16, 1856, with Emma M. Maunder, born in the 
 town of Martock, Somerset, England, in 1833, and 
 who emigrated to the United States in 1854. Re- 
 ligiously, Mrs. Dorr is a member of the Congrega- 
 tional Church. 
 
 ?ames Lyle, farmer on section 25, Kewanee 
 '$ Township, was born in Bureau Co., 111., 
 July 13, r8so, and is a son of William and 
 Margaret Lyle, natives of Scotland. He (the 
 father) came to America about 1844, and the 
 mother four years later. They first settled in 
 Bureau Co., 111., and from there removed into Henry 
 County in the year 1852, locating in Kewanee Town- 
 ship permanently. The father died at the latter 
 place, Dec. 21, 1878. They had a family of nine 
 children, of whom James, our subject, is the 
 eldest. 
 
 James received only a common-school education 
 
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 -*!«&>$ 
 
HENRY 
 
 COUNTY. 
 
 -f^^vill 
 
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 in the district schools of this county, where he was 
 reared. As a business man he has been reasonably 
 successful, and today owns an excellent farm of 
 85 acres, and Mrs. William Lyle, his mother, owns 
 154 acres. Mr. L. has been prominent in promoting 
 the welfare of the community in which he resides, 
 and in educational matters also takes a deep inter- 
 est. He has served as Director of his school district, 
 and politically he is a Republican. Socially, he is 
 connected with the Order of Odd Fellows. 
 
 At Kewanee, Sept. 7, 1881, Mr. Lyle was married 
 to Margaret Price. This lady was born in Wales on 
 Christmas Day of the year 1858. Two children 
 have been born into their home, to whom they have 
 given these names : Stella and Ernest. 
 
 -3- 
 
 -&- 
 
 i'nn Moon, widow of the late Thomas Moon, 
 1 who was born in 1813, resided on sec. 29, 
 MW&? Annawan Township, for many years, and 
 was well known and respected throughout the 
 community. Mrs. M. was born in Yorkshire, 
 England, in 1825, and five years later came to 
 America with her parents, landing in New York. 
 Thence they proceeded to Chicago, where they re- 
 mained but one week; then they went to Jackson- 
 ville, where they remained until 1847, about 17 
 years. At that time they came to Annawan Town- 
 ship, this county, and became one of the earliest 
 families who settled in this section of the county. 
 Mrs. Moon has since then resided in the above- 
 named township, and for the last 21 years has lived 
 upon her present estate. 
 
 On the 1 2th of August, 1847, she was married to 
 Mr. Moon, who was also born in Yorkshire, England, 
 and three years prior to their marriage had come to 
 America. He was an energetic, successful farmer, 
 and when he died, in 1878, left a farm of 420 acres, 
 all under good cultivation and improved with good 
 dwellings and barns. Mr. Moon died Aug. 27, 
 1878. They had become the parents of the follow- 
 ing-named eight children: Anna, born Feb. 3, 1849; 
 George, Feb. 6, 185 1 ; John, March 5, 1853 ; Thomas 
 H., Aug. 23, 1855; James W., May it, 1858; Ra- 
 chel, Jan. 5, 1861; Joseph H., Jan. 21, 1864; and 
 Chales E., Aug. 9, 1867. 
 Mrs. Moon resides on the old homestead, and is 
 
 an excellent type of a fine old English lady. She 
 attends the United Brethren Church, but was for- 
 merly an Episcopalian. 
 
 apt. Norman H. Pratt, Postmaster at Ke- 
 SpH wanee, a position to which he was ap- 
 ■ W' pointed by President Johnson, in May, 
 K 1867, re-appointed twice by Gen. Grant, once 
 |\ by " 'Squire " Hayes, and lastly by President 
 Arthur. The Captain was born at Bingham- 
 ton, N. Y., Dec. 10, 1825, and was fourth in order of 
 birth of three sons and five daughters of Maverick 
 and Samantha (Hyde) Pratt, natives of Connecticut, 
 descended from the English, and dating their ances- 
 try upon the Continent back to the first half of 
 the seventeenth century. From Binghamton Mr. 
 Pratt removed to Peoria Co., 111., in 1835, and from 
 there to Wethersfield, Henry Co., in 1846. Here he 
 bought a farm now occupied by a part of the town of 
 Kewanee, and upon which he and his wife spent prin- 
 cipally the rest of their lives. The old gentleman 
 died in 1868, at the age of 73, and his wife five years 
 earlier, at the age of 63. His three sons were in 
 the Union army, and two of them — the oldest and the 
 youngest — laid down their lives in front of Vicksburg. 
 The first, Julius A., was First Lieutenant of Co. A, 
 124th III. Inf., and was killed by a musket shot in 
 June, 1863, and the latter, James B., died from dis- 
 ease about the same time. 
 
 In August, 1862, in company with anothor gentle- 
 man, the subject of this sketch raised a company of 
 volunteers, and on Sept. 10 following it was mustered 
 into service as Co. F, 124th 111. Vol. Inf., Mr. Pratt 
 being First Lieutenant. At Vicksburg, Aug. 7, 1863, 
 he was promoted Captain of the company, a position 
 which he held when mustered out of service, Aug. 15, 
 1865, at the city of Chicago. 
 
 His discharge, which bears date Aug. 15, 1865, 
 shows that he led his company in Gen. Grant's Tal- 
 lahatchie expedition, December, 1862; at Port Gib- 
 son, May 1, 1863; at Raymond, Miss., May 12, 
 1863; at Jackson, Miss., May 14, 1863 ; at Cham- 
 pion Hills, May 16, 1863; at Vicksburg, May 18 to 
 July 4, 1863; on the Monroe (La.) expedition, in 
 August, 1863; at Benton and Yazoo, May, 1864; on 
 Sherman's Meridian Expedition, February, 1864; at 
 
 
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 <&&X@M$ 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 \St 
 
 the siege of Spanish Fort, Ala., March 27 to April 9, 
 1865, and on Gen. Canby's expedition against Mobile 
 and Montgomery in 1865. When the war was over he 
 returned to Kewanee and engaged in the insurance 
 business, and later on in the grain business, which 
 he left to accept the Postmastership. 
 
 His early education was limited to such as could 
 be had at the common schools of his boyhood days, 
 alternating the seasons of farming and attendance 
 upon the district school. In 1847 he abandoned the 
 farm and went to New Orleans, where he clerked in 
 a drug store for two or three years, a business he 
 followed afterwards at Peoria. 
 
 The Captain is identified with no particular 
 Church, though he is a good Mason, a strict regard 
 to whose principles constitutes the highest religion 
 and affords no excuse for hypocrisy. 
 
 He was married at Kingsville, Ohio, in 1855, to 
 Miss Louisa Sloan, a native of the State of Pennsyl- 
 vania. 
 
 li'-enry Wright, deceased, formerly a resident 
 Ji of Cornwall Township, was a native of 
 New York, in which State he was born Jan. 
 12, 1828. He was a farmer by occupation, 
 and followed the same until his enlistment in 
 the war for the Union. Mr. W. served his 
 country in Co. A, 151st 111. Inf., for about a year, 
 when he returned home to this country to die. Con- 
 sumption had seized upon him during his time of 
 service, and April 8, 1877, he passed away to the 
 land of the hereafter, leaving a wife and eight chil- 
 dren. 
 
 Mr. W. was united in marriage with Miss Annis, 
 the accomplished daughter of Oliver Root, Jan. 12, 
 1850, in this county. She is a native of Ohio, in 
 which State she was born Aug. 17, 1832. Her 
 father was a native of Vermont, where he was born 
 Jan. 21, 1792, and is at present living in Munson 
 Township, this county, and enjoys good health. He 
 married Miss Mary Thomas in 1817, a native of 
 Athens, Ohio. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. 
 Wright are as follows: William H, born Nov. 17, 
 185 1 ; Mary C, born Oct. 24, 1853; Frank E., born 
 Feb. 4, 1857 ; Ida E., born March 18, 1859 ;' Clar- 
 ence, Aug. 18, 1861 ; Alice, May 12, 1865 ; Arthur, 
 April 19, 1867 ; and Louisa, June 25, 187 1. 
 
 Mrs. W. is a member of the Free Methodist Church, 
 and a consistent, active Christian woman. She car- 
 ries on the home farm with the assistance of her 
 children, and is meeting with success in life. 
 
 ames C. Smiley, M. D., a distinguished 
 physician and surgeon of Kewanee, re- 
 " y moved from Deerfield, Ind., to Cambridge, 
 Henry Co., 111., in the year 1855, and five 
 years later began the practice of medicine. In 
 1865 he moved to Kewanee, and at once, by his 
 skill as a physician and his deportment as a gentle- 
 man and a scholar, took rank among the foremost of 
 his profession. 
 
 He was born at Winchester, Va., Sept. 14, 1832, 
 and was the son of the Rev. Walter Smiley, of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, his mother being before 
 marriage Miss Susan Kraus. His parents were de- 
 scendants respectively from the Scotch and German. 
 He was nine years of age when his father died, arid 
 but nine when he set out in the world to make a 
 living for himself. He attended pretty regularly the 
 common schools of his neighborhood during his 
 youth. 
 
 His first employment was as a clerk in a mercan- 
 tile establishment at Deerfield, Ind., and from that 
 time he dates the beginning of his medicinal stud- 
 ies. Dr. McAfee, of Deerfield, Ind., was his first 
 preceptor, and under, him Dr. Smiley studied and 
 practiced medicine for several years. After coming 
 back to Illinois he entered Rush Medical College, 
 Chicago, in i860. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Smiley left his family, consisting of a 
 widow arid nine children, in anything but independ- 
 ent circumstances, and the result was, the sons from 
 that time forward had not only themselves to lookout 
 for, but also had the care and support of their moth- 
 er and sisters. Young as he was, if he did but little 
 for the rest of the family in the beginning of their' 
 trials, he relieved them from any care upon his ac- 
 connt, by proceeding to earn* his own livelihood, and 
 thenceforward he has acquired what of this world's 
 goods he has, and has had, by his individual effort 
 and industry. 
 
 In 1880, in partnership with another gentleman, to 
 whom he leaves his management, he opened a drug 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 store in Kewanee, thereby adding to his income and 
 enabling him to have his prescriptions filled by drug- 
 gists who understand their business, and upon whom 
 he can safely rely for drugs chemically pure. 
 
 He belongs to the Masonic fraternity, votes the 
 Democratic ticket, attends strictly to his own busi- 
 ness, treats everybody politely and enjoys the re- 
 spect and confidence of the community in which he 
 resides. 
 
 Sept. 23, i"8s3, the Doctor was married in Jay Co., 
 Ind., to Miss Mary Ellen Cook, a native of Ohio, 
 and of the two children born of their union, we make 
 ! the following notice : Frank M., graduate of Rush 
 { Medical College, and for the past two years a prom- 
 ising young M. D. of Brooklyn, L. I., and Florence, 
 now the accomplished wife of Mr. L. P. Kraus, a 
 druggist of Beatrice, Neb. 
 
 ames P. Heaps. While traveling through 
 Pj' Henry County, the biographical writer of 
 the Album met but few active business 
 men who were born in the county. The vast 
 majority of those who are to-day tilling the 
 soil, raising the stock, or engaged in business 
 or commercial enterprises, or are members of any of 
 the professions, were born without he borders of 
 Henry County. James P. Heaps, the subject of this 
 narrative, however, was born upon section 32, Anna- 
 wan Township, and is to-day living in the same 
 house in which he was born, and cultivating the soil 
 surrounding it. He is the son of the well-known 
 pioneer, William G. Heaps, and was born on the 
 1 6th of January, 1856. The only educational advan- 
 tages enjoyed by him were those afforded by the dis- 
 trict schools in the neighborhood. He is, however, 
 a good business man and a- successful farmer. 
 
 James P. was married on the roth of January, 
 1878, by the Rev. George M. Lewis, of the Baptist 
 Church, to Miss Sarah E. Pettitt. Like her husband, 
 she is also a native of Henry County, and they are 
 perhaps the only couple living in that county as 
 man and wife who were born and reared upon the 
 same section. She is the daughter of Samuel Pettitt, 
 a well-known farmer of Annawan Township, whose 
 biography is given on another page in this volume. 
 Mrs. Heaps was born July 29, 1856, and is the 
 
 mother of two children — Allison Ray, born Aug. 23, 
 1879; and Clarice Ethel, Oct. 31, 1881. 
 
 Mr. Heaps has the old farm under excellent culti- 
 vation, and has upon it a good, substantial dwelling, 
 with convenient out-buildings. He is thoroughly 
 imbued with the progressive idea that the most 
 profitable grade of stock to raise, as well as decidedly 
 the most pleasant to handle, are the best and higher 
 grades. He is breeding some Short-horn Durham, 
 of full blood, which are recorded in the "Herd Book." 
 His horses are of the Clyde and Norman breed, 
 while his hogs are Poland-China, and his fowls are 
 pure-blooded Plymouth Rocks. Politically, he is a 
 Republican. 
 
 enry Shanahan. The subject of this per- 
 sonal sketch and one of the well-to-do and 
 representative men of Henry County is Mr. 
 Henry Shanahan, a resident of section 5, of 
 Wethersfield Township, where he is engaged 
 extensively in farming. He was born in Mary- 
 land, Jan. 15, 1808, and is a son of James and 
 Elizabeth (Lucas) Shanahan, natives of Maryland, 
 and in which State the father died. The mother 
 died in Ohio. Their family consisted of five chil- 
 dren, — Willoughby, Henry, James, Michael and 
 Henrietta. 
 
 Henry, at an early age, having been deprived of a 
 father, went to live with an uncle, with whom he re- 
 mained until he attained the age of 21 years. In 
 the meantime they had moved to Ohio, and our 
 subject engaged to work out by the month, which he 
 continued for three years. At the expiration of 
 that time he rented a farm and remained in Ohio 
 until r864, when he moved into Henry County, and 
 settled in Wethersfield Township, at which place he 
 has since resided, with the exception of two years 
 spent in Nebraska. He is the proprietor and owner 
 of 103 acres of good tillable land, which he has put 
 under excellent cultivation by his industry, energy 
 and hard labor. 
 
 Mr. Shanahan formed a matrimonial alliance in 
 Pickaway Co., Ohio, Sept. 6, 1832, the lady whom 
 he had chosen to be his helpmeet being Miss Jane, 
 daughter of Nathan and Elizabeth (Hopkins) Frame, 
 natives of Delaware. She was born in Pickaway Co., 
 Ohio, Oct. r2, r8i2. They first settled in Pickaway 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 Co., Ohio, and resided there until their deaths. Of 
 their union were born seven children, — Smith, Robert, 
 Eliza, Jane, Painter, Lydia and Ruth. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Shanahan have had their home 
 blessed by the birth of nine children : James H., 
 born May i, 1836; Elizabeth J., May 25, 1840; and 
 Martha A., Oct. 6, 1842, being the only survivors. 
 The deceased are George, born July 11, 1833, died 
 Sept. 10, 1834; Smith, born April 6, 1838, died May 
 21, 1843; May, born March 28, 1845, died Aug. 17, 
 1850; Robert, born Sept. 19, 1849, died Aug. n, 
 1850; Lydia, born Aug. 29, 1847, died Dec. 5, 1866; 
 and Katie, born Jan. 15, 1852, died Nov. 4, 1870. 
 
 Religiously, Mr. and Mrs. S. are members of the 
 Presbyterian Church, and in politics Mr. S. affiliates 
 with the Republican party. 
 
 euben B. Burn, a farmer on section 20, 
 Atkinson Township, is a native of the State 
 of New York, where he was born March 
 24, 1823. His parents were William and 
 Margaret Burn. His father was born in For- 
 gan, Scotland, and his mother in the State of 
 New York. Mr. Burn was brought up to the busi- 
 ness of a farmer, and lived in his native State until 
 12 years of age, when he went to Ohio. 
 
 He was married there April 9, 1846, to Miss Helen 
 M. Shelton.' She was born Dec. 13, 1827, in the 
 town of Park, Bradford Co., Pa., and is the daughter 
 of James Shelton. He was born in Connecticut, 
 April 16, 1800, and died July 22, 1841. Her mother, 
 Clarissa M. (Hurd) Shelton, was born April 8, 1805, 
 and was married July 2, 1823. Mrs. Burn is the 
 second in order of birth of their three children : 
 Charles E. was born May 3, T824; Esther L. was 
 born July 19, 1836; Leonard Clarke was born in 
 1846 ; the latter is the son of the second husband of 
 the mother of Mrs. Burn, who died in 1846. After 
 his death she married a man named Young, who 
 died Jan. 9, 1850. She is still living and is 80 years 
 old. Mr. and Mrs Burn have had three children : 
 Clarissa was born Jan. 18, 1847; Reuben -A. was 
 born Dec. 15, 1852; William W. was born Sept. 8, 
 1858 ; Clarissa is deceased. 
 
 Mr. Burn is the proprietor of 160 acres of land, in 
 an excellent state of cultivation. The stock on the 
 
 place consists of good grades of horses and cattle. 
 He is in sympathy with the Republican party in 
 political sentiment, and, in religious views,_is an ad- 
 herent of the Presbyterian Church. Mrs. Burn is a 
 member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 lexander Murchison, one of the influential 
 citizens and progressive farmers of this 
 ^ county, residing upon section 13, Wethers- 
 field Township, is a native of Scotland, having 
 been born in Rosshire, that country, July 7, 
 1831. The parents of Mr. Murchison, Alex- 
 ander and Ann (McKinzie) Murchison., emigrated to 
 the United States in 1849 and settled in Stark 
 County, this State, where they continued to reside 
 until their deaths. Their family comprised three 
 children, namely: Alexander, Jr., Jane and Donald. 
 Jane became the wife of John McRae, and died in 
 Stark County, and Donald is a resident of the same 
 county. Alexander, whose biographical sketch we 
 write, was reared on the farm, receiving the advant- 
 ages afforded by the common schools. Arriving at 
 the age of 17 years, he left the parental roof-tree and 
 worked out by the month for five years. At the ex- 
 piration of that time he engaged in breaking prairie 
 and running a threshing-machine, which occupation 
 he followed conjointly for several years and until the 
 breaking out of the war. Previous to the beginning 
 of the war he assisted in the organization of a rifle 
 company in Stark County, and when the first call for 
 troops was made they offered their services to the 
 Government, but were too late to be accepted. 
 Afterward this company was attached to the 19th 
 111. Vol. Inf., and Mr. M. was commissioned Second 
 Lieutenant, having held the same position in the 
 original rifle company. He was afterward promoted 
 First Lieutenant and subsequently Captain, serving 
 something over three years in the army. At the 
 battle of Chickamauga he received an injury in the 
 hand by a piece of shell, which laid him up only for 
 a short time, and he was in command of his company 
 the following day. 
 
 After the war was over and the cause for which 
 Captain Murchison fought was victorious, he returned 
 to Stark County, where he had purchased a farm, 
 and at once entered vigorously and energetically 
 upon the task of its improvement and continued- to 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 reside there for two years. In 1867 Mr. Murchison 
 removed to Henry County and settled in Wethers- 
 field Township, where he purchased a farm of 80 
 acres of land, on which he moved with his family, 
 erected a fine residence, barn and other necessary 
 outbuildings, and where he is at present residing. 
 He has by laborious toil and economy increased his 
 landed interests in the county until he is at present 
 the owner of 240 acres in this and Stark Counties, 
 all of which is under an advanced state of cultivation. 
 His farm presents a. fine appearance, and is indicative 
 of good judgment and energy on the part of its pro- 
 prietor. 
 
 Mr. Murchison was married in Elmira Township, 
 Stark County, this State, July 3, 1866, to Margaret 
 N. Weed, daughter of Rev. N. C. and Jane (Camp- 
 bell) Weed, natives of North Carolina and Pennsyl- 
 vania, respectively. Her father was a minister of 
 the United Presbyterian Church, and he *and his 
 wife at present reside with their daughter and son- 
 in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Murchison, of this sketch. 
 Their children were it in number, — Eliza J., Robert 
 C, John M , Nathaniel R., James C, Margaret N., 
 Caroline M., Frances A., Andrew B., Elizabeth B. 
 and Alice C. B. Margaret N , wife of the subject of 
 this notice, was born in Indiana Co., Pa., Nov. 2, 
 1840. Mr. and Mrs. M. are the parents of three 
 children, — A. Clarence, Lorena A. C. and Fannie 
 C. J. Mr. Murchison has held the office of School 
 Director in his school district for many years. His 
 wife is a member of the United Presbyterian Church, 
 and Mr. M. of the Baptist Church. Politically, he 
 is a believer in the principles of the Republican 
 party. 
 
 "ames Riley, a citizen of Atkinson, is a 
 Up farmer of the township of the same name, 
 E^ 3 ^** and is the proprietor of a fine and valuable 
 farm of 280 acres on sections 1 1 and 34. Mr. 
 jU Riley was born July 30, 1824, in Licking Co., 
 Ohio. In 1834 he came to Illinois with his 
 parents. They settled in Bureau County, near the 
 location of the present town of Sheffield. The pre- 
 cise locality was partly entered by Mr. Riley him- 
 self, who; in 1847, obtained a soldier's warrant. The 
 
 document was a warrant to a soldier of the Mexican 
 War. It was laid on the land referred to. Mr. 
 Riley has been a resident of the State from the age 
 of 10. He came from Bureau to Henry County in 
 1854, and engaged- in farming. In 1880 he removed 
 to the village where he is now living. His land is 
 in the best condition for prosperous farming, and is 
 fitted with good and valuable fixtures of the latest 
 and most improved character. 
 
 In May, 1848, his marriage to Sarah Dunbar took 
 place, and they became the parents of five daughters 
 and three sons : Jemima was born May 2 1 , 1 85 r , and 
 died Jan. 28, 1874; Mary E. died in infancy ; Will- 
 iam was born Oct. 4, 1854; Hiram, Aug. 25, 1856; 
 Ellery, Jan. 25, 1861 ; Ls.ura, Sept. 2, 1865 ; Alice, 
 Aug. 14, 1871; Nettie, born March 1, 1874, died 
 April 1, following. Three of the children are mar- 
 ried. The mother was born in Ohio, June 1, 1828. 
 William was married to Elizabeth Schwabb, Feb. 24, 
 1875 ; Jemima was married to Benjamin McCloud, 
 March 4, 1867 ; Ellery was married to Lottie Web- 
 ster, Sept. 2, 1848 ; Laura was married to Victor 
 McCollough Sept. 25, 1880. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Riley are members of the Free 
 Methodist Church. Mr. Riley is a Republican in 
 his political relations. 
 
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 }: obert Broadtaent, engaged in farming on 
 section 24, Cornwall Township, is the 
 owner of 400 acres of land. He was born 
 "> \W Aug. 24, 1829, in Yorkshire, England. His 
 father, James Broadbent, was a native of 
 England, in which country he resided until 
 his death, in 1867 ; his wife followed him in 1881. 
 
 The gentleman whose name heads this article was 
 married May 7, 1881, to Mrs. Jane (Winter) Gasp. 
 She is also a native of England, having been born in 
 Lincolnshire, that country, in 1843. She has been 
 twice married. By Mr. Modd, her first husband, 
 she had two children — George and Sarah Ann. By 
 Mr. Gash, she has two children — Edward and James. 
 She has borne her present husband two children, 
 viz.: Hannah E. and Erwin. 
 
 Mr. Broadbent is the owner of 80 acres of land on 
 section 24, 80 acres on section 19, and 80 acres on 
 section 18, Annawan Township; also 80 acres on 
 
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 section 13, and 80 acres on section 14-, Cornwall 
 Township, making his total landed interest in the 
 county 400 acres. Mr. Broadbent is a self-made 
 man. He emigrated to the United States, in 1855, 
 from his native country, and came to Bureau Co., 
 this State, and his financial condition at that time 
 was such that he was compelled to work by the 
 month at various occupations for a livelihood. He 
 continued to labor in that manner for three years, 
 putting.by his savings, and hoping and trusting for 
 better times in the future. Better times came, and 
 after the expiration of three years, during which time 
 he had labored for others, he rented land and culti- 
 vated the same for his own individual profit for four 
 years. At this time of his life's history he was en- 
 abled by his economy in the past to purchase 80 
 acres of land, to which he has been adding from 
 time to time'until he is at present the proprietor of 
 the fine estate already referred to. In addition to 
 the cultivation of his land, he is and has been for 
 some time engaged in raising a good grade of Short- 
 horn cattle, and is meetingTvith success m-both de- 
 partments of his. farm life. 
 
 
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 dam Dunlap, a retired farmer of Phenix 
 if! Township, resident on section 28, settled 
 in Henry County in 1854. He was born 
 Dec. 18, 1833, in Wayne Co., Ohio, and is the 
 second son of William and Nancy (Finley) 
 Dunlap. His parents were pioneers of the part 
 of the Buckeye State where the son was born, and 
 there the father bought a timber farm and cleared it. 
 He was its owner and proprietor until his death, which 
 took place Feb. 14, 1852. Hjs wife died nine days 
 earlier, on the fifth of the same month, and they were 
 both buried in the same grave. 
 
 Mr. Dunlap passed the years of his minority on 
 the farm where he was born, and he received his ed- 
 ucation in the district schools. His home was with 
 his parents until he became wholly orphaned by 
 their deaths. He spent two years subsequent in 
 his native county, and in the year already mentioned 
 he came to Henry County. He was at first em- 
 ployed as a farm assistant, and followed that means 
 of obtaining a livelihood until the winter of 1862. 
 In August of that year he entered the military ser- 
 
 vice of the United States. He enlisted in Co. K, 
 112th 111. Reg. Vol. Inf., and he continued in the 
 service until the end of the war. He received his 
 discharge , in July, 1865, and. returned to Henry 
 County. 
 
 He was married Aug '10, 1865, to Mrs. Melinda 
 (Bartlett) Merriman, widow of Edward Merriman. 
 She was born in Onondaga Co., N. Y;, May 26, 1813. 
 After their marriage they settled on the place which 
 has since been their home, and which they own. 
 The farm includes 140 acres, situated on sections 
 27 and 28 and^sections 21 and 22. The estate is in 
 the finest condition for profitable agriculture, and for 
 the past few years has been rented by its proprietor. 
 
 Mr. Dunlap has been prominent in the public af- 
 fairs of the township; and has discharged 1 he duties 
 of his citizenship in official positions. He has been 
 Assessor nine years, acted as Supervisor one year, 
 and hasbeen Justice of the Peace three years. He 
 has also officiated as Commissioner of Highways two 
 terms — six years. Politically, he is a Democrat. 
 
 The parents of Mrs. Dunlap removed from' the 
 State of New York, when she was 19 years of age, to 
 Michigan. She was married in that State to Ed- 
 ward Merriman, who was also a native of the Empire 
 State. Their marriage took place March 4, 1832. 
 Mr. Merriman bought a farm in Wayne County, and 
 they were there engaged in farming until 1838, when 
 they removed to Henry County, driving through 
 with their teams, and bringing with them their house- 
 hold belongings. Ten days were consumed in the 
 journey, and on arrivaL Mr. Merriman entered land 
 on sections 27 and 28 and also on. section 25 in Phe- 
 nix Township. He built a log house on the section 
 last named, which his family occupied two years. 
 He then built another log house on section 27; m 
 which he pa sed the remaining' years of his life, and 
 devoted his energies to the improvement of his fine 
 estate. He died Feb. 14, 1858, leaving a widow and 
 six children. William, the oldest, lives in Phenix 
 Township. Louisa is the wife of Jay Stafford. 
 Charles is a citizen of Blairstown, Benton Co., Iowa. 
 Minerva lives in Geneseo. Catharine L. died in her 
 second year. Hortense B. is the wife of Abraham 
 Phelps, of Green Co., Iowa. Gilbert lives in the 
 township of Phenix. 
 
 Mrs. Dunlap, who, with her husband and family-, 
 came into the county at a very early day, very graph- 
 ically describes her arrival, and relates some inter- 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 esting early history. She also gives some glimpses 
 of the hardships endured by these early pioneers 
 and especially by the women. We prefer to give the 
 narrative in her own language. At that time she 
 was Mrs. Merriman, the wife of Edward Merriman : 
 
 "In 1838 my husband and myself," she says, 
 "thought we would leave Michigan and go into Illi- 
 nois, and see that wonderful river we had heard so 
 much about, known as Green River. It was talked 
 about a great deal at that time, and was really twice 
 as large in ink, or to read about it, as it really was. 
 We had two small children when we set out for 
 Illinois. On the 13th of October we arrived at the 
 residence of the late Liberty Stimpson. Here we re- 
 ceived a cordial welcome, and stopped for three 
 weeks. We then removed to the new residence of 
 R. Cherry in Hanna Township. The next spring 
 we moved back to Phenix Township, and settled on 
 the bank of a big slough in the eastern part of the 
 township, in a house with another family. My hus- 
 band had built the body of a poor log house, and 
 when we moved up there we set our beds in that 
 part of the house. When the storm came from the 
 West the rain poured down on us in bed, and we 
 didn't get up, for it was of no use. There were no 
 gable ends, no floors, no fire-place, no doors, no 
 chimney, and I had no stove, and a serious question 
 confronted me, Where was I to do my work ? At 
 the north side of the house I built a little room about 
 five feet wide and eight feet long. I built it just 
 high enough so that my husband could walk in and 
 not bump his head, I built a nice little fire-place in 
 it. I put it up with sod, and I prepared the sod 
 myself. I did my work in that small room until cold 
 weather set in. By that time my husband had a 
 pretty large field fenced, and a crop of com raised, 
 the gables of the cabin in, the floor laid, and a sod 
 chimney built, but no doors nor windows. When 
 corn-gathering time came he had no place to put his 
 crop, so he stored it in that house, and left me out 
 about four feet from the hearth across the room to 
 set my bed in and do my woik. 
 
 " About that time, the late William P. Cullen, of 
 Geneseo, with another gentleman, got lost one night, 
 while traveling in a one-horse buggy. They came 
 to my house and stayed over night, and were well 
 pleased to see five little children sleeping together 
 all in one bed. It reminded him, he said, of so 
 Some of these children were 
 
 mine and part of them my neighbors'. I enjoyed 
 myself during that period as well as I ever did 
 before. I had one near neighbor, and I was satis- 
 fied. I constructed two one-legged bedsteads and a 
 table out of what was called ' shakes,' and had no 
 others for about five years. 
 
 " The fall referred to above, there were plenty of 
 blackberries two miles away. When my neighbor 
 and I wanted some berries, we would take our water- 
 pails after dinner and walk to that grove and fill 
 them. I had a child eight months old, and I would 
 f fill my bucket with my baby in my arms and walk 
 home} and I counted that no hardship. I was then 
 25 years of age, stout and hearty ; and work was no 
 dread to me." 
 
 ames Knox Blish, attorney and counselor 
 at law, Kewanee, 111., was born at Weth- 
 ersfield, Henry Co., 111., May 2, 1843. 
 (For parentage, etc.,, see sketch of Hon. C. C. 
 Blish, this volume.) He grew to manhood 
 upon his father's farm, alternating the sum- 
 mers and winters with the duties incident to farm 
 life and attendance at the winter schools. However, 
 the High School at Kewanee and the Wethersfield " 
 and Kewanee union schools afforded the youth of 
 this vicinity what may be fairly considered rare op- 
 portunities for those days and in a Western State ; " 
 so, at the age of 1 8, young Blish was prepared to en- 
 ter college with more than ordinary primary and pre- 
 paratory training. He chose the Michigan State 
 University, at Ann Arbor, for his alma mater, and 
 at that institution graduated as a Bachelor of Arts in 
 the class of 1866. 
 
 It may surprise a few of the many readers of this 
 sketch to learn that the dignified and successful 
 young attorney, as they know him, once in life es- 
 sayed the role of theatrical manager, if indeed he did 
 not don the buskin and the tinsel. But such is the 
 fact. And why not? It was probably this experi- 
 ence that inspired within him the determination to 
 succeed at the forum, even though the mimic world 
 did not prove what his fancy painted it. It was at 
 Leavenworth Kan., that young Blish, soon after leav- 
 ing college, engaged for a time in the theatrical bus- 
 iness ; with what success does not appear. Returning 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 to Kewanee, we find that he settled down to farming 
 for a short time,-going, in the meantime to Chicago — 
 how many times cannot be remembered, even if it 
 were essential. But, anyway, he was there on Christ- 
 mas Day, 1867, and was married to Miss Mary E. 
 McManus, a lovely and accomplished young lady, 
 who was born at Sherburne, N. Y. In 1869 Mr. Blish 
 quit farming and purchased an interest in a blank- 
 book establishment at Council Bluffs, Iowa, and gave 
 that his attention something like two years, when he 
 sold out and accepted employment with the blank- 
 book manufacturer, J. W. Middleton, of Chicago. 
 He held this position until the great fire, when he re- 
 turned home, and with the late Judge Howe began 
 in earnest the study of law. This was the real .be- 
 ginning of his career. He was admitted to the Bar 
 in 1874 and began practice at once. From that day 
 his success was_assured, and when his final biogra- 
 phy is written, if he mistakes not, it will contain a 
 life worthy of emulation. 
 
 In 1876 he led the " forlorn hope " as the Demo- 
 cratic candidate for the Legislature, resulting, as it 
 only could in a town so overwhelmingly Republican, 
 but in no wise to the discredit of Mr. Blish. He was 
 admited to practice in the Federal Courts June 23, 
 1877 ; and as his hands are full of business his pro- 
 fession receives his entire attention. Mr. Blish is in- 
 terested in the First National Bank and the Haxtun 
 Heater Company, and is the attorney of both of 
 these corporations, and is also President of the Ke- 
 wanee Agricultural Fair Association. 
 
 Sept. 18, 1882, the Angel of Death visited his 
 home, and his two little children, James Louis' and 
 Bertha Bell, were left motherless. 
 
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 ik Wilson Lovejoy, of Annawan, has been a 
 g resident of Henry County since 1882. He 
 came to Sheffield, Bureau Co., 111., in Sep- 
 tember, 1879, and entered the employ of Marple 
 Brothers as an assistant in their mercantile es- 
 tablishment. ■ He remained in their service 
 three years, and in the year stated came to Anna- 
 wan. He obtained the position of head clerk with 
 S. N. Barker and is still occupying the situation. 
 
 He was born Aoril 20, 1857, in Chautauqua Co., 
 N. Y., the son of John and Emily Lovejoy. He 
 
 was brought Up under the care and authority of his 
 parents, working on the farm -through the-seasons for 
 the business of agriculture and in the winters at- 
 tending the district school. He was married Nov. 
 28, 1881, in Bureau County, to Alice Halliday. She 
 was born in the State of New York, Sept 22, 1861. 
 She died Aug. 22, 1884, and left two children, — 
 Everett A. and Clara C. An infant daughter died 
 soon after birth. Mr. Lovejoy formed a second mat- 
 rimonial alliance, June 17, 1885, with Gertrude Mc- 
 Uermond. Mrs. Lovejoy was born in Henry County, 
 April 14, 1867. 
 
 Mr. Lovejoy is a Republican in political prefer- 
 ence. 
 
 Ion. Charles C. Wilson,, a distinguished at- 
 Js torney and counselor at law at Kewanee, 
 was born at North Wrentham, Mass., Sept. 
 18, T829, and was the eldest of five sons and 
 one daughter, and has one sister older than 
 himself, the progeny of Enoch and Abigail 
 (Richardson) Wilson. The father was also a native 
 of North Wrentham, and the mother of Portland, 
 Me., and oTold Puritan ancestry. 
 
 Enoch Wilson's father was Jared Wilson, Sr„ who 
 is known in history as a soldier of the Revolution, in 
 which service he, with several others from Wren- 
 tham, was a man picked for the Marquis de La 
 Fayette's Corps of Light Infantry. He was present 
 at the laying of the corner-stone of Bunker Hill 
 Monument, among the venerable men so eloquently 
 addressed by Daniel Webster. In that battle Jared 
 Wilson's father, Samuel Wilson, of Dover, was also 
 a soldier. Enoch Wilson, the Judge's father, died 
 in his native town in 1858, at the age of 69 years, 
 and Abigail R. Wilson at the home of one of her sons 
 at Creston, Iowa, in 1884, at the age of 84 years. 
 
 Of the four brothers of our subject we learn the 
 following facts; and, though the province of this 
 work is not to trace the various branches of any 
 family, we feel justified in encroaching somewhat 
 upon space. The youngest brother of C. C. is an 
 attorney at Creston, Iowa, while the other three are 
 all physicians and surgeons of -more or less distinc- 
 tion! One of them is located at Havana, Cuba, an- 
 other at Osceola, Iowa, and a third at Creston, Iowa. 
 
 C. C. Wilson was educated in the common schools 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 of Massachusetts and in an academic course. In 1850 
 . h£_cam.e.tQ Illinois, and in Stark County purchased 
 six quarter-sections of land, which he sold in 1854, 
 -and began reading law. From 1856 to 1858 he was 
 in his native State, attending lectures at the Harvard 
 Law School, and in 1859 returned to Illinois to be 
 admitted to the Bar. He began practice in Bureau 
 County, but in i860 removed into Kewanee, where 
 he has since made his home. His first public ser- 
 vice in this county was as District Attorney for the 
 Fifth Judicial District from 1864 to 1868. 
 
 In 1868 President Johnson appointed him Chief 
 Justice of Utah, and from that time to 1870 he pre- 
 sided with ability and to the entire satisfaction of 
 the Bar of that Territory and credit to himself; but, 
 differing somewhat with General Grant as to the 
 Executive's right to dictate to the Judiciary, he, in 
 August of 1870, resigned and came home. Judge 
 Wilson has always been characteristic for his public 
 Spirit, and in his profession occupies a high stand- 
 point. For several years he was president of the 
 Kewanee Manufacturing Company, and was one of 
 the three men who organized the Anderson Steam 
 Heater Company, now known as the Haxtun Steam 
 Heater Company. 
 
 He is a Republican of the most pronounced type, 
 a speaker of rare force and ability, fully abreast with 
 the times in all public affairs, and is strongly spoken 
 of as the probable successor of General T. J. Hen- 
 derson in Congress. 
 
 Judge Wilson was married at Wrentham, Mass., 
 Jan. 20, 1850, to Miss Maria N. Benhani, a native 
 of Vermont, and has had born to him seven children : 
 Jennie M., Abbie E., Mrs. S. P. Samuelson, of New 
 Windsor, 111. ; Laura M., Charles E., Cora A., George 
 F. and Edward H. 
 
 P. Taylor, M. D., of Woodhull, one of the 
 most successful practicing physicians on the 
 eye, was born July 1, 1834, in the State of 
 Pennsylvania. His parents, Michael and 
 Sally (Persing) Taylor, were natives also of that 
 State, but removed from there to Morrow Co., 
 Ohio, in 1844, and in 185 1 came West, settling in 
 Monmouth, Warren Co., 111. In 1852, they removed 
 to Clover Township, this county, where the senior 
 
 Taylor is yet a resident. Mrs. Taylor died here in 
 
 l8 75- . . 
 
 Dr. Taylor, by his own efforts in private study, at- 
 tained a thorough education. In i86r, he com- 
 menced to study medicine in Carlisle, Clinton Co., 
 111., and in 1864 graduated at the St. Louis Medical 
 College. Immediately after he was appointed Acting 
 Assistant Surgeon in the U. S. Navy, for 18 months, 
 holding the position of a staff officer until the close 
 of the war. The Doctor is a fine oculist, having 
 made the study and treatment of the eye a specialty. 
 He is also the proprietor of a drug store in the vil- 
 lage of Woodhull, in which place he has been a resi- 
 dent since the war closed. He has just completed a 
 fine residence in the village, at a cost of $3,000. 
 
 He is also the proprietor of 120 acres of land in 
 Clover Township, this county, and a half section in 
 Kansas. He is a Democrat in his political principles, 
 is a member of the G. A. R., and, though not a mem- 
 ber of any religious denomination, is liberal to all 
 sects and especially to all the public enterprises tend- 
 ing to the comfort or improvement of humanity. 
 
 Mr. Taylor was married in 1865 to Miss Ellen 
 Russell, a native of St. Louis, Mo., and their five 
 children are, — Porter E., Sophie M., Sallie B., Mollie 
 and Eddy D. 
 
 « 
 
 <> 
 
 
 £<§§*§• 
 
 ■s^g y &/ >&fl»n&A^ — sj^ikl 
 
 illiam Arnett, a farmer on section 6, Lo- 
 raine Township, is one of the most prom- 
 KT"" inent agriculturists in Henry County. He 
 '} is the seventh son of Lewis and Clara Ar- 
 nett, and was born in Warren Co., Pa., May 
 3, 1831. His parents removed to Henry County 
 when he was six years of age. They settled in the 
 township of Loraine and there he grew to the estate 
 of manhood, attending the common schools and 
 working on the farm after he arrived at a suitable 
 age. He lived with his parents until he was 20 
 years of age, and after that he was in the family of 
 his brother Joseph one year. 
 
 In 1832, he started for California in company with 
 a party numbering 84 persons, with a train of ox 
 teams. They started on the 19th of April, and 
 reached Albany, in Oregon, on the first day of Sep- 
 tember following. The first work in which Mr. Ar- 
 nett was engaged was in splitting rails on a ranch, 
 
 -*•§)! 
 
I 
 
 Si 
 
 -2*«0^ — ^V^IMIl® ^- 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 and he then obtained a situation as cook on a ranch, 
 for which service he received five dollars a day. 
 - Finding that he could earn more money splitting 
 rails by the job, he abandoned the vocation of cook 
 for that of the latter, and worked in the employ of 
 the same man. La'e in the fall of that year he went 
 to California and engaged in mining at the place 
 known as "Sailors' Diggins," where th-j first gold was 
 discovered by Marshall in T848, who recently died 
 in the extremest poverty (in 1885). After spending 
 three months in that business without success, and 
 with theonly result of his having spent all his money, 
 he returned to Oregon. Arriving there, he inter- 
 ested himself in .the management of a ferry across 
 the Kalapoo River, which he continued to operate 
 six weeks. At the end of that time his brother joined 
 him, and they returned to California. There they 
 engaged in the business of packing goods from Cres- 
 cent City to the various mining camps in the moun- 
 tains, their transportation trains being composed of 
 mules.. In this they were occupied until the early 
 spring of 1857. 
 
 In that season they sailed from San Francisco for 
 home across the Isthmus, coming thence to the 
 city of New York. On his arrival at home Mr. Ar- 
 nett bought 30 yokes of oxen and engaged in break- 
 ing prairie. In the autumn of the same year he 
 bought 250 acres of land in a part of Loraine Town- 
 ship, on the south half of section 6, township 18, 
 range 4. The place had scarcely known the hand of 
 improvement and the proprietor has placed it all in 
 excellent condition. He has made additional pur- 
 chases until he has 373 acres, on the same section. 
 Mr. Arnett is a skillful farmer, and in addition to 
 general farming he raises a large amount of finely 
 graded stock. 
 
 He is one of the many citizens of Henry County 
 who are wholly self-made and who give unmistakable 
 proof of the material which has developed the pres- 
 ent splendid agricultural condition of the county. 
 
 Mr. Arnett was married Jan. 30, 1859, to Maria 
 Brittain, of Henry Count/, she being the daughter of 
 Jerome Brittain. The children are Elsie, who mar- 
 ried William Cliambers, now living in Ida Co., Iowa 
 Emma, Nettie, Eva and Leonard. Mrs. Arnett died 
 Dec. 20, 1876. 
 
 Mr. Arnett was married Nov. 30, 1880, to Josie 
 Kempster, of Whiteside Co., 111. By this marriage 
 , there is one child — Howard, 
 
 <xrx> 
 
 |»mil F. Speigel, who follows the occupation, 
 of a farmer and resides on section 10, 
 Wethersfield Township, was born in Ger- 
 many, May 20, 1852. He emigrated to the 
 United States with his parents, Frederick and 
 Minnie Speigel, when he was nine years of age. 
 The mother of Mr. Speigel of this sketch is de- 
 ceased, and his father is yet living in Kewanee. 
 
 Emil Speigel was the nth child in order of birlh 
 of a family of 14 children. He lived at home until 
 he was r4 years of age, after which he worked out 
 for about four years, and then removed to Io\?a. 
 On arriving in that State he purchased a farm, and 
 was occupied two years in its cultivation and im- 
 provement, when he returned to this . tounty and 
 purchased. 155 acres of land in We'thersfield Town- 
 ship, and on which he has resided until the present 
 time. The major portion of his land is under an 
 advanced state of cultivation, and he is meeting with 
 success in his chosen vocation — agriculture. 
 
 Mr. Speigel was married in Kewanee, Nov. r7, 
 1875, to Miss Mary, daughter of Frederick and Fred- 
 ericka Gunther. (See sketch of F- Gunther). Mrs.. 
 Speigel was bora in Wethersfield Township, Jan. 6, 
 1857, and they are the parents of two children: 
 William, Edward and George. Politically, Mr. S. 
 affiliates with the Democratic party. 
 
 ^<OC> C . '»- 
 
 ohn P. Clarke, residing on section 10 Lynn 
 'it Township, where he is engaged in farming 
 and stock-raising, was born in what was 
 ihen Berlin (now Swedona), Mercer Co. 111., 
 July 14, 1844. For history of his parents, see 
 sketch of Wm. Clarke in another part of 
 this work. 
 
 John P. Clarke remained on the paternal home- 
 stead, receiving an education in the schools at Mi- 
 lan, Rock Island County, his parents having removed 
 to that city when he was^a small child. He also at- 
 tended school at Andover, after his parents had set- 
 tled in Lynn Township, this county, and. completed 
 his education in a graded school at Orion. He con- 
 tinued to reside with his parents, working on the 
 farm, and prior to his majgrity spent some six years 
 
 I 
 
 (5 
 
 m 
 
 « 'i 
 
 ® 
 
 «*-! 
 
 ■s*^ — %>K>n n^nn^^a — ^^ 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 -3f€^sr 
 
 -*4*^^vfi§ 
 
 k^L' 
 
 691 
 
 I 
 
 S3 
 
 153 
 
 iii clerking at Milan and Rock Island city. He 
 was united in marriage March 20, 1879, with Miss 
 Emma A. Wilkinson, daughter of John A. and Mar- 
 tha (Fuller) Wilkinson, natives of New York. The 
 parents, prior to their marriage, had riemoved from 
 the latter State to Hebron, Jefferson Co., Wis., where 
 they were married, and where Mrs. Clarke, wife of 
 John P. of this notice, was born Sept. 14, 1856. 
 Her father died at that place about five years after 
 her marriage. Her mother was afterward married 
 again, to Melvin W. Davis, and in 1869 came with 
 him to Rock Island County, where they now reside, 
 and where Mrs. Clarke's step-father is acting as ex- 
 press messenger for the American Express Company. 
 Mrs. Clarke was educated in the district schools of 
 Wisconsin, and the High School at Rock Island 
 city-, and resided with her mother till her marriage. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Clarke are the parents of one child, 
 Harry W., born April 22, j88i. She is a member of 
 the Baptist Church of Rock Island city, where 
 she was organist for four years. John P. Clarke was 
 the eldest of a family of five children. He has for 
 some time had control of the entire homestead, con- 
 sisting of 325 acres, most of which is in an advanced 
 state of cultivation. In his chosen vocation, agri- 
 culture, he has met with signal success. Politically, 
 he is identified with the Democratic party. 
 
 ¥ — •~$^~* — * 
 
 Frederick E. Gresser, merchant at Atkin- 
 son, is a native of Germany, as were his. 
 parents. He is the son of John and Bar- 
 bara H. (Kachel) Gresser, and the family emi- 
 grated to the United States in r8si. They 
 remained in the State of New York, where they 
 landed, six years. In 1857 they came to Henry 
 County. The elder Gresser bought a farm, on which 
 he operated some years, and is now living in com- 
 fortable retirement. The parents of Mr. Gresser of 
 this sketch were married in T842, and he is the first- 
 born of the family. His birth occurrred in the coun- 
 try whence he came, and he was but eight when the 
 transfer of the household to a new country took 
 place. He completed the term of his minority un- 
 der the parental roof, and his first important step was 
 his marriagj. He was united in the bonds of matri- 
 mony with Christina Dannenfelser. She was born 
 
 Oct. 28, 1868, in this State. She has been the moth- 
 er of five children : Edwin S., Albert G., Clarence 
 E. and John C, born, in the summer of 1885, are 
 living. Maude G, the third child in order of birth, 
 died in 1881. 
 
 Mr. Gresser was interested in farming for some 
 years, and owned a tract of land on section 10 in the 
 township of Atkinson. But he sold the place and in- 
 vested the proceeds in the business in which he has 
 since been operating. He is doing a general mer- 
 cantile business, and trades in dry goods, groceries 
 and clothing. He is offii iating as Commissior.er of 
 the Highway, and is serving his fourth year in that 
 capacity. He is a Republican in political preference. 
 
 ohn H. Taylor, residing on section 7, 
 (^ Wethersfield Township, is one of the pros- 
 perous and energetic farmers of Henry 
 County, and was born in Philadelphia, Pa., 
 April 8, 1829. He is a son of Thomas and 
 Ellen (Wright) Taylor, also natives of Penn- 
 sylvania, where the father died. The mother's de- 
 mise occurred in Wethersfield Township. 
 
 John H. was the eldest in his father's family which 
 consisted of eight children, and remained under the 
 influence of his parents until he reached early man- 
 hood, in the meantime having attended the district 
 schools where he received a fair education. Upon 
 reaching his 21st year he engaged to work by the 
 month, continuing to do so for two years, when, in 
 the spring of 1852, he came to Henry County and 
 purchased a farm in Wethersfield Township, where 
 he has since resided. Upon his farm, which is val- 
 uable and tillable land, he has erected a good sub- 
 stantial residence, good buildings, etc., and has now 
 in his possession 477 acres of land, 100 of which is 
 located in Iowa. 
 
 Mr. Taylor was married in Stark Co., 111., in Nov. 
 1853, to Miss Deborah Barrett, who was born in Put- 
 nam Co., N. Y., April 28, 1833. Mr. and Mrs. Tay- 
 lor have become the parents of four children: Mary 
 E., Albert C, Frank and James G. Mary E. is the 
 wife of Benj. Glyde and they reside in Iowa ; Albert 
 C. was united in marriage with Miss May Glyde 
 Feb. 18, 1879, and they reside in Wethersfield Town- 
 ship ; Frank was married to Miss Addie Glyde Sept 
 
 (r>) 
 
 ■t» 
 
 I 
 
 (>) 
 
 •^^ r Q/^ H D 8 d $&**& 
 
■6v4?mi«iiii^fe 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 & 
 
 ©/ 
 
 
 21, 1881, who died Sept. 10, 1883 ; and he formed a 
 second matrimonial alliance, with Miss Edna Morton, 
 the'date of their marriage being July, 1884 and they 
 reside in Nebraska ; James G. resides at home with 
 his parents. 
 
 Mr. Taylor has held the office of Highway Com- 
 missioner for r8 years, School Director the same 
 length of time, and other minor offices of his town- 
 ship. Religiously, they are members of the Congre- 
 gational Church, of which Mr. T. is a Trustee, and 
 politically he affiliates with the Republican party. 
 
 illiam H. Blish, engaged as a farmer in 
 Wethersfield Township, where he is resid- 
 ing, was bom in Hartford Co., Conn., May 
 25, 1812. He lived in Connecticut until 
 1837, when he emigrated West, thinking to 
 better his condition financially, where he lo- 
 cated in Wethersfield Township, making his 
 home here ever since. 
 
 Mr. Blish was united in marriage in Connecticut, 
 Jan. 25, 1836, with Eliza Hollister, and of their un- 
 ion have been born seven children the following 
 being the record: Charles, Helen, John, Adelaide, 
 Prudence, Rhoda and Addie. Mrs. Blish died in 
 .Wethersfield, Nov. 18, 1858, and Mr. Blish was 
 again married, in St. Lawrence Co., N. Y., April 17, 
 i860, to Hannah Gage. Of the latter union there 
 has been born four children, — Maggie, William H., 
 Jr., Hannah E. and Belle G. 
 
 Mr. B. has held the office of County Treasurer 
 twice, Justice of the Peace for many years, Supervi- 
 sor and most of the offices in the gift of the people of 
 his township. Politically, Mr. B. is identified with 
 
 the Democratic party. 
 
 ^OOOSs 
 
 illiam Lilley, who has been for more 
 than four decades a factor in the de- 
 velopment of Henry County, has resided 
 in Kewanee Township since 1843 — the year 
 in which he became a citizen of the State of 
 Illinois. He was born in the parish of Oldham 
 near Manchester, England, Jan. 22, 1817. William 
 Lilley, his father, was a woolen manufacturer in his 
 
 native land, and married there, about the year 1810. 
 Betsey Lilley, his wife, was connected with several 
 well-known families of wealth and standing in Eng, 
 land. 
 
 William Lilley, Sr., sailed for the American Con- 
 tinent with his wife and three children, July 11, 
 1818, in the " Susannah," of London v from Liverpool. 
 A landing at St. John, N. B., was effected, and the 
 family removed thence to Boston, where they arrived 
 September 8, following. After a short residence hi 
 Massachusetts, Mr. Lillie became one of a stock 
 company who built the first cotton mill in that State,- 
 at Andover. He was one of the managers of the 
 establishment until his removal to Sherbrooke, L. C, 
 where he and his wife died. He was -born Feb. 7, 
 1786, and his demise occurred Oct. 1, 1829. His 
 wife was born Feb. 13, 1784, and died Nov. 18, 1832. 
 Their children were: Mary, Ralph, Sarah, William, 
 Charles, John and George ; William and Charles are 
 the only survivors. The latter is a resident of 
 Lowell, Mass., and is a mechanic and manufacturer 
 of repute and prominence. 
 
 William Lilley, the subject of this Harration, was 
 reared in Massachusetts, and went to Canada about 
 1822 with his parents. After the death of his 
 mother, which occurred three ye^ars after that of his 
 father, he returned to the Bay Sta*te and located at 
 Lowell. He passed ten years as an employee in the ( 
 cotton mills in that place. The crowded condition 
 of all avenues of business in the East seemed to pre- 
 clude all possibility of his getting on in the world 
 according to his ambitions, and he investigated the 
 rumors of the possibilities afforded by the opening 
 West. 
 
 In 1843 ne came to Henry County, and after pros- 
 pecting until she was satisfied of the comparative 
 feasibility of various sections, he decided to locate 
 in Kewanee Township. He selected a quarter of 
 section 26, on which he located and began life in- 
 earnest. He engaged ia the improvement of his 
 property, and as his circumstances improved accord- 
 ingly, he rapidly took position among the prosperous 
 and prominent agriculturists of the country. His 
 present possessions tell the story of his methods and 
 habits. He is the owner of nearly 400 acres of ex- 
 cellent land in Henry County, and his children hold 
 among them about four times that acreage. He has 
 about 100 head of horses and colts, and 20 head of 
 cattle. He sends to market annually about 150 
 
 ( 3 
 
 
 I 
 
 ^Q f (5/ &fl!i®llll& '\£> ^g ^— «§^£@> 
 
3V4«I1I1& 
 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 693 
 
 :0 
 
 EST 
 
 I 
 
 3=3 
 1=3 
 
 fy 
 
 «» 
 
 hogs. The rearing of horses has been made a spe- 
 cialty by Mr. Lilley, and his stables exhibit a fine 
 and valuable collection of thoroughbred English 
 Draft animals. In this business he has acquired an 
 extended reputation, and his name is inseparably 
 connected with the development and progress of the 
 county. 
 
 Mr. Lilley was united in marriage, Nov. 1, 1843, 
 to Harriet Huntly. They had six children : Helen, 
 Mrs. Gilbert Morton, of Shenandoah, Iowa, was born 
 Jan. 6, 1845 ; George, born Feb. 7, r85o, is a resi- 
 dent of Brookings, D. T., v. here he is the President 
 of the Dakota Agricultural College ; John, born Feb. 
 8, 1852, is a resident of Iowa; Charles, born Aug. 4, 
 
 1854, lives with his father : Laura, born Feb. 8, 
 
 1855, died Feb. 28, 1868. Mrs. Lilley was born 
 Feb. 28, 1821, in Statistead, Canada. Her ancestors 
 came to America in the Mayflower, and the most 
 noted child of New England birth, Peregrine White, 
 was her great-grandfather in the maternal line. '"She 
 died at her home in Kewanee Township, Sept. 24, 
 188 1, after a brief illness. 
 
 Mr. Lilley adds another name to the long and 
 honorable list in Henry County who give substantial 
 evidence of the value of industry, perseverance, thrift 
 and good sense when applied to the resources of 
 a section of country which require onl, r intelligent, 
 persistent effort and judgment to yield returns that 
 amply fill the measure of a man's desires and prove 
 the quality of his abilities. 
 
 on. William Lorenzo Wiley, residing at 
 Galva, Illinois, was born in Saxton's River, 
 Vermont, Nov. 10, r82o. The genealogy 
 (\j of the Wiley family is as follows : The great- 
 grandfather of William L. Wiley, the subject of 
 this notice, was born in Londonderry, N. H., in 
 1739, and died in 1777. He married Nancy Miller, 
 and they had seven children : Samuel, Nancy, John, 
 Polly, Robert, Susannah and Jonathan. The grand- 
 father of William L., Robert Wiley, was born in 
 Londonderry, N. H., Dec. 13, 1767. He married 
 Abigail Campbell in 1793, and they had eight chil- 
 dren, as follows : John, William Campbell (father of 
 William Lorenzo Wiley), Asenath, Ira, Rodney, Oren, 
 Robert and Achsah. Robert Wiley died June 26, 
 
 1826, in Rockingham, Vt. The grandmother, Abi- 
 gail Campbell, wife of Robert Wiley, died May, 1826. 
 
 The father of William L., William Campbell Wiley, 
 was born in Rockingham, Vt., July n, 1797, and 
 died at the same place, May 18, 1878. He married 
 Mary Perry, daughter of Gates and Mary Perry, of 
 Rockingham, Vt., in 1818. She died at the same 
 place, May 13, 1878. The mother of William L. 
 Wiley was in direct line from Robert Fletcher, who 
 came to this country from Yorkshire, England, in 
 1630, she being the eighth generation of the Fletcher 
 family in this country, Mr. Wiley being the ninth 
 generation. The Fletcher family have had their an- 
 nual gatherings at Lowell, Mass., for many years. 
 Daniel Webster married into the Fletcher family: 
 hence the name of Fietcher Webster. The Harpers, 
 of New York, also married into the Fletcher family. 
 The descendants of the Fietcher family are numer- 
 ous and widely scattered through the Union. 
 
 For several generations the ancestors of Mr. Wiley, 
 of this sketch, have been prominent farmers of their 
 native State. His own father was one of that num- 
 ber. William L. attended a common district school 
 until he was T4 years old, then for six years taught 
 school during winter seasons. He attended acade- 
 my in the fall of each year and worked on his father's 
 farm during the remaining portion of the time. At * 
 the age of 2 r he engaged in the wholesale of general 
 merchandise at Saxton's River, Vt., under the firm 
 name of Osgood & Wiley. He was married April 
 14, r842, to Louise, daughter-of Samuel and Crissa- 
 na Bailey, of Saxton's River, Vt. The father of Mrs. 
 Wiley, Samuel Bailey, died Sept., 1880. The mother 
 of Mrs. Wiley was born Oct. 24, 1790, and died April 
 
 3, i843' 
 
 The only child of William L. and Louise Wiley, 
 
 Walter Lorenzo Wiley, was born at Saxton's River, 
 Vt., Jan. 6, 1844, and died at Galva, 111., May 22, 
 1862. For several years previous to his death, he 
 was a member of the First Baptist Church of Galva. 
 Mrs. Wiley, wife of William L., was born at Saxton's 
 River, Vt., May 31, 1821, and died at Galva, July 
 n, 1862. She was one of the constituent members 
 of the First Baptist Church of Galva, 111. 
 
 Mr. Wiley married for his second wife Eunice B., 
 daughter of Edson and Corintha Williams, of Galva, 
 111. The issue of this marriage was two children, — 
 Jessie Louise, born at Galva, Feb. 18, 1868, and 
 Walter Spencer, born at same place, March 29, 1872, 
 
 
 I 
 
 @nn!£A£)- 
 
•zt& K. (5\ » <ain®ttiijfr^ — *&*? 
 
 -«t^f 
 
 Henry county. 
 
 I 
 
 «» 
 
 and died April 3, 1879. Mrs. Wiley was bom Jan., 
 15, 1844, in Westmoreland, N. Y., and died at Gal- 
 va, 111., April 25, 1883. Mr. Wiley, after remaining 
 in business at Saxton's River four years, his partner, 
 Mr. Osgood, withdrew. Then, in company with his 
 brothers, George R. and Henry C, continued the 
 same business for six years. Part of this time he 
 was Postmaster at Saxton's River. In 1850 Mr. 
 Wiley removed to Waterville, Maine, and conducted 
 the same business as the junior member of the firm 
 of Locke & Wiley. In the fall of 1851, he emigrated 
 to Illinois and settled in Brimfield, where he engag- 
 ed in the purchase of real estate. He purchased 
 land in Henry County, and in 1854, in connection 
 with his brothers and cousin, J. M. Wiley, came to 
 Henry County and laid out the town of Galva, where 
 he has since been engaged in real- estate business 
 and banking. For about four years from the organ- 
 ization of the First National Bank of Galva, in 1865, 
 he was its President, but owing to excess of other 
 business and ill health he resigned. 
 
 For many years Mr. Wiley engaged largely in the 
 purchase and improvement of lands in Western 
 Iowa, some 1 ,000 acres of which he still owns, but 
 now more especially engaged as the cashier of the 
 well known banking house of L. M. Yocum & Co., of 
 Galva, 111. He has always been a strong advocate of 
 temperance, never having used ardent spirits or to- 
 bacco. He has been a member of the Baptist Church 
 for over fifty years.- 
 
 In politics Mr. Wiley was formerly a Whig, 
 but afterwards gave his influence and energies 
 to the organization of the Republican party. He 
 was one of the two delegates from the Fifth Illinois 
 District in the convention, at Chicago, that nomina- 
 ted General U. S. Grant for his first term as Presi- 
 dent. For four years he was member of the State 
 Board of Equalization, representing the same Dis- 
 trict. For several years he was Director and Vice- 
 President of the Peoria & Rock Island Railroad 
 Company. He is a gentleman of sound judgment 
 and good business qualifications. As a public man 
 nothing can be said against him. He has ever been 
 abreast of all public improvements and donated lib- 
 erally of his means towards every laudable enter- 
 prise in the community. His straightforward, manly 
 dealings with his fellow man have earned for him the 
 respect of the citizens of the town, as well as the dis- 
 trict, who have honored him with their-suffrages. 
 
 The father and mother of Mr. Wiley, says the 
 Christian Watchman, of Boston, Mass., " were worthy 
 members of the Baptist Church, Saxton's River; Vt., 
 for 54 years. They were baptized Nov. 14, 1824, and 
 were two of the oldest members of the Church at the 
 time of their deaths. They led consistent Christian 
 lives, donating liberally to^buildings for public wor-> 
 ship and taking great pleasure in attending upon the 
 ordinances of God's house. Their labors have ceased, 
 and they have many friends as witnesses of their 
 fidelity to the cause they so much loved. " 
 
 harles C. Blisb, a distinguished farmer 
 la and breeder of thoroughbred cattle, and 
 pjilp"^ President of the First National Bank at. 
 ifc Kewanee, Henry Co. ,.111., was born at Glas- 
 M tonbury, Conn., May 26, 1820, and accom- 
 ■*, panied his parents, Sylvester and Rhoda 
 (Cheney) Blish, to Illinois when he was r; years of 
 age. (See biography of Col. S. Blish.) At the com- 
 mon schools of New England he acquired a pretty 
 thorough English education, and mastered the sci- 
 ence of surveying. He was the first male teacher 
 employed at Wethersfield, and probably taught- the 
 first winter school in this part of the county, — in 
 the winter of 1840-1. From 1840 to 1844, he filled the 
 office of Deputy County Surveyor, and from 1850 to 
 1854 was County Surveyor in chief. Farming and 
 stock-breeding constitute the business in which he 
 finds the greatest pleasure^ and though President of 
 a National Bank with $100,000 capital stock, as com- 
 pared with his rural pursuits he finds the position 
 irksome. (See history of the First National Bank of 
 Kewanee, this volume.) 
 
 Mr. Blish owns three fine farms in Henry County, 
 and, in company with his son, Mathew B. Blish, cul- 
 tivates two of them, including the old homestead of 
 his father, aggregating over 600 acres. As a stock- 
 grower, Short-horn cattle, registered, is his specialty, 
 though among his horses and hogs are many of the 
 finest bloods to be found in the State; and his annual 
 sales of thoroughbred stock are attended by dis- 
 tinguished breeders' from all parts of the United 
 States. In 1865, in company with his brother, Tie 
 laid out what has since been known as Blish's AddU 
 tion to Kewanee, and in the year 1884 removed from 
 his farm into the city where he has since resided. 
 
 ! 
 
 ft 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 -3^^— feA^BD®IIIl^A® ^^^ 
 
%&&- 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 I! 
 
 3s 
 
 «9S 
 
 
 Like his father, Mr. B. is a Democrat in politics. 
 He is no partisan or office-seeker, but a firm and un- 
 qualified adherent to the principles of that party. 
 Aside from the prestige of wealth, Mr. B. is a man of 
 more than ordinary influence in the community, 
 where the years of his manhood have been spent. 
 As a farmer and fine stock-breeder in this county he 
 ranks A 1 ; as a banker, the confidence of the peo- 
 ple is reposed in him; and as a neighbor and citizen 
 he enjoys a full share of the love and esteem of the 
 populace. 
 
 He was married Dec. 23, 1840, in the town of 
 Goshen, Stark Co., 111., to Miss Elizabeth P. Bonar, 
 who was born in Bethlehem, Ohio, Dec. 14, 1820; 
 and of their children we make the following brief 
 memoranda : James J., a talented young attorney 
 of Kewanee; and Mathew B., farmer and stock- 
 grower of Wethersfield Township ; William H., Syl- 
 vester, Carie L. and Catherine E., all died in in- 
 fancy. 
 
 lames Wiley, carriage and wagon manufac- 
 turer, of Wethersfield, was born in Ireland, 
 September, 1823. He came with his father, 
 'M William Wiley, to America when but 17 years 
 |t of age, and his mother, Mary (McMurdy) 
 Wiley, followed the next year. In Philadelphia 
 the death of the father occurred, and that of the 
 mother in Wethersfield Township. 
 
 James was the fifth in order of birtli of a family of 
 six children, and while in Philadelphia learned the 
 trade of wagon-maker from his brother. In 1849 ' ie 
 came from the latter place into Stark County and en- 
 gaged to work at his trade in Toulon, which he con- 
 tinued for about a year, and in 1850 came into 
 Henry County. He located in Wethersfield, where 
 he built a carriage shop, in which he has since car- 
 ried on his business, and in 1883 built a fine resi- 
 dence, in which he and his family reside. 
 
 Mr. Wiley was married in Philadelphia, Pa., July 
 31, 1844, to Nancy, daughter of George and Rose 
 (Percy) Holmes, and she was born in Ireland, Oct. 
 20, 182 r. Mrs. Holmes died in Philadelphia, Pa., 
 and her husband in Stark Co., 111. Mary, Rosanna, 
 James, Tillie, William J., Tillie (second), George and 
 
 Wiley. 
 
 Laura are the children of Mr. and Mrs. 
 Rosanna and Tillie (first) are deceased. 
 
 Mr. Wiley has served his township as Highway 
 Commissioner, School Trustee and School Director. 
 Politically, he affiliates with the Republican party. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Wiley are members of the Congrega- 
 tional Church. 
 
 Ijgenjamin H. Wright, dealer in stoves and 
 •r hardware, at Kewanee, 111., son of John 
 and Phcebe (Halstead) Wright, natives of 
 " York State " and of Scotch-Irish and Ger- 
 man extraction respectively, was born in 
 Orange Co., N. Y., Jan. 4, 1823. His pa- 
 rents reared a family of six sons and four daughters, 
 and he was sixth in the order of birth. The com- 
 mon schools afforded him a fair English education, 
 and at the age of 17 years, at Florida, in his native 
 county, he began the wagon-maker's trade. At the 
 end of one year he went to Dutchess County and 
 joined his brother in wagon-making, and remained 
 there perhaps a dozen years in that business, and 
 afterwards three or four years as dealer in lumber 
 and coal. In 1865 he came to Kewanee and em- 
 barked in the business he has since followed, recreat- 
 ing in the meantime probably two years. 
 
 In politics Mr. Wright is a Republican, coming 
 from the Whigs, with whom he cast his first vote. 
 
 He was married at Dover, N. Y., in 1852, to Miss 
 Charlotte McKoy, a native of Connecticut, though 
 brought up in Dover. Of the three children born to 
 Mr. and Mrs. W. we have the following brief record: 
 Silas a farmer in Kansas ; Ella, wife of W. A. Bowen, 
 jeweler, Kewanee; and Anna, an accomplished 
 young lady at home with her parents. 
 
 "acob Boos, a farmer on section 17, town- 
 )^ ship of Loraine, is a native of Prussia. He 
 accompanied his parents to America when 
 he was still in his minority. Philip Roos, the 
 father of Mr. Roos of this sketch, was born in 
 Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, in November, 
 1806. He was educated according to the laws of his 
 country by attending school until he was about 14, 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 when he commenced operations as a coal miner. He 
 was occupied in that avenue of employ until 1853. 
 In that year he came to the United States and lo- 
 cated in Henry County. He bought a farm on sec- 
 tion 8, in the township in which he passed the 
 remainder of his life. The man of whom the place 
 was purchased had made some improvements, con- 
 sisting of the building of a log cabin and a small 
 amount of plowing — about seven acres. The new 
 proprietor at once entered into the work of improve- 
 ment and put the whole acreage under the plow, and 
 erected a good frame house, which was the family 
 residence as long as the parents survived. The 
 death of the wife occurred in 1855. The father mar- 
 ried again, and the second wife died in 1875. His 
 demise transpired in 1878. The issue of the first 
 marriage was two sons. George, the oldest, lives in 
 Buffalo Co , Neb. 
 
 Jacob Roos was born in Prussia, Aug. 30, 1837. 
 He Was 16 when the family were brought to America 
 by the father, as has been stated. The son was an 
 attendant at the schools of his native country until a 
 few months before the removal to the New World, 
 and during that time he was occupied in mining. 
 After coming to the township of Loraine with his 
 parents, he remained a member of the household of 
 his father until 1859. In that year he set out for the 
 latest gold fields that had attracted the notice of the 
 adventurers who would grow rich by some speedy 
 and novel method, — Pike's Peak. A considerable 
 party set forth for the land of promise with" ox teams, 
 and made the journey thither in the slow but sure 
 and not altogether disagreeable manner, which has 
 been so many times related as the inevitable experi- 
 ence of the travelers overland to a distant point on 
 the great unsettled interior of this continent. On 
 arrival there Mr. Roos engaged in teaming, and until 
 1861 was occupied in hauling goods from Denver to 
 the mountains. The breaking out of the Civil War 
 brought his attention to another duty, and he en- 
 listed in the First Colorado Cavalry. He remained 
 in the military service and continued in the dis- 
 charge of the duties of a soldier until the close of the 
 war. He remained on the frontier during the entire 
 period. After receiving his discharge he returned to 
 Henry County. He rented a farm in Loraine Town- 
 ship, and after operating as a farmer in that method 
 five years he bought 80 acres of land in the township 
 of Atkinson, and at a date a little later he bought 40 
 
 acres additional. He retained the ownership of that 
 place but two years, and at the end of that time lie 
 sold out and purchased a farm in the township of 
 Yorktown. After a year he again sold out and 
 bought the farm hd now owns. It is situated on sec- 
 tions 17 and 18, and contains 260 acres. He has 
 made later purchases and is at present the owner of 
 340 acres. He is engaged in mixed husbandry and 
 raises grain and stock. He keeps a considerable 
 dairy and sells the. cream, as is the custom in this 
 locality. 
 
 Mr. Roos was married in January, 18 66, to Rosina 
 Ott. She is the daughter of Casper and Elizabeth 
 Ott, and was born in Cook Co., 111. The family in- 
 cludes six children, — Charles P., Joseph C, Louisa, 
 Katie May, William H. and Carrie M. The mem- 
 bers of the family belong to the Evangelical Church. 
 
 ewis F. Matteson, proprietor of a meat 
 market, Galva, was born June 13, 1844, in 
 Sweden, and is a son of Hans and Brita 
 Matteson, both natives of that country. The 
 parents emigrated to the United States, land- 
 ing in Altpna, this State, Oct. 8, 1855. They 
 remained there for a time, and then went to Victo- 
 ria, Knox County, where they resided for a few years 
 on a farm. From the latter place they moved to 
 Galva Township, this county, where they settled on 
 a farm, two and one-half miles east of the present 
 village of Galva, and where the father died, at the 
 age of 55 years. The mother yet survives. She bore 
 her husband eight children, five of whom are -yet 
 living, namely : Mrs. Anna Bostrom, Mrs. Carrie Ol- 
 son, Mrs. Lizzie Eiickson, Lewis F., subject of (his 
 notice, and Hans A., a resident of Nebraska. 
 
 Lewis F., whose biography we write, received but 
 little education prior to attaining his majority, and 
 that in the district schools of this county, the 
 principal part of his education being acquired by 
 self-instruction and reading at home. In early life 
 he assisted in the labors of the farm, and was en- 
 gaged in farm work until May, 1877, when he moved 
 to Galva, and there, for a time, clerked and worked 
 at various occupations. In Oct., 1879, he worked for 
 F. M. Rigen, and continued in that gentleman's em- 
 ployment for a year and a half. He then worked 
 
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HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
 697 
 
 for a Mr. Billington, and was with hi in one year, 
 when he formed a partnership with P. T. Bergman 
 in the business. He bought his partner out in 
 March, 1885, and since that lime has conducted the 
 business himself, meeting with financial success. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Matteson to Miss Lizzie M. 
 Sanberoy occurred June 10, 1875. She was born 
 in Sweden, Dec. 9, 1856, and has become tfie moth- 
 er of four children: Louis Franklin, born July 1, 
 1876; Dulie Lila, born March 8, 1878; Jefferson, 
 bom June 28, 1880; and May, born May 26, 1884. 
 Mrs. Matteson is a member of the Lutheran Church. 
 Politically, Mr. Matteson is a believer in and a sup- 
 porter of the principles advocated by the Republican 
 party. 
 
 1 
 
 -£3- 
 
 -E3- 
 
 rove N. Palmer was born at Painesville, 
 Ohio, May 16, 1828, and was the oldest 
 son of Noyes and Lucy (Emmerson) Pal- 
 mer, natives of Ohio and Connecticut respect- 
 ively and of Saxon English descent. The 
 Palmers now found in every State in the 
 American Union, and numbering among them many 
 distinguished men and women, came to the Colonies 
 first in the person of Walter Palmer, a native of Not- 
 tingham, England, in the year 1629, landing at 
 Charleston, S. C. Walter was born in 1585, and his 
 descendants in the male line, and through whom we 
 trace the subject of this sketch, are : 1, Gershom 
 Palmer, born 1645; 2, Walter Palmer, 1685; 3, Wal- 
 ter Palmer, 1717 ; 4, Walter Palmer, 1739 ; 5, Isaac 
 Palmer, M. D., 1779; 6, Noyes Palmer, father of 
 the gentleman whose name heads this article, was 
 born in 1804. 
 
 At a re-union of the family, held in 1881, an asso- 
 ciation was formed called the " Palmer Re-union As- 
 sociation, " issuing to its members each a certificate 
 of the following purport, showing a ship at sea and in 
 full sail: " Dec. 30, 1883. From Nottingham, Eng- 
 land, No. 312. 1629, America, 1882. To Charles- 
 ton, 1629; Seakonk, 1643; Stonington, 1653. Or- 
 ganized 188 1. Palmer Re-union Association. 
 Coat-of-arms, bearing motto, Palma virtuti. 
 
 CERTIFICATE OF MEMBERSHIP. 
 
 This is to certify that Mr. Grove Noyes Palmer, 
 of Kewanee, Henry Co., 111., is a member of the Pal- 
 
 mer Re-union Association; and as such is entitled 
 to the rights, privileges and benefits vouchsafed by 
 the Constitution and By-Laws. 
 
 E. H. Palmer, President. 
 
 Noyes F. Palmer, Recording Secretary. 
 
 Z. A. Palmer, Treasurer. 
 
 Noyes Palmer, of the sixth generation, died July 
 13, 1840, aged about 35 years, and his widow in 
 1856, at the age of about 46 years. By occupation 
 Mr. Palmer was a farmer, and his three sons were 
 thoroughly trained thereat. Grove N. was the eld- 
 est, and as such, after the death of his father, had 
 largely the care of the family. His education was 
 limited to such as could be acquired at the common 
 schools of his neighborhood, and when about 19 
 years of age, began the trade of carpenter and joiner, 
 at which he worked several years. In 1850 Mr. 
 Palmer removed to Wethersfield, Henry County, 
 bought a farm and soon afterward became one of 
 the largest growers and shippers of Osage orange 
 plants for hedge fence in the country. He followed 
 the business about ten years, handling as high as 
 50,000,000 plants annually and making thereat quite 
 a sum of money. In 185 [-3 he was also engaged in 
 mercantile business at Wethersfield, but his hedge- 
 fence enterprise soon required his entire attention, 
 and he abandoned or sold out his store business. 
 In 1879 he removed his family into the town oi Ke- 
 war.ee, where he has since resided ; his elegant farm, 
 however, in Galva Township, receives constantly 
 his personal supervision. 
 
 July 3, 1850, at Painesville, Ohio, Mr. Palmer 
 was married to Miss Hannah Elizabeth Livingston, 
 a native of Otsego Co , N. Y., and a daughter of an 
 old soldier of the War of 181 2, Alexander Livingston, 
 deceased; and of the nine children born to them, 
 seven are living: Hortense E. (Mrs. Dr. D. B. 
 Colby, of Chicago); Esther M. (Mrs. Dr. Geo. B. 
 Little, of Burlington, Iowa) ; Nellie A , an accom- 
 plished stenographer, of Chicago; Ida Blanche, 
 teacher in the public schools; Charrie R., short- 
 hand reporter, with Haxtun Steam Heater Works, 
 Kewanee; Hattie M. and Carrie L., students; Wil- 
 bur C, born March 5, 1856, died April 25, 1857; 
 Frank W., born May 14, 1858, died Sept. 20, 1862. 
 
 The only public offices Mr. Palmer has held were 
 such as enabled him to be of service to his neigh- 
 bors, and at the same time of not enough importance 
 to require the neglect on his part of any of his var- 
 
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HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 ious business interests. He is a member of the 
 Masonic fraternity, also of the Independent Order of 
 Odd Fellows, and, like the rest of his immediate 
 family, belongs to the Congregational Church. Po- 
 litically, he is a Republican. 
 
 uirsm Webb, residing on section 15, Anna- 
 |' wan Township, where he follows the occu- 
 pation of a farmer, is a native of Somerset 
 
 Co., Maine, in which State he was born May 20> 
 1849. He was brought to this State when three 
 years of age, in 1852, and located in Annawan 
 township. He was united in marriage to Miss Me- 
 lissa A. Sweet, Oct. 19, 1876, Rev. Chester Covell, 
 of the Union Church, performing the ceremony. She 
 was born Aug. 19, 1849, at Buda, Bureau Co., 111., 
 and has borne her husband two children, — Clara B , 
 born Oct., 29,. 1877 ; and Esther L., Aug. 13, 1881. 
 Mr. Webb has 80 acres of good land, all in an ad- 
 vanced state of cultivation, together with a good 
 dwelling-house, two stories high and 22 x 26 feet in 
 dimensions. His barn is small but comfortable, and 
 his horses are Normans and Clydesdales. His cattle 
 are high grade Durhams. He is meeting with suc- 
 cess in his chosen vocation, agriculture, and is one 
 of the progressive fanners and respected citizens of 
 his township. Politically, he is a Republican. 
 
 1 ohn Weidlein, a retired farmer of Ed ford 
 Township, resident at Geneseo, came to 
 Henry County in 1851. He was born 
 Jan. 17, 1812, in Bavaria, Germany. While a 
 resident of his native land he was subject to 
 the legal regulations of the country, through 
 which the government takes the control of all the 
 sons born to the subjects of the emperor except that 
 of their support, which remains the burden of the 
 parents. Mr. Weidlein attended school until he was 
 14 years of age, and then woiked on the farm un- 
 til he was 16. He was then apprenticed to learn the 
 trade of a blacksmith and he served two years. After 
 working three years as a journeyman blacksmith, he 
 was old enough to enter the army, in which he served 
 three years. He then obtained a substitute to fill 
 his place, and with his father's family he sailed for 
 the United States. The voyage consumed seven 
 
 weeks, and the vessel discharged her passengers at 
 Baltimore. Immediately after landing the family all 
 went to Bedford Co., Pa. There the father bought 
 a farm, and there the son made his home between 
 two and a half years. 
 
 He then, in 1839, established his own household. 
 He was married March n ofthatyear toEleonoraC. 
 Emmert. She was also a native of Bavaria. The 
 newly married pair took possession of a rented 
 farm in Bedford County, which they occupied seven 
 years. At the end of that time Mr. Weidlein bought 
 a farm in the same county. He retained its owner- 
 ship until 1850, when he sold it, and in the next year 
 came to Illinois. The journey was made over land 
 by team to Wheeling, Va., where they took passage 
 on a steamer and traveled on the rivers, which con- 
 stitutes the river route between the East and the 
 West. The water was low, and three weeks were 
 passed on the trip. They landed at Rock Island, 
 where the father bought a team, and came thence to 
 Henry County. He entered land on section 9 of 
 township 16, range 2 east, which is now the town- 
 ship of Osco. The proprietor built on the place a 
 small frame structure, -which served as a shelter for 
 the family until he could press the work of improve- 
 ment along to a point of profit; and after he had 
 placed 150 acres under the plow, he proceeded to 
 erect a house, to which the first building foTmed the 
 kitchen. He drew the lumber and other materials 
 used in the new houses from Moline. He also set 
 out a considerable number of shade-trees. He was 
 in fair circumstances on his arrival in Henry Coun- 
 ty, as lie was the possessor of $[,000, all of which 
 was the fruits of his industry and frugality • on the 
 farm he rented in Pennsylvania. When he was 
 married he was noL the owner of an unincumbered 
 dollar. In 1856 he sold his farm in Osco Township 
 and he then bought 320 acres in Ed ford Township, 
 for which he paid $650. There had beeii 40 acres 
 broken and fenced and a small frame house had 
 been begun. He at once proceeded to put the prop- 
 erty in first-class condition for the accommodation of 
 his family, as he had abundant means and facilities 
 for doing, erecting excellent frame buildings, plant- 
 ing shade and fruit trees, and making all the im- 
 provements common to the best type of farms in the 
 county. 
 
 He occupied the place until 1880, when he re- 
 
 
 I 
 
 j*q*: %A<£[ig®1lll& ^ ** &* 
 
H&NRY COUNTY. 
 
 4®&% 
 
 
 moved to Geneseo and bought the place he has 
 since occupied there. 
 
 Eight of the children born to him and wife are 
 still living. Andrew is a resident of Geneseo, and 
 is the owner of a farm in Osco Township. Philip 
 lives in Topeka, Kan. Lewis is a resident in Ma- 
 rion Co., Kan. Jacob lives in the county last named. 
 Ths homestead in Edford Township is under the 
 management of George J. Edward lives in Butler 
 Co., Kan. Caroline is the wife of George Drehmer. 
 Valentine is also a resident in Marion Co., Kan. 
 The parents are members of the Lutheran Church. 
 
 ohn B. Moffitt, a full history of whose 
 life would alone fill a volume half as large 
 as this Album, was born in County Antrim, 
 Ireland, of Scotch patronage, Feb. n, 1833, 
 and was the son of John and Matilda (Blair) 
 Moffitt, who were visiting friends in Ireland at 
 the time of the birth of our subject. From Scotland 
 the family came to America in 1842, bringing two 
 children, and had seven born in Philadelphia. The 
 senior Mr. Moffitt died in Philadelphia, and his 
 widow still lives at Kensington. 
 
 John B. was intended by his father for a carpet 
 manufacturer, and he taught him therein when not at 
 school. At the age of 14 John ran away from school 
 and made his way to New Bedford, whence he shipped 
 in a sperm whaler and was gone four and a half 
 years, cruising the Australian coasts, Japan, New 
 Zealand, the Southern Ocean, Peru and Pacific Isl- 
 ands. Returning home, he was induced to learn the 
 carpenter's trade ; but before the end of three years 
 he went again to sea on a whaler, as " boat-steerer " 
 or harpooner, and was out about ten months, when 
 he and three seamen, including the Captain, all that 
 were saved, were cast away on Ascension Island 
 (one of the Caroline group in the South Pacific), and 
 lived with natives about six months, when they were 
 rescued by a Cunard steamer that happened to touch 
 the island. While there, he learned to speak the 
 native language and became very much infatuated 
 with their mode of life. The " Britannia " carried 
 them to Hong Kong, where they shipped in an opium 
 clipper for Shanghai. It was now the winter season 
 and the sailors were compelled to work night and 
 
 ^©c — e^nii; 
 
 day in the worst weather imaginable. At the mouth 
 of the Yang Tse Kiang, the vessel grounded, the 
 t:de drove them from the vessel and they lay a 
 month at Shanghai, repairing. Finally, carrying a 
 lot of Chinese refugees, they set sail, to be wrecked 
 again upon a small island, from which they pulled 
 60 miles away to another, larger island. Here they 
 found a Chinese junk, with whose Captain they were 
 unable to make terms; so, dropping that unruly gen- 
 tleman overboard, they took his junk and made back 
 to Shanghai. From there Mr. Moffitt shipped on a 
 man-of-war, or private armed vessel, and for two 
 years was employed as convoy against pirates. After 
 an interesting experience with pirates at the mouth 
 of the river Min, and after being again cast away 
 upon a Chinese island, he found himself at Hong 
 Kong, from where he shipped in a Dutch bark, 
 " Emily," for Java via Foo Chow, laden with tea. 
 At Java the vessel took on a cargo of coffee, and the 
 next we hear of Mr. Moffitt he is digging gold in 
 Australia, where he alternated between poverty and 
 opulence for about seven years. 
 
 Via Peru, the Chinchi Islands and Queenstown, 
 he landed again in Philadelphia, April r, 1862, after 
 an absence of n years. In March, 1863, he came 
 to Kewanee, where he worked a while at carpenter- 
 ing, then farmed a few years, again in mercantile 
 business of various kinds and in various capacities, 
 and in 1875 pulled out for Texas, where, at the town 
 of Terrell, he bought and shipped grain for about 
 two years. Returning to Illinois, he lived a year or 
 two in Ogle County, and came back to Kewanee, 
 where he finally' settled down to business, and, as he 
 says, " for life." He carries on the extensive furni- 
 ture establishment in the village. Belongs to no 
 Church, but is a Knight Templar in Masonry, and 
 always votes the Democratic ticket. 
 
 He was married at Princeton, 111., in May, 1865, 
 to Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle. 
 
 N^r-3 
 
 Wm.L. Dairy vipleKi, Deputy County Clerk; was 
 born in Knox County, Ohio, April 7, 1827, and came 
 to this county Dec. 14, 1853. 
 
 James P. Dodge died at an early day. His widow 
 married a Mr. Burton. She again became a widow 
 and married Thomas Stagg. He died recently, and 
 the widow removed to Whiteside County. 
 
 M<^r9 — :S5 €^ JC — 
 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY 
 
 Reuben Cone came with the Geneseo Colony in 
 1836, bringing his wife and three children. One child 
 was born here. Mrs. Cone was Miss Harriet Thom- 
 as, of Canada. Mr. Cope removed to Kansas in 
 1862, and in 1871 went to Colorado, where he died 
 in 1883. Three of the sons live in Colorado. 
 
 J. IV. Epperson was born in Indiana, in [829. He 
 came to Knox County in 1849, and to Henry'County 
 in 1853. 
 
 Geo. S. Emmert is a native of Germany, where he 
 was born in 1839., He came to Henry County in 
 1851. 
 
 Thomas Fitch came to Henry County in June, 
 
 1837- 
 
 John M. Follett was born in Essex County, New 
 York, March 18, 1832. Came to Henry County in 
 May, 1852. 
 
 Sylvanus Ferris was a native of Pennsylvania. 
 Came and settled in Wethersfield, 1838. Died Feb. 
 11, 1877. 
 
 Thomas Glenn, a brother of James Glenn, came in 
 the spring of 1835. He never married ; died in 1850, 
 of consumption. 
 
 Dr. George Gager was an herb doctor, and lived 
 near Dayton. Ha was a droll character in many 
 ways. He died at an early day. 
 
 George Garland was born in Pennsylvania in 
 1836. He came to this county in 1859. 
 
 L. B. Goodell was born in Pennsylvania in 1834. 
 He came" to this county in October, 1857. 
 
 Joseph Goodrich was born in Wethersfield, Ct., 
 July 31, 1794. He came to Henry County in 1836. 
 Died Feb. 19, 1852. He had been a missionary to 
 the Sandwich Islands. 
 
 Patterson Holmes, native of Redfieli, Vt. Born 
 Sept. 1, 1830. Came here in 1853. 
 
 Dr. S. T. Hume, second physician to locate in 
 Geneseo. Some of his early experiences, when every 
 new man was suspected of being a horse-thief, are 
 given elsewhere, and are not only illustrative of the 
 times but also amusing. 
 
 Charles Atkinson, one of the organizers of Henry 
 County and one of its first officials, came to this 
 county in 1835 and located in Cleveland. He came 
 from Massachusetts and took an important part in 
 the early history of the county. He moved to Mo- 
 
 line and is now one of its wealthy and prominent 
 citizens. 
 
 Henry S. Aldrich, the county's first "Baby Mine," 
 was born in Phenix Township in December, 1835. 
 See biography of. Earl P. Aldrich, page 3051. 
 
 Royce Allen came to Henry County in 1852; was 
 born in Camden, N. Y., June, 1819; died in 1880, 
 aged 62 years. 
 
 Harriet K. Adams, wife of Geo. Adams, was born 
 in Jefferson Co., N. Y., Dec. 27, 1825 ; came to the 
 county in 1855. 
 
 William C. Bartlett, born in Montgomery, N. Y., 
 Dec. 18, 1797; died Sept. 3, 1878. Catherine, his 
 wife, was born in Champlain, N. Y., April 17., 1803. 
 They came to this county May 4, 1836, 
 
 Jerome Brittaiii was a pioneer carpenter. He 
 built for C. W. Davenport the .first log house, a 
 large double one, and the first " out on the prairie," 
 in Morristown, in 1836, five miles south of Branden- 
 burg. He died in 1839. 
 
 John Boyd, Sr., was born in Philadelphia, April 
 9, 1802 ; came to the county in 1848; died in Cam- 
 bridge, Feb. 2, 1877. He served three years in the 
 army. Died Feb. 2, 1-877. 
 
 Joshua Brmvning was elected one of the first 
 County Commissioners. He died at an early day. 
 
 George Brandenburg was, born in Maryland July 
 28, 1799; came to this county Sept. 9, 183^. His 
 wife, Plicebe, was a native of Vermont, and was born 
 Jan. 22, 1795; came to the county 1836. George 
 Brandenburg was always known as " Judge." When 
 questioned as to what court he had presided over 
 by a Boston " tender-foot," he replied that he was 
 " Judge " of one of the earliest elections in the county ! 
 A son and daughter, Frank and Elizabeth, reside in 
 Dayton, in this county. 
 
 Francis M. Brandenburg, native of Indiana, born 
 July 11, 1834; came to this county in 1835. 
 
 Cornelius Bryan settled in Henry County in 1837 ; 
 died June 23, 1854, aged 64 years. 
 
 Mrs.E. J. Blodgett came to this county in 1849. 
 She was born in 1832. 
 
 Redding Busenbark, born in Ohio in 1821, and 
 came to this county in 1855. 
 
 Preston Browning and family came from White 
 Co., 111., in an early day. He returned to Southern 
 Illinois. His son resides near Geneseo. 
 
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 «» 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 701 
 
 Alfred Beck settled between Green and Rock 
 Rivers. He died many years ago and has no de- 
 scendants living whom we could find. 
 
 James M. Barrett was bom in Maine in 1809; 
 came to this county in 1849, and later removed to 
 Page Co., Iowa. 
 
 Elizabeth K. Blackfan was born in Bucks Co., 
 Pa., March, 1811; came to this county in 1841; 
 died Jan. 10, 187 1. 
 
 F.J. Cox and Elizabeth, his wife, settled in Henry 
 County in 185 1. 
 
 Washington B. Colbert left the county and went 
 to Oregon in an early day. Some of his half-brothers 
 remained in the county. 
 
 George A. Colbert was one of the first preachers in 
 the co.uity, he and P. K. Hanna and Ithamar 
 Pillsbury being the first that are now remembered as 
 preaching to the settlers. There are grandsons of 
 Colbert living here. 
 
 Charles W. Davenport was born in Stratford, 
 Conn.; came to this county in June, 1837. Mary 
 E., his wife, was a native of Norwalk, Conn. ; came 
 in 1837. 
 
 Charles W. Davenport came Oct. 31, 1836. His 
 wife was Ellen E. 
 
 Samuel Clark, a prominent farmer of Andover, re- 
 moved to Richland Grove, where he died a few years 
 ago. 
 
 Anthony Hunt came with the Glenns'to the coun- 
 ty. A full account of Mr. Hunt and family may be 
 found in the sketch of James Glenn. His wife, Car- 
 oline, born in Germany, May ir, 1812, and came 
 with, her husband to the county in 1835, was the 
 second woman in the county. 
 
 Rufus Hubbard was one of the first of the Gene- 
 seo Colony. He was known as the first and great 
 music teacher in the county. He died in Moline,in 
 r883, leaving one son. 
 
 John P. Hanna, a brother of P. K. Hanna, and at 
 one time known all over the county as " Uncle 
 Prior,' - was one of the earliest and most respected 
 of our pioneers. 
 
 George W. Hill was born in Ohio, in 1840. He 
 came with his parents to this county in 1846. He is 
 a son of Thomas Hill. 
 
 John B. Hagin was born in New York in 1818, 
 and came to this county in 1855. 
 
 Jeduthan Hubbard was a native of Connecticut. 
 
 He came to this county in 1839. He died Dec. 8, 
 1861, aged 61 years. 
 
 Albert Jagger was one of the substantial men of 
 ihe Andover Colony. He returned to New York. 
 
 Jacob Kemmerling was born in Ohio, May 18, 
 1807, and came to this county in March, 1837. 
 
 William T. Little, from Hollis, N. H., came to 
 Wethersfield in 1836, and died May 25, 1845. 
 
 Abner T. Little came to this county in 1837, and 
 died Sept. 8, 1863, aged 90 years. 
 
 Henry G. Little, born in Goffstown, N. H., July 
 29, 1806, came in 1836; delayed coming a year in 
 order that he might bring a wife with him. He is now 
 living in Grinnell, Iowa. He was at one time Sher- 
 iff of the county (1854). He was an active, promi- 
 nent and an excellent citizen. 
 
 George H. Lincoln was born in New London, 
 Conn., May 3, 1808, came in 1850, died July 16, 1873, 
 aged 70 years. 
 
 Charles Lester was a native of Massachusetts, born 
 Jan. 29, 18 15 . He came to this county in 1844 and 
 died Feb. 14, 1876. 
 
 Andrew McFarland was a native of Pennsylvania, 
 where he was born in 1804. He came to Henry 
 County in 185 r. 
 
 Daniel B. McHenry was born in White County, 
 111., Nov. r6, r827- Came to this county in January, 
 1836. Rachel A. McHenry, daughter of Benjamin 
 FriUs and wife of D. B. McHenry, was born in 
 Pennsylvania, Nov. 8, 1831, and came to the county 
 in 1837. 
 
 Eric Miles was a resident of Galva, where he died 
 in 1880, at the advanced age of 92 years. 
 
 Mrs. Phebe Miller was born in New York in 1790 ; 
 came in 1835'. She was many years housekeeper for 
 Eben Townsend; died April 10, 1879. 
 
 James Frank Miller, native of Southampton, L. I.; 
 born 1825; came in 1835; died April, 1877. 
 
 Stephen Marshall lived in Colona and died about 
 the year 1840, while on a visit East. He left a large 
 family of children, who are in California. When 
 Marshall came to the county he lived with the two 
 Glenns and Anthony Hunt, all in one cabin and all 
 old bachelors. 
 
 Anthony unt died on the homestead he first im- 
 proved, Oct. 16, 1875. He was a German and mar- 
 ried a German lady of St. Louis. Members of his 
 family are still in the county. He was an industri- 
 
 
 
 
 &<?$m$fo L <& — :s ^ feL 
 
 4*^£ 
 
702 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
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 ous farmer and an excellent and intelligent citizen. 
 Mrs. Catherine Hunt anddaughter, Sarah, reside in - 
 Geneseo. 
 
 Andrew Oliver, a native of Scotland, was born 
 March 20, 1820. He came to this county in 1838. 
 
 Marcus B. Osborn, native of New York ; born in 
 1803; came in 1837 ; removed to Salt Lake City. 
 
 Eric Olson came to this country with the Swede 
 Colony. He died in 1880, aged 73 years. 
 
 Edward A. Mix was in his earlier life a sea Cap- 
 tain and came from New York city. He was one of 
 the founders of the Andover Colony. He returned 
 to New York and look an active part in the late war. 
 
 Eben Townsend was an old man when he came to 
 the county. He was one of the Andover Colony. 
 Lived to extreme old age, and was buried in the An- 
 dover Cemetery. 
 
 Adrian Van Winkle was an' extensive farmer in an 
 early day. Afterward he was a grain-buyer in Gen- 
 eseo. Died in 1883. 
 
 S. B. Shumway was born in Bradford Co., Pa., 
 April 15, 1822, and came to Henry County in 1853. 
 
 Luther Sheldon, a carpenter, was born in New 
 York, November, 1809, and came to Henry County 
 in 1839. He died May 4, 1877. 
 
 George Tyler kept the first ferry on Rock River in 
 this county. He died in 1838. His widow kept 
 tavern in Cleveland, where many of the newly-arrived 
 pioneers boarded and lodged on their arrival. 
 
 Joseph Tillson, the first actual settler in Cambridge 
 Township, was born in Wrentham, Norfolk County, 
 Massachusetts, March ri, 1801. He left Boston in 
 September, 1836, and came West, arriving in Henry 
 Countyin 1837. In 1838 he built the cabin in which 
 Mr. Stackhouse found him when he came here in 
 1840. 
 
 J. M. Timberlake was born in Sangamon Co., 
 Ills., June 8, 1837. He came to Henry County in 
 
 i8S7- 
 
 Ralph A. Tenney, a native of New Hampshire, was 
 born Oct. 13, 1826. Came to Henry County in 185 1. 
 Removed to Chicago. 
 
 Charles F. Tenney is a native of New Hampshire, 
 where he was born March 28, 1832. He came to 
 Henry County in 1853. 
 
 Thomas H ' .Maine, was born Sept. 17, 18 15. Came 
 to Tazewell Countyin i836,"and to"Henry County 
 
 Kj))^f* 
 
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 in 1855. His wife, Maria E., came with him. 
 was born in Ohio in 1823. 
 
 G. W. Timber lake vt as born in Henry County, Oct. 
 24, 1843. 
 
 Ebenezer Tyler came from New Hampshire to 
 Wethersfield Township in 1848. Died April 25, 
 1877. 
 
 Aunt Polly Vincent came in 1845. Died in Cam- 
 bridge in 1881, aged, 70 years. An elegant pioneer 
 woman, widely known and beloved. She was a na- 
 tive of Canada. 
 
 William J. Vannice was Sheriff of the county at 
 one time. He was born in Montgomery Co., Ind., ' 
 Feb. 17, 1838, and came to the county in 1852. 
 
 Zachariah Welch, a. native of Pennsylvania, came 
 in 185 1. Died March 14, 1877, aged S3 years. By 
 occupation he was a farmer and carpenter. 
 
 David Wiley is a fine specimen of a jolly Irish 
 laborer. He was the chief sod-fence maker in the 
 county. He lived in Morristown, and died there 
 without issue in 1840. 
 
 Street C. Welton, born in Litchfield, Conn., 1816, 
 and came in 1849. 
 
 Mrs. Adaline Welton was born in Orange Co,, N. 
 J., in 1824, and came to Henry County in 1849. 
 
 Col. John H. Wells came from Orange Co., N. Y., 
 in 1838. He died May 20, 1844. 
 
 Lester C. Welton, a native of Litchfield, Conn., was 
 born in April, 1817, and came in 1849. His wife 
 was a native of Hartford,- Conn , and was born in 
 May, 1819. 
 
 Jesse Woolsey was the first landlord at Andover — 
 then the favorite stopping place with all the travelers 
 on the old Knoxville and Galena road from 1840 to 
 about 1850— and was widely known. He died some 
 years ago. 
 
 Ebenezer Walters lived in Bernard's Grove, about 
 five miles north of Geneseo Left the county years 
 ago. None of the family here. 
 
 Chauncey E. Washburn was born in Massachu- 
 setts, May 17, 1834. Came to Henry County in 
 
 i837- 
 
 John M. Withrow is a native of the county, and 
 was born in 1848. He is a son of W. VV. 
 
 Abisha Washburn was a native of Massachusetts. 
 He settled in Colona. He died in 1872, oh the last 
 day of August. He came in 1837. His widow is 
 living in the county. 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 Lucinda Washburn was born in New Hampshire 
 in 1809, and came to the county in April, 1836. 
 
 William C. Wilson was born in Norway in 1839, 
 and came to this county in 1858. Was Captain in 
 the army; served five years. 
 
 John P- Potter, born in Coshocton, Ohio, Sept. 
 14, 1823. Came in 1838. His wife, Charity A., 
 was born at Young's Mills, Ohio, Feb. 25, 1829. Her 
 family settled in Whiteside County, 1837. 
 
 David Potter, born Oct. 1. 1799. From Knox 
 Co., Ohio. Came in October, 1838.1" Born in Craw- 
 ford Co., Pa.C Died in Wethersfield, Oct. 8, i860, 
 aged 61 years. 
 
 John Henry Poppy, of Germany, was born in 1797. 
 He came in 1847 and died in December, 1875. 
 
 Thomas Miller was a noted hunter. He looked a 
 good deal like an Indian and was still more so in his 
 acts and manners. ~He died in Hanna Township 
 years ago. 
 
 Hannah Paddelford was born in New Hampshire, 
 May ii, 1790. He came to this county in 1837. 
 
 Rufus P Parish was born in New Hampshire, 
 Sept. 4, 1816. Came to county in 1855. 
 
 Isaac Paden was born in Fayette Co., Pa., Nov. 
 6, 1800. He came to this county in 1852. 
 
 Ithamar PilLbury was the chief founder of the 
 Andover Colony. He was the first Presbyterian 
 preacher in the county. He was buried in the An- 
 dover Cemetery. 
 
 Caleb Pillsbury was a brother of Rev. Ithamar 
 Pillsbury. Caleb's son, Levi, lives near Andover. 
 One of his daughters lives in Lynn Grove. 
 
 William R. Robinson was born in Southampton, 
 Scut 24, 1829. He came to this county in May, 
 1842. 
 
 N. H. Robinson was born in 1-788, Long Island. 
 Came to this county in 1839. Died in Kansas, March 
 8, 1877. 
 
 Solomon Penny, widely known as '" old Sol Penny," 
 the happy story-teller of the county. Many think 
 he was nearly Lincoln's match in this respect. He 
 was also a great wit. Penny's Slough was a great re- 
 sort for the disciples of Izaak Walton. Penny's 
 house was a welcome and favorite resort, and " Old 
 Sol " was a great attraction. 
 
 Henry C. Sleight via.?, born Aug. 15, 1792. Came 
 to the county in 1844. Died at Sag Harbor, Jan. 7, 
 .877. 
 
 Luther C. Sleight was born in Russellville, Ky., 
 in April, 1817. Came in 1837. Removed to Sag 
 Harbor. 
 
 John D. K. Sleight was born in New York in 
 January, 1834. Came to county in 1844. Removed 
 to Richmond, Va. 
 
 Halman A. Sleight was born in Jamaica, N. Y., 
 Aug. 7, 1828. Came to County in 1844. Was 
 Treasurer of Henry County five terms. Died in the 
 county, 
 
 William Stackhouse, native of Burlington, Vt., was 
 born in 1814. Came to county in 1838. In a short 
 time went away, and returned in 1840. 
 
 Henry Sullivan was a prominent man at an early 
 day in the politics of the county. He was at one 
 time Recorder. 
 
 Isaac N. Stewart was born in New York, Oct. 12, 
 1814. Came to Henry County in August, 1847. 
 His wife was born Oct. 2, 1828. Came to county in 
 
 1855- 
 
 Lyman Snow was born in Massachusetts in No- 
 vember, 1809. He came to Henry County in 1840. 
 Died in Cambridge in 1880. 
 
 Austin Sykes was born in Rutland Co., Vt., April 
 28, 1815. Located in Henry County in 1850. 
 
 Roderick R. Stewart, one of the founders of Gen- 
 esee His three daughters were the first school- 
 teachers in the county. He held many offices in 
 the county and his family was the prominent leading 
 family in the county. 
 
 Arba M. Seymour, the first Surveyor of the county. 
 His wife was a Miss Crocker. Mr. Seymour removed 
 to Wisconsin. 
 
 R. L. Sheppard was born in New York in 1819. 
 He came to Henry County in 1858. 
 
 John Searles was born in Ohio in 1 804. He was 
 one of the pioneers of Henry County. He came in 
 1836. 
 
 Samuel Sullivan and brother and two sisters carre 
 here together. They were from Ohio. They left 
 the county and went further West many years ago. 
 
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 ohn Melloy, dealer in wood and coal and 
 drayman at Cambridge, was born Sept. 2, 
 1832, in Bedford Co., Pa. In the paternal 
 line of descent he is of Irish extraction, his 
 grandfather, Hugh Melloy, having been a na- 
 tive of the Green Isle. The latter came when 
 a young man to the continent of America and located 
 in Huntingdon Co., Pa. He passed the remainder of 
 his life in the vocation of a farmer there. His son, 
 William Melloy, was born in Bedford, Bedford 
 County, and is yet living, at the age of 73. He was 
 a blacksmith by occupation, and -married Catherine 
 Hoop. She is still living. The ten children born of 
 lliis marriage are named Elizabeth, John, Catherine, 
 Ellen, George (deceased), Biven, William (deceased), 
 Susie, David and a daughter, who is deceased. 
 
 Mr. Melloy was educated in the county where he 
 was born, and on arriving at a suitable age he en- 
 gaged in the business of a farmer, and was there 
 married. He remained in the State of his nativity 
 until his removal in November, 1869, to Henry 
 County. He made a location in ,the township of 
 Atkinson, but only remained there until the spring 
 ensuing, when he came to Cambridge and embarked 
 in the business which has been mentioned at the 
 beginning of this personal account. 
 
 He formed a matrimonial contract with Catherine 
 Kertz, a native of Bedford Co., Pa., and the daughter 
 of Robert and Rachel (Clark) Kertz. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Melloy are the parents of five children, viz. : Emma, 
 who is the wife of Mr. McFarland, of Iowa; Robert 
 W., Nellie., John and Annie. The latter is the wife 
 of John Kookes. The parents are members of the 
 Methodist Church. Mr. Melloy is a Democrat. 
 
 S. Ellingsworth, of Hanna Township, be- 
 came a resident of Henry County in r87o. 
 l "' t "" 3 " He was born Oct. 15, 1834, in Worcester 
 Co., Md.,and is the son of William and Zipton 
 A. Evans Ellingsworth, both of whom were 
 natives of Maryland. The family removed to 
 Illinois in 1845. They embarked on a steamer for the 
 city of Philadelphia, and went thence by rail to Pitts- 
 
 burg, whence they came on the river route to -Rock 
 Island. The father bought land in the township of 
 Moline, and there pursued farming three jears. At 
 the end of that time he made a change of location, 
 going to Pleasant Valley, in Hampton Township. 
 The homestead was there maintained until 1862, 
 when another removal was made to Hanna Town- 
 ship. Some years later the senior Ellingsworth went 
 to Geneseo to pass the closing years of his life and 
 is still resident there. 
 
 Mr. Ellingsworth of this sketch was reared on the 
 farm and has, been familiar with the details of the 
 business which he has made the vocation of his life 
 since he was old enough to have an understanding 
 of his obligation to the work of the world. He was 
 an attendant at the common school, and obtained 
 such education as the time and place afforded. 
 
 At the age of 22 he entered the employ of P. K. 
 Hanna, of Hanna Township, and he operated in his 
 interests three years. In 1870 he bought the farm 
 which he has since owhed and to which he has given 
 his personal supervision. He is engaged in mixed 
 husbandry. The farm is on section 34. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Ellingsworth and Mary 
 Stokes Hanna took place Feb. 13, 1870. She is the 
 daughter of Young and Lucy (Niver) Stokes, and 
 was the widow of R. N. Hanna. Her parents were 
 pioneers of Henry County. The children who are 
 now members of the household are three in number, 
 and are named Young S., Joseph H. and- James 
 Garfield. 
 
 illiam H. Kemmis, a farmer on section 
 10, Loraine Township, has been a resident 
 of Henry County from his childhood. He 
 was born in Salem, Washington Co., N. Y., 
 March 25, 1835, and was less than three 
 years of age when his parents, in 1837, removed 
 to Illinois, and located in this county. " Samuel D. 
 Kemmis, his father, was botn in Washington Co., N. 
 Y., March 23, 1802. The latter grew to manhood 
 on the farm of his father, where he was born, and 
 was sent to the public schools to obtain such educa- 
 tion as was possible at that period. He made good 
 use of his time, and was still young when he engaged 
 in teaching. He was a hatter by trade in later life, 
 and was married in his native county to Mary Rood. 
 She was born in the same county, - In. the- summer 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY, 
 
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 of 1835 they removed with their family to Ohio, and 
 located in the vicinity of Cleveland. After a brief 
 stay there they went thence to Detroit, Mich., where 
 they continued to remain until the year that has been 
 mentioned as that in which they came to Illinois. 
 The removal from Michigan to Illinois was accom- 
 plished in the manner common in those days, with 
 teams. On the road the mother was seized with 
 sudden illness, and died of heart disease. She was 
 buried at a place 25 miles east of Chicago. She left 
 three children, the oldest of whom was but seven 
 years old. 
 
 They came to Henry County in the fall, and the 
 father made a claim on the southwest quarter of sec- 
 tion 21, in township 18. (In that way the township 
 of Loraine was designated on the' charts of the sur- 
 veyors before the Government of the United States 
 placed the land in market.) That tract was not long 
 in the possession of the senior Kemmis, and he 
 bought another on section 10 of the same township. 
 Of the latter he was the resident owner and occupant 
 until his demise, which occurred in 1858. His wife 
 died in 1837. In 1850 he was again married to 
 Susanna Robinson. She is his survivor, and occu- 
 pies a portion of the homestead estate. Of the first 
 marriage three children were born : Thompson A. 
 lives in Montana ; Lydia R. is not living. 
 
 Mr. Kemmis, of this narration, is the youngest. 
 He was a child of three months when his parents re- 
 moved to Ohio, and of course accompanied them on 
 their several removals. He followed in the steps of 
 his father in the matter of bringing up and educa- 
 tion. He was married Dec. 9, 1858, to Nancy Blair. 
 She is a native of Detroit, Mich. They settled on 
 the homestead property, and have always been resi- 
 dents thereon ever since. He has erected the 
 buildings he occupies and utilizes in his farming. 
 
 ohn S. Long, residing on the southeast 
 quarter of section 16, Lynn Township, 
 where he is engaged in the occupation of 
 farming and stock-raising, is one of the ener- 
 getic, progressive farmers of Henry County. He 
 was born in Saltsburg, Indiana Co., Pa., March 
 
 father of John S. Long, Jacob, was a native of 
 
 the same State as his son. He was a mechanic and 
 was the sixth child and second son of Jacob Long, 
 Sr., who was born in Germany, and of German pa- 
 rentage. Jacob, Sr., emigiated to this country with 
 his parents when he was a small boy, settling with 
 them in western Pennsylvania, where he was mar- 
 ried to a Miss Crousier, who was born in Pennsyl- 
 vania. Her father was a farmer. The grandfather, 
 Jacob, Sr., died there and some 25 years later the 
 grandmother followed him to the land of the here- 
 after. Jacob Long, Jr., father of our subject, had 
 learned the trade of grain cradle-making, which he 
 followed with no small degree of success the major 
 portion of his life. He was united in marriage at 
 Clarksburg, Indiana Co., Pa., in 1830, with Barbara 
 Shirley, a native of that county. Her father Thomas, 
 and her mother Polly (Miller) Shirley, were of 
 Irish and German extraction, and her father was a 
 farmer by occupation. The grandfather of Thomas 
 Shirley, whose name was also Thomas, was a soldier 
 during the entire period of the Revolutionary War. 
 The grandparents of Mrs. Long died at Clarksburg, 
 Indiana Co., Pa. ; the grandfather in May, 1776, and 
 the grandmother the same hear. The mother of 
 Mrs. Long, wife of the subject of this notice, was the 
 second child of a family of eight children, three 
 daughters and five sons. 
 
 After the marriage of the parents of this notice, 
 they resided in Westmoreland and Indiana Counties, 
 Pa., until the death of the father in 187 2, who at that 
 date was in his 66th year. The mother is yet living 
 and resides with her younger son, Matthias A., in 
 Liberty, Gage Co., Neb., aged 74 years. She is the 
 mother of ten children, eight sons and two daughters, 
 all of whom are living except one, who died in Ander- 
 sonville prison. Another son was in the army and 
 has from some cause or other not been heard from 
 since he entered the service. The family still live in 
 hope that he does not lie beneath the ground in one 
 of the unnumbered and unknown graves of Union 
 soldiers at the South. 
 
 John S. Long, subject of this notice, resided at 
 home, attending the common schools and assisting 
 on the farm until he was 19 years of age In March, 
 1854, he came to this State and located in Rock 
 Island County, where for a time he worked as a gen- 
 eral laborer. He afterward came to this county and 
 one year later, in 1859, in company with 27 others, 
 he made an overland trip to Pike's Peak, Col., where 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 after a tedious journey he arrived in Placerville, or 
 Hangtown. After spending three years in the mining 
 region, and meeting with success in his labors, he re- 
 turned by water via the Isthmus to this county, ar- 
 riving here in April, 1862. Immediately on his 
 arrival he purchased 160 acres of land, located on 
 section 16, the same being the southeast quarter of 
 that section. The land was partly improved, and he 
 ■entered upon the task of its cultivation, determined 
 to establish a home, which determination has been 
 fulfilled ; and his farm to-day presents the appearance 
 of thrift and good agricultural judgment, and is one 
 of the best farms in the township. By energetic 
 effort, good judgment and economy, he has added, to 
 his landed interests 120 acres, which lies adjoining 
 his original purchase, and also 80 acres of timber 
 land in Mercer County. 
 
 Mr. Long formed a matrimonial alliance May 21, 
 1862, at Geneseo, this county, with Miss Nancy J. 
 Fleming. She was born at New Paris, Ohio, June 
 13, 1837, and is the daughter of Alexander and 
 Nancy M. (Adams) Fleming, natives of Kentucky 
 and Tennessee respectively, who were married in 
 New Paris. Her father was a merchant, and both 
 died in Pendleton, Wayne Co., Ind. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Long are the parents of eight children, — Alice M., 
 Wilson YV\, Julia, Burtie E., Jessie L., Fleming T., 
 Roy (deceased) and Nannie P. Mr. Long has held 
 the office of Supervisor of his township for ten years, 
 eight of which were consecutive. Politically, he is 
 identified with the Democratic party, and socially he 
 is one of the respected and honored citizens of his 
 township. 
 
 {.ons Shult, a general farmer and stock-raiser, 
 residing on section 3, Lynn Township, is a 
 native of Sweden, where, in Smolan, that 
 country, he was born, Oct. 16, 7834. The par- 
 ents of Mr. Shult were extensive farmers in 
 their native country. They emigrated to the 
 United States in 1857, and soon thereafter located 
 in Lynn Township, this county, where the son had 
 preceded them three years previous, in r854. The 
 father 'died in Lynn Township, in February, 187 1, 
 and his mother is at present residing with her son, 
 Hons, and is in her 77th year. 
 Hons Shult, subject of this notice, on emigrating 
 
 to the United States, came almost immediately to 
 this county, where he was engaged for a time in la- 
 bor on the railrqad, alternating the same by working 
 on the farm for three years. He then rented land, 
 which he cultivated for his own individual benefit 
 for some seven years. At the expiration of that time 
 he purchased 70 acres of unimproved land. This 
 was in the year 1863, and Mr. Shult entered at once 
 upon the cultivation and improvement of his land, 
 where he. determined to establish a home for himself 
 and family. 
 
 He w as united in the bonds of marriage July 19, 
 1862, at Andover, this county, with Miss Mary 
 Johnson, a native of Sweden. She was born March 
 9, 7841, and emigrated to the land of possibilities 
 with her parents when she was 19 years of age, they 
 settling in Lynn Township. Her father died at her 
 residence, March 18, 1883, aged 72 years. Her 
 mother still survives and resides in Orion. Mr. 
 Shult at present is the proprietor of 435 acres of well 
 improved land, located on sections 3, 4, 9 and 10. 
 in addition to the time he devotes to agriculture, he 
 is also to a considerable extent engaged in stock- 
 raising, and as an agriculturist and stock-raiser has 
 met with considerable success. His family are 
 members of the Swedish Lutheran Church at Orion. 
 Mr. Shult has held the office of School' Director some 
 time, and politically is identified with the Republi- 
 can party. 
 
 'jEiram Bigelow, the oldest practicing attor- 
 ney in Henry County and one of the leading 
 members of the Bar in this section of the 
 State, resides at Galva. He was born at Le 
 Roy, Genesee Co., N. Y., Feb. 23, 1829, and 
 was the fourth in a family of eight children. 
 His father, John A. Bigelow, was born in the State of 
 Connecticut, in the year 1795, being a lineal descend- 
 ant of John Bigelow, who emigrated from Wrentham, 
 county of Suffolk, England, and settled at Water- 
 town, Mass., where he died, July 14, 1703; 
 
 John A. Bigelow served as a volunteer in the War 
 of 1 812, and was at the battle of Buffalo. In 1820 
 he married Miss Mary McCollum, daughter of Jacob 
 McCollum, whose father was an Elder in the Church 
 of Scotland. Jacob McCollum was born in the State' 
 of New Jersey during the Revolution and on the day 
 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 of the battle of Monmouth, which history tells us 
 was one of the hottest ever known. He married Miss 
 Susan Harris and both lived to a ripe old age. 
 
 Hiram Bigelow was reared and educated at LeRoy, 
 his native place, and when only 18 years of age be- 
 gan life as a school-teacher, which business he fol- 
 lowed two years, and afterwards engaged as a clerk 
 in a mercantile establishment in his native town. 
 
 The latter business he abandoned and took up the 
 study of law, purchasing his own books for that pur- 
 pose with money which he earned himself. 
 
 In 1854 he came West, and in the spring of 1855 
 he was admitted to the Bar at Elkhorn, Wisconsin. 
 In 1856 he settled at Galva, then a village scarcely 
 more than a year old, and began the practice of law. 
 His business rapidly increased and he soon became 
 an active and successful lawyer, principally for the 
 reason that he never neglected business entrusted to 
 his care, but was always industrious and attentive 
 to the interests of his clients. In i860 he was elected 
 to the office of State's Attorney for the Sixth Judicial 
 Circuit, then composed of the counties of Henry and 
 Rock Island, which office he held for four years. 
 
 At the time he settled at Galva, and for years af- 
 terwards, titles to real estate in the "Central Military 
 Tract " were very uncertain, and to what is known to 
 the profession as " real-estate law " he applied him- 
 self with great diligence; and, having been engaged in 
 the trial of many cases in the State and United 
 States Courts involving the title to lands, and being 
 uniformly successful, he is acknowledged to stand in 
 the fronk rank of the profession in that department of 
 the law. 
 
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 -5- 
 
 ndrew M. Peterson is one of the ex- 
 tensive and successful farmers of Henry 
 W^iT County. His home farm, on section 23, of 
 Western Township, consists of 240 acres, all 
 under splendid improvements. Mr. Peterson's 
 remarkable success in life is a fine illustration 
 of what may be accomplished in this country -by one 
 with energy, foresight and determination, pushing for- 
 ward. He was born in Sweden, July 7, 1828, and 
 lived with his parents upon the farm until about 23 
 years of age, when he determined to 1 ome to the 
 New World. He soon found himself in Henry 
 
 County, where he began to work as a laborer on the 
 railroad. He struggled along, working honestly and 
 fairly, using economy in all things, and after his mar- 
 riage settled down as a farmer. At that time he lo- 
 cated on section 23, Western Township, where he 
 owned 240 acres. Besides this, he has 160 acres 
 under good improvements on section 24 of the same 
 township, and also 160 acres under the plow on sec- 
 tion 1, and 80 acres on section 2. This vast accu- 
 mulation of property is the result of his own efforts, 
 assisted by his wife. When he started in the town- 
 ship he was very poor. When he landed at New 
 York city he was without a penny in his pocket, but 
 he found a friend of whom he borrowed $ro, with 
 which he secured his passage to this county. He first 
 entered 60 acres of land, and by degrees has secured 
 one of the largest farming interests in the county. 
 Besides all this property, he is a stockholder in the 
 bank at Orion and also in the mercantile company. 
 
 Mr. Peterson was married March 29, 1855, in 
 Western Township, to Catherine L. Swanson. Like 
 himself, she was bom in Sweden and came to Amer- 
 ica with her parents, in 1853. They are yet living, 
 on the first 80 acres of land they purchased in Osco 
 Township. To Mr. and Mrs. Peterson have been 
 born seven children, two of whom are deceased. 
 The family record is written as follows : Loasie is 
 married and lives in Nebraska; Sophia is also mar- 
 ried and resides in Osco Township; Emma M.,Let- 
 ta, Ida (deceased), Victor S. and Matilda. 
 
 The family are all members of the Lutheran 
 Evangelical Church, and politically Mr. P. is a Re- 
 publican. 
 
 >e~- 
 
 fl^dward C. Clow, engaged in the general 
 mercantile business at Morristown, is a 
 native of Hudson, Summit Co., Ohio, 
 j§&- where he was born April 18,1843. His ])ar- 
 I ents, E. S. and Margaret J. (Fleming) Clow, 
 nfaved to New Castle, Pa., Sept. 8, 1843, where 
 they resided for three years, and then moved to Rock 
 Island and resided there for two years, after which 
 they moved on a farm three miles south of Milan, 
 at which place he assisted his father in agricultural 
 pursuits for a time. 
 
 Mr. E. C. Clow, of this notice, enlisted in the 37th 
 
 & 
 
 I 
 
 f|) 
 
 ft fe 
 
 ^^mmw^ ^Q ^ ey 1 
 
 -«t&&c< 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 I 
 
 
 111. Vol. Inf. in 1861, and served four years and nine 
 months in the Union army. 
 
 After the term of his enlistment had expired, he 
 came home somewhat broken down in health, but 
 otherwise uninjured. 
 
 Arriving home he again engaged in farming, which 
 occupation he followed for about a year, when he 
 abandoned 'the farm and opened a grocery and res- 
 taurant at Milan. Continuing the latter business 
 for about four years, he disposed of his stock and 
 removed to Filmore Co., Neb., and there once more 
 engaged in the occupation of farming, and occupied 
 his time in that manner for 13 years. 
 
 In the fall of 1883 Mr. Clow came from Ne- 
 braska to this county, and purchased the property 
 where he is at present residing and carrying on his 
 business, at Morristown. 
 
 He has a general stock of goods, and by his fair 
 and honest dealing with his patrons has established 
 a good and paying business. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Clow took place at Milan, 
 Rock Island Co., this State, April 28, 1870, and Miss 
 Carrie Gale, the daughter of Monroe and Elizabeth 
 (Cossum) Gale, became his wife. Her father died 
 in Rock Island, where her mother still resides. 
 
 Mrs. Clow was born in Cleveland, Oswego Co., N. 
 Y., May 20, 1850. 
 
 Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. 
 Clow. Three died in infancy, and three, Ethel F., 
 Cora E. and Edward S., are now living. 
 
 In politics, Mr. Clow is a strong adherent of the 
 principles of the Republican party. 
 
 ^enry Rumler, of the township of Atkinsom 
 is is a citizen of the United States by adop- 
 tion. He was born in Belgium, April i4> 
 1854. His parents, Francis and Amelia 
 (Bonne) Rumler, came from their native land 
 with their family when their son who is the 
 subject of this account was a child of three. They 
 came to Atkinson Township in 1858. Mr. Rumler 
 has been brought up almost wholly in the township 
 where he now resides. He was married Nov. 15, 
 1878, in Henry County, to Wilhelmina Bouwhuis. 
 Mrs. Rumler is the daughter of Anthony andTerisa 
 (Vanlandschoot) Bouwhuis, and is descended from 
 
 Holland-Dutch parents. Mr. and Mrs. Rumler 
 have five children now living. Their names are Wil- 
 lie H., Annie T., Edward, Lizzie and Albert. Fran- 
 cis died at the age of two^years. The family are 
 Catholics. Mr. Rumler endorses, the principles of 
 the National Greenback party. 
 
 4«* 
 
 ohn Buell, photographer at Geneseo, was 
 
 'f born in the place where he is at present a 
 
 fl"* business man. He is the son of Christian 
 
 and Christiana (Meyers) Buell, of Geneseo, of 
 whom a sketch is presented on other pages of 
 this volume. The date of the birth of Mr. 
 Buell was July 27, T856. He was a pupil in the 
 public schools at Geneseo during his boyhood and 
 early youth, and later was a student at the North- 
 western College at Naperville. 
 
 Mr; Buell was from earliest youth possessed of 
 artistic propensities, and as opportunity served de- 
 voted considerable time to the gratification of his 
 tastes, and when he was r8 he became interested in 
 the acquisition of a knowledge of the profession 
 which he is now pursuing. He entered the photo- j 
 graphic establishment of N. D. Davis at Geneseo, . S 
 and passed two years under the instructions of that 
 gentleman, and at the end of the time mentioned 
 was fitted to enter upon the responsibilities of the 
 business independently. He went in 1876 to the 
 city of Jackson, Mich., where he passed four years 
 in the first-class photographic establishment of that 
 place, and while there was in the constant acqusition 
 of all the progressive ideas pertaining to the busi- 
 ness. In 1880 he returned to the State of his na- 
 tivity, and passed three months at Ottawa, after 
 which he returned to Geneseo. He bought the es- 
 tablishment of Mr. Davis, of whom he at first learned 
 his profession, and has since been engaged in the 
 transaction of a profitable and popular business. 
 Mr. Buell is a young man of unexceptionable char- 
 acter, and is considered a valuable accession to the 
 interests of the place he resides in. 
 
 He was united in marriage to Sarah E., daughter 
 of Sanford Swank, of Hampton, Rock Island Go., 
 111., Oct. rr, 1883. Mrs. Buell was born Sept. 24, 
 1859, in Rock Island Co., 111. 
 
 -&&$M|®gir&*<£ — *^- 
 

(E^^ti 
 
 g»- 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 711 
 
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 S3 
 
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 <S\ 
 
 KM 
 
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 |f ev. Erland Carlsson, Pastor of the Swedish 
 Evangelical Lutheran Church, at Ando- 
 ver, is one of the most widely known gen- 
 tlenien of his nationality in America. Few 
 men have exerted greater influence for good 
 over their fellow men than has Rev. Mr. 
 Carlsson. He has a splendid record, and one which 
 we shall not attempt to elaborate in this sketch, but 
 merely give the more prominent features of his 
 great works among his people in behalf of religion 
 and education. He was born in Sweden, Aug. 24, 
 1822, and graduated at the University of Lund, in 
 1844, and was ordained to the holy ministry by the 
 Bishop of Wexio, in June, 1849. 
 
 After five years of faithful service in the Estab- 
 lished Church (the Lutheran) of Sweden, with royal 
 permission he left his native country, in June, 1853, 
 coming to America. He at once proceeded to Chi- 
 cago, arriving there in August of the same year. He 
 took charge of the Immanuel Swedish Lutheran 
 Congregation, which had been organized in that city 
 in the same year, and consisted of a few poor Swed- 
 ish emigrants. His remarkable career in that city is 
 best told by the simple record of his pastorate of 22 
 years for his congregation. Commencing, as above 
 stated, with a handful of poor Swedish emigrants, and 
 without influence, during Mr. Carlsson's services, 
 his congregation became one of the largest Protest- 
 ant Churches in Chicago. In the spring of 1875, 
 he accepted a call to Andover, where he is at present 
 located. 
 
 Rev. Erl. Carlsson has not only labored most effi- 
 ciently as Pastor, but has taken a prominent part in 
 the general affairs of the Swedish Lutheran Church 
 of this country. For many years he has been the 
 President of the Swedish Lutheran Illinois Confer- 
 ence, and at present is the President of the Scandi- 
 navian Evangelical Lutheran Augustana Synod of 
 North America. When the Rev. Carlsson arrived in 
 Chicago there were only two Swedish Lutheran pas- 
 tors and six Swedish Lutheran congregations in 
 this country, but now the Synod of which he is 
 President numbers 214 ministers, and 460 congrega- 
 tions, with a membership of 102,413, and now ex- 
 tends in territory from the Atlantic to the Pacific 
 
 slope. Mr. Carlsson is also the Chairman of the 
 Board of Missions of this Synod, and also Chairman 
 of the Board of Directors of the Augustana College 
 and Theological Seminary at Rock Island. He is 
 also connected with many other boards and impor- 
 tant committees. He is a thoroughly competent 
 man, eminently capable of taking charge of the ex- 
 tensive religious and educational affairs with which 
 he has been connected. He has always taken the 
 deepest interest and a most prominent part in the 
 education of the Swedes, and in making them true 
 Christians and good American citizens. 
 
 It is with pleasure that we present in this Album 
 the portrait of a man so widely as well as so inti- 
 mately connected with that large and respectable 
 elem-ent, the Swedes, which we find in this county. 
 His influence, however, is by no means confined by 
 the boundaries of Henry County, nor by the. bor- 
 ders of Illinois even, but is largely exerted, and al- 
 ways for good, in every Swedish colony or settlement 
 in the country. 
 
 £ enry Sand, of the township of Loraine, is a 
 citizen of the United States by adoption, as 
 he was born in Hesse Darmstadt, in Ger- 
 many. His birth is dated Jan. 30, 1823, and 
 from the age of six to that of 14 he was a pupil 
 in the schools of his native land according to 
 He then entered upon an apprenticeship to 
 learn the trade of a shoemaker, and after acquiring a 
 complete knowledge of the business he worked as a 
 journeyman indifferent cities in Germany until 1848, 
 when he took a final leave of the land of his birth. 
 He crossed the ocean in a sailing vessel, and after a 
 passage of five weeks landed at the port of New 
 York. He remained in that city and was employed 
 at his trade there one year. In 1849 he went to the 
 city of Pittsburg and operated thei£ as a shoemaker 
 two months. He went thence to Cincinnati, where 
 he remained a short time, and went next to St. Louis. 
 He was a resident there until 1852, and in that year 
 he came to Henry County. The town of Loraine 
 was not then named, but was designated by the nu- 
 meral " 18." Mr. Sand bought a claim on section 
 22 and built a log house on it. It should have been 
 previously mentioned that he removed with his 
 family from St. Louis on the river route to Rock 
 
 law. 
 
 9 
 
 1 
 
 ci) 
 
 i)5«S®«fr- 
 
 ■^©^ — &<Mwm&*& — s*^- 
 
 -4*t^ 
 
zJ&k 6V^ltoH B^t^ — •&&& 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
 ft 
 
 Island, and he and his wife and child walked to 
 Henry County. They were in possession of 25 cents 
 in money. The wife spaded a place for a garden 
 spot, and the husband found employ at his trade and 
 as a farm assistant until they were able to make a 
 little start, arid they kept their claim until the spring 
 of 18153, when it was sold for $50. Mr. Sand then 
 entered another of 40 acres on section n in the 
 same township. He built a log house 18x20 feet 
 square and broke ten acres of land. He continued 
 to operate as a farmer and shoemaker there seven 
 years, and then sold out and returned to the city of 
 St. Louis. He continued a resident of that place 
 four years, and returned to Henry County. He set- 
 tled on the west half of the southwest quarter of sec- 
 tion 10 in Loraine Township, and his family were 
 the occupants of that place until 1872, when Mr. 
 Sand again sold out and bought the farm on section 
 14, where they have since resided without intermis- 
 sion. The farm of 120 acres is a fine one, and is all 
 under excellent improvements, with fences and build- 
 ings of good type. Mr. Sand also owns r6o acres on 
 section 13 in Loraine Township. 
 
 He was united in marriage to Margaretta Todt, in 
 St. Louis, in 185 1. She is a native of Prussia, and 
 came to America in 1848. The children now in- 
 cluded in the family are: Eveline, Herman, Bar- 
 ney, Minnie, Margaret, Henry, Albert, Fred and 
 Willie. ■ 
 
 f oseph. Watson, engaged as a general farm- 
 [plij g- er on section 13 of Western Township, was 
 SP^ born in Bucks Co., Pa., Sept. 26, 1830, his 
 parents being Miles and Nancy (Kelly) Wat- 
 son, and natives of the same State' as their 
 son. The parents died in their native State 
 some years ago, and were prominent and respectable 
 people in the community in which they resided. 
 
 Joseph Watson was about 23 years of age when 
 his father died, and previous to this period he had 
 learned the trade and occupation of his father, — that 
 of a wheelwright. He was married in his native 
 county to Miss Nancy McAwish, a native of Ireland, 
 who came to America when a young girl and settled 
 in Bucks Co., Pa. Mr. and Mrs. Watson have had 
 their home brightened and blessed with the birth of 
 three children, one of whom is deceased. Henry, 
 
 Robert (deceased), and Maria, being the names of 
 the children. 
 
 Mr. Watson worked at his occupation and the car- 
 penter's trade in his life-time, and after marriage fol- 
 lowed the latter a short time. In 1882 they came to 
 Illinois, and here Mr. W. purchased 80 acres, of land, 
 located in Western Township. Mr. Watson has en- 
 tered vigorously and energetically in its cultivation 
 and improvement, and, besides this land, rents a 
 large farm, which he operates. Politically, he is a 
 Republican. 
 
 ~~i-.. :=^sg p8= 
 
 ■ » y w» 
 
 illiam Haxby, a resident of Annawan 
 Township, who is located on section 22, 
 came to Henry County in 1855. He is 
 considered one of the representative agri- 
 culturists of the township in which he . 
 has been a useful and honored citizen since 
 he connected his fortunes with those of its inhabit- 
 ants. 
 
 He was born in Scott Co., 111., April, 1835. He 
 was the assistant of his father on the farm during 
 his minority, and he obtained the advantages of the 
 district school in the vicinity of the home of his 
 boyhood. After reaching his majority he remained 
 at home until he was 30 years of age, and acted in 
 the same capacity on the family homestead as in 
 his youth. He has made farming the pursuit of his 
 life. 
 
 March r5, r87o, he was married to Eveline Mc- 
 Gee. She was born Jan. it, 1851, in Peoria Co., 
 Ill, and is the mother of six children. Their births 
 occurred in the order in which they are given be- 
 low : Rachel A. was born Jan. 7, 1872; Ella H., 
 March 8, 1874; Lida M., March 20, 1876; Ethel 
 May, July 18, 1878; William L., April 17, 1881; 
 Robert L., Sept. 17, 1883. 
 
 ' Mr. Haxby is the son of George Haxby, who was 
 born in Yorkshire, England, in 1795. The latter 
 came from his native land to America and settled in 
 Henry County. His wife was, before her marriage, 
 Miss Rachel Hodson. The names of their children 
 were as follows : Mary, Ann, Elizabeth, Jane, Mar- 
 garet, Rachel and John. The mother of Mrs. 
 Haxby, Mrs. McGee, was born in Champaign Co.,' 
 Ohio, Jan. 14, 1826. John McGee, the husband and 
 
 I 
 
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 5*§§<f- 
 
 ■**€» * Q^ 3D H M H&A^ 
 
<b 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
 7i3 
 
 father was born July 25, 1824. Before her marriage 
 the former was Miss Mary A. Hargadine. Their mar- 
 riage took place June 4, 1-845, ln Ohio. Their children 
 were named Maria L., Sarah C, Chloe E. and 
 Charles C. 
 
 Mr. McGee died Sept. 28, i860. The father of 
 Mr. Haxby died Aug. 14, 1876. 
 
 The farm of Mr. Haxby contains 240 acres, all of 
 it being under culture. The buildings on the place 
 are of good type, and in every way well calculated 
 for the purpose for which they are designed. The 
 stock of which he is the owner is of good grades 
 and the horses on the farm are half-blooded English 
 Draft breed. Mr. Haxby is the owner of one thor- 
 oughbred English horse whose weight is 1 ,800 pounds. 
 He is a beautiful bay in color, and is nine years old. 
 Mr. Haxby is a Republican in political opinion. 
 
 p 1 
 
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 fie 
 
 ;.udson Richard Taylor, a citizen of Hanna 
 Township, was born May 12, 1832, in 
 White Co., 111., the son of Ephraim 
 M. and Sarah (nee Hatsell) Taylor. His 
 father was a native of Virginia, and entered 
 the military service of the United States dur- 
 ing the Civil War, acting at first as an independent 
 ranger, and afterwards enlisting as a soldier in the 
 regular service. The mother was born in North Caro- 
 lina. The parents lived a number of years in White 
 County, and there their lives terminated. 
 
 Mr. Taylor was but a child when he became an 
 orphan by the deaths of his father and mother, and 
 in 1844 he came to Henry County. Soon after he 
 embraced an opportunity to enter upon an appren- 
 ticeship to acquire a knowledge of the trade of a 
 carpenter and builder in Rock Island County, and he 
 went there for that purpose. He pursued that busi- 
 ness until 1855 ' n Rock Island County, and in that 
 year he embarked in mercantile relations at Colona. 
 He operated there one year in the first enterprise of 
 the kind that was established in that place. With a 
 single exception, he erected the first four frame houses 
 at Colona, and while he was in business there, asso- 
 ciated with his brother, J. W. Taylor, and J. J. 
 Baum, he built a saw-mill at that place. In 1857 he 
 sold his interests in Colona and removed to Hamp- 
 ton. He there engaged in the business of supplying 
 the river boats with coal for a few months, after which 
 
 he assumed the charge of the farm of his father-in- 
 law in the same township. He was interested in 
 farming until 1865. In January of that year he en- 
 listed in the Ninth 111. Vol. Cav. and accompanied 
 the regiment to Eastport, Tenn., and thence to Cor- 
 inth, Selma, Montgomery and Gainesville, and to 
 different portions of the South. He remained with 
 the command until November of the same year in 
 which he enlisted, when the regiment was mustered 
 out, and he returned to Hampton Township. He 
 continued to reside there until 1867, when he bought 
 the farm he now owns and on which he has since 
 devoted himself to the vigorous prosecution of his 
 agricultural interests. It was situated in township 
 17, now called Hanna Township. He has since pur- 
 chased land adjoining which belongs to the township 
 of Edford, lying on section 8, the whole tract includ- 
 ing 280 acres, all of which is under advanced culti- 
 vation. Mr. Taylor is interested in raising stock, and 
 is the owner of a dairy. 
 
 Mr. Taylor was joined in marriage in August, 
 1855, to Mary A. Porter. She was born in Washing- 
 ton Co., Ind., and is the daughter of William and 
 Martha (Giles) Porter. The parents were born re- 
 spectively in Virginia and North Carolina, and they 
 settled in the county of Rock Island in 1833, a period 
 which was included in the days of first things in that 
 county. The six children of Mr. and Mrs. Taylor 
 are named William H., George H., Frederick L., 
 Mary Ida, John J. and Daniel A. 
 
 ■<&- 
 
 9- 
 
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 -£— —!&*— 
 
 on. Matthew B. Potter, farmer of Henry 
 T County, and the son of David and Elizabeth 
 (Cosner) Potter, was born in Coshocton Co., 
 Ohio, Dec. 16, 182 1. His parents were natives 
 of the Keystone State and Virginia respectively, 
 were married and settled in Coshocton Co., 
 Ohio, and afterward removed to Knox Co., Ohio. In 
 the fall of 1838 Mr. David Potter, the father of Mat- 
 thew, again removed, this time coming to Henry 
 County, this State, settling in what is now Wethers- 
 field Township, where they remained until their 
 death, the mother's occurring in February, 1850, and 
 the father's, Oct. 8, i860. 
 
 Matthew B. Potter, when quite young, accom- 
 panied his parents to Knox Co., Ohio, and later to 
 
 4? 
 
 ■eA^niK 
 
-a ^ (3V &1M10& 
 
 i 
 
 > 
 
 i 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 Henry County. He attended the common schools 
 during the winter seasons until he attained the age 
 of 1 6 years, and also attended about three months 
 while in Henry County, and then engaged in agricul- 
 tural pursuits, remaining under the influence of his 
 parents most of the time until he was 25 years old. 
 . Soon afterward, in company with his brother, J. P., 
 they bought a tract of land in Kewanee Township, 
 which is a part of the site now occupied by the vil- 
 lage of Kewanee. They afterward traded this valu- 
 able tract of land for 200 acres of prairie and 20 
 acres of timber land. They next purchased 80 acres 
 and divided, Mr. Potter having 125 acres, with the 
 buildings which were on the place, for his share. He 
 still retains the original 125 acres, all of which are 
 tillable. 
 
 Mr. Potter was married in Union Grove, near Mor- 
 rison, Whiteside County, this State, Oct. 20, 1847, 
 to Abigail Young, daughter of Daniel B. and Betsey 
 (Jackson) Young, natives of New Jersey. They 
 emigrated to Whiteside County in 1837, and settled 
 in Union Grove Township, where Mrs. Young died. 
 He survives, and of their union 12 children were 
 born : Emily, Abigail (our subject's wife), Charity A., 
 Harriet, Jacob C, Lucy, Triphena, Nelson, Jackson, 
 John, Sylvia, and one deceased. All but the young- 
 est child lived to man's estate. Mrs. Potter was 
 born in Knox County, Ohio, April 14, 1827, and she 
 has become the mother of five children, namely: 
 James W., Lucy C, Matthew H, Carrie E. and 
 David L. James W. is engaged as bank clerk in 
 Kansas City, Mo.; Lucy C. died when 2% years 
 old ; Matthew H. resides in Morrison, 111. ; Carrie 
 E. is the wife of Charles Otis and resides in Kansas, 
 and David L. resides with his father on the farm. 
 During the life-time of Mrs. Abigail Potter, she and 
 her husband brought up an orphan girl, Mary Sum- 
 mers, who married William H. Stockton, and is now 
 living in Colorado. 
 
 Mr. Potter was elected Sheriff for the first time in 
 August, 1848, when he served two years, and was 
 then re-elected in 1852, and served again for one 
 term. He was elected Judge of Henry County in 
 November, 1857, and served until the fall of i860, 
 when he resigned. He held the office of Justice of 
 the Peace two years, and was one of the first Super- 
 visors of Wethersfield Township. He has served his 
 time in that capacity for many years, now occupying 
 that position, having served continuously since 1880. 
 
 He was one of the Commissioners appointed to or- 
 ganize the county into townships, and has been 
 Chairman of the Board of- Supervisors one year — 
 1883. In politics Mr. Potter is identified with the 
 Democratic party. Socially, he is a member of the 
 Masonic fraternity. 
 
 Mr. Potter was instrumental in raising a company 
 for the army. It was Co. F, 124th 111. Vol. Inf., and 
 he was commissioned Captain of the company, and 
 served with it until August, 1862, being mustered 
 into the service the following September, and re- 
 signed on account Of ill-health, after the surrender 
 of Vicksburg, in August, 1863. He had returned to 
 his home but two weeks when his wife died, her 
 death occurring Aug. 28, 1863. His second mar- 
 riage took place in Galva, this State, on the 8th of 
 June, 1864, the lady being Mrs, Elizabeth, daughter 
 of Solomon and Margaret (Hume) Shoup, natives of 
 Pennsylvania. Of this second union, five children 
 were born, viz., Ann, John, Helen, Harry and Eliza- ( ), 
 beth. Mrs. Potter was born in Cuba, Fulton Co., 111., % 
 Sept. 14, 1839. fe 
 
 +* 
 
 illiam M. Repine, publisher of the Wood- 
 hull Gazette, was born in Indiana Co., Pa., 
 in the year 1865. He removed with his 
 parents to Rock Island, 111., in 1877, where 
 he officiated as news-boy for about 18 
 ' months ; then he went to Reynolds, 111., where 
 he worked on a farm and went to school for about a 
 year and a half. He removed to Millersburg, 111., 
 where he worked again on the farm _and for some 
 time in a job printing office. 
 
 Wm. M. Repine reached Woodhull, 111., in 1883, 
 where he acted in the role of "devil," foreman, and 
 sometimes editor-in-chief of the Dispatch, until he 
 started a paper of his own. He was-selected, dur- 
 ing the Presidential campaign of 1884, by the Pro- 
 hibitionists of the Twenty-first Senatorial District, as 
 their candidate for the Legislature, and received 
 about 700 votes. 
 
 Mr. Repine is a young man of considerable ability, 
 praise-deserving firmness, and a general favorite of 
 the young people in the town where he resides. He 
 is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 and occasionally delivers temperance lectures within 
 
 
 I\§%&t& 
 
 ■^€3^ — e^MMf^A^ — :s '€^ 
 
 : .—tfc§>® 
 
■^V<^Dn@DDf^ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 -2$$®r 
 
 -4*t£*<§Yf!|! 
 
 715 
 
 * 
 
 S3 
 
 I 
 
 ii 
 
 a radius of 30 miles. He has staying qualities 
 about him which plainly indicate that he has come 
 to Woodhull to stay. He is quite an expert printer, 
 and the Gazette is one of the tastiest, neatest and 
 newsiest papers in the county. 
 
 ames M. Wiley, the subject of this sketch, 
 one of the founders of Galva and a resi- 
 dent of that village, was born Jan. 23, 
 1816, near Saxton's River, Vt. Having been 
 left an orphan at the age of eight years, with 
 little means for his support, he was compelled 
 to earn his living by manual labor. He worked in- 
 dustriously upon a farm, attending school during the 
 winter months, until he arrived at the age of 16. 
 During these years, he developed a faculty for trad- 
 ing, and the pay for farm labor being small, he com- 
 mencedtraveling through that and adjoining States, 
 selling various lines of goods, both at retail and at 
 auction, and met with more than ordinary success. 
 
 April 25, 1838, he left his native State and started 
 for the then far West, full of high hopes and ambi- 
 tions, chief of which was to assume the dignity of 
 land-holder. He, with other young companions, 
 crossed the Green Mountains to Schenectady, thence 
 up the New York & Erie Canal to Buffalo, from there 
 by lake to Cleveland, Ohio ; and then, attempting to 
 go down the Ohio Canal to Portsmouth, after 50 
 miles' travel, encountered a break, and were com- 
 pelled to go by wagon to Steubenville, and from 
 there down the Ohio River, thence up the Missis- 
 sippi and Illinois Rivers to what was then the village 
 of Peoria, reaching that point on May 15, one month 
 from starting. The following morning Mr. Wiley 
 started for Brimfield by the first stage coach that 
 had ever left Peoria for the Mississippi River, arriv- 
 ing at his destination, where he joined three brothers 
 and two sisters who had preceded him one year. 
 Brimfield at that time was a village of six log houses 
 and one log store, where everything could be pro- 
 cured to satisfy the simple wants of the hardy pio- 
 neer. The town was situated in the midst of a 
 most beautiful and fertile prairie, ready cleared by 
 nature's hand to receive the plow. Mr. Wiley was 
 charmed with the location and the country surround- 
 ing, and here saw a large field open for his enter- 
 
 $c§dff> 
 
 js^t: — e^^n n® n n^^ — :s ^ ft - 
 
 prise and energy. He purchased an interest in land 
 bought of the Government the year previous by his 
 brother, John F. Wiley, and at once commenced to 
 make permanent improvements upon this farm ; and 
 this first purchase of land was his home for more 
 than 30 years, and which, on moving to Galva, he 
 sold at $100 per acre. He not only followed the 
 occupation of farming but was also engaged in buy- 
 ing and selling lands, and has at times owned thou- 
 sands of acres, upon which he put improvements, and 
 disposed*bf it to settlers on liberal terms, thus en- 
 couraging those looking for homes to remain. He 
 also dealt largely in wool, which he shipped to Ver- 
 mont, receiving in return woolen goods, which he 
 disposed of to the merchants of Peoria and surround- 
 ing towns. 
 
 When the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad 
 was projected through Henry County, a new field of 
 enterprise opened to him, which, with his character- 
 istic energy, he entered. He at once secured 1,500 
 acres of land along the line of the proposed route, 
 subject to entry by land warrants ; also, in connec- 
 tion with his cousin, the Hon. Wm. L. Wiley, he se- 
 cured a large tract of land and projected and laid 
 out on a liberal scale, the village of Galva, dedicat- 
 ing to the town two large public parks, which are 
 to-day among the finest in the State. They also ,, 
 donated spacious grounds for churches and schools, , N 
 paying liberally toward their erection and support. 
 They built the first school-house in the village and 
 hired and paid the first teacher. They built the first 
 hotel, at an expense of $16,000, now known as the 
 Baker House, and are certainly entitled to be known 
 as the originators of Galva. 
 
 Mr. Wiley did by far the largest real-estate busi- 
 ness in Galva and vicinity, buying and selling large 
 tracts weekly, encouraging emigration to this point 
 by liberal means, and to-day has the proud satisfac- 
 tion of seeing the fruits of his labor in the beautiful 
 farms and substantial houses of the surrounding 
 country. 
 
 The subject of this sketch now owns 1 ,000 acres 
 of land, much of which is underlaid with a seemingly 
 exhaustless amount of coal, which is being success-, 
 fully mined. He also owns a great number of houses Ǥ* 
 in the village and is considered one of the wealthiest, (j^ 
 most influential and liberal citizens of the town, ^^ 
 both in Church and society. He has been a prom- 
 inent member of the Congregational Church since ^/ 
 
 <&>»* 
 
 
 
 
 — «>#! 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 > 
 
 I 
 
 ts organization, and its great success as a society is 
 due largely to his liberality and active labor in its 
 behalf. In politics he is a staunch Republican, with 
 strong prohibition tendencies. 
 
 James M. Wiley is a son of Jonathan and Han- 
 nah (Martin) Wiley. His father was born in 1774, 
 in Petersburg, N. H., and died in January, 1825, in 
 Rockingham, Vt. He was a farmer by occupation 
 and passed a. quiet and peaceful life on his farm un- 
 til the time of his death. His mother was born in 
 Wilton, N. H., in 1772, and died in March, 1825, in 
 Rockingham, Vt. 
 
 James M. Wiley was first married to Margaret 
 Miles, in Brimfield, Peoria Co., 111., Aug. 10, 1843. 
 She was born in Sharon, Conn., Aug. 10, 1825, and 
 emigrated with her parents, Eri and Maria Miles, to 
 Peoria County in i84r. She died at Brimfield, April 
 9, 1 860, aged 34 years and seven months. She was 
 highly esteemed for her devout Christian character, 
 and the memory of her many virtues lives in the 
 hearts of those who knew her. She bore her hus- 
 band, Mr. Wiley of this sketch, five children, — Ellen 
 A., William L., Mary C, Everett C. and Carrie I. 
 Of these, Ellen A. became the wife of Hon W. E. 
 Phelps; she is at present residing in Elmwood, Peoria 
 County, and has borne her husband four children, — 
 William J., Margaret W. , Violet and James W. 
 William Lorenzo was formerly a lumber merchant in 
 Galva and now has a stock farm in Monona Co., 
 Iowa; he was united in marriage with Flora D. 
 Wiley, daughter of D. L. Wiley, and she has borne 
 him four children. — Mary B., Everett D., Estella 
 and Fred L. Mary C. Wiley married George W. 
 Moubray, a resident of Galva, and two children 
 have been born to them, — Flora L. and Margaret 
 W. Everett C. Wiley is a resident of Kearney, Neb. ; 
 he married Lucella Vandervort, and of their union 
 two children have been born, — James A. and Kath- 
 rena B. Carrie I. Wiley resides at home with her 
 parents. 
 
 Mr. Wiley's second wife was Mary M. Brooks' 
 daughter of Cyrus and Emily Brooks, of Brimfield. 
 She was born in Chester, Vt., April 4, 1834, and 
 died in Brimfield, Peoria County, this State, Jan. 9, 
 18,67. She was educated at Knox College, after 
 which she followed teaching, and soon became 
 known as one of the first educators of the State. 
 When a model school was determined upon as an 
 annex to the Normal University, she was invited 
 
 through the advice of the President, Gen. Hovey, to 
 take charge of it, and after three years of successful 
 labor, she resigned her position to become the wife 
 of the subject of this sketch, Mr. Wiley. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Wiley were the parents of two children, — Kath- 
 rina M. and George P., both of whom reside at 
 home. 
 
 Mr. Wiley's present wife was Miss Lizzie Yocum. 
 She was born in Jeromeville, Ohio, in 1837, and 
 came with her parents, Charles and Mary Yocum, 
 to Peoria County, in 1838. She was, for a number 
 of years before her marriage, a successful teacher in 
 the schools of Peoria County. She was a class- 
 mate and intimate friend of Mary Brooks, mentioned 
 above in this sketch. She is a woman of excellent 
 qualities of head and heart, and is ever ready to 
 work and give to all appeals of deserving charity. 
 She is also a member of the Congregational Church, 
 and the influence of her presence and work has 
 aided largely in making a success of the various 
 branches of this society. 
 
 
 asper Acker-man, farmer, section 9, Alba 
 Township, is a native of Prussia, having 
 been born in that country April 25, 1833. ' 
 He came to the United States in 1859, land- 
 ing at New Orleans, after being on the water 
 12 weeks. Soon after landing at the Gulf 
 city, he came to St. Louis, which required 12 days of 
 his time. He remained at the latter city only a few 
 hours, when he took the train for LaSalle Co., 111., 
 arriving there in safety, and at once engaged to work 
 for his brother on the farm, and followed that occu- 
 pation for 1 8 months. He then left the farm and 
 went to Ottawa, and was there engaged at various 
 occupations for four years, the principal part of his 
 work being that of making tallow candles. At the 
 expiration of four years, he bought the business and 
 continued the same with signal success for seven 
 years. 
 
 In 187 1, Mr. Ackerman sold his business at Otta- 
 wa, and came to Henry County, where he purchased 
 160 acres of land, located on section 9, Alba Town- 
 ship, and at once entered vigorously and energetic- 
 ally upon the task of its cultivation ■. and improve- 
 ment, and has followed that occupation until the 
 present time. By economy and energetic labor,. 
 
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 3 »* — e^n lOTf^gH-s©^ 
 
®> 
 
 »■ » 
 
 ^K? 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 717 
 
 coupled with the active co-operation of his wife and 
 children, he has added to his original purchase of 
 land until he is at present the proprietor of 730 
 acres. 
 
 Mr. Ackerman was united in marriage to Miss 
 Johanna Bodecker, on Dec. 8, 1862. She is a native 
 of Hanover, Prussia, and has borne her husband 
 seven children. The living are : Annie C, George 
 C, Ernest B. and Casper A., and the deceased are 
 Anna, who died in infancy; Henry C. and Henry 
 (second). 
 
 Mr. Ackerman, in addition to the cultivation of 
 his land, devotes a considerable part of his time to 
 the raising of Holstein and Short-horn cattle and 
 Chester White hogs. As an agriculturist he is re- 
 garded as one of the foremost in the township, and 
 likewise one of the respected and honored citizens 
 of Henry County. 
 
 •>«aae7Si@*<— m 
 
 |3}—>*S&S03w>* 
 
 ohn Mock is a prominent farmer of Henry 
 County, on section 31, Munson Township. 
 The great-grandfather of the Mock family, 
 which is also connected with Col. A. R. Mock, 
 of Cambridge, came from Germany. The son 
 of the grandfather, Devault Mock, lived in 
 Roan, now Davis Co., N. C. He died in Mocksville, 
 that county. He was married to Phebe Clinard, 
 who died in Ohio, leaving five children, — Catherine, 
 John, Mary, Daniel and Phebe. 
 
 The children above referred to moved to Greene 
 Co., Ohio, with their families about 1807. Daniel 
 was in the War of 18 12, and was married to Ruth 
 Lindsey, a native of Botetourt, Roanoke Co., Va. 
 They removed to Randolph Co., Ind., in 1824, and 
 there died, leaving nine children, namely : John, 
 Efnsley, Jeremiah L., Polly, Martha A., Daniel, 
 William, Phebe and Maria B. Daniel, the father 
 of the children just named, was married the second 
 time, to Nancy Lindsey, and of their union three 
 children were born, namely : Elizabeth, Henry and 
 Eli. Of the 12 children born of the two marriages 
 of Daniel Mock, John Mock, who is the subject of 
 this biographical notice, came to this county in 1855 
 and located at Cambridge. 
 
 John Mock was married in Randolph Co., Ind., to 
 
 Elizabeth McCann, who died in 1846, aged 33 years, 
 leaving her husband six children, of whom Mrs. 
 Ruth Wilt and Col. A. R. Mock survive. The pres- 
 ent wife of the subject of this notice, whose maiden 
 name was Rebecca Watson, is the mother of four 
 living children, namely: Francis M., Mrs. Eliza 
 A. Atwater, Arabella, Annette and Enos W., who 
 died when 20 years of age. 1 
 
 Mr. Mock was a member of the defunct Whig 
 party during its day, but at the birth of the grand 
 old Republican party joined its ranks and has ever 
 since continued to cast his vote with it. He is the 
 proprietor of 1 17 acres of good farm land in Munson 
 and Cambridge Townships, and has passed the ma- 
 jor portion of his life in the occupation of an agricul- 
 turist. 
 
 arnhart Kramer, a farmer on section 
 19, Alba Township, was born in Saxe 
 Coburg, Germany, June 19, 1826. He is 
 the son of Christian Kramer, and remained 
 in his native country until the year 1852. 
 He sailed in that year for the American con- 
 tinent, and landed at New York the 4th of Novem- 
 ber. He did not stay there very long, but made his 
 way with haste to Chicago, remained two weeks, and 
 thence to La Salle Co., 111. He then obtained em- 
 ployment on the Illinois Central Railroad, in the vi- 
 cinity of Bloomington, and passed six months in the 
 same capacity. He then went to the city of St. 
 Louis, and there he worked in a brick-yard for a 
 period of 15 months. He came thence to Marshall 
 County, and moved to Bureau County in 1857. In 
 1870 he bought 80 acres of land in Henry County, 
 on which he has since operated in his own behalf. 
 His marriage to Eve Lippert occurred Aug. 9, 
 1855. Their children were born as follows : Barney, 
 July 28, 1856; Maria, Oct. 25, 1858; Frank, Dec. 
 18, i860; Stephen, June 7, 1863 ; Mary, March 29, 
 1867; Stephen died Nov. 15, 1865. Mrs. Kramer 
 was born Dec. 22, 1822, in Bavaria, Germany. 
 
 Mr. Kramer was a War Democrat, and belonged 
 to the Jacksonian School. In religious belief, he is 
 a Lutheran. Mrs. Kramer is a Catholic. 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 eorge C. Howlette, practicing physician at 
 Atkinson Village, was born July 28, 1858, 
 in Hartford, Conn., and is the son of Ed- 
 ward D. Howlette, also a native of that State. 
 The father married a Miss Charlotte Brewer, 
 who was a native of Connecticut, and the pa- 
 rents are both living. George C. attended the dis- 
 trict schools of his native county, and assisted his 
 father in the maintenance of the family until he at- 
 tained the age of 15 years. When about 18 or 19 
 years old he read medicine with Dr. Case, of Hart- 
 ford, Conn., some six months, when he came to 
 Plymouth, Ind., and was at that place about one 
 year. During his stay at the latter place, he read 
 medicine under Dr. E. W. Veits, after which he went 
 to Chicago and attended lectures at the Homeopathic 
 ( ) College, and after following the curriculum of that in- 
 stitution for three years, graduated therefrom at the 
 head of his class. After receiving his diploma he as- 
 sociated himself with Dr. Hoppin, of Geneseo, this 
 county. In r88o, December of that year, he re- 
 moved to Annawan and there followed the practice 
 of his profession for three years, working up a lu- 
 crative and successful practice. At the expiration of 
 the time stated, he removed to Kewanee and there 
 followed his profession for about one year, when, in 
 1884, he moved to the village of Atkinson and has 
 since continued in practice at that place. 
 
 Dr. Howlette was united in marriage with Miss 
 Sadie A. Smith, who was born in r86o, in this State, 
 and who bore her husband one daughter, the date of 
 her birth being July 27, 1884. The Doctor is a Re- 
 publican in politics, a successful physician and re- 
 spected and honored citizen of the county. 
 
 kenry Bass, a successful farmer and respect- 
 J ed citizen of Atkinson Township, owning 
 1 60 acres of good farm land, located on 
 section 14, where he resides, was born in Con- 
 necticut, Nov. 24, 18T7, in Windham County. 
 He has made agriculture the vocation of his 
 Remaining with his parents upon the farm and 
 assisting in the labors thereon, until 21 years of age, 
 
 he then set forth to fight life's battles alone. When 
 35 years old, he came to this State, in 1853, and set- 
 tled in Bureau County, where lie purchased 200 
 acres of land, and afterwards added to it three acres 
 of timber. On this land he located, and for 18 
 months was engaged in its cultivation, at which time 
 he removed to Henry County, and has since resided 
 here. 
 
 Mr. Bass formed a matrimonial alliance with Miss 
 Mary Crandall, March 9, 1854. She was a native 
 of Connecticut, being born in that State Feb. 15, 
 1825. After living together for 2r years as man and" 
 wife, Mrs. Bass was called to the land beyond, being 
 at her demise 48 years, 1 r months and eight days 
 old, and leaving to the care of her husband four 
 children, namely : Arvina, born Nov. 20, 1858 ; Le- 
 ander, July 20, 1861 ; Amanda, March 22, 1863, and 
 Orin, Oct. 15, 1864. 
 
 Mr. Bass was a second time married March 2, 
 1876, to Mary Innis, who was born in June, 1836, in 
 County Down, Ireland. She emigrated to the 
 United States in 1865. Of the latter union there is 
 no issue. 
 
 Mr. Bass has a fine farm of 160 acres, located on 
 sections 14 and 15, Atkinson Township, on which he 
 has a fair residence and a good barn, and is meeting 
 with success in his chosen profession. 
 
 He and his wife are members of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church. 
 
 In politics, he is a believer in and a supporter of 
 the principles of the Republican party. 
 
 ellington P. Baker, a prosperous and 
 successful farmer, owning 240 acres of 
 good land, located on section 34, Alba 
 !> Township, where he resides, is a native of 
 '"i Maine, having been born in that State March 
 ir, 1841. Mr. Baker remained with his pat- 
 ents in his native State, assisting in the labors of the 
 farm, and receiving a primary education at the com- 
 mon schools, until the breaking out of the late Civil 
 War, when, sympathizing with the cause of the Union, 
 he enlisted in Co. H, rst Maine Vol. Inf., Sept. 
 27, 1861, and was mustered in at Augusta. He was 
 first ordered to Washington City, and from there 
 went to Shenandoah Valley, and took part in Ba- 
 ker's Retreat across the Potomac. He was sent 
 
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 Rg®ff»- 
 
 ■^e ^ Q^ &nnM&A^ — **$&*- 
 
 4^&s> 
 
§|^@>)«« t^z — s^u®Wbi e & 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 719 
 
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 I 
 
 around to Manassas Junction and Warrenton, and 
 there he spent the summer. He remained in the 
 service four years, and was mustered out Aug. 15, '65. 
 
 Mr. Baker formed a matrimonial alliance with Miss 
 H. S. Graves, Oct. 26, 1868. She was a native of 
 Maine, having been born in that State March 18, 
 1848, and bore her husband eight children, namely: 
 Emma H., Eugene G^ Melvin W., Gracie D., Mat- 
 tie H., Willie, and Frank and' Fred, twins. The lat- 
 ter two were born July 21, 1S83. Mr. Baker has a 
 fine farm of 240 acres, located on section 34, Alba 
 Township, on which he resides, and is actively and 
 energetically engaged in the vocation of an agricult- 
 urist. He has a good dwelling on his farm, 28 x 40 
 feet in dimensions, and two-story in height. In ad- 
 dition to the cultivation of his land, he is engaged to 
 some extent in the raising of Short-horn cattle, and 
 also Norman horses, and is meeting with success in 
 this department of his vocation. 
 
 Socially, he is a member of the G. A. R., and he 
 and his wife belong to the Congregational Church. 
 In politics he votes with the Republican party, and 
 as an agriculturist ranks among the foremost of Alba 
 Township. 
 
 ton. Jonas W. Olson, lawyer, Galva, was 
 born July 7, 1843, in Soderala Socken, 
 Helsingland, Sweden, and is the son of 
 Rev. Olof Olson, who settled in Weller Town- 
 ship as early as 1845, and was the gentleman 
 that came one year prior to the time that the 
 Swedish Colony came. 
 
 Our subject was sick at the time his father sailed 
 from Sweden, and was left in the care of his grand- 
 mother and an aunt. One year later, however, 
 when only three years of age, he was brought to 
 America by his relatives and with the colony. His life 
 so unfortunate at this tender age, was only beginning 
 to enter the terrible darkness of the sorrows soon to 
 befall him. On the day before he arrived at the colony, 
 his mother died. She was accompanied to her eter- 
 nal home by his brother Olof and sister Beatrice, 
 and shortly after his arrival his father died. He was 
 thus left an orphan, and was taken away from the 
 colony by an aunt, Christine W. P. Skoglund, who 
 married Peter Dahlgren, who went to Galesburg af- 
 ter a short time and subsequently moved upon a 
 farm about five miles southeast of Victoria, Knox 
 County. Mr. Dahlgren was killed in a sand-bank 
 south of Galva, and our subject continued to reside 
 with his aunt until he was 15 years of age, at which 
 time he was apprenticed to Ira C. Reed, of La Fay- 
 ette, Stark County, to learn the shoemakers' trade, 
 to whom he was bound by written articles of appren- 
 ticeship to work for two years for only $25 per year 
 
 and his board, but Mr. Reed very kindly and gener- 
 ously paid him twice the amount agreed upon. He 
 served his two years, and continued one year longer, 
 making a little money, when he came to Galva, 
 where for a time he attended the public schools. 
 Here misfortune overtook him again, for he soon 
 took sick, his money ran out, and he was obliged to 
 leave school; he then went to work for Milton Ne- 
 gus, at his trade, which he followed for a short time 
 only. During this period of his life he was ambi- 
 tious to enter the legal profession, and his mornings 
 and evenings while he was working at his trade were 
 spent in reading law books. He subsequently read 
 law with Hon. John I. Bennett, one of the Masters 
 in Chancery of Chicago. Mr. Olson was admitted 
 to the Bar in 1859, and has since followed his pro- 
 fession, with good success. 
 
 Mr. Olson was elected by the Republican party to 
 the House of Representatives, in the fall of 1870, 
 and served one term, that Legislature also hav- 
 ing an extra session on account of the Chicago 
 fire. He took an active part in that body, and was 
 a member of several committees. He was the 
 author of the law giving to laborers, who work for 
 railroad contractors and sub-contractors, a lien on all 
 the property of such railroad to secure their wages. 
 Mr. Olson was the first Scandinavian ever admitted 
 to the Bar of the State of Illinois, and the first Swede 
 elected to the Legislature. He has been Town Col- 
 lector for seven years, and Police Magistrate for eight 
 years, declining re-election. He is also a member of 
 the Board of Education. Since 1872, Mr. Olson has 
 been identified with the Democratic party, and while 
 a majority of his fellow-countrymen were Republi- 
 cans, no man is more admired by the Scandinavian 
 element than he. His l^rge influence is due to his 
 strict integrity, good moral life, his pleasing and cor- 
 dial address and obliging manners. 
 
 Among other misfortunes that have befallen Mr. 
 Olson is that of having been burned out Tour times, 
 twice totally losing house and home and twice par- 
 tially. When living near Victoria he walked over 
 two miles on crutches through the mud, without 
 sidewalks, to attend the Center Prairie School. He 
 saved some of his tools from the fire the first time 
 he was burned out, when he again worked at his 
 trade four weeks. Mr. Olson has worked his 'way 
 with an iron will, and by his own unaided efforts 
 from the dependency of a crippled orphan, without 
 means, to a place of honorable influence and esteem 
 among his fellow men. As we have stated, he was 
 left a hopeless cripple at the age of three years, and 
 a poor orphan ; but notwithstanding these afflictions, 
 and seemingly unsurmountable obstacles, he has, by 
 reason of his native talent, energy and industry, be- 
 come a representative man, even among the best 
 native American citizens in the community in which 
 he lives. He is a man whose favorable reputation 
 extends to almost every Swedish community in the 
 
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 9 
 
 1) 
 
 jyy= — ©>«<?« tmi&^s — *<&*■ 
 
I 
 
 
 
 720 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 State, and to whom his people of the entire State 
 point with pride, as a man who, notwithstanding the 
 misfortunes of his early youth, was one of the first 
 Swedes admitted to the Bar as an attorney-at-law, 
 and the first Scandinavian Representative elected to 
 the Legislature. He is also one of the best Scandi- 
 navian speakers in the State of Illinois. 
 
 Mr. Olson was married Nov. 18, 1869, to Miss 
 Carrie Matteson, a daughter of Anson Matteson, and 
 a lady of estimable worth, a nativeof Ugglebo, Gefle- 
 borgs Lan, Sweden. She was born June 5, 1848, 
 and is the mother of three children, viz. : Mary Au- 
 rora, born. Sept. n, 1870, Maud V., born Nov. 10, 
 1876, and Mabel W., born Oct. 24, 1880. 
 
 Politically, he was a Republican until the slavery 
 question, which called that party into existence, had 
 become permanently settled by amendments to the 
 Constitution and those amendments ratified by the 
 Democratic party. 
 
 He claims that the Republican party was organ- 
 ized for the sole purpose of opposing the extension 
 of slavery and that men who differed on every other 
 question became what was called Republicans, sim- 
 ply because they agreed on the slavery question ; 
 that a tool made for a special purpose is unfitted for 
 general use ; so a party organized for a special pur- 
 pose has outlived its usefulness when that purpose 
 has been accomplished, and that it is illogical and 
 absurd to claim that those who laid aside difference 
 of opinion on other questions because they agreed 
 upon the slavery question should continue the un- 
 natural union now as slaves to a party name after 
 the question which caused them to unite and was 
 represented by that name, had ceased to exist; 
 that' the Republican party now is only held to- 
 gether by the " cohesive power of public plunder " 
 and controlled by Federal appointees who have 
 grown rich in its service, and chartered corporations 
 and monopolies which it has created ; and that it is 
 totally unlike what it was when it came into power 
 first, from the people, and that on living questions he 
 believes in those ancient principles of the Democratic 
 party, — "The greatest good lo the greatest number, 
 equal rights and exact justice to all and special privi- 
 leges to none." He claims that the safety and per- 
 petuity of a free government demands that the in- 
 telligent voter shall adhere to a political party only 
 when it represents his opinions on living questions. 
 
 Mr. Olson is in the fullest sense of the word es- 
 sentially a self-made man. He is emphatically one 
 of those men of whom it is said " the American peo- 
 ple delight to honor." While he is a foreigner by 
 birth, he is educated really as an American. He is 
 and always has been thoroughly identified with the 
 institutions of his adopted country. His sad afflic- 
 tions and bereavements during his infancy were so 
 much heavier and more severe than most are called 
 upon to endure that they can'hardly be fully realized 
 
 or appreciated by those more fortunate, while his de- 
 veloping youth and increasing manhood were re- 
 spectively types of moral courage and indomitable 
 perseverance, which must culminate in their just re- 
 ward. While his past life has been unusually 
 clouded by adversity, it has been said that " behind 
 the darkest cloud there is always a silver lining;" 
 and the author ventures the prediction that a man* 
 with such a biography will be called higher, and that 
 very materially increased honors' are in , store for 
 him. We will close the sketch by saying that we 
 consider Mr. Olson an honor both to the Scandina- 
 vian race and the land of his adoption. We take, 
 pleasure in presenting the portrait of Mr. Olson in 
 connection with this sketch. 
 
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 [. ichard W. Batton, a farmer residing on 
 section 18, Annawan Township, was born 
 in Madison Co., Va\, July 8, 1829. When 
 six years old his parents moved to Preble Co., 
 Ohio, where Richard W. remained until 1854, 
 when he came to Illinois with his wife. Pre- 
 vious to coming to this State Mr. Batton formed a 
 matrimonial alliance, Jan. 1, 1852, with Miss Mary 
 Jane Hiliman, the ceremony being performed by the 
 Rev. Henry Serfis, of the United Brethren Church. 
 Mrs. Batton was born Jan. 31, 1834, and bore her 
 husband ten children, namely: Mary E , born in 
 Ohio, Dec. 2r, 1852 ; Eli D., Oct. 13, 1855 ; Lucy I., 
 Sept. 27, 1857 ; an infant son , born March 1,1862, 
 who died one day after birth ; Lucy Ida, born Sept. 1 
 23, 1864; Ulysses Grant, Jan. 19, 1865 ; Edith May, 
 Aug. 29, 1866; James E., Dec. 31, 1867 ; Elpha E., 
 Nov. 19, 1870; and Lottie L-rA-ug. 27,1877. Five 
 of the above named children are deceased, namely: 
 Lucy I. (first) April 14, 1862; Edith May, Oct. 31, 
 1879; Lottie L., Aug. n, 1880; and Ulysses Grant, 
 Feb. n, 1881. 
 
 Mr. Batton is the proprietor of 300 acres of good 
 farm land, all of which with the exception of ten 
 acres, which is timber, is under an advanced state 
 of cultivation. He has a good residence on his 
 farm, 32 x 42 feet in dimensions, two storjes, with a 
 good cellar; also a barn 32x50 feet, with 14 feet 
 posts. His outbuildings are good and substantial, 
 and his stock is of the best quality, graded, the hogs 
 being of the Poland China. His farm presents a 
 fine appearance, and his residence is surrounded by 
 a nice grove of trees, and the place is indicative of p ^ 
 that energy and perseverance of which its proprietor 
 is possessed. Religiously, he and his wife are mem- 
 bers of the United Brethren Church, and in politics, 
 
 ■^©^ — %m& mi ii&a^- 
 
HENRY 
 
 COUNTY. 
 
 \--%*A 
 
 721 
 
 i> 
 f 
 
 1 
 
 Mr. Batton is identified with the Republican party. 
 
 The father of Mr. Batton, Eli Batton, was a native 
 of East Virginia, in which State he was born in 
 1801. It was in that State that he was united in 
 marriage to Miss Hettie Willhite, Dec. 25, 1827, in 
 Madison County, that State. She was born April 3, 
 1808, and bore her husband 13 children, namely: 
 The first an infant, who is deceased ; then Richard, 
 William A., Manda, Louisa, John H., Janie, James, 
 Mary, Sarah E., Gilbert, Emeline and Webster. He 
 and his wife art Old School Baptists, and he always 
 casts his vote with the Republican party. 
 
 -o$o" 
 
 udge J. P. Hand, residing at Cambridge, 
 
 this county, was born Nov. 10, 1850, in 
 
 Hanna Township. His father, Henry 
 
 IS Hand, was born June 20, 18 17, in New York 
 
 il city. He removed to Ohio with his parents in 
 1840, and came to Henry County, settling in 
 Hanna Township, on Rock River. 
 
 The second wife of Henry Hand, Mary H. Hanna, 
 daughter of John F. Hanna, was born May 22, 1829, 
 in White Co., this State, and died Jan. 9, 1881. She 
 came here with her parents in the fall of 1835, and 
 of her marriage to Mr. Hand two children were 
 born — John P., the subject of this biographical 
 notice, and Henry F. Hand. 
 
 Judge Hand received his primary education in 
 this county, and supplemented the same by a course 
 of study at the Rock River Seminary, at Mt. Morris, 
 111. After this he attended the Iowa State Uni- 
 versity, at Iowa City, graduating therefrom with 
 honors in the class of 1875. In November of the 
 same year he located in Cambridge, where he formed 
 a partnership with Colonel A. R. Mock, which lasted 
 until June 1, 1885, when Mr. Hand was elected 
 Judge of the County Court, which office he at pres- 
 ent fills. The Judge has always taken an active 
 interest in pol'tical matters, and is identified with 
 the Republican party. In 1880 he was a member of 
 the National Convention which nominated James A. 
 Garfield for President of the United States. He 
 was Chairman of the Henry County Republican 
 Central Committee from 1878 to 1884. Socially, 
 Judge Hand is a member of the A. F. & A. M., and 
 the A. O. U. W., and is regarded as an upright and 
 capable Judge, well posted in the jurisprudence of 
 
 the land, and an honored and respected citizen of 
 Henry County. 
 
 Judge Hand was united in marriage in Ogle County, 
 Oct. 26, 187 1, to Miss Libbie Brayton, who was born 
 Feb. 12, 1849, in Mt. Morris, this State. She is a 
 daughter of Frederick B. and Charlotte W. (Wheeler) 
 Brayton, natives of New York, and has borne her 
 husband one child — Frederick H. Hand, who was 
 born April 27, 1874. 
 
 ^O00€ 
 
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 "^ndrew Johnson, proprietor of 120 acres of 
 \f land in Lynn Township, and residing upon 
 section 4, where he is engaged in the vo- 
 cation of an agriculturist, is a native of Swe- 
 den, having been born in that country March 
 18, 1840. His parents both died in Sweden. 
 Andrew Johnson lived at home until 15 years of age, 
 when he set forth to earn his own living and fight the 
 battles of life single-handed and alone. In 1868, he 
 set sail for this, the land of possibilities, and on ar- 
 riving at an Eastern seaport came almost immedi- 
 ately to this county, where he worked at different 
 occupations until 1872. During that year he pur- 
 chased 80 acres of land and subsequently increased 
 the same by an additional purchase of 40 acres more, 
 the latter being small timber. On purchasing his 
 land, in 1872, he located thereon with his family and 
 ever since has followed the vocation of an agricultur- 
 ist, meeting with success. 
 
 Feb. 10, r874, Mr. Johnson was united in marriage 
 with Miss Christina Johnson, in Rock Island city. 
 She was born in Sweden and came to the United 
 States in 1873, and has borne her husband four chil- 
 dren, — Minnie, Elmer, Eddie and Gilbert. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Johnson are members of the Swedish Lutheran 
 Church at Orion, and in politics Mr. Johnson votes 
 with the Republican party. 
 
 illiam B. Tee, engaged in the mill, eleva- 
 tor and grain business at Cambridge, was 
 born Feb 17, 1829, on the Isle of Wight, 
 y? England, and is a son of John and Mary 
 (Hayles) Tee, natives of England, the father 
 of Hampshire and the mother of the Isle of 
 Wight. The father emigrated to this country 
 with his family and died here. 
 
 — 4*t^£ 
 
 
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 %-§ ^@$z- 
 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
 
 William B. Tee emigrated to this country in the 
 fall of 1853, and settled in Rochester, N. Y., where 
 he followed the occupation of a miller, having learned 
 that trade in his native country. After two and a 
 half years, in which he was engaged in the milling 
 business at Rochester, he came to Galesburg, Knox 
 Co., this State, and there followed the same occupa- 
 tion for two years longer. At the expiration of this 
 time he came to Geneseo, this county, and followed 
 the same business until 1874, when he left that 
 place and came to Cambridge. On arriving at the 
 latter place he erected a mill and has since continu- 
 ed to operate the same in partnership with different 
 parties. At present J. VV. Stewart is his partner and 
 in addition to their milling business they are engaged 
 in the grain and elevator business, the latter being 
 run with the same power with which the mill is run, 
 and in the different departments of their occupation 
 are meeting with financial success. 
 
 Mr. Tee was united in marriage on the Isle of 
 Wight with Miss Caroline King, a native of that 
 place. She is the mother of seven children, living, 
 namely: Carrie, Jessie, William, Fannie, Albert, 
 Frank and Fred. The deceased are Charlie and 
 Hugh. 
 
 || eter Knudde, engaged in the flour, feed and 
 saloon business, at Annawan, this county, 
 
 flSP^ was k° m " m Holland, April 5, 1842. His 
 mj father, Carolus Knudde, was born in 1799, in 
 |{f- the province of Zeeland, Holland. He mar- 
 ' ried Miss Joanna S. Temmerman in 1833. 
 She was a native of that country, and was born there 
 in 1806. The parents had five children, — Charles 
 J., Peter J., Cornelian, Carolina and Amelia. The 
 father died in his native country when the subject of 
 this notice was 24 years of age. Of the five children 
 born to the parents, Peter, Cornelia and Amelia are 
 living at Annawan. 
 
 Peter Knudde was united in marriage with Miss 
 Emilie Verbeeke, who was born April 26, 1855, and 
 has borne him two children, — Mary C, born July 
 18, 1877, and Florence, born May 26, 1879. 
 
 Mr. Knudde is at present engaged in the flour and 
 feed business at Annawan, and in addition thereto is 
 running a saloon. His place of business is located 
 
 on the corner of Main and State Streets, and the 
 building is 34 x 56 feet in dimensions, two-story, and 
 he is meeting with success in the different depart- 
 ments of his vocation. 
 
 The mother of our subject is yet living in her na- 
 tive country, and has attained the venerable age of 
 80 years. Mr. and Mrs. Knudde are members of 
 the Catholic Church. Politically, Mr. Knudde votes 
 with the Democratic party. 
 
 ohn - E. Odeman, residing at the vil- 
 lage of Annawan, where he is engaged in 
 the blacksmith business, is a native" of - 
 Sweden. He was born in the latter country, 
 Oct. 6, 1854. His father, Emanuel Hanson. ' 
 was born July 15, 1812, and died Oct. 13, 
 1884. He married Miss Lovisa Peterson, Nov. 17, 
 1843. She was born April 10, 1817, and died April 
 27, 1882. Of their union, eight children have been 
 born, as follows: Ingo Lissa, who died Jan. 15,' 
 1844; Emma L., born Dec, 6, 1844; John Aaron, 
 born Oct. 23, 1847, and died April 28, 1848; John 
 Aaron (second), born July 31, 1849, and died Oct. 
 19, 1854; Johanna L., born Oct. 22, 1851; died 
 Oct. 8, 1854; Ida A., born Jan. n, 1857, died Sept. ' 
 27, 1857; A. P., born March 8, 1859, died April 4, 
 1864. 
 
 John E. Odeman is the only surviving member of 
 his father's family. He learned his trade in Gutten- 
 burg, Germany, after serving an apprenticeship of 
 five years. He emigrated to the United States, land- 
 ing at New York city. From that place he went to 
 Connecticut, where he remained some three months, 
 and then came to Annawan, and e.igaged in working 
 as a "jour" at his trade. In June, 1884, he bought 
 the building owned by his employer and at present 
 is running the business himself. He has his shop 
 full of good machinery, a ten-horse-power engine, 
 good wood planer, iron and wood lathes, and in the 
 prosecution of his businesses meeting with that suc- 
 cess which energy and perseverance are always sure 
 to bring. He is one of the leading business men of 
 the village, a good citizen, always willing to aid in 
 any enterprise calculated to benefit the community 
 in which he resides, and his constantly increasing 
 trade, is attributable to his fair and honest dealings 
 with his fellowmen. 
 
 *. m 
 
 W^ 
 
 ■^ r oa &ii n®u b^a^- 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
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 EX 
 
 $ 
 
 S3 
 E3 
 
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 723 
 
 In religious matters, he is a member of the Luther- 
 an Church, and in politics a Republican. Socially, 
 he is a member of the A. F. & A. M., Lodge No. 
 334, at Annawan, and at present is Tyler of that 
 lodge. Mr. Odeman is also engaged in repairing all 
 kinds of farm machinery, such as threshers, reapers, 
 plows, harvesters, and in fact anything and every- 
 thing pertaining to machinery. 
 
 ames P. Blakely, a successful and ener- 
 getic farmer, residing upon section 32, 
 w*r Western Township, was born in Allegheny 
 
 County, Pa., Dec. 15, 1819. His father was a 
 jC bricklayer and plasterer by trade, and was born 
 
 on the Emeral Isle. He was married in that 
 country to Isabella Patterson, and after their mar- 
 riage they immediately set sail for this the land of 
 possibilities, arriving here "Safely and settling in 
 Pittsburg, from which place they removed to Alle- 
 gheny County, Pa. At the latter place, the father 
 continued to reside engaged in working at his trade 
 until his death, which event took place about 1864. 
 The mother afterwards came to this State and resided 
 with her son, the subject of this notice, until her de- 
 mise, which took place about 1870. 
 
 James P. Blakely was the elder of the children 
 of his parents' family, and continued to reside with 
 them until his marriage, in the meantime attending 
 the common schools and learning the trade of a 
 cooper. He was first united in marriage July 14, 
 1848, to Miss Rebecca Crouse, in his native county 
 and State. She was born and reared in Washington 
 County, Pa., and there resided until her marriage. 
 After their marriage, in the spring of 1857, they 
 started for this State, and on arriving here, located 
 in Western Township, Henry County, where Mr. 
 Blakely rented a farm and for five years was engaged 
 in farming in that way. The crops yielded well and 
 he was compelled to haul his corn to Rock Island 
 city, and at that time sold the same for the munifi- 
 cent price of ten cents a bushel, and could only 
 make one load a day, the entire load amounting to 
 about $5. Even at this small price for his produce 
 he saved money ; and, although the butter was not 
 spread upon his bread as thick as it is to-day, he re- 
 alizes that by his economy at that time he succeeded 
 
 in procuring 80 acres of land which to-day consti- 
 tutes the fine farm upon which he resides. His 
 eaily experience in this county was similar to that 
 of many other pioneer who had nothing, and whose 
 support and future prosperity depended eptirely up- 
 on his own labor. He has since made this his home, 
 and by the same economy, energy and perseverance 
 which prompted him so manfully to stick to the 
 country in the beginning, he has succeeded in add- 
 ing to his original purchase 147 acres, making a 
 grand total of 227 acres of land, all of which is uu- 
 der an advanced state of cultivation. 
 
 Some years after moving into the county, Nov. ig, 
 1874, his wife died, leaving him the care of five chil- 
 dren, one having preceded her to the land of the 
 hereafter. The living are Samuel D., who is mar- 
 ried and engaged in farming in Iowa ; Anna became 
 the wife of John Bradham, and resides with her hus- 
 band in Shelby County, Iowa ; Jane and James P. 
 Jr., are also residents of Iowa, and Philip R. resides 
 at home. 
 
 Mr. B. was the second time married in Dallas 
 County, Iowa, Sept. 21, 1875, to Mrs. Margaret R. 
 Farren, nee Ewing, who was born in Washington Co., 
 Pa., Aug. 3r, 1834, and was a daughter of James 
 and Elizabeth Ewing, natives of Pennsylvania. 
 Her father died when Mrs. Blakely was only six 
 years of age, and she afterwards lived with her 
 mother until she came to this State, and two years 
 later was married to David M. Farren, who died 
 May 27, 1869, in De Soto, Iowa, to which State they 
 had moved after their marriage. By her first mar- 
 riage Mrs: Blakely had six children, all living and 
 named Andrew B., William M., Mary, Artie M., 
 Joseph E. and John G. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Blakely, religiously, are members of 
 the Presbyterian Church. 
 
 In politics, Mr. Blakely is a believer in and a 
 supporter of the principles of the Republican party. 
 
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 )ilton F. Edwards, general farmer, resid- y 
 
 ing on section r, Andover Township, was 
 
 born in Moline, Rock Island County, this - ? 
 
 State, March 3, 1858, his parents being frj 
 
 ',? George H. and Maria M. (Waterman) Edwards, f^ 
 
 natives of Vermont and New York respectively 
 The parents came to Moline previous to their mar- 
 
 -^g^ @5A^DH®HI1<£A^- 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 ^f*§^ 
 
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 5 
 
 
 riage, and after that event settled in Western Town- 
 ship, this county, and resided there until 1875, when 
 they came to Moline, where they are at present re- 
 siding, retired from the active labors of life. 
 
 Milton F. Edwards continued to reside on the pa- 
 rental homestead, attending the district schools and 
 assisting his father in the maintenance of the family 
 and developing into manhood. He learnt the trade 
 of a tinner, and followed the same for five years, 
 after which one of the most important events of his 
 life took place, namely, his marriage. This took 
 place at the residence of the bride's uncle, in West- 
 ern Township, this county, Oct. 4, 1873, the bride 
 being Miss Mary, the accomplished daughter of Al- 
 bert and Mary E. (Glenn) Harper, both of whom 
 were natives of Ohio. They came to this State be- 
 fore their marriage, and after that event settled in 
 Rock Island city. The mother afterward died in 
 Coal Valley Township, Rock Island County, in 1868. 
 Mrs. Edwards was 18 months old at the date of her 
 mother's death, after which event she lived with her 
 grandmother, Mrs. Julia Glenn, until she attained 
 the age of ten years, at which time she became an 
 inmate of her uncle's residence, William A. Stearns, 
 and there lived until her marriage to Mr. Edwards. 
 She has borne her husband one child— Milton F., 
 born Aug. 1, 1884. 
 
 After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Edwards moved 
 to Andover Township, this county, and purchased 80 
 acres of land on which they located and entered 
 upon the labors of improving and cultivating the 
 same, determined to make it a permanent home for 
 themselves and their children, and where at present 
 they are residing. The farm is well improved and 
 handsomely arranged, and the land is under an ad- 
 vanced state of cultivation. 
 
 Mr. Edwards is at present School Director of his 
 township, and in politics is a stanch and active work- 
 ing Republican. 1 
 
 ohn Larson, one of the large land-owners 
 of Lynn Township, and a general farmer 
 and stock-raiser, residing on section 18 of 
 the township named, was born in Central 
 Sweden March 1, 1845.^ His father was a na- 
 tive of the same country, and there married to 
 Miss Anna Coleon, also a native of that country. 
 
 ^€»£ — &MM> 
 
 Mrs. Larson was second in order of birth of his 
 parents' children, five in number, and was seven 
 years old when his parents emigrated to the United 
 States, they locating in Lynn Township, this county, 
 on 80 acres of unimproved land, where the father 
 lived and labored until the time of his death, Feb. 
 12, 1884. His mother is yet living on the old home- 
 stead in Lynn Township, aged 71 years. John Lar- 
 son lived with his parents on the old homestead in 
 Lynn Township, assisting in the labors on the farm, 
 and attending the common school until his marriage. 
 That event occurred in Moline, Rock Island County, 
 March 11, 1874, to Miss Hannah Peterson. She 
 was born in Sweden, and came to this country when 
 a young lady of 23 years of age, and resided at Mo- 
 line until her marriage. Her parents were Peter and 
 Carrie (Johnson) Peterson, and came to America in 
 1884, andat present reside with their daughter, Mrs. 
 Larson of this notice, aged 63 and 59 years, respect- 
 ively. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Larson are the parents of five chil- 
 dren : Mary A., FredW., Dora A., Hilda S. and 
 John. After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Larson settled 
 on a farm on section 17, Lynn Township, consisting 
 of 132 acres, which Mr. Larson had purchased some 
 years prior to his marriage. By the active prosecu- 
 tion of his vocation, strict economy and energy, he 
 has succeeded by adding to his original purchase un- 
 til at prrsent he is the proprietor of 390 acres of 
 land on sections r8 and 17, Lynn Township, all 
 of which is under an advanced state of cultivation. 
 He has made a success of his vocation in life, and 
 the same is attributable to his energy and persever- 
 ance. In politics he votes with the Republican 
 party. " 
 
 *— «- * 
 
 l^amuel A. Lewis, farmer, residence on sec- 
 L tion 20, Cornwall Township, was born in 
 this county in 1852. He is the son of 
 John and Mary Lewis, natives of Ohio. The 
 gentleman whose name heads this sketch re- 
 sided with his parents, assisting on the farm 
 and attending the common schools until he attained 
 his majority. He then left home, and went forth to 
 fight the battles of life, single-handed and alone, and. 
 has occupied his time until the present in the voca- 
 tion of farming. 
 
 m<^s — ^^^ 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 725 <--. 
 
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 Mr. Lewis was united in marriage with Miss Susan 
 Rogers, a native of Virginia, Rev. Totman officiating, 
 and they are the parents of one child — Cora Belle, 
 who was born in 1878. Mr. Lewis is at present 
 working 540 acres of land, which belongs to his 
 father, and as an agriculturist is meeting with suc- 
 cess. In his religious views he is liberal, and his 
 politics coincide with the principles of the Green- 
 back party. 
 
 ames Johnston, an energetic and successful 
 farmer of Cambridge Township, residing 
 and owning 1 60 acres- on section 36, this 
 township, was born Sept. 27, 1828, in Gallia Co., 
 Ohio. His ancestors on his father's side were 
 of Scotch descent, and on his mother's side of 
 New England stock. The grandfather of the 
 subject of this notice, James Johnston, was born on 
 the River Tweed, Edinburgh, Scotland. He was 
 married in that country, and became the father of 
 seven children born there. About 1820, he and his 
 wife came to this country, and settled with their chil- 
 dren in Gallia Co., Ohio, where the grandparents 
 died. Of their children, Andrew Johnston, the 
 father of the subject of this notice, was 25 years of 
 age when he landed upon the free soil of the United 
 States. He was married in Ohio, to Olive Weed, a 
 native of Chautauqua Co., N. Y. Both parents of 
 our subject died in Gallia Co., Ohio. They reared 
 eight children to the age of maturity, namely : Eliza- 
 beth, James, William, Andrew, Olive, wife of J. W. 
 Glassburn, of Tampico, Whiteside County, Jennette 
 and Samuel. 
 
 James Johnston received such an education as 
 was to be acquired of the schools of the day and 
 locality in which he lived and spent his early life in 
 his native county. He came to Illinois, in October, 
 1853, and settled in Knox County, where he was en- 
 gaged in farming until 1876, when he moved into 
 Cambridge Township, this county, and continued to 
 remain here. He owns a good farm of 160 acres 
 of land on section 26, and is actively and energeti- 
 cally engaged in the task of its improvement, meet- 
 ing with success in his chosen vocation. 
 
 Mr. Johnston was married in Ohio, Oct. 18, 1849, 
 to Miss Abigail Powell. She was born April, 1828, 
 
 in Steuben Co., N. Y., and has borne her husband 
 nine children — Almira E., Samuel T., both of whom 
 died of scarlet fever shortly after they came to 
 Knox County ; Charles L., who was killed at Altona, 
 Knox County, by the railroad cars, aged 29 years; 
 Mary A. is the wife of Alex. Julien ; Andrew P. died 
 when about 27 years old ; Daniel J. ; Kellum E. 
 died aged 4 years; William S. and Fred A. reside 
 at home. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Johnston are consistent members 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church. While a resi- 
 dent of Knox County, Mr. Johnson filled several 
 important offices, among which were Supervisor for 
 six years. He has also been Assessor of Cambridge 
 Township two years. Since the demise of the old 
 Whig party, and since Fremont ran for the Presi- 
 dency, in 1856, Mr. Johnston has cast his vote with 
 the Republican party. He has been one of the 
 Directors of the Cambridge Library Association, and 
 takes an active interest in any enterprise that is 
 calculated to benefit the community in which he 
 resides. 
 
 yman J. Wilkinson, an influential citizen 
 of Munson Township, was born in Tioga 
 County, Pa., Aug. 17, 1833, and was the 
 second son of George and Julia (Manton) Wil- 
 kinson, natives of Rhode Island and, on the 
 father's side, of English descent. The latter 
 removed to Illinois at an early day, with an emigrant 
 wagon and a span of horses, cooking and camping 
 out by the way. Mr. W. had previously visited this 
 State and made a claim at Four-Mile Grove, in La- 
 Salle County. There he built a log house and cov- 
 ered the roof with clapboards which he rived him- 
 self. This farm he sold in 1840, and he moved to 
 Troy Grove, lived there two years and then moved 
 to Concord Township, Bureau County, where he had 
 purchased a tract of land, erected a house and im- 
 proved the place, residing there until 1874, when he 
 came to this county, settling in Munson Township 
 and where he finally died. Mrs. W. is still living, 
 making her home with her children. 
 
 Mr. Lyman J. Wilkinson, whose name heads this 
 sketch, was reared to manhood mainly in Bureau 
 County, at farm life and with the usual attendance at 
 the public schools. He was united in the bonds of 
 
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 HENR Y CO UNT Y. 
 
 <& 
 
 matrimony on the 31st of March, T853, to Miss Em- 
 eline Stevens, a daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth 
 (Smith) Stevens, the parents being both natives of 
 New Hampshire. Mrs. W. was born near Canter- 
 bury, that State. In his youth and early manhood 
 Mr. Wilkinson learned the trade of carpenter and 
 joiner, and he settled in Tiskilwa, that county, where 
 he followed his trade until r862. In August of the 
 latter year he enlisted for his country's salvation in 
 Co. E, 93d 111. Vol. Inf., as First Lieutenant, and he 
 served faithfully until August, 1863, when he was 
 honorably discharged on account of disability. He 
 participated in the battles of Champion Hill, Jack- 
 son, Miss., siege and capture of Vicksburg and in 
 numerous smaller engagements. 
 
 On the closing of his military service he returned' 
 to Tiskilwa, residing there until 1872, serving two 
 years and three months as Superintendent of the Bu- 
 reau County Infirmary. In 1872 he was engaged as 
 Superintendent of the Infirmary of this county, since 
 which time he has been a resident here and-in charge 
 of that institution, where he has always given the 
 best of satisfaction in the discharge of his public 
 duties. 
 
 Mr. Wilkinson has three children living, namely: 
 George T., Willis L. and Burt H. George T. mar- 
 ried Jennie Goshorn, of Geneseo, Oct. 23, 1856. 
 
 In his political views he was formerly a Democrat, 
 but is now a Republican. 
 
 9OO0- C . i»- 
 
 Ijermann Hirsehberger, engaged in the 
 \ hardware business at Annawan, this county, 
 was born in Brunswick, Germany, Aug. 22, 
 1839. He emigrated to this, the land of possi- 
 bilities, when he was 15 years old, landing at 
 New York city in July, 1854. From the latter 
 place he removed to Milwaukee, Wis., where, for 
 three years, he was engaged in gardening. At the 
 expiration of this time he went to Kewaunee Co., 
 Wis., and was there engaged in a saw-mill. 
 
 Remaining in the latter State until May, 1861, 
 Mr. Hirsehberger came to Annawan, Henry County, 
 where he learned the tinsmith's trade, and at which 
 he worked until Aug. 12, 1862. At this period in 
 his life's history he enlisted in the war for the Union, 
 joining Co. A, 112th 111. Vol. Inf.. and was mustered 
 into the service at Peoria, 111,, Sept. 27, 1862, under 
 
 Col. T. J. Henderson. The regiment proceeded to 
 Lexington, Ky. At Danville, in 1863, he was taken 
 prisoner while on picket duty, but in a few days was 
 paroled, and was at Columbus, Ohio, and at St. 
 Louis, Mo., until September of that year, when he 
 was exchanged, and ordered to Knoxville, Tenn., 
 where he was assigned to the 23d Army Corps under 
 Gen. Scofield. He was all through the East Ten- 
 nessee and Georgia campaign, and joined Sherman at 
 Goldsboro, N. C. He was never wounded in battle, 
 and was mustered out June 20, 1865, at Greensboro, 
 N. C, receiving his final discharge at Chicago, July 
 7, 1865. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Hirsehberger to Miss Kate 
 Seyller took place Sept. 16, 1862. She was born in 
 Alsace, Germany, March 10, 1845, and of their union 
 six children have been born, namely: Josephus O., 
 Emma K, Eleanora, Charlie, Kate and Clara. Mr. 
 Herschberger is at present is at present engaged in 
 the hardware business at Annawan, and keeps a 
 general stock of stoves, tinware, etc., and is doing a 
 good and increasing business. He has a good, plain 
 business house, 64 x 22 feet in dimensions, two 
 stories high, and another building 16 x 24 feet. So- 
 cially, he is a member of the G. A. R., Post 290, at 
 Annawan, and at present is Quartermaster-Sergeant 
 of that Order. In politics, he affiliates with the Re- 
 publican party. 
 
 ycurgus Cole. One of the prominent 
 young farmers of Annawan Township, re- 
 siding on section 33, is Lycurgus Cole. He 
 has long been identified with the history of 
 "Jk Henry County, but has laid the foundation for 
 an excellent record in the future, and gives 
 promise of being at no distant day one of the leading 
 and representative men of his community. 
 
 He was born in Jefferson Co., Ohio, July 14, 1856. 
 He remained with his parents, working on the farm 
 and attending the district schools, until 1876. Dur- 
 ing the latter year Mr. Cole came to this State and 
 located in Stark County, where for two years he 
 worked out by the month. He then rented a farm 
 of 142 acres of Mrs. Barbara McClelland, of Stark 
 County, and for four years occupied his time«in its 
 cultivation. In March, 1 884, he came to Annawan- 
 
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 -3 ^ o^ itn»>^ 
 
 -4&§»c<&/«i 
 

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 b 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 W^^—^^^r 
 
 727 
 
 i 
 
 Township and bought 240 acres of improved land, 
 on which he located with his family and entered 
 vigorously and energetically upon the task of its cul- 
 tivation and improvement, determining to make it a 
 permanent home for himself and family. He has a 
 splendid farm, with a good two-story residence, 36 
 by 48 feet in dimensions, and a good cellar. He 
 has a fine grove of timber in his front yard and on 
 his place there are two barns, one 48 x 48 feet, and 
 the other 32 x 60 feet in dimensions. 
 
 Mr. Cole formed a matrimonial alliance, Dec. 24, 
 1881, with Miss Mary Cole, the ceremony being per- 
 formed by Rev. Keene, of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church of Kewanee. Miss Cole was born Nov. 8, 
 1861, in Stark Co., 111., and is the daughter of Joshua 
 Cole, born in 1837, in Athens Co., Ohio, and who 
 married Miss Susan Habbockin i860. Mrs. Joshua 
 Cole was born in 1838, and bore her husband eight 
 children, namely : Joseph, Mary (the wife of the 
 subject of this notice), Elton, Martha, William, Wes- 
 ley, Otis and Ernest. 
 
 The father of the subject of this sketch, William 
 Cole, was born in Ohio in 1822, and married Miss 
 Achsah Cole, in 1845. She was born in 1823, and 
 bore her husband eight children, whose names are : 
 Alexander, Izina, Byron, Lycurgus, Nesbit, Viola, 
 Delmer and Etta. The venerable couple are still 
 residents of Ohio, and the father yet takes pleasure 
 in casting his vote, as he has done for years, with 
 the Republican party. 
 
 + -«- * 
 
 apt. Sullivan Howard, a pioneer, in fact, 
 the founder, or more nearly so than any 
 other one man, of the village of Kewanee, 
 was born at Temple, Hillsboro' Co., N. H.; 
 June 30, 1806. From the old farm Sullivan 
 \ Howard at the age of about 18 went to An- 
 dover, Mass., where he learned to be a " house- 
 wright." When nearly 21 years of age, he went to 
 Boston and from there to Mason village, where he 
 resided until the spring of 1836, and in the fall fol- 
 lowing landed at Wethersfield, Henry County, as a 
 stockholder of the Wethersfield Colony. In 1844-5 
 Capt. Howard, as contractor, erected Henry County's 
 first court house, and in 1854, when this village was 
 to be laid out, he and Henry G. Little, Nelson Lay 
 and Ralph Tenney, in company, purchased the 
 
 nothwest quarter of section 33, township 15 north, 
 range 5 east, from Dwight Needham, who traded for 
 the land, having John Potter deed to those gentle^ 
 men as a company, and hereon they proceeded to 
 lay out the town of Kewanee as it now stands. 
 
 So soon as the town was started, Capt. Howard 
 entered into the lumber business, and in 1856, tak- 
 ing Mr. N. Lay into partnership, engaged also in the 
 grain business, a traffic he followed up to 1863, Mr. 
 Lay entering probably in i860. Since 1863 he has 
 dealt in stock, looking after his farming interests, 
 etc., up to 1882, when he disposed of his last farm 
 and retired from active business. 
 
 t avid B. Barge, a settler of Phoenix Town- 
 
 11 ship of 1847, and at present one of the 
 
 rSj!*- 3 successful farmers as well as large land 
 Mfi< owners of that township, was born in Arm- 
 ffi strong Co., Pa., May 3, 1827. He is a son of 
 John and Jane (Elliott) Barge, natives of Penn- 
 sylvania. When Mr. Barge, of this sketch, was 
 seven years of age, his parents moved to Ohio, and 
 stopped for a while in Richland County for two 
 years, when they removed to Wayne County, that 
 State. In the latter county, David attended the 
 common schools, worked on the farm and developed 
 into manhood. 
 
 In 1847, Mr. Barge left the parental household 
 and went forth to do for himself. He started for 
 Wisconsin via the Lakes, but the boat could not land 
 in that State, on account of lack of steam, and 
 landed at Chicago. From that city, Mr. Barge came 
 by canal to La Salle, and then took a stage to Prince- 
 ton, from which latter place he came on foot to this 
 county. On arriving here he engaged in threshing 
 and followed that occupation until late in the fall of 
 that year, when he came to Grant Co., Wis., for the 
 purpose of mining, but on reaching there could not 
 procure a job at that work and engaged in chopping 
 cord-wood, and continued at that work during the 
 winter. On the 4th of March following, he started 
 for Illinois via stage to Galena, then on foot to Al- 
 bany, from which place he took a stage for Geneseo, 
 but on account of bad roads was compelled to foot it 
 the greater part of the way. On arriving there he 
 purchased six land warrants, and in May following 
 went to Dixon on foot and entered 1 60 acres of land 
 
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 on section 28, Phoenix Township. He was a single 
 man at that time and continued to work in the neigh- 
 borhood for two years. 
 
 He made his first improvements upon his land in 
 1850, at which time he erected a plank house 16 x 
 20 feet in dimensions and one-story. Since that time 
 he has erected a fine frame house on his place, to- 
 gether with a good barn, and by energetic labor and 
 economy has added to his landed interests in Phenix 
 Township until he is at present the proprietor of 540 
 acres of good land, all of which with the exception of 
 20 acres of timber is under an advanced state of cul- 
 tivation. Coming to this county with nothing but 
 strong arms and a determination to get on in the 
 world, and acquiring the splendid property that he 
 owns to-day through his own exertions, he certainly 
 deserves great credit. 
 
 Mr. Barge was united in marriage, April 6, 1851, 
 with Eliza M. Aldrich, daughter of C. C. and Sophia 
 Aldrich, pioneers of this county. Mrs. Barge was 
 born in Pickaway Co., Ohio, and has borne her hus- 
 band two children, — Alvin W. and Alice C. Alvin 
 is married and resides in Phenix Township, and is 
 the father of two children. Alice is the wife of 
 Thomas Lauderbaugh, and resides with him in Phe- 
 nix Township. 
 
 KXDOfc 
 
 . ohn P. Foster, a farmer residing upon sec- 
 tion 5, Cornwall Township, is a son of 
 Thomas .Foster, a native of Harrison Co., 
 Ky. The father came to Sangamon County, 
 this State, in the fall of 1832, and was there en- 
 gaged in agricultural pursuits until his death, 
 which occurred two years later, in 1834, of cholera. 
 
 John P. Foster was born May n, 1815, in Ken- - 
 tucky, and came with his father in 1833 to Sanga- 
 mon County, this State. His mother died in Ken- 
 tucky when he, John, was quite small. Her parents 
 were Christopher and Mary Musselman. Mr. Foster 
 of this | notice was united in marriage with Miss Har- 
 riet Browning, Jan. 25, T844, Rev. Philip Hanna of- 
 ficiating. Joshua Browning, her father, was a native 
 of Georgia, having been born in that State April 25, 
 1805, and died Dec. 14, 1851, in this county. He 
 was one of the first settlers of Henry County and en- 
 dured all the privations incident to the settlement of 
 a new country. His marriage to Miss Fannie Hall 
 took place in November, 1839. She was born March 
 18, 1811. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Foster are the parencs of nine chil- 
 dren, their record being as follows: Julia E., born 
 Nov. 23, 1844; Henry, Sept. 6, 1846; Roena, Aug. 
 15, 1848 ; Franklin, Jan. 18, 185 1 ; Mary F., Oct. 9, 
 1853; William P., Qct. 4,1857; Leona, Sept. 5, 
 i860 ; John, May 16, 1863; and Nellie R., Dec. 9, 
 1865. 
 
 Mr. Foster has resided ori section 5, Cornwall 
 Township, for the last 20 years. His farm of 120 
 acres located thereon is well improved, with a good 
 residence, 26x52 feet, with an addition, and in the 
 vocation of his life he is meeting with that success 
 which energy and perseverence always bring. In 
 politics he is a believer in and a supporter of the 
 principles of the Republican party. 
 
 
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 INTRODUCTORY. M 
 
 
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 HAT is history ? A simple 
 ^ enough question to ask, 
 and one that all men with- 
 out a thought suppose 
 even the smallest school 
 children fully understand. A 
 historian commences the in- 
 vestigation of a country for the 
 purpose of writing its history, and what 
 does' he find ? A vast aggregation, perhaps, 
 of people, moving along the great highway 
 of life, a fixed and strong government of 
 law and police power, social and community 
 life, vast public and private institutions of 
 schools, of medicine, law and theology, great 
 cathedrals, churches and public buildings, 
 and hovels and fine residences and great old baronial 
 castles ; vast industries upon the farms, in the fac- 
 tories and everywhere. Railroads, hospitals for the 
 sick and deceased, penal institutions; the flaming 
 forges and the flying spindles ; happiness and joy, 
 pain and suffering; bubbling laughter and heart- 
 breaking sobs, and thus the active, busy world is like 
 a vast bedlam of confused roaring — the eternal strug- 
 gle between life and death. These are some of the 
 superficies that every great community of people 
 present to the most casual looker-on. But beneath 
 all this is the deep and more subtle cause — the 
 silent thoughts of men that have been the real power 
 in molding and fashioning this wonderful and com- 
 plex problem of aggregated human life. And to the 
 
 philosophic historian there lies still beneath this 
 mental power of man in this human-building, the yet 
 more powerful and equal subtile forces of nature, of 
 soil, climate and atmosphere that enter so largely 
 into giving definite shapes and fixed laws to all these 
 wonders that grow into our civilization. A large 
 growth of civilized people, the cause and the effects, 
 is the most intricate subject of philosophic study in 
 the world. They are all a development and growth, 
 exactly as is everything in this world, or in the uni- 
 verse. The acorn falling into its proper soil, and then 
 sprouting into life and watered by the rains and 
 shaped by the winds, grows to the great oak. But 
 how many conditions are in that acorn upon which it 
 depends before making the great tree ? and exactly as 
 those conditions — those resistless, physical laws — are 
 completely filled, just in that ratio is the life and 
 growth and greatness of the tree assured. And so it 
 is of every people in the world's history. The physical 
 laws about them, their environment, is the destiny 
 that shapes their ends. It is not the peculiar religion 
 that they start in the race with that controls their 
 destiny, but it is their physical surroundings, their 
 soil, climate and the amount of dampness in the air 
 that fashions even their minds, their religion, their 
 schools and their highest social and civil life. In 
 everything in the mental and physical world there is 
 cause and effect — nothing more and nothing less. 
 Hence, a people, in their good and bad, their 
 wisdom and ignorance, their degree of civilization 
 and their brutish barbarism, are but results flowing 
 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 from antecedent causes; and to understand these 
 causes, to partially see and comprehend and explain 
 them is genuine history. This accounts for the physi- 
 cal and the mental growth, existence and powers of 
 men's minds and bodies. 
 
 Says a great historian and philosopher (and any 
 true history of a people is the highest type of philos- 
 ophy) : " Genuine history is brought into existence 
 only when the historian begins to unravel, across the 
 lapse of time, the living man, toiling, impassioned, 
 entrenched in his customs, with his voice and fea- 
 tures/his gestures and dress, distinct and complete as 
 he from whom we have just partedon the street." The 
 history of a people who have passed away is the ef- 
 fort to make the past the present; to revivify the 
 dead and present every phase of actual life as it 
 once existed, with all its bad and good, its blessings 
 and its sufferings, the home life and on the public 
 highways, in the streets and the fields — men and 
 women privately, collectively and publicly, at work 
 and at play, socially and morally, in love and anger, 
 at prayer and at war, approaching the good and re- 
 lapsing to man's worst estate. The fullest details of 
 What and How, and then the still greater question of 
 Why, are some of the difficult problems that present 
 themselves to the real historian. He well under- 
 stands that the law, social life, religion and the 
 schools are simply results of causes going before ; 
 they are products that result from causes that 
 are forever working like the law of gravitation which 
 cannot change, cannot be controlled, but which 'en- 
 ables us to walk upright, to build tall houses, to exist 
 
 in short. Newton's falling apple and the consequent 
 slight knowledge of the law of gravitation were a won- 
 derful revelation to the world, and we are yet ignor- 
 ant of what law it was that placed the apple where it 
 could fall. We can only infer that every natural 
 great law of matter is, like electricity, composed of a 
 positive and negative inherent force, and it is perhaps 
 these two wonderful qualities of matter that produce 
 every form and quality of life. 
 
 The fundamental facts of all real history are the 
 easiest to trace in the annals of a pioneer people. 
 Cause and effect here present themselves in their 
 simplest forms. Hence, of all books that come from 
 the press, the history of these nation-builders is the 
 most easily instructed, and possessed of the deepest 
 interest ; and if it was all written as it deserves lo be, 
 it will furnish every fireside in the county for the 
 young and the old, and for the generations yet un- 
 born, the most enduring pleasure and the most profit- 
 able instruction. 
 
 For such a purpose is this book written. And if 
 any reader rises from the perusal of these pages, and 
 can lay his hand upon his heart and say that he has 
 gathered no pleasure nor profit therefrom, tnat his 
 time and his money have been wasted; that Jie. has 
 had no pleasure, no quickening of thought, no sooth- 
 ing, broadening suggestions to the mind, no extension 
 and strengthening of the views of the great highway 
 of human life, then the writer of these lines would 
 exclaim in humility and shame that what he sup- 
 posed was the very best of his life and work is after 
 all but a miserable delusion and a sham. 
 
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 HERE is incontestible evi- 
 dence that different races 
 of men, each distinct from 
 the others, have been here, 
 strutted their brief hour 
 upon the world's great 
 stage and passed away. How 
 many distinct races preceded the 
 coming of the red man, we cannot 
 tell. We find the remains of their 
 monuments, their great cities, their 
 battle-grounds, mounds and occa- 
 sional fossil remains, and from 
 these busy archeologists are gaining 
 many facts of historical interest. 
 Those who were here and built 
 great walled cities are designated 
 as one of these races, the cliff-dwellers as another, 
 and the mound-builders as yet another race. And 
 still there is a supposition that there were distinct 
 races of mound-builders from the distinct varieties 
 of these curious human monuments that are found. 
 The crumbled walls, fallen columns, the debris of 
 pyramids and great temples and possibly palaces, 
 that cumber the ground in profusion, in plaGes, for a 
 mile in circumference, gives evidence which cannot 
 be mistaken, of great and splendid cities, " whose 
 lights are fled, whose garlands were dead " ages be- 
 fore were laid the first foundation stones of Baalbec 
 or Memphis. 
 
 But others, and with possibly better resources, hold 
 that the mounds are the oldest obtainable records of 
 extinct nations, and therefore these remarkable antiq- 
 
 uities are intensely interesting. Within the limits of 
 the United States are the great majority of them, 
 and so varied and widely scattered are they over the 
 continent that ihey may well be considered of chief 
 interest to the students of history. 
 
 These mounds and other works of the mound- 
 builders consist of remains of what were appar- 
 ently towns, altars, temples, pleasure grounds, forts, 
 possibly buried mounds, idols, battle-fields, etc. And 
 they enable us to tell something of the lives and 
 habits of a people, every vestige of whose physical 
 forms have long since dissolved into their original ele- 
 ments. 
 
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 Indians. 
 
 
 HE world's greatest races of wild savages 
 were found upon this continent. Fierce 
 and powerful tribes were in possession of 
 all this country when the white man came. 
 The New World was a land of wonders to the 
 peoples of the East, and the supreme obstacle 
 to the first waves of civilized men in gaining a foot- 
 hold in this land, was the half-naked savages that 
 roamed all over the country, as migratory as the 
 buffalo, and whose only industry was warfare and the 
 extermination of neighboring tribes. 
 
 There is no chapter in history that equals in un- 
 qualified horrors the first hundred years that tell of 
 the struggle for existence of civilized man for a per- 
 manent foothold upon this fair land. There was 
 
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HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 death in its multiple forms from diseases, their own 
 inexperience of the strange new world, the isolation 
 and lonely despair of the oppressive solitudes, the 
 dangerous wild beasts, where the thrilling human 
 cry of the soft-footed panther oft wake in terror the 
 sleep of the cradle ; the reptiles, spotted with deadly 
 beauty, noiselessly gliding in their mission of death 
 upon their victims, and in bewildering. and exuber- 
 ance of vegetable growth often that appalled man's 
 efforts to overcome them. But far beyond and 
 above all these combined obstacles were the Indians. 
 
 The Sacs and Foxes and the Winnebagoes dwelt in 
 this portion of Illinois, coming, it seems^ after the 
 destruction of the Iroquois. The French had pos- 
 sessed the country, and held sway over it by right 
 of discovery a hundred years, without serious con- 
 tention, before it passed to the hands of the Ameri- 
 cans. At the conclusion of the Revolution, when 
 Washington was President, and the present race of 
 men were commencing that flow of immigration that 
 has never ceased, the Indians of the Mississppi Val- 
 ley^'confederated together, and determined to contest 
 the right of the " while dogs "to come among them. 
 They asserted that the Ohio River was the extreme 
 northwestern boundary line, and that all the North- 
 west to the Pacific Ocean was granted to them "as 
 long as Water runs and grass groWs." First Pontiac, 
 then' Tecumseh, and last Black Hawk, in 1832, were 
 the respective leaders in these wars to- drive back 
 the hated white man. The defeat of Black Hawk at 
 Bad Axe, in 1832, was the last of the Indian strug- 
 gle, east of the Mississippi, that has come in_the 
 form of war. 
 
 One of the noted characters among the Indians of 
 that day was White Cloud, the prophet of- the Win- 
 nebagoiS, who lived at what is now Prophetstown, 
 Whiteside County. His portrait is given on page 
 656. 
 
 Political Descent. 
 
 F the question was put to any teachers' 
 institute, What is the genealogy of the 
 county in which the meeting is held? how 
 often could it be at all correctly answered. 
 The titles to all our farms and lands are de- 
 rived from the Government, and the knowledge 
 how the title came to the Government is merely 
 
 completing the "abstract," — an evidence of title that 
 every prudent land-buyer fortifies his title to his 
 lands with. 
 
 What is now Henry County was once New France, 
 and was one of the French colonies or provinces. 
 France gained her title by right of discovery and 
 possession. More than 200 years ago Marquette and 
 then La Salle had navigated. the waters of the Illinois 
 River, and a fort had been established on Starved 
 Rock. 
 
 From 1732 to 1759 we were under the control, or 
 rather belonged to, the Company of the Indies. M. 
 Penier was Governor-General, and M. D'Artaguette 
 was Local Governor of Illinois. This brave and 
 chivalrous man was killed in the Chickasaw War, 
 where he had been called to assist the people of 
 Louisiana. Illinois at this time was a part of Louisi- 
 ana and a province of Canada. The Company of 
 the Indies failing, the French Government again as- 
 sumed the control and title to the country. 
 
 When the Canadas were ceded to Great Britain, 
 in 1776, by the '' Quebec Bill," then all this portion 
 of the Upper Mississippi Valley became a British 
 province, and was placed under the care and gov- 
 ernment of Canada. Had any of us been pioneers 
 here then we would have been Canadians. ' The 
 treaty of Paris was in 1763. 'Thomas Gage was 
 Commander-in-chief of the British troops in North 
 America; he issued a proclamation in 1764, permit- 
 ting the Catholics in Illinois to exercise their worship 
 in the same manner the Catholics did~ in Canada, 
 and to " travel wherever they pleased,even to go to 
 New Orleans." 
 
 In Oct., 1778, the House of Burgesses of Virginia 
 created the caunty of Illinois, and appointed John 
 Tod, of Kentucky, Civil Governor or Commander, 
 and authorized " all the civil .officers, to which the 
 inhabitants had been accustomed," to be chosen by 
 a majority of the citizens. Then all this county 
 was a province and belonged to Virginia.. And 
 John Tod established the first civil government in 
 this valley. 
 
 Kaskaskia was settled by the French as early as 
 1707. 
 
 In 1788 Gov. St. Clair was made Governor of- the 
 entire Northwest-Territory, and the seat of govern- 
 ment for this vast wild was Marietta, Ohio; The 
 territory was at that time divided into three coun r 
 ties; Hamilton, now Ohio; Knox, now Indiana, and 
 
 
 
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 St. Clair, now Illinois. Hence, the student of Illi- 
 nois history will know that St. Clair County was 
 formed in 1788; is the mother county of all the 
 counties in the State, and is the starting point in 
 tracing the county's genealogy in the long line of 
 carving the many counties out of the one. 
 
 The next change was that, . what is now Illinois 
 became a part of Indiana, and the capital was at 
 Vincennes. This condition of affairs contisued until 
 1809, when a territorial separation was effected, and 
 the Illinois Territory was divided into two counties — 
 Randolph and St. Clair. And for two years what is 
 now Henry County was a part of St. Clair County. 
 On the 14th of September, 181 2, Madison County 
 was formed, and then the young and old swains of 
 Henry County, had there been any here, would 
 have had to go to Edwardsville to get their marriage 
 license. Unless they had adopted the soldiers' plan 
 in the early day and married a squaw. In that case 
 no license was required. The wife was purchased, 
 a pony or two, according to the quality, being the 
 usual price. 
 
 Jan. 4, 1817, Bond County was organized, and 
 then this was Bond County. 
 
 March 22, 18 19, Clark County was created; and so 
 little was known of this part of the world that the act 
 creating Clark County fixed the northern line as "ex- 
 tending to the Canada line." 
 
 Jan. 3:, 1821, Pike county was formed. Then 
 had the reader or any other white man been here he 
 would have been of the order of Pikes. 
 
 Jan. 28, 1823, Fulton County came into existence, 
 and then we would have been Fultonians if anything. 
 
 Jan. 13, 1825, Knox County was organized, and 
 this then included Henry County. The same act, 
 it seems, created Henry County, so far as to give it a 
 name. 
 
 The law at that time required there should be 350 
 inhabitants in the territory before a new county 
 could be organized. The Legislature often created 
 a county, and provided it should be organized and 
 become in fact a county when the proper population 
 had become residents of the county territory. 
 
 In an act of the Legislature " forming new coun- 
 ties out of__the counties of Pike and Fulton, and at- 
 tached portions thereof," approved Jan. 13, 1825, 
 section 6 creates Henry County by defining the 
 boundaries. 
 
 By an act approved Jan. i5_, i83i,"To establish 
 the county seat of Knox County and for other pur- 
 poses," the boundaries of Henry County were re- 
 established and the county attached to Knox County 
 for judicial purposes, until organized. 
 
 It was enacted by the Legislature Jan. 5, 1835, in 
 section 3 of said act, that the boundary lines of 
 Henry County are defined as follows : '' Beginning ' 
 at the southeast corner of township 14 north, in 
 range 5 east of the fourth principal meridian ; thence 
 north between range 5 and 6 cast, to the middle of 
 the channel of Rock River ; thence down along the 
 middle channel of said river, with the meanders 
 thereof, until it intersects the fourth principal merid- 
 ian; thence south with the said meridian line to 
 the southwest corner of township r4 north, in range 
 '1 east; thence due east on the line between town- 
 ships 13 and 14 north, to the place of beginning." 
 
 These boundary lines made Rock River the entire 
 north and northwest boundary line of the county, 
 and included nearly one-half of the territory of what 
 is now Whiteside County. 
 
 By an act approved March 2, 1837, Henry County 
 was organized and the proper Commissioners ap- 
 pointed to locate the county seat, and to do and 
 perform such acts as were necessary to enable the 
 county to assume its position as an organized 
 county. 
 
 The Pioneers. 
 
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 HE thrilling story of the pioneers of the 
 Upper Mississippi Valley, involving the 
 proud results that we all are now enjoying, 
 is easily touched into romance by the glowing 
 imagination, to be proudly repeated by every 
 generation of the English-speaking race, will 
 live and breath and burn, in legend and in song. 
 In its greatest incident it is a story of achievement 
 unparelleled in the annals of the world for the maj- 
 esty of its purpose and the poverty of its means, 
 the weakness of the beginning and the grandeur of 
 the result. Contemplating the unnoted coming of 
 the first sparse wandering nomads of the wilds and 
 the dreary wastes — the peaceful exiles in life — the 
 adventurous voyagers, piloted on their way by the 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 north star, the first frail settlements — yet the shred 
 of the most intense and tenacious life, fringing the 
 dark edge of outer civilization, harassed by Indians, 
 beset by beasts, by disease, by exposure, by death in 
 every form, beyond civilization and succor, beyond 
 the knowledge or interest of civilized communities, a 
 thin thread of the old settlements, yet what incalcu- 
 lable destinies hung upon their lives and the success 
 of their heroic labors. Contemplating this spectacle 
 our hearts break into the language of the proud 
 prophecy accomplished : " The desert shall rejoice 
 and bloom as the rose." "A little one shall become 
 a thousand and a small one a strong nation." 
 
 Amidst these abounding joys of wealth and happy 
 content, we are surrounded to-day by other tradi- 
 tions and solicited by other memories. But under 
 these radiant heavens and these surpassing beauties, 
 our hearts go backward to a winter day. The roaring 
 cities sink to a silent wilderness — the rumbling high- 
 ways of steam and fire into the thread-like Indian 
 trails, the busy throngs to the silent, grave-faced 
 lone hunter and trapper. The contrast is complete. 
 
 The great region of the Northwest lay in primeval 
 wilderness awaiting the creative touch that should 
 lift it into amazing and rejoicing life and in fulfill- 
 ment of the aspirations of Jefferson in the Ordinance 
 of 1787, that consecrated' to freedom all this part of 
 the world. The blood of the pioneer flows with 
 energizing power in the veins of every State and his 
 undaunted spirit animates the whole continent. 
 Did they know, think you, what a destiny they bore 
 in their silent and heroic bosoms ! Perchance not. ; 
 and it is possible they builded wiser than they knew, 
 but their imperishable crown of glory is here, the 
 fruit is rejoicing in the distant and glorious summer, 
 where they alone planted and watered. 
 
 An instance of early social life was related to us 
 by Mrs. William Miller, of Geneseo, is a valuable 
 index to the social life of the first beaux and belles 
 of Henry County. She says among her early recol- 
 lections, when the earliest settlements were still new, 
 that she was at Mr. R. R. Stewart's house one day, 
 and, as a child, had gone with the girls to the creek, 
 where they were to do the family washing. When 
 the work was well under way, one of the girl's broth- 
 ers came running from the house to the creek to tell 
 the young ladies there were some gentlemen at the 
 house and they must go home at once. The -girls 
 
 knew they had to go, - and yet they were in their 
 wash-day clothes, probably, no, of course, barefoot ; 
 there was but one room to the house, and their 
 clothes were in the " loft," and this was reached by 
 cleats fastened to the logs on the inside of the 
 house. What were they to do ? The girls were terri- 
 bly distressed, but what could they do? It was soon 
 settled ; they made their brother go to the house, 
 clamber into the garret, get their clothes, and they 
 made their toilet in the thicket, and in due time ap- 
 peared at the house, where awaited, one of them at 
 least, her future husband. 
 
 The seaside belles of to-day would regard this in- 
 cident as horrible; and yet at that day and time it 
 was what would easily and naturally happen, even 
 in the proudest first family of the county. The 
 young ladies in the Stewart family were much in 
 advance of the average girls of their time, as is evi- 
 denced by the fact that they we^e the first school- 
 teachers in the county, and were* all married to the 
 best of the young men, and to this day easily main- 
 tain their places as influential leaders in our best 
 social life. 
 
 Dr. Thomas Baker is universally conceded to be 
 the first settler in Henry County. There are none 
 of his family or descendants here from whom to gain 
 the details of his early life, except the meager details 
 to be found elsewhere in this work as they were 
 gleaned from those old settlers who knew him best. 
 
 The second family to make a permanent settle- 
 ment in the county was Earl P. Aldrich with his 
 wife and five children, in an ox wagon. Henry S. 
 Aldrich was born in Henry County Dec. 16, 1835, 
 and Mrs. Aldrich thinks he was the first white child 
 born in the county. (See page 305.) 
 
 There were three young men who believe they 
 came to the county before Aldrich 's family, namely, 
 Thomas and James Glenn and Anthony Hunt, who 
 arrived here the 13th day of May, 1835. They were 
 all single men, and there is a strong probability that 
 they were the first to arrive after Dr. Thomas Baker. 
 
 The next arrival was George Brandenburg, in the 
 latter part of July; then P. K. Hanna, John P. 
 Hanna and George Colbert. 
 
 James Glenn built the first log cabin in the county, 
 made the first plow arid turned the first furrow. 
 
 The population of Henry County, or what is now 
 the county, in the first year of its settlement con 
 
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 HkNRY COUNTY. 
 
 ^fsisted of Dr. Thomas Baker and family, George 
 ^Brandenburg and family, Earl P. Aldrich and family, 
 ig^John P. Hanna, P. K. Hanna and family, James 
 1 ' Glenn, Thomas Glenn and Anthony Hunt. 
 
 -»- 
 
 & 
 
 Firsts. 
 
 HE following is a complete list, in their 
 order, of the first separate acts and events 
 as they occurred in the history of Henry 
 County. They will prove a source of easy 
 reference and great interest to the readers, as 
 well as valuable in the settlement of those 
 vexing questions that sometimes find their way into 
 the legends and stories of the early settlements, and 
 especially as to where, how and when given events 
 ) transpired, and who were the actors and participants 
 in those interesting beginnings of things : 
 
 First settler, Dr. Thomas Baker, April 8, 1835. 
 First white child born, Henry S. Aldrich, Dec. 16, 
 
 || l8 35- 
 
 ra First white female child, Hattie Hanna, now Mrs. 
 
 ■ttOdell. 
 
 First cabin put up, James Glenn, May, 1835. 
 
 First tavern, kept by Geo. Brandenburg. 
 
 First town laid out, Dayton. 
 
 First Postmaster, Geo. Brandenburg, Dayton. 
 
 First election, Dayton, June 9, 1837. 
 
 First County Commissioners' Court, P. K. Hanna, 
 Thomas Pillsbury and Jno. Browning. 
 
 First Sheriff, Robert McCullough. 
 
 First Coroner, R. R. Stewart. 
 
 First Recorder, Joshua Harper. 
 
 First Surveyor, Arba M. Seymour. 
 
 First term of the County Commissioners' Court, in 
 Dayton. 
 
 First County and Circuit Clerk, James M. Allan. 
 
 First Treasurer, Charles Atkinson. 
 
 First license granted by the Court, to John P. 
 Hanna and George Taylor. 
 
 First school, taught by Narcissa Stewart. 
 
 First chartered ferry, at Cleveland. 
 
 First newspaper, started by I. S. Hyatt. 
 
 First plow in county, made by James Glenn. 
 
 First furrow plowed, in 1835. 
 
 First School Commissioner, James M. Allan. 
 
 > 
 
 First census, 1840, by Arba M. Seymour. 
 
 First charity subject upon the county, John Thom- 
 as, 1840. 
 
 First Doctor, Thomas Baker. 
 
 First wedding, J. P. Dodge and Samantha Col- 
 bert, Feb. 7, 1836. 
 
 First lawyer, Samuel P. Brainard. 
 
 First term of the Circuit Court, at Richmond, 1839. 
 
 First case in Circuit Court, Job Searls vs. Moses 
 T. Stimpson. 
 
 First criminal indicted, John Porter. 
 
 First dairy, 1837, by Cromwell K. Bartlett. 
 
 First land purchase, by William Paddelford. 
 
 First frame building, 1836, in Cleveland, by At- 
 kinson & Wells. 
 
 First temperance society, organized in Geneseo, 
 1836. 
 
 First wagon road petitioned for by the people, 
 Andover to Geneseo. 
 
 First land entry of the Government, by Giles Will- 
 iams, which was the north half of section 34, town- 
 ship 18 north and 2 east, now Hanna Township. 
 
 First wheat planted, by Washburne, 1835. 
 
 First mill, at Andover, built in the winter of 1836-7. 
 
 First militia officer elected, James M. Allan, Ma- 
 jor, 1837. 
 
 First Member of Congress, John S. Stewart. 
 
 First member of the State General Assembly^ 
 Joshua Harper. 
 
 the first attempt at fruit-tree growing here is told 
 of fully elsewhere. The trees were seedlings, and the 
 first crop of apples ever gathered in the county con- 
 sisted of 36 specimens, and even then this was a 
 marked event among the people. 
 
 About the first grafted apples raised in this por- 
 tion of Illinois were the Milam, under the name of 
 Winter Pearmain. These were not really grafted 
 trees, but had been propagated from the suckers. 
 
 The winter of 1855-6 was noted for the wholesale 
 destruction of fruit-trees. It was estimated that one- 
 half of the bearing apple-trees were destroyed or 
 rendered worthless. This for some years greatly 
 discouraged tree-planting, especially fruit-trees. All 
 the orchards in the county have been planted since. 
 
 Lewis Hurd and Miss Caroline W. Little were 
 married by Rev. Ithamar Pillsbury, Aug. 22, 1837. 
 This it appears by the records was the first marriage 
 in the county. Possibly, there may have been an 
 earlier marriage ; but if so it was while this was still 
 
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 1=3 
 
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 ^^ — £A<£fl D@niif5>A^ — ^€3^ 
 
tin jsritY county 
 
 
 
 Knox County. The next wedding was the festive 
 Rev. Ithamar himself with Miss Caroline E. Miller, 
 of Andover, December 18. This knot was tied by 
 Rev. Enoch Meade. The next was W. B. Goss, of 
 Jo Daviess County, and Ellen Baldwin, of Cleveland, 
 by the above Rev. Ithamar. 
 
 There were five weddings in the county in the 
 year 1838. In the year 1839 there were six. " It is 
 not good for man to be alone;" but a more impera- 
 tive order just then prevailed here : It is good to 
 people this rich waste. 
 
 James M.Allen and Susannah D. Stewart were 
 married by Rev. James Wilcox, March 6, 1839. In 
 1840 there were ten couple spliced for life. (Di- 
 vorces not yet fashionable.) In this year Morristown 
 had her first wedding, Mahlon Lloyd and Miss Ame- 
 lia L. Davenport, December 30. In 1841 there were 
 twenty-two marriages. Tis year James Knox, after- 
 wards in Congress, was married to Miss P. H. Blish, 
 January 20. In 1842, 23 marriages; 1843, 15; 1844, 
 18 r 1845, 21; 1846, 25; 1847, 23; and 1851, 63. 
 
 The first election in Henry County was held June 
 19, 1837, to elect a Sheriff, Coroner, Surveyor, Rec- 
 order and^three County Commissioners. The Judges 
 were John P. Hanna, Charles Atkinson and Roderick 
 R. Stewart.. Clerks, — James M. Allan and Arba M. 
 Seymour. Ithamar Pillsbury, Philip K. Hanna and 
 Joshua Browning were elected County Commission- 
 ers. Rufus Hubbard had 21 votes for Commission- 
 er. Joshua Harper was elected Recorder, receiving 
 24 votes ; Thomas R. Saunders got 22 votes and 
 Eben Townsend had n votes. For Surveyor Arba 
 M. Seymour received the full vote cast — 58 votes. 
 For Sheriff Robert McCullough was elected, getting 
 31 votes, to Stephen Marshall 24 votes, and for Cor- 
 oner R. R. Stewart got 58 votes. 
 
 =31 — ■&&■* 
 
 A Sad Life. 
 
 WAY back in 1848, Mr. and Mrs. Pollock, 
 f of New York, made the acquaintance of 
 " ; 22* " some of the leaders in the Swedish Church 
 that was founded by " Prophet " Eric Jansen, 
 from which came the Bishop Hill Colony. 
 Pollock and wife were refined and educated 
 people and had been accustomed to the comforts and 
 social life of what may be termed the well-to-do peo- 
 
 ple of New York. Mrs. Pollock was, it seems, of a 
 strong religious turn of mind, and she listened to the 
 new faith, shed tears over the persecution of Jansen 
 and Olsen in Sweden ; and the cruel story made her 
 a believer, and not only aroused her deep sympathy 
 for the cause, but awoke within her a religious en- 
 thusiasm that was strong and unconquerable. She 
 induced her husband to come West, and they located 
 among the Swedes of Bishop Hill Colony. Mr. Pol- 
 lock was a man of fine accomplishments and he 
 opened a school for the Colony, and taught school 
 and suffered and died. Mrs. Pollock then took up 
 the work where her husband had stopped and for 
 some time was the school-teacher of the Swedes. 
 She married one of the wealthiest men and leaders 
 in the Colony, named Gabrielson. This man had 
 brought a considerable fortune to this country, and 
 had purchased vast bodies of the Colonists' lands and 
 had in many ways advanced about all his fortune in 
 behalf of his poorer Church friends. Gabrielson died 
 in a few years after his marriage and the Church 
 leaders wound up the estate, and the widow and child 
 in some way came out of the ordeal penniless. But 
 her devotion to her Church and its members remained 
 unshaken. In a few years she was married to Eric 
 Jansen, the " Prophet " and head of the Church, and 
 here were new fields of usefulness opened to her to 
 minister to the Church and the Colonists. 
 
 In 1850 " Prophet " Jansen was murdered in the 
 town of Cambridge, and again this good woman of 
 Christian charity was a widow and penniless. Old 
 age and infirmities were coming swiftly upon her; 
 her heroic struggles grew more and more feeble and 
 for the past six or eight years she has been an inmate 
 of the county poor-house. 
 
 This simple and brief statement is one of the most 
 pathetic stories we remember ever to have met in 
 real, every-day Christian life. When she cast her 
 fortunes, her life, her everything with the Church and 
 Colony, the people were in poverty, ignorance, squal- 
 or and want. Her money, life, work and suffering 
 with these people, instructing them, guiding them and 
 more than dividing with them, her presence among 
 them was truly that of a ministering angel. These 
 good, Christian people are now rich in this world's 
 goods ; their broad and fertile acres smile their bless- 
 ings upon them and theirs, and they may well and 
 fervently thank God for his loving beneficence 
 through this devoted and self-sacrificing woman. 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
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 I 
 
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 6V4«HH< 
 
 -"f^§*f 
 
 HENR Y CO UNTY. 
 
 Doctors. 
 
 jSll^OCTORS wure a necessity before lawyers 
 
 »SA in the pioneer settlements. Pills and po- 
 tions, " hot water and bleeding," boneset 
 tea, and dogwood, wild cherry and aloes bit- 
 ters, were the charms that soothed the ancient 
 stomachs and exorcised away the demon ma- 
 laria, and sod-corn juice was essential in every well 
 conducted pioneer cabin against snake-bites. The 
 old-fashioned ague — no, s-h-a-k-e-s ! the kind when 
 they got under-hold of a fellow and proceeded to 
 shake him up in a style that would have made a sad 
 wreck of a full set of false teeth upon the instant — 
 these and snake -bites, milk-sick and spring fevers 
 lay in wait, lurked in the tall grass and swamps, 
 seeking whom they might make a rattle-trap of. 
 
 The medicine man of the Indians had not folded 
 his brush tent and stole away when Dr. Thomas 
 Baker, the first settler in the county, came. The 
 first fellow upon the ground, and not a soul to dose 
 but himself! It is not to be wondered at that for 
 him life was rather shortened up at both ends ! 
 
 As already intimated, the first settler was the first 
 physician. He was rather corpulent, and supposed 
 by all envious people to have been slightly lazy. It 
 is said that, especially in very warm weather, it actu- 
 ally grated on his tender feelings to see any one at 
 work. In a few cases he has warmly remonstrated 
 with parties he found working away on a hot day. 
 The Doctor died in the county, resulting from in- 
 juries received by a horse kicking him, and his family 
 and descendants have all long since disappeared 
 from the county. 
 
 Dr. Maxwell was the next in order. He located 
 on Rock River, Phenix Township. He died in 1844. 
 In 1838 Dr. King settled in the same neighborhood, 
 on Rock River. Said to have been a fine-looking 
 man, but there were evil stories told of him, and in 
 about a year he left the county. In 1839 Dr. Enos 
 Pomeroy located in Geneseo. In 1845 Dr. S. T. 
 Hume located in Geneseo. 
 
 The first call to which the last named responded 
 
 was a surgical case about five miles east of Cam- 
 bridge. He attended the call, and when he started 
 to return it was dark. The path was very indistinct, 
 and very difficult to follow. Coming to " Uncle Billy 
 Martin's " house, he applied to stay all night. He 
 was asked who he was. " Dr. Hume, of Geneseo." 
 " No such Doctor there. You're a horse-thief, sir, 
 and git ! " He got to the path, and finally reached 
 the house of James S. Hamilton and called to the 
 occupants. Here he met the same reception, only a 
 little more vinegary than at the first house, and he 
 resumed his devious and difficult way. He next 
 reached Mr. Southard's and called to the occupants, 
 and again was asked, " Who are you? " and answered 
 again, " Dr. Hume, a physician of Geneseo." "Git 
 out! No such Doctor there. I guess you are after 
 my horses." Mrs. S. had heard the Doctor's an- 
 swer, and here interfered and told her husband that 
 she had heard there was a new Doctor in Geneseo. 
 He was finally permitted to enter the house ; a light 
 was struck, and the Doctor closely inspected by the 
 whole family, and his honest face and manner soon 
 made him the welcome guest, and the best the place 
 afforded was gladly placed before him. 
 
 All the pith there is in this story is the fact that it 
 is a demonstration that the horse-thief was plying his 
 industry here at rather an early day, — and that at 
 the time when the loss of a horse was regarded as 
 about the greatest calamity that could befall a farm- 
 er. There are probably more horses stolen now-days 
 than there were then, but the loss now is not so in- 
 curable a calamity as it was then. 
 
 About 1840 Dr. George Shipman settled in An- 
 dover (Homeopathist), and built the house after- 
 wards owned by Mr. Ayers, on the south side of the 
 square. He soon left and went to Chicago to live. 
 
 Wethersfield had no resident physician for several 
 years after its settlement, and during this time the 
 most of the practice was by Dr. Thomas Hall, of 
 Stark County. He was an Englishman, and 
 judged by his patrons to be a man of vast medical 
 lore. 
 
 Dr. Hickman was the first to settle in Wethers- 
 field. He was soon in a good practice. He nearly 
 perished on the prairie one night in the winter of 
 1848-9. His feet were badly frozen, and he lost 
 part of one of them. He left the county. 
 
 
 <3 
 
 at » 
 
 &<m%w>*§ — :s ^^ 
 
HENRY 
 
 COUNTY. 
 
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 ^S extraordinary as it may now sound to this 
 
 M'i generation, who know that Henry County 
 
 remained wholly unoccupied and unknown 
 
 to white man until 1832, and was first settled 
 
 in 1835, and the county organized in 1837, yet 
 
 it is a fact that as far back as October 28, 
 
 18 1 7, William Barrows patented by military war- 
 ran tthe southeast of section 5, Weller Township. 
 This patent was signed by James Monroe, Presi- 
 dent, and this then being Madison County, it was re- 
 corded at the county seat, Edwardsville, Dec. 28, 
 
 1818. The year of the last date Barrows sold to 
 William Hobby, consideration $160. William Ste- 
 phenson, of Boston, Suffolk Co., took the acknowl- 
 edgment of the deed. 
 
 On January 4, 1818, the United States issued a 
 patent to Uriah Lockett, for the southwest of section 
 1, in Weller Township, and Feb. 2, 1819, Lockett 
 sold to H. Stewart. The parties were of Williamson 
 
 County, Tennessee. The consideration given was 
 $250. Geo. Hulin, " Chairman and Presiding Mag 
 istrate of the Court of Common Pleas," Tennessee, 
 took the acknowledgment of the deed. 
 
 Nov. 22, 1820, John Greenup, of Geauga County, 
 Ohio, sold to W. Skinner, of the same place, the 
 southeast of section 4, Weller Township. Considera- 
 tion, $200. 
 
 S. Staples, by warrant for services in the war of 
 1812-15, entered S. E. qr. of sec. 6, Weller Town- 
 ship, and the records of Madison show that Staples 
 on Nov. 22, 1819, sold the same to J. Rundlett. ' 
 Price, $200. Staples acknowledged the deed* 
 before James Ladd, Notary, of Rockingham, N. H. 
 
 October 15., 18 r 8, James McCartnee patented 
 southwest section 5, Weller Township. He sold, in 
 1818, to M. F. Maher. Consideration, 'jjioo. The 
 deed is acknowledged in Baltimore. 
 
 June 20, 1820, J. Van Ransalear sold to J. R. 
 Van Ransalear, of Utica, N. Y.; southwest section 
 8, Weller Township, and the record says "36 quarter ^ ' 
 sections in other counties," for the sum of $2,000. /?■ 
 
 July 30, 1819, R. Cushman patented southwest JE 
 section 8, Weller Township. He sold to J. Van £8 
 
 Ransalear. 
 
 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 731-4 
 
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 I 
 
 T the time Henry County was 
 created, the financial and 
 official head of -the county 
 was the County Commission- 
 ers' Court. On the 27 th of 
 June of that year this Court 
 met at Dayton and transacted 
 the first official business of the 
 county. Allan was appointed 
 Clerk ; Atkinson, Treasurer- 
 Clerks and Treasurers were ap- 
 pointed — the Circuit Clerks by 
 the Judge of the Circuit, and the 
 County Clerks and Treasurers by 
 the County Commissioners until 
 these officrs were made elective by act of the Leg- 
 islature, February, 1837. In the next August elec- 
 tion after the passage of the act, the people elected 
 James M. Allan Clerk, and Charley Atkinson Treas- 
 urer. The Clerk gave bond, with Robert McCul- 
 lough and John P. Hanna as sureties. 
 
 The first official order of the Court was one au- 
 thorizing Charles Atkinson, John P. Hanna and 
 George Tyler to keep a ferry on Rock River at 
 Cleveland, and they "ordered that the tax on the 
 above mentioned ferry be fixed at one dollar and 
 fifty cents." The rate of tax was fixed at one-half 
 of one per cent, on " pleasure carriages," horses, cat- 
 tle, hogs, sheep, wagons and watches. Nothing else 
 was taxed, except a road tax of one dollar and twen- 
 ty cents on each quarter section of land ; and every 
 man of lawful age was required to work five days 
 on the public roads. George Brandenburg paid five 
 dollars for the first license to sell goods, and soon 
 
 £139$* 
 
 ■a^ y o/^ iranr^g — ^^^- 
 
 afterwards a similar license was granted George Ty- 
 ler. These two men carried on business in the same 
 place. 
 
 The second day of the Court the county was di- 
 vided into five road districts, as follows : First in- 
 cluded towns 16, 17 and 18 north, and 1 and 2 east ; 
 second, 14, 15 north, 2 and 3 east ; third, 14, 15 west, 
 4 and 5 east : fourth, 16 and 17 north. The Super- 
 visor of first was John P. Hanna; second, Albert 
 Jagger; third, John F. Willard ; fourth, John C. 
 Ward; fifth, Neely Withrow. There were then only 
 about one hundred voters in all the county, and here H^ 
 was quite a big undertaking for those men to build ^ 
 the bridges and make the roads passable. ( y 
 
 The first road ordered surveyed and laid out in 
 the county was from Andover to Geneseo, thence to 
 the Rock River road at or near Joshua Browning's. 
 C. K. Bartlett, A. M. Seymour and Joshua Brown- 
 ing were appointed viewers, and the conditions 
 were the road was to be " laid without costs to the 
 county." What would an Illinois Legislature think 
 of such public economy as this? This economical 
 order in reference to roads was kept up till 1838, 
 when a road was ordered located from Andover 
 Mills in the direction of Peoria, at the expense of 
 the county. The first appropriation for bridges was 
 $50, to apply in part upon a bridge across Green River, 
 on the road via Cleveland and Dayton to Andover. 
 The second bridge appropriation was $10 for a 
 bridge on Camp Creek on the road from Andover to 
 Cleveland. 
 
 The justices' districts and election precincts were 
 the same as the road districts. In 1838 the place of 
 holding elections in the first district was named "as 
 
 — 4^^>|i 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 the town of Dayton " — that means Brandenburg's 
 house ; in the second district " the Company house ;" 
 in the third, Henry G. Little's house; fourth, John 
 C. Ward's ; and fifth at Joshua Browning's. 
 
 The County Commissioners' Court ordered that 
 until the county seat should be permanently 
 located, the Courts should be held in the town of 
 Dayton. 
 
 The first merchant's license was granted to George 
 Tyler, " to keep a store in Cleveland," for which he 
 paid five dollars. 
 
 These pioneers were evidently a somewhat martial 
 people. An election for " Major " was held at Day- 
 ton, Aug. 12, 1837. Fifteen votes were cast, — eleven 
 for James M. Allan and four for George Branden- 
 burg. When this great military question was thus 
 settled, the good people of the county had but little 
 occasion to further fear the invasions of the murder- 
 ous, and scalping Indians. 
 
 At the September term of the County Court, the 
 County Surveyor was instructed to run out the line 
 between Rock Island and Henry Counties. A man 
 had frozen to death about or near the line, and as he 
 was a total stranger and had some money and no 
 heirs, Rock Island claimed the " stiff" and money. 
 Henry County suspected this to be a fraud : hence 
 the survey. Sure enough, the cadaver really be- 
 longed to Henry, and the county sued Rock Island, 
 but never got either the money or the dead man. 
 
 A permit was granted Charles Oakley by tile Cir- 
 cuit Court, in 1837, to build a dam on the Green 
 River, on the east half of the northeast quarter of 
 section 12, township 17 north, 1 east, known as 
 Green River Mills. The second permit was to 
 Ithamar Pillsbury, to build a dam across Edwards 
 River, on the northwest corner of section 18, town- 
 ship 14 north, 3 east. Here was soon after erected 
 a saw-mill. 
 
 No Circuit Court was held in Henry "County until 
 the spring of 1838. 
 
 Cleveland was laid out, in April, 1836, by C. At- 
 kinson and J. D. Tabor, on section 31, on the banks 
 of Rock River. The first houses built in Cleveland 
 were George Taylor's and C. Atkinson's ; the carpen- 
 ters doing the work on the buildings were Thomas 
 Glenn and George Brandenburg. 
 
 At the March term, 1838, James M. Allan was 
 appointed School Commissioner for the County, and 
 
 Luke C. Sheldon, Joshua Harper and George Bran- 
 denburg were appointed trustees of school lands in 
 township 17, range 1 east; and Roderick R. Stewart, 
 Elisha Cone and John C. Ward were appointed for 
 township 17, range 3 east; James S. Miller, Asa 
 Wisher and Albert Jagger for township 15, range 2 
 east ; Joseph Goodrich L Sullivan Howard and Robert 
 Coultas for township 15, range 5 east; and Henry 
 G. Little, J. F. Williams and Sylvester Blish for 
 township 14, range 5 east. 
 
 At the June term, 1838, James M. Allan was ap- 
 pointed " County Treasurer pro tern until the August 
 election." 
 
 '' Ordered, That the County Clerk be allowed the 
 sum of ten dollars for his services for the year past; 
 also ten dollars for attending to the military lands ; 
 also five dollars for stationery." It is explained in 
 the order that the salary of $20 is in addition " to' 
 what has already been paid him by the day through 
 mistake." 
 
 At the August election, 1838, Marcus B. Osborn, 
 John P. Hanna and Sylvester Blish were elected 
 County Commissioners. 
 
 April 1, 1839, Milo M. Pollock, Edgar Jacks, John 
 H. Wells, William H. Hubbard and William Mc- 
 Henry were appointed Assessors, and James D. Ta- 
 bor was appointed Collector.' 
 
 Marcus B. Osborn was appointed agent to receive 
 from the State the money appropriated to the county ' 
 by the Legislature of 1838-9. This was the noted 
 "hush money" that was given to counties that did 
 not get any of the railroads that were then so grandly 
 voted by the State to build. It was the noted Legis- 
 lature of "internal improvement " celebrity, when 
 Illinois was struck with a craze that at that time 
 looked as though the young State was irreparably 
 ruined. 
 
 James M. Allan resigned as School Commissioner 
 in 1839, and Judge Joseph Tillson was appointed to 
 the place. 
 
 In 1840 James D. Tabor was appointed Collector 
 of Taxes; Arba M. Seymour was appointed to take 
 the census of the cOunty in 1840. 
 
 August, 1840, John Carson was elected one of the 
 County Commissioners, in place of Sylvester Blish, 
 whose term expired. 
 
 John Thomas was supported by the, county as 
 early as 1840. Probably the first county charge; 
 
 
 
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 --«$«&£* 
 
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 4 ? @aX <l 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 August, 1 841, William Ayers and George McHenry 
 were elected County Commissioners, Osborn and 
 Carson retiring. In 1842 James D. Tabor was again 
 Collector, and Joseph Tillson was appointed As- 
 sessor. Charles C. Blish was Surveyor, John C. 
 Ward, Treasurer. 
 
 In 1842 Francis Loomis was elected County Com- 
 missioner. 
 
 June 7, 1843, the County Court met for the first 
 time at the new county-seat, and made the following 
 order: " Pursuant to adjournment the Court met 
 this day at Sugar Tree Grove, and in consequence 
 of the inclemency of the weather it is ordered that 
 the Court adjourn till to-morrow morning." The 
 next day the weather was no better, and the same 
 order was again made. But the next day (June 9) 
 the weather had improved, and the Court met and 
 went to work to lay off into town lots the town and 
 name it Cambridge. 
 
 In 1843 Luke C. Sheldon was elected one of the 
 Commissioners, Marcus B. Osborn, Collector. James 
 M. Allan again elected County Clerk. Alfred W. 
 Perry was Deputy Sheriff in 1843. 
 
 August, 1844, Amos B. Cole was elected County 
 Commissioner. 
 
 Lewis M. Webber was County Collector and 
 Sheriff. 
 
 Francis Loomis was re-elected Commissioner in 
 1845, and L. M. Webber, Sheriff. 
 
 In 1846 a tax of thirty cents on the $roo was laid 
 for county purposes. 
 
 Elisha Calkins and William Ayers were Commis- 
 sioners in 1847. James Bernard, Probate Justice. 
 
 In 1849 Henry Sleight was County Probate Jus- 
 tice. 
 
 By act of the General Assembly of 1850. the 
 County Commissioner's Court was abolished and in 
 lieu thereof the County Court, consisting of a County 
 Judge and two Associate County Judges, was estab- 
 lished. 
 
 At the March term of the County Court in 1857 
 Justus F. Dresser was Sheriff. 
 
 Samuel P. Brainard was elected County Clerk in 
 August, 1847. 
 
 William H. Blish was elected County Treasurer, 
 Lewis M. Webber re-elected Sheriff, and Champlin 
 Lester elected School Commissioner. 
 August, 1848, William Miller and Stephen Palmer 
 
 were elected Commissioners, and Matthew B. Potter 
 was Collector and Sheriff. 
 
 The Probate Court met August 17, 1849, James 
 M. Allan, Judge; M. B. Potter, Sheriff; and Samuel 
 P. Brainard, Clerk. E. Otis was Deputy Clerk. In 
 1850, H. G. Reynolds was Deputy Coun f .y Clerk, 
 William Miller and John Piatt Associate Justices, 
 Henry G. Griffin School Commissioner, W. H. Blish, 
 Treasurer. At the February term, 185 1, Joseph 
 Tillson, Judge ; Thomas F. Davenport, Clerk ; and 
 Henry G. Little, Sheriff. December term, 1853, 
 Stephen Palmer was County Judge. September 
 term, 1854, Stephen Palmer, County Judge; John 
 Piatt and Robt. Getty, County Justices; M. B. Pot- 
 ter, Sheriff; Daniel Bonar, Clerk. At the December 
 term, this year, T. F. Davenport, Sheriff. 
 
 At a special term of the County Court, March 17, 
 1856, the county, through its agent, contracted to the 
 Winnebago Swamp Land Company the swamp lands 
 belonging to the county. The company agreed to 
 drain the lands at once " as far as the same may be 
 practical," and to pay the county $70,000 in ten 
 years, five per cent, interest. 
 
 Dec. \, 1856, Justus F. Dresser gave bonds for 
 the faithful discharge of "the duties of Collector of 
 Taxes for the year 1856." 
 
 ■ — yJN' y-^Sv 
 
 
 E3 
 
 V) 
 
 County Seats. 
 
 ,OUNTY legal affairs were by law, at one 
 time and another, transacted at five differ- 
 ent places in the county. First at Day- 
 ton, then Richmond, Geneseo, Morristown 
 and Cambridge. The county seat proper 
 was " located " three times ; twice by Com- 
 missioners and once by the Legislature; the third 
 and last time on a petition of a majority of the 
 people. 
 
 Under the act of the Legislature the Commission- 
 ers to locate the county seat were sworn into office 
 Oct. 3, 1837, by William McMurtry, of Henderson, 
 Knox County, a Justice of the Peace. This man 
 was afterward Lieutenant Governor of the State. 
 
 Andover had just sprung into vigorous existence, 
 under the auspices of New York capitalists, and was 
 a prominent candidate. Geneseo, with more justice 
 probably in her claim, was also pushing her rights. 
 
 1 
 
$£$& 
 
 ■>4 K 6\ &M®M&**& — >4^r 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 -«4$^f( 
 
 Morristown put in a vigorous claim also, backed with 
 
 her great wealth. A little place on Spring Creek, 
 iknown as " Ford Town," also bravely put in its 
 
 shovel, and the chronicler of the day says that in 
 ^addition to the above, — " and James M. Allan was 
 
 there." 
 
 RICHMOND. 
 
 It seems that Mr. Allan as early as 1836 saw that 
 there would be in the near future need for a town or 
 location for a county seat, and his idea was that some 
 eligible spot would be near the geographical center of 
 he county. He mounted his horse and rode until 
 he found an established corner in Sugar Tree Grove, 
 and from that point, guided by a pocket compass, 
 rode due north, counting the steps of his horse, till 
 he reached, as he supposed, section 17, township 16 
 north, 3 east, about five miles from where he started, 
 and this led him into a rise in the middle of a beau- 
 
 \\ )tiful prairie as may be found anywhere. He had 
 ;»made no error in his measurement, and he afterwards 
 
 (^entered the southeast quarter of section 17, and 
 
 ^staked out a town, and named it Richmond, and the 
 
 J§Jtown was henceforth a standing candidate for county 
 
 JEJseat. 
 
 ^J The law organizing the county required the Com- 
 ymissioners to meet at the house of Dr. Baker, and 
 
 u ) proceed to select a site. Another requirement was 
 that, pari passu, they should select Government 
 land. 
 
 The Commissioners met as required, and there was 
 a large delegation from Andover. At Brandenburg's 
 they met Major Allan, and proceeded to Geneseo ; 
 then the cavalcade rode out in the bald prairie to Al- 
 lantown — Richmond, and upon the highest ground 
 they halted and surveyed the wide landscape o'er. 
 Not a house nor a tree was within miles of the group 
 of town-hunters, but there was a wide and extended 
 view, and the rich rolling prairies lay spreading its 
 broad acres at their feet. The county map was un- 
 rolled before them, and this was unquestionably 
 nearly in the center. 
 
 Mr. Allan prevailed. His offer rather overwhelmed 
 other bidders. He made a deed to the county for 
 120 acres of his quarter section, and reserved only 
 40 acres for himself. The entire tract was laid out in 
 lots 4x8 rods — streets six rods wide. Each party 
 had a public square. " Three choice lots " were do- 
 nated to George Harris upon condition that he would 
 
 build a public house of entertainment " by the first 
 of next June." This house was soon up and the 
 town started on its brilliant and brief career. 
 A sale of lots was advertised in the Peoria, Galena, 
 Chicago and Canton papers " to come off the first 
 Wednesday in June." In the interval choice lots 
 were ordered sold at private sale for $50, second 
 choice for $25, one-third cash. Proposals were pub- 
 lished for building a court-house, 18x24 feet, story 
 and a half high; and at the December term, 1837, 
 the clerk was ordered to let the work to the lowest 
 bidder. George Harris secured the contract for the 
 building, and so he' pushed the work on his own 
 house and the court-house towards completion the 
 next year. His public house mentioned above was 
 36 X40 feet, two stories. So far, this was by far the 
 most extensive and pretentious building ever erected 
 in the county. 
 
 At the June term, 1838, the Court pledged the 
 faith of the county that all purchase money paid for 
 lots should be returned in the event the county seat 
 was removed from Richmond. This was official no- 
 tice that it would possibly soon move. 
 
 At the August election, 1838, the new County 
 Commissioners elected were Marcus B. Osborn, Syl- 
 vester Blish and John P. Hjtnna, and by act of the 
 Legislature of the preceding winterlthe new Commis- 
 sioners had to draw lots. In the drawing, Osborn re- 
 tained his office three years, Blish two and Hanna 
 one. 
 
 .At a special term, October, 1838, George Branden- 
 burg was allowed $12 for "furnishing a court-room 
 one term." At the December term, of this year, it 
 was ordered that at the general elections all voters 
 should vote at the county seat. - Probably the cause 
 of this action was that at the election in 1837 there 
 were just seven votes cast in Richmond. This act 
 was repealed the same year, and people did not have 
 all to go to the county seat to vote. At this time 
 the Court informed the members of the Legislature- 
 that the county of Henry was seriously suffering, be- 
 cause there had been no session of the Circuit Court 
 in the county. This appeal to the Legislature did 
 bring the Circuit Court, as the next spring term con- 
 vened there. There were, notwithstanding the long 
 delay of the Court's coming, only ten eases on the 
 docket at this first term. 
 
 One was a criminal case — counterfeiting. This 
 
 '& 
 
 v) 
 
 mm^s- 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 735 
 
 
 E3 
 
 criminal had to be guarded day and night. This 
 suggested the necessity to the County Court to ordei 
 published proposals for building a jail. On the ist 
 of January, 1839, a contract was made with George 
 Harris to build a jail, to be completed by the next 
 September. 
 
 The first Circuit Court was in April, 1839. Thomas 
 Ford, afterwards Governor, was the presiding Judge ; 
 James M. Allan, Clerk. The only ciiminal, a coun- 
 terfeiter, took a change of venue to Ogle County. 
 Soon after the Court adjourned another prisoner was 
 run in, and the two were being guarded at Harris' 
 house. The house took fire, and when discovered 
 the flames were beyond control ; and as the Court- 
 house was close by it too was burned to the ground. 
 In the excitement, the two prisoners went to the 
 wood-pile and relieved themselves of their shackles, 
 and then went to work with a might and main to put 
 out the fire, and, failing in this, removing property 
 and saving it. The counterfeiter, Porter, was a small 
 man, and he saw clothes hanging on the wall ; he at- 
 tempted to take them down, but was not tall enough, 
 except by tearing them, so he rushed back and got a 
 stool to stand on ; but when he retured the clothes 
 were in a blaze. He looked for something else to 
 save, and noticed a small stand and carried that to 
 a place of safety. There was a drawer in this stand, 
 and in the drawer was an indictment on which a 
 jury afterwards sent Porter to the penitentiary. 
 
 Harris had not completed the Court-house when 
 it burned, and he wanted pay for his work. He and 
 the Court could not agree; so, finally the matter was 
 submitted to a vote of the people, and he was paid 
 $30 in addition to what he had received, and the 
 contracts were canceled. This last mentioned elec- 
 tion was on July, 9, 1839. 
 
 But to return to the subject. The fire had swept 
 from the earth the entire city of Richmond — except 
 a straw covered stable. All was gone, and appear- 
 ances indicated had gone away to stay. Every one 
 in the county was agreed that new county buildings 
 should be speedily erected; but just where they 
 should be put up was another and more serious 
 question. The old bidders for the county seat, with 
 new friends, enlisted in hot haste and again entered 
 the field, proclaiming the superior merits of the goods 
 and wares they had to offer the county. 
 
 Meetings were called and the war of words and 
 
 quiet investigation went on. At a meeting in a school- 
 house at Rock River, it was " resolved," in italics 
 and big caps, "that we are in favor of removing the 
 county seat from its present location." Then a 
 petition was circulated, addressed to the County 
 Court, praying for a call of a convention of the peo- 
 ple to take action on this momentous question. 
 
 The last resolution in the series passed by this 
 meeting was as follows : 
 
 " It is further resolved at this meeting, by an 
 unanimous vote, that we concur with a majority of 
 the legal voters of the county (when they shall be 
 taken), for the re-location of the coumy seat of said 
 county. And we further disapprove of the minority 
 remonstrating against any location that may be made 
 by the majority." This was signed by George Col- 
 bert, Chairman, and George Tyler, Secretary, and 
 dated June 1, 1839. 
 
 About the same time a meeting was held at An- 
 dover, which petitioned the Court to call a conven- 
 tion of the people, " to take the sense of the county ' 
 on several topics of importance, among which are: ' 
 ist. The Revenue law. 2d. The Internal Improve- { 
 merit of the State. 3d. Adjusting the accounts of 1 
 G. W. Harris. 4th.' The removal of the county seat. ! 
 On the last named subject we suggest the following 
 consideratins in favor of a removal, ist. There have 
 been strong objections from the first, to the present 
 location, that it is remote from timber; that it is des- 
 titute of water power ; of facilities for steam power ; 
 that it is not on the direct route of travel; * * * 
 the difficulty of obtaining suitable persons to hold 
 office at the town of Richmond." This last propo- 
 sition will sound strange to readers of the present ) 
 day and age. " Difficulty of obtaining suitable per- 1 
 sons to hold office !" Think of it, reader! when for 
 every office now, from Path Master to President, 
 there are clamorous applicants by the hundreds, 
 sometimes by the thousands, for every place there is 
 to fill! 
 
 This memorial was signed by 15 citizens. Among 
 those 15 were William Ayers, Joseph Tillson and I. 
 Pillsbury. 
 
 The court yielded to these petitions of the people,, 
 and at the June term, 1839, ordered a convention to 
 meet at Geneseo, " to compare views and consult on ' 
 such matters of immediate importance to the county^ 
 as may be then and there proposed." 
 
 ^ ^ ' q/> $hii®iiii$ \c) ^ e^ 
 
^& k (S^ WMlli^d- 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 4&&& 
 
 > 
 
 The convention met at Geneseo on July 9, and 
 the next day the County Court met at the same 
 place. These proceedings were had in Geneseo be- 
 cause there was nothing left in Richmond but the 
 stable, and the population of the " fallen Babylon " 
 were housed in said stable. In this stable the 
 County Court held one meeting and then took up its 
 bed and walked over the land of Nod — Geneseo, 
 and held its sessions here, waiting the settlement of 
 the great questions before the people. It remained 
 there only a short time, until the question of removal 
 of the county. seat was again strongly agitated, and 
 steps accordingly taken toward changing its location. 
 
 At the December term, 1839, the Court petitioned 
 the Legislature to legalize its acts in holding sessions 
 at Geneseo, that officers of the county might be 
 permitted to hold their offices at their respective 
 homes. 
 
 MORRISTOWN. 
 
 At the session of the Legislature, 1839, an act was 
 passed re-locating the county seat; and Alexander 
 Turnbull, of Warren County, W. W. Conway, Rock 
 Island, and Harmon Brown, Knox County, were ap- 
 pointed Commissioners to locate and name the new 
 county town. 
 
 The earnest competitors now for the county 
 capital were Geneseo and Morristown. The former 
 apparently had every advantage, and this fact, prob- 
 ably, made the people of that place over-confident. 
 At any rate, when the Commissioners to locate met 
 and opened the bids there was practically no contest 
 at all. Morristown carried off the prize easily. Her 
 bid was overwhelming, compared with Geneseo's. 
 Geneseo, it is said, offered the county a fair and 
 liberal portion of the town, while Morristown, or 
 Charles Oakley and Joshua Harper, offered an entire 
 quarter-section for town lots and $1,000 in cash. 
 This settled the matter at once, and Morristown be- 
 came the seat of justice for Henry County. Gene- 
 seo was seriously disappointed; it was a blow 
 under the belt. For some years her people con- 
 tended they had really made the most liberal offer, 
 while her enemies said the big end of her liberality 
 was only manifested after the question had been set- 
 tled. Then another wheel within this wheel was a 
 statement made current that one of the Commission- 
 ers to locate, Turnbull, had been a candidate for the 
 
 Legislature and Geneseo had voted against him, and, 
 therefore, he was " fernenst " her. 
 
 Among the provisions for the new county seat, 
 Morristown, was one that a public house should be 
 built out of the fund ; and that within a certain time 
 (one year) each of the colonists should erect a house 
 upon his land. A good-sized building was erected 
 out of the general fund, and three or four dwelling 
 houses were erected by different parties. The town 
 plat was one mile square. In the center was a pub- 
 lic square, 440 feet each way. Lots, 45 feet front 
 and 135 to 240 deep. 
 
 Thus, under promising prospects, was started the 
 new town. It was thought the county-seat question 
 had been about permanently settled, and a permanent 
 population was expected to flow into the place. Mr. 
 Crocker had entered Crocker's Grove (sometimes 
 called Brown's), as well as a large tract adjoining. 
 He had intended making an extensive farm and ex- 
 pected wide range for years for his catde. He re- 
 gretted that Morristown had been located so near 
 him, as it would cramp his grazing range. 
 
 The above named public house and three or four 
 dwellings constituted the point of greatness and 
 growth at which the embryo city of the plains 
 seemed to halt in its strides to greatness. Murmurs 
 at the place began to be heard ; the good people 
 complained that the selection was bad, very incon- 
 venient and not in the center of the county. In short, 
 the most " knowinsomest " old settlers soon saw the 
 the question of a new county seat would have to be 
 all fought over again. The terms of the Circuit 
 Court were held in Geneseo after the burning of 
 Richmond, until the fall of 1841-. The first Circuit 
 Court held in Morristown was in May, 1842, and the 
 last in May, 1844. 
 
 The public house in Morristown was duly con- 
 veyed to the county and a contract for improving it 
 was made with David Gove and Nathaniel Walters, 
 for which work an order was issued to them for the 
 sum of $70. June 28, 1841,^ contract was made 
 with Thomas W. Carey and George Brandenburg for 
 the erection of a " commodious court-house, f 8 by 
 24 feet, one and a half stories high," and also fdr 
 building a jail. Brandenburg arid Carey rented' the 
 public house for a term of two years, to pay $100 
 rent, and to "furnish suitable court-room for the use 
 of all courts in the county." The court-house was 
 
 
 -£^HOT&A^ — :s ^ L 
 
 4* 
 
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 ■ev^iwsiiiifc*® — 3«ter 
 
 4*§^ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 built, and this was the building that, being trans- 
 ported finally to Cambridge on wagons, gave the 
 county seat the reputation of being on wheels. 
 
 As said, the dissatisfaction with Morristown con- 
 tinued to grow. The people were determined to re- 
 locate the county seat, and they were determined no 
 longer to trust "commissioners to locate." They 
 had many reasons for mistrusting commissioners. 
 Sinister influences too often were the weightier con- 
 siderations, and for such good reasons the people, 
 when they determined to found a new county-town, at 
 the same time determined to fix that location them- 
 selves. 
 
 The people of Morristown themselves soon were 
 free to admit that their place was not suitably lo- 
 cated. Joshua Harper, one of the proprietors of the 
 place, was a candidate for the Legislature in 1842, 
 and he distinctly pledged the people that, if elcted, 
 and a majority of the people so petitioned, he would 
 vote to send the county seat to any p'oint they 
 wished, " even into the Winnebago swamps." He 
 was elected, and was fathful to his promise. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 Cambridge, Geneseo and Sugar Tree Grove were 
 the rival points for the new seat of justice. Some 
 maneuvering was attempted to get it located on sec- 
 tion 7, 15-3. This land was owned by Ithamar 
 Pillsbury, of Andover. Joseph Tillson, called gen- 
 erally "' Judge "Tillson, was the powerful champion 
 of Sugar-Tree Grove. He was, as said elsewhere, an 
 early settler, and always an active man, and one of 
 much weight and influence in county matters. 
 Probably the gratitude of the good people of Cam- 
 bridge will some day erect a suitable tablet to the 
 memory of "Judge" Tillson in the Court- House 
 Square. Petitions to locate at Sugar-Tree Grove 
 were circulated. Col. Wells, of Wethersfield, drew 
 a petition and circulated it in his town ; John 
 Kilvington pressed the petition upon the attention of 
 the people of Wethersfield and about Barren Grove. 
 The activity of 'Judge " Tillson and his friends se- 
 cured a majority in the county to sign the petition to 
 locate the county seat at or near Sugar-Tree Grove, 
 the present site of Cambridge. Geneseo remonstrat- 
 ed vigorously, and started for a signature and petition 
 for the appointment again of "commissioners to lo- 
 cate." It was said that James M. Allan was the 
 chief instigator in this movement of Geneseo. 
 
 To people wha have come into the county or 
 grown up since this exciting county seat controversy 
 raged so intensely, the story of the " fine work "done, 
 the shrewd schemes put upon foot by the leaders on 
 both sides of the question, sound strangely indeed. 
 But we must remember that in those days a part of 
 the great importance that attached to the question was 
 the fact that then the county seat alone was the one 
 point where the important leading town of the coun- 
 ty was to be; men then supposed, as there were no 
 great river town to be made in the county, that the 
 county seat alone could induce people to build a city. 
 The day of railroads was not then : it is now, and to- 
 day there are several towns and cities in the county 
 that have distanced Cambridge, the present county 
 seat, " in climbing that ruggtd hill where fame's fair 
 temple shines afar." 
 
 When a majority of the people had signed the pe- 
 tition to make Cambridge the county seat, the peti- 
 tion was forwarded to Col. Buford, of Rock Island, 
 who then represented this district in the Senate. He 
 introduced a bill at once to re-locate the county 
 seat of Henry County. It was passed by the Senate 
 and went to the House, where Joshua Harper was 
 the member from this county. The bill passed the 
 House and became a law Feb. 21, 1843. The loca- 
 tion, as fixed by the bill, was on the northwest quar- 
 ter and southwest quarter of section 7, township 115, 
 3 east, 40 acres from each quarter-section. The 
 bill provided courts should be held at Morristown 
 until suitable buildings could be provided in Cam- 
 bridge. The bill also provided for the re-conveyance 
 by the county of all property deeded in Morristown. 
 See history of Cambridge. 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 — f- 
 
 -5- 
 
 Officials. 
 
 'AMES D. TABOR was elected first Sher- 
 iff. His first term ended 1840. He was 
 again elected, but the Governor refused to 
 commission him, as his books were not straight. 
 A new election was ordered, and Tabor was 
 again elected, and by some hook or crook got 
 his commission this time. He was again elected in 
 1842, and at the end of his term ran away and left 
 his securities and many others in the lurch. 
 
 tf » 
 
 l( 
 
 a^r q/^H lOTs^*© — ^^S*- 
 
-zt&s; ^V^MOTf^^ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
 > 
 
 In 1838 the Legislature enacted that the County 
 Commissioners should by lot determine their respect- 
 ive terms of office. Osborn drew the long term, 
 and Hanna the short. Hanna was re-elected in 
 
 i839- 
 
 1840, John Carson was elected Commissioner. 
 August, 1841, William Ayers, beating the old Com- 
 missioner, Osborn, one vote. It was Andover vs. 
 Geneseo. 
 
 1841, September, George McHenry was elected to 
 fill the vacancy caused by the death of Carson, when 
 the following named gentlemen were elected: 1842, 
 Francis Loomis; 1843, Luke- C. Sheldon; 1844, 
 Amos B. Cole ; 1845, Francis Loomis; 1846, Elisha 
 F. Calkins; 1847, William Ayers; 1848, William 
 Miller and Stephen Palmer; Calkins having removed 
 from the county. 
 
 In 1849, under the new Constitution, a County 
 Judge (also Probate Judge) and two Associates, 
 styled County Justices, were elected, to-wit: J. M. 
 Allan, Judge ; William Miller and John Piatt, Asso- 
 ciates. 
 
 In 1850 Allan was elected to the Legislature, a,nd 
 a special election for Judge resulted in the election 
 of Joseph Tillson. 
 
 1853, Stephen Palmer was elected Judge, and 
 Robert Getty and John Piatt, Associates. 
 
 In 1857 the township organization system was 
 adopted in the county, and the Board of Supervi- 
 sors succeeded the old County Commissioners' 
 Court. 
 
 1857, M. B. Potter was elected County Judge. 
 
 1844, Lewis M. Webber succeeded Tabor as Sher- 
 iff. He was re-elected by a majority of one vote. 
 Webber went to Rock Island and followed merchan- 
 dising. 
 
 M. B. Potter succeeded Webber in 1848. The law 
 prohibiting a Sheriff serving two terms in succession 
 then went into effect. Henry G. Little was elected 
 in 1850. Potter again in 1852. T. F. Daven- 
 port in 1854. J. F. Dresser in 1856. P. H. Sniff 
 in 1858. 
 
 James M. Allan is a native of Tennessee ; reared 
 in Alabama. His father was a Presbyterian minis- 
 ter. The Major came to Illinois in 1835, and to 
 Henry County in 1836. A large man physically and 
 mentally, and a man of big heart, naturally full of 
 goodness and charity. He was appointed Circuit 
 
 Clerk in 1837, by Judge Dan Stone, and re-appoint- 
 ed by Thomas Ford. He filled the office until the 
 election of Samuel P. Brainard, in 1848. 
 
 At the election, 1839, by a very clever trick George 
 Tyler beat Major Allan twelve votes for County 
 Clerk. Tyler never qualified, and at the special 
 election ordered, Allan received fifty -seven votes of 
 the sixty-three votes cast in the county. He was 
 his own successor in this office until 1849, when he 
 became County Judge. And this last office he re- 
 signed the next year, having been elected a member 
 of'the General Assembly. It is told of the Judge 
 that one year the County Assessor and Collector 
 having absconded, he voluntarily assessed the county 
 and then in due time proceeded to collect the taxes" 
 he had assessed. He assumed the office, and every- 
 body was glad that he did and thanked him for it, 
 which goes to show that the disease of "pap-suck- 
 ing" did not rage so fiercely among the good people 
 of Henry County as it has of late years in the na- 
 tion. 
 
 In 1838 Judge Allan was appointed School Com- 
 missioner, and July following Treasurer pro tern. 
 In short the entire round of places of honor and 
 trust were freely accorded to him by the people of 
 the county. He won the respect and confidence of 
 all who knew him. He never betrayed or neglected 
 a trust. He was of Southern blood, and he and his 
 remarkable brother, William T., left the South and 
 came to Illinois to escape the ownership of slaves 
 they had inherited, and that by the laws of the State 
 they could not liberate. William T. Allan was the 
 forerunner and the peer of Owen Lovejoy in North- 
 ern Illinois. In freeing the land, in liberating the 
 white man from the curse of African slavery, in 
 striking the shackles from the slaves, he went forth 
 like Peter the Hermit — eloquent, brave, sincere and 
 unconquerable; defying the hooting mobs, and 
 proclaiming the new religion of "free speech, free 
 press and free man." 
 
 Major James M. Allan retired mostly from public, 
 political or official life in 1852, and in 1858, in com- 
 pany with Atkinson (now of Moline), Edwards and 
 others, organized the Winnebago Swamp Land Com- 
 pany, and purchased 50,000 acres of the swamp 
 lands of Henry County. This wa's a vast, and at 
 that day, a daring enterprise, and has resulted in 
 draining and making splendid farms of what 
 
 •s 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 A§&®fa 
 
 ■^C^ — §^ratlf!>A£- 
 
HENRY 
 
 COUNTY. 
 
 739 
 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 many years were regarded as the uninhabitable por- 
 tions of the county. 
 
 An early settler who had known Allen long and 
 well thus sums up his leading characteristics : 
 " Allan, though brave as any man, large and of tre- 
 mendous physical force, was never a burly bragga- 
 docio, but always polite, social and affable — kind 
 and generous to all mankind, and in his intercourse 
 with crowds of men diffident. He had a strong 
 sense of duty, as well as a strong perception in 
 which way lay his and the public's interest. When 
 there was an imperative necessity he could make a 
 speech to a crowd to a good purpose, or button-hole 
 a voter and make a little speech to him alone, un- 
 equaled by any other man in the county. He is 
 the Pater patrice of Henry County. He lobbied 
 through the Legislamre the act organizing the county, 
 filled nearly every office at different times ; stood by 
 as a keen-eyed sentinel ever ready to protect the 
 rights and integrity of the county, and he success- 
 fully attended the session of the Legislature and 
 thwarted the movement of Gen. Henderson, who was 
 then a resident of Stark County, in his scheme of de- 
 taching a portion of this county and adding it to the 
 domain of Stark County." 
 
 The imperishable finger-marks of Major Allan are 
 everywhere in the county. They will be his endur- 
 ing monument for many and many long years after 
 he has gone the way of all the earth. 
 
 In 1862 Holmes O. Sleight was elected County 
 Treasurer, and was re-elected in 1864. 
 
 Judge George E. Wait was elected County Judge 
 in i86r, and at the expiration of his term Julius S. 
 Hinman was elected his successor, which office he 
 continuously held by re-election until his death, in 
 the spring of 1885. The vacancy caused by the 
 death of Judge Hinman was supplied by an election 
 in May, 1885, when the present County Judge, John 
 P. Hand, was elected. 
 
 The present (1885) county officials are : John P. 
 Hand, County Judge. 
 
 F. G. Welton, County Clerk; W. L. Dalrymple, 
 Deputy County Clerk. 
 
 County Treasurer, J. C. Hoflund ; Deputy, Esq. 
 Neely. 
 
 County School Commissioner, E. C. Rosseter. 
 
 County Surveyor, Orson Jones. 
 
 Sheriff, B. F. Goodell; Deputies, G. McClung, 
 Isaac Cook and E. C. Williams. 
 
 Coroner, Frank McArthur. 
 
 Master in Chancery, W. H. Shepard. 
 
 The Circuit Judges of this Judicial Circuit are : G 
 W. Pleasants, of Rock Island ; A. A. Smith, of Gales- 
 burg; and John J. Glenn, of Monmouth. 
 
 Circuit Clerk, L. H. Patten. His efficient deputy 
 since the year 1869 is Anna Boyd. 
 
 
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<^V««llIlfW^ 
 
 -«t^^c©vB 
 
 1 
 
 r=x 
 
 HEN the county was organ- 
 ized it was the Sixth Judicial 
 Circuit. The first term of 
 Court was held at Richmond, 
 April i, 1839. Thomas Ford 
 was the presiding Judge; Nor- 
 man H. Purple, State's Attor- 
 ney; James M. Allan, Clerk; 
 James D. Tabor, Sheriff. No 
 Grand Jury appeared, and the 
 Sheriff was ordered to summon 
 23 qualified persons as a Grand 
 Jury, and the same number as 
 petit jurors. Judge Dan Stone's 
 commission to James M. Allan, as 
 Clerk, bears date Aug. 17, 1837. 
 Governor Joseph Duncan issued 
 Sheriff Tabor's commission. The 
 first case on the docket was Arthur 
 Thornton and Job Searl vs. Moses 
 F. Stemson. Judgment by con- 
 fession in the sum of $400. The 
 first case on the People's docket 
 was against Charles Atkinson, for- 
 feiture of recognizance as witness. 
 
 There were nine cases on the docket at this term 
 of the Court. The only criminal case was the Peo- 
 ple vs. John Porter, counterfeiting. Venue changed 
 to Ogle County. This Court convened on the 1st 
 and adjourned " until Court in course " on the 2d 
 of April. 
 
 The second term of the Court was at Richmond, 
 commencing October 7, 1839. Thomas Ford, Judge; 
 
 N. H. Purple, State's Attorney ; Allan, Clerk; Tabor, 
 Sheriff. Milo M. Pollock was appointed Foreman of 
 the Grand Jury. Jury empanelled, and Court ad- 
 journed for the day. 
 
 The first jury trial was The People vs. Hiram 
 Pearce — disturbing the peace. The jurors were : 
 Elias Walters, William Hite, James Withrow, Wil- 
 liam Walters, Charles W. Davenport, Luke C. Shel- 
 den, William Ayers, Edward A. Mix, Jesse Woolsey, 
 William Woolsey, David Potter and Joshua Dodge. 
 Verdict guilty, and fined $25. 
 
 Attorneys at this Court were Peters, Drury, Wells 
 and Purple The Court finished all business in two 
 days and adjourned. 
 
 The next term, April 6, 1840, the same officers as 
 the preceding Court. Among the attorneys present 
 was Mr. Harvey. Court adjourned on the 8th. 
 
 The next Court was begun May 17, 18-41. Thomas 
 C. Browne, Judge; Hall, State's Attorney. Browne 
 renewed James M. Allan's commission as Clerk. 
 Knowlton, Knox, Manning and Southwick were of 
 the attorneys at this Conrt. Adjourned May 18. 
 
 Circuit, Court, Sept. 27, 184T, begun and held at 
 Geneseo. Browne, Judge; Kellogg, State's Attorney, 
 pro tern. No jurors were summoned to this Court. 
 The Sheriff was ordered to summon 23 grand and 23 
 petit jurors. 
 
 May 10, 1842, the next term convened at Morris- 
 town. Same officers as preceding term. Another 
 term in Morristown, Sept. 26, 1842. Same officers. 
 Then May 15, 1843, at same place. Joseph H. 
 Wells, State's Attorney; Allan, Clerk, and- Tabor, 
 Sheriff. Again, there was a term in September fol- 
 
 1 
 
 S3 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
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 lowing. Next in May, 1844. Same officers. In 
 September another Court, and Lewis M. Webber, 
 Sheriff. 
 
 At May term, 1845, J. L. Loop was State's Attor- 
 ney. 
 
 At September term, 1845, T. J. Turner was State's 
 attorney. 
 
 1846, May term, Thomas J. Turner, State's Attor- 
 ney. 
 
 1846, September term, H. B. Stillman, State's At- 
 torney, pro tern. 
 
 1847, April term, H. B. Stillman, State's Attorney ; 
 September term, same officers. 
 
 1848, April term, same officers; September term, 
 same officers, except Samuel P. Brainard, Clerk. 
 
 1849, May term, Benj. R. Shelden, Judge; Henry 
 B. Stillman, State's Attorney; Matthew B. Potter, 
 Sheriff, and Samuel P. Brainard, Clerk ; September 
 term, same officers. 
 
 Brainard made H. G. Reynolds Deputy Clerk. 
 
 The November term, r85o, of the Circuit Court, 
 Judge William Kellogg presided, Harmon G. Rey- 
 nolds, State's Attorney, Ben Graham, Clerk, and M. 
 B. Potter, Sheriff. 
 
 October term, 1851, Ira O.Wilkinson Judge, Henry 
 H. Stillman, State's Attorney, Ben Graham, Clerk, 
 Henry G. Little, Sheriff. 
 
 October term, T852 : M. Shallenbarger was State's 
 Attorney, and Sylvester Blish, Master in Chancery. 
 During his term the office became vacant by his 
 death, and James M. Allan was appointed to fill the 
 vacancy, by Judge Kellogg. At this term of the 
 Court William H. Brainardjentered upon the duties 
 of Circuit Clerk. 
 
 October term, 1853, Wilkinson, Judge, William T. 
 Miller, State's Attorney, Potter, Sheriff, Brainard, 
 Clerk. 
 
 September, 1855, J. W. Drury, Judge, T. F. Dav- 
 enport, Sheriff. 
 
 April term, 1856, William L. Dalrymple was Cir- 
 cuit Clerk. 
 
 April term, 1857, J. Wilson Drury Judge, Justus 
 F. Dresser, Sheriff, John C. Hawley, State's Attorney, 
 Thomas Wiley, Jr., Clerk. 
 
 By act of the Legislature the terms of holding the 
 Conrts in this, the 6th Judicial Circuit, was changed, 
 and the Courts in Henry County were changed to the 
 first Monday of March and the first Monday of Oc- 
 tober, of each year. 
 
 October term, 1857, officers were: Drury, Judge, 
 Wiley/Clerk, Dresser, Sheriff, J. B. Hawley, State's 
 Attorney. 
 
 At the March term, 1859, the Judge failed to come, 
 and there was no Court for this term. Judge Drury 
 appointed a special term to convene April, 1859. At 
 this term of the Court Purnel H. Sniff appeared as 
 Sheriff. 
 
 At the April term, i860, John H. Howe, presiding 
 Judge, Wiley, Clerk, Sniff, Sheriff, J. B. Hawley, 
 State's Attorney. 
 
 March term, 1861, J. H. Howe, Judge, Amos 
 Gould, Clerk, Adam K. Henny, Sheriff, Hiram Biger 
 low, State's Attorney, Amos Gould appointed J. A. 
 Nye, Deputy. 
 
 October term, 1862, William W. Heaton, Judge, 
 Levi North, State's Attorney. 
 
 March term, 1862, Wilkinson, Judge, Hiram Bige- 
 low, State's Attorney. 
 
 March term, 1863, John B. Hagin, Sheriff. 
 
 March term, 1864, same. 
 
 At the March term, 1865, William W. Otis, Sheriff, 
 Charles C. Wilson State's Attorney. 
 
 October term, 1867, George W. Pleasants, Judge, 
 C. C. Wilson, State's Attorney, George W. Sroufe, 
 Sheriff, Amos Gould, Clerk. 
 
 October term, 1868, Anthony R. Mock, State's At- 
 torney. 
 
 February term, 1869, Andrew G. Warner, Sheriff, 
 Thomas J. Atwater, Clerk. 
 
 Thomas J. Atwater, Circuit Clerk, died in Febru- 
 ary, 1872, and at the February term of the Court of 
 that year Judge Pleasants appointed Lewis H. Pat- 
 ten to fill the vacancy. Mr. Patten has continued to 
 hold the office by electiou since, and is the present 
 Circuit Clerk. 
 
 John B. Hagin was Sheriff at the February term 
 of the Court, 187 1. 
 
 February term, 1873, Thomas E. Milchrist, State's 
 Attorney, Peter Johnson, Sheriff. 
 
 February term, 1875, William J. Vannice, Sheriff. 
 
 February term, 1878, John J. Glenn, presiding 
 Judge. 
 
 October, 1878, Arthur A. Smith, Judge. 
 
 February, 1879, Judge Glenn, presiding. 
 
 At February term, 1S81, Benj. H. Goodell, Sheriff. 
 
 There was no change until the February term, 
 1883, when A. A. Smith was the presiding Judge. 
 He again presided at the October term, 1883. Judge 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 Glenn at the February term, 1884, Judge Pleasants 
 at the October term, 1884. At the special March 
 term, 1885, Judge Smith presided. At the June 
 session Judge Glenn presided. 
 
 « 
 
 Bench and Bar. 
 
 HE coming of Judges and lawyers was like 
 an after-thojght to the stern and silent 
 pioneers, and yet in one sense there was 
 here half a century agp what might have been 
 termed a pioneer Bench and Bar. These have 
 been styled the " Circuit Riders," from the fact 
 that in those days the Court circuits were boundless 
 in extent and the lawyers were few, and twice a year 
 Court and lawyers would travel on horseback from 
 county to county, holding the short terms of Court in 
 each, and dealing out the homoeopathic doses of jus- 
 tice that the wants of a simple people demanded. 
 
 Court day then was an event all over the county. 
 The coming into the county-seat (generally Sunday 
 afternoon) of the Judges and lawyers was a tremen- 
 dous occasion, to which the people looked with an 
 interest only now exceeded by the boys on circus 
 day. The two transcendent days of interest were 
 the August election and Court days. To the com- 
 mon rustic mind there was something awe-inspiring 
 in the approach and in the presence of the Judge 
 and lawyers. 
 
 Beyond all question the oldest licensed lawyer 
 now in the County is Major James M. Allan, now a 
 quiet farmer in Loraine Township. 
 
 The first lawyer to " stick stakes " was in the year 
 1845. Practically there was no " first," or, possibly, 
 they were twins. At all events, two brothers, so far 
 as is now known, came here about the time indicated 
 above, and concluded to try their luck among the 
 people of Henry County, William H. and Samuel P. 
 Brainard. The last named soon found a more con- 
 genial and better paying business than the practice 
 before the Courts by getting himself elected Clerk of 
 the Circuit Court, and this was so small in the way of 
 fees that soon after he had to secure the office of 
 County Clerk, in the hope that the two together 
 would buy ample fall pumpkins to winter on. He 
 
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 evidently found himself a bloated office-holder, but in 
 the other emoluments of life was in the happy state 
 of preparation for a position as the " skeleton man " < 
 in the first circus that might come along. 1849, the 
 day of the California '49-ers, found him thus gyrating ( 
 between the glimmering pumpkin pile and the evan* 
 escent emoluments of his two offices, and His reduced 
 system succumbed to an attack of " gold fever," and he 
 struck out " across lots " to California. He appointed 
 a deputy, gave him all the fees of both offices, 
 " throwed " in the remaining small supply of " grub " ' 
 on hand and to the vision of his constituents he van- , 
 ished, in 1850. 
 
 His brother, William H., was some time after 
 elected Circuit Clerk, and he profited by his brother's 
 experience and did not join the two clerkships to- 
 gether ; but he joined to his first office the position of 
 County School Commissioner, and was lucky enough 
 to have the selling and transferring of most of the 
 school lands, and from these he reaped a golden har- 
 vest. 
 
 In coming along the dead level of this vale, of ' 
 tears, there tumbled into Henry County about the ; 
 year 1848, Jerome B, Carpenter, who swung his ' 
 shingle to the quiet breezes as an " attorney and : 
 counsellor at law,"— fees reasonable " except where v/ 
 services furnished." The very few years spent here ^ . 
 were by far the most successful and respectable of ( y 
 his life thus far, for it is a fact that this legal lumin- 
 ary rolled about in the shadow and in sunshine, and 
 it did sometimes look as though his " shiner " had got 
 tangled behind the thick clouds and could hardly get 
 out by the tallest kind of scratching. He left the 
 county after three years and went to Chicago, thence ' 
 to Texas, thence most probably to the . j 
 
 Hon. John Buckles, who first located in Cam- 
 bridge, may well be classed as among the first of the 
 real lawyers to come to this county as a permanent 
 home for the practice of an honorable profession — a 
 profession that sheds only luster upon those who can 
 aid in shedding additional luster in return upon the 
 ancient wig and woolsack. He came from Indiana ( 
 to Henry County in the early '50's, and at once en- 
 tered vigorously and successfully upon the practice, 
 and from the first compelled a recognition of his 
 eminent abilities. His greatest strength was probably 
 as a trial lawyer, and especially in the cross>exam- < 
 ination of witnesses. Here his legal acumen, his 
 ready wit as keen as a Damascus blade, his thor- 
 
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HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 <m£m\lM 
 
 743 
 
 ough knowledge of human nature, his grasp of truth 
 in a mountain of stuff and rubbish, were all at full 
 play in an instant ; and woe be to the witness who 
 had to pass through his hands after an attempt to 
 scale the truth in his direct examination ! And such 
 was his power in cross-examinations that he often 
 by a single question broke down the force of a wit- 
 ness's entire testimony, even where the witness had 
 not tried to prevaricate. 
 
 Buckles died in 1874, his death sending a shadow 
 to many a heart among his wide range of acquaint- 
 ances, admirers and warm friends. His widow and 
 children are in Chicago. 
 
 William Smith, now of Topeka, Kansas, was for 
 some years a lawyer living in Geneseo. 
 
 Henry Cady will be remembered by some of the 
 people of Cambridge and Geneseo, in both of which 
 places he lived in the name, if not much in the style, 
 of a lawyer. He came to the county about i860. 
 We understand he has some political position in Lake 
 County. We don't know what it is — it may be 
 watching 'Lije Haines ! 
 
 » One of the celebrated " so-called " lawyers that 
 5©? came to the surface in Henry County was Andrew 
 Ba Crawford, now living in Chicago, and one of the rich 
 of that city. He landed at an Irish hash-house in 
 Geneseo, in 1858, as one of the railroad roustabouts. 
 ^J ) The gang, of which Andy was a voracious specimen, 
 was at that time building railroad fence through the 
 county. Thus he graduated as a fence-builder, and 
 was in Geneseo on pay-day and resigned as fence 
 roustabout. It was a rare instance of nerve and 
 courage in a man who could thus deliberately resign 
 a soft and lucrative position that he might have held 
 for life, and in cold blood face the grim realities of 
 becoming a lawyer, " without the benefit of clergy. " 
 When in search' of notes about the absent great, we 
 inquired where he studied law. " Never studied at 
 all, at any time or anywhere," was the invariable an- 
 swer. " How did he get license ? " " Admitted by 
 act of the Legislature," was the response to this in- 
 quiry. "What did he do when he quit railroading?" 
 " Nothing, except saw wood a little. " 
 
 He never did know any technical law. He was no 
 book-worm, and knew little of law or literature; but 
 as a judge of the values of property, as a buyer and 
 seller, he probably never had an equal in the county. 
 He was full of common sense, and an energy and in- 
 
 dustry that never tired. What little law he prac- 
 ticed was all upon his intuitive knowledge of 
 property and his common-sense resources, that were 
 nearly infinite. He made the acquaintance of the 
 Merriman Bros., bankers in Geneseo, soon after he 
 located here, and they recognized his great financial 
 qualifications ; and it was to this fact that he at once 
 took a position in monetary affairs in the county and 
 in a little while was recognized as a capitalist. And 
 when he was elected to the State Senate an ill- 
 natured paper in an adjoining county said he was a 
 reckless experiment as a politician, a lawyer without 
 a case, but a financier and capitalist that could get 
 on his money " two per cent, a minute." 
 
 How he came to be elected Senator was about as 
 follows : There was a convention in session in Gen- 
 eseo, and two candidates before it who had each 
 other by the hair, and each determined never to sur- 
 render. The convention was having a monkey -and- 
 parrot time of it between these two candidates, and 
 at just the right moment Andy Crawford was sprung 
 upon the exhausted body and nominated. This was 
 in 1870, and he was elected to the Senate for the 
 short term. 
 
 He made a first-rate member of the Assembly ; 
 had probably as much influence in it as any member 
 of the Legislature. He made no pretentions to 
 being a speaker, but he was what is always better in 
 the end in a body of that kind, he was a worker ; 
 and this and his good judgment made him an effect- 
 ive and valuable Senator. 
 
 Serving out his term with credit, he came back to 
 Henry County, and satisfied that he had all he 
 wanted of politics, he closed up his affairs here and 
 in 1872 went to Chicago, where he has since re- 
 sided and where the opportunities for exercising his 
 great financial talents have found full and active 
 play. 
 
 Since in Chicago he has accumulated a great for- 
 tune, and has owned or controlled and managed one 
 of the important railroads entering the city. 
 
 This is a rough blocking of a sketch of [certainly 
 no common man. Nominally a lawyer and a politi- 
 cian, in reality a Napoleon in finance ; and while it 
 is true a financier is working always and wholly for 
 self, yet there are periods in the development of 
 young communities when the daring and brain of a 
 great man in financial affairs is a public good. He 
 
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744 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 stirs the sluggish waters and brings health and 
 growth where otherwise would be only stagnation 
 and death. 
 
 Andrew Crawford will be long and not unkindly 
 remembered by the good people of Henry County, 
 especially his many old friends and acquaintances of 
 Geneseo. 
 
 A quarter of a century ago came Lawyer N. C. 
 Bates. He was a fair lawyer and had a fair success 
 here, but with that restless Western spirit that at 
 one time or another has moved our people from ocean 
 to ocean, he took Greeley's advice and " went West,"' 
 locating in. Newton, Iowa, where he attained some 
 eminence in his profession and died a few years ago. 
 
 S. Allen Grunder was here about 1870. Didn't 
 ever astonish himself by extraordinary success. He, 
 too, went West, and is probably still growing up with 
 the country. 
 
 Whitfield Sandford was one of the early lawyers. 
 He remained here until 1872, when he removed to 
 Wahoo, Nebraska, where he now resides. He came 
 to this county from Mansfield, Ohio, and resided at 
 Geneseo. He was financially quite successful, and 
 soon gave more attention to his rapidly increasing 
 property than to the law practice. He started life as 
 a harness-maker. He was a Republican and a mem- 
 ber of the Congregational Church. 
 
 The Bar of Geneseo is the largest in the county, 
 consisting of the following: Judge George E. Wait 
 (see page 329), Major E. C. Moderwell (see page 
 244), E ( C. Graves (see page 309), G. W. Shaw, F. 
 H. McArthur, Charles Dunham and G. H. Smith. 
 
 In Cambridge are Lawyers Shepard & Marston 
 — William H. Shepard (see page 352) and Ira D. 
 Marston (see page 664),— A. R. Mock (see page 279) 
 and Judge John P. Hand. 
 
 In Galva are Thomas E. Milchrist, State's Attor- 
 ney (see page 385), Hiram Bigelow (see page 706) 
 and Jonas W. Olson. The latter studied in Galva 
 with John I. Bennett, now of Chicago, who at one 
 time was in partnership in Galva with Albert 
 H. Veeder. Jonas W. Olson has a most interesting 
 history, for which the reader is referred elsewhere. 
 
 In Orion are located Lawyers Charles W. McGov- 
 ern and William M. Smith. 
 
 In Kewanee is the now oldest lawyer in the 
 county, Levi North. (See page 593.) For some 
 years he has mostly retired from active practice. 
 This place was the home of Judge J. H. Howe. 
 Away back in 1862, M. L. Easton, of Ohio, was in 
 the practice here. He left in 1862. At one time 
 Lucius D. Bishop, of Ohio, was here a short time. 
 He removed to Stark County, thence to Washington 
 City, where he died. O.-B. Ayres, now of Knoxville, 
 Iowa, was also a resident lawyer. Charles H. Reed, 
 who became the noted Chicago prosecuting attorney, 
 was here and studied law with Howe & Reed. 
 William C. Little, now of Wichita, studied with 
 Judge Howe. Albums Vance read law with Charles 
 K. Ladd. He is now in Osceola, Neb., and ex- 
 Governor of Nebraska. George Lay was admitted in 
 Cambridge and located in Kewanee. E. S. Martin 
 also read with C. K. Ladd and was admitted in 1878. 
 He went to Highmore, Dak., and is now Clerk of the 
 United States District Court. 
 
 The present Bar of Kewanee is Levi North, A. 
 W. Wood, C. C. Wilson (see cage 668), Charles K. 
 Ladd, James K. Blish (see page 687) and F. S. Ros- 
 seter (see page 596). 
 
 For very full and complete biographies of every 
 leading attorney now in the county the reader is re- 
 ferred to the biographical department in this book. 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 HE great influx of immigrants 
 that began in 1852, which 
 was the commencement of 
 the-era of railroads in Illinois 
 and the unexampled pros- 
 perity of the State, made the 
 times ripe for the coming of the 
 first newspaper and the printer 
 with his modest little hand-press. 
 The province of the newspaper 
 is to guide and teach men the 
 truth, — point out the way that is 
 safe for them to go. Are we not 
 then justified in the assertion that 
 ;)} the first coming of the dingy little 
 country newspaper to a new com- 
 munity is an event to be noted and 
 commented upon? And is not its 
 growth and spread and its well 
 marked influences fit subjects of 
 eager investigation? The publishers 
 of this book would here render to 
 the newspaper men of Henry Coun- 
 ty a world of thanks as a mild ex- 
 pression of their obligations for many and valued 
 kind favors received at their hands — favors bestowed 
 in that ready manner that could not come from any 
 but the most disinterested and kindly friendships, 
 
 and therefore will long be remembered and warmly 
 cherished. 
 
 The Henry County Gazette. 
 
 HE first number of the first paper issued in 
 Henry County was published Feb. 13, 1853- 
 — The Henry County Gazette, J. W. Eystra, 
 editor. It was a modest little five-column 
 folio, and showed rather a bad distribution, 
 both of ink and subs. It excited some curi- 
 osity with its first issue, but its support over the 
 county was indifferent enough to discourage Eystra, 
 and in the course of a few months the publisher was 
 wholly ready to sell to the first bidder. He was 
 compelled by want of funds to issue only when it 
 was absolutely necessary to fulfill the law in the 
 matter of the few legal ads. that were required to be 
 published. Before the first volume was thus irregu- 
 larly completed the publication was discontinued. 
 About this time Kewanee was commencing its big 
 boom, and its want was an organ. The enterprising 
 citizens clubbed together and purchased the outfit of 
 the Gazette and took it to Kewanee and started the 
 Henry County Dial, with Mr. Hyatt as editor and 
 general proprietor. Hyatt, it seems, was a restless, 
 odd kind of a man, and he filled up his life with 
 changes and varieties of many kinds. After re- 
 maining in Kewanee a few months he pulled out and 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 went over to Geneseo, and started th'e Geneseo Re- 
 public. He bobbed around here among papers and 
 business men, then left the county and tried Rock 
 Island a while, and then returned to his old loves in 
 Henry County. After a few years, marked mostly 
 by failures, he left the county and he and his 
 brother [invented celluloid, went East and handled 
 their patent and manufactured the goods, and got 
 rich. We note this exceptional case among the for- 
 tunes of printers with the greater pleasure because of 
 the rarity and novelty of Hyatt's varied failures and 
 successes. 
 
 In the course of time the Henry County Gazette 
 office materials, especially the old hand-press, has 
 traveled to nearly every newspaper point in the 
 county. 
 
 The Gazette arrived in Kewanee Aug. r5, 1855, 
 and its coming was a great event in the young town. 
 If there had been a brass band in the place it would 
 no doubt have been called out to escort the great 
 arrival to its new home. 
 
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 Geneseo Republic. 
 
 HE first paper in Geneseo was established 
 in T855 by Col. James Bowie and was 
 Democratic in politics, very modest in its 
 editorials and still more so in its lists of sub- 
 scribers. The fact was, the paper was not 
 more than fairly launched upon the troubled 
 waters when the politics of the county became in- 
 tensely anti-Democratic and Democracy went into a 
 quick decline — largely moribund, and has so re- 
 mained ever since save the galvanic jerks that may 
 be noticed around the postoffices since the late na- 
 tional triumph of the Democratic party in the Presi- 
 dential election. 
 
 The next paper, and now the oldest paper in the 
 county, was the Geneseo Republic, started, as stated, 
 by I. S. Hyatt, the first issue of which was June r, 
 1856. Mr. Hyatt became a bankrupt in 1858, and 
 the property passed into the hands of assignees, 
 James M. Allan and O. A. Turner, who continued the 
 publication until the sale of the property by order of 
 the court, when it passed into the hands of Merritt 
 Munson, who was one of the able and active men 
 
 who pushed vigorously and well any enterprise he 
 undertook. He conducted the paper until Dec. 28, 
 T858, when he sold to Geo. H. Lewis & Co. The 
 new firm pushed the fortunes of the paper until 
 June, 1862, when George A. Hobbs became theown- 
 er. Hobbs and his partners submerged their Inde- 
 pendent 'into the Republic, and moved along in good 
 style. 
 
 Nov. 27, 1863, Adam Lieberknecht purchased, of 
 iJames M. Hosford,its founder, the " Union Advocate, 
 established Oct. 1, r86r, a Republican organ," and 
 in a short time the Republic and Advocate were con- 
 solidated, with the "stipulation that the Republic 
 should be conducted as a Republican organ, or-, in 
 other words, the Advocate gave up its name but pre- 
 served its party principles ; and this, it seems, per- 
 manently settled the politics of the old, reliable Re- 
 public, as it has remained unflinchingly Republican 
 in politics from that day to this. In June, 1877, Mr. 
 Lieberknecht, by purchase, became the sole proprie- 
 tor, and as such is successfully carrying it on to 
 fortune and fame. There are but few rural, papers 
 that excel the present Geneseo Republic. Its suc- 
 cess from the day of Mr. Lieberknecht's .connection 
 with it, both financially and politically, has been 
 marked and uninterrupted. Mr. L. is a bonr news- 
 paper man. See biographical sketch on page 620. 
 
 The Chronicle. 
 
 HE next paper in age is the Chronicle, pub- 
 lished at present by Chapman Brothers, 
 Vho are about the youngest newspaper men 
 in the county. W. O. and J. H. Chapman are 
 bright and clever young men — thorough work- 
 men in their line, and as managers aud proprie- 
 tors possess all the secrets of success that opens for 
 them a most promising future. Their paper is sec- 
 ond in age and second in size of the county papers, 
 but it is only in these respects that the Chronicle 
 takes a second place among the country papers in 
 this portion of Illinois, The issue of the paper of 
 Oct. 8, r88s, is Vol. 27, No. 49, a nine-column 
 folio, teeming with sparkling local items, well-written, 
 general editorials, and, what is most delightful to a 
 
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 The history of the Chronicle claims a lineal de- 
 scent from the Gazette, started in 1853. 
 
 In the latter part of 1857 a stock company, com- 
 posed of Judge Joseph Tillson, Dr. A. A. Dunn, V. 
 M. Ayres and Henry W. Wells, purchased the oufit 
 of the Galva Watchman, which was removed to Cam- 
 bridge, and the first number of the Henry County 
 Chronicle, an eight-column folio, was soon issued, 
 with Dr, A. A. Dunn as editor. 
 
 In the year i860 Messrs. L. H. Patten and U. A. 
 Dennison leased the office, and they continued, Mr. 
 Dunn as editor, until 1881. In that year the latter en- 
 tered the army, and Mr. Patten purchased Mr. Den- 
 nison's interest, assuming entire editorial control, 
 which he held until 1866, when he was succeeded 
 by Messrs. Everett & Casson. The latter gentleman 
 conducted the paper until May 28, 1867, when it 
 passed into the hands of Mr. George C. Smithe. 
 
 In March, 1878, the paper was supplied with a 
 complete new dress and the name changed to sim- 
 ply the Chronicle. Mr. Smithe remained in charge of 
 the paper until Oct. 24, 1878, upon which date his 
 valedictory appeared, and Mr. C. A. Arnold, of 
 Bluffton, Ind., assumed editorial control. The lat- 
 ter remained but a short time, however, and May 
 22, 1879, Mr. Smithe, who had been in Colorado 
 during the winter, returned and re-purchased his 
 paper. 
 
 On April 5, 1883, Mr. P. F. Powers, of Davenport, 
 Iowa, who had managed the Chronicle for a few 
 months during the absence of Mr. Smithe in Wash- 
 ington, D. C, purchased an interest in the paper, 
 and the firm was known as Smithe & Powers'. 
 
 On Feb. 1, 1885, W. O. and J. H. Chapman pur- 
 chased the paper from Smithe & powers, and are 
 the present editors and proprietors. (See sketches.) 
 
 The Chronicle has always been Republican in 
 politics. 
 
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 Kewanee Courier. 
 
 HE Kewanee Courier was founded in 
 QMarch, 1876, by Dr. C. N. Whitney, an 
 old newspaper man, formsr publisher of 
 several papers in Minnesota and Illinois, and 
 at one time editor of the Quincy Daily Whig. 
 He now resides at Washington, D. C, hold- 
 prominent position under the Government. 
 
 During the year 1878 the papei was managed by a 
 business partner of Mr. Whitney's, E. H. Phelps, 
 formerly of the Wyoming Post, and now a promin- 
 ent real-estate and insurance agent in Kansas City. 
 In the fall of 1879 the paper was leased by its pres- 
 ent publishers, Chesley & Bio., printers from Ver- 
 mont State, and January 1, 1882, was purchased by 
 its present proprietor, T. H. Chesley. (See page 
 485.) It is a six-column quarto, all home print. 
 It is and has been a stanch Republican organ, though 
 never an "offensive partisan." It is a credit to the 
 city and worthy the liberal patronage it enjoys, both 
 as an advertising medium and a family newspaper. 
 
 The Independent. 
 
 HE Henry County Dial was the second 
 paper started in the county. We have al- 
 ready noticed that it was the office of the 
 Gazette, taken to Kewanee, where it arrived 
 August 15, 1855. J. H. Howe was engaged 
 as editor for one year. Sept 13 following the 
 office and material were sold to C. Bassett, a prac- 
 tical printer, who assumed control of the business 
 and mechanical management, which he retained 
 until June 12, 1856, when he sold the office to Mr. 
 Howe and to Mr. H. M. Patrick. Nov. 13 Mr. 
 Howe retired from the paper, transferring his interest 
 to Mr. Patrick, who soon afterward associated with 
 him Mr. Oliver White, who retired on Jan. 8, 1857. 
 Mr. Patrick was succeeded a few months later by 
 Mr. L. D. Bishop, who published the paper 
 some two or three years, when he was succeeded by 
 Mr. J. E. Wheeler, one of the original founders of 
 the Chicago Tribune. Mr. Wheeler, an estimable 
 man and able writer, published The Dial some six 
 or seven years, and retired in December, 1866, on 
 account of failing health. From the retiracy of Mr. 
 Wheeler, The Dial changed hands at short intervals, 
 passing through the hands of Oliver White, Hiram Y' 
 Wyatt (associated with him for a short time a Mr. \ 
 Shurtleff) and Geo. W. Wilson, who sold it after a ^ 
 brief proprietorship to N. W. Fuller, who changed f \/t 
 the name to the Kewanee Radical. Mr. Fuller be- y*! 
 came the owner of the paper probably early in 1869, ~J 
 and continued its publication until in May or June, ,»_, 
 
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 9 
 & 
 
 I 
 

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 f 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 1870, when he failed, and the paper ceased to 
 exist. 
 
 The material of the office was purchased by C. 
 Bassett, and on July 1 commenced the publication 
 of his present paper, under the title of the Kewanee 
 Advertiser, but which six months later he changed to 
 The Independent, which he has published continu- 
 ously to the present time without missing a single 
 issue. Mr. Bassett is the oldest printer and editor 
 in this part of the State, having commenced his ap- 
 prenticeship in the town of Towanda, Pa., in March, 
 1833, and since March, 1840, has almost continu- 
 ously been connected with some paper as editor and 
 publisher. (See page 650.) 
 
 -"«-' : : Jlo-,' 
 
 , •♦— **W" 
 
 The Galva Union. 
 
 HE Galva Union was founded by Benj. W. 
 Seaton, in [862. In 1864 he sold the- of- 
 fice to Eric Johnson, who ran it about six 
 months, and then it passed to John I. Ben- 
 nett. He had J. M. Edson as editor and 
 manager until 1867, when Seaton again en- 
 tered the office taking Edson's place, where' he re- 
 mained until the office was sold to N. W. Fuller, 
 who conducted its fortunes for one year, when Eric 
 Johnson again became the owner and proprietor. 
 He at once changed the name to The Republican, 
 but under his second management it again soon went 
 into a decline, and ceased to exist, leaving the am- 
 bitious town without a paper. 
 
 The Journal was-started in 1870, by Mr. Ward, 
 on the ruins of the Galva Republican, and sometimes 
 it flourished, and more, sometimes it didn't. It was 
 transferred to Mr. Young, and he finally "Greeleyed" 
 and "took his press and went West," settling down 
 among the lively and festive prairie dogs of 
 Kansas. 
 
 In the spring of 1868 B. W. Seaton commenced 
 the publication of The Prairie Chief, in Galva, 
 where he prospered for three months, and then 
 moved the concern to Toulon, Stark County, and 
 published the Stark County Democrat. In 1871 the 
 concern returned to its native county, settled in Cam- 
 bridge, again became The Prairie Chief, where it 
 and its founders are to-day, prosperous, contented, in- 
 
 dependently Democratic, and growing- in popularity 
 and wide-spread influenced 
 
 Mr. B. W. Seaton is the veteran newspaper man 
 of the county, a thorough practical printer, and a 
 strong and able writer. See his biography in the 
 biographical part of this work, page 528. 
 
 Henry County News. 
 
 HE Henry County News, of which Henry 
 L. Kiner (see page 257) is editor and sole 
 proprietor, is published at Geneseo. The 
 material for the office was purchased in Jan- 
 uary, 1874, by H. V. Fisher and H. M. Bel- 
 vel. Fisher is still a citizen of Geneseo, and 
 in the hardware business. ' Belvel wandered into Io- 
 wa, published several papers and finally went to sea. 
 Fisher & Belvel got out the first , issue on January 
 16, 1874. The outfit was then sold to Henry L. 
 Kiner. The latter sold a third interest to his broth- 
 er, Samuel R. Kiner, and a third interest to John 
 Christian, an Englishman, who had recently come 
 from London. Within the first yearH. L. Kiner and 
 Christian bought the interest of S. R. Kiner. The 
 firm was known as Christian & Kiner for four years. 
 Kiner then bought Christian's interest. The latter, 
 after a short time, went to Chicago, where he is now 
 engaged in business on West Ma'dison Street. S. R. 
 Kiner is in Washington, D. C, and is a clerk in- the 
 War Department. 
 
 The paper, which is now (1885) in its twelfth vol- 
 ume, has been a successful publication financially, 
 after the first two years, which were full of thorns 
 and briars. A half dozen preceding papers had ut- 
 terly perished from the face of the earth, taking their 
 departure from Geneseo. They were conducted in 
 the main by practical printers and experienced 
 writers. H. L. Kiner, who has been from the be- 
 ginning the leading spirit of the paper, commenced 
 its publication when a mere boy jof 22 years of 
 age. He had previously had a little experience in 
 writing for the press, but of the practical workings of 
 a newspaper office knew nothing whatever. He 
 didn't know which end of the types the letters were 
 on, or which end of the press the papers went in 
 but he had a large share of. self-reliance, and with 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 that element of strength, proceeded to hammer 
 away at the task of making for himself a destiny, 
 and a permanent place in newspaperdom for the 
 Henry County News. His failure was predicted by 
 everybody ; his success was believed in by nobody — 
 except himself. Mr. Kiner's case is one in which 
 the many were wrong, the one was right. 
 
 In the spring of 1883 Mr. Kiner sold the paper to 
 H. J. Eaton, whose previous occupation was that of 
 hardware merchant. Mr. Kiner went to Peoria, 
 and conducted the city department of the Peoria 
 Daily Journal until the fall of 1883, when he was 
 obliged to return to Geneseo, owing to the want of 
 success attending the administration of Mr. Eaton, 
 and took the paper off the latter 's hands to prevent 
 its suspension. Under Mr. Kiner's management the 
 paper at once resumed its old character and attained 
 its previous success. On returning to the publica- 
 tion of the News Mr. Kiner added largely to the 
 material of the office, putting in a first-class outfit 
 of steam machinery. It is now one of the best 
 equipped offices in Western Illinois. 
 
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 The Galva Standard. 
 
 ALVA Standard was established in August, 
 1881, by Messrs, Frank M. Riggen and 
 Thomas F. McKane. In politics it is 
 Greenback, and it ably advocates the princi- 
 ples of that party. It is a 48-column, 6-page 
 paper. One side was printed in Chicago for 
 a time. Upon the 1st of November, 1881, Mr. Mc- 
 Kane retired from the firm, Mr. Riggen conducting 
 the business alone, and employing B. H. Galleher as 
 editor. In April, T882, E. E. Eagan was engaged as 
 editor, and discharged the duties of that position 
 until November, 1883, when T. F. McKane again 
 "put on the harness." February 1, 1883, McKane 
 purchased an interest in the paper, and since that 
 time has had the entire management of the office. 
 In August, 1883, the size of the paper was changed 
 to a 5-column quarto, and is now printed entirely at 
 home on a Henry cylinder press. The body type 
 used is bourgeois, brevier and minion. The office 
 
 enjoys a very fair advertising and job patronage. 
 The Standard office is located in the basement of 
 the Olson block, which was fitted up especially for it. 
 The personnel of the office is Riggen & McKane, 
 proprietors; T. F. McKane (see page 387), editor ; 
 Carrie West and Mattie Husted, compositors; Jay 
 Johnson, apprentice. May it live long and prosper 
 in its " Greenback " harvests. 
 
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 The Galva News. 
 
 ALVA News was established in 1879, by 
 Beall Brothers, Asa and Marion, of Wyo- 
 ming, 111. The first number was issued 
 from a Washington hand-press, October 18 of 
 '£" that year, and was a five-column quarto. The 
 paper was published as a five-column quarto 
 until March 20, 1880, when it was enlarged to a 
 seven-column folio, and published semi-weekly. On 
 Jan. 27, 1881, the paper was enlarged to a quarto or 
 eight-page paper, which form and size it has main- 
 tained ever since. 
 
 Some time during the year 1880 the subscription 
 list of the Woodhull Enterprise was purchased by 
 Beall Bros., and that paper merged into the News. 
 Fied. B. Beall, who had bought an interest in the 
 concern, sold his interest in the same March ro, 1881, 
 Robert H. Magner, of Woodhull, 111., and the firm to 
 name became Beall & Magner. This firm sold the 
 paper Sept. 8, 1881, to J. F. Boyd and Wade Errett, 
 and the paper was owned and published by Boyd & 
 Errett till Sept. 21, 1882, when Errett sold his inter- 
 est to Thomas R. Boyd. Boyd & Brother published 
 the paper until April 14, r883, when they sold the 
 office and subscription list to E. E. Fitch, for eight 
 years Superintendent of Galva schools, who is the 
 present editor and proprietor. 
 
 The politics of the News has been from the first 
 stalwart Republican, but it endeavors to treat its 
 opponents fairly and with courtesy. Since its estab- 
 lishment a small job press, and an eight-column two 
 revolution cylinder press have been added, and the 
 value of the material of the office has been doubled. 
 For sketch of Mr. Fitch, the editor, see page 366, 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 Local Reporter. 
 
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 J: NE of the most interesting and valuable pa- 
 pers of Henry County is the Local Reporter. 
 Mrs. Hannah M. Bryan is editor and pro- 
 prietor (see page 228), and her son, Oscar D. 
 Bryan, is the manager and local editor. It 
 was started in the spring of 1880. Mrs. 
 Bryan is the only lady newspaper publisher ever 
 in the county, and her success is such as to encour- 
 age ladies in the future to enter this field of industry 
 and possible great honors. Mrs. B. is the possessor 
 of a pointed pen, wri'es poetry fluently, and through 
 all her prose and poetry is a true vein of genuine 
 wit. 
 
 The Local Reporter, as its name indicates, is de- 
 voted to home affairs mostly, is independent in poli- 
 tics; and until the ladies can vote we shall not blame 
 Mrs. B. for keeping her bright and cheery little pa- 
 per an independent, if not an indifferent looker-on in 
 the boiling cauldron of politics. It is a five-column 
 quarto; and every column in its pages is filled with 
 evidences of financial and general prosperity. 
 
 The Orion Times. 
 
 SPLENDID four-page, seven-column paper 
 is the Orion Times, fresh and newsy, and 
 seems to be fairly well patronized by the 
 home merchants as an advertising medium. 
 The paper is now (October, 1885) in the eighth 
 volume, and is exactly eight and one-half 
 years old. William A Bolles (see page 427) the edi- 
 tor and proprietor, is an enterprising newspaperman, 
 and his efforts should be fully appreciated. 
 
 The Orion Vidette first came to Orion in 1875, un - 
 der the care of Dr. Chaffee. In a short time Ludi 
 & Bolles bought the office, and changed the name 
 to its present title. In 1883 N. J. Ludi retired from 
 
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 I 
 
 the concern, and Mr. Bolles became sole owner and 
 proprietor. The paper is devoted to the local affairs 
 of the county and the best interests of Orion, and 
 receives, as it merits, a fair and liberal support from 
 the people. 
 
 The Woodhull Gazette. 
 
 OODHULL Gazette, published at Wood- 
 hull, by William M. Repine, editor and 
 s proprietor, is a sprightly and interesting 
 l> sheet. It was started March 20, 1885, un- 
 der very peculiar circumstances. The orig- 
 inator and present proprietor of the paper was 
 foreman of the Woodhull Dispatch office in 
 1884-5. During the time the Dispatch editor be- 
 came seriously infected with "the end of the world 
 is at hand " hobby. The whole business of the office 
 was left in his hands, when the proprietor-started for 
 Creston, Iowa, to meet " the Lord coming on the 
 clouds." Mr. Repine, the foreman, supplied the 
 people with the paper for several months under very- 
 trying and financially embarrassing circumstances, 
 when, in March, 1885, the Dispatch editor, still being 
 off in. Iowa and without any prospect of his returning 
 to Woodhull, the Gazette was, with the advice of the 
 most prominent citizens, brought into existence. 
 
 The Gazette has at present nearly 600 paying sub- 
 scribers, with new subscribers almost daily. It is 
 mostly circulated in Henry, Mercer and Knox Coun- 
 ties, but several copies go to 16 States and Territo- 
 ries. The paper is reasonably well patronized by 
 advertisers and the office does a fair amount of job 
 work. The office is fitted out with two new presses 
 and a large assortment of type, plain and ornamental. 
 The Gazette makes local news a specialty, and the 
 editor is an uncompromising Temperance Prohibi- 
 tionist. The Gazette will be more enterprising and 
 interesting than usual during the next year, as Mr. 
 Matt. Duhr, an experienced journalist, will contrib- 
 ute quite extensively to its pages, among other ar- 
 ticles " Sketches of the Bishop Hill Colony " and " On 
 
 the Whisky War-Path. " 
 
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 'N Jan. 1, 1856, was published the'first num- 
 ber fof Tenney, Hardy & Co.'s Advertiser, 
 s&r a small quarto sheet to advertise their own 
 business. It was issued monthly and was 
 continued for a year, when the material of the 
 office was_ purchased by C. Basseti, who 
 changed the name to The Kewanee Advertiser, 
 enlarged it to an eight-page, four-column quarto, and 
 published it as an advertising medium. Its publi- 
 cation was continued until December, 1863. 
 
 July 4, 1863, Mr. Bassett issued the first number 
 of the Union Democrat, a weekly Democratic paper, 
 which he continued to publish until Nov. 24, 1864, 
 and on April 26, 1866, he commenced the publica- 
 tion of the weekly Kewanee Advertiser, a five-col- 
 umn quarto, which he continued until Nov. 23, 
 1867. 
 
 The Public School Messenger, a sprightly little 
 
 sheet devoted to educational work, was published by 
 Superintendent of Schools W. H. Russell. It was 
 first issued in January, 1870, and made its monthly 
 appearance for about two years. 
 
 In 1874 and 1875 a small sheet devoted to the 
 interests of the Congregational Church was publish- 
 ed monthly by the pastor of the Church, Rev. James 
 Tompkins, called Our Home Paper. 
 
 -* #># *- 
 
 The Woodhull Dispatch. 
 
 OODHULL is well represented in the 
 I ? newspaper line, having two well-edited 
 papers. The oldest of these is the Dis- 
 patch, which is now in its sixth volume. It 
 is a seven-column folio, well gotten up, and 
 a credit to the community. O. B. Kail, the 
 proprietor, is an active, stirring man, giving much 
 attention to independent religious and political 
 thought, and other matters generally. 
 
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 '^'^'^'^t^t^i^'^'^'^i^a'^i^i'^aig^'i^'t^'c^'f^'t^'t^'i^'i^'^'i^'t^t^'t^' 
 
 
 
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 HIS county did not exist 
 when Black Hawk and his 
 dusky warriors marched and 
 counter-marched over its 
 territory, pursuing and being 
 pursued in savage war by 
 Gov. Reynolds and his " Rangers " 
 and hastily gathered little army of 
 Southern Illinois pioneers. And its 
 people, as citizens, perusing and 
 garnering its early history, have no _ 
 . direct concern in the story of the 
 last regularly organized Indian 
 warfare that was the finis of the 
 chapter of the red man's his- 
 tory East of the Mississippi 
 River. Nor did the county in its 
 municipal capacity have any direct concern in 
 the Mexican War of 1846-7. It sent no Henry 
 County company or organized squad to any war until 
 the late War, — the Rebellion, — when it may be said 
 the county received its baptism in fire and blood, 
 paying heavy tribute in the sacrifice of many of its 
 best sons upon the lighted fires on the altars of a 
 wide and general patriotism ; a patriotism never ex- 
 celled, and pushed with a courage that never faltered 
 and never for a moment relaxed. until the last armed 
 foe of the Union had laid down his arms and sued 
 for pe ace. 
 
 It is now over 20 years since grim-visaged war has 
 
 passed away from all our land, already the longest 
 continuous period of profound peace so far in the 
 present century ; and everything in our national his-^ 
 tory betokens ah indefinite continuance of these 
 peaceful blessings. 
 
 Saturday, April 14, 1861, was an eventful day in 
 Henry County. The wires that day told the terrible 
 story of the firing upon Fort Sumter. Men met 
 each other with bated breaths ; they were stunned 
 by the blow, and in a dazed sort of way one asked 
 the other meaningless questions, and heard not the 
 answers often, but continued to ask still other ques- 
 tions ; and they began to gather in knots and small 
 crowds, and in time began to discuss the terrible 
 news. Then the majority began to doubt the truth 
 of the story — they could not at once believe that the 
 flag of our common country had been fired upon by 
 its own citizens. Every variety and shade of belief 
 and disbelief, nearly as numerous as the individuals 
 constituting the crowd, were entertained and ex- 
 pressed. Very soon any- one who had anything to 
 say, whether his own opinions or fresh news from the 
 seat of war, would quickly command an eager sur- 
 rounding of earnest men. The day wore away and 
 the long night of painful interest came. But few 
 could sleep, and many did not even retire and try to 
 rest. Sunday morning dawned, and the early hour 
 found many gathered around the telegraph office at 
 the depots eager for more news. 
 
 The news of the firing on Sumter traveled slowly 
 
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HENRY COUNTY, 
 
 
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 then compared with now, and all day long and all 
 night again Sunday night people were in the gravest 
 doubts and fears, and faint hopes that the first story 
 would prove a false alarm. In the meantime the 
 public sentiment was fast crystallizing into form ; 
 the stun of the first blow was passing off, and a 
 deep-seated anger was rapidly settling in men's souls. 
 But the next day, Monday, confirmed the first reports, 
 giving the complete details of the bombardment and 
 surrender of the fort, and the further news of the 
 call of the President for 75,000 troops, and Governor 
 Yates' proclamation calling together the State Legis- 
 lature in extraordinary session to enact such laws 
 and provide such measures as the exigencies de- 
 manded. This instantly settled the questions in 
 men's minds. The stars and stripes were flung to 
 the breeze from cupola, public buildings and private 
 residences, and everywhere bells were rung, thedrum 
 and fife were heard at the head of the people. All 
 business was stopped, and the people in mass rushed 
 into the streets. Men cheered the flag as they had 
 never cheered it before ; it looked very different to 
 them to what it ever had; it had been fired upon by 
 rebels; it had been hauled down and trailed in the 
 dust by treason. The excitement of the 48 hours 
 was a pent-up Utica that now burst forth in greatest 
 fury. Without waiting the action of the Governor, 
 the people began to enlist and get ready to go to 
 war. Israel G. Heaps, of Annawan, placed his 
 name at the head of the roll, made up on the 22d at 
 that place. (See his sketch, page 194.) 
 
 The people came together in every town, village 
 and school district in the county. Fiery and patri- 
 otic speeches were made, the sharp notes of the fife 
 floated upon the air and drums were pounding vig- 
 orously, if not musically. 
 
 Among the civilians of Henry County to be 
 counted one of the first soldiers to enlist for the war, 
 was Hon. E. C. Moderwell, attorney at law and in- 
 terested in the cattle business in the West. He 
 came to Henry County in 1866, after the war was 
 over. Born in Crawford Co., Ohio, March 6, 1S38; 
 a graduate of Jefferson College in the class of 1859. 
 Major Moderwell was one of the few who enlisted in 
 the army before the war : that is, his enlistment 
 preceded by 24 hours President Lincoln's call for 
 75,000 troops. There are very few now living of the 
 fifty millions of Americans of whom this can be said. 
 He was in Washington city, and instantly upon the 
 
 arrival of the news of the firing on Fort Sumter, he, 
 with others in the city, organized a company for the 
 protection of the capital ; and of the very first to en- 
 roll their names in this company was E. C. Moder- 
 well, and thus he was in the war before war was 
 actually declared, and in first one place and then 
 another stayed until the war was over. 
 
 As rapidly as the calls came for more troops, Henry 
 County was never loth in filling its quota. The 
 ir2th Regt. 111. Vol. Inf. was largely recruited from 
 this county. This was known as Gen. Henderson's 
 regiment. The Major was James M. Hosford, of 
 Geneseo, commissioned Sept. 20, 1862, resigned Feb. 
 1, 1863. Major Tristam C. Dow succeeded him. 
 Adjutant Henry W. Wells, was commissioned in 
 September, 1862, and was mustered out for promo- 
 tion, in the Tennessee Heavy Artillery, in Novem- 
 ber, 1863. He was succeeded as Adjutant by Brad- 
 ford N. Thompson, who was promoted as Captain, 
 and his successor was Gilbert R. Woolsey. The 
 Quartermaster of this regiment was George C. Al- 
 den. In the abcve command was Company A, 
 mostly from Annawan. The Captain was Tristam 
 C. Dow, who was promoted and succeeded by Cap- 
 tain Asa A. Lee, who was killed-Nov. 18, 1863, 
 when Captain John L. Dow was put in command, 
 promoted from First Lieutenant, and was succeeded 
 by James P. McChesney, he by L. W. Browning and 
 he by T. J. Williams. These had all been promoted 
 in regular order. In 1865, Jesse Goble was made 
 Second Lieutenant. 
 
 Company C of this regiment was from Cambridge 
 and the southwest part of the county. The first 
 Captain was John J. Briggs; then John B. Mitchell. 
 The First Lieutenant was A. P. Petrie, and the 
 Second Lieutenants were H. Starboudy and W. 
 Gillespie. 
 
 Company D was from Cambridge and Woodhull, 
 and the first Captain was A. A. Dunn; the First 
 Lieutenant, H. G. Griffin, and the Second Lieuten- 
 ant was S. L. Patterson, succeeded by James H. 
 Clark, now of Princeton. 
 
 Company G was from Galva and vicinity. The 
 first Captain was A. W. Albro, succeeded by James 
 McCartney. Thomas G. Milchrist was First Lieu- 
 tenant; he was transferred to the 65th Regt. and 
 succeeded by E. K. Mock ; and Second Lieutenant 
 T. J. Townsend was commissioned March 31, 1863. 
 
 Company H was recruited from all parts of the 
 
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HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 county, but largely from Cambridge. The first Cap- 
 tain was G. W. Stroufe; and the First Lieutenant 
 was T. F. Davenport, and the Second Lieutenant 
 Elisha Atwater, and on his promotion Joel Newman 
 succeeded to the command. 
 
 Company I was from Geneseo and vicinity. 
 Captain, J. E. Wilkins; First Lieutenant, George 
 Lawrence; Second Lieutenant, H. S. Comstock, suc- 
 ceeded by Henry Fones, June 7, 1863. 
 
 Company K was from Geneseo and vicinity. Cap- 
 tain, Joseph Westley, resigned April r2, 1863, when 
 Captain E. H. Colcord was put in command of the 
 Company; First Lieutenant, C. G. Gearheart, re- 
 signed Jan. 3r, 1863, on promotion, when E. H. 
 Colcord became his successor. He had been Second 
 Lieutenant, and, when promoted, Jacob Bush suc- 
 ceeded to his place as First Lieutenant. In turn, 
 Bush was promoted and S. W. Weaver became First 
 Lieutenant April 12, 1863. 
 
 In the 109th Regiment, Col. John H. Howe be- 
 came the Colonel, succeeding Col. T. J. Sloan, Dec. 
 15, 1863. 
 
 Company A of this regiment was from Kewanee 
 and vicinity. Captain, Ralph A. Tenny, resigned, 
 and Capt. E. C. Raymond took command, July 9, 
 1863. First Lieutenant, J. A. Pratt; killed June 
 26, 1863, E. C. Raymond succeeding him, and on 
 his promotion, D. Ames Bigelow became First Lieu- 
 tenant. Second Lieutenant, E. C. Raymond, suc- 
 ceeded by W. F. Dodge. 
 
 Company F, M. B. Potter, Captain, succeeded by 
 N. H. Pratt, Aug. 7, 1863; E. W. Taylor became 
 First Lieutenant, promoted from Second Lieutenant, 
 when E. R. Breckans became Second Lieutenant. 
 
 The first Lieutenant-Colonel of the Ninth Regi- 
 ment was H. J. Humphrey. He was succeeded by 
 Anthony R. Mock, Dec. 5, 1864. Col. Mock was 
 promoted from Captain of Co. B, a company princi- 
 pally raised in Geneseo, of which the first Captain 
 was H. J. Humphrey ; second Captain, T. W. O. 
 Broffet; third Captain, Ransom Harrington; fourth, 
 A. A. Mock; fifth, T. J. McNair. The First Lieu- 
 tenants were T. W. O. Broffett, R. Herrington, C. P. 
 Mannville, Thomas J. McNair and J. C. Kilner. 
 
 The Second Lieutenants were R. Herrington, A. R. 
 Zinzie, J. T. Showalter. 
 
 Co. C of the Ninth 111. Inf. was from Geneseo. 
 The Captains were J. S. Buckles, C. W. Blakempre, 
 F. H. McArthur and S. A. Davidson. The First 
 Lieutenants were C. W. Blakemore, J. W. Brackett, 
 A. R. Mock, C. R. Marshall, S. A. . Davidson and 
 Stephen Pettys. The Second Lieutenants were F. 
 A. McArthur, C. M. Marshall, S. A. Davidson and 
 F. W. Harding. 
 
 Co. H, of this regiment, was from Kewanee. The 
 Captains of this company were in succession, Lewis 
 D. Bishop, C. T. Scammon, F. W. Swerby, and the 
 First Lieutenants were Edwin W. Luce, T. W. 
 Stephenson, A. H. McClure, F. W. Swerby and 
 James H. Murray. _ 
 
 In the 57th Regiment was Co. D, from Bishop 
 Hill.Galva and Kewanee. The Captains were Eric 
 Forsee, Eric Johnson, P. M. Wickstrum, and- the 
 First Lieutenants were Eric Johnson and Eric 
 Berglend, and the Second Lieutenants were Eric 
 Berglend, P. M. Wickstrum, G. E. Rodeea, A. G. 
 Washner and Olof Anderson. 
 
 Co. H was from the southern part of the cpunty. 
 The First Lieutenants were Nelson Flansbury and 
 Alexander B. Hanna. The Second Lieutenant was 
 Geo. Welch. 
 
 Part of Co. A of the 33d Regiment was from Ke- 
 wanee and Cambridge, with J. A. McKenzie Cap- 
 tain. 
 
 In the 17 th Regiment a part of Co, D was from 
 Galva, Kewanee and Cambridge, with H. C. Bush as 
 Captain. 
 
 Co. D of the 83d Regiment was from Wood- 
 hull and vicinity. 
 
 Co. A of the 42d Regiment was from Kewanee, 
 with Lieut.-Col. C. Northrop, who was promoted 
 from Major. F. A. Atwater then was Major, E. S. 
 Church Captain, then J. S. McFadden, then H. M. 
 Way. First Lieutenants were A. Bennett ' and W. 
 H. Gier. 
 
 Part of Co. B was from this county, with Firsf 
 Lieutenants A. F. Stevenson and C. W. Jackson. 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 ENRY COUNTY is well pro- 
 vided with railroads, all 
 parts of it being accessible 
 to seme point on a well- 
 equipped road. Not only 
 is this the case, but the 
 « roads lead direct to the 
 best markets of the country, thus 
 giving the farmer every advantage to 
 market their produce. This is radi- 
 cally different from the condition of 
 the earl, pioneers of this section, as 
 is illustrated by the following inci- 
 dents : The first market for the early 
 settlers was St. Louis, and about 
 half the year this was as completely 
 shut off as the ports of Europe to them. Then they 
 would go to Galena, Peoria and soon they began to 
 haul by teams their truck to Chicago. The " lead 
 mines " were an uncertain market, and sometimes a 
 drove of hogs, not a large one either, would com- 
 pletely glut the market for weeks. Then the pioneer 
 drovers would have to slaughter their stock and salt 
 it 'down, provided they could get the salt, which 
 often was not to be found. The writer even well 
 remembers when Jacob Strawn, of Jacksonville, 
 would often take possession of the St. Louis cattle 
 market, and ride out on the roads leading to that 
 place, buy all the incoming cattle, and by holding 
 them compel the butchers to pay him his price. 
 
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 The Secretary of the Old Settler's Society, T. F. 
 Davenport, tells us of some of his experience in go- 
 ing, with his brother Charley, to market at Chicago. 
 The family came West when the boys were yet 
 young, and being fresh from New York city they 
 soon learned that they were in the rawest possible 
 state of pioneer greenness. Their city dress and no- 
 tions were rapidly and roughly rubbed off, and they 
 took to squirrel-skin caps and were soon acclimatized 
 to the rough life about them. In the summer of 
 1839 it was told about the country that James Glenn 
 had been to Chicago with a load of wheat and had 
 brought back a full load — loaded each way — and 
 had made the round trip in ten days. Tom and 
 Charley Davenport heard of this remarkable feat, 
 and begged their father to let them take the teams 
 and go to Chicago. Consent was given. A half- 
 bushel basket was filled with cooked provisions and 
 on a bright September morning they started, loaded 
 with 45 bushels of wheat and 1 1 bushels of oats, the 
 latter for feed. The first day they reached Portland, 
 the next day Dixon, and on the evening of the fourth 
 day they were at the Point — nine miles from Chica- 
 go. 1 he fifth day they were in the city, sold their 
 wheat for 55 cents a bushel, bought four barrels of 
 salt and a few other things and started on the return, 
 camping out the first night at the Point. The even- 
 ing of the seventh day they reached Dixon, and ar- 
 rived at home the evening of the eighth day, thus 
 beating Glenn's time by nearly two days. Their total 
 cash expenses for the entire trip was 25 cents paid 
 
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HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 for ferriage across the Chicago River. Tom remem- 
 bers they sold their wheat to Frank Sherman — one 
 of the family that built the Sherman House — and 
 that he (Sherman) carried the sacks from the wagon 
 into his little warehouse. The proceeds of this trip 
 was all the money the family received or needed for 
 the entire year, including their taxes on a 240-acre 
 farm. 
 
 Maj. James M. Allan tells of his experience as a 
 merchant at one time in Geneseo. He had invested 
 all his capifal and credit in goods, which he had sold 
 to the farmers on credit. His stock was about sold 
 out, and it seemed utterly impossible to collect any 
 money. The people simply had none. He made 
 up his mind to buy hogs and drive them to the Illi- 
 nois River for sale or shipment there. He rode over 
 the county, and soon his debtors had willingly turned 
 him out over 400 hogs on their store bills. This 
 was the greatest accommodation to the farmers, and 
 opened up a possible way to the merchant to pay his 
 bills and buy a new stock of goods. He had collect- 
 ed his hogs and started on the long drive. There 
 was three or four inches of snow on the ground. 
 The first afternoon he drove aDOiit nine miles, and 
 with the night came the most terrible snow-storm. 
 In the morning it was blistering cold, and nearly two 
 feet of snow on the level. What was he to do? It 
 was impossible to turn back or go ahead. The hogs 
 could not travel in the deep snow, and he had no 
 feed to keep his hogs alive. But this was one of the 
 sudden emergencies of the pioneers that had trained 
 them to quick and effective actions. Mr. Allan con- 
 cluded to make a snow-plow, and cut a way for the 
 hogs to move. He made his plow, and was told that 
 only oxen would do to pull it. The cattle were 
 hitched to it ,-.nd started off slowly. In a little while 
 they literally came to a stojD, bogged in the deep 
 snow. This would not do, and the hogs were every 
 moment getting only the hungrier. The Major could 
 see the trouble with oxen was their legs were too 
 short. He hitched horses to his plow, and the suc- 
 cess was complete, and the plow thus made a canal 
 through the snow, leaving about five inches of snow 
 on the ground. The hogs were divided into as many 
 small squads as he could get men to take charge of, 
 and started thus toward the river. He understood 
 the animals well enough' to know that if all started 
 together they would bunch and crowd each other 
 out of the plowed way into the deep snow, where 
 
 they could^only helplessly flounder. Thus scattered 
 for nearly a mile, the procession moved toward the 
 river, which point was happily reached, and Mr. Al- 
 lan disposed of his property, and thus succeeded in 
 collecting his debts from the farmers and replenish- 
 ing his stock of goods. 
 
 Chicago, Burlington & Quiney Railroad Com- 
 pany. 
 
 ; NE of the strongest railroad corporations in 
 the country is the above named, and its 
 management furnishes the public with the 
 best of accommodations. Its equipments for 
 passenger travel are the very finest, and its 
 capacity and arrangement for general traffic 
 are unsurpassed. It has always, perhaps, kept a 
 better road than any other company in the West. 
 The road bed is about perfect, the tracks smooth and 
 firm, and the rolling stock of the first-class. The 
 passenger coaches have always been elegantly fur- 
 nished, and the trains run closely to time. A double 
 track now extends almost all the way between Gales- 
 burg and Chicago. 
 
 This company controls and operates about 4,500 
 miles of road, about sixty miles of which are in Hen- 
 ry County. The main line — that running* from 
 Galesburg to Chicago — passes through Galva and 
 Kewanee, and the St. Louis Division passes through 
 the Western tier of townships, while the Galva & 
 Keithsburg Branch starts at Galva and runs almost 
 due West, passing through Nekoma, Woodhull and 
 Alpha, thus affording the southeastern, southern and 
 western portion of the county ample railroad accom- 
 modations. 
 
 The main line of the Chicago, Burlington & Quin- 
 ey Railroad, or at least that portion running from 
 Galesburg to Chicago, was originally chartered the 
 Central Military Tract Railroad. This road was or- 
 ganized at Galesburg, 111., in Feb., 185 1. Its charter 
 gave them the privilege to construct a railroad from 
 Galesburg to some point on the Chicago & Rock Is- 
 land Railroad; but June 19, 1852, the-charter was so 
 ammended as to give them the right to connect with 
 any railroad leading directly or indirectly to Chicago. 
 Sheffield was the point they first thought of aiming 
 
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HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
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 for, and contracts were let in 1851-2 for building 
 the road to that place. Subsequently, however, they 
 determined to meet the Chicago & Aurora Road at 
 Mendota. 
 
 This change was caused by the following circum- 
 stances : While the Peoria & Oquawka road was 
 being slowly worked up by local subscription alone, 
 Mr. C. S. Colton chanced to meet United States Sen- 
 ator J. W. Grimes, of Burlington, Iowa, in Boston, 
 Mass., and Mr. Wadsworth, of Chicago, President of 
 the Chicago & Aurora Railroad, a branch of the Chi- 
 cago & Galena Railroad ; and after consultation they 
 concluded that an independent route direct to Chi- 
 cago was the most feasible. Soon after this James 
 W. Brooks, President of the Michigan Central Rail- 
 road Company, and James F. Joy, both of Detroit, 
 Mich., interested themselves in the Central Military 
 Tract Road. They proposed that if the people along 
 the route from Galesburg to Mendota would sub- 
 scribe $300,000, they would furnish enough more to 
 complete the grading of the road and laying of the 
 ties; and when that was done they could borrow 
 money on the bonds of the enterprise to complete 
 the road and set it in operation. 
 
 Two years of fruitless effort to raise the necessary 
 funds were spent, Eastern capitalists refusing to in- 
 vest where the Legislature reserved the right to fix 
 the rates for fares and freights. Accordingly, anoth- 
 er meeting was held at Galesburg, and a charter 
 drafted principally from the charter of the Illinois 
 Central Railroad, which obviated the objection re- 
 ferred to in regard to fixing rates by the Legisla- 
 ture. This charter gave the company the entire 
 control over their property the same as any other 
 personal property, with full powers to fix rates of 
 transporlatation. Mr. C. S. Colton was delegated 
 to visit Springfield, and to secure the passage by 
 the Legislature, which he did; and this same char- 
 ter was the foundation of the Chicago, Burlington 
 & Quincy Railroad, which is to-day one of the 
 most magnificent systems of railroads in the world. 
 
 In 1852, another survey was made from Gales- 
 burg to Mendota. Oct. 14, of this year, the Central 
 Military Tract Company increased their stock from 
 $100,000 to $600,000 and elected the following 13 
 directors : J. W. Brooks, Henry Ledyard, J. F. Joy 
 and G. V. N. Lothrop, of Detroit ; I. H. Burch, C. G. 
 Hammond and John H. Kinzie, of Chicago ; Chaun- 
 
 cey S. Colton, W. Selden Gale, James Bunce and 
 Silas Willard, of Galesburg; William McMurtry, of 
 Henderson, and John H. Bryant, of Princeton. They 
 elected Mr. Brooks President, J. M. Berrien and 
 David Sanborn, Secretary and Treasurer. Work was 
 pushed rapidly forward, and by Sept. n, 1854, the 
 cars reached Princeton, and during October and 
 November the track was laid through this county 
 and the first locomotive, the Reindeer, passed overit 
 with a construction train. About r 85 6, the Chicago 
 & Aurora, the Northern Cross, the Peoria & Oquawka 
 and the Central Military Tract Companies were all 
 consolidated under the Chicago, Burlington & 
 Quincy Railroad Company. This name was derived 
 from the terminal points. J. W. Brooks was elected 
 President of the new road. This road opened up one 
 of the most magnificent sections of the United States, 
 known as the Military Tract, the northern line of 
 which passed through the middle of Henry County. 
 Upon the building of this road settlers began to pour 
 in, and within five or six years every quarter-section 
 of land was taken, and to-day it is one of the high- 
 est cultivated sections in the country. 
 
 Another railroad enterprise which is to-day owned 
 by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Com- 
 pany, was the Rock r ord, Rock Island & St. Louis 
 Railroad. This road was to run from Rockford to 
 St. Louis, via Rock Island. It secured the charter 
 of the old Sterling & Rock Island Road, which was 
 granted in 1854. The panic of 1857 and the war 
 delayed railroad enterprises for a time, but shortly 
 after the war the Rockford, Rock Island & St Louis 
 Railroad was pushed forward. The Sterling branch, 
 being already completed, gave it a line from St. Louis 
 to Sterling. The remainder of its line it was never 
 able to complete. This road was sold under a fore- 
 closure of mortgage to the St. Louis, Rock Island & 
 Chicago Railroad Company, which was incorporated 
 April 21, 1876. It was soon afterward leased by the 
 Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company, 
 who now operate it as its St. Louis Division. This 
 road was sold for $1,600,000, and it is said that it 
 cost $rr,ooo,ooo. The bondholders who live in 
 Germany were the losers of about six-sevenths of 
 their investment. 
 
 The American Central Railroad, now the Galva & 
 Keithsburg Branch of the Chicago, Burlington & 
 Quincy Railroad, was begun as early as 1847, but not 
 completed until 1868. 
 
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 As above remarked, the management of this road 
 has been of the highest character. Men of broad 
 and liberal views, enterprising and considerate for 
 the comfort and welfare of their patrons, have always 
 been at its head, and especially is this the case at 
 present. The passenger department of few railroads 
 in the country is managed with that sagacity and at 
 the same time with that singleness of purpose to give 
 the traveling public every accommodation known to 
 the science of railroading, that characterize the Chi- 
 cago, Burlington & Quincy R. R. This department is 
 under the management of Mr. Perceval Lowell. A 
 trip over .this road will convince the most exacting 
 that Mr. Lowell not only understands the art of rail- 
 roading, but is exceedingly generous in providing 
 every means of both comfort and safety. He has 
 imbued all of his subordinates with that one idea so 
 prominent with him, — "the public must and shall 
 have the very best of traveling accommodations, and 
 the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad shall be 
 excelled by none." 
 
 Chicago, Bock Island & Pacific Railroad". 
 
 Y the Legislature of i85r this great Illi- 
 nois railway was incorporated as the Chi- 
 cago & Rock Island Railroad. The object 
 of the projectors was to connect the Great 
 Lakes with the Mississippi, by way of Chicago 
 and Rock Island, a distance of 181 % miles. 
 This road was completed in the spring of 1854, and 
 at once took rank as one of the great lines of the 
 country. Improved and wild lands contiguous to 
 the city and along the line of the road entered a few 
 months previous with warrants costing the purchaser 
 from 87^ to H2j4 cents per acre, rose to $5 and $io 
 per acre. 
 
 The presence of the locomotive arouses the dor- 
 mant energies and sets on foot enterprises that oth- 
 erwise might sleep for ages. It changes the face of 
 society and moves the whole world forward. Rail- 
 roads create business and build up cities that other- 
 wise would never have had existence. 
 
 This road passes through some of the finest agri- 
 cultural country in the State. In 1866 this railroad 
 was consolidated with the Mississippi & Missouri 
 
 Railway Company, under the name of the Chicago, 
 Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company, which 
 name it now bears. In June, 1869, its line was com- 
 pleted to Council Bluffs, where it connected with the 
 then newly completed Union Pacific Railway. From 
 the date of its completion to the Missouri River, it 
 has been a favorite route of the travelers and tourists 
 to the Pacific slope and also to the Territories. 
 Since that time it has expanded, by consolidation 
 with other lines and by building branches into Iowa 
 and Missouri, from 550 miles to a great railway op- 
 erating some 1,400 miles of road, and having for its 
 termini the cities of Chicago, Peoria, Keokuk, Coun- 
 cil [Bluffs, DesMoines , Atchison, Leavenworth and 
 Kansas city. Its freight now embraces the products 
 of the Eastern and Western States and Territories, 
 as well as that of Europe and the empires of the Old 
 World. This company has also opened up a new 
 route to the Northwest, known as the " Albert Lea 
 Route, " extending to Minneapolis, where it connects 
 with the Northern Pacific and the St. Paul & Mani- 
 toba Railroads. 
 
 This route traverses some of the finest scenery in 
 the country and talfes the traveler to many of the 
 most noted resorts for health and pleasure in the 
 United States. The Chicago & Rock Island Rail- 
 road has had a rich country and an extensive com- 
 merce to support it, and from its first inception it has 
 been prosperous. From the running of the first train 
 up to the present time, the management of this road 
 has been such as to secure and hold the sympathy 
 of its patrons. This has been accomplished by es- 
 tablishing the principle of equal and exact justice to 
 all, and by giving to the people, as far as in human 
 power lay, immunity from dangers incidentrto travel. 
 The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway has 
 had an able management. For many years Mr. R. 
 R. Cable has been its President and General Mana- 
 ger and Mr. E. St. John has been its General Ticket 
 and Passenger Agent. This very popular and effi- 
 cient railroad official— Mr. E. St. John — has been 
 recently promoted to the position of Assistant Gen- 
 eral Manager, while he still holds his former posi- 
 tion. So long a continuation of the road under the 
 same management, speaks well for the company and 
 also for its officers. - 
 
 The personnel of this railroad has been highly 
 commendable. Their agents and conductors have 
 
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 been obliging, their engineers skillful and faithful 
 and their brakemen prompt. The Superintendents 
 have also been scrupulous and exact, training the 
 men under them to correct business habits. 
 
 The aim of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific 
 Railway Company has been to locate its lines and 
 establish its < onnectlons so as to Teach its objective 
 points with the greatest facility and in the most de- 
 sirable manner. From the completion of its first 
 track to the Mississippi to the present time, when it 
 operates over 1,400 miles of road, a great portion of 
 which is spanned by double parallel lines of steel, 
 the Rock Island Company has performed its duty to 
 the State, and has* been a potential factor in the de- 
 velopment and civilization of the great West. 
 
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 The Peoria & Bock Island Railroad. 
 
 HIS originated as a Henry County- railroad 
 enterprise, being fathered by Amos" Gould 
 and Orrin E. Page, of Cambridge. These 
 gentlemen procured a charter in 1867. for. the 
 road, and by the middle of 1871 trains were 
 running over it. The first train was -run over 
 the" road July 8, 1871. It enters the county at sec- 
 tion 36, Galva Township; passes through Galva, 
 Bishop Hill, Cambridge, Warner, Osco and Orion, 
 leaving the county from Western Township. 
 
 
 
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 Crime. 
 
 EVERAL anecdotes related elsewhere in 
 this book completely illustrate the fact 
 , that with the pioneers in Henry County 
 about the only criminal that confronted the 
 sparse settlers was the horse-thief. One rea- 
 son why this particular species of thief only 
 was present at that day probably is the fact that the 
 horse was about the only property that presented 
 itself to the thief. There was no money in the 
 country, and little or nothing else that would pay the 
 rascals to carry to the far away markets. But in the 
 course of time men did get to stealing timber, — first, 
 off of Government land, then off of school lands, and 
 then taking freely- and with impunity . from non-resi- 
 dent timber owners. Many substantial, good men at 
 one time, hardly thought it dishonorable to get all the 
 
 timber they wanted for home use or the markets 
 without paying; for it. Then, in the course of time, 
 men would sometimes kill some one else's half-Wild 
 hog in the woods and supply their families with 
 meat. And from here came a growth of a small crop 
 of hog thieves. As population increased, and mar-' 
 kets came to be nearer and better, these thieves* 
 would sometimes steal cattle from the range. Andl 
 sometimes extensive feuds came into existence over 
 suspicions and charges in reference to missing hogs, 
 cattle and horses. In the course of the progress of 
 the settlement, and the establishment of stores and 
 business houses, came the occasional burglary ; and 
 the incendiary at rare intervals, plied with his de- 
 structive trade as an aid to his robberies and thefts. 
 There was never a marked feature among the peopli 
 of this county of any of these crimes or criminals. Inl 
 fact, as it has always been a rural people there., hai 
 been but a small per cent, of crime in the county,' 
 
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 ^compared to other places, especiallj' where there were 
 [large towns and cities. But advancing civilization 
 always carries its own haunting shadows with it, and 
 therefore it is that we can easily trace in every grow- 
 ing community the natural growth or development 
 of a certain character of crimes. The development 
 from horse-stealing to murder and robbery of the 
 most fiendish kind and quality is possible to trace 
 even in this moral county. We do not attempt to 
 give an account of all the crimes of the county, but 
 , only those which were the most startling and atro- 
 cious. 
 
 BANK ROBBERY. 
 
 The good people of the county, more especially oi 
 Kewanee, were, in the latter part of August, 1882, 
 startled by the news that the First National Bank of 
 Kewanee had been robbed in broad daylight. Two 
 armed men had entered the bank, just after the close 
 of business hours, and, by violence overcoming the 
 only two employees in the room at the time, had car- 
 ried off the money, first throwing these two persons 
 — the assistant cashier, Mr. J. J. Pratt, and a lady 
 clerk, Miss Charity Palmer — into the vault, in an in- 
 sensible condition, and had got away, and had been 
 gone some time before these employees could release 
 themselves and give the terrible news to the public. 
 
 The two men who entered the bank and robbed it 
 were named Welch and Kenedy. Welch had been 
 a commercial traveler in this part of Illinois, and he 
 was recognized by Miss Palmer and Pratt when in the 
 bank. He was run to the ground in the East, and 
 Kenedy was caught in the distant West by Pinker- 
 ton detectives. These arrests occurred some two 
 weeks after the robbery. The cunning detective 
 soon wormed a confession out of Welch, and the 
 whole story was soon known, and then the whole 
 community was more amazed than ever, because 
 Pratt, the assistant cashier, was implicated. He was 
 arrested, and then he, too, confessed at once and told 
 all about it. Pratt was a young man, reared in the 
 town, was a great favorite in the community, a model 
 churchman and Sunday-school teacher, and every 
 one was highly indignant when he was arrested — at 
 his father's in the night. No one would or did be- 
 lieve in his guilt, except the detectives, until he con- 
 fessed and told where he had buried his share of the 
 swag, under the sidewalk in front of his home. A 
 man named Scott, a dentist who had lived in Prince- 
 
 ton, and was then in St. Louis, was arrested; he was 
 not convicted of the robbery, but was sent to the 
 penitentiary for a forgery that he and Pratt had con- 
 cocted and carried through some time -before the 
 robbery. On the preliminary examination Pratt and 
 Welch told the whole story, reserving nothing. It 
 seems that Miss Palmer was the only honest one in 
 the lot, and she had been seized by Kenedy and 
 choked and beaten to insensibility, but had fought 
 like a tiger until overcome. The robber had seized 
 her, and put his hand over her mouth to prevent her 
 screams, and she bit his fingers to the bone. On the 
 final trial of Pratt, Welch and Kennedy, they all con- 
 fessed, and the Judge sent them to the penitentiary 
 for the term of six years e,ach. The bank recovered 
 the most of the money, and there are many men now 
 in Kewanee who feel real sorrow for Pratt, — we hope 
 solely for the sake of his respected parents and sis- 
 ters ; for certainly by his own confession, both in the 
 robbery and the forgery, it was a public misfortune 
 he could not have been sent to the penitentiary for 
 the term of his natural life. 
 
 SHOCKING MURDER. 
 
 While all Kewanee and vicinity were in the throes- 
 of excitement and the preliminary examination of the 
 bank robbers was going on before Esq. Wood, there 
 came the still more, startling news that Mrs. Maggie 
 A. Copeland, wife of Joseph L^ Copeland, living on a 
 farm four miles south of Kewanee, had been brutally 
 murdered at her home in broad daylight. It was said 
 or supposed to have been done by tramps for the 
 purpose of robbery. When found the body lay with 
 the head toward the door, just outside the house, and 
 in the kitchen and in the main house were evidences 
 of the struggle she had made for life. She had 
 been horribly beaten, and shot three times; the fiend 
 commencing the attack in the kitchen, followed her 
 into the house, and she had jumped through a screen 
 door and still pursued had turned to go again into 
 the house, when she fell on her face and expired. 
 The trunk in which was nearly a hundred dollars 
 had been rifled, but the other furniture had not been 
 disturbed. 
 
 Mrs. Copeland was young, accomplished and very 
 intelligent and handsome, beloved and greatly es- 
 teemed by a large- circle of friends. Her husband 
 had left her, taking, most fortunately, their bright r 
 eyed, sweet -faced little boy with him, going to town. 
 
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 with a load of corn. To the people of Kewanee and 
 vicinity, particularly, here were horrors on horror's 
 head accumulated. 
 
 It soon turned out that the murderer was a man 
 named Mockinson, a wretch who had come from near 
 the same place in Ohio the Copelands were from. 
 He had come into the neighborhood, and had no 
 acquaintance except a hired man who worked for a 
 neighbor of Copeland. In the kindness of their 
 hearts, Copeland and wife had allowed Mockinson 
 to make their house his home, and had treated him 
 more as a brother than a stranger. He got work at 
 a near neighbor's, but would frequently go to Cope- 
 land's, visit and eat and sleep there and be enter- 
 tained, and in return for this great kindness, in his 
 black heart he hatched and nursed his hideous 
 crime. He confessed his guilt, told the sickening 
 details of his story, and was duly hanged, as he most 
 richly deserved to be. He was a depraved, vile and 
 wretched human beast, without a redeeming trait or 
 quality in the world, and it is hoped that there was 
 not a healthy-minded man, woman or child in the 
 world but that, when told the story, was really re- 
 joiced when his neck was broken by the hangman's 
 rope. 
 
 ANOTHER. 
 
 About one year before the above related murder, 
 there occurred in the northwest part of the county, 
 near Colona, a double murder, the details of which 
 are sickening. Clem Gallion murdered Thomas 
 Dilley and wife. 
 
 In the dead of the night, the murderer secretly 
 entered the bed-chamber of the victims, and as 
 Dilley lay asleep, he shot him dead, the bullet enter- 
 ing the eye, and death was so instantaneous that he 
 never moved, but lay dead just as he was sleeping! 
 The shot probably awoke Mrs. Dilley, and then the 
 murderer, having no other shot left, fell to and 
 with an old broken shovel slowly pounded the 
 poor woman to death ! The sight in the room was 
 simply appalling. Blood and brains were on the 
 floor, the ted and the walls, the plastering broken 
 in many places, the foot-board of the bed splintered, 
 and the poor woman literally beat to a jelly ! What 
 a slaughter pen! and the victims were a good man 
 and wife, who had extended to the murderer friend- 
 ship and kindness, and given him a home when he 
 was in pressing need of it, 
 
 In the adjoining room were asleep the three Dilley 
 children, the eldest a girl of 12 years; and as soundly 
 as children sleep, the girl was awakened, and greatly 
 frightened at the horrid din, but in her terror acting 
 with wonderful discretion. Through a crack she 
 saw a light in her parents' room, and quickly she 
 approached and looked through, and saw a man 
 rumaging in the bureau. She recognized Gallion 
 and realized something terrible was going on. She 
 waited till he put out the light and went away, and 
 then she aroused the other two children, one of 
 them not yet five years old, dressed them, and tak- 
 ing hold of hands, they went through the dark to a 
 neighbor's, nearly three-quarters of a mile, roused 
 them up and gave the alarm. 
 
 This diabolical murder occurred in the latter part 
 of i88r, and the murderous monster was hanged the 
 next May. 
 
 John Root, a Swede, was sentenced Sept. 18, 
 1852, for two years for manslaughter, in Knox 
 County, to where he had taken a change of venue. 
 He was educated as an American, but married a 
 woman more recently from Sweden, who was a mem- 
 ber of the Bishop Hill Colony. Eric Jansen was 
 autocrat of this colony and would not let Mrs. Root 
 leave it to live with her husband among the Ameri- 
 cans. Mr. Root brought suit against Jansen at 
 Cambridge, and while the case was pending, he shot 
 and killed him in the Court-House at mid-day. 
 At the end of a year he was pardoned. 
 
 S3 
 
 Old Settlers' Society. 
 
 HE early settlers of Henry County organ- 
 ized their society in 1875, and have had 
 every year large and interesting gatherings 
 of the pioneers, their families and friends. It 
 is one of the most successful and prosperous 
 county organizations in the State. Speeches, 
 poems, familiar talks, reminiscences and anecdotes 
 are the performances on these occasions from the 
 stand ; but in the crowds many dear old friends 
 meet and clasp hands, and eyes which age is fast 
 making dim are there brightened again ; and who can 
 imagine the swelling hearts, the glow of recollections 
 of the long ago that come rushing to the rekindled 
 memories of the white-haired grandfathers and grand- 
 
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 A 
 
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 762 
 
 ® 
 
 
 JZ£A^ Y CO UNT Y. 
 
 mothers at these hearty re-uniohs ? We most heartily 
 endorse the concluding verse of a poem, read at the 
 Old Settlers' meeting of ' 1879, by T. F. Davenport, 
 aS'follows: — ' 
 -> " So ; keep Up these gatherings, year after year ; 
 F.qr w.e.c.annot.expect to be always here. 
 AS" the months and years go hurrying by, 
 And \>re fail in strength as time, will fly, 
 We. can stijl look back o.n the simple ways, 
 The innocent pleasures, the happy days. 
 Of our pioneer life,, and still can say .;. 
 Wer thank pur God,, we're here to-day." 
 
 The first meeting to organize an old settlers' as- 
 sociation was held in the Town Hall in Cleveland, 
 July 10, 1875. James Glenn was selected to act as 
 Chairman ; James H. Paddelford as Secretary, and 
 William Glenn was chosen Treasurer. A meeting 
 was appointed for Aug. 13, 1875, to be held at Hanna 
 Grove... That meeting-was well attended, and great 
 interest was manifested by the pioneers in recounting 
 the incidents experienced in their early settlenient of 
 the county.' James M. Allan was elected President 
 of the association; James H. Paddelford, Secretary; 
 Patterson Holmes, Assistant Secretary, and William 
 Glenn, Treasurer; and one Vice-President for each 
 township was also selected, as follows : Clover, J. W. 
 Epperson ; ;Oxford, Robert D. Timberlake; Weller, 
 John. Pyatt; Kewanee, E. E. Slocum; Western, 
 Chauncey Washburn ; Osco, R. H, Hinman ; ! Mun- 
 son, J. W. : Crawford ; Cornwall, Lewis Shearer; Ari- 
 nawan, John L. Dow; Colona, James Glenn; Gene- 
 seo, Alfred W. Perry; Alba, W. D. Robertson; 
 Phenix, Benj. F. Frittz ; Yorktown, Lyman Stowell ; 
 Burns, Jacob: Kemmerling ; Galva, John A. Ayres ; 
 Wethersfield, Charles B. Minor; Lynn, George B. 
 Pillsbury; Andover, S. W. Knapp; Cambridge,' 
 George T. H. Wilson; Edford, William Austin ;- At-" 
 kmsoh>, Asa Crook; 1 Hanna, Phil. K. Hanna; and 
 Lorarne, Jr/seph Arnett. 
 
 'The' second annual' meeting was held at Geneseo, 
 Aug.' 11, 1876, when "Joseph A. Sawyer' was chosen 
 President and T. F. Davenport Permanent Secre- 
 tary r P. : H. Beveridge was~chosen Assistant Secre- 
 
 tary, "and Philip K. Hanna, Treasurer. The third 
 annual -meeting; was held at Cambridge, Aug. 10, 
 1877, when Philip K. Hanna was elected- President; 
 M. B. Potter, Assistant Secretary ; and M. B. Lloyd, 
 jTreasurer. Mr. Lloyd held the position of Treasurer 
 until 1883. The fourth "annual meeting was held at 
 Kewanee, Aug. n, 1878,- arid -Matthew B. Potter 
 ^ was chosen President. The next annual meeting 
 was held at Orion, Aug. 21, 1879. Alfred W. Perry 
 was given the position of President. The sixth an- 
 nual meeting was held at Hanna Grove, Aug. 26, 
 1880, when Mr. Lewis Shearer was chosen President. 
 At the next meeting, which was held at- Cambridge, 
 ,Sept. 8, 1881-, Mahlon B. Lloyd was elected Presi- 
 dent. Dr. Ira R. Wells was elected to this- position 
 ; at the eighth annual meeting, which was 'held at 
 1 Geneseo, Aug. 30, 1882. The next meeting was 
 held at Orion', Aug; 28, 1883, when Matthew B. Pot- 
 ,ter was elected President, and C. C. Blish Treasu- 
 rer. At the tenth annual meeting, held Sept. 17, 
 1884, at Alpha, A. W. Perry was elected President, 
 and Mr. Blish was re-elected Treasurer. ■ The next 
 meeting was held at Colona, Aug. 27, 1885, when 
 Mr. Richard Maseall was given the position of Presi- 
 dent, and Mr. Blish was again re-elected Treasurer. 
 
 The meeting of 1885 was at Colona, and was 
 probably one of the largest and most interesting 
 'meetings ever held in the county. 'President A. 
 W. Ferry,' whose zeal at the Old Settlers' meeting is 
 ! well krtown to be boundless, selected from the as- 
 sembly ten old ladies' "Who were in Henry" County 
 50 years ago, and who now wereseated'on the stand 
 facing" the throng Oh this semi-centennial celebra- 
 tion of "the country's natal day, the only ladies, save 
 -Mrs. Earl" P". Aldrich, who was not present, who 
 now reside in the county, and who were 'here 50 
 ; years ago. ; These ladies were Mrs. Columbia Aid- 
 rich, Mrs. Polly Hecox, Mrs. Caroline Withrow, 
 Mrs. James Glenn, Mrs. M-artha Sively, Mrs. Arthur 
 Hunt, Mrs.- Elizabeth Brandenburg, Mrs. Shaw, Mrs. 
 Lowe and Mrs. Anna Burrall.' '■•'" 
 
 ■© 
 
 
 I. 
 
 %x>mmm**& 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 763 
 
 
 To WNSHIPS 
 
 T the November election of 
 1856 the proposition to adopt 
 township organization was 
 voted upon by the people of 
 the county, and was carried in 
 the affirmative by an over- 
 whelming majority. To comply 
 with the expressed wishes of the 
 voters at the December term of 
 the County Court, Merritt Munson, 
 John Piatt and M. B. Potter were 
 appointed the three Commissioners 
 to " lay out the county into town- 
 ships " in conformity to the organ- 
 ization laws. The Commissioners 
 met at Cambridge Feb. 16, 1857, to 
 enter upon the duties of their office. 
 They published a notice to the people to meet to- 
 gether in the different townships or contemplated 
 divisions "to consult together and agree upon names 
 for their respective towns and report the same to the 
 Commissioners ;" and since that date the present 
 townships have existed, under the township organiza- 
 tion law. 
 
 The first meeting of the first Board of Supervisors 
 met in Cambridge April 10, 1857, at which meeting 
 were present O. A. Turner, Geneseo; J. N. Wilson, 
 Munson ; W. T. Crosier, Loraine ; Lewis Shearer, 
 Cornwall ; M. B. Potter, Wethersfield ; William Mil- 
 ler, Edford ; George B. Pillsbury, Lynn ; S. W. 
 , Knapp, Andover; A. Underwood, Oxford; Henry 
 
 Hand, Hanna; R. Mascall, Cambridge; Benjamin 
 Fritts, Phenix; D. L. Wiley, Galva; Austin Sykes, 
 Galva; Abisha Washburn, Western ; David Walters, 
 Atkinson; John McNeil, Alba; Jafnes Latimer, 
 Yorktown; Silas Newton, Annawan; Henry Stick- 
 ney, Clover ; Ira Parker, Bums ; L. C. Welton, Osco; 
 John Piatt, Weller. 
 
 In the year 1858 the complete Board of Supervi- 
 sors elected was as follows : M. B. Potter, Wethers- 
 field; D. L. Wiley, Galva; J. N. Wilson, Munson : 
 Geo. C. Walden, Annawan; Thos. Nowers, Atkin- 
 son ; J. H. Johnson, Geneseo; J. R. Wells, Colona ; 
 Benj. Fritts, Phenix; J. Latimer, Yorktown ; R. A. 
 Tenny, Kewanee ; Ira Parker, Burns; R. Mascall, 
 Cambridge; S. W. Knapp, Andover; G. B. Pillsbury, 
 Lynn ; Edwin Bundy, Oxford ; William Forgy, Clo- 
 ver; Levi Higgins, Western; L. C. Welton, Osco; 
 L. Shearer, Cornwall; George Bawmour, Alba; Will- 
 iam Miller, Edford; Thomas Hill, Hanna; W. T. 
 Crosier, Loraine; John Piatt, Weller. I. N. Wilson 
 was elected Chairman. 
 
 ALBA TOWNSHIP. 
 
 LBA Township was the last township to 
 
 Wf attract the early, or for that matter, also the 
 
 * late coiners. It is traversed by Green 
 
 River, that meanders entirely from the east 
 part of it to the west side, mostly in the north- 
 ern tier of sections. And then, just west of 
 the west line is the mouth of Mud Creek, which en- 
 
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 -s^ — ©A^WSMJ^^S — a »€» K - 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 fa 
 
 ky 
 
 
 ters. the- township at the south line and bends around 
 through sections 35, 29, 30, 19 and 20. These 
 streams were, it seems, protecting barriers against 
 the settlers, and they traveled around them, the im- 
 migrants from the east striking south of Mud Creek 
 and the Green River swamps; and those, of course, 
 which came by way of the river, stopped among 
 their friends in other parts of the county, and often, 
 for many years, lived there without seeing any part 
 of Alba Township. 
 
 The name Alba was one of the unaccountable in- 
 ventions of the Commissioners selected to give bap- 
 tismal names to the twenty-four townships in the 
 county. What, if any, meaning there is attached to 
 it we are unable to ascertain. It is a case, perhaps, 
 of purely poetic fancy, and will always remain a re- 
 minder to posterity of the oversight of those who 
 gave names to localities in the county of what an 
 opportunity was missed — what inadequate ideas the 
 men who shaped the destinies of this fair portion of 
 our land had of the real benefactors who had made 
 the great sacrifices for our good. (The word alba in 
 Latin signifies white) 
 
 There is a tradition, or rather an unverified story, 
 that two brothers, James and John Sumatra, came 
 into this part of the county in an early day, about 
 1836, and put up a pole cabin and made a small 
 truck patch; but their chief occupation was hunting 
 and trapping. Their home was the cheapest and 
 easiest made they could design — simply a poor pro- 
 tection from the elements, and indicated that they 
 were ready, upon short notice, to follow the game in 
 its migrations from one portion of the country to 
 another. They lived their solitary life, it is thought, 
 wintering here only one winter and spending two 
 summers, and had possibly been gone years before 
 the remains of their camping place were discovered. 
 Where they were from or where they went is not 
 known. 
 
 It was only after the Winnebago Swamp Land 
 Company had succeeded in demonstrating the feasi- 
 bility of draining these swamp and overflowed lands 
 that the permanent settlers and farmers began to 
 turn their attention to the township, and now may 
 be seen the tillers of the soil tickling the ground that 
 breaks forth in smiling crops, where once a good- 
 sized steamboat might have easily floated. These 
 lands, wlien once restored to the husbandmen, like 
 
 all overflow lands, are deeply covered with the richest 1 
 soil. This is true of the Green River swamp lands, 
 except in spots where there is more or less peat in 
 the drift deposits. While Alba Township still only 
 has a sparse population, yet the future may transform 
 it into a very rich garden spot, producing all the 
 cereals and grasses in unexampled quantities. 
 
 ANDOVEB TOWNSHIP. 
 
 HIS was one of the several experimental 
 colony enterprises in which prospective 
 hard cash and piety lurked at the base of 
 the original idea. It was proposed to build a 
 splendid city on the wide prairie plains, and 
 reap the profit that would arise from convert- 
 ing crawfish chimneys and the trysting places of the 
 festive " greenheads " into valua'ble corner lots; and 
 where, on the Lord's day the grand peal of the great, 
 wide-mouthed bells would ring out the command 
 from on high, " Come, let us worship !" But worship 
 meant probably singing nasal psalms strictly accord- 
 ing to my doxy : 
 
 "Lord have mercy 
 On me and my wife, 
 My son John 
 And his wife, 
 
 Us four 
 
 And no more." 
 
 William S. and Jesse Woolsey, Ithamar Pillsbury, 
 Noah T. Pike and Archibald Slaughter came to 
 Henry County in September, 1835. The last three 
 named were agents for the Andover Colony. When 
 starting West their objective point was Knoxville. 
 They crossed the mountains in stages to Pittsburg, 
 then down the river and up to St. Louis, and then' 
 up the Illinois River. Pillsbury had been out the 
 year before. Abel K. "Woolsey, brother to the above, 
 came in the spring of 1837, in company with his 
 brother William, who had returned to his old home, 
 married, and the two brothers and their families 
 came to Illinois. 
 
 Pillsbury was the prime leader in authority for the 
 colony. He was authorized to buy land and control 
 matters generally ; he put up buildings, and soon 
 commenced a mill on Edwards River, the first in the- 
 county. Among the patrons of this mill were people 
 all the way from Prophetstowri. The three Woolseys. 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 settled in Andover. William and Abel K. were 
 mechanics in wood, and Jesse opened a tavern. 
 
 When these parties arrived on the ground they 
 found a man named Campbell already there in his 
 hut. He was engaged in building a bridge across 
 Edwards River. Pike and Slaughter soon returned to 
 their old homes. The nearest settlement to Andover 
 then was Henderson Grove, where lived William 
 Riley, two families of McMurtrys — James, William " 
 and Samuel — and Reece Jones. The nearest post- 
 office was Knoxville, distant 30 miles. 
 
 The venerable Eben Townsend bought Campbell's 
 claim. Townsend lived to be a very old man, and 
 when he died he was buried in the Andover grave- 
 yard, with no stone to mark the resting-place of the 
 old pioneer. Rev. Pillsbury was buried in the same 
 graveyard. He left a widow; his son, Edward P., is 
 a lawyer in Macomb ; Nettleton is in Florida, Frank 
 in Dubuque, and Ithamar in Macomb ; the daugh- 
 ters, Mary is in Macomb ; Sarah and Elizabeth in 
 Minneapolis ; Jesse Woolsey died, leaving two chil- 
 dren — Gilbert R., a physician, and Mrs. Buck. Al- 
 bert K.'s children are in the West; one daughter 
 lives in Jersey City. 
 **£ The agents of the colony entered about 30,000 
 'acres of land, and provided for a section to be laid 
 / . out into town lots. No member could hold more 
 ^ ' than four quarter-sections ; he was entitled to five 
 acres of timber land, and in business meetings each 
 owner had one vote for every quarter T section of land 
 he owned. The south half of section 8, and the 
 north half of section 17 were platted into town lots. 
 The town was intended to be patterned, after New 
 Haven, Conn., and one of their rules was that no 
 buildings should be erected within less than 30 feet 
 of the street without special permission. Ample 
 provisions were made on paper for the building and 
 endowment of a splendid seminary of learning, and 
 also for spacious and costly edifices for the worship 
 of God. But neither the seminary nor the church 
 materialized under the auspices of the colonists ; but 
 in 1853 Jenny Lind appropriated $r,ooo to build a 
 Lutheran Swede Church in Andover. At first the 
 Presbyterians dominated, and eventually, under Rev. 
 Pillsbury, a very modest, plain little church was 
 erected. It soon divided on the question of the Old 
 and New School, and as early as T839 the colonists 
 , got to wrangling among themselves, and the courts 
 
 were invoked to settle their differences. So utterly 
 did the Utopian designs of the colony fail that in a 
 few years all the original parties moved away until 
 William J. and Jesse Woolsey were all that were left 
 of them. As already stated, Jesse died, and William 
 removed to Cambridge, where he now lives in com- 
 fortable retirement. 
 
 It was long confidently asserted and believed 
 that Dr. Baker was the first settler in Andover Town- 
 ship ; but it will be remembered that Dr. Baker set- 
 tled first in the northwest part of the county, not far 
 from the mouth of Green River, and then, after liv- 
 ing awhile in his wagon, he removed south and then 
 again went back to the northern part of the county. 
 At an old settlers' meeting in T877, B. W. Seaton 
 read a paper and discussed this subject pretty thor- 
 oughly, and it was then pretty well settled that a 
 man named Butler was the first settler in this town- 
 ship. Judge Tillson said that Butler was living on 
 section to in the early summer of T835, and that he 
 entered the tract in August of that year. He sold 
 his land to the New York Colony. Judge Tillson 
 said : " In June, 1837, 1 found Mr. E. Buck and fam- 
 ily living in a log cabin 60 or 80 rods southwesterly 
 from Capt. Mix's place, near the timber, but not in 
 it. The cabin was there when Mr. Buck arrived. 
 Mr. W. S. Woolsey says he and William Potts used 
 the pabin for a carpenter shop in the summer of 1836. 
 This cabin was moved across Edwards River some 
 years later and occupied by Swan Nelson. Capt. 
 E. A. Mix, who came from New Haven, Conn 
 built the first frame house in Andover in 1836." The 
 account closes as follows : " The preponderance of 
 evidence goes to show that Butler, not Baker, was 
 the first settler in Andover Township ; but as neither 
 remained permanently, it does not matter which was 
 there first. " 
 
 orphans' home. 
 
 This institution was chartered as the " Orphans 
 Home and Farm School of the Scandinavian Augus- 
 tana Synod, " November T3, T872, the charter mem- 
 bers being Jonas Swenson, A. Andreen, P. M. Sann- 
 quist, A. G. Setterdahl, Victor Setterdahl, S. P. 
 Lindell, S. A. Peterson, Samuel Hoogner, Gustav 
 Johnson, Jonas W. Larson, S. P. Johnson and Jonas 
 Westerlund. 
 
 The institution had its beginning in the town of 
 Swedona, in 1868, by S. Peter Lindell and wife. It 
 
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 BEttkY COUNTY. 
 
 
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 was but a small beginning. They conducted it until 
 187 1, when it was removed to Andoyer under the 
 supervisiop of Mr. Lindeil, for the Synod. 
 
 The property now used in Andover was purchased 
 in 187 1. It was purchased in the name of Rev. 
 Swanson, and after his death conveyed by the courts 
 to the institution. The buildings on the property' 
 weie sufficient for temporary purposes. New build- 
 ings were- added in 188 r. The new house has 12 
 large rooms and accommodates 62 children, its full 
 capacity. 
 
 The objects anc} the Christian works and charities , 
 of this institution make it one of the most admired 
 institutions in the world.. It.is a; home for poor or- 
 phans, and we know, of no place that comes, nearer 
 to supplying, the poor unfortunate, little ones for 
 their loss of parents and. their, natural homes. , In 
 religion. they, train, them according, to the faith of the 
 Lutheran, Church., but yet more important, they give 
 them a practical education, well grounded in the ru- 
 diments of learning and thoroughly trained to work 
 and prepare them to successfully enter upon the 
 duties of life. In this home, they are kept until t8 
 years of age., when they ai:e supplied with good ward- 
 robes and an. amount of money to. do for themselves,, 
 the house, in every instance, securing those, who de- 
 sire it suitable, places in private families., . To 
 every one of its children it. is always their homeland 
 no parents watch more carefully after their own flesh 
 and blood than does the institution of its wards. 
 Each year they hold, a 4th-of-July reunion, and those 
 who are too far away to attend in person write let- 
 ters, and. thus the family of children know of the 
 whereabouts and doings of their Home brothers and 
 sisters. . . Thus the sacred relations of parent,, and 
 child, brothers and sisters, are continued through life, : 
 and at last these orphans are blest with loving par- 
 ents who never die. 
 
 Mr. Lindell, who came to Andover with the Home, ' 
 opened here with 17 children as inmates; and that he 
 successfully conducted it until the time, of his death, ; 
 in December, 1881, is fully evidenced by the fact 
 that it increased in that time to 45 children. Mr. 
 Lindell and wife did all the work of teaching and 
 superintending the Home during their incumbency. : 
 
 John S. Swensson succeeded Mr. Lindell. He is ' 
 now in charge, and there are 62 orphans cared for in 
 the school. 
 
 '& 
 
 Children are received into the institution of thevtf 
 ages from 2 years to r 2 years. wjR 
 
 The main new building is a plain, but yery -sub- 
 stantial- structure, and comfortable; two stories; -is 
 '38x42 feet and 22 feet high. The -old -building^ 
 to which the new is a front, is 50 x 18 feet, story- 
 and-a^half. The new building cost $3,364. There 
 is a cellar under the entire .building and it is all 
 heated by a furnace. The. buildings were paid for 
 by contributions- from different congregations. The 
 Home is maintained by the- farm- of 280 acres-he-^ 
 longing to it and from charitable cootributions.j;esrj>ec-' 
 ially from Sunday-schools of the different Lutheran* 
 Churches. -'-..' -, J( , ., ; ... ' 
 
 The Orphans' Home : was under the supervision of 
 the Synod to 1,8.76, and since that tirne : the.Illingis. 
 Conference, Augustana Synod, has had the control. 
 
 It probably should have been stated above that in 
 case one of the Home children is unfortunate or af- 
 flicted after leaving, the institution, the, doors are al- C y 
 ways open to him. or .her to return, and .partake ofa 
 that substitute for, a rnothejr's lovp.and care. . 
 
 We fear the people of Henry County, are. not gen-J 
 erally aware of the existence and holy work^gqing pn£ 
 
 in their midst — of this. sunshiny spot, where the ten-* 
 
 der unfortunates are taken_and they partake of thatift 
 wholesome M and. real charity .that certainly, to our< 
 mind, is a blessing to see and blessed to aid and en- 
 courage. . . ,.;..,, ;, : -v: , , 
 
 The present directors of the Home are Rev. Ejl 
 Carlson, Rev., J. Vickstrand, R. T. Setterhahl, G. 
 Johnson, S. A. Peterson, S. Hoogner and G. Beng- 
 ston. . ..... 
 
 CHURCHES. I 
 
 The Swedish Lutheran Evangelical Church, of An-« 
 
 dover, was organized March 18, 1850, with ten com-J 
 municant members. Rev. Lars P. Esbjorh was the 
 first Pastor, remaining in the active work until 1856. 
 Under his care the first church building was com- 
 menced, in 1851, and completed and dedicated in 
 1854. For one year after Esbjom left, the Church 
 was not regularly supplied. Rev.' B. J. P. Burg- 
 endler was then stationed here. In 1858, Jonas 
 Swenson, the father of John S. Swenson, at present) 
 in charge of the Orphans' Home, was ordained in 
 Swedona and took charge of the Church. ■■ This 
 Church and the one at Moline and New Sweden re- 
 ceived $13500 donation from the celebrated singer 
 
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 1 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 Jenny Lind. Mr. Swenson remained in charge of 
 the Church to the time of his death, in December, 
 1873. The vacancy thus, caused was supplied by 
 transients until April 28, 1875, when Rev. Erl Carl- 
 son, the present minister, took charge. 
 
 The present new church was completed and dedi- 
 cated in August, 1874. It had been commenced in 
 1867. The total cost was $41,000. It is supplied 
 with an organ costing $3,000. The Church trustees 
 are Jonas W. Larson, Peter Esterling, S. P. Johnson, 
 Gustav Benkston, Ostoff Stephenson. 
 
 The number of present communicants is 950, and 
 the whole membership is 1,535. 
 
 Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church probably owes 
 its existence to Jonas Hedstrom, who came here in 
 1850 and at once took up the subject. He called a 
 meeting in the house of Mrs. Lobecks and incited 
 the few friends to enter upon the good work. 
 
 In 1854, a little church was built, at a cost of 
 $536. This church eventually was too small for the 
 growing congregation, and in 1863 the present church 
 edifice was erected, at a cost of $3,200. During the 
 past ten years, several members have removed to 
 the West. Present membership, 140. Sunday-school, 
 75. The following Pastors, in the order of their suc- 
 cession, have been in charge: Jonas Hedstrom, 
 Victor Witting, Peter Newburg, A.. J. Anderson, An- 
 drew Ericson, Albert Ericson, I.. Lindquist, John 
 Wigreen, O. Gunderson, James Iverson, H. Olson, 
 J. H. Ekstrand, Alfred Anderson, and the present 
 Pastor, Rev. John Bendix. 
 
 ANNAWAN TOWNSHIP. 
 
 HAT is now Annawan Township presented 
 no inviting grove to tempt a settlement of 
 either the earliest lone pioneer, or the ad- 
 \ vance agent of the different colonies that 
 were organized in the old States, and hence 
 it was only when the railroad became a fixed 
 fact that immigrants began to turn their attention to 
 this part of the county. 
 
 I. G. Heaps, the present Supervisor of the town- 
 ship, came to the county in 1848. He is a native of 
 Pennsylvania. He has been a respected and valued 
 citizen ; was among the first to commence the breed- 
 
 ing of Short-horn cattle and Norman and Clydesdale 
 horses. He was in the late war, in Co. I, 27th 111. 
 Vol. Inf., was twice wounded in battle, and was for 
 some time a prisoner in Anderson ville. 
 
 The real settlement commenced in 1853 and con- 
 tinued in an uninterrupted stream until Annawan 
 became one of the populous townships of thrifty 
 farmers. Of those who came in 1853 and early in 
 1854, we note William M. McDermond, John Troyer, 
 Joshua Matthews and his son Thomas, Charles 
 Tinker, Daniel Blinn, Silas Morton, J. C. Webb, 
 John Burns, Daniel Morton, Isaac Croft, Mr. Ding- 
 man and his sons Joseph and William, Charles Dun- 
 ham, G. W. King, James Carroll, Thomas Piper, 
 John McNeeley, William B. Heaps, Henry Patterson, 
 Joseph Frock, Isaac Shellenberger, " old man " Ben- 
 son, Fred Benson, William Benson, Mr. McCanney, 
 William Hodges, John Hags, Mr. Hunt and his son 
 Lewis. 
 
 Solomon Minard came in i860, George McChes- 
 ney in 1854, John McNeeley in 1852, Erastus Kelly 
 in 1856, H. F. Humphrey in 1856, Stephen Moon in 
 1853, C. V. Holdridge the same year, William 
 Haxby, 1855 ; William Gochenouer, 1856; Samuel 
 Pettit, 1853; G. H. Mumford, 1856. Daniel Mor- 
 ton, one of the earliest settlers in Annawan, and 
 Charles Dunham, another one, reside in Geneseo. 
 
 John C. Ward returned to Bergen, N. Y., and 
 died in 1868. His widow is living in Galesburg. 
 Philo S. Ward's grandfather married Rufus Hub- 
 bard's mother. 
 
 Annawan Village. 
 
 ilPIS NN A WAN village was platted and dedi- 
 
 Ijf, cated to town purposes by Charles Atkin- 
 
 ™ son, now of Moline. This action was taken 
 
 sk 
 
 I 
 
 ft 
 
 I 
 
 as soon as it could be ascertained that the 
 Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad 
 would want a depot at or near this point on 
 the rojd, then being constructed. The rapid settle- 
 ment of the surrounding country indicated this as 
 one of the natural important shipping points on the 
 road. 
 
 The earliest settlers in the new town were Joseph 
 L., T. T. and Silas Morton, Almon Baker, Absalom 
 Blinn and Joseph Dingman. The two last named 
 were probably the first to take up their abode in the 
 village boundaries. Solomon Minor lived just north 
 
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 SBt 
 
$«§$<$— 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 of the village. Philip J. Wintry came in 1854, and 
 at once commenced actively his trade of house- 
 builder. 
 
 The first house was put up by Silas Morton, which 
 was a small frame store, now owned by B. C. Sar- 
 geant as a residence. The first residence was by 
 Almon Baker, .and very soon- after this' Philip J. 
 Wintry had his residence completed and moved into 
 it. Then in quick succession the houses of Samuel 
 Pattorf, Miram Barber, Absalom Blinn and Daniel 
 Blinn were soon up and occupied. Daniel Blinn 
 built the first warehouse, in 1854. He operated it 
 about two years. Joseph L. Dow erected the first 
 hotel, and Tristam T. Dow built the next hotel in the 
 place. Josiah Dow, Asa Prescott, and Philip, Joshua. 
 William and Philip, Jr., Locks, all built about this 
 time. 
 
 The first school-house was built in 1854, and it is 
 said, though not certain, that William Cole was the 
 (k ) first teacher. . 
 
 ■p William Komine and Peter Hillman came in 1854. 
 /S* Mr. Berkey came at the same time and opened a 
 *jg tinner's shop. 
 
 && The Daw Brothers, who put up the first hotel and 
 *=* kept a store, and built the elevator, are now living in 
 i$J Davenport. They still, own the elevator in Anna- 
 wan. 
 
 B. C. Sargeant is the only one left of the very first 
 house-builders in the place. The first grain-buyers 
 were Jared Sexton and Henry Hutchman. The 
 first railroad agent was William Lamb. Zebulon 
 Jones was the first " village blacksmith " of the place. 
 He is now in Galva. 
 
 The first mill was built by William and Ebenezer 
 Hard in 1856. It was burned to the ground in 
 1866. When burned it was the property of White & 
 Andrews, who had purchased of Hard. It after- 
 wards was wrecked by a boiler explosion. In 1859 
 robbers burned Daw's store. 
 
 A public meeting was called Jan. 30, i860, to 
 consider the question of incorporating the village, 
 F. H. Slater, president, and G. W. Lewis, clerk of 
 the meeting. The election was held on Feb. n, 
 i860. Sixty-one votes were cast; fifty-one for in- 
 corporation and ten against. 
 
 The first Board was F. H. Slater, President; Will- 
 iam W. Cole, Clerk; W. C. Carroll, Josiah Daw and 
 D. L. McChesney. 
 
 «) 
 
 « •* 
 
 There are at present in the village four dry-goods 
 and grocery stores, one drug store, a hotel, lumber- ; 
 yard and one feed store, and several small shops. 
 
 CHURCHES. -:-' '. 
 
 Congregational Church. — This church was origi- 
 nally organized in»the country, south of the villager. 
 It was moved into town about 1866, and supplied by 
 Rev. Mr. Lyman, of Sheffield, who remained" till the 
 church was built in 1867, and was succeeded by 
 Rev. Mr. Allen, who was followed by Rev. Mr. How- 
 ard, the preacher in charge at Atkinson. There was 
 no regular pastor from that time till 1876, when 
 Rev. John A. Griffin, of Atkinson, commenced 
 preaching. 
 
 The Annawan Baptist Church was organized in 
 Sept., 1843, at Wethersfield, but was removed to its 
 present location in 1854. Its original membership 
 was eight, whose names were Rev. Edw. Otis, Han- 
 nah Otis, Edw. Otis, Merrill Otis, Hileman Otis, 
 Sarah Otis, Chas. B. Miner and Mary G. Miner. 
 
 The present church was built in 1856, at a cost of 
 $t,ooo. The following ministers are among those 
 who have served as Pastors : Rev. Chas. E. Tinker, 
 Wm. McDermond, R: Turner, D. S. Dean, R. Ev- 
 erts, Wm. Storrs, David Heagle; J. D. Cromwel^ 
 Harvey Kingsbury, G. A. Hogeboom, Edward Jones, 
 Wm. Archer and G. W. Lewis. 
 
 The present membership is about 125, with a 
 Sunday-school of 100. 
 
 The Church of the United Brethren in Christ. — 
 This church, now located three miles south of Anna- 
 wan, at Fairview Chapel, was organized in the vil- 
 lage of Annawan in May, 1854, by Almond Baker 
 and others, with a total membership of eight persons. 
 The first meetings were held in private houses and 
 in unfinished or unoccupied buildings, and not until 
 1858 did the society build a church, which was dedi- 
 cated by Rev. Wm. Rinekart, Dec. 15, of the same 
 year, at a cost of about $[,400. 
 
 The following are the names of its Pastors and 
 their respective terms of service :. 
 
 First services by Almond Baker, Julia Baker and 
 Jared Sexton ; William C. Romine preached one 
 year; John Cubbage two years; B.- Wagner two 
 St. Clair Ross, two years ; J. R. Evans, one 
 David F. Bear, two years ; M. Bonnet, one? 
 J. L. Condon, one year; David. F. Bear, one 
 Elisha Godfrey one year ; Amos Worman, one 
 
 years; 
 year; 
 year ; 
 year ; 
 
 I 
 
 ty 
 
 -s^e: ^A^lMIItli^© — P^gg^ 
 
3(33$ 
 
 §*•- 
 
 zJ&k — ^V^HIOTi^^ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 769 
 
 
 (!) 
 
 year ; I. Kretzinger, one year ; Seth Coats, two years ; 
 William Hankins and J. Edwards, one year; B. 
 Wagner has served two years ; Archie W. Colla- 
 han, two years; O. F. S.nith, one year; N. M. Doug- 
 las, present Pastor. The membership is 60, Sunday- 
 school 50. Present Church Trustees : Daniel Blinn, 
 Joseph Frank, Richard W. Batten, Thomas Crosby 
 and Philip J. Wintz. Clsss-leader, W. B. Heaps. 
 
 7 he Congregational Church of South Grove was 
 organized in May, 1854, at King's School-house> 
 near the present residence of I. G. Heaps, at which 
 place the earliest meetings had been held prior to 
 organization. 
 
 The original membership was ten persons, as fol- 
 lows: Elijah Benedict, wife and son, Thomas J. 
 Hunt and wife, Asa Prescott and wife, A. B. Noyes 
 and wife and Mrs. J. McConney. 
 
 The society built their present church in Anna- 
 wan in 1866. The following in succession have been 
 the Pastors : Rivs. Asa Prescott, A. Lyman, John 
 Allen, Alva Hurd, O. Howard, John Griffin and the 
 present pastor and only minister now stationed in the 
 village, Rev. O. O. Smith. 
 
 The Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 
 1854; first meetings were held in the house of G. W. 
 King; the original members being John Hays, Jacob 
 Hodges, Isaac Shelinberger, G. W. King, Almon 
 Woodruff, John P. Bassett, William Benson, Solomon 
 Minard, William Barber and their families. 
 
 The church was built in 1856; cost $2,000. The 
 Pastors in their order were as follows: Revs. Win. 
 White, P. J. Moulton, J. T. Linthicum. G. M. Morey, 
 G. C. Woodruff, W. Odell, W. W. Sedore, G. W. 
 Brown, R. L. W. Jameson, S. S. Gruber, W. E. Will- 
 iamson, A. E. Day, C. C. Woodruff. 
 
 ATKINSON TOWNSHIP. 
 
 PKINSON was named after Charles Atkin- 
 son, now of Moline, one of the early settlers 
 of this county. He owned large quantities 
 of land in the township and all the land on 
 which the village is situated. The first set- 
 tler in Atkinson Township was Andrew Tay- 
 He died here many years ago. One of his 
 John, lives in Cornwall, and a daughter, Mrs. 
 Hamilton, lives in Geneseo, 
 
 The next was John B. Taylor, who came and put 
 up a cabin in 1837. He died in September, 1839. 
 
 In 1852 there were but two families in this town- 
 ship, namely: H. Fane's and Rozel W. Little's. 
 
 Asa Crook is probably the oldest settler now living 
 in the township. He made his improvement on sec- 
 tion 18. J. W. Little was one of the early settlers. 
 John Welch was another early settler and was quite 
 a prominent man while he lived here. He went to 
 Nebraska. One of his daughters is still in the town- 
 ship ; married her cousin, B. F. Welch. The. most 
 important family were the Nowers, Thomas Nowers, 
 Sr., and his sons and daughters, David Walters, the 
 Trekells and Trekell's brother-in-law, D. W. Won- 
 derly. The last named are all now in Nebraska. R. 
 M. Besse and Henry Bass are both well known early 
 settlers. 
 
 A large part of this township is in the Green River 
 swamps. There were very few settlers came. into it 
 until after the building of the railroad in 1854, and 
 the extensive drainage of the swamp and overflow 
 lands, which was commenced in 1856. Jacob Meyers 
 came in 1855 ; the same year Robert W. Milar. Otis 
 W. Mankins came in 1854. John K. Trekell came 
 to the county in 1836. He is a native of Ohio. His 
 wife was Theresa Walters, of Ohio. They were mar- 
 ried Feb. 13, i860. 
 
 Village of Atkinson. 
 
 »HWi.' 
 
 I 
 <3 
 
 W. MILAR came from Ohio and settled 
 in what is now the town in 1856. He found 
 living in this vicinity when he came Lor- 
 enzo Eldridge, now of Chicago ; Stephen 
 Trekell, who left for California and died on 
 the way on shipboard ; Henry Bass, living 
 two and a half miles north ; E. R. Lucas, the present 
 Town Street Commissioner ; Benj. Shearer, who re- 
 turned to his old home in the East; James W. Eng- 
 lish, Z. Welch, Hiram Grant and Michael Milar (the 
 last four deceased), and John Crosby, now living in 
 the southern part of the county ; George Rummell, 
 living in Geneseo; David Walters, in Nebraska; John 
 Rummell, in Iowa; John Heller, in Missouri; Asa 
 Crook, living near the village ; John Bowen (de- 
 ceased) ; Harry and Henry Fanes, now in Kansas ; 
 George Williams, living north of Green River; C. J. 
 Gearheart, living on Green River; M. W. Taylor (de- 
 ceased); E. F. Rose, in Chicago; George Lowbauch, 
 
 at ■• 
 
 ■3$^ — eA4TOnii&A^ — :s ^- 
 
■z$$*s l <5\ 4M®Mf>*& 
 
 ®f*^£ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 in Geneseo ; Andrew Miner, in Iowa ; Sperry How- 
 ard (deceased), and some think he was about the 
 first settler in the township ; and Wally Smith, who 
 went West years ago. 
 
 R. W. Milar's family were the first that got moved 
 into the village proper. He built the first dwelling. 
 There were two other houses going up at the same 
 time, but Mr. Milar it seems worked the fastest and 
 was a day or two ahead of the others. This first 
 house occupied is now the property of Fred. Kizer. 
 One of the other two houses is now the hotel of the 
 place. It was .built by Trekell. The other build- 
 ing was the first store room in the place, by N. W. 
 Taylor. It is now a harness shop on State Street. 
 Taylor was the first store-keeper and Postmaster. 
 
 With this flush start for a good town, the people 
 put up as the fourth building a school-house. It is 
 now a dwelling and belongs to Thomas Nowers, Jr. 
 At one time additions were put to it and it became a 
 hotel, and when it served its day in this line the ad- 
 ditions were separated and made into two dwellings, 
 one of which is occupied by the agent, Emmons, and 
 the other by A. R. Walters. George Lowbauch put 
 up the next building. It is now occupied by Daniel 
 Seybert. Then Dr. Lucas put up a dwelling. He 
 sold to Brandon and left this part of the country. 
 Brandon died some 25 years ago. Slusser then built 
 just north of Milar's. Isaac Fry erected a building 
 on Mai:. Street, on the same block of Trekell's build- 
 ing. Then E. F. Rose, just south of Milar's, and 
 then Babbit built. Then E. F. Rose erected his el- 
 evator and opened it for the trade of the farmers. 
 Stephen Trekell then put up his store-room. Lor- 
 enzo Eldridge built and opened his store about the 
 same time, and soon after this Samuel Brant put up 
 his building. The first brick building was erected in 
 1867, by Edward Everett. 
 
 The first school taught in the place was by Eliza- 
 beth Nowers, now Mrs. Henry L. Lyon. Rev. Wm. 
 White.'ofthe Methodist Episcopal Church, preached 
 the first sermon in the place. 
 
 A notice for the people to meet and vote upon the 
 question of town organization was posted Jan. 12, 
 1867, signed by Luke Wills, Amos Fry and John 
 }<?* Ashley. There were 19 votes cast at the election, 
 <jj> n for and 8 against organization. A charter was 
 obtained, and at the first election, Thomas Nowers, 
 Sr., President, Dr. Levi Carter, John Ashley, Jr., 
 
 §§KV®)}^f« ^w^ — e^M 
 
 V 
 
 A 
 
 
 George R. Babbitt and John M. Brown were elected 
 a Board of Trustees, and John Ashley, Clerk. The 
 town was under its special charter until June, 1878, 
 when by a vote it changed to the general incorpora- 
 tion law. 
 
 The present population is 500; has four churches : 
 — The Methodist Episcopal Church, the Free Meth- 
 odist, Congregationalist and Catholic. Three dry- 
 goods stores, five groceries, one bank and one hotel. 
 
 The present village officers are, John Straly, Pres- 
 ident; John W. Smith, John Johnson, John Eng- 
 lish, John F. Nowers, J. C. Pierson ; and Charles E. 
 Sheldon, Clerk. 
 
 The Congregational Church was organized in 
 1864. The same year they built their church at a 
 cost of $2,700. The parsonage was built in 1868. 
 
 The M. E. Church was organized in 1857, by Rev. 
 White, mentioned above as preaching the first ser- 
 mon. Revs. D. M. Hill, O.W. Pollard and Knowl- 
 ton were the Pastors in charge. Then Revs. Shel- 
 don, Morey, Kinney, Woodruff, Frick, Heckard, 
 Odell, Fleharty, Head, Swartz,- Woodruff, Keller 
 and Otterman. The church building cost $3,500. 
 
 The Catholic Church commenced its services in 
 187 1. The church building cost $1,200. 
 
 
 1 
 
 BURNS TOWNSHIP. 
 
 'HIS is one of the few townships untouched 
 by the iron track of the railway, but finds 
 good markets and shipping points about 
 equi-distant to Kewanee, Cambridge and Gal- 
 va, with good roads and easy approaches to 
 either. The entire township is arable land, 
 with a sufficient natural drainage in every part, and 
 has the rather curious topography of the small drain- 
 age streams that rise near its center and flow directly 
 north, while from the center to the south line the 
 small streams lead to the west and southwest. The 
 face of the country is largely prairie, but in it are 
 several valuable groves of timber, chief among which 
 is Round Grove in the southwest corner. The set- 
 tlers here were not town builders, it seems, as they 
 have never laid out any great paper cities or at- 
 tempted to'plant and grow a flourishing and ambi- 
 tious town that would spring into grandeur in a 
 single night. The Edwards River, flowing west tQ : 
 
 *. 
 
I 
 
 I 
 
 <& 
 
 ^v«@oo& 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 the Mississippi, rises in section 25, and Round Grove 
 Creek in section 35, with branches coming in from 
 sections 32 and 34. 
 
 The first settler was Samuel Carson, a carpenter, 
 from Harrison County, Ohio. He was born in 181 1, 
 and came to the county in the spring of 1836. He 
 improved 183 acre>. He married Elizabeth Doty, 
 Sept. 20, 1836, a native of Trumbull Co., Ohio, born 
 July 4, 18 14. There were born to them eight chil- 
 dren — four boys and four girls ; three children died 
 some years ago. 
 
 Mr. Carson was a successful farmer, was for some 
 years a Justice of the Peace, and at different times 
 held other offices in the township. 
 
 Jacob Kemerling came March 23, 1837; born in 
 Columbiana, Ohio, May 18, 1807. He improved a 
 splendid farm on section 35, of 426 acres. He was 
 married to Sarah Allbright Feb. 10, 1820; she died 
 Sept. 20, 1863, having borne nine children, eight of 
 whom survived her. 
 
 Mr. Kemerling was very nearly the perpetual As- 
 sessor and School Director during his life, having 
 filled those places for more than 20 years. He was 
 a noted man among the early settlers, and toward 
 the close of his active life as well known as any man 
 in the county. He was a most companionable man, 
 and his delight was to meet old brother settlers, 
 and all night and all day recount experiences, anec- 
 dotes and frightful stories of hair-breadth escapes 
 in the day of wild varmints in the land. If he could 
 not get an old settler to swap experiences he would 
 content himself with a "tender-foot;" and when he 
 fell upon a credulous one he would delight to afflict 
 him with stories that would bring the listener hid- 
 eous nightmares for the next six months. In an- 
 other chapter is an encounter with a wolf on the 
 prairie by a lone pedestrian on his way to Andover 
 The wolf was large, and, driven by hunger, was ready 
 to eat a pioneer blood-raw. The story is a hair- 
 starter, and the reader had better turn to it on an- 
 other page, and thus gain some idea of what perils 
 were once upon these peaceful prairies — what awful 
 dangers by flood and field, and hungry wolves did 
 once beset the peaceful pioneer. 
 
 Simeon Mathews settled on section 9. He was 
 from Hartford County, Conn., born April r7, 1812, 
 and landed in this county in 1848. He improved a 
 splendid farm of 300 acres, He married Phebe Jane 
 
 Rogers in 1836. She was a native of Ohio, born in 
 1815 ; died March 30, 1868. In 187 1 Mr. M. was 
 again married to Minerva Hemingway, of Litchfield 
 Co., Conn., who was born in 18 1 6. 
 
 W. S. Charles came in 1842, and settled on section 
 32. He was a native of England, born Nov. 1, 1 8 18. 
 He improved 200 acres. He came to this county 
 direct from Stark County, where he had settled in 
 1837. April 19, 1839, he married Esther L. Stod- 
 dard, in Stark County, it be'ng the first wedding in 
 that county. 
 
 William Clement, a native of Ireland, born Jan. 
 26, 1828, came in 185 1, and settled on section 25. 
 His wife was Sarah Gash, born in Lincolnshire, Eng- 
 land, in 1836. They were married in 1870. 
 
 George Kemerling settled on section 35, in i84r. 
 He was born in Ohio, April 15, 1815. He married 
 Jane Leonard, Sept. 2, 1847, a native of Ohio, born 
 Oct. 10, 1827. They had six children. 
 
 Ira Parker came in 185 1, settled on section 9, and 
 improved a splendid farm of 411 acres. He was 
 from Wayne Co., N. Y. 
 
 Michael Roberts came in ^52. He was born in 
 Cumberland, Me , June 20, 1796. He came to Illi- 
 nois in 1833, and stopped in Peoria, and then in 
 Fulton County. 
 
 This was about all the settlers in this township 
 until the days of railroad building, that decade from 
 1852 to 1862 that witnessed such a tremendous flow 
 of immigration to this county, when every part of it 
 became thickly settled. 
 
 ■•*»>» 
 
 CAMBRIDGE TOWNSHIP. 
 
 HE following history of Cambridge Town- 
 ship is taken from an article prepared by 
 F* B. W. Seaton, editor of the Prairie Chief, 
 for the Old Settlers'meeting, August, 1877, and 
 may be relied upon as entirely authentic : 
 Previous to the year 1840, what is now 
 known as Cambridge Township had no history save 
 that which is common to the whole West while slum- 
 bering in the lap of nature. In 1835, when the 
 prospecting party, headed by Ithamar Pillsbury, 
 came this way in search of land on which to locate 
 the Andover Colony, they found a little cabin near 
 
 i 
 
 cat 
 
 I 
 
 ^^ii^im^A^ — s^s. 
 
$«§®$~ 
 
 HENRY 
 
 COUNTY. 
 
 f 
 
 
 
 the west edge of Sugar-Tree Grove, a few rods north 
 of the state road, on the farm now owned and occu- 
 pied by Mr, Perkins — better known as the Cady 
 place. This place was the first habitation built in 
 Cambridge Township, and was the headquarters of a 
 party of hunters from Knox County, who paid a visit 
 to this section annually to hunt deer, which were 
 then quite numerous in the grove. In this little - 
 cabin Mr. Pillsbury and party spent one night; and 
 they have often been heard to say that they passed 
 the night more comfortably than they had at any 
 other place since they left Peoria. 
 
 In 1838, William Stackhouse and James Mascall 
 drifted this way in search of homes, and found them. 
 On the northwest quarter of section 10, Cambridge, 
 they found a double log cabin and other improve- 
 ments — a well and a small patch of broken prairie. 
 The house -was deserted, and the " breaking " had 
 run to weeds. These improvements were made by 
 a man named Chillson, who supposed he was on 
 Government land; but, finding there was a prior 
 claim, he abandoned the place. Where he went to 
 we have not been able to learn, but a man by the 
 same name opened the farm in Cornwall now owned 
 by Lewis Shearer. This man Chillson was the first 
 who attempted to make a permanent home in Cam- 
 bridge Township, and turned the first furrow. A few 
 years later the cabin was " lifted " by Captain Mix 
 and taken to his place in Andover. The well has 
 long since caved in, but a slight hollow in the ground 
 shows where it used to be. 
 
 After spending some time prospecting, and in 
 their travels stumbling upon Richmond, the county 
 seat, where a court-house was being built, Messrs. 
 Mascall and Stackhouse each selected a farm and 
 returned home. 
 
 In the spring of 1840 Wm. Stackhouse returned 
 with his family, consisting of himself, wife and one 
 daughter, and pitched his tent 0.1 section T4, where 
 he erected a log cabin and commenced housekeeping 
 at once. He proceeded at once to turn up the prai- 
 rie sod, and soon had the first crop raised in Cam- 
 bridge Township, then without a name. 
 ' When he built his first cabin, having no timber of 
 his own, he " borrowed " some, as he supposed, of 
 Uncle Sam. One morning he was " pegging away " 
 in the timber, when a fine-looking stranger on horse- 
 back came along, told, him he was tresspassing on 
 
 his land, and asked him what he was going to do 
 with the logs. On being told by Mr. Stackhouse 
 that he was building a house to shelter his family, 
 who were with him, the stranger told him to go 
 ahead and take all the logs he wanted for that pur- 
 pose. This stranger proved to be Patrick Owens, 
 known about here in years after as a " land- shark ;" 
 but many remember him as a kind-hearted, generous 
 gentleman, who could not do too much for a friend, 
 or too severely punish an enemy. 
 
 The same year James Mascall, then a single man, 
 came on and improved his claim on section 12. In 
 common with all pioneers, Mr. Mascall met with 
 misfortunes that would have discouraged many. 
 Early- in his career as a Westerp farmer, his team 
 was broken up by the death of one of his horses. 
 He soon got another; then the other died. Being 
 literally '" dead broke,'' he could not buy a fourth 
 horse ; so he pressed a pair of young steers into ser- 
 vice. One of these becoming lame and unfit for 
 work, he put a heifer into yoke, and with a Dolly 
 Varden team, consisting of one steer, one heifer and 
 one horse, he got through with his year's" work suc- 
 cessfully. 
 
 When these pioneers arrived in 1840 they found 
 Joseph Tillson keeping bachelor hall in a pole cabin 
 near the west edge of the grove. He owned a quarter- 
 section of the best land there, and his only occupa- 
 tion seemed to be to prevent squatters and others 
 from carrying off the trees. 
 
 So far as we have been able to learn, the actual 
 population of Cambridge Township in 1840 was 
 five — William Stackhouse, wife and daughter, James 
 Mascall and Joseph Tillson ; and all, except Miss 
 Stackhouse (who died many years ago) are still living 
 in Cambridge. 
 
 In 1841 Richard Mascall came here from Wyo- 
 ming, Stark county, built a cabin near Mr. Stackhouse * 
 and became the sixth on the settlers' roll. About 
 the same time Charles Else settled on section it. 
 In the fall of the same year, Stephen Cady andi his 
 son-in-law, Alex. H. Showers, arrived and built a 
 cabin where the Perkins House now stands. About 
 the same time, Elisha Attwater came over from. 
 Andover and opened the farm just north of the vil- 
 lage limits. 
 
 In 1842 Joseph Perry improved the farm next east 
 of Richard Mascall's homestead, better kno\yn as th? 
 Shannon place. -.--■■ - 
 
 I 
 
 il 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 ffe 
 
 tSta 
 
 I 
 
 e^nnsiiiij^s — ^^ -§*«§*■ 
 
-6V4»flHfW^ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 osx> 
 
 oOO" 
 
 Cambridge Village. 
 
 HIS beautiful little city is located near the 
 center of the county, on the line of the Pe- 
 oria & Rock Island Railroad, and is the 
 county seat. Much was the excitement and 
 great the controversy in selecting sites for the 
 seat of the county's government. This fea- 
 ture of the history of Cambridge is treated under the 
 head of county seats. 
 
 Measured by the changes from the time this place 
 was selected as the county seat until now, it looks as 
 if long ages must have intervened between that time 
 and the present. Where Cambridge now stands and 
 as far as the eye could see, it was but the unbroken 
 (&) prairie — tolling, rich and beautiful as it came fresh 
 ^ > from the hand of God. There was no house north 
 S\ of Sugar-Tree Grove nearer than the close vicinity 
 S3 of Geneseo ; west, there were no houses or improve- 
 /<£ ments until you neared Andover. At the east end 
 of the grove a settlement, or rather an improvement 
 by A. H. Showers, had been fairly started ; to the 
 south, Red Oak, six miles, was the nearest settle- 
 / . ment. Galva was yet in the womb of the future and 
 ' so was Bishop Hill settlement. Hence, to the east 
 it was almost unmeasured qua ntity . At Wethersfield 
 and Barren Grove, in the southeast, was a settle- 
 ment. And at that early day the county-seat ques- 
 tion had so embroiled some of the good people of 
 Wethersfield and Barren Grove that they desired to 
 secede from Henry and attach themselves to and be- 
 come Starkians of Stark County. A few settlements 
 were at Oxford and about Richland Grove in the 
 southwest corner of the county. Andover was the 
 most flourishing settlement in the county. Ten 
 miles northwest of Cambridge were three or four fam- 
 ilies who " stuck stakes " and commenced their im- 
 provements. 
 
 At this time immigration to the county was very 
 light, and a serious question to " Judge " Tillson 
 was, now that he had secured the location of the 
 town, how to induce men and money to go there. 
 Cambridge was duly surveyed and platted, and 
 named by Tillson ; the christening took place June 
 g, r843. Tne " Judge " was the god-father of the 
 
 
 "infant phenomenon," responding to all the vows and 
 winding up the ceremony, in his mind, with a final 
 "By the eternal, Cambridge shall wax fat and grow." 
 To this end, he built a cabin — a very, very small log 
 hut, very squat, and, in the language of the pundits 
 of the time, the " residence " was about as " broad as 
 it was narrow." One or two others put up log cab- 
 cabins about the same time the " Judge " did, but in 
 the matter of smallness he distanced them all. In 
 his determination to make Cambridge a populous 
 town he married, and soon there was an addition to 
 the house and in it ; regularly as clock-work these 
 additions went on, until finally the mansion was 
 many additions clustering around; and inside and 
 about the first small hut, like " birds of a feather that 
 flock together," were the smiling and frolicsome 
 young progeny. 
 
 The original town contained about 36 acres. 
 Two public squares were platted : " Court Square " 
 and "College Square." These two names are sug- 
 gestive of the bent of mind at that time. One 
 square was to punish criminals on, the other 
 " square " was the first idea of a great institution of 
 learning — " College Square," where, at that time, 
 prairie wolves, frogs and crawfish chimneys were the 
 existing alma mater for these classic grounds. 
 
 The court-house at Morristown was not completed 
 when this last change of county seat occurred, and 
 work was stopped. The people of the southern part 
 of the county were invited to assemble, and every 
 man to bring his work-oxen, and the court house 
 was placed on "runners " and hauled to Cambridge 
 over the prairie and tall grass. What an astonish- 
 ment this moving court-house must have created as 
 it slowly sailed along, rousing, up the green-heads, 
 the musical frogs and the lurking prairie wolves. 
 
 The court-house was thus moved in the following 
 way: Messrs. Stackhouse, Hanna, Mascall, Cady, 
 Osborn and others made a proposition to the County 
 Court to move the house and complete it, they to 
 have the house, and furnish the court room for its 
 sessions until a new court-house could be put up. 
 At other times the building was used as a school- 
 house. The court-house was moved down Sept 5, 
 1843. After being thus used for three years it was 
 sold to Messrs. Gaines, who put up a small addi- 
 tion to it and converted it into a residence and store. 
 July, 1844, a contract was made with Sullivan 
 
 c 5 
 
 ft 
 
 
 %&*& 
 
 ■=y y Q/^ MUmfr*^ 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 4*^ 
 
 
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 b 
 
 
 Howard for a new court-house. This was completed 
 in July, 1845. This was for many years used for 
 court-house, school, town hall and all other public 
 purposes. Nearly all denominations held worship 
 there, and the singing master, writing master, hum- 
 bug phrenological, mesmeric and other cheap frauds 
 lectured there ad libitum. It was evidently a "free 
 for all." 
 
 Charles C. Blish surveyed and platted Cambridge, 
 and was paid $[4 therefor. His assistants were Al- 
 bert Jagger and Sullivan Howard. 
 
 June 26 was the first sale of lots in the new town. 
 Twenty lots were sold, at about an average of $20 
 each. There were 13 purchasers, and of these but 
 three are known to have remained any time in the 
 county. These were Tillson, Allan and Ayers. 
 Qua lost his life in a stone-quarry, a mile and a half 
 northeast of Cambridge ; Russell soon left the State, 
 Montgomery went to Missouri, Jagger to New York 
 and Thompson to California. 
 
 As much dodging and moving around as there 
 was in the location of the county seat, it is but 
 just to say that it was all in the best of-good feel- 
 ing, and no bad blood was ever stirred up, as in 
 many oth,er places, over the county-seat question. 
 There was keen rivalry, but no bitterness, especially 
 of that sometimes deadly kind that is sometimes to 
 be seen ii new counties in the West, and as was 
 then sometimes to be seen in new counties in Illinois. 
 
 Joshua Harper who was one of the Morristown 
 proprietors, was in 1843 selected by the Legislature 
 to act as a commissioner in settling the vexed and 
 hot county-seat question in Whiteside County — a 
 county where the question raged with great fury, 
 and which Mr. Harper aided in finally and perma- 
 nently settling. 
 
 The growth of the town was very slow indeed, be- 
 cause expectation stood on tip-toi, looking for the 
 new town to take up its bed and walk off to same 
 new location, through force of habit, probably. But 
 it has remained and .verified the old adage that " the 
 third time is the charm." It is a charming, quiet 
 little unpretentious shire town, now possessing a 
 splendid $8,000 court-house, a splendid soldiers' 
 monument of enduring granite, a very elegant and 
 commodious public-school building on "College 
 Square," and a thrifty and contented, kind-hearted, 
 genial, polite and cultured population of over 1,200. 
 
 The- town originally was built about the two 
 squares; the business houses fronting the Court- 
 House Square and the first residences fronting the 
 south side of College Square. 
 
 At one time or another the county has built four 
 court-houses. Three of those buildings are now 
 standing in Cambridge, the other one was burned, as 
 related above. The little, story-and-a-half court- 
 house that was hauled from Morristown to Cam- 
 bridge., is now a residence, and after its last travels, 
 it stands on a lot three blocks east of the southeast 
 corner of College Square. The other is used as a 
 broom-corn warehouse, and stands a short distance 
 west of the northwest corner of the Court-House 
 Square. It was sold at public sale and purchased 
 by Mr. Gould, and he had commenced to move it 
 and had got it into the street and started on its 
 travels, when Mr. Pillsbury purchased it of him and 
 started to take it to Andover. He got it as far west 
 as it now stands, and bad weather for houses to be 
 out and exposed coming on, he left it in the street, 
 where it stood until the authorities notified him to 
 " move on " with his house. Owing to the continu- 
 ous inclement weather for houses out of doors, or to 
 its weight and cumbersomeness, or to a thousand 
 other causes combined, it was shunted into the lot 
 where it now stands, awaiting its owner's next move- 
 ment to get it to Andover. 
 
 Sullivan Howard built this frame court-house, 
 contracting therefor Sept. 3, 1844, and completed 
 the building July 28, 1845. From its completion 
 and for a long time it was the big house in the 
 county. Here schools were taught, lectures delivered, 
 debating societies, political meetings, prayer meet- 
 ings, secret societies, dancing and preaching, in turn 
 were in possession. The Congregationalists, Pres- 
 byterians, Methodists, Baptists and Universalists 
 at one time all worshiped in this building. Often 
 as many as three different denominations would hold 
 services on the same day, at different hours, and 
 they dwelt in unity and harmony. 
 
 The oldst settlers all agree that the noted " village 
 blacksmith," " Lord John " Russell , put up the first 
 house in Cambridge. He occupied it with his family 
 until he could erect a cabin, and then this first rude 
 hut was his blacksmith shop This first cabin was 
 near the southeast comer of College Square. Judge 
 Tillson hewed the poles for his more pretentious 
 bride's residence. 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY 
 
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 A log cabin was erected nearly opposite where the 
 Cambridge House now stands, by W. A. Ayers, in 
 1843. In this house was confined the half-breed 
 Indian, "John," who in cold blood murdered another 
 Indian, " Jim," — both of the Ottawas. John made 
 his escape and went to his tribe on Rock River. 
 The officers pursued him and Shabbona pointed out 
 the culprit and delivered him to the law. He was 
 again confined until the Grand Jury met, and it re- 
 fused to find a " true bill " and he was turned loose. 
 The murder was so flagrant, so cold-blooded and 
 wanton, that the action of the jury in turning the 
 murderer loose is to this day spoken of with signifi- 
 cant headshaking. 
 
 John and Jim had started hunting, Jim walking 
 along the path and John on his pony near behind, 
 when he secured the gun of his victim to carry for 
 him on the pony, he shot him in the back, and 
 turned back, leaving the dead Indian lying in the 
 path where he fell. 
 
 It was only a dead Indian, and his murderer was 
 a living one who mixed with others of his tribe, and 
 the white man wanted trade and traffic. Could it 
 be possible that at that early day men appreciated 
 the Shakespearean philosophy that " thrift might fol- 
 low fawning?" 
 
 The first hotel was built by A. H. Showers in 
 1848. Prior to this time accommodations were 
 furnished in any and every cabin in the place, — 
 especially in Judge Tillson's. Showers ran it for 
 some time and then rented it, and it was made a 
 private residence, and as such became the property 
 of Michael McFadden. Mr. Showers then erected 
 the ptesent Cambridge House, which he sold in 
 1856 to A. and M. B. Gould. They added to the 
 building and put on the third story. 'After running 
 it five years, the Goulds sold to James M. Weir, who 
 in turn sold to Joshua Bushnell, in February, 1864. 
 Bushnell enlarged it again to its present capacity, 
 and in February, 1876, sold to J. W. Hartzell. M. 
 W. Thatcher kept the Cambridge House eight years. 
 Afterwards he built the Thatcher House and opened 
 it to the public. 
 
 There was no wild " booming " in Cambridge pro- 
 perty. It was a modest, unpretentious county seat, 
 and grew in population, buildings and business strict- 
 ly in keeping with the demands made upon it by the 
 wants of the public and the solid growth of the adja- 
 
 cent farming community. Other towns in the county 
 had railroads and were putting on extensive city airs 
 while it peacefully plodded on its way. It was for 
 some years content to get along with a semi-weekly 
 mail on the Peoria route that passed through Weth- 
 ersfield to Geneso. It did not very greatly complain 
 when in the early day this route was so changed as 
 to leave it away off the road, and the mail-carrier 
 would throw off the Cambridge sack at the " Cor- 
 ners," ten miles east of the town ! There was no 
 office there, and Cambridge hired a boy to bring the 
 sack to town. Often matter put up in other offices in 
 the county was sent to Massachusetts, being, we 
 suppose, the supposed accessible Cambridge and ,the 
 only one that anyone could possibly address a letter 
 to. This distressing state of affairs continued until 
 1856, when a tri-weekly mail from Geneseo to Kewa- 
 nee was established. For some years the only mail 
 from the east came by the mail route from Princeton 
 to New Boston. A weekly mail from Rock Island to 
 Cambridge was eventually established. In 1853 a 
 route was opened from Lancaster, on the Illinois 
 river, to Cambridge; but this was soon discontinued. 
 For years " Uncle Bobby " Robinson carried the mail 
 from Cambridge to Rock Island. He was an express 
 agent also, and was a trusty and valuable aid to all 
 the people who had to do much of their shopping at 
 the latter place. 
 
 CHURCHES. 
 
 The Congregationalists were the first to effect a 
 church organization in this place. The settlement 
 had in it from the first many of this faith from New 
 England and New York, earnest God-fearing men, 
 whose great joy and highest worldly pleasure was to 
 mingle and work with their brethren, and on Sunday 
 to hear and heed the call, " Come, let us worship 
 God. " A meeting was held as early as February 9, 
 1837, and the Church organized, with n members, 
 as follows: Nelson Gaines and wife, Henry G. and 
 Mrs. Fidelia Little, H. G. and Mrs. Elizabeth Griffin, 
 Joseph and Mrs. Julia Tillson, C. W. Davenport, 
 Mrs. Margaret Atwater and Mrs. Ruth Moore. Revs. 
 L. H. Porter, of Galesburg, and William F. Vaill, of 
 Wethersfield, officiated. In company with the Meth- 
 odists and Baptists, worship was held in the court- 
 house. In 1854 the congregation had increased to 
 24 members, and they determined to put up a house 
 of worship. This was. accomplished the next year, 
 
 
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 and the church was dedicated Jan. 12, 1856. It was 
 used continuously until 1875, when it was sold to 
 the Swedish Lutherans, and then the present edifice 
 was erected. 
 
 Rev. Vaill was in charge the first year. He was 
 succeeded by Rev. Joseph D. Baker, who continued 
 in charge seventeen -years. Then came Rev. L. H. 
 Parker, who remained one year. Then Rev. Joel 
 Grant came and remained three years, then Rev. 
 Thomas Douglass two years. Then Rev. S. F. 
 Dickinson took charge. The present Pastor is Rev. 
 J. B. Bid well. 
 
 The M. E. Church organized for worship in the 
 old frame court-house in 1850, with 20 members. 
 Missionary Harding, then traveling through the West, 
 officiated. John and Mary Russell, S. P. and Mrs. 
 L. Cady, Michael Grant, A. S. Ebright, A. M. Corn- 
 stock and wife, Elias Morse and wife were the prin- 
 cipal organizers. 
 
 The preachers were, the missionary Harding, one 
 year;H. J. Humphrey, two years; C. M. Wright, 
 one year; G. W. Brown, two years; D. A. Falken- 
 burg, two years ; Geo. C. Woodruff, two years ; J. J. 
 Fleharty, two years ; G. M. Morey; two years ; J. D. 
 Smith, two years ; William Leeber, one year ; Geo. I. 
 Bailey, two years ; G. M. Morey, two years ; then Rev. 
 Dilley, then after an interval came Rev. J. A. H. 
 Wilson, who is at present in charge. 
 
 The Protestant Episcopal {Trinity) Church, is a 
 mission church under the care of Grace Church 
 Parish, whose permanent headquarters are five miles 
 northwest of Cambridge. Their church building was 
 erected in 1876, at a cost of $5,000, with a member- 
 ship at that time of 30. The pastor first to reside in 
 Cambridge was Rev. J. S. Chamberlain, who was in 
 charge of Grace Parish and Cambridge Church. Has 
 no resident pastor at present. It has generally been 
 served by the Osco minister, or, in other words, the 
 two churches are in charge of Rev. J. Newman, of 
 Osco. 
 
 The Baptist Church was organized July 8, 1854, 
 in the court-house. Prior to this they had met at the 
 court-house for occasional worship. There were 
 thirteen of the original members, as follows: William 
 Talbott, Mary Talbott, Aaron Talbott. Phebe Talbott, 
 James M. Woodmansee, Clarissa M. Woodmansee, 
 John McFarland, H. McFarland, Emma Black- 
 man, Laura Bishop, Harriet Daggett, Electa Daven- 
 
 port and Eliza Ayers. They purchased the old 
 school-house, and worshiped in it until they erected 
 their present church, at a cost of about $10,000. In 
 1877 they built a parsonage, at a costof $2,100. Their 
 first Pastor was Rev. F. Ketchman, one year, then 
 Rev. W. W. Smith, fourteen months ; Rev. R. Ed- 
 wards, one year; G. D. Simmon, eighteen months; 
 Rev. A. "Edison, two years and four months; Rev. 
 J. Shepherd, six years; Rev. W. B. Velsher, two 
 years and six months ; Rev. J. Cairns followed. The 
 resident minister of this church is S. G. McCormack. 
 
 The Christian Church. — The Disciples of Christ 
 held meetings in the court-house, then in the Bap- 
 tist church and at times in the school-house. Dec. 
 18, 1859, they held a meeting to organize in the court- 
 house. The following were attendant at this meet- 
 ing: Samuel- and Mrs. Ellen Horn, Mrs. A. E. 
 Mathews, Asa B. Lobingier, George Lobingier, G. W: 
 Sroupe, William and Mrs. Martha McFarland, and 
 William Kirkland. , 
 
 Jan. 23, following, a permanent organization was 
 effected ; William Kirkland and G.W. Sroupe, Elders ; 
 William McFarland and John M. Evans, Deacons, 
 and George Lobingier, Clerk. At this meeting Han- 
 nah and Elizabeth Kirkland, Mrs. Mary E. Evans, 
 Mary Busenbark, Mary L. Cahon, John, Hannah B., 
 and Malinda McFarland, Mary Hazel, Miranda-M. 
 Noel and Nathaniel C. Whitney joined the Church. 
 
 Jan. r,' 1 87 1, the congregation purchased the Baptist 
 church (school-house) and removed it to its perman- 
 ent 'place. They had over fifty members and a Sun- 
 day school of over 35 pupils. 
 
 Rev. James E. Gaston organized the Church and 
 remained one year. For three years they had no 
 regular, pastor ,_ then John W. Errett was called and 
 remained in charge until 1868. In January, 1869, 
 Elder G. W. Sroupe was employed. He remained 
 until 1872. In October, 1873. James Seaton was en- 
 gaged and preached until March, 1875. After he 
 left, no regular pastor was engaged for some time. 
 The present Pastor is S. C. "Humphrey. 
 
 Swedish Lutheran Church. — The first few members 
 of this church met for worship also at the court-house, 
 and sometimes in the Christian church. With 52 
 members they met at the court-house and organized, 
 May 30, 1875, by Rev. L. Carlson, of Andover. 
 They purchased the Congregational church. Rev. 
 Carlson continued for years their only minister. There 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. . 
 
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 was a gradual increase in the number of members 
 from the first organization. Have no resident pastor. 
 Is served from the Lutheran college, near Moline. 
 
 SCHOOLS. 
 
 Miss Sarah Francis Little, sister of Henry G. Little, 
 taught the first school in Cambridge, in the year 1845. 
 Like everything else in the way of a public gather- 
 ing in those days, it was held in the court-house. In 
 1850 a building was erected, and in 1856 it was sold 
 to the Christian Church, when the old brick on Col- 
 lege Square was put up. In 1857 there were two 
 departments taught in the school, and the basement 
 of the M. E. church was used for a school until the 
 brick was completed. This was the first -attempt at 
 grading or dividing the schools. The Principal was 
 R. C. Raymond, afterwards a practicing physician, 
 assisted by Miss Fanny Gould and Miss Lucy Brooks. 
 The next year, 1858, Henry P. Sumner was Princi- 
 pal. Dr. Raymond was again principal. Then Mr. 
 Thorpe, assisted by Miss Sarah B. Dunn. These 
 remained until 1863, when Ira D. Marston became 
 principal, remaining until 1866. The building to 
 this time contained but two rooms. 
 
 In 1866, B. F. Borge was secured as Principal. 
 Ten years afterwards he was elected County Super- 
 intendent of Schools. He remained in charge until 
 1872. In 1868, the spacious frame school-house in 
 College Square was built. This added two additional 
 departments to the school. When Mr. Barge retired 
 C. J. Gruey was placed in charge. At that time the 
 enrollment had reached 288- pupils. The High School 
 course of study, maintained to the present, was es- 
 tablished in 1873. The first graduates were in 1875. 
 In 1876 the enrollment had reached 450, and five 
 departments provided, and six teachers were em- 
 ployed. In 1876, the frame building was enlarged 
 to six rooms. 
 
 A. G. Smith became Principal 1884. The teach- 
 ers for that year were Mi=s Amy Rhodes, Lizzie 
 Rhodes, Maud Marston, Alia Rosenstone, Belle 
 Mock, Mrs. A. M. Nye and Miss Mary Hagin. The 
 present (1885) corps of teachers are A. G. Smith, 
 Principal, Miss Lizzie Rhodes in charge of study 
 hall, Amy Rhodes, language and reading, Maud 
 Marston, history and geography, Laura Haggart, 
 mathematics, Belle Mock, third and fourth grades, 
 Mrs. A. M. Nye, second, Miss Mary Hagin first, 
 Prof. W. J. Stabler, teacher of music. 
 
 Enrollment for the year 350. Average attendance 
 280. Two school buildings. Two rooms in the old 
 brick and six in the frame building. 
 . This school is not conducted upon the old graded 
 plan exactly. There is one general study hall in 
 constant charge of one teacher, and from this they 
 go to their respective rooms for recitations. School 
 Directors — Ira D. Marston, F. G. Welton and J. F. 
 Gack. 
 
 The Board of Trustees of Cambridge are : Henry 
 White, President ; L. H. Patten, L. T. Gould, James 
 Stewart, B. J. Hulin, E. H. Gaines, and Clerk W. R. 
 Allen; City Marshal, William Decker; Police Mag- 
 istrate, Samuel B. Randall. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 The present Postmaster is J. E. Ayers; deputy, 
 Miss Emma Busenbark. Mr. Ayers was appointed 
 in February, 1884. 
 
 There are two elevators, one mill, lumber yard, 
 three hardware stores, two national banks, three 
 drug stores, two dry-goods and clothing, four groceries, 
 four dry-goods stores, two jewelry establishments, 
 and numerous shops, bakeries, restaurants, millinery 
 stores and two hotels. 
 
 Three of the court-houses built by the county are 
 in Cambridge. One is a small residence east of the 
 public square; the second is a kind of broom-corn 
 store-room west of the square, and the present 
 splendid court-house, commenced in 1878 and com- 
 pleted in 1880. The contract, price, $68,000, and 
 total costs, $75,000. It certainly is the most elegant 
 and commodious fire-proof building in the State for 
 the money. 
 
 The soldiers' granite monument stands in the 
 court-house yard. Foundations laid in 1884, com- 
 pleted May, 1885 ; cost, $8,000. 
 
 CLOVER TOWNSHIP. 
 
 LOVER TOWNSHIP had for its first set- 
 tler Thomas Weir, who came April 6, 
 ^■*"*^ 1841, and settled on the northeast part of 
 the southwest quarter of section 10. He 
 came from Mercer County, and at one time 
 was regularly employed as a " runner " 
 (called detective now) for the " Vigilants " — a close 
 corporation that devoted its energies to catching 
 horse-thieves. When he came to this county, the 
 only neighbors he had were some Winnebago Indians, 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 who were out hunting. As a part of Mr. Wier's ex- 
 periences, he was twelve days in going and coming 
 to the mjll at Moline. The chief part of the time 
 was in waiting at the mill for his turn, and in the 
 meantime he worked so diligently on the dam that 
 the miller favored him and slipped his grist in ahead 
 of its turn. He said if he had not thus been favored 
 by the miller, he might have had to wait a "right 
 smart spell!" 
 
 The first child born in this part of the county was 
 in Weir's house — James Hammers, in October, 1843. 
 In 1846, the first newspaper was received by a sub- 
 scriber. It was the New York Weekly Universe. 
 The extensive name of the paper indicates that 
 the eagle-eye of the editor was fixed, not only on the 
 whole human family, but " the rest of mankind " in 
 the wilderness, and was indifferent as to the name of 
 the subscriber so long as he paid in good subscrip- 
 tion money. 
 
 The oldest settler in this part of the county is 
 A. P. Vannice, from Indiana: came in 1852. A. A. 
 Reed is one of the oldest settlers in Clover: He is 
 from Connecticut, and came to Knox County in 1840, 
 and came to this county in 1850. He has a family 
 of six children. William Payton, from Ohio, came 
 in 1851.. He was for some years Justice of the 
 Peace and held other town offices. Daniel Mc- 
 Queen came in April, 1852. After the death of his 
 wife he lived with his grandchildren, George H. and. 
 John McQueen. Thomas S. and J. A. McConnell 
 came in 1857. They were from Pennsylvania. S. 
 W. Johnson came in 1858. T. J. Howell came in 
 1856. Henry E. Houghton came in 1852. Mrs. 
 Phebe Forgy, widow of Newton Forgy., came in 1852. 
 Forgy died Nov. 14, 1868, leaving three children. 
 Mrs. Morgan's maiden name was Phebe Taylor, born 
 in Pennsylvania, Jan. 20, 1833. William Forgy came 
 in April, 1853, born in Morrow County, Ohio, May 
 27, 1826. 
 
 Woodhull. 
 
 OODHULL is an enterprising town of al- 
 most a thousand population, and is on the 
 line between Clover and Oxford Town- 
 ships, mostly in the former. There are many 
 rv good business houses located there, divided 
 among the various lines of trade necessary to 
 supply the wants of its inhabitants and-ihose in the 
 
 surrounding country. The village was laid out Sept. 
 30, 1857, by an Eastern gentleman by the name of 
 Maxwell Woodhull, of New York City. Not much 
 progress was made for some time,4)ut in 1867, J. W. 
 Horn laid out a large portion of the place lying north 
 of the railroad. Hugh Russell, about i86r, laid out 
 a considerable portion of the present town and upon 
 this the first house was built. 
 
 Three years after his first addition, Mr. Horn laid' 
 out another, lying south of the railroad. A large 
 dwelling was the first building erected in the place. 
 This, however, was shortly afterwards purchased by 
 E. A. Widney and converted into a hotel, the Widney 
 House. 
 
 The railroad passing through the place — the 
 Keithsburg Branch of the Chicago, Burlington & 
 Quincy — was surveyed in 1847; but years elapsed 
 before it was built. In 1868 the franchise passed'into 
 the hands of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, and 
 it was soon completed and a road was in operation. 
 The old road, that remained so long only on paper, 
 was known -as the American Central Railroad. The 
 first buildings of the town were erected mostly on 
 the west side of town, except one or two opposite the 
 present postoffice. The town was rapidly built in 
 anticipation of the coming of the cars, and by the 
 time trains were running there were half a dozen 
 stores, a number of shops, and many busy carpenters, 
 masons, etc. The first boom of the new town had 
 expended itself before the completion of the railroad, 
 and did not, as is usually the case, wait until the 
 road was wakirig the echoes with its shrill whistle. 
 It maintained a steady and permanent growth in 
 business and population. Before the town was sur- 
 veyed and platted, a postoffice called Heathland was 
 kept by F. Heath at his house, but a short distance 
 from the village-site. When the town was founded 
 it was the determination to call it Leoti, and for some 
 time it went by that name , but the friends of Mr. 
 Woodhull finally prevailed, and its name was fixed as 
 it has remained, in compliment to him. 
 
 M. N. Hurd opened the first store. In a short 
 time it was destroyed by fire and building and con- 
 tents lost. In 187 1, T. S. McConnell's store, in 
 which Mr. Wright had a large stock of goods, was 
 destroyed by fire. An unoccupied building adjoining 
 was destroyed at the same time. 
 
 From the first the stock and grain trade of Wood- 
 
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 hull has been unusually heavy. During 1876, 
 more than $500,000 was received at the place for 
 produce, and in the fall and winter of 187 1-2, more 
 broom-corn was shipped from this station than from 
 any other point in the United States. In 1869, a 
 spacious brick block was erected by J. D. B. Bell and 
 Andrew Edson. Another brick block was put up in 
 1876, the upper part of which was made into a hall 
 and offices. 
 
 Before the railroad came it was a common occur- 
 rence for great trains of wagons to pass through the 
 place loaded with grain. They would generally 
 haul their loads to Oneida, make their sales and re- 
 turning stop in Woodhull to make such purchases as 
 they desired. A firm — Elder & Skinner — sold in one 
 year over $80,000 worth of goods. Three large eleva- 
 tors were erected, and three good hotels were well 
 patronized. It commenced a temperance town and 
 has maintained its fame in this respect unfalteringly. 
 Woodhull was incorporated in 1870 and the fol- 
 lowing were elected as the first Board : B. Taylor, 
 Prest., J. V. Kennegoy, Clerk, W. O Gamble, Treas- 
 urer, W. C. Wagner and James Walton, Trustees. 
 
 The village is provided with excellent schools, 
 which have good accommodations and are ably man- 
 aged. Prior to 1869 there were only the regular 
 district school-houses where school was held, but at 
 that time excellent quarters were provided for the 
 school and great interest manifested in educational 
 matters by the people in general. 
 
 The village is equally well supplied with churches, 
 which as a general thing are reasonably live and 
 prosperous. There are five different denominations, 
 as follows: Methodist, Christian, Presbyterian, Lu- 
 theran, and Catholic. These have good, comfortable 
 houses of worship, and are in charge of good pastors. 
 
 COI.ONA TOWNSHIP. 
 
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 I ITHIN the confines of this township with 
 a curious name, is the spot of the first 
 #■ settlement of Henry County. Here it was 
 S> Dr. Baker, impelled now by what we do not 
 know, to direct ■ his way to this particular 
 place, drove his wagon and team, and looked 
 out upon the fair and beautiful world that lay before 
 him, halted, unhitched and went into camp ; and then 
 
 for the first time the smoke from an actual settler's 
 camp-fire went curling and creeping through the tree- 
 tops, and the frugal meal and the first supper of the 
 first settler was prepared, and the little houseless 
 household went to bed in the wagon, and slept in in- 
 nocent content after their long wandering. 
 
 It is fully told elsewhere how in a few days came 
 Thomas and James Glenn and Anthony Hunt, and 
 how they were simply following the wagon tracks of 
 Dr. Baker. They had been to the " lead mines " and 
 come down to the mouth of the Rock River, and fol- 
 lowed up its course until they found Baker. How 
 they, too, looked upon the country and said " it is good 
 enough " and concluded to tarry. Then came George 
 Brandenburg, and slowly his friends followed and 
 founded the first town in the county, and for a long 
 time Brandenburg's was the famed and wide-world- 
 known point to all who contemplated coming or 
 did come to the new country. 
 
 It was from here Major Allan tells us he rode to 
 Vandalia to secure the county organization by the 
 Legislature at Vandalia. 
 
 In the history of the early settlements and of the 
 early settlers in preceding chapters all this is told of 
 who these men were and what has become of them 
 and their descendants. 
 
 The villages in the township are Dayton, the oldest 
 town in the county, and Colona. Dayton served its 
 day of usefulness or imperative necessity for ex- 
 istence as an important business center for com- 
 merce and business of the county, and went into 
 a quiet and unostentatious decay, a kind of slow for- 
 getfulness among new-comers, and in 1853 Colona 
 came into existence as a desirable place for a station 
 on the railroad. It was laid out in that year by 
 Marcus Warren. The next year (1854) the railroad 
 just then commencing to do business, J. A. Sawyer 
 built a grain house and prepared to handle some of 
 the great quantity of grain that the surrounding 
 country was awaiting to ship. 
 
 Colona Township has more heavy timber-growth 
 in it than any other township in the county, and in 
 addition to the grain to be shipped at this point, 
 considerable timber and wood was transported 
 away on the cars. M. Smith, the first settler in 
 Colona, had a mill on the river near the town. A 
 small depot building was erected by the railroad. 
 The additions were slow. Lucy A. Sharp, who came 
 
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 780 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 with her father, Asa C. Sharp, and her sister, Sarah, 
 to Colona, in 1856, remembers that at that time 
 there were residences about as follows : A part of 
 what is now the hotel, kept by Webster. There was 
 no hotel in the place, and her family had to go to 
 Brandenburg's until they could get a house. This 
 building was occupied by John Baum, who died in 
 Colona some ten or twelve years ago. . Also was then 
 standing the house in which Mr. McCullough now 
 lives, at that time occupied by Jeff. Taylor. The 
 small house occupied by Mr. Sharp and daughters, 
 situated near the present postoffice. Jake Smith's 
 store (not the store and dwelling as now but the 
 store proper) was then in existence, and there was a 
 shanty near where Mr. J. Kime now lives. There 
 was a store opposite the hotel, or where the hotel 
 now stands. This building was destroyed in the 
 great storm of May, 1859, which also destroyed the 
 railroad bridge near town, and where the iron bridge 
 now is. Norman Sharp built the hotel as it now 
 stands in 1857. The first school -house was built 
 between Colona and Dayton ; it was eventually moved 
 down to Colona, and Miss Lucy A. Sharp taught 
 the first school in the place in the room she now 
 uses for a postoffice, in 1863. She had about 30 
 pupils. The present two-story school building was 
 erected in 1872. Three teachers are regularly em- 
 ployed. 
 
 For many years R. A. Smith was postmaster in 
 this place. For 13 years his deputy, who 1 transacted 
 the entire business of the office, was Miss Lucy A. 
 Sharp. In 1883 Mr. Smith removed to Moline, and 
 he so strongly recommended his faithful deputy for 
 a successor that she was appointed and is the pres-, 
 ent " non-offensive partisan " Postmistress of Colona, 
 where the writer" trusts she may never escape except 
 by " removal " to the state of matrimony. 
 
 There are two general stores, two hotels and one 
 drug store in the place. 
 
 The population of the town and township is given 
 elsewhere. 
 
 A list of the leading citizens of Colona Township 
 will be found in the biographical department of this 
 work. 
 
 The United Presbyterian Church of Colona was 
 organized Dec. 22, 1866, in the town school-house. 
 The petition for the organization was signed by 
 Samuel H. Reed and twelve others. The Rev. 
 
 Henry Wallace had preached in Colona in 1855, the 
 second sermon ever preached in the place., Rey. J. 
 F. Martin was assigned as a missionary to this 
 charge in September, 1855, and he was succeeded by 
 Revs. J. P. Finney and the presept S. H. Reed, as 
 licentiates, in 1866, and Revs. J. K. Blair and John 
 Todd. The names of the first members are : An- 
 drew Stewart, Grace Moderwell, Christina Moder- 
 well, Joseph Moderwell, James Moderwell, James 
 Montgomery, Sr., Sarah Bell, William M c Gonagil, 
 Sr., Elizabeth McGonagil, Mary Cochran, Barbara 
 McFerren and Margaret McFall. Joseph Moder- 
 well and Andrew Stewart were ordained Elders. 
 
 S. H. Weed, J. J. Baum and James Bell were 
 chosen building committee, and a frame church 
 32 x 50 feet was erected and thrown open to worship- 
 ers Oct. 18, 1862. The building cost $2,108 in cash 
 and about $1,000 contributed in labor and materials. 
 Rev.'S. H. Weed, still a resident of the village,, was 
 ordained Noy. 23, 1867. He labored as a mission 
 ary until June, 1869, when he was installed Pastor, 
 where he officiated until 1876, when the Church 
 ceased to have a regular Pastor. 
 
 sk 
 
 
 EDFORD TOWNSHIP 
 
 S in the northwest part of the county. Its 
 . northern boundary is nearly traversed from 
 side to side by the track of the Chicago & 
 Rock Island Railroad. A short distance north 
 of the railroads is Green River, as it passes 
 through Hanna Township in nearly a direct 
 general line running west in the lower tier of sec- 
 tions. 
 
 Edford is bounded on the west by Colona Town- 
 ship and on the north by Hanna, — two of the first 
 settled places in the county, unless Edford itself,— 
 which there is no doubt but that it can — laysclaim to 
 being the second settled point after Colona. 
 
 There were very few additions to these early set- 
 tlers that are enumerated elsewhere until 1852, when 
 the conviction went abroad that, the railroad was 
 going to be built, and those, who knew about where 
 its line must run through the township-moved in, and 
 secured themselves farms and homes. 
 The township is rich in agricultural and mineral - 
 
 
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HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 resources ; portions of it were in the Green River 
 swamps, that are now drained and made into splen- 
 did farms. Other portions again are quite rolling 
 and parts bluffy, but underlying these are rich and 
 inexhaustible veins of coal and fire clay. 
 
 The first Church organization in the township was 
 St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church. The first, 
 meetings of those of this faith were held in the Cen- 
 tral School-house, in 1867, and the Church organiza- 
 tion was effected the same year. There were only 
 about a dozen members at this time. In a very few 
 years this little band was augmented by the addition 
 of fifty families. In 1872 they erected their church 
 building, at a cost of $2,500, with Rev. I. P. Guen- 
 ther as Pastor. 
 
 The Church of God organization located in this 
 township Sept. 16, 1876, at the "Howard School- 
 house," where those interested in Church matters had 
 been holding services since the 8th of April previous. 
 Of the first to take action that resulted in effecting 
 an organization were W. T. Harris and L. E. Harris. 
 Soon after the Church had become a living thing, 
 steps were taken to erect a house of worship, and W. 
 R. Coovert was installed as pastor. He was suc- 
 ceeded by M. S. Newbommer. 
 
 I 
 
 •--•*• 
 
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 CORNWALL TOWNSHIP. 
 
 ORNWALL TOWNSHIP lies a little east 
 of the center of the county, and the 
 Chicago & Rock Island Railroad nearly 
 touches its northeast corner. Its points of 
 easiest access to railroads are Atkinson and 
 Cambridge, and for the southeast portion of 
 it Kewanee is not a very long distance for shipping. 
 In its limits are neither a town nor post office; but it 
 is a populous and wealthy township of farmers and 
 stock-raisers. To stock-raising the people are giv- 
 ing much attention of late years, and this is making 
 itself evident by the great improvement in stock, 
 especially in horses and cattle. The land yields im- 
 mense crops of corn and grass, and when the stock is 
 graded up and thoroughbreds abound, the annual 
 profits to the farmers of this section will soon make 
 them all rich and independent. 
 The township is well drained by Spring and Mud 
 
 creeks, the former passing out at the northeast and 
 the other at the northwest. 
 
 Like Galva and other parts of the county, there 
 were only one or two, or at most, three pioneer fami- 
 lies in the township prior to 1852 — simply because 
 immigrants could not see the advantages of this 
 rich, virgin land ; and so long as there was no chance 
 for transportation to the distant markets for their 
 produce. But when the canal was constructed to 
 La Salle, and work was commenced on the Chicago 
 & Rock Island Railroad, then began the rush of 
 immigrants, the first coming of course settling as 
 near on the line of the road's survey a possible. 
 
 James Southworth, a native of Erie, Pa., born 
 Sept. 4, 1823, came to the county in 1837. He 
 improved a farm of 231 acres on section 6. He was 
 for years one of the leading, influential men of the 
 county. His wife was E. C. Hanna, a native of' 
 Whiteside Co., 111., born Nov. 15, 1827. They \vere 
 married Feb. 19, 1850, and had four children. Mr. 
 S. was a veteran in the Mexican War, and was in 
 politics and in the general affairs of life independent, 
 and would be no man's man. 
 
 John Taylor came in 1837. He improved a farm 
 of 160 acres on section 8, he and Southworth thus 
 becoming near neighbors. Mr. T.'s wife was Eliza- 
 beth Ogden, a native of Pennsylvania, born Feb. 5, 
 1 83 1. They were married Nov. 1849, and had eight 
 children, five boys and three girls. 
 
 They were not surprised by any new neighbors 
 until 1846, when Thomas J. Trekel fixed his abode 
 on section 4 and when he became an extensive 
 farmer, owning 760 acres. He was from Tippecanoe 
 Co., Iud. Mrs. Trekel was Lydia Wolever, born in 
 New Jersey, Feb. 22, 1839. They were married 
 Sept. 24, 1855. 
 
 Lewis Shearer, of one of the leading families ' in 
 the county, and noted as a stock-raiser, came in 1850, 
 a native of New York, born Oct. 6, i8r7. His im- 
 provement was made on section 18, and became a 
 valuable farm of 694 acres. 
 
 Joseph W. Mukins, a native of Virginia, came in 
 1844. His wife was a Miss Mary Ellenwood, a na- 
 tive of Washington Co., Ohio, born Sept. 7, 1823. 
 
 E. H. McConoughey came in 1841, and settled on 
 section 15. He was a native of Massachusetts, born 
 Jan. 1, 1808; married March 7, 1849. His widow, 
 Mrs. S. McConoughy, came to the county in 1840. 
 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 The Calvary Presbyterian Church was organized 
 Jan. 2, 1868. The organization took place in the. 
 nearest accessible Church — the Methodist Episcopal, 
 on the north line of Burns Township. The organiza- 
 tion was effected by the following committee of the 
 Bureau Presbytery: Rev. J. C. Ban, J. Milligan, and 
 Ruling Elders, Alex. White (now of Geneseo), Charles 
 M. Priestly, Rev. J. S. McClungand Moses Thatcher. 
 Rev. J. C. Barr preached. John Fleming was at this 
 meeting elected, ordained and installed as Ruling 
 Elder of the Church. After the organization they 
 held meetings for some time in the school-house on 
 section 27. 
 
 In 187 0-1 a church was built on section 27, at a 
 cost of $3,500. Rev. J. S. McClung was stated sup- 
 ply of the Church from the date of its organization 
 until March, 1871. Then Rev. F. I. Moffat served 
 the Church as stated supply from October, 1871, up 
 to Dec. to, 1872, when he was installed Pastor. The 
 original members were: H. S. Rogers, Mrs. Phcebe 
 Rogers, W. W. Winters, Mrs. Virginia Winters, Wil- 
 liam Allen, Mrs. Margaret Allen, Thomas Rowland, 
 Mrs. C. T. McClung, Mrs. A. C. Torrence, John 
 Fleming, Mrs. Mary A. Fleming, Mrs. Sarah A. Cal- 
 lender, A. E. Benedict, Mrs. Harriet T. Benedict, 
 Gabriel Romig, James J. Dickey, Mrs. Caroline E. 
 Dickey, Isaac Callender, James Orr, Alexander 
 Walker, W. H. Torrence. 
 
 GALVA TOWNSHIP. 
 
 1 OBERT BONHAM was the first settler in 
 this township. He was drawn to the place 
 ■5[CP by tne strong temptations he could see in 
 hickory groves. For a number, of years Bon- 
 ham was the lone inhabitant, whose widest 
 range of vision, so v far as neighbors were concerned, 
 left him monarch of all he surveyed. He was from 
 Maryland ; had started life in his native State and 
 greatly prospered, but in one of those turns in the 
 affairs of business he greatly impaired his fortune and 
 then he turned his face westward and came to this 
 place. Though bankrupt he was not conquered, and 
 he faced the dreary solitudes of the wild country as 
 bravely as any of the pioneers who came West. His 
 stout resolution t9 regain what he had. Jost {leyer 
 
 failed him, and ultimate success crowned his efforts. 
 Hickory Grove is on sections 20 and 21, and the 
 surrounding locality was known and designated by 
 the name of the grove until the townships were 
 formed and named, when it was changed to Galva, 
 after some towii in Sw.eden. The grove was a noted 
 body of timber in the early days-— a land-mark known 
 to many an emigrant before he left his old home and 
 started for the Illinois country. The grove lies a 
 liitle northwest of the village of Galva, and it is a 
 little remarkable that none of the advance agents of 
 the many colonies that came to the county did not 
 select this elegant body of timber as a nucleus around 
 which to locate a colony. But in talking with aged 
 settlers we find a good cause why the colonists did 
 not seize upon this remarkable body of timber land. 
 Bonham was here before they found it and had se- 
 cured the entire grove, and from this fact we can es- 
 timate that he was among the earliest comers to the 
 eounty. He was an inveterate old bachelor and died 
 rich and without issue, and his fortune was inherited 
 by heirs^of collateral blood. 
 
 The next settlement in the township after Bon- 
 ham was the founding of Galva in 1853, by J.' M. and 
 William L. Wiley, the history of which is given he- 
 low. 
 
 Galva. 
 
 ALVA is one of, the leading places on the 
 main line of the C. B. & Q. Railroad, and, 
 " K , like many other towns which sprang up on 
 the line of the road shortly after it was built, it 
 received its first impetus at that time and from 
 that cause. It is located irrthe midst of a fer- 
 tile agricultural district and over rich and exhaUstless 
 mines of coal. The business men are live and en- 
 terprising, andevery means for the promotion of the 
 interest of the place receives a hearty support from 
 all sources. The crossing of the C. B. & Q". and the 
 Peoria & Rock Island railroads occur at this point. 
 It is also the eastern terminus of the Galva & 
 Keithsburg branch of the C. B. & Q. 
 
 The founders of Galva were William L. and J. M. 
 Wiley, gentlemen who have also done much toward 
 building it up and making it the thriving town. In 
 r8s3 these gentlemen were making a trip from Peoria 
 to Rock Island, and, of -course, traveling overland, 
 the only means through this section at th^t tini$, 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 Upon reaching the spot where the town is now loca- 
 cated, they were struck with the beauty and fertility 
 of the country. Halting their buggy, one of them 
 said : "' Let us buy this ground and lay off a town." 
 The proposition was accepted and ere long the land 
 was entered. The C. B. & Q. Railroad was surveyed 
 through this section, and Messrs. Wiley opened 
 negotiations with the company for the purpose of 
 having a station made at this point. Satisfactory ar- 
 rangements were made with the company and in 
 1854 the town was platted. In December of that 
 year the trains began running and the town received 
 quite an impetus. 
 
 Messrs. Wiley purchased about 50 acres of land, 
 on the south side of the town, from George Fair, and 
 subsequently sold an undivided interest in a certain 
 number of .lots to the Bishop Hill Swedish Colony, 
 then in their most prosperous days, and afterwards a 
 a large number of lots to Jacob Emery. Both of 
 these parties gave their money and influence to for- 
 ward the interests of the new town. 
 
 Owing to the large purchases of the Swedish Col- 
 ony in the new town, they were granted the privilege 
 of being its sponsors in baptism and bestowing upon 
 it the name which it was to bear. Olof Johnson, 
 one of the earliest settlers, accordingly christened it 
 Gejle, the name of a prosperous town in Sweden. 
 This name was afterward corrupted or anglicised to 
 Galva, a name new and unheard of but correspond- 
 ing as near as possible to the Swedish name in pro- 
 nunciation. 
 
 The first house of the new town was built in the 
 fall of 1854, and is a part of the one formerly be- 
 longing to John I. Bennett, and which was owned by 
 A. J. Rockafellow and occupied by Mr. E. A. Lynd. 
 It was built by the Bishop Hill Colony and was used 
 as a boarding-house or hotel. The first store was 
 built during the first fall, and was occupied by C. F. 
 Bodinson as a grocery, between the two railroads and 
 just south of and adjoining the agricultural ware- 
 house. It was then occupied by George Farr, the 
 Bishop Hill Colony and the postoffice. 
 
 Col. E. Fuller was the first station agent appointed 
 by the railroad company, and he continued to hold 
 that position up to the time of his death, or very 
 nearly. 
 
 The winter of 1854-5, following the completion of 
 the railroad, was unusually mild, and open, allowing 
 
 out-of-door work to go on without interruption until 
 Jan. 21, when there occurred the severest snow- 
 storm ever known in this region, accompanied by a 
 terrific wind. This resulted in blocking up the rail- 
 road and preventing the running of any trains for 
 over two weeks. It was during this time, when the 
 inhabitants of the new town were shut off from com- 
 munication with the outside world, that the first child 
 was born. Mr. and Mrs. David Emery were the 
 happy parents, and they exclaimed : " Unto us a 
 child is born, a girl is given, whose name shall be 
 called Galva." 
 
 The town having been laid out and a depot estab- 
 lished in 1854, the following season witnessed a rap- 
 id growth and quite an influx of population, no less 
 than 75 men having settled here before the great fire 
 which occurred in Nov., 1855. Although the settlt- 
 ment of the town took place only about a few years 
 ago, the larger part of this number are gone — not 
 dead, but, moved by the same restless spirit which 
 impelled them to take up their abode here when the 
 place was new, they have emigrated to other and 
 newer towns. We are informed that about the only 
 remaining of the first to locate here is Esq. Nelson 
 Pierce, the present City Clerk and Justice of the 
 Peace. The town, with a wonderful rapidity, arose 
 like an exhalation after the passage of the first train 
 of cars, and, at one time, there were over 150 car- 
 penters busy in the erection of new houses. In an 
 incredible short space of time there had gathered 
 in the new town between r,5oo and 1,800 people. 
 This prosperity did not abate until the panic of 1857 
 prostrated the business of the county, and scattered 
 the hopes of not only great business firms through- 
 out the country, but also scattered many of the 
 men who came here to build a city upon the prairie, 
 and now but a small fraction of the original settlers 
 have found their long home in the quiet cemetery to 
 the south of the town. 
 
 When Dr. A. D. Babcock arrived here on the 5th 
 of May, 1855, there were already sixteen buildings in 
 the place, 12 of which were dwelling-houses; when 
 Mr. Seeley arrived on the 26th of Sept., the number 
 of buildings had increased to 30. 
 
 It was during this season that the old brick ware- 
 house, on Exchange Street, was built by the Bishop 
 Hill Colony, and used for the storage of grain, pork, 
 and broom-corn, The first hotel was also built then 
 
 I 
 
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 by Mr. J. E. Wolever, occupying a portion of the lot 
 where Mr. A. W. Albro now resides, on the corner of 
 Main and Locust Streets. It was known as the 
 "Galva House." 
 
 The first surgical operation which Dr. Babcock 
 was called upon to perform was for Augustus C. 
 Bergman, who was injured while working on the 
 railroad; the first death was that of Mr. O. P. Bige- 
 low, who died on the 12th of Sept., 1855. The first 
 male child born in the place was a son of Absalom 
 Wood. The first fire occurred on or about the 8th 
 of Nov., 1855, and originated in Dr. Babcock's drug- 
 store. , It was caused by carrying a lighted lamp too 
 near a barrel from which varnish had been drawn 
 and which had been spilled upon the floor. 
 
 The whole business portion of the new town was 
 laid in ashes by this disaster, no less than six busi- 
 ness firms being burned out. They were: first, Dr. 
 A. D. Babcock, whose stock consisted of drugs, gro- 
 ceries, paints, oils, liquors and cigars ; second, A. 
 M. Black, shoe-shop and its contents ; third, Ham- 
 lin, Beecher & Davis, dealers in hardware ; fourth, 
 A. J. Curtis, dealer in furniture ; fifth, Babcock & 
 Clark, who do not appear to have had any stock of 
 goods in the building at the time ; and sixth, Hurd 
 & Driscoll, whose stock of dry goods were still in the 
 boxes as received, not yet unpacked, and therefore 
 easily saved by rolling them into the street. With 
 this exception the building and its contents were a 
 total loss, as there was no insurance upon either. 
 
 At the time thai the fire broke out, most of the 
 citizens were in attendance at a railroad meeting 
 then in progress at the school-house. 
 
 Mr. D. E. Jacobs was then living in the house new 
 occupied by Mr. H. L. Dickenson, and which was 
 the third dwelling-house built in-Galva. His moth- 
 er perceived trie fire by the glow of light which 
 shown in at the window, from the burning building, 
 when her candle was accidentally put out, and sent 
 him to apprise the citizens at the school-house. He 
 rushed to the door and informed them that the Wi- 
 ley House was on fire. It took but two minutes to 
 empty the building! 
 
 There has been only a moderate growth in the 
 increase of population in the past 15 years, but 
 the solid and elegant buildings that have been 
 erected in that time almost make it a new town in 
 the past decade. 
 
 Galva is the railroad town of the county, and if 
 not now, it will in a few years be one of the wealth- 
 iest communities in a county that is rapidly accu- 
 mulating great wealth. Three of the four railroads 
 that traverse' Henry County come into or pass through 
 Galva, — the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, the 
 Galva & Keithsburg and the Peoria & Rodk Island, 
 all first-class roads and radiating from the town like 
 the spokes of a wheel, and traversing in every direc- 
 tion the richest and most populous portions of Illi- 
 nois ; and no matter where you may want to ship 
 your goods or go yourself, if you get to Galva, there 
 is a direct way to your point of destination. It is a 
 great shipping point, and in this respect there is no 
 doubt but that the future will develop another re- 
 markable growth. It has a population of 3,000 souls. 
 It is surrounded by the finest grain-growing and 
 grazing country of the State, as well as being situated 
 in the heart of one of the richest coal-fields in Amer- 
 ica. It is distant only one mile from the north line 
 of Stark County. 
 
 There are here two banks ; the oldest has just 
 ceased to be the Eirst National Bank, by the expira- 
 tion of its charter, and is now the Banking House of 
 L. M. Yocum & Co. This institution was started in 
 1856, by Claudius Jones, as a private bank. In 
 1862 he sold to L. W. Beck, and in 1865 it was or- 
 ganized as the First National Bank, L. W. Beck, 
 cashier. When it was orgaaized into a national 
 bank, the Wileys before mentioned were the principal 
 owners. 
 
 The other bank is the Farmers and Merchants 
 National Bank, with a capital of $50,900. A. Deem, 
 President; Directors — H. Higgins, E. L. Bowen, 
 and P. Herdien. 
 
 There are three spacious elevators.; Finkle's steam 
 roller flouring-mill ; a lumber-yard, three farm imple- 
 ment stores ; and two coal companies, situated about 
 three-fourths of a mile east of town. The Herdien 
 Coal Company work five shafts. The Galva Coal 
 Company mine extensively. Here is a large broom 
 factory that works up much of the broom-corn, of 
 which such great quantities are raised in the county. 
 There is here an extensive brick-yard, where are 
 used the latest and best improvements in the manu- 
 facture of brick. F. D. Guthrie has a foundry, and 
 the county's great inventor has an establishment for 
 the manufacturing of some of his half-dozen different 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 patents. The Galva Gas and Coke Company was 
 formed and began to supply the people in 1881. 
 There are two carriage and wagon shops, three dry- 
 goods stores, one dry-goods and clothing store, six 
 grocery stores, two hardware stores, two clothing 
 stores, two jewelry establishments and two hotels. 
 
 James Gaster is the present Postmaster and has 
 been since Feb. 27, 1883. He looks clever enough 
 to be a "non-offensive partisan" for the next two 
 years. His predecessor was A. F. Miller, who was 
 in the office about 18 years. 
 
 Noted for its beautiful streets, parks, umbrageous 
 green lawns and elegant and handsome residences, 
 the most notable of which are those of Mr. William 
 L. Wiley, C. E. Davis, J. M. Wiley, Thomas Brown- 
 lee, W. E. Hough, M. M. Ford, Jacob Emery, B. S. 
 Eldridge, H. Higgins, D. E. Holmes, T. E. Milchrist, 
 H. Bigelow, S. P. Johnson, R. W. Jones, E. Carver, 
 Mrs. O. Johnson, Mrs. Ericson and many others. 
 
 The town has an opera house with a seating ca- 
 pacity of 800, a spacious town hall, the Galva Cor- 
 net Band, an efficient fire department, two elegant 
 and well kept parks, gas-works, etc. Nine religious 
 edifices attest the moral bearings of the people. 
 
 The present officers of the town are W. S. Hough, 
 President; H. Bigelow, B. H. Mink, T. J. Finkle, 
 W. H. Gibbs, A. F. Hathaway, Trustees, The Clerk 
 is Nelson Pierce ; Police Magistrate, O. P. Emery; 
 Treasurer, O. A. Hempstead. 
 
 In 1858, Dr. Dunn, then editing the Cambridge 
 Chronicle, visited Galva, and in substance said : Pre- 
 vious to 1853, the now flourishing town of Galva was 
 surrounded by an unbroken prairie the distance of 
 many miles. In 1854 the first house was built. 
 Many places now occupied by stores were then near- 
 ly impassable to pedestrians, being wet and sloughy 
 — tenanted only by wild fowls, frogs and serpents. 
 The village was incorporated in 1857, with a popu- 
 lation of about 1,200. Work was progressing in 
 1858 on the Western Air Line Railroad, and it was 
 expected to be completed to the Mississippi the next 
 year. Mr. Tabor was principal of the public 
 schools, with four assistants — 325 pupils. The Bap- 
 tists had a "Church built, and the Methodist Episco- 
 pal Church was near completion. There were then 
 eight dry-goods stores, three lawyers and three phy- 
 sicians. The hotels were the Wiley and the Vir- 
 ginia houses. Dr. Norton had built the town hall, 
 
 at an expense of $20,000. North of the park were 
 the fine residences of G. R. Wiley and others, and 
 in the east part of the town was B. F. Merriman's. 
 
 SCHOOLS. 
 
 The first school-house in Galva was built by J. 
 M. and W. L. Wiley, and was 12 x 20 feet in size. 
 This was also used for Church purposes, and it was • 
 here the Baptist Church was organized, William L. 
 Wiley and Mrs. Thomas Getty being the active con- 
 stituent members. The Congregational and Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Churches were also organized here 
 in 1855. 
 
 The first public school building was commenced in 
 the summer of 1855, and is now the central part of 
 the North School. The money to put up this build- 
 ing was borrowed upon a joint note executed by J. 
 M. and W. L. Wiley and George Farr, which money 
 was repaid as soon as it could be collected in taxes. 
 The building contained two rooms; these were af- 
 terwards divided into two rooms each, and so used 
 until 1 87 6, .when additions were made to the building 
 — three rooms being added. 
 
 The South School was built in 1865, originally one 
 room, and in r867 it was remodeled and made into 
 four commodious rooms. At one time Mr. E. E. 
 Fitch, now of the Galva News, was the efficient 
 Principal of the schools, and was of great value in 
 grading and bringing them to their present efficient 
 excellence. 
 
 Col. J. McClenahan is the present Principal of 
 the schools. F. M. White is High School teacher. 
 In the North School is Nellie Burke, Grammar; Eliza 
 Curtis, first Intermediate ; Lillie Johnson, second ; 
 Ada Grant, first Primary-; Frankie Smith, second. 
 In the South School, L. L.Todd, Grammar; Lola 
 Maddox, first Intermediate; Libbie Price, second; 
 Sue Breckenridge, first Primary ; Threse Burt, sec- 
 ond ; Mary Peterson, third. The enrollment is 
 
 S5°- 
 
 CHURCHES. 
 
 There are nine religious organizations at Galva, 
 which occupy neat, commodious church structures, 
 and are in a very prosperous condition. 
 
 Methodist Episcopal. — The oldest religious organi- 
 zation in Galva is that of the Methodist Episcopal. 
 It was organized June 26, 1855, in the school-house. 
 Meetings had been held here to complete the organi- 
 zation, and for some time after. At this time the 
 
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BENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 first Board of Trustees were elected. This Board 
 consisted of the following persons : Isaac M. Witter, 
 John T. Carran, Isaac E. Dennis, Amos Dennis* Wil- 
 liam Pierce, John B. Nixon and Norman E. Pome- 
 roy. They were the most active members then in 
 Church, which, in addition to these men, possessed 
 but few members. In 1857 they erected a house of 
 worship at a cost of $3,000. Rev. John Morey was 
 the first minister. Rev. P. A. Cool presides at pres- 
 ent, arid has now been in charge two years. 
 
 In 1881, under the ministration of Rev. M, A. 
 Head, the new church was commenced, and com- 
 pleted in 1882, at a cost of $14,000. 
 
 The Congregational Church was organized in the 
 school-house, Sept. 15, 1855. The constituent mem- 
 bers were the following persons: George Farr, Re- 
 becca Farr, Charlotte M. Cholette, George Fairlamb* 
 William H. Fairlamb, Henry H. Parker, Mary Fair- 
 lamb, Hannah Carrigan, Thomas and M. E. Harrison, 
 Elizabeth J. Hill, and George Hill, Jr. 
 
 Rev. S. G. Wright was soon called to the pastor- 
 ate of this congregation, serving one-half his time. 
 He remained until April, 1864, when he resigned. 
 In November following Rev. R. B. Guild was in- 
 stalled. The present Pastor is Rev. C. C. Harrah. 
 From a membership of 12, the Church has grown to 
 150, and sustains a Sunday-school of nearly the same 
 number of scholars. The congregation erected a 
 church edifice in the autumn of 1856. In 1866 this 
 was sold to the Free Methodist Church, and the 
 present commodious building erected. This latter 
 was dedicated May 29, 1869, and cost $12,000. 
 
 The Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church was or- 
 ganized on the fifth of January, 1866, with 15 mem- 
 bers. Two years afterwards, they erected their 
 present house of worship, costing $3,000. Their Pas- 
 tors have been as follows: Rev. A. J. Anderson, 
 three years; O. C. Simpson, one year; A. P. Wigren, 
 one year; H. W. Eklund, one year; C. A. Wiren, 
 two years; A. T. Westergren, two years ; Charles 
 A. Stenholm, and the present Pastor, Rev. J. J. 
 Berggren. There are now 96 members, and 100 
 Sunday-school children. 
 
 The Free Methodist Church. — In the autumn of 
 1866, 17 persons, principally from the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church, formed themselves into a separate 
 body, under the care of this Church. For some time 
 they met for worship at Mr. D. P. Reed's, one of the 
 
 main members, and often at the residences of other, 
 members desirous of promoting the welfare of the 
 Church. In 1866, they purchased the Congregational 
 Church, arid have since occupied it. The member- 
 ship is now about 20, sustaining a Sunday-school of 
 30 scholars. The first .Pastor of this Church was 
 Rev. D. W. Drake who remained two years. They 
 have no Pastor at present. 
 
 The Swedish Lutheran Church. — The people pro- 
 fessing this faith held meetings several years before 
 effecting a regular Church organization. This was 
 accomplished in December, 1869, with 44 members. 
 In 1873 they erected their present house of worship, 
 a comfortable brick building, costing about $3,000. 
 There are over 90 members and a prosperous Sun- 
 day-school. The Rev. P. M. Sandquist was the first 
 Pastor here. The present Pastor is Rev. J. F. Borg. 
 
 The First Baptist Church. — The first meeting for 
 the transaction of business of this congregation - was 
 held in the school-house, June 28, 1855, at which 
 time the preliminary steps were taken to organize a 
 Baptist Church. The Church was organized Aug. 
 14, 1855, in the school T house. The original mem- 
 bers were : William L. Wiley and Mrs. Louise 
 Wiley, from the Baptist Church, Saxton's River, Vt.; 
 H. D. Ward and Mrs. Angelina Ward, from Canton, 
 111. ; J. M. Corson and Mrs. Ann D. Corson, from 
 Brimfield, 111. ; JVIrs. Margaret Bushnell, from La 
 Fayette, 111. ; Mrs. Dorothy Getty, from Brimfield, 
 111.; Henry H. Clark, from Alden, N. Y.; O. P. 
 Bigelow, from Boston, Mass. 
 
 The first church building was located near the 
 business center of the town, and was erected in 1856, 
 at a cost of about $2,000. The second building, and 
 the one which the Church now occupy, was built in 
 1867, and cost, carpets and bell included, about 
 $25,000. The bell in the tower of the present. church 
 building was also used in the old church, and rung 
 for public service the first time Jan. 24, T864. 
 
 First Pastor was Rev. M. H. Negus. The present 
 minister is Rev. J. E. Todd. The present member- 
 ship is a little over 200. Sabbath-school was organ- 
 ized in 1856; the number of scholars is about 150. 
 
 The Church of the Holy Communion {Episcopal). 
 The first religious meetings held in Galva were in a 
 room in Union Block, 1866. About that time the 
 Ladies' Church Aid Sociey was formed, and through 
 their efforts a small church was built, called the 
 
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HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 " Holy Communion." The building and lot cost a 
 little over $800; was erected in the year 1868. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Moore, Mr. and Mrs. Whipple, S. M. Etter 
 and wife, Mrs. Somers, Mrs. Trowbridge, Mrs. Mc- 
 Kane, C. J. Whipple, Mrs. Rednell, Mrs. Hoyt, L. 
 P. Edson, were among the original members. Its 
 Pastors were Rev. Mr. Tifford, Rev. Dr. Floyd, Rev. 
 Dr. S. Chase ; also ReV. Mr. Russell, who officiated 
 over two years. C. J. Whipple, now Rector at Man- 
 ville, R. I., and S. M. Etter, in Springfield, who was 
 State Superintendent of Schools, were both prom- 
 inent in the 'religious affairs and doings of the 
 Church. 
 
 GENESEO TOWNSHIP. 
 
 NE of the fertile and highly cultivated town- 
 ships of this county is that of Geneseo. The 
 land is-, well watered by Green River and 
 several of its small tributaries. There are few 
 sections of the county containing a better class 
 of farm buildings or better improved farms. 
 The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad enters 
 the township at section 25, passes in a northwesterly 
 direction through Geneseo, leaving the township at 
 section 18. 
 
 As the history of the township is largely contained 
 in that of the city of Geneseo, we refer the reader to 
 the following sketch. 
 
 The City of Geneseo. 
 
 ENESEO is a bright and beautiful little 
 city, standing in her queenly pride at the 
 * front of the many inland residence cities of 
 Illinois. Broad and strait and clean streets, 
 bowered by the maple shade trees that cast 
 their protecting shades far and wide in the hot 
 and sultry summer, and that in winter bare their 
 long arms to battle with the blasts of Boreas, pro- 
 tecting and blessing all animal life that may shelter 
 itself here. The founders of the city were the coun- 
 ty's first foresters; and could there be finer monu- 
 ments to their care and forethought than are these 
 shade, ornamental and fruit trees, waving their 
 blessings to the oncoming generations. The large 
 and gracious parks, the green velvety lawns, the spa- 
 
 cious and elegant residences, rare exotic flowers, foli- 
 age plants, smooth side-walks and graveled streets 
 are the admiration of all beholders. The city is well 
 drained, and its elegant water works furnish the 
 healthiest and finest water to be found in the Miss- 
 issippi Valley. In a very short time the question of 
 water will determine the permanency and growth of 
 all our towns. People will not much longer be con- 
 tent to drink the surface water of shallow wells, that 
 are little more than sipe water-holes for that moving 
 current of water that slowly travels; but is always 
 moving jnst below the earth's surface. 
 
 The business portion of the city is chiefly on State 
 Street, extending south as far as North Street and 
 north to Orange Street. In this district are many 
 large and elegant business houses, the most exten- 
 sive being the Geneseo House, and the most attract- 
 ive tall building next noticed is the Farmers' National 
 Bank building. The postoffice is about the center 
 of the block, between First and Second Streets, on 
 the west side. The three-acre park, with its splen- 
 did grove of maples, faces Main and State Streets, 
 and is a most inviting retreat and a luxuriant place 
 for the people to gather in their several capacity ; or, 
 in the language of Mark Anthony eulogizing Caesar 
 for his great deeds when he wisely referred to those 
 places he had provided as the public parks, " where 
 the people do walk about and recreate themselves. " 
 
 By the census of 1880 the population of the city of 
 Geneseo is given as 3,518, but from all sources we 
 have the information that now (J885) it is over 
 4,000. In fact, some enthusiastic friends of the city, 
 and it has many such, do not hesitate the judgment 
 that there are nearly 5,°°° inhabitants within the 
 corporate limits. 
 
 In the winter of 1835-6 nine gentlemen of the 
 town of Bergen, Genesee County, N. Y., met together 
 and agreed to go West the next spring and form a 
 settlement in Illinois. R. R. Stewart, of the town of 
 Geneseo, New York, heard of the purpose of- those 
 nine men and asked to join them in their enterprise. 
 He was easily admitted, and thus there were ten 
 men in the original company. But only seven of the 
 ten came to Henry County, Illinois, as follows : 
 Cromwell J. Bartlett, Colver Bartlett, Elisha Cone, 
 Reuben Cone, Harry Manville, John C. Ward and 
 Roderick R. Stewart. 
 
 Stewart, Ward and C. K. Bartlett were appointed a 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
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 committee to enter land for the Colony. Upon ar- 
 riving at Chicago on their journey to discharge their 
 duty, they stated their object to the landlord (most 
 probably Baubien, the celebrated French half-breed, 
 who was the first hotel-keeper in Chicago). The 
 landlord introduced them to Judge (afterwards Gov- 
 ernor) Ford, who told them of the spot upon which 
 the splendid little city of Geneseo now stands, and 
 they took his advice and proceeded to the place in- 
 dicated. 
 
 In the fall of 1836 the Colony arrived from New 
 York and stopped at George Brandenburg's, and the 
 settlers of Hanna Township entertained them with 
 that proverbial pioneer welcome and hospitality, and 
 after the travelers had resfed the good people went 
 with them to Geneseo and helped them erect / their 
 first cabins. This was the beginning of Geneseo. 
 
 When they arrived at the intended place for their 
 future homes they met Major James M. Allan, and 
 with his valuable assistance they were enabled at 
 once to select and enter the lands they wanted. 
 
 The Colonists acted more wisely than the most of 
 such bodies in their plans for new homes. They 
 only purchased about 2,006 acres of land. They 
 were content to leave the lands not needed for them- 
 selves free to others who might want to come among 
 them to purchase. The wisdom of this policy is well 
 evidenced by the fact that Geneseo has been and 
 continues still to be the best town in the county. 
 
 Five families came in the fall of 1837. The 
 breaking of a wagon compelled some of them to halt' 
 with the Providence Colony, in Bureau County. 
 
 C. K. Bartlett put up the first cabin, on the creek 
 south of where the present town is. Near his cabin 
 Calver Bartlett built. These two cabins were near 
 the site selected and where the company in 1839 
 built a mill. R. R. Stewart advised these parties 
 that there would be danger of chills and intermittent 
 fevers so close upon the stream. And afterwards 
 these families suffered so greatly in this respect that 
 they were compelled to move out upon the open 
 prairie. 
 
 The families left at Providence, Bureau Counly, 
 attempted the dangerous experiment of making their 
 way to their friends in Henry County in the following 
 December. They started upon their journey in a 
 wagon drawn by several yoke of oxen, under the 
 guidance of E. M. Stewart. A warm and gentle 
 
 rain was falling as they started, which was rapidly 
 converting the snow that lay upon the ground into 
 thin slush. They had proceeded but a few miles 
 when suddenly there came from the .northwest a 
 cold, biting wind, and so intense was the sudden 
 change that it converted-in a few minutes the water 
 and melting snow into hard ice, strong enough to 
 bear a man's weight. It was impossible to face the 
 bitter storm, and the party was compelled to return 
 to Providence as fast as they could, in order to save 
 their lives. Nearly every one in the party was more 
 or less frozen before he could get to shelter. - This 
 sudden and terrible cold storm is vividly remembered 
 by all old settlers of Northern Illinois. People and 
 domestic animals lost their lives, and the whole face 
 of the country was a glare of ice. 
 
 It should have been stated above that War<} and 
 Mannville, with their families, came the next spring, 
 and thus there were seven families at.'the founding 
 of the city of Geneseo. The town was laid out in 
 the center of section 21, township 17, range 3, in the 
 spring of 1837. Seymour surveyed and platted it. 
 It contained r5 blocks, 24 rods square; depth, north 
 and south, three blocks; east and west five blocks; 
 streets 99 feet wide, north and south, and 60 feet 
 wide east and west. The two alleys — Spring and 
 Creek— 30 feet wide. The six colonists from Bergen, 
 N. Y., proposed naming the town "Genesee." Mr. 
 Stewart suggested as he was the seventh member it 
 would not be out of place to let him suggest the 
 seventh letter in the name. This all approved and 
 he suggested the "o," and thus it was happily 
 named " Geneseo." The plan of the colonists was 
 simple and just. Each member was to have a farm 
 and town lot— to be drawn by lot — the balance of 
 the town to be sold and the money applied to build 
 a seminary. Before the distribution of the town lots 
 S. D. Bacon, the early celebrated singing-master — 
 noted as widely for his power to scold his classes as 
 for his singing — joined the colony and drew his lot. 
 
 Soon the colony numbered about 50 souls.- C. K. 
 Bartlett and Elisha Cone died many years ago. 
 
 Colver Bartlett removed to Peoria. Ward sold out 
 and returned to the East. 
 
 John C. Ward was a prominent member of the 
 Geneseo Colony. His widow resides in Galesburg. 
 They had no children except by adoption. One of 
 these, Mrs. Emily Olmstead, lives in Galesburg. 
 
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HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 Elisha Cone built the first cabin, in Geneseo; J. 
 C. Ward the first frame house. 
 
 In 1844 the brick Seminary building was erected. 
 When enclosed a storm blew down the walls, and in 
 1845 the building was again put up and completed. 
 It is now a public school building. 
 
 An episode of those early days is given, as illus- 
 trative of the stern notions of the people of Geneseo 
 on the subject of neighborly ethics. There were some 
 rather hard citizens living not far from the town, on 
 the river. People suffered from their midnight raids, 
 and in the meantime there was accumulated evidence 
 as to their hard characters. The matter culminated 
 by finding the old man, who was supposed to be the 
 ring-leader, one morning dead — choked to death by 
 his neck getting tangled in a rope. It was a pro- 
 found mystery, and a hasty post mortem by the 
 neighbors decided the old man had been either killed 
 by his loving family or had killed himself, and the 
 others of the grief-stricken family were solemnly ad- 
 vised to move away to a healthier country. They 
 acted upon the hint and folded their tents and quietly 
 stole away. 
 
 The Geneseo Church (Congregationalist) was or- 
 ganized in New York, originally having 13 members. 
 After running along tolerably smooth for two or three 
 years it was placed under the care and supervision 
 of the New School Presbyterians. This was main- 
 tained about ten years and then returned to its orig- 
 inal faith. There was some lively kicking by two or 
 three true-btue Presbyterians against this change, 
 who put themselves up as the Church and claimed 
 the building, organization, etc. This induced some 
 lively skirmishing all around, but finally the Congre- 
 gationalists triumphed. 
 
 The first store in the town was kept by John C. 
 Ward, in a room of his small dwelling. Then James 
 D. Tabor opened the next store. Then came Lewis 
 M. Webber, from Rock Island, who put up the first 
 building in the place, exclusively intended for a 
 store. This was about all the place had or needed 
 in this line until the advent of railroads, when busi- 
 ness and building suddenly bounded forward, and in 
 1858 there were 30 good-sized business places in the 
 town. 
 
 Returning to the subject of the early growth of 
 Geneseo and the arrival of immigrants: Five families, 
 numbering forty persons, the two Cones, twoBartletts 
 and R. R. Stewart, left New York Sept. 17, 1836, for 
 
 the new world over the route across Canada, South- 
 ern Michigan, Northern Indiana and via Princeton, 
 the route selected for their coming. Nine weeks 
 were spent on the way. The recollection of the few 
 survivors is that for bad roads they will never forget 
 the country about what is now Ypsilanti, Michigan, 
 where the most heroic efforts only scored about seven 
 miles in six days. They recollect the stage coach kept 
 them company many days through these bottomless, 
 sloughs of despond ; and one time the coach upset 
 and almost literally buried a poor woman in the 
 slush and the ooze, and was rescued by the great 
 efforts of the immigrants. In imagination they can 
 now see the coach passengers, each supplied with 
 his fence rail, going to aid in prying out the mired 
 coach, and at the same time a protection to him who 
 carried it against being engulfed in the bottomless 
 ooze that seemed to spread all over the country. 
 
 The colonists kept a vigorous outlook for places of 
 divine worship along the way, and when nothing of 
 the kind could be found, they held " praise meetings" 
 in their nightly camps. Like many colonists who 
 came from the East, they had organized their Church 
 for their Western home before leaving their old homes. 
 
 Leaving home the 17th of September, it was win- 
 ter when they reached their new homes, and this was 
 the probable cause of a part of the company tarrying 
 in Bureau County, at Providence, and under the 
 guidance of E. M. Stewart attempted to finish the 
 journey late in December, and were caught in the 
 terrible storm, as already told. 
 
 The families of Ward and Mannville came the 
 next spring. 
 
 The next spring, 1837, they laid out Geneseo, that 
 certainly then was as one "crying in the wilder- 
 ness." On the west, twenty-eight miles distant was 
 Rock Island ; to the south and east was the far away 
 small Wethersfield Colony, just starting, and to the 
 south and west was Andover, and forty miles away 
 was Henderson's Grove, and fifty miles away was the 
 little beginning of Galesburg, a log-cabin hamlet ; 
 to the east was Princeton, and to the north were 
 three families on Rock River. There were lonely 
 and isolated settlers' cabins at Hanna's, Branden- 
 burg's and Gordon's on Green River and the Crooks 
 and Seelys at Prophetstown — lost ships upon the 
 great seas, — 
 
 " Alone, alone, all, all alone, 
 Alone on the wide, wide sea," 
 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
 I 
 
 In 1837, the town was laid out. Trustees — John 
 C, Ward, Cromwell K. Bartlett and R. R. Stewart. 
 The spring of the same year was planted the first 
 crop in what is now Geneseo Township. The only 
 postoffice was Andover, where occasional mails were 
 brought. In 1839, Geneseo was made a postoffice, 
 with, James M. Allan as Postmaster. 
 
 Among the families that added their presence to 
 the original colonists in 1838-9 and '40, were those of 
 Marcus B..Osborn, Lyman Snow, who was the first 
 and much needed blacksmith, Philo. Ward, Dr. Enos 
 Pomeroy, Mr. Gillmore, Mr. Richards. The growth 
 of the town was very slow, and so continued until the 
 survey of the railroad and finally the commencement 
 of work thereon. 
 
 Capt. Joseph B. Brush, a native of New' York and 
 an " old sea dog," was born in 1 807 and for twenty 
 years roamed the great seas around the world. He 
 came to H^nry County, 1838, and carried the first 
 mail that was brought to Geneseo, in 1844. This 
 was a route from Morristown to Geneseo, and he-con- 
 tracted to carry it four years, and after two years it 
 was discontinued. When Capt. Brush came his 
 family was himself and wife. Two children, Henry 
 and Naomi were born here. The Capt. now lives in 
 Geneseo, and although he has lost the use of his legs, 
 which he attributes to scurvy contracted in his sea 
 voyages, he otherwise is a splendid specimen of a 
 cheery and chipper old man that is most cheering 
 and cheerful to meet. His son is in the West, and 
 his daughter, Naomi, is the wife of Mr. Hall, residing 
 in Geneseo. 
 
 Mrs. Hannah E. Reynolds Stemson, widow of 
 Liberty Steinsan. Mr. Stemson came, 1836, and lo- 
 cated lands in Geneseo Township, and brought his 
 family in 1839, from Weston, Massachusetts. He 
 died in 1878. 
 
 H. G. Reynolds, a brother, was State's Attorney 
 and County Judge for some years and resided in 
 Cambridge; now lives in Blue Springs, Kansas. His 
 brother, E. P. Reynolds, is now a prominent citizen 
 in Rock Island. 
 
 The first brick business house in the township was 
 built in 1854, by Perry Brothers, on the corner of 
 Main and Buffalo Streets, now the residence of Mr. 
 Green. 
 
 The business center of the town at that time was 
 gn Majn Street, fronting the, beautifuj three- acre "park. 
 
 on the south side, and running east to Buffalo street, 
 Here were the stores, postoffice andJiotel, and choice 
 lots in the early ^o's found ready sale at what would 
 now be very high figures. Mr. Abrarn Miller offered 
 $50 a foot for a small corner that had been taken off 
 his hotel lot at an administrator's sale ; but another 
 purchaser bid over him and got the prize, paying 
 $850 for 13 feet front and 50-deep lot. On the block 
 still east of this, Mr. Miller bid Ijjfrooy and again was 
 overbid. 
 
 The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad was 
 surveyed in 1850, and_was completed through Gene- 
 seo in the latter part of December, 1853. At that 
 time there were only a little more than 400 people in 
 the town. The moment the railroad became a reality 
 the town and country sprang into vigorous life. What 
 is now the business part of the city was a vacant 
 common, and but few supposed it would ever become 
 a. part of the incorporated city. It was owned by 
 Merritt Munson, whose keen foresight took in the 
 situation. He saw here a golden opportunity pre- 
 sented by the mistake of the owner of lots in the 
 the business part of town, in holding lots at such 
 prices that people coming to the town would not buy. 
 He planted and laid out his addition to the town in 
 T853, and offered every one wanting to build choice 
 lots at low prices, — in fact, offering tempting induce- 
 ments to any one desirous of putting up a business 
 house. 
 
 The property owners on Majti Street saw the dan- 
 ger threatening their interests, but they came to a 
 full realization when it was too late. The tide had 
 started toward Munson's lots, and at the same time 
 toward the railroad depot. Gradually and inevitably 
 the change went on, and now, for the past few years,, 
 not a business house or office is left whgre once all 
 were to be "found.. 
 
 INCORPORATION. 
 
 By special act of the General Assembly, approved 
 Feb. 14, 1855, Geneseo was incorporated as a vil- 
 lage. The following were the charter members of 
 the board : Merritt Munson, Enos Pomeroy, Robert 
 Getty, John Willshire, Alfred W. Perry. 
 
 The gentlemen elected to serve as trustees during 
 the time the place remained under this regime were 
 as follows: April 2, 1855. Merritt Munson, Fresi r 
 dent; O. A- Turner, A, W. Curtis, T.F. Pressgr : , 
 Luther C--§leigH „ . . . . , 
 
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HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 April 7, 1856. James M. Allan, President; H. 
 McArthur, T. D. Crook, 0. P. Beebe, O. A. Turner. 
 
 April 6, 1857. F. P. Brown, President; Robert 
 Getty, H. A. Ainsworth, J. B. Hagin, J. D. K. Steight. 
 
 April 5, 1858. Robert Getty, President; F. P. 
 Brown, Solon Fleming, J. M. Hosford, Liberty Cres- 
 set. 
 
 April 4, 1859. Joshua Harper, President; J. P. 
 Long, Josoph Hammond, Cyrus Kinsey, Enos Pome- 
 roy. 
 
 April 2, i860. Joseph Hammond, President; Cy- 
 rus Kinsey, J. P. Long, Elisha M. Stewart, W. P. 
 Blackinston. 
 
 April 1, 186c George Richards, President; Da- 
 vid L. Perry, P. H. Sniff, Albert McCurdy, J. B. 
 Byers. 
 
 April 7, 1862. James McBroom, President; A. 
 B. Kinsey, E. M. Stewart, J. F. Dresser, Solon Ken- 
 dall. 
 
 April 6, 1863. James McBroom, President; Solon 
 Kendall, E. A. Wood, J. J. Town, P. H. Beveridge. 
 
 April 4, 1864. I. N. Wilson, President; P. H. Bev- 
 eridge, E. A. Wood, Albert McCurdy, Peter Worrall. 
 
 During this period the following village Clerks 
 served: William T. Allan, 1855 to 1859. R. F. 
 Steele, 1859 to 1862. J. F: Dresser, 1862 to 1863. 
 Solon Kendall, 1863 to 1864. James McBroom, 
 1864 to 1865. 
 
 The, act of the Legislature incorporating the city 
 of Geneseo bears date of Feb. 16, 1865. It provides 
 for the election annually of a Mayor and a Board 
 of Aldermen, two from each ward, to hold their 
 office two years. Two wards were made. The in- 
 corporators were Isaac W. Wilson, Andrew Craw- 
 ford and Joseph A. Sawyer. There are now four 
 wards, and two Aldermen from each. 
 
 Judge George E. Waite was the first Mayor — 1865 
 to 1867. The next was Joseph Hammond, then 
 John D. Grant, Warren P. Cook, Robert F. Steele, J. 
 M. Allan, P. S. Schnabele, James McBroom (two 
 terms), Peter Worrall, Ira R. Wells, J. H. Mitchell, 
 present incumbent. 
 
 City, elections are held every year, and this was 
 one of the few cities that never abandoned its special 
 charter for the general law charter. 
 
 The first Board of Aldermen (1865) was : James 
 Bradley, I. N. Stewart, Joseph Hammond and E. A. 
 Wood. 
 
 Present city officers (1885): James H, Mitchell, 
 
 Mayor ; L. C. Campbell, Clerk ; and the Aldermen 
 are S. J. Arnot, Christian Buell, W. W. Cole, John 
 Goss, Jr., R. Herrington, P. S. Schnabele, P. A. 
 Sweeney and Alexander White. 
 
 The City Library (2,206 volumes) was established 
 in 1 88 1 ; city appropriates $800 to it. 
 
 The water works belong to the city. Have now 
 5,600 feet of street mains, and are putting down 
 3,600 feet additional pipes. 
 
 EDUCATIONAL. 
 
 Miss Susannah Stewart, daughter of R. R. Stew- 
 art, taught the first school in Geneseo, in 1837. The 
 school-house was made of round poles, had a pun- 
 cheon floor, and was covered with the wagon covers 
 that the people had used in their travels to the new 
 country; and teachers and pupils had to keep a 
 sharp lookout for rains and storms and flee to the 
 nearest cabin for protection. This was not only the 
 first public school in Geneseo, but it was also 
 the first in the county, but only the first for a very 
 short time ; for while Miss Susannah Stewart, after- 
 wards Mrs. James M. Allan, was teaching this tent- 
 covered school, her sister Narcissa, afterwards Mrs. 
 Wells, was teaching a school near Dayton, at P. K. 
 Hanna's house, and another sister, Parmelia, now 
 Mrs. Dr. Hume, of Geneseo, was teaching in Weth- 
 ersfield. There is no question but that the Stewart 
 girls were the pioneer school-teachers in Henry 
 County. 
 
 The roll of Miss Susannah's school in Geneseo is 
 well worth preserving for posterity, andwas as follows: 
 Emily Ward, afterwaid Mrs. Olmstead, of Gales- 
 burg ; Orlo Mannville, went to Kansas ; Roderick S. 
 Mannville, deceased; Newton Mannville, emigrated 
 to Iowa ; Harriet Cone, now Mrs. William Miller, of 
 Geneseo; Clarissa Cone, married Elisha M. Stewart, 
 March 9, 1848, and removed to Wichita, Kansas, in 
 the fall of 1879, and is the happy mother of five 
 children, three boys and two girls ; Alonzo Cone, de- 
 ceased; Lafayette Stewart, removed to Wichita, 
 Kansas ; Mary Bartlett, afterwards Mrs. Hiram 
 Cady ; George Bartlett, deceased ; Amanda Bartlett, 
 married Mr. C. M. Taylor, and removed to Califor- 
 nia; Orin Bartlett, of Mercer County; Augustus 
 Bartlett, deceased, and Sasah Ann Bartlett, of Mer- 
 cer County. 
 
 In the fall of 1838 a frame school building was 
 erected on the ske of the Congregational Church lot, 
 
 
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 which was a school and church building for some 
 time, until the seminary building was erected in 1846. 
 Miss Narcissa Stewart taught school in 1838. In 1839 
 Mr. Holmes, who had been .sent by Rev. Jason 
 Chapin, taught school. In the spring of 1840 Mr. 
 Chapin came and too,k charge of the school, and so 
 continued until his death, in September, 1846. 
 
 There was a provision in the original town plan 
 that plainly indicated the deep interest of the early 
 settlers in schools. It was provided that in the sale 
 of lots a certain per cent, of the tots should be set 
 apart for the building of a seminary of higher learn- 
 ing. 
 
 One of the rarest cases of self-denial was exhib- 
 ited in the building of the brick seminary at Gene- 
 seo. The people had no money, and they subscribed 
 their labor. They worked in the brick yard and at 
 the carpenter benches ; they tended the masons, 
 hauled the sand and water, and dug the foundations. 
 The building when completed was "without money 
 and without price," for it was the labor of love of 
 every able-bodied man in the community. Some of 
 the young men, hardly of age, subscribed as much, 
 as $200 each, to be worked out at a small per-diem. 
 Then just as the walls were up a storm blew down 
 the sides, and, nothing daunted, they were rebuilt ; 
 and completion crowned their labors, and the build- 
 ing was thrown open to the public use and a school 
 commenced in the fall of 1846. 
 
 The Legislature granted a charter. It was called 
 the Geneseo Marraal Labor High School ; this name 
 was afterwards legally changed to Geneseo Semin- 
 ary. Rufus Hubbard, E. Gone and Jarius Wilcox, 
 incorporators, as the first Board of Directors. ' Hub- 
 bard was President of the Board. 
 
 After Mr. Chapin's death, for seven years, the in- 
 stitution was under the care ofRev. A. Lyman, by 
 whose untiring labors, persistent industry at home 
 and abroad, funds were raised for the completion of 
 the seminary, he having procured $3,000 from friends 
 in the East, and this, added to the generous contri- 
 butions of friends here, and Mr. Lyman contribut- 
 ing his salary as minister for years, an ample fund 
 was finally provided. Too much credit cannot be 
 accorded to Rev. Lyman for the foresight, zeal and 
 abilities that for years he devoted to this- institution, 
 and all the time working amid the greatest depriva- 
 tions and a rigid economy in order that his loved 
 
 school might live and prosper. His accom 
 assistants in the school were Miss Pomeroy (married 
 F. Bascom), Miss Hooker, Miss Foster and Miss 
 Earl. 
 
 Succeeding Rev. Lyman, Rev. S. H. Waldo was 
 in temporary charge of the institution for a few 
 months. Then M. S. Croswell, fresh from Amherst 
 College, was at the head of the school for a short 
 time. He shortened his usefulness by heeding .the 
 call of his country, and enlisted in the army, .where 
 he served well four years, and when mustered out 
 went to California and is preaching there. His suc- 
 cessor was Mr. Bartlett, who was assisted by Miss 
 Hume and Miss Sarah Andrews. 
 
 In the meantime Illinois had perfected her grand 
 system of free schools — furnishing every child in the 
 State, without costs, schools and school buildings 
 that in many modern comforts" and advantages far sur- 
 passed the oldest and wealthiest schools in the country. 
 They were wholly non-sectarian (by some zealous in 
 pious dogmas they were thought to be non-religious, 
 and were sometimes called " Godless schools,') and 
 in small places often the State schools abundantly 
 supplied the public ^demands, and it was very diffi- 
 cult to maintain private institutions. 
 
 The Geneseo Seminary found itself, even with the 
 splendid record it had already made, laboring under 
 great disadvantages in this respect. Its managers 
 had anticipated the future, ancTa considerable debt 
 was hanging over the institution. The Trustees 
 wisely concluded to merge their school into the pub- 
 lic-school system, and they sold the brick seminary 
 and grounds to the city, to be used as the Public 
 High School, and the Rev. Lyman's and his coadju- 
 tor's labors were not- in vain, as their loved institution 
 has. been and is still devoted exclusively to the 
 cause of higher educati-.n. 
 
 The Central School -house was built in 1856, the 
 year the State system of graded schools was put in 
 operation. This building contained four rooms. 
 The next year the Seminary was purchased, and the 
 two buildings at that time gave ample school facil- 
 ities for the village. Prof. Abbott was then the Su- 
 perintendent. 
 
 Prof. G. G. Alvord was Superintendent in 1877, 
 and he was followed by Prof. E. P. • Burlingame. 
 The last two, when they left Geneseo, by a singular 
 coincidence each went to Cairo and became Superin* 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 tendent of the schools there. Burlingame succeeded 
 Alvord there as he had done here. 
 
 In response to the public necessity, in the year 
 1 866, the school building, a commodious brick struc- 
 ture, on the north side, was erected, containing four 
 rooms. But the rapidly growing necessities required 
 an addition of two more rooms, which were added 
 in 187 1. And it was found to be necessary to have 
 still more room, and the basement of the Unitarian 
 church was procured, at a rental of $200, and fitted 
 up for school purposes. 
 
 Thus in 1876, there were three school buildings, 
 and the school property was then valued at $20,000. 
 That year the expenditure for school purposes were 
 $8,191.03. Fifteen teachers were then regularly em- 
 ployed: three in the High School, three in the 
 Grammar Schools, four in the Intermediate and five 
 in the Primary. 1'he enrollment was 1,021; aver- 
 age attendance, 711. Attendance in the High 
 School, i2r; Grammar School, 136; Intermediate, 
 346; Primary. 418. 
 
 The public schools of Geneseo are not surpassed 
 in the country. There are four elegant school build- 
 ings, furnished with all modern improvements and a 
 corps of able teachers. The total school enrollment 
 is 800, and there is an average attendance of about 
 600. There are 15 teachers, distributed as follows: 
 In the High School are Charles Riley, Miss Fanny 
 L. Tee, Miss Abbie F. Steele. Attendance in High 
 School rooms, 60. In grammar room is Miss S. E. 
 El well ; attendance 60. The other 12 teachers are 
 in the following rooms : In the rooms south are 
 Jennie M. Bliss, No. 6 ; Mary Entrikin, 5 ; Ella R. 
 Hanna,* 4; Alice R. Rosenstone, 3; Hattie M. 
 Waite, 2 ; and Ida Whitney, 1. In the north rooms 
 are Nelly McCarthy, No. 6; Minnie Bradley, 5; 
 Ethel Lambert, 4; Nora Blackiston, 3; Jennie Wells, 
 2; Telia Worrall, 1. 
 
 A commendable feature of the public schools is 
 the evident economy the present Board of Education 
 has introduced, and that has not impaired the ef- 
 ficiency of the schools. For instance, in 1882 the 
 total expenses for teachers' hire was $7,840, and in 
 1885 that was reduced $t,ooo. 
 
 Geneseo Collegiate Institute was chartered by the 
 Legislature as an institution of learning Nov. 21, 
 1883. The charter directors of the school were J. 
 T. Atkinson, J. A. Sawyer, Thomas Liken, Josiah 
 
 Moore, C. T. Powell, J. W. Stewart, J. K. Rekard, 
 S. S. Cryer, T. R. Johnson, J. W. Hosford, I. N. 
 Wilson, W. F. Small, H. Biglow, D. F. Sargeant, 
 Mead C. Williams, N. H. G. Fife, Alexander White, 
 Payson Trask, W. C. Brown, J. B. Moderwell and 
 E. L. Williams. 
 
 Incorporators — J. T. Atkinson, W. P. Cook, G. E. 
 Waite, A. White, N. Gaines, Henry Youngs and E. 
 C. Moderwell. 
 
 Officers of Board of Directors— Rev. E. L. Will- 
 iams, President; A. White, Vice-President; J. B. 
 Moderwell, Secretary ; J. A. Sawyer, Treasurer. 
 
 Instructors — Norbury W. Thornton, A. M., Prin- 
 cipal and instructor in Greek and mathematics; 
 Wm. A. Metcalf, A. M., C. E., commercial depart- 
 ment; Miss Lucy Magee, elocution, history and 
 English literature; Miss Susan A. Hosford, A. B., 
 Latin; Ferdinand Berger, German; Mrs. Gatha 
 Swan, director conservatory of Music; Miss Sarah 
 M. French, drawing and painting. 
 
 Although at present a young institution, yet so 
 generously has it been provided for, so generally sup- 
 ported and encouraged by all denominations of 
 Christians and people, who appreciate the advantages 
 of a higher education, that its success is already such 
 that it is entitled to a permanent place among the 
 oldest and best institutions in the State. Its organ- 
 izers and conlributors were from the various religious 
 denominations of Geneseo and surrounding country. 
 It is is no sense a sectarian school, but is in the 
 broadest and fullest meaning a Christian school. As 
 an explanation of the wholesome influences exerted 
 in the institution by the Presbyterian Church, we 
 only deem it necessary to give the following explana- 
 tion as a part of the early efforts to found the school: 
 A petition for " The Board of Aid for Colleges and 
 Academies in the Presbyterian Church of the Unit- 
 ed States " to locate an academy in Geneseo was 
 signed by representatives of different denominations 
 in the city, and the locating of the academy in Ge- 
 neseo was strongly endorsed by the Presbytery of 
 Rock River. The expression of feeling was so unit- 
 ed that the Board of Aid for Colleges and Academies 
 responded by granting $1,500 to the aid of the insti- 
 tution in its first year. The Geneseo Collegiate In- 
 stitute is the first institution organized under the new 
 Board of Aid which has manifested special interest 
 in its continued success. The institute was formerly 
 
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 opened with an address on Higher Christian Educa- 
 tion by Rev. H. D. Ganse, D. D., Secretary, Sept. 
 16, 1884. 
 
 It was thrown open to the publit a only little more 
 than one year ago, and its first annual catalogue is 
 the complete assurance of the great success it has al- 
 ready attained. 
 
 The catalogue shows the following : Complete en- 
 rollment, 181 ; academic students, 117; art, 14; mu- 
 sic, 84. 
 
 Tht Northwestern Normal.— -Foremost among the 
 educational institutions of Henry County is the 
 Northwestern Normal. _ It is beautifully situated in 
 that part of Geneseo known as Park Villa. Early 
 in the year 1883 the people of Geneseo became very 
 much interested in the enterprise of securing and es- 
 tablishing in their city an institution of learning, 
 Which should be at once practical, unsectarian and 
 self-supporting. The project was urged by the lead- 
 ing citizens, met with general favor, and a most lib- 
 eral fund was soon secured for the futherance of the 
 object. A board of trustees,' consisting of Messrs. 
 A. Lieberknecht, H. V. Fisher, P. Schnabele, I. R. 
 Wells, W. P. Blackiston, R. Harrington and H. W. 
 Moses was appointed to act in the matter, and 
 opened negotiations with Profs. W. J. Cook and W. 
 J. Stevens, the result of which was a contract be- 
 tween the parries for the establishing of the North- 
 western Normal, and its incorporation and opening 
 on Sept. 4, 1883. 
 
 Delightfully situated in the northwestern part of 
 the beautiful " Maple City," removed from the noise 
 and dust of the business streets, surrounded by a 
 large and shaded campus, which extends from Col- 
 lege Avenue to Center Street, are situated the Nor- 
 mal buildings : '' The Mansion " and "The College." 
 The former of them was built in 1876 by Maj. James 
 M. Allan, one of the oldest and most respected citi- 
 zens of Henry County. On this spot, his home for 
 many years, he built for himself one of the finest and 
 best appointed residences in Western Illinois, at a 
 cost of $17,000. Here he lived until 1883, when he 
 transferred his beautiful residence and grounds to the 
 trustees as a nucleus for the Northwestern Normal. 
 " The College " was built and furnished in 1884, at a 
 cost above $7,500. The managers expect soon to 
 erect another and a larger brick structure on Col- 
 lege Avenue, to accommodate the needs of their rap- 
 idly growing school. 
 
 The Northwestern Normal was incorporated by 
 the State of Illinois in r883, and during its first year 
 had an attendance of nearly 300 students. Its sec- 
 ond year, brought to its doors above 400 students 
 from Illinois and adjoining States. From 10 to r 3 
 instructors are constantly employed, and from forty 
 to fifty classes sustained each term. The school is 
 constantly in session and graduates two classes each 
 year, one in May and one in October. The Bachelor's 
 and Master's degrees of Science is conferred upon all 
 regular graduates. A specialty is made of educating 
 for teaching, business or professional study. Each 
 year, during July, the Annual Teachers' Institute is 
 held and is largely attended by those who are pre- 
 paring to teach. The Normal adds to the trade of 
 Geneseo at least $50,000 per year, besides doing 
 much to elevate the literary, social and moral tone 
 of the city. It is most enthusiastically and heartily 
 supported by all who have experienced its advan- 
 tages. 
 
 CHURCHES. 
 
 Congregational Church. — As stated elsewhere, the 
 oldest Church connected with the history of Geneseo, 
 is the Congregationalist, as it was organized by the 
 Colonists before they left New York — Sept. 13, 1836. 
 The ecclesiastical council was in Bergen, Genesee 
 County, Rev. Messrs. Wilcox, Hull and Bridgeman, 
 acting. The two Cones, C. K. Bartlett, J. C. Ward 
 and Harry Manville (the last the old survivor, now a 
 venerated citizen of Genesee) and Mary E. and- 
 Amanda E. 'Bartlett, daughters of C. T. Bartlett, and 
 Harriet Cone, constituted the original Church mem- 
 bers. Elisha Cone and J. C. Ward were ordained 
 deacons. The Church thus came with the first 
 Colonists. 
 
 At first religious services were held in the differ- 
 ent members, rude and small log cabins, but when the 
 primitive school-house for Miss Stewart's school was 
 erected on the public square, it was also used as a 
 place of public worship. ~ 
 
 The first communion was held in the house of 
 Deacon Ward, April 18, r838. It was a day well 
 remembered, by a hail-storm, which broke nearly all 
 the windows in the settlement. The officiating min- 
 ister was Rev. Ithamar Pillsbury, of Ahdover. In 
 r838 another school building was erected, which was 
 subsequently removed to the site of the present 
 Congregational Church. This was used for Church 
 
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 purposes till 1848, when the seminary building was 
 completed, and was thenceforward used as a house 
 of worship till the erection of the church, in 1855. 
 The church was dedicated May 28, 1856, the sermon 
 being preached by the pastor, Rev. S. H. Waldo. 
 The church was the one still occupied by the Con- 
 gregational body of this city. At the time it was 
 built it was considered the finest church building 
 west of Chicago. The first regular pastor was Rev. 
 Jairus Wilcox, who in May, 1838, came to the colony 
 with his family, and in June was elected pastor, upon 
 a salary of $400. In 1845 he closed his labors here 
 and removed to Chicago, to take charge of the Sea- 
 men's Bethel, in which service he was engaged until 
 called to his reward. After him Rev. William T. 
 Allan supplied the pulpit six or eight months. The 
 next minister was Rev. Addison Lyman, from Con- 
 necticut, who began Oct. 6, 1845. He served for 
 two years, until he entered upon the principalship of 
 the seminary. Rev. C. S. Cady served one year, 
 from Oct. 1, 1848. Rev. A. J. Copeland then served 
 from Dec. 1, 1849, to February, 1852. Rev. J W. 
 North occupied the pulpit for one year, from Novem- 
 ber, 1852. The next pastor was Rev. S. H. Waldo, 
 who labored three years, from January, 1855. Under 
 his pastorate this house of worship was erected, form- 
 ing a new era in the history of the Church. Next 
 comes the pastorate of Rev. Milo N. Miles, during 
 the two years of 1858 and 1859. Then that of 
 Rev. B. C. Ward for one year and a half. Rev. J. 
 T. Cook, two years, those of 1862-3. During the 
 year 1864, Rev. M. N. Miles served as supply. In 
 May, 1865, Rev. Harry Briokett began his labors and 
 remained seven years. He resigned in T872, and 
 was succeeded by H. G. McArthur, who occupied 
 the pulpit two years, and was followed by Rev. T. C. 
 Jerome one year. At the expiration of that time 
 Rev. O. W. Fay, was called. 
 
 The Sunday-school was begun in the rude build- 
 ing upon the square, in 1837. Its first superintend- 
 ent was Deacon Ward, who continued in this office 
 until his removal from the place, in 1855, except that 
 Rev. John T. Pierce hfcld.this office during 1852 and 
 1853. After him M#'john G. Walker served two or 
 three years. Then followed Deacon Huntington, Mr. 
 A. M. Hubbard, and Mr. H. Thomas. 
 
 Baptist Church— In March, i860, Rev. W. G. 
 Johnson visited this place on his way from Rock 
 Island to Princeton. On the 20th of that month a 
 
 meeting was held at the Seminary Hall, which was 
 the initial movement to the organization of the 
 Baptist Church of Geneseo. April 14, the or- 
 ganization was effected, the following 23 persons 
 being present : Rev. and Mrs. W. G. Johnson, Mr. 
 and Mrs. J. W. Topping, Mr. and Mrs. H. F. Mc- 
 Cartney, Mr. and Mrs. D. N. Cole, Mr. and Mrs. D. 
 C. Like, Mr. H. Like, Mr. R. V. Amsden, Miss 
 Laura Ann Amsden, John and Matilda Vernon, Delia 
 Frank, Emeline Goss, Sarah Lynch, F. McHose, C. 
 L. Ainsworth, W. B. Johnson, Emma Taylor and 
 Sarah Caulkins. 
 
 The pastor, Rev. W. G. Johnson, remained some 
 time, and was succeeded by Rev. E. D. Dickerson. 
 Others who have filled the pulpit are Rev. W. P. 
 Pattison, Rev. A. R. Newton, Rev. Mr. Sharpe and 
 Rev. L. J. Langridge. 
 
 The meeting for organization was held in the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church ; afterwards they occu- 
 pied the Seminary Hall till the present church was 
 completed in 1864. The building cost $4,000. 
 
 The First Presbyterian Church, of Geneseo, was 
 organized Nov. 2, 1863, by Rev. S. T. Wilson and 
 Rev. David Kelly, both of the Rock River Presby- 
 tery. The building in which the first meeting was 
 held was on the corner of Pearl and Mechan- 
 ic Streets, where the Baptist church now stands. 
 This building is now on the opposite side of the 
 street from the present church and is owned by the 
 Swedish Methodists. These Churches, the Presby- 
 terian, the Baptist and the Swedish Methodist have 
 originated in this little chapel. 
 
 The membership of the- First Presbyterian Church 
 were Androw McLain, Geo. W. and Elizabeth Gos- 
 horn, M. S. Boice, R. M. Boice, James N. McCrack- 
 en, Mary McCracken, Chas. W. and Freelove Long, 
 Geo. Rekards, Ann C. Rekards, Mrs. Almira P. 
 Morton, Mrs. Francis Gale, Mrs. C. McCutcheon 
 and Mrs. Bracken. Four of these are dead, viz. : 
 Mrs. McCracken, Mrs. McLain, Mrs. Bracken and 
 Mrs. Rekards. Six have moved away, leaving six 
 of the original members here, as follows : Mr. and 
 Mrs. Goshorn, Mr. and Mrs. Long, Mrs. Morion and 
 Mrs. Rekards. 
 
 I. W. McCracken was elected first Elder. There 
 was no regular preaching until 1864, when Rev. I. 
 C. Burr, of Maiden, came, and he was called in 1865. 
 At the first communion after his call six persons 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 joined, and the growth of the Church was then quite 
 rapid. During his pastorate 126 were received into 
 the Church. It was determined to build a new. 
 church in 1866, and the new church was dedicated 
 Feb. 24, 1867, by Rev. S. T. Wilson. The most ef- 
 ficient worker in the building of the new church was 
 Geo. Rekards. This building was 38 x 60 feet and 
 cost about $10,000. Rev. Burr closed his pastorate 
 Sept. 2, 187 1, and went to Alexandria, Pa., where he 
 resides at present. Rev. E. H. Curtis came in 1871, 
 and continued until 1873, when he went to Wauke- 
 gan ; is now in Lincoln, Nebraska. After he left 
 the Church was without a pastor for one year and 
 six months, when Rev. A. J. Stead came. He con- 
 tinued until September, 1878. There was then a 
 loss of membership from removals, and gloomy pros- 
 pects were before it. No regular pastor was with' 
 the Church again for a few months. Rev. C. H. 
 Purmost was installed May 6, 1879, and at once the 
 interests revived. The Art Loan Exhibition Was 
 held and was very successful, the receipts being over 
 $500. With this fund to aid, the building was raised 
 and a lecture room underneath provided. This was 
 completed in 1880. The cost of this improvement 
 was about $2,000. 
 
 Mr. Purmost resigned and went to Dakota March 
 12, 1882. After a few months' candidacy, on Aug. i, 
 1882, the present worthy Pastor, Rev. E. L. Wil- 
 liams, was installed. 
 
 The six Elders elected at different times are, — A. 
 White, J. B. Moderwell, N. F. Small, I. K. Re- 
 kards, George Rekards, dead ; and- J. WcCracken 
 resides in Colorado. The- total membership is 245. 
 
 Present church officers— Elders, J. K. Rekards, 
 Alex. White, J. B. Moderwell, Wm. F. Small ; Trus- 
 tees, Wm F. Small, J. C. Entrikin, J. B. Moderwell.; 
 Treasurer, Wm. F. Small ; Sunday-school Superin- 
 tendent, Alex. White; Assistant, J. B. Moderwell. 
 
 The Sunday-school was organized in 1865, J. F. 
 Carle, Superintendent. 
 
 Protestant Episcopal (Trinity) Church. — In 1856 
 meetings were held by persons embracing this faith, 
 and in the following year the parish was organized. 
 The first Wardens were : Perry Ransom and George 
 Condish, and the, Vestrymen John T. Young, Benj. 
 Graham, William Saunders and John Huestes. Di- 
 vine services were held in various places until the 
 year 1863, when the present house of worship was 
 
 constructed after the English style of architecture, 
 costing $2 ,5 00. 
 
 The following have served the Church as pastors: 
 Revs. Alanson Welton, Samuel Goodale, William 
 Green, P. B. Morrison, Geo. C. Griswold, Dr. Walker, 
 F. B. Nash and T. N. Benedict. 
 
 The Unitarian Church. — The members compris- 
 ing this religious society met- at first for divine wor- 
 ship in Sawyer's Hall, where in the month of 
 November, 1868, they were organized into a Church. 
 They continued to meet in this hall until 1874, 
 when they erected their present house of worship, 
 costing about $6,000. Rev. M. J. Miller presided at 
 the organization, when r8 members were admitted. 
 
 German Methodist Episcopal Church.— In January, 
 i860, the first meetings of the Germans belonging to 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church were held in pri- 
 vate houses. Shortly after they were organized into 
 an ecclesiastical body by Rev. William Kammer- 
 meyer, and 23 persons. united. The same year the 
 church and parsonage were erected. This church 
 was used until 1874, when another edifice was erect- 
 ed. Among those who served as pastors are, Revs. 
 Kammermeyer, Charles Schneider, Henry Withom, 
 William Winter, W. Zappen, .Gustav Zolman, Fred- 
 erick Arensperger, William Bulke, William Schoerig 
 and Louis TCunz. The number of members is now 
 about 50, and the number of Sunday-school scholars 
 about the same. 
 
 The Evangelical Lutheran German Church— -This 
 Church was organized in 1863, with the following 
 named members : A. Eichhorn, W. Kittenzer, G. 
 Wiegand, A. Wiele^ J. Young, L. Hilmer, M. Schuh 
 and J. Hitzer. The church building was erected in 
 1864, and cost $1,500. The following are among 
 the pastors : E. Sunfstueck, C. W. Ernst, S. Hamm 
 and P. Hanson. 
 
 Zion's Church of the Evangelical Association was 
 organized in the spring of 1857. At that time about 
 15 persons united, and until the erection of their first 
 church edifice, in i860, held divine service in the 
 houses of its members. That year they erected a 
 house of worship, costing $1,000. This they occupied 
 ten years, when, the growth of the congregation de- 
 manding more room, the church was sold and the 
 present larger and more commodious house was 
 erected. The latter cost nearly $6,000. 
 
 The Rev. Conrad Speilmann presided at the or- 
 
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 ^§^flH@nii&^ 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 797 
 
 I 
 
 | 
 
 I 
 
 ganization and occasionally preached here, the 
 charge being until 1870 a mission. Among those 
 who have served as pastors are, Revs. John Dengel, 
 Amos Gackley, Enoch V. Freeden, S. E. Heilmann, 
 Conrad Speilmann, John Kurz, Michael Heyl and 
 Martin Stamm. The services were held in the Ger- 
 man language, almost the entire congregation being 
 of that nationality. 
 
 The Swedish Lutheran Church was organized at 
 the house of John Gustus, June 27, 1856, with 12 
 members. Meetings were held in the residences of 
 its members until the church was erected, which was 
 completed and occupied about the year 1859. It 
 cost $700. In 1874 it was remodeled and enlarged, 
 at an expense of $800. The first regular pastor was 
 Rev. Nils Anderson, who came in 1865 and remained 
 until 1869. The following year the Rev. C. J. 
 Malmberg was called, who filled the pulpit six years. 
 
 The Swede Methodist Church. — This Church was 
 organized in 1864, by Rev. V. Witting. Services 
 were held at that time in the German Church, and 
 the next year at ModerweU's Hall. After the Rev. 
 Witting left, Rev. A. L. Erickson became pastor. 
 The congregation built a church in 1866. Among 
 the faithful pastors of this Church we find besides 
 the above the names of Revs. O. Gunderson, John 
 Lind, John Wigren and H. W. Ekland. 
 
 The Methodist Episcopal Church held its first 
 meetings in the Seminary building. The first organ- 
 ization was effected in 1854 (six members) by Rev. 
 H. J. Humphrey. The first quarterly conference 
 w.is at the house of the preacher in charge, Rev. 
 Humphrey, Nov. 3, 1856; Rev. R. N. Morse, Pre- 
 siding Elder; Caleb Ransom,Recording Steward ; Rev. 
 G. C. Woodruff, Secretary. The Pastor's salary was 
 fixed at $436. The original members were : Rev. 
 H. Van Order, Levi Hamilton, G. A. Luvin, D. B. 
 Brown, S. S. Throop and J. A. McConnell. 
 
 The first Methodist Episcopal church was on 
 State Street, south, and became afterwards Teutonia 
 Hall. The second and present church is on North 
 State Street, was commenced in 1865, under Rev. H. 
 Ritchie, and completed in 1872, under Rev. Worth- 
 ington, and dedicated by Bishop Bowman in Septem- 
 ber, 1872. It cost $22,000. 
 
 Rev. Humphrey served one year, Rev. A. D. Mc- 
 Cool one year, Rev. J. Soule two years, Rev. E. 
 Ransom twoyears, N. C. Lewi? one year, E. Wasmuth 
 
 three years, H. Ritchie two years, Rev. A. P. Christ 
 two years, S. G. J. Worthington three years, W. P. 
 Graves two years, M. Spurlock two years and G. 
 W. Arnold, present Pastor. 
 
 The Catholic Church. — In 1863 this congregation 
 was organized with about 40 families, the officiating 
 Priest for a time being located in Rock Island. Im- 
 mediately after organization the building of a church 
 was begun, costing about $8,000. 
 
 HANNA TOWNSHIP. 
 
 HE second train of immigrants to arrive in 
 Henry County and " stick stakes " was 
 known as the Hanna crowd. At the second 
 annual meeting of the "Old Settlers," in 1876, 
 a statement as to the details of their coming 
 was made by those who were of the party and 
 are, therefore, the most reliable that it is possible to 
 obtain. The statement was prepared by J. A. Saw- 
 yer, J. H. Sale and F. P. Olmsted from facts fur- 
 nished them by George Brandenburg and P. K. 
 Hanna and probably others of the company. The 
 following is substantially their statement: 
 
 In June, 1835, a small party left Knoxville for the 
 purpose of exploring the lands of the adjoining and 
 unsettled portions of Illinois. They visited what is 
 now Henry County. The party consisted of Rev. 
 George A. Colbert, Rev. P K. Hanna, J. P. 
 Hanna, J. B. B. Tabor, Samuel and Neely With- 
 row. They found the family of Dr. Baker living 
 in a wagon on section 16, near the mouth of Green 
 River — now Colona Township. From this point 
 they followed the Black Hawk trail about 20 miles 
 in a northeasterly direction, camping at what is now 
 known as McHenry's Ditch, in Phenix Township. 
 They then returned to Knoxville, where they re- 
 mained about two weeks. Then P. K. and J. P. 
 Hanna and Robert Land (Land was from Carmi, 
 111.) returned to Henry Connty, camping the first 
 night out at White Oak Grove, on Edwards River, 
 From this grove they traveled north, and reached 
 the banks of Rock River in the month of July, 1831; . 
 Here they unhitched their team and went into 
 quarters on section 33, township 18, range 2. In 
 their immediate peighborhoQd. were the Wjnnebagg 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 $<S§ti 
 
 js^£ — ^4>nu®nii& \9 ^ gy^ «4> 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 |*t^ 
 
 
 
 Indians. Here they found Earl P. Aldrich and 
 family, who bad come only a few days before. After 
 remaining here in camp a few days and looking 
 around at the country, the party again returned to 
 Knoxville, and after a few days preparation P. K. 
 Hanna, with his family, started for the new home he 
 had selected, arriving at their destination August 13, 
 1835 (just 50 years ago). This was the first family, 
 to settle in what is now Hanna Township, and the 
 fourth family in the county. On the 9th of Septem- 
 ber of the same year came George Brandenburg, 
 from Ohio. He located on section 6, in Hanna 
 Towriship. Later in the year he removed to section 
 1, In what is now Colona Township, and here, in 
 October, 1836, in company with Mark M. Atkinson, 
 laid Out the town of Dayton. Here he erected a log 
 house and moved into it on Christmas Day, and 
 havirig a real log house he opened what soon became 
 vvidely knpwn as Brandenburg's Tavern, the first 
 thing of the kind in the county. He was soon ap- 
 pointed postmaster, and. in the first tavern was kept 
 the first postoffice, by the first postmaster in Henry 
 County. This house was the first polling place at 
 the first election, June 9, 1837, when the people 
 voted on the question of county organization, and the 
 first county officers were elected, namely: P. K. 
 Hanna, Ithamar Pillsbury'and John Browning, Coun- 
 ty Commissioners ; R. McCullough, Sheriff ; Roderick 
 R. Stewart, Coroner; Joshua Harper, Recorder; A. 
 M. Seymour, County Surveyor, Here, too, June 27, 
 1837," was held the first term of the County Court, 
 which appointed James M. Allan County Clerk, and 
 Charles Atkinson Treasurer, and a license was granted 
 to John P. Hanna and George Taylor to keep a ferry 
 at Cleveland. 
 
 In 1838 arrived George Albert and E. Walters and 
 families, and Henry and Samuel Sullivan, with 
 mother and two sisters, and settled in what is now 
 Hanna. In the winter of T835, Collin D. James, of 
 Rock Island, organized a religious society. Services 
 were held in P. K. Hanna's cabin. James preached 
 to the little colony until succeeded by Rev. A. D. 
 West. In the spring of 1836 arrived in this settle- 
 ment, J. D. Tabor, J. P. Hanna, Charles Atkinson 
 and George Taylor and families, and by the spring- 
 time of 1836 there was a population of 41 souls. 
 Here, Feb. 7, 1836, occurred the first marriage: 
 James P. Dodge and Samantha Colbert, daughter of 
 Rev, G. A, Colbert, 
 
 In the early part of 1837, William Paddelford pur- 
 chased land in this settlement, and in the fall of the 
 same year located, with his family; and in 1838 he 
 removed and opened a farm where his son James H. 
 now lesides. 
 
 The first frame building in the county was erected 
 in Cleveland, by Atkinson and Wells, in 1836. The 
 settlers in this neighborhood and those of the. New 
 York Colony, at Geneseo, in the winter of 1836, or- 
 ganized a temperance society and held meetings, and 
 opened up the war on Gen. Budge. 
 
 The first school was taught here in 1836, by Nar- 
 cissie Stewart, who quit attending to other peoples 
 children, married Huntington Wells and removed to 
 Moline, 111. 
 
 In 1836, Thomas and Anderson Miller and. Dr. 
 Gawzer settled in this neighborhood. In 1837, came 
 Henry Hand, and he ran the first chartered ferry, at 
 Cleveland. Also in this year came D. P. Gave, John 
 Williams, John Searles, Columbia Aldrich, William 
 and James Bernard, Rev. Woodruff and son, all of 
 whom settled in what is naw Hanna township. The 
 same year, Sanbro settled in the east part of the 
 township, where tie lived until his death. -He was 
 much esteemed and respected by all. 
 
 In 1838, William Whitehead, Thomas Hill, Adrian 
 Van Winkle, and Wesley Hanna came. From 1838 
 to T845 the settlement increased rapidly. A few, as 
 now remembered by these early settlers, of the num- 
 ber were J. W. Taylor, H. R. Taylor, Adam Hooker; 
 the Linnells, Heningers, Quillans, Meads, and 
 James Miller and families. 
 
 Cleveland. 
 
 3LEVELAND is the oldest platted and laid- 
 I - ..- a out town in the county, the date of its exist- 
 \§f ence extending back to 1836. It is on the 
 ,,.,., south bank of Rock River, section 31. Its 
 ' *• sponsors were Charles Atkinson and Geo. D. 
 Tabor. At the time of its platting this was 
 Knox County. It was located on the river and on 
 the stage road from Knoxville to Galena. The first 
 buildings were put up — two log cabins — in the sum- 
 mer of 1837 for George Tyler and Charles Atkinson, 
 the latter's being a double cabin, and part of which 
 was used for a store. Thomas Glenn and George' 
 Brandenburg did the work oh thern, In the course 
 
 1 
 
 S3 
 
 K Is 
 
 -S^je: ^L^jflfl<; 
 
 \C) iii -^^y* I . .. / . .1 ■ — — 1 
 
-6V^UIl®Ulif^3 ^^r 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 I 
 
 
 of time these two buildings were torn away to make 
 room for better ones. In 1837, Whiteside, this town, 
 was included in what is now Whiteside County, then 
 Whiteside precinct. At the August election of this 
 year — when Martin Van Buren was elected Presi- 
 " ident — the whole number of votes cast in the entire 
 precinct was seventy-two, three of which were Dem- 
 ocrat. It must have made the wily " old fox' - trem- 
 ble in his boots, particularly if the first returns that 
 reached him were from this precinct. 
 
 E. N. Wells and Charles Atkinson put up the first 
 frame houses in the county, in Cleveland. 
 
 In 1869 a grist-mill was erected by the Cleveland 
 Hydraulic Company. It was directly on the river 
 bank and was a water power. The principal popu- 
 lation of the town for some years has been miners and 
 proprietors of mines, operating the extensive coal 
 mines in this immediate vicinity. A fine vein of coal, 
 valuable for shipping purposes, is found-here, a full 
 account of which is given in another chapter. The 
 general depression of the coal trade the past few 
 years has somewhat crippled the prosperity of the 
 place, causing a loss of population and business, 
 which is expected to return as soon as there is a re- 
 vival of business over the country. 
 
 A hotel and three stores and a few shops have 
 been able to do all the business of the place. In 1875 
 a comfortable district school-house was ereeted in 
 the place. Here was formed the first religious soci- 
 ety in Henry County, which action was due to the 
 pious energy of P. K. Hanna. It was a very small 
 band at first, and for years they found plenty of room 
 to worship in the little crowded cabins of the vicinity. 
 But its growth was regular and even stiong, and 
 eventually they erected a commodious and comfort- 
 able house of worship. 
 
 KEWANEE TOWNSHIP. 
 
 HAT is now Kewanee Township had no 
 white settler in it until the fall of 1836. 
 William, Samuel and James Carson, broth- 
 s' ers, built a cabin "in the grove northwest of 
 the town of Kewanee, and wintered there 
 in the winter of 1836-7. The next spring they 
 returned to Fulton County and made a crop there 
 
 and then returned to their cabin in the grove, and 
 continued to reside here for many years. 
 
 John Kilvington, an Englishman, and Robert 
 Coultas, also came in 1836 and built a cabin, but 
 they too returned and made a crop and came back 
 in 1837, in March. Cornelius Bryan came soon after 
 the two last named. 
 
 Samuel Carson now lives in Wethersfield. Next 
 came Luther Sleight and settled on section 33, ad- 
 joining the present town of Kewanee. He eventually 
 sold ou'. his farm and went to Geneseo. He sold to 
 Sam Alexander, who in turn sold the place again 
 and went to Nebraska. Then came Francis Loomis, 
 who settled and made an improvement close to Mr. 
 Sleight's. He sold and went to Nebraska. He is 
 remembered by the old citizens as a most excellent 
 man in every respect. He died some years ago and 
 we understand he left only a son living. 
 
 O. W. Brown came next, and settled on section 
 34. Afterwards he removed to Wethersfield, where 
 he now resides. Hazleton Page came in 1837. His 
 son Asa now lives in the town of I^wanee. Capt. 
 Sullivan Howard came in 1837 ; now living in Ke- 
 wanee, hale, hearty and cheery, and probably no man 
 in the county loves better to recount the story of 
 the pioneer days, their few trials and hardships and 
 their many triumphs, and the boundless happiness 
 of those good old times and people. So cheerful in 
 his nature is he that in his recollections he can only 
 recall the bright side of the picture, remembers only 
 the hearty enjoyment of the hours as they flew past 
 50 years ago, the warm-hearted hospitality and the 
 genial souls of those men and women of the long 
 ago, the great majority of whom has long since joined 
 the silent multitude. 
 
 Cornelius Bryan had sons, William, Henry H. and 
 Asbury T., who became worthy successors to a 
 worthy sire. 
 
 These settlements were made near the south line 
 of the township; and just across the line, in Wethers- 
 field, were their neighbors, and, in fact, a portion of 
 the same settlement. After the coming of those 
 enumerated above, there were but few accessions for 
 a few years, probably none before r 839-40. 
 
 Sylvanus W. Warner came in 1840. He was from 
 Canada. He first located in Ohio, where he mar- 
 ried Emeline Otis. Will R. Goodrich came to the 
 county in 1837 with his family. He was born in 
 
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 ^^ — e^n n@ hih^a^ — ^€^- 
 
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 800 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 the Sandwich Islands. He married Harriet M. 
 Slocum, Nov. 22, 1857. 
 
 A few of these early settlers, becoming discon- 
 tented, sold out their claims and returned to the 
 East to their old homes, and in their places were to 
 be found the very few accretions to the settlement 
 for years. 
 
 City of Kewanee. 
 
 [HIS is the most important commercial point 
 between Galesburg and Princeton, and 
 ranks high among the smaller cities of 
 Central Illinois. It contains a population of 
 over 4,000 inhabitants. It is surrounded by a 
 magnificent farming country, has several im- 
 portant manufactories and is a good trading point. 
 Abundance of an excellent quality of coal is found 
 here and extensive mining interests are carried on. 
 Kewanee is on the main line of the Chicago, Burling- 
 ton & Quincy Railroad, and 132 miles from Chicago. 
 As late as 1853, where the busy and thrifty city 
 now is, was the quiet of farm life prevailing un- 
 broken. The house of Harry Thompson was then a 
 quiet farm house. This building is still standing, 
 and in good repair for its age, near the center of the 
 present town. Nearly adjoining this were the farms 
 of M. B. and J. P. Potter, on the west. This farm 
 house of Harry Thompson's^must have been rather a 
 pretentious venture in the day of its erection: It is 
 a two-story frame, standing just back of what was 
 once known as the Phillips Block, a large two-story 
 frame business house. We have the information from 
 William Wolf, who owns the old Thompson house, 
 that it yet rents for $10 a' month. It is framed of 
 those solid, heavy logs that were once supposed to 
 be so essential to the erection of a frame house. 
 
 The work of building the old Military Tract Rail- 
 road, now the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Rail- 
 road, decided the birth and location .. of the town. 
 Strenuous efforts were made by the citizens of 
 Wethersfield, one mile south, to secure the passage 
 of the railroad through their town. Owing to heavy 
 grades and the crossing of a stream, involving a 
 large extra expense, this was not acceded to by the 
 company, and grading was commenced on the pro- 
 posed route. Enterprising citizens of that day saw 
 the result, and quickly took advantage of the loca- 
 tion to secure a town on the railroad. 
 
 The company had at first decided to place the de- 
 pot on the northeast quarter of section 32, but a 
 defective title compelled a re-location, and it was 
 changed to the northwest quarter of section 33. 
 Matthew B. and J. P. Potter and Col. Blish owned 
 the site. The former, after selling five acres of their 
 quarter section to Geo. A. Morse and Silas Willard, 
 traded the balance to Dwight Needham for his beau- 
 tiful farm a little farther south. Mr. Needham at 
 once sold to Capt. Sullivan Howard, Ralph A. Teri- 
 ney — better known as "Ralph"" — and- Henry vG. 
 Little ; and these gentlemen sold a quarter interest 
 to Nelson Lay. Willard and Morse's tract lay on 
 either side of the railroad, on Main Street, and here 
 they built a store and warehouse in 1853. This was 
 known as the " Pioneer " store, and did a lucrative 
 business for nearly twelve months without opposi- 
 tion. The building stood on the lot now occupied 
 by the residence of Mr, Joseph O'Brien, and was, in 
 1863, destroyed by fire. 
 
 Kewanee was laid out May r, 1854, by Sullivan 
 Howard, Nelson Lay, H. G. Little, R. A. Tenney, 
 Geo, A. Morse und Sylvester Blish. - Wethersfield, 
 which was then quite a thriving village, suffered in a 
 very short time a loss of nearly all of her business 
 houses, which were one by one put on. wheels and 
 moved to Kewanee. The survey was made by G. 
 C. Blish. The - streets run at right angles, and are 
 generally four rods wide, though Main Street is 100 
 feet in width. The -first house erected on the town 
 site was the Kewanee Hotel. It was kept for some 
 time by Tenney & Hutchins. In February, 1856, 
 Mr. E. V. Bronson purchased the property of R. A. 
 Tenney, and for twenty-two years has successfully 
 supplied the gastronomical needs of the public. It 
 is now run by Mr. Warner. 
 
 It was probably the intention of the founders of 
 the town that Main Street should be the street ; and 
 in fact it was for some time. "Phillips' Block," the 
 first store in the town proper, was built thereon by 
 Nelson Lay; J. D. Schriver erected the old" Phila- 
 delphia Store " there ; Davenport, & Robinson their 
 grocery (now Miles & Minnick's) ; Dr. Finney had 
 his drug store where now stands the Free-will Baptist 
 church, and on the corner next south was the dry- 
 goods establishment of Aa'ron Cooper. A few build- 
 ings only were erected on Tremont "Street, which was 
 in wet weather very little short of a canal as far as 
 navigation was concerned. Yet the hotel and the 
 
 
 
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 -^€^ — ©A4*M®HII$A^ 
 
■^v&Bii&iin & ' v^ > €»g- 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 801 
 
 
 & 
 
 depot slowly and surely drew the trade center west- 
 ward. C. N. Cutter erected, very early, the building 
 occupied by Bennison Bros., and which for many 
 years was known as "Cutter's Hall," and considered 
 quite palatial in those days. It was moved to the 
 lot north and a fine brick put in its place. Resi- 
 dences sprang up rapidly in all parts of the town, 
 grain warehouses were built, and in eighteen months 
 the town boasted of a population of 1,500, including 
 Wethers field. 
 
 The following were among the leading pioneer 
 merchants : 
 
 Fitch & Skinner, druggists, occupied the site of 
 the present T. H. Phillips' brick house ; Joseph 
 Montgomery, boot, shoe and clothing dealer; Mr. 
 James S. Howard kept the first furniture store and a 
 hardware store, which was built by Fred. Wild. 
 When the town was laid out, the proprietors gave it 
 the name of Berrien, in compliment of Col. Berrien, 
 chief engineer of the railroad. He rather objected 
 to this, however, and being asked to name the town 
 suggested " Kewanee,'' an Indian name, supposed to 
 signify "prairie-hen." This cognomen was readily ac- 
 cepted by the proprietors, and on Feb. 14, 1855, was 
 legalized by a special act of the Legislature. The 
 postoffice was established in 1854, and given the 
 name of Kewanee. Col. Blish was appointed as in- 
 cumbent of the office, and occupied a portion of the 
 store of Otis & Pinney for the discharge of his du- 
 ties. It will be remembered this building occupied 
 the site of the Free-will Baptist church. In the fall 
 of 1855 Col. Blish died, and Mr. R. A. Tenney, who 
 among other enterprising acts erected the first brick 
 residence in town, occupied by Dr. G. W. Fellows, 
 succeeded him. Different administrations caused 
 many changes to be made in this office. It is now 
 held by N. H. Pratt, who has been in charge a long 
 time. His assistant is his daughter Anna. 
 
 In 1884 the census was carefully taken, showing a 
 "population of 3,700 souls. It was incorporated as a 
 village by the session of the Legislature of 1866-7, 
 and is modestly content to forego the more preten- 
 tious airs and expenses of becoming a city, although 
 possessed of many more inhabitants than many 
 other places that have long since put on the trap- 
 pings of cities. 
 
 The Village Trustees are : J. H. Peirce, President ; 
 P. B. Keller, James Porter, John Moore, A. W. Er- 
 
 rett, Samuel Jones. E. E. Baker, City Clerk; A. W. 
 Wood, Police Magistrate ; C. C. Wilson, Village At- 
 torney. 
 
 The proprietors of the town of Kewanee were from 
 the start keenly alive to the fact that factories and 
 workshops were as essential to the prosperity of the 
 place as were store-rooms, dwellings and other busi- 
 ness houses. They were ready to offer inducements 
 to institutions of this kind that came along looking 
 for a place to locate. The result of this foresight is 
 now plainly to be seen ; it is the busiest and thriftiest 
 town in the county to-day, and is growing apace, 
 while the average towns of Northern Illinois have for 
 the past few years stood still, or lost population. 
 From Galesburg to Aurora, on the line of the Chi- 
 cago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, it ranks as the 
 best business point, giving the road the largest trade 
 in imports and exports between these two points. 
 
 In 1856 there were three dry-goods stores — Lang, 
 Hardy & Co., Willard & Moss, and S. A. Smith; and 
 there were two grocery stores — Davenport & Robin- 
 son, and Penny Bros. Now there are 6 dry-goods, 
 5 hardware, 7 grocery, 3 jewelry, 3 bakeries, 2 news 
 stands, 3 clothing, 5 boots and shoes, 4 harness 
 shops, 3 furniture stores, 2 lumber yards, 5 meat 
 markets, a grain elevator, 2 banks, 3 hotels, besides 
 numerous shops, and small places of business and 
 trade. Many of these business houses are alone on 
 a scale with, and do a business much greater than 
 was done by, all the houses in the town 25 years ago. , 
 The business men are of that class that have been 
 quick to see the wants of the public about them, and 
 have supplied them promptly and most efficiently. 
 
 The easy access to the fine quality of coal found 
 here was another inducement for manufacturers that 
 had its influence at an early day. As is mentioned 
 elsewhere, a great deal of capital and employment to 
 many miners is furnished by the coal mines. The 
 Lathrop Coal & Mining Company, whose main office 
 adjoins the First National Bank, when running full 
 force, give employment to over 200 men. Coal in 
 this mine is readied at about 100 feet, and is loaded 
 on the cars by a very ingenious contrivance, and they 
 ship large quantities along the line of the railroad. 
 This company was organized in r86o. Some years 
 ago H. H. Perkins started the Kewanee Manufac- 
 turing establishment. The O'Brien Manufactory 
 was started into operation in 1858. This was re- 
 
 9 
 
 I 
 
 £*§^f«- 
 
 jh^c — ^A^fljj@nnf^A^9 — ^c^ 
 
-^&K ^V^llll@ll O&' /C) ^ ^s: 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 <L 
 
 
 moved from Princeville, Peoria County, and com- 
 menced making wagons and carriages here. 
 
 The present manufactories are the Haxtun Steam 
 Heater Co., organized in 1875. I' ls incorporated 
 with a capital stock of $500,000. It has eight acres 
 of ground, adjoining the railroad, and has nearly four 
 acres under roof, and has 550 employees, the large 
 majority of whom are skilled mechanics and com- 
 mand the highest wages. The original capital was 
 $50,000. The company succeeded the Anderson 
 Steam Heating Company. The plant is located in 
 the northeast part of the town. When this company 
 became the owners of this business, only two build- 
 ings, 30x80 and 40x60 feet respectively, were used, 
 and only 20 men weie employed. The pay-roll now 
 is about $22,000 per month. There are twelve sepa- 
 rate and distinct departments in this establishment, 
 namely: the puddle mill, rolling mill, pipe mill, iron 
 foundry,, brass foundry, machine shop, radiator shop, 
 steam-fitting sIiod, brass-finishing department, boiler 
 shop, pattern shop, and the gas manufacturing de- 
 partment, where they manufacture their own gas for 
 use in the pipe-manufacturing department. These 
 works are immediately adjoining the Chicago, Bur- 
 lington & Quincy Railroad, from which they have 
 side-tracks, running not. only into their grounds, but 
 into the buildings as well, which greatly facilitates 
 the handling of the heavy goods. 
 
 Twelve engines, aggregating 1,300 horse- power, 
 are required to propel the vast amount of machinery 
 . necessary for their business. Each and every de- 
 partment is supplied with special machinery, gotten 
 up and adapted for some special purpose. In fact, 
 the greater part of their machinery, as weir as their 
 engines, is manufactured by themselves, and is of no 
 use other than for the particular purpose for which it 
 was made. 
 
 With the exception of boiler iron, everything is 
 bought in its crude shape — pig and scrap iron, cop- 
 per and brass. They do their own puddling, rolling- 
 mill work, etc. A ton of iron will start in at the 
 puddling department, and after being manipulated 
 to the proper consistency, is passed to the rolling, 
 mill, where it is converted into strips or bars of the 
 right width and thickness. It is then conveyed to 
 the pipe department, where it is made into pipe of 
 any desired size. " The capacity in this department 
 is forty tons per day. 
 
 The officers of this company are W. E. Haxtun, 
 President ; J. H. Pierce, Secretary ; and E. E. Baker, 
 Treasurer. 
 
 At E. K. Hays' factory there is a large force of 
 men busy at work making a great variety of imple- 
 ments, but their specialty now is a recently patented 
 pump, of which they are turning out great quantities. 
 This institution commenced' manufacturing plows 
 and slioveling boards, and from this branched into 
 nearly every implement the farmer wants, and have 
 always done a large repairing business. 
 
 The Kewanee Wagon Company is another of the 
 valuable and thriving institutions of the town. It 
 manufactures all sorts of road wagons, carriages, 
 buggies, etc., and is a successor to the O'Brien 
 Manufacturing Company, which was organized in 
 January, 1882, with a capital stock of $10,000. The 
 incorporators, John Chisnall, Thomas F. Chisnall, 
 William Howland, C. G. Taylor and August Grief, 
 were all the old employes of the O'Brien Manufac- 
 turing Company, and each one of them fills his place 
 under the new organization, not only as stockholder 
 and officer, but as a mechanic, and in charge of some 
 particular department of the works. 
 
 John Chisnall, the President of the company, is 
 business . manager, book-keeper and head of the 
 wood-working department ; William Howland, Vice- 
 President, conducts the iron work ; C. G. Taylor, 
 Secretary, wood-worker and in charge of the fine 
 buggy and carriage department, while Thonias F. 
 Chisnall, Treasurer, is superintendent of machinery. 
 Each man has his wages paid him weekly, and the 
 residue or net earning goes to the credit of the com- 
 pany. New machinery is being added from time to 
 time, the capacity of the concern is being increased, 
 and the undertaking as a whole is an assured success. 
 (See biographical sketches of John Chisnall, William 
 Howland and C. G. Taylor, this volume.) 
 
 The Kewanee Manufacturing Company is another 
 of the valuable additions to the town. 
 
 These many and large factories, with their tall 
 chimneys filled with eager fires, the din of the great 
 and small hammers pounding and forging the iron 
 into artful shapes, have made Kewanee the Birming- 
 ham of Northern Illinois, and promise it a great and 
 prosperous future. 
 
 CHURCHES. 
 
 Congregational. — The oldest of the thirteen regu^ 
 larly organized Churches at Kewanee is the Congre- 
 
 <5 
 
 V 
 
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 ^gy= — &A4?aMii& ^ ^ g»g- 
 
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 ■6^4«Bfl&^ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
 
 gational, whose organization was effected Aug. 7, 
 1855, in a school-house. During the winter previous 
 meetings were held in the Kewanee House and at a 
 few private residences. Flavel Bascom, D. D., pre- 
 sided at the meeting of organization. Forty-four 
 persons united, many of whom had been members of 
 the same Church at Wethersfkld. The church 
 edifice was completed and dedicated March 1 r, 
 1858, having been built the year previous. It was 
 very much enlarged and beautified in the year 187 1. 
 The Rev. Charles H. Pierce was preaching to the 
 congregation at the time of organization, and re- 
 mained until January, 1858. He was succeeded, as 
 the next Pastor, by Mr. Charles C. Salter, who was 
 ordained and installed April 20, 1859, and was regu- 
 larly dismissed March it, 1861. Rev. James M. 
 Van Wagner was called to the pastorate of the 
 Church in February, 1864, installed June 6. He re- 
 mained until April 6, 1868. Rev. James Tompkins 
 was called June 1, 1872, installed September 10. 
 During the intervals between any of these pastorates 
 the pulpit was filled by supplies. The congregation 
 is now in a good condition. The present Pastor is 
 A. N. Hitchcock. The membership is 300. The 
 Sunday-school has an attendance of 400. 
 
 The Free- Will Baptist Church was organized April 
 29, 1865, in the Protestant Methodist Church, with 
 eleven members. The following is a list of the 
 original membership : Rev. William Bonar, Mrs. 
 Mary Ann Bonar, A. B. Palmer, Mrs. Mary Ann Pal- 
 mer, D. W. Payne, Henry Malone, Mary Malone, 
 S. W. Warner, A. B. Gurney, Caroline E. Gurney 
 and C. H. Gurney — eleven persons. Prior to the 
 organization services were held in the Swedish 
 Methodist Church, and next in the Protestant 
 Methodist — now the Free Methodist Church. They 
 worshiped in this latter place until November, 1865, 
 when they removed to Cutter's Hall, where they re- 
 mained until January, 1866, when they again re- 
 moved, this time to the Christian Church. This 
 building is now a dwelling. Here they met for re- 
 ligious exercises until Jan. 16, 1870, when they wor- 
 shiped a few months again in Cutter's Hall. About 
 May, 1869, they commenced the erection of a church 
 building. It was completed June 1, 1870, when 
 they immediately occupied it. It is a very comfort- 
 able structure, and cost, including the lot, $6,800. 
 
 Among the pastors serving this congregation are : 
 
 Revs. William Bonar, O. D. Patch, J. J. Weage and 
 H. J. Brown. 
 
 The Free Methodist Church was organized in a 
 private residence in Wethersfield about the year 
 1866 or 1867. Meetings had been held for some 
 time previous in the residences of different persons, 
 and in the Swedish Methodist house of worship; 
 also in a store-room in Wethersfield. About the 
 year 1870 they purchased their present church edi- 
 fice of the Protestant Methodists, and have since oc- 
 cupied it. At the organization some five or six 
 persons were admitted as members. They have, at 
 different times, enjoyed good seasons of revival, and 
 now number some 35 members. The first minister 
 was Rev. Jonathan Dick ; next, William Cooley, 
 whose wife occasionally officiated at divine service. 
 He was followed by J. G. Terrell, during whose 
 ministry the church was purchased, at a cost of 
 $1,000. Next, George Coffee, followed by W. W. 
 Kelley; he by John Whiting; he by James Thaxter, 
 then Jarries Kelso took charge. The present Pastor 
 is E. M. Smashy. The Sunday-school numbers 
 about 25 pupils. 
 
 The Presbyterian Church was organized in the 
 Baptist Church by the Rock Island Presbytery, 
 March 26, 1872. A preliminary meeting had been 
 held to invite the Presbytery to this action in the 
 house of S. M. Hurd on February 2 1 previous. At 
 the organization the following persons were received 
 as members : Daniel and Mrs. Eunice Baldwin, 
 William E. and Mrs. Sarah A. Haxtun, R. A. and 
 Mrs. L. Little, Jacob W. and Mrs. Hannah Jones, 
 S. M. and Mrs. Emily Hurd, N. H. and Mrs. Lura 
 Blakely, Effie Blakely, Mrs. C. H. Graves, George 
 H. Lincoln, George Kliner, Mrs. J. Powers, Mrs. P. 
 Wright, Mrs. John Whiffen, Clark Bradish, William 
 
 W. Winter and Mrs. Virginia L. Winter, and 
 
 Shanahan. 
 
 During the summer the church was erected. In- 
 cluding the lot, it cost $5,000. The Rev. N. D. 
 Graves was Pastor of the Church about three years. 
 Rev. Josiah Milligan, of Princeton, preached for 
 them for some time, when Rev. J. D. Howey was 
 called. He occupied the pulpit over one year. The 
 Church has no pastor at present. Thereare now 
 95 members, and a Sunday-school of 100 scholars. 
 
 The Baptist Church. — This congregation was or- 
 ganized at Wethersfield, and on May 9, 1856, it was 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY, 
 
 decided by a vote of its members to remove their 
 place of holding service to Kewanee. There were at 
 that time over 100 members. They worshiped for 
 some time in different halls, and in some -of the other 
 churches. On Dec. 2r, 1865, a building committee 
 was appointed, and steps taken towards the erection 
 of a suitable church edifice. This was completed 
 and occupied July 7, 1867, and cost, including the 
 site, over $8,000. There are now about 235 mem- 
 bers, and a Sunday-school of 115 scholars. The 
 present Pastor is Rev. J. M. Titterington. 
 
 Among those serving as pastors are: Revs. S. P. 
 Ives, H. B. Foskett, J. La Grange, A. D. Freeman, 
 William Storrs, A. Jones, K. W. Benton, Carlos 
 Swift, R. L. Col well and P. P. Shirley. The Church 
 is now in a flourishing condition, and enjoying evident 
 signs of prosperity. 
 
 The Methodist Episcopal Church. — This congrega- 
 tion at first met for some time in a school-house, 
 about one mile east of Kewanee, in a hall over the 
 store of J. D. Schriver, and in private houses. Some T 
 of the members had been connected with the same 
 religious body in Wethersfield, but desirous of build- 
 ing up a Church in Kewanee, came here to worship. 
 They organized a class of 30 persons, Dec. 15, T855, 
 in the school-house referred to ; being then under the 
 pastoral care of Rev. J. O. Gilbert. The principal 
 members were A. Thornton, Wm. King, J. Shipley, 
 Erastus Johnson, W. S. Oliver, William Bowen, W. 
 C. Kent and John Schriver. The corner-stone of 
 their church was laid Oct. 23, 1856. 
 
 This building becoming old and inadequate to the 
 growing demands of the congregation, in the summer 
 of r877 a new one was constructed, which cost $10,- 
 000. The parsonage was purchased in T856. June 
 following the organization of the Church, a Sunday- 
 school was organized. There were 60 pupils in 
 attendance. 
 
 Among the Pastors who have served this Church 
 are: Revs. J. O. Gilbert, John Chandler, E. Ran- 
 som, one year, J. S. Cummings, W. P. Graves, U. 
 J. Giddings, W. J. Beck, Benjamin Applebee* John 
 P. Brooks, M. P. Armstrong, G. W. Arnold, B. C. 
 Dennis, M. Spurlock. The minister in charge at 
 present is Rev. F. H. Gumming. 
 
 St. Johns (Protestant Episcopal) Church. — On 
 Sunday, May 13, 1855, a Protestant Episcopal Sun- 
 day-school was organized in the Kewanee House. 
 
 This was the first religious organization in Ke- 
 wanee, and the school met the following Sunday for 
 the first time at Odd Fellows Hall. There were 20 
 scholars, and R. P. Parish was Superintendent, 
 The first full Episcopal service, with' sermon, was 
 in the summer following, by Rev. Porter, of Jubilee 
 College. In October, Bishop Whitehouse made a 
 visit, and held two services in the unfinished Meth- 
 odist Protestant Church. During the summer and 
 autumn of 1856, Rev. Philander Chase officiated 
 occasionally in the same church. July 13, 1856, the 
 Church was organized. The first Rector was Rev. 
 George E. Peters, who commenced his labors in 
 1857, and remained two years. A church edifice was 
 constructed in 1857, at a cost of about $5,000. The 
 first church-bell of the town was rung from the 
 belfry of St. JoWs. 
 
 The Primitive Methodist. — The organization of 
 this Church was effected in 1865. The principal 
 members then were Joseph Garland, John Bennison, 
 John Bradbury, John Bamford, Moses Jones, William 
 Bennison and J. ,Breckon. They met for a while 
 prior to organization in Cutler's Hall and in the 
 Methodist, Episcopal Church., The church edifice 
 was erected in 1873, at a cost of $2,000. Among 
 those serving as Pastors, are as follows:' Revs. J. 
 Hewitt, Charles Dawson, Thomas Butterwick, Will- 
 iam Jacks, Jr., Charles Dawson. Minister in charge 
 is Rev. T. M. Harris. There are now 90 members 
 and a Sunday-school of 87 scholars. 
 
 St. Paul's Church (German United Evangelical). 
 — About 1866, some of the German people living in 
 this vicinity and professing belief in the doctrines of 
 this religious body, organized a Church. For a short 
 time they met in a school-house, but at once com- 
 menced the erection of a church edifice. Nineteen 
 persons united at the organization— the Pastor being 
 Rev. Hilmer, who remained about one year. Their 
 church cost some $2,500. The majority of the 
 members, now about 75, live in the country. In 
 1875, another church was organized in the coun- 
 try, three miles northeast of Kewanee. It is for the 
 accommodation of those living in that locality. 
 
 The Church of the Latter-Day Saints. — The first 
 meetings were held at Amboy in T859. An organi- 
 zation was effected here of probably 100 members. 
 From this place they were sent out to preach, and in 
 1862 effected the establishment of the Church here. 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY 
 
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 In 1868, they erected their present church edifice, 
 ■locating it neatly one mile north of town. Regular 
 services are maintained here, the membership being 
 about ioo, with an attendance of about 50 in the 
 Sunday-school. They are distinct in their faith and 
 practices from the Utah Mormcns, and have no con- 
 nection whatever with them. 
 
 Swedish Lutheran Church — Wag organized into a 
 regular Church in 1869. Prior to that time they held 
 meetings at private residences, and occasionally in 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1870, they 
 completed their church building, at a cost of $3,000. 
 There were about 50 members, and a flourishing 
 Sunday-school has been kept up from the first organ- 
 ization. The first minister in charge was Rev. 
 Lendholm, followed by Rev. N. Neurgren; then the 
 Rev. John Wingstrom. 
 
 The Swedish Methodist Church was organized at 
 an early day. It was and is quite small and has not 
 been able to sustain a local minister or build a house 
 of worship. 
 
 St. Mary's (Catholic) Church, Father Lyons now 
 in charge, first met at the house of Matthew Joyce, 
 in 1854. There were 35 heads of families belonging 
 to the Church, among them being Lawrence Hunt, 
 Patrick Cavanaugh, Matthew Joyce, James Hunt 
 (deceased), James Gallagher, Thomas Caton, Ed- 
 ward Hunt (deceased). In 1855, a small church 
 was erected, — since much enlarged and remodeled. 
 The first priest in charge was Father Lynch, then 
 O'Gara, Powers, Dulhuntz, Duggan, Hannigan, Kil- 
 kerney, J. M. Ryan and John Ryan. It now has the 
 largest membership in the town. 
 
 SCHOOLS. 
 
 The first school in Kewanee was in a small frame 
 building, built by George A. Morse and donated by 
 him to educational purposes. It stood just north of 
 the railroad track on Main Street. School was con- 
 ducted here for nearly two years, when the structure 
 was moved into the town proper, on the lot now the 
 East School, and here used until it was moved again 
 to make room for a better building. This little build- 
 ing was soon wholly inadequate to the town's growth, 
 and the trustees rented rooms over Schriver's store 
 and also of Austin Sykes. These were occupied un- 
 til 1858. To this time these two commodious rooms 
 it seems were room enough, and the old pioneer 
 
 school-room, mentioned above, was sold, and be- 
 came the printing-office of the Henry County Dial; 
 it lived through the rough experience of the printer 
 and his " devil," and again was transferred and be- 
 came the Christian Church, and after faithful service 
 here was again changed and became a private resi- 
 dence. Its varied experience and migrations remind 
 one of "Japhat in search of a father." In 1861; the 
 East School-room becoming wholly inadequate, steps 
 were taken for the enlargement of the building, and 
 the erection of two others. In 1866 the East build- 
 ing was enlarged to double its former capacity, and 
 the two brick structures, known as the North and 
 West Schools, were determined upon. They were 
 built in 1867, and first occupied in January, 1868, 
 each containing two rooms. The schools were thor- 
 oughly re -graded in 1866 by Superintendent S. M. 
 Etter, afterwards State Superintendent of Public 
 Schools. Mr. Etter was Principal of the. Kewanee 
 school three years, and laid well the foundations of 
 the excellent graded schools that have marked the 
 history of the place. He was followed by Mr. W. 
 H. Russell, who was, with short intervals, for about 
 1 1 years in charge of the schools. From Kewanee 
 Mr. Russell went to Chicago, and was for some years 
 in charge of the High School at the Slock Yards. He 
 was succeeded by the present Superintendent, Mr. 
 E. C. Rosseter, who is also County Superintendent 
 of Schools. 
 
 The brick buildings were erected at acost of about 
 $6,000. 
 
 The High School was established in 1856. It 
 grew out of a general desire for a. higher grade of 
 education than the village school of those days could 
 give. Kewanee and Wethersfield joined hands in 
 this commendable movement. At first each village 
 struggled to have the school located within its limits. 
 The matter was finally settled by locating it on or 
 near the dividing line between the two towns. James 
 Elliott donated two-and-one-half acres of ground for 
 the location, and here the building was erected. For 
 some time only the upper story was completed for 
 school purposes, the lower one being used, for lec- 
 tures, lyceums and a public hall. Here lectured 
 Horace Greeley and John B. Gough, among many 
 others of more or less note. Rev. Waldo was secured 
 as the first Principal of the school, assisted by Miss 
 Atwood. The first furnishing was somewhat prim- 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 itive and rough. Tough pine desks and benches, run- 
 ning half across the room, with three aisles thus 
 formed, is the picture of the school-room as remem- 
 bered by those who first attended the school. Of 
 those who were school-girls at this opening of the 
 High School we learn, among others, are the follow- 
 ing: Laura Pratt (Mrs. Northrop), Lillie Burns (Mrs. 
 Raymond), Nellie Little (Mrs. Geo. Perkins), Libbie 
 Cuttia, Helen and Lucy Lyle, Fanny Lay, Ella 
 Way, Addie Cheany, Lottie Talcott (Mrs. T. P. 
 Pierce). 
 
 At that time there were no side-walks by which 
 the children could reach the school, and at times the 
 way was practically impassable. A large wagon was 
 often used to haul the children to and from the 
 school-house. 
 
 Mr. Waldo, at the end of his second school-year, 
 resigned, and was succeeded by Mr. Blodgett, who 
 was assisted by Miss Stocking. He determined on 
 having better furniture, and got up an- exhibition, 
 and thus raised a fund and re-furnishe'd the room. 
 Mr. McPheran then was in charge, and he was suc- 
 ceeded by Mr. Bradford, and he by Mr. Tabor,- who 
 made the first attempt to grade the school. He 
 made the novel and daring experiment of arranging 
 a course of study and had it printed. Mr. Becking- 
 ton next succeeded, and he was followed by S. M. 
 Etter, and he by Russell, and he by the present Mr. 
 E. C. Rosseter. During Mr. Etter's term he ar- 
 ranged an exhibition, and raised $83 to found a li- 
 brary. It was a small beginning, but it was bravely 
 invested as a start toward a library, until now, 
 through the efforts of friends, the town and the suc- 
 cessors of Mr. Etter, a fine library is a part of the 
 High School. In Sept., 1870, the town of Kewanee 
 purchased the interest of Wethersfield in the school, 
 and has since had entire control. It was mentioned 
 above that Mr. Russell was absent at certain inter- 
 vals. He served about two years as principal of the 
 schools at Moline, and during this time Mr. Gray 
 was principal one year, and Mr. Carver for a term. 
 
 There are now six school buildings in the town, 
 and it has arranged to construct another^next year. 
 The High School has five rooms and five teachers : 
 Prof. E. C. Rosseter, J. Williams, Principal of the 
 High School ; Anna A. Schriver, Assistant ; Mrs. 
 M. H. Keyes, Grammar; Miss Maggie G. Blish, In- 
 termediate. East SchQol ; T.here are tfiree buildings 
 
 on these grounds, These are to be replaced by one 
 large new building, and the High School also is to 
 be taken down and an elegant, large and commo- 
 dious building to take its place next year. In the 
 East School the teachers are Miss Jennie Chase, 
 grammar ; Miss A. A. Johnson and Miss Anna Scott, 
 intermediate; Miss H. Villa Card and Miss Franc- 
 Otis, second department ; Miss -Escher Loomis and 
 Miss Jennie Halline, primary. The West School is 
 a brick building of two rooms. The teachers are 
 Miss Ida Palmer, secondary ; Miss Hattie Maul, 
 primary. The North School : Miss Anna Eack, sec- 
 ondary; Miss Franc Porter,- primary. The enroll- 
 ment is 800 ; the average attendance, 710. School 
 is taught nine months. Total school expenses, 
 $9,000; of this sum $6,800 is paid teachers; $800 to 
 janitors, and 'the remainder miscellaneous. Mr. 
 Rosseter has been seven years with the Kewanee 
 school; Miss Johnson has taught thirteen "years, 
 Miss Halline, eight years, and Miss Loomis nine 
 years. ' 
 
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 LYNN TOWNSHIP. 
 
 SSAWlK* 
 
 LVIN and Abner Arrasmith ' were the first 
 
 >. to find this part of Henry County and make 
 
 themselves a home. They came from the 
 
 " Wabash Country," in Southern Illinois, in 
 1834, and halted in Warren County, just west 
 of the Henry County line, in Richland Grove, 
 which is divided by the county line. They reached 
 their new home Sept. 1, 1834, having traveled many 
 weary miles of the latter part of their journey without 
 any trail or track of any kind. They came to the 
 grove and were almost compelled to stop, as it was 
 storming and raining furiously. The first day they 
 built their house, of rails, and clapboards, and at 
 early candle-light moved in. There were three per- 
 sons in each family, and in this quickly-made pen 
 they were safe to some extent from the pelting rain. 
 Their fire was a log-heap near the front door, or 
 rather the opening where some day a door might 
 have been placed. They were busy at work the next 
 day, and so continued, chopping; grubbing and pre- 
 paring the ground for early crops the next season, 
 and making hay and stacking it for their, kine. Fifty 
 pounds pf flour to each family was the gujn total gf 
 
 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
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 provisions for bread they brought with them. Their 
 neighbors were at the distance of 13 miles to the 
 south, 15 north, 32 west and 35 miles east. In Rock 
 Island there was only the fort. It can readily be 
 imagined how sparingly they used their flour, as it 
 had to last them until a crop could be raised, the next 
 year. They used mostly corn meal, which was made 
 by pounding in a stump mortar, until a mill was 
 built the next season, in Henderson's Grove, 15 
 miles away. 
 
 This was the way the Arrasmiths commenced 
 keeping house in the desolate new country. It was 
 the true pioneer fashion, and these people were real 
 pioneers — brim full of pluck, industry and economy. 
 Soon their rail house was a house of entertainment ; 
 they had made a track — had blazed the way into the 
 unknown land and the wilderness — and others see- 
 ing soon followed. These wandering nornads, it 
 seemed, when they had passed the bounds of white 
 settlements, generally followed wherever they could 
 see that wagon-tracks had preceded them. In this 
 way travelers in search of lands found their way to 
 the Arrasmiths' hostelry, and were entertained, cared 
 for, and often and- often paid their reckonings by 
 telling these people the news from the civilized 
 world. The Arrasmiths made the first road or trail 
 from Richland Grove and vicinity to Rock Island. 
 In the summer of 1836, 14 families had clustered 
 around Richland Grove. J. W. Arrasmith was the 
 first birth at the grove, born in 1835. Alvin says he 
 had 25 cents in money when he landed at his new 
 home, as there was nobody to sell to him and noth- 
 ing to buy, it was too much money for one man to 
 possess. He eventually discovered that it was a 
 great mistake to bring so much solid cash with him, 
 and he never did fully subscribe to Greeley's advice 
 to all applicants for charity, "Take a half-dollar and 
 go West, young man." The families had to do 
 nearly entirely without groceries the first year. As 
 a substitute for coffee, Alvin says, he often dug the 
 red-root in the hard frozen ground. This decoction 
 had something of the taste of chocolate. 
 
 In April, 1836, Alvin Jones sold his claim and 
 moved a few rods east, and this brought him into 
 Henry County. This was in April. His new hotel, 
 log, 14 by 16, was, like his first place, a resort for 
 travelers. 
 
 This was the first settlement in Lynn Township — 
 
 or, in other words, a settlement on township 15, 
 range 1. Henry Peckenham was the next to follow 
 Arrasmith into the county. Charles Norman came 
 in June, Eben Townsend in July, Caleb Townsend 
 in a few weeks after, and the next spring came Will- 
 iam Smith. 
 
 Arrasmith planted some apple seed the first sea- 
 son. In six years afterwards one of his trees had 
 56 apples. This was an important event in the 
 county's history. It was the first crop of apples ever 
 gathered in Henry County. 
 
 Caleb Pillsbury put up the first frame house in 
 this neighborhood, and, like the great apple-gathering 
 this too was an event. The first school-house was 
 not built until 1 85 1 . Mr. Jenks built a mill on Ed- 
 wards River in 1846. This property passed into 
 Guy Dailey's hands. In its earliest days it was a 
 great institution, and deeply appreciated by the good 
 people of the country for many miles in every direc- 
 tion. People of this age can have no appreciation of 
 the old-time value of the first rude horse or water mills 
 to crack the corn and send the unbolted coarse meal 
 to the hungry families far and wide. In 1847 portions 
 of the Andover Swede Colony settled in what after- 
 wards became Lynn Township, and to this day there 
 are many of the leading men in the township who 
 came here in 1846-7 as portions of the Andover 
 Colony. 
 
 George Henry Johnson came in 1849. George 
 B. Pillsbury came in 1836. He married Elizabeth 
 J. Greely, of New Hampshire, in 1846. He became 
 one of the wealthiest farmers in the county. He 
 held at one time and another nearly every official 
 position in the township. John and C. J. Samuel- 
 son came in 1849. Joab Tracy came in 1851. 
 
 Lynn Center. 
 
 HE principal trading point in the township 
 
 is Lynn Center, where G. Bengston started 
 
 a general store, and afterwards another was 
 
 opened by N. Newman. A wagon and harness 
 
 shop was opened and a hardware store. It is 
 
 now a station on the Rockford, Rock Island & 
 
 St. Louis Railroad, has a postofnce, and for simply a 
 
 way station has been noted as quite a business 
 
 point. 
 
 Four miles below this place is Opheim, 
 
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 HENR Y 'COUNTY. 
 
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 Opheim. 
 
 HIS place never had quite ioo people in it, 
 yet the rich country around it has fur- 
 nished considerable business and trade for 
 the railroad. One store, a grain elevator and 
 lumber yard comprise the business interests. 
 The Swedish Methodists have a Church so- 
 : ciety here, and at stated times preaching. The 
 I Lutherans have a Church organization here. It is a 
 ' branch of the Andover Swedona Church, from which 
 oint preachers hold services at stated times. 
 
 Opheim was first called Edwardsville, but when it 
 was given a postoffice the name had to be changed, 
 as there was already another postoffice of that name 
 in the State. 
 
 LORAINE TOWNSHIP. 
 
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 ORAINE Township is a case of an attempt 
 to give the place a French name, and a 
 failure to spell it properly. Hence the 
 •qg word is corrupted, and is neither English, 
 f.*j French nor Choctaw. This style of naming 
 townships has prevailed in nearly every county 
 in the- State. The Commissioners who selected the 
 names it seems generally went at it with a~hop-skip- 
 and-a-jump. Sometimes there was appropriateness, 
 and often there was neither rhyme nor reason in the 
 name chosen. If the counties of the State had taken 
 
 » advantage of the opportunity and named the town^ 
 ' - ships in honor of the first pioneers, when every name 
 
 V would have been an appropriate chapter heading in 
 ths county's history — a heading carrying a meaning 
 and history of deep interest for posterity, there would 
 have been some apparent comprehension of the fit- 
 ness of things in such official action. B«t this cor- 
 ruption of names after foreign places, or the much 
 worse corruption in Indian names, often afflicting 
 otherwise beautiful localities with some unreadable, 
 f unpronounceable name, has been much too freely in- 
 '; dulged in all over the country. And everywhere 
 % the stranger passing over the land encounters names 
 ) that he does not attempt to pronounce lest he be 
 .■ laughed at, and when tripped off the tongue by some 
 
 |\§j5«sat- ^€^ — -e^uii 
 
 one who has learned by long application to give it 
 the conventional sounds, it is without beauty and 
 wholly meaningless. All translations from our lan- 
 guage to another are simply corruptions — disfiguring 
 the original, and deforming the translation. It is 
 probably too late now to do much toward correcting 
 this blunder, and posterity must endure the infliction 
 as best it may. 
 
 The first settler in Loraine Township was Corne- 
 lius H. Kemmis who came in the early summer of 
 T836. He was a typical pioneer of the times, a 
 blunt, plain, honest and good citizen ; industrious 
 and frugal, he soon was the contented possessor of 
 a good farm and all the substantiate of life. He 
 reared his family in habits of industry and sobriety. 
 He died about 1876, on the place that he had im- 
 proved, greatly respected by a wide- circle of friends. 
 He was the father of a large family of children. 
 His widow is now living on the place where he died, 
 with her son Frank. There is a married daughter 
 who some years ago went West. 
 
 The next in the order of coming was William T. 
 Crozier, another good man and true. He died but a 
 short time ago — the spring of 1 885 . He left quite a 
 large family of children. 
 
 About the same time, possibly a little before Cro- 
 zier, came David. Heller. He died in 1879, leaving 
 a widow, who now is temporarily residing with a 
 daughter in Sterling, 111. Mr. Heller was a man 
 greatly respected by all who knew him. He was a 
 very successful farmer, and an upright and ^worthy 
 citizen. 
 
 Then came Rudolph Urich, who is. still among his 
 old and many new friends, still watching with inter- 
 est that wonderful tide of growth and improvements 
 that have come about him since first he came here 
 and selected his home. He has been a useful and 
 good citizen, against whom no breath of evil has 
 ever been breathed. 
 
 Then came Asa Blair, who died some years ago. 
 He was a thrifty pioneer and a most excellent farmer. 
 Three of his sons are living, two of whom reside on 
 the old farm. 
 
 The next was the very numerous and important 
 family of Arnetts. Phillip Arnett, the father, brought 
 with him seven lusty boys , and . a daughter. This 
 single family far exceeded in the number and value 
 of its addition to the new settlements, some of the 
 pretentious colonies that had been organized in the 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 809 
 
 old States to populate the northwest territory. 
 When the family came they were very poor, but their 
 no-tire activity and shrewdness soon made amends 
 for all this. And now the boys are all men in the 
 prime of life, and more than the average financial 
 success attends them. They are in the order of their 
 ages: Jacob, William, George, Joseph, John, An- 
 thony and Samuel. 
 
 Philip Sand is now one of the leading farmers in this 
 part of the county. His farm improvements, and espe- 
 cially his elegant residence, is the best in the township. 
 He is an old settler among old settlers. Has a large 
 family of boys. No single individual was a more 
 valuable acquisition to the county than was 
 Mr. Sand. An estimable man in many respects, 
 and reared a family universally respected. 
 
 Another early comer was Joseph Rink, who has now 
 lived for more than forty years on the spot where he 
 commenced his improvement. He is a plain, old-fash- 
 ioned, honest farmer, making no pretensions, but has 
 made a good farm. 
 
 Then there is Martin Roos, with his large 
 and very much respected family, who have toiled 
 together, and in their modest way, and have come 
 to be among the best people in the township. 
 
 The first school-house was built on Mr. Heller's 
 land, and for several years this was the church 
 and the general meeting place on all public 
 occasions. It was a modest, puncheon-floor log 
 cabin, but fully served its intended purposes long and 
 well. 
 
 MUNSON TOWNSHIP. 
 
 1% 
 
 HIS is the center township of the county, 
 and very appropriately is she crowned 
 ^ queen in beauty of landscape, deep, rich 
 soil, splendid farms, and general agricultural 
 wealth. When all are so good it might seem 
 invidious to say any special one was the best ; 
 possibly there can be no best among them, only in 
 certain lines, and in this view of the case, certainly 
 this township stands second to none. There is no 
 town in it, yet on the assessor's books, but more es- 
 pecially to the traveler's eye in passing over this 
 great, rich garden and viewing for the first time its 
 broad, rich acres, well trimmed and better tilled 
 farms, commodious and elegant farm houses and 
 
 comfortable out-buildings for the fat cattle, and sleek 
 
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 ■3«Hg y Q/^ IM 
 
 horses, and great barns, bursting with hay and grain, 
 it presents an enchanting view of comfort, plenty, 
 ease and content, that is one of the pleasant and 
 wholesome sights in the wrangling, struggling world. 
 
 It was appropriately named after Merritt Munson, 
 one of the county's prominent and most enterprising 
 citizens, — an honor upon a worthy citizen of the 
 county worthily bestowed. During the latter part of 
 Mr. Munson's life he lived in Geneseo, and there, as 
 we'll as in Munson Township, his memory will be 
 kept green as long as history or tradition may recount 
 the growth and glory of Henry County. 
 
 No railroad touches its boundries, but it finds easy 
 market and shipping at Geneseo and Cambridge. It 
 is well drained by Spring Creek, which rises in several 
 branches in the southwest corner, and passes out 
 at the northeast corner. It has no waste land 
 and in a few years every quarter-section will be 
 tile drained. There are seven commodious school- 
 houses for the education of the young, and the pious 
 and godly find convenient and comfortable places of 
 worship in any part of the township. Here is loca- 
 ted the County Farm, where the county's unfortun- 
 ate find a welcome refuge, and a warm retreat from 
 the bitter storms of a cold, and certainly to them a 
 cheerless, world. A full account of this institution 
 may be found in another chapter. 
 
 Many of the first settlers here moved to the line 
 of the railroads when they began to build through the 
 county. The majority of these going to Geneseo, of 
 those who were content to remain, we note Elisha 
 Atwater, who came in 1840 and improved section 19. 
 He was a native of New Haven, Conn.; born Dec. 
 18, 1810. His farm contained 208 acres. He was 
 in the service during the late war ; 2d Lieut. Co. 
 H, 1 1 2th Reg. He was married to Miss Margaret 
 Wright, at Harrisburg, Pa., May 18, 1838, where she 
 was born, Feb. 28, 182 r. They had rr children.' 
 
 OSCO TOWNSHIP. 
 
 HE first symptons of the tremendous finan- 
 cial revulsion of 1837 were beginning to be 
 felt in the city of New York as early as 
 1835. There was a crop failure, and price s 
 began to climb toward high and impossible 
 figures for many of the poor in the cities. 
 Shrewd business men began to dimly forecast the se- 
 
 
 
£(3§ff— 
 
 810 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 -a^g- 
 
 rious outlook, and there were not a few who promptly 
 began to furl their sails before the coming storm. 
 Every movement- of this kind touched to the quick 
 the sensitive nerves of the laboring people, and early 
 in the spring of 1836 the cry of "Bread! Bread!! " 
 rang out upon the streets of New York, and the mob 
 gathered in front of the flour store of Eli Hart & Co., 
 and gutted.the building from cellar to roof, because, 
 as the hungry people said, they had bought up the 
 flour of the country and were putting up the price to 
 $ic and $12 a barrel, out of the possible reach and 
 means of the poor. Fortunes began to topple, and 
 many men, who' a short time before had supposed 
 they were on the top wave of financial prosperity, 
 suddenly saw but little else before them than pinch- 
 ing poverty." 
 
 It was largely the class of men who turned their 
 eyes Westward, and gave to Northern Illinois that 
 stream of immigration that marked so strangely the 
 settlement of this portion of the State. They were 
 intelligent, educated in the avenues of business, en- 
 ergetic, hopeful and determined upon the full realiza- 
 tion of that sublime watch-word that has peopled this 
 continent—" Homes for the homeless, land for all." 
 This was the grand idea in American civilization. It 
 bore rich fruits, especially in the Mississippi Valley 
 — that garden and granary of the world,. 
 
 In the winter of 1835 a notice was published in the 
 New york papers calling " a meeting of all persons 
 interested " at Congress Hall, to organize a colony 
 of those interested or desirous to emigrate to Illinois. 
 So few people responded to this first call that a 
 second notice was published, and at this meeting an 
 organization called the "New York Colony" was 
 formed, and between 40 and 50 members, were en- 
 rolled. 
 
 Charles Oakley, at one time Fund Commissioner 
 of Illinois, was the prime leader in this movement. 
 He had previously traveled West and had examined 
 the Prairie State, and gave glowing descriptions of 
 all that he had seen in this portion of Illinois. The 
 members signed an agreement, and Charles Oakley 
 and C. C. Wilcox were made Trustees and author- 
 ized to go to Illinois and locate for the Colony about 
 a township of land, the general idea being to locate 
 some where near the Illinois River. Oakley had in 
 his mind when he started on his Western mission a 
 point now in Bureau County, but when he reached 
 
 this place he found it already taken up by the Provi- 
 dence Colony, and he pushed on West ; and to this 
 fact the welfare of Henry County is indebted to .the 
 Colony coming here, and the selection of the land in 
 townships r6 and 17 north, ranges 1 and 2 east, cov- 
 ering at the time about 30 sections. 
 
 It would be very interesting to posterity could we 
 procure and print a copy of the original agreement 
 of the Colonists, but this remarkable document seems 
 to be hopelessly lost. Substantially, the terms were : 
 Each individual in the Colony bound himself to 
 erect within two years a building to. cost abcut $200 
 on his tract of land. In case he failed to do so, then 
 the land reverted to the Colony, with this unfortu- 
 nate condition, — the Colony thus taking reverted 
 lands was to pay therefor at the rate of $3 per acre, 
 this tempting offer of 100 per cent, was enough to 
 make a great many neglect to build and let their 
 lands be forfeited. This and the fearful panic of 
 1837 overloaded the Colony, and it was wholly una- 
 ble to comply with its agreements or pay anything 
 for the forfeited lands, and hence the entire sales 
 thus soon were made void and worthless. 
 
 Oakley and Wilcox were to receive for their ser- 
 vices 25 cents an acre for locating and superintending 
 the business; this was also to pay for the surveys and 
 platting a town near the center of the Colony's land. 
 The lands and town-lots were to be put up at auc- 
 tion, where members could bid for preference in se- 
 lections. Eight lots went with each quarter-section 
 of land. This distribution took place in the fall of 
 1836 (the lands were entered in June of that year). 
 Between $7,000 and $8,000 were paid at the sale for 
 preferences, some of the first choice quarter-sections 
 ^selling as high as $400. This preference money was 
 a fund. for the benefit of the Colony, as follows : 
 
 First. To have a Colony house built for the mem- 
 bers to" live in until they could provide their own 
 homes. This house cost $3,000. 
 
 Second. To build a mill, school-house, or others 
 wise appropriated as the Colonists might determine. 
 
 Only a few of the Colonists came in the summer 
 of 1836. Charles Oakley and C. C. Wilcox jlid not 
 remain long. Wilcox finally settled in Chicago and 
 Oakley died some years ago. Arba Seymour sur- 
 veyed the land. A log house was put up in Morris- 
 town ; afterwards a Colony house was erected by R. 
 R. Stewart, of Geneseo. It was a large two-story 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 building and was well finished, at the time the most 
 pretentious building in the county. By mistake the 
 building was on a lot belonging to Oakley, and by 
 this error Oakley laid claim to the building, which he 
 sold to Joel Wells. A mill was built on Green River. 
 Joshua Harper, N. W. Washburne, Luke C. Shel- 
 don, Charles W. Davenport and a Mr. Tompkins 
 were the total of the Colonists who were here and in 
 possession in the fall of 1836. In 1837 John Apple- 
 ton and Charles W. Davenpoit, Sr., ond their fami- 
 lies came, and with them the venerable Thomas 
 Fitch, the father of Mrs. Davenport. He died at 
 Morristown in a short time after, aged 80 years. For 
 the next 14 years after the settlement of this Colony 
 the families above named and a few others — in all 
 10 or 12 families — were all there were in the New 
 York Colony or in this part of the county. These were 
 widely scattered over Morristown Prairie ; and these 
 pioneers worked their way in the wilderness, patient- 
 ly await4ng the oncoming tide that the next wave of 
 immigration would bring to them. Nothing really 
 came until 1852, when 'commenced the memorable 
 rush of people to this portion of the county. 
 
 Osco is almost exclusively a prairie township, less 
 than one per cent, of its surface being originally 
 covered with timber. Its surface is beautifully un- 
 dulating, with just sufficient declination to make 
 perfect drainage, and with no level, wet or marshy 
 areas to mar its beauty or excellence. The soil is a 
 rich, black alluvium, of marvelous fertility, and vary- 
 ing from i8[]inches to two feet in depth. In the 
 early days of its settlement it was noted for the 
 luxuriance of the grass and other vegetation that 
 grew upon its broad prairies. 
 
 The first settlement within the limits of the town 
 was made by Israel Crocker, who located on the 
 north half of section 3, at a place which was known 
 in' those days as Crocker's Grove. Here, according 
 to the traditions' of the early settlers, the elder 
 Crocker located in the year 1838, built a house of 
 considerable size and enclosed with a sod fence about 
 160 acres of land, and imported and placed on his 
 farm a large flock of sheep, out of which he intended 
 to amass a fortune. Ill success attended the venture, 
 and after eight or ten years' struggling with bad luck 
 with his sheep and poor health in his family, he 
 finally succumbed to adverse circumstances and sold 
 out to Ben Graham, who continued the business so 
 
 inauspiciously begun by Mr. Crocker, with about the 
 same results. 
 
 After the settlement of Mr. Crocker, in 1838, no 
 further attempt was made until the year 185 1, a 
 lapse of 13 years. In May of that year, Albert Wel- 
 ton moved upon the Crocker Grove farm, which had 
 been purchased by F. P. Brown; in June, Willis 
 Hinman "settled in the south part of the township, 
 and was soon followed by S. C. Welton and Benja- 
 min Manning, Philip Emmert and John Weidlein. 
 The next year came Francis Gerard and Hiram 
 Woodward, and in a short time A. A. and E. M. 
 Crane, Jared H. Smith and Lester C. Welton. 
 
 The first school district was formed May 24, 1852. 
 The meeting was at the house of Willis Hinman. 
 The first school-house was built in 1853, on the 
 northeast quarter of section 26. This was long 
 known as the Hinman School-house. 
 
 In 1854 the district was divided, and the north 
 half became District No. 2. Two school-houses 
 were built in this District, — one in the northeast 
 corner, and known as the Van Order school-house, 
 and one at Morristown, in the northwest corner. 
 
 In 1359, the town was divided into nine districts, 
 each two miles square. 
 
 The first Board of School Trustees was elected in 
 1852, and consisted of Willis Hinman, Samuel Ham- 
 ilton and S. C. Welton. 
 
 The school section was sold in 1857, and $13,958 
 was realized from the sales. 
 
 -0-3- 
 
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 * 
 A 
 
 
 Morristown. 
 
 1 LSEWHERE in the Album this place is 
 Me fully spoken of. In 1852 Henry Selby 
 built a store in the place. It soon became 
 the chief trading and business place for the 
 thriving farming country around it. At one 
 time it had a postofifice, two stores, a church, a 
 
 school-house, harness, blacksmith and other shops. 
 
 The building of the railroad and the location of a 
 
 town and depot at Osco, soon took away about all 
 
 there was of the place. 
 
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 HENRY COUNT,Y. 
 
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 ~0So- 
 
 Oseo. 
 
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 jf SCO was laid out by the County Surveyor, 
 Patterson Holmes, in December, 1870, in 
 the southeast part of the northeast quarter 
 of section 29. The land belonged to Orion 
 Page. It contained only 1 1 blocks. The first 
 house was built by G. P. Woodworth and 
 Samuel Smith, in July, 1871, a store and residence. 
 Mr. Woodworth soon became the sole owner. 
 
 The next house was built by D. L. Purviance, for 
 a grocery store and postoffice. He was the first 
 Postmaster, is there yet, and is a Democrat that will 
 probably stay where he has been so long, at least 
 until after another Presidential election. 
 
 There are two grain dealers, two elevators, two 
 general store and Purviance's grocery store, a black- 
 smith- shop, and a very good school, taught by Miss 
 Anna Carson. 
 
 The Methodist Episcopal church building, that has 
 been a long time at Osco Center (the center of the 
 township), has just been 'moved to Osco. The 
 preacher is Rev. M. Bliss. 
 
 Morristown Colony. 
 
 N the winter of 1835-6, in New York city, a 
 few citizens met in Congress Hall, corner of 
 Bowery and Hester Street, and organized 
 the " New York Colony." At this meeting 
 some 60 families were represented, who became 
 members, and appointed Colonel CHarles Oak- 
 ley — who afterward was Fund Commissioner of the 
 State of Illinois — and Charles C. Wilcox, " Trustees 
 for the Colonists, with authority to proceed to Illinois, 
 and locate lands for the Colony." The intention was 
 to locate the lands in Tazewell County ; but the land 
 they had in view had already been taken up by the 
 " Tremont Colony." On learning this the Trustees 
 went on to Bureau County, and from thence to 
 Henry County and located in what is now Osco, 
 Western, Edford and Colon a Townships, nearly 20,- 
 000 acres of land. In honor of Col. Morris, of New 
 
 named 
 
 Jersey, one of the members, it was 
 " Morristown Colony." 
 
 This was in June, 1836; and iri the fall of that 
 year Joshua Harper and Charles W. Davenport, Jr. 
 (the latter a lad of 18 years), came to Henry County ; 
 and boarded with Mrs. George Tyler, at Cleveland, 
 on Rock River. 
 
 The lands had all been entered in the name of 
 Oakley & Wilcox as " Trustees " for the Colony ; and 
 in the fall of that year they were sold at auction, and 
 the choice of the land sold to-the highest bidder, 
 who by themselves or agents selected their lands. 
 Some $7,000 was realized from the preference mon- 
 ey. This fund, by the terms of organization, was set 
 apart, 1st, to build a colony house, to accommo'date 
 settlers until they could build for themselves ; 2d, tb 
 build a saw-mill somewhere on Green River, and 
 also a school-house. Col. Oakley had charge of this 
 fund. 
 
 A town was laid out on a part of sections 24 and 
 25, 17 and 18, and, by the terms of the organization, 
 8 town lots were given with each quarter-section of 
 land. R. R. Stewart, in ^38, contracted for build- 
 ing the colony house, and with the help of George - 
 Brandenburg, a ,year or two later, the house was 
 finished — a fine, large building uf two stories ; but it 
 was never used by the Colonists, for reasons here- 
 after given. A saw-mill was erected on Green 
 River by Col. Oakley, but on land the title of which 
 was in his own name. By an unfortunate clause in 
 the articles of organization, the Colonists bound 
 themselves to settle and build a home on these lands 
 within two years, costing $200. If they neglected so 
 to do, then their land should revert to the Colonists ; 
 but with this condition : That the Colonists had the 
 privilege of paying $3 per acre, or double the cost of 
 the land. The result was, that most of the Colonists, 
 being city folks, concluded that the investment was 
 good enough without settlement ; but at the end of 
 two years there was no responsible party here to 
 take these lands, and some of the owners, after pay- 
 ing taxes many years, sold them from 50 cents to $1 
 per acre. 
 
 The consequence was that out of some 60 fami- 
 lies only a half dozen or so came to stay. Joshua 
 Harper came on with Oakley and Wilcox, and was 
 here when the lands were distributed, and was agent 
 for many of his friends in New York, to bid in those 
 
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 ^€^ — @^nn@HH&A^- 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 813 
 
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 lands. This man, as one of the oldest and most 
 respected citizens, demands more than a passing no- 
 tice. 
 
 Joshua Harper was born in Fairfax- Co., Va., 
 April 24, 1796, and died in Geneseo Feb. 23, 1882, 
 aged 85 years. He served in the county in sev- 
 eral offices of, public trust, as follows : In 1837 he 
 was elected Recorder, the first duly elected in the 
 county, and his early records are marvels of neatness 
 and accuracy ; he was afterward County Judge of 
 Probate, and was elected twice Representative and 
 Senator in our State Legislature, and was also a 
 member of the State Constitutional Convention of 
 1848. He was a splendid man physically — tall, six 
 feet high, straight as an arrow, and though afflicted 
 with a slight tremor from a paralytic affection, digni- 
 fied and easy in his manners. One who has known 
 him for fifty years writes of him as follows : " Joshua 
 Harper was a fine representative of that now almost 
 extinct class, the ' first families of Virginia.' I never 
 knew so perfect a gentleman." We doubt if the man 
 can be found who ever heard him use an improper 
 word. Strictly and scrupulously honest in all his 
 dealings, just and kind to all his employees, humane 
 and tender to man and beast. Another says : " I 
 well recollect, when stopping temporarily with him, 
 on his farm at Morristown, that he always insisted 
 that his hired hands should not work in the rain, no 
 matter what was on hand. He said it ' never paid' 
 to let a man or horse be uncomfortable, and never 
 did farmer in Henry County have sleeker horses, 
 fatter cattle, or more happy and contented laborers 
 than this noble-hearted gentleman on his prairie 
 farm at Morristown. He was genial, pleasant and 
 jovial, delighted in a good story, and could tell one 
 with infinite zest — indeed an Israelite, in whom there 
 was no guile." We ne'er shall look upon his like 
 again. 
 
 But to return to our colony. The boy, C. W. 
 Davenport, went to work in the winter of 1836-7, 
 and, with the help of Jerome and Frank Brittain, got 
 out timber on Rock River, and in the spring put up 
 a double log house, the first house erected " out on 
 the prairie,"— a large, substantial, well built house, 
 16 x 44 feet, with three rooms, and probably at that 
 time the best and most comfortable house in that 
 section of the county. This was on sec. 31,17 north, 
 range i, now owned and occupied by William Smith. 
 
 In June, 1837, Charles W. Davenport, Sr., moved 
 out from New York city with the rest of his family 
 and his wife's father, the venerable Thomas Fitch, 
 who died in 1842, at the age of 80 years. 
 
 C. W. Davenport, Sr.,died in 1841. C. W. Daven- 
 port, Jr., now resides in Stonewall, Col. 
 
 Joshua Harper also erected his log house on his 
 farm on section 24, adjoining Morristown. Nathan 
 W. Washburne came out the same year, 1836, and 
 located on section 29, township 17, range 1. Nathan 
 was a famous hunter, and one of the drollest speci- 
 mens of a live " Connecticut Yankee " that ever came 
 West, and there was always " music " when he was 
 around. His daughter Mary was married to Alonzo 
 Ayers, son of William Ayres, of Andover, now resid- 
 ing in Nebraska. Abisha Washburne, brother of 
 N. W., came later. 
 
 Noah and Elijah Tompkins came the same year 
 and located on section 33, but soon became dissatis- 
 fied and sold out and returned East. Luke C. Shel- 
 don came and settled on section 30 the same year. 
 John Appleton came in 1837 and built on his 80 
 acres on section 32, and in 1838 sold out to Captain 
 Joseph B. Brush; and in 1839 James G. Bolmer 
 located and built a house on the 80 acres adjoining. 
 He afterwards removed to Rock Island, and died 
 there. His brother, George Bolmer, in the same 
 year, settled on section 32, adjoining Appleton 's, and 
 died on his farm in 1840. Joseph Turner, a very 
 eccentric, jolly fellow, and a good cook, kept house 
 for Joshua Harper, who was a bachelor in those 
 days, and is well remembered for the innumerable 
 pranks he played on his good-natured employes and 
 the neighbors. Joe afterwards bought a farm a few 
 miles south, and from thence removed to Rock 
 Island. These were all the settlers that were on the 
 colony lands for several years. About this time 
 Crocker entered several hundred acres of limber and 
 prairie at Crocker's Grove, on sections 3 and 4, and 
 made- one of the best farms in Henry County. This 
 farm was afterwards owned by Ben Graham, who 
 used it for a stock farm. 
 
 In 1838 a postoffice was established at Morris- 
 town and Joshua Harper was appointed Postmaster; 
 ,but his house being off the regularly traveled road, 
 the office was removed from Mr. Harper's, and C. W. 
 Davenport was appointed Postmaster. 
 
 The mail carrier of that day was Uncle Billy Riley, 
 
 I 
 
 
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 BENRY COUNTY*. 
 
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 a Kentuckian, residing at Henderson Grove, Knox 
 County. The route was in three sections — from 
 Beardstown' to Knoxville, from Knoxville to Albany, 
 on the Mississippi River, and from Albany to Galena. 
 Uncle Billy carried the mail from Knoxville to Al- 
 bany .and return once a week. The next year a 
 horseback mail was carried from Morristown to Gene- 
 seo by, Captain J. B. Brush. This was the first mail 
 route established in Henry County. Soon after a 
 postoffice was established in Andover, and the mails 
 became regular. There were no envelopes in those 
 days, and the postage on letters was 25 cents, and 
 it took about a week or ten days to get a letter from 
 New York, and four or five days from Chicago. 
 
 In the fall of 1840 the county seat was located at 
 Morristown, and Colonel Oakley, through Mr. Har- 
 per for the colony, donated the Colony House for the 
 use of the Courts; also a quarter section (160 acres) 
 of land, and $1,000 in cash for the county. 
 
 In 1841 the first County Court and in 1842 the 
 first Circuit Court was held in the Colony House, 
 which had been rented to Thomas W. Corey and 
 George Brandenburg, who agreed to furnish rooms 
 for the Courts of the county until the court-house, 
 was built. They also, had contracted for the build- 
 ing of the court-house and jail, to be built within two 
 years. This court-house to be 18 x 24 feet, one and 
 a half stories high ; the jail to be similar to the one 
 contracted for at Richmond. The court-house was 
 built, and in 1844 was hauled to Cambridge across 
 the prairie by a procession of some 35 yoke of oxen, 
 amid the loud cheers and hurrahs of the boys from 
 Sugar-Tree Grove. 
 
 The question has often arisen, What became of the 
 fund of $7,000 belonging to the Morristown Colony? 
 It was said that some $3,000 was put into the Colony 
 House and improvements at Morristown. This was 
 conveyed to the county for county purposes, and by 
 the act removing the county seat to Cambridge it 
 was ordered to be re-conveyed to the Colony. It 
 seems that the house was sold by Colonel Oakley to 
 Joel Wells. The saw-mill was built on lands of 
 Colonel O. and also sold. The school-house was 
 never built. We suppose very few of the Colonists 
 who settled here ever saw Colonel Oakley. He has 
 been dead many years. The only person who would 
 be likely to know, Joshua Harper, is also dead. We 
 do not suppose the question will ever be answered. 
 
 It is not supposed it will make any difference to any 
 one now of the original settlers of Morristown 
 Colony. It is believed all are dead except Captain 
 Joseph B. Brush and Charles W. and T. F. Daven- 
 port. There is not one left on the Colony lands. 
 After the removal of the county seat to Cambridge, 
 in 1844, most of the lands remained unoccupied for 
 some 12 or r5 years, until the projection of the Chi- 
 cago & Rock Island Railroad gave a new impetus to 
 immigration, and after 1850 the Colony lands passed 
 into new ownership. A number of thrifty Germans 
 gathered around the- Davenport, Brush and Boimer 
 farms and bought them all out, and these lands are 
 now among the richest and most valuable farm's in 
 the county. 
 
 OXFOKD TOWNSHIP. 
 
 S the S-Outhwest-cor.ier township in the 
 county, its boundary lines for six miles on 
 the south and an equal distance on the west, 
 forming the county line. There were neither 
 groves nor mounds to tempt the first comers to 
 this part of the State to " stick stakes " and 
 " hang out their banners on the outer wall " of civil- 
 ization", inviting all the world to come and partake. 
 The very first settlers looked upon its level, wet 
 wastes, and no more supposed it would ever be cov- 
 ered with farms and fine improvements than would - 
 the deep lakes or the rock cliffs where the eagle rests. 
 When they saw their cattle grazing upon its nutri- 
 tious grasses they began to realize it was not wholly 
 worthless for all purposes, and slowly they settled, 
 down to the conviction that for generations to come 
 here would be free feeding grounds for their stock. 
 The cattle made paths and these were washed by the 
 rains into drainage ways for the surplus water, and 
 in the course of time dry, solid ground appeared 
 where before was the bog,- in many places of which a 
 person could stand upon the tough grass sod and by 
 jumping on it shake the ground for several feet about 
 him. 
 
 Eastern speculators had entered the lands mostly 
 
 without ever seeing them, when the craze for Illinois 
 
 lands ran over the whole country, and men became 
 
 « eager to buy lands here, scarcely caring what might 
 
 be the kind or quality. 
 
 The first settler was Almeron Underwood, from- 
 Green Co., Ky. His small brother, Milton Under- 
 
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 4^®vi| 
 
 
 1=1 
 
 I 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 815 
 
 wood, came with him. A. D. Underwood was born 
 in the township Dec. 11, 1839, and until other pio- 
 neers- came in maybe called the township's first 
 white squatter. 
 
 R. D. Timberlake came in the fall of 1837, and he 
 remembers that at that time Almeron Underwood 
 was the only person he found here. 
 
 Anson Calkins, at one time Assessor of .the town- 
 ship, came here in 1841. He was born in Austerlitz, 
 Columbia Co., N. Y., Nov. 14, 1818. His recollec- 
 tions are that there were very few if any permanent 
 settlers in the township when he arrived. After 
 fixing his first abode he has never changed it. He 
 prospered from the first, having a farm of about 400 
 acres of very rich land. He reared five children, in 
 their order as follows : Maria P., Mary E., James 
 B., John F. and Winfield C. His wife was Miss H. 
 Griffin, of Berkshire Co., Mass. 
 
 A. B. Cole was one of the settlers found here when 
 Calkins came. He came and settled in Oxford 
 Township in 1839. Cole says there were but six 
 voters, counting himself, in the township at that 
 time. His family consisted of a wife and four chil- 
 dren; she was Augusta Briggs, of Worcester Co., 
 Mass. Mr. Cole was County Commissioner one 
 term ; also was Assessor of the township. 
 
 John W. Cox came in 1849 from Wayne Co., Ind. 
 He died March 2, 1869, leaving his widow, Mrs. 
 Julia Etta Cox, and five children. 
 
 Robert M. Wilber came in 1849. He died on the 
 place where he first settled, leaving a widow and 13 
 children. Two of his sons were killed in the late 
 war. 
 
 J. B. Hoag, of Rensselaer Co., N. Y., came in 
 1839; reared a family of four children, and was mar- 
 ride four times. 
 
 Alpha. 
 
 HE village is nearly in the center of the 
 township, at the crossing of the Galva & 
 Keithsburg Branch of the Chicago, Bur- 
 lington & Quincy and the Rock Island & St. 
 Louis Railroads. It was laid out by Anson 
 Calkins, June 1, 1872. It has never made any 
 great splutter in the way of big booms, but has moved 
 along quietly and surely, content to attend to its 
 
 ever-growing shipping and business interests. It is 
 one among the several favorable points of shipment 
 in the county, having a north and south and an east 
 and west connection with all the markets. 
 
 There are two dry-goods stores, a grocery store, a 
 hardware store, two blacksmith shops and two hotels 
 in the place. They have a nice school-house just 
 completed, at a cost of $r,8oo. 
 
 The building of the railroads and the laying out 
 of Alpha was practically the doom of the village of 
 Oxford, which was a few miles to the southwest. 
 This latter place was laid out in 1858 by Daniel and 
 James Briggs, on section 30. The "main historical 
 point that may perpetually preserve the history of 
 this village was that it was the location of the wild- 
 cat bank in i860, known as the " Bank of the Miss- 
 issippi Valley," whose assets were said to consist in 
 its best days of an old rusty safe without a lock, one 
 old-fashioned copper, part of a cheap lead pencil, 
 rusty steel pen and a scribbled-over half-sheet of 
 foolscap paper ! 
 
 When Alpha was started the people of Oxford 
 started too, and they took their houses with them, as 
 a rule, and now the merry plowman whistles his 
 tunes and turns the furrows over the once nestling 
 home of the village. 
 
 In September, 1867, a Baptist Church was organ- 
 ized in Alpha, and in 1878 a church building was 
 erected. 
 
 PHENIX TOWNSHIP. 
 
 HIS township nestles along the borders of 
 Rock River, in the northwest part of the 
 county, the natural places for those first 
 pioneers to settle who formed those outer 
 fringes of civilization, where the solitary pio- 
 neer piloted his lonely way. The second white 
 family to settle in the county was Earl P. Aldrich's, 
 who came in the summer of 1835, and in his little 
 log cabin was born, on the 15th of the following De- 
 cember, the first white child in Henry County that 
 with wide eyes looked out astounded, but not dumb- 
 founded, upon this new and curious world. 
 
 A very full account of all these early settlers is 
 given in other chapters, to which the reader is re- 
 ferred. 
 Amariah Withrow landed in the township but a 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 evry short time after the Aldriches. He was a native 
 of White County, Illinois, born May 4, 1 831, and 
 came with the large family of Withrows, of whom 
 also is given a full account in another place. 
 Amariah Withrow married Mary J. Huston, born in 
 Licking County, Ohio, Oct. 6, 1832. They were mar- 
 ried August 8, 1856. Had four children. 
 
 It properly should have been stated above that the 
 families, the widows and children of the Aldriches are 
 still living, and the aspirations and hopes of all for 
 these two venerable old grand-mothers are that the 
 quiet comfort of their declining years may be long in 
 the land, with only a gradual flow and increase of 
 temporal blessings to their departing hour. 
 
 Jacob F. Butzer settled on section 4, in 1837. He 
 was only second to Anthony Hunt in the coming of a 
 German into the county. 
 
 David B. Bar£e, a native of Ohio, came in 1841. 
 His fine farm contains 620 acres. He married Eliza 
 M. Aldrich, born in Pickaway County, Ohio, May 7, 
 1828. 
 
 George Arnett, whose family first settled in Lo- 
 raine, remQved into this county at an early day, and 
 secured his valuable farm of 640 acres. 
 
 The township is untouched by a railroad. Has 
 no town. Sharon postoffice is a little north of the cen- 
 ter of the township. 
 
 « 
 
 WELLER TOWNSHIP. 
 
 CHIS is a splendid township of land, is well 
 |£ improved and settled by an industrious 
 
 class of people. Its history is largely in- 
 cluded in that of the Bishop Hill Colony, 
 which follows. James Withrow was the first 
 settler in this part of the county. He located 
 at the east end of Red Oak in 1836. He died on his 
 farm in 1839, and his estate was the first probated in 
 the county. There seems to have been few or no 
 other settlers in this part of the county prior to 1853. 
 Among those who came to this township were Lars 
 Anderson; came in 1846, and died Nov. 16, 1869, 
 leaving a son, Gilbert A. Andrew and Jonas Berg- 
 land came from Sweden to this county in 1846 ; John 
 Bjork came to America, 1840, returned to Sweden 
 and in 1847 settled in Bishop Hill; Peter O. Bloom- 
 
 berg came in 1846; Jacob Bricker came in 1851 ; John 
 P. Chaiser came in 1850; Jonas Elblow came in 
 1846; Lars Ericson came with his parents in 1847 ;. 
 Lars Forsberg came in 1847. John H. Grammar, 
 born in Germany, came to the county 1847 ; William 
 Grammar came in 1843; Hans M. Hollander came 
 in 1847; Jacob Jacobson and wife came " on foot," 
 1847 ; John E. Lindbeck, 1849 ; Olof Moline came 
 1846; William L. Neuman, German, came 1846; 
 Hans Nostrum, 1846; Eric Olson came with the 
 Swede colony. He was rich in. the old country, but 
 was made treasurer for the colonists and paid out for 
 necessaries for others all he had in the world. Jonas 
 Olson came at the same time and he also thus paid 
 out his total fortune ; Olof Olson came 1847 5 J onn 
 Piatt came in 1840; he was one of the oldest settlers 
 in Weller; Henry Poppy came 1847; J- E. Stone- 
 berg in 1847; Olof Stoneberg in 1846; Andrew 
 Stoneberg came in 1846.; Swan Swanson in 1846; 
 Peter Wexell and Peter Wickblow in 1 847 . 
 
 Bishop Hill Colony. 
 
 pISHOP HILL Colony came in 1846-7. 
 It was entirely a religious movement — a 
 rebellion against religious intolerance and 
 
 ^ bigotry. It is a singular fact in the history 
 of mankind' that there is hardly an exception, 
 no, not one, where a people, after much suf- 
 fering for religion's sake, long and cruel persecutions, 
 and many suffering death rather than renounce the 
 right of freedom of opinions, and often great commu- 
 nities driven from their native land— -fleeing and skulk- 
 ing fugitives, or extirpated by the sword and fagot, 
 yet when their religious ideas have taken hold and 
 gathered converts and became strong, fearless and 
 conquering, then those martyrs to the freedom of re- 
 ligious opinion invariably are ready to turn and 
 inflict upon others who do not adopt their worship 
 the same stern and cruel persecutions that they 
 themselves had suffered from. 
 
 Martin Luther's rebellion against the Catholic 
 Church took complete possession of Sweden, and the 
 Holy Lutheran Church became the State religion ; 
 and when once in power it ruled that country with 
 an iron hand. The Church and State were one, and 
 that one was the Church, — keen-eyed, vigilant and 
 sleepless in the hunt of those who dared to think 
 
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HENRY COUNTY. 
 
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 I 
 
 that they were not God's appointed guardians of all 
 men's bodies and souls. Their entire idea of relig- 
 ious freedom of opinion was to present to every one 
 the Church creed, and with the presentation there 
 was no alternative except the manacles and the 
 dungeon. Thus have worked out in the long time 
 inevitable growths of Luther's religious rebellion. 
 He fought religious intolerance, stood ready to die 
 for the freedom of opinion, and the moment he was 
 enabled to seize the power he was just as earnest 
 and determined as had ever been the most bigoted 
 Catholic to restrict all liberty of thought in the blind 
 submission to his narrow creeds. 
 
 Eric Jansen was the founder of the sect that con- 
 stituted the Bishop Hill Colony. In his native 
 Sweden, when a young man, his mind began to find 
 many and strong objections to the Lutheran Church. 
 He abdicated the faith — preached a new doctrine ; was 
 bitterly persecuted by the bishops, the ruling power 
 in Sweden, and, like every new religion the world 
 has ever known, " the blood of the martyr is the end 
 of the Church; " he gathered rapidly about him con- 
 verts and fellow sufferers. In three brief years after 
 he had commenced proclaiming the new faith he had 
 gathered over t,ioo followers. His first convert and 
 ablest lieutenant was Mr. Hedine. Jansen and 
 Hedine went to prison together, and many times had 
 they been consigned to the gloomy dungeons, where 
 they could only peep out upon the free air and dis- 
 tant sunshine through iron grates. Every visitation 
 from the Church authorities became more and more 
 severe, until finally Jansen became a fugitive from 
 his native country and in disguise fled to America. 
 When his converts found he had fled to this country, 
 that here all men could enjoy freedom of conscience 
 and speech, a colony was organized consisting of about 
 700 members, and they came as soon as they could 
 to this country and selected their future homes in 
 township 14, range 3. This point was fixed upon 
 by'Olef Olson, who had come in advance and made 
 the selection. These immigrants came to Henry 
 County in 1847. They were very poor and for a 
 long time lived in miserable tents and rude caves 
 dug in the sides of the hills, with but scant and 
 innutritious food ; they presented a scene of squalor 
 and suffering. The majority of them were ignorant 
 in their own country, belonging to the enslaved 
 peasant class, and when suddenly dumped in such 
 a great drove into a - new hemisphere — a new and 
 
 strange world indeed to them — with even less of the 
 necessities of life than they had in their old homes, 
 it is not strange that here their sufferings were ex- 
 tremely severe. The few who had possessed prop- 
 erty and were better trained to care for their physical 
 wants, had precipitately fled from the land of oppres- 
 sion, leaving their property or selling at such sacri- 
 fices as soon made them as poor as their poor 
 companions, and whose sufferings were intensified 
 by the greater change in their lives. But one or 
 two in the colony understood or could speak a word 
 of English, and hence, as they knew nothing of the 
 language of the country, the climate, soil or its agri- 
 culture, commerce, wants, or its diseases and reme- 
 dies, they were as completely lost to all these things 
 that are imperative to a people to know as if they 
 had been suddenly transported to one of the distant 
 planets. 
 
 In their favor was the fact that the Swedes are a 
 people trained through generations to the practice of 
 pinching frugality and untiring industry. They are 
 docile, moral and law-abiding; accustomed to se- 
 vere taskmasters, they plod in silence, and bow in 
 humblest respect to those in authority. Their 
 country of rigorous climate ; their long line of tyrants 
 and cruel rulers have through many generations af- 
 fected the whole people physically and mentally, 
 and the sudden transplanting of a large body of 
 such people to this genial climate and yet more gen- 
 tle and genial government, with no previous prep- 
 aration for the change, was like overfeeding the 
 shipwrecked and starving when found ready to die of 
 hunger and thirst. Therefore, of the great change, 
 the squalor and ignorance of the colonists, came 
 sickness and death, stalking the fold in horrid carni- 
 val. 
 
 This certainly is no overdrawn picture of the 
 sad condition of the colonists when the cholera 
 broke out among them in 1849. The scythe of 
 death then literally mowed a fat harvest. Strong 
 men and women were stricken, and in a few hours 
 were in their coffinless graves. So swiftly did the 
 grim reaper work, that no effort was made to procure 
 coffins or boxes for the dead; relays of men were 
 night and day digging shallow graves, in which the 
 bodies, wrapped in a blanket or scanty cloth, were 
 thrown and in solemn silence covered. A one-horse 
 cart was the hearse that was used to gather the bod 
 
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 HENR Y CO UNT Y. 
 
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 ies, singly and in numbers, and haul them to the 
 graveyard. For many weeks this horse was not un- 
 hitched for a moment from his vehicle, night or day ; 
 and it is a well authenticated fact that two men dug 
 their own graves — working hard in the forenoon in 
 the very graves in which they were sleeping peace- 
 fully and forever in the afternoon ! Here was the 
 sad reality, the hideous carnival of death, surpass- 
 ing in honors the imaginings of the painter, when 
 with- a free hand he caused to stand out upon the 
 canvas that startling and repulsive picture, "The 
 Dance of Death." 
 
 Another incident in the history of the colony, not 
 so horrible in its aspects, yet more lasting in its ef-» 
 ifects, occurred in 1850. 
 
 Erkr Jansen was shot to death by John Root, in 
 May, 1850. Eric Jansen, "the Prophet," was the 
 founder of the new religion, the head of the Colony 
 Church, and their supreme ruler in temporal as well 
 as spiritual affairs. He was a man of courage and 
 strong, convictions. He ruled his people absolutely, 
 and he did not delegate or divide his power with any 
 of Tiis subalterns. The designation of "Eric John- 
 son, the Prophet," is a key to his character as a 
 leader— a religious enthusiast, stern, inflexible and 
 bigoted. Had he lived in the days of the crusades 
 he would have organzed his army, and led them, if 
 necessary, into the jaws of death, and with his 
 flashing sword have literally hewn his way to the 
 Holy Sepulcher. One of the tenets of Jansen 's new 
 faith was that all property should be held in com- 
 mon, and was subject always to the rule of the 
 Church leader only, and that the Prophet should pro- 
 tect all the female of the order. 
 
 Root, the man who killed Jansen, came from Stock- 
 holm and joined the colony in 1848. He married a 
 cousin of Eric Jansen. The key to the tragedy that 
 followed this marriage is given by the solemn and 
 curious marriage contract that Jansen had the par- 
 ties enter into. It provided that if Root should 
 ever leave the colony he should go alone, leaving the 
 wife to enjoy in the colony all the rights and immu- 
 nities of the church and colony. What would any 
 intelligent man in this day and age think if his in- 
 tended preacher presented him such a marriage-con- 
 tract to sign? But to Jansen the first and supreme 
 thing in temporal matters was to secure every right 
 of his Church, and before these — the interests of his 
 
 close church corporation— even the solemn and sa- 
 cre,d rights of the marriage state must, give way. 
 Thus, before Root and Jansen's cousin were mar- 
 ried, there was a way provided for their separation. 
 The command, "Whom God hath joined together, 
 let no' man put asunder," was provisionally provided 
 for, and under the cruel wo^ds of that contract — 
 words that would eat, like the tightening irons into 
 the victim's flesh, and become an endless torture that 
 could only be cured by the sufferer belng-setfree and 
 his marriage shackles stricken from him. It was 
 thus this foolish . couple entered into the bonds of 
 marriage. After a short time he tired of Jansen's 
 religion, and his rigid 'iron rule, and Jansen .was as 
 soon, probably, tired of Root's presence in the 
 flock over which he kept guard. Jansen evidently 
 regarded Root with disfavor, and this grew to be-mu- 
 tual between the two men. Root abjured ithe faith 
 and left the community. He returned in a short 
 time and claimed his wife and newly born chikL 
 The wife objected to going with him, and the Church 
 peremptorily objected to her going. Root at one 
 time got her into a wagon and was fleeing when he 
 was overtaken, and the woman and child were 
 taken from him by force and carried back to the col- 
 ony. Again he got her away and took her to Chi- 
 cago, and Jansen's men brought her back. Root 
 talked to all who would listen to him, and told his 
 story that Jansen had kidnapped 'his wife— had sep- 
 arated them. Root evidently brooded over the mat- 
 ter, and made up his mind to wreak a terrible re- 
 venge for his real or imagined wrongs, and he pre- 
 p4red himself and came to C am b r idge at the com- 
 mencement of the May term of Court in 1850, and 
 just as Court adjourned for noon, he walked up to 
 Jansen and without a word shot him down, — firing 
 two shots, but one taking effect, the first, and Jansen 
 fell dead. 
 
 Root "was arrested, took a change of venue to Knox 
 County, was there tried, convicted of- manslaughter 
 and sentenced to the penitentiary for the term of two 
 years. He was pardoned by the Governor and re- 
 turned to the county, and went to Rock Island, and 
 then to Chicago, where he died. 
 
 Jansen was an impracticable fanatic, very religtous 
 and severe and unrelenting; and his death freed the 
 the Colony from his rule and also from his Utopian 
 ideas oi the rights of property and government. 
 
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 Root was both a foolish and a vicious man, and 
 the shot that killed Jansen wrecked his own life — 
 wrecked it to that degree that the grave must have 
 come to him in the prime of life as a welcome refuge 
 from this breathing world. 
 
 We have told of this tragedy simply to indicate its 
 great effects upon the Swedes who composed Jan- 
 sen's Colony. Soon after Jansen 's death there was 
 an improvement in the credit and standing of these 
 people ; property no longer was held in common, 
 and gradually the people became as other citizens, 
 each practicing his chosen religion without let or 
 hindrance, and the process of becoming real and val- 
 uable Americans characterized the whole member- 
 ship of the Colony, until now their neighbors in the 
 county willingly testify that they constitute a body of 
 our best citizens and are noted for less of the baneful, 
 clannish spirit than probably any other body of for- 
 eign people in the country. 
 
 The Colonists first settled along the south bank 
 of the South Edwards Creek. The site was a beau- 
 tiful one. It was covered sparsely with a small 
 growth of oak timber. In 1849 they erected a four- 
 story brick, building, 100 X45 feet. This was a col- 
 ony-house, and here the afflicted and helpless were 
 more comfortably housed than they had been in the 
 mud caves and ragged tents. 
 
 A large frame building was soon after erected for 
 a church. Such was their religious zeal that a house 
 of God was to be provided before they had made 
 shelters for themselves. 
 
 To the credit of the people it must be stated that 
 they established an English school as early as Jan- 
 uary, 1847, thus showing that they came to America 
 to be Americans. A Presbyterian clergyman, Re v. 
 Talbot, taught some 35 scholars in a mud cave from 
 January to July. At times he was assisted by his 
 daughter, Mrs. Pollock, afterwards the wife of Eric 
 Jansen and now his widow. Talbot taught the sec- 
 ond school, and Nelson Simons, M. D., was employ- 
 ed about one year as their third schoolmaster. 
 
 The progress of improvement was steady, and a 
 grist-mill on a small scale was soon in operation on 
 the Edwards Creek, at the Hill. Two saw-mills 
 were also soon under way on the same stream. One 
 of them they purchased. The construction of a 
 steam grist-mill was commenced in r849, under the 
 direction of Eric Jansen, but not completed till after 
 his death. 
 
 The high moral conduct of these people soon con- 
 vinced those living nearest them that nothing was to 
 be apprehended from them, as their creed was es- 
 sentially harmless to all outsiders. And in the hour 
 of need the Colonists found fast friends in the major- 
 ity of those near them. By the year 1 85 1 they had 
 grown and strengthened, and had built a first-class 
 steam flouring-mill, which turned out a large sur- 
 plus of flour beyond the wants of the Colony. 
 
 From living in such poor habitations at first, and 
 from being unaccustomed to the climate, great num- 
 bers sickened and died. Especially among the 
 children was the mortality fearful. 
 
 From the terrible mortality caused by cholera and 
 the leaving of those in fear of the disease, the Col- 
 ony was at one time reduced to 414 souls. These 
 survived the plague and had the hardihood to re- 
 main. At the time Mr. Jansen was murdered, in 
 May, 1850 (an account of which is given elsewhere), 
 they were suffering from sickness, desertion and 
 death ; and the fact that these had the fortitude to 
 remain amid such a multiplicity of discouragements, 
 was proof conclusive of the earnestness of their con- 
 viction that they were called to suffer, and, if need 
 be, to die in demonstrating the true methods- of 
 Christian, fellowship. In erecting the large build- 
 ings for dwellings, in the manufacture of cloth, in 
 the erection of large mills, in their frugal industry, 
 and in their honest endeavors to promote their wel- 
 fare, spiritually and temporally, during all these 
 trials of poverty, sickness, death, desertion and 
 strangers in a strange land, a lesson of commenda- 
 ble zeal may be learned and an example of fortitude 
 which has few equals in the history of the country. 
 
 By the year 1853 or 54 affairs were brightening 
 and prospects grew better. Other emigrants came, 
 other buildings were erected and the hopes of the 
 early Colonists began to be realized. 
 
 Brick buildings, capable of accommodating from 
 eight to double that number of families, were erected. 
 In these each family had one or more rooms. All 
 worked together, and at meal time repaired to the 
 large dining-rooms and partook of food provided for 
 all. Each one was required to labor, and after re- 
 ceiving sufficient clothing and food from the pro- 
 ducts, the remainder was used to purchase more 
 land or erect additional buildings. ' Human nature 
 is the same in all ages and among all people, and 
 
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 •HENRY COUNTY.- 
 
 
 
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 here, as well as elsewhere, were those who would 
 not perform their share of the labor or provide for 
 the common good. By the year i860 it was found 
 that the theories of Mr. Jansen would not prevail in 
 practical life, and a division occurred. 
 
 By this year all the large brick buildings spoken 
 of were erected. At this time they wer^ divided into 
 two parties, known as the Johnson (Jansen) and Ol- 
 son parties. The former being more numerous, ob- 
 tained about two-thirds of the property ; the latter 
 the remainder. No serious difficulties arose from this 
 division, and the individual affairs were conducted 
 on the same plan heretofore pursued. 
 
 The following year the .Olson party were divided 
 into three diyisions or parts, and the Johnson party 
 made an individual distriDution of their lands 'and 
 town property. 
 
 It was soon found that it was better for all to be 
 thrown upon an individual responsibility, and a dis- 
 tribution of all property belonging to this party was 
 made. To every person, male or female, that had 
 attained the age of 35 years, 22 acres of land, one 
 timber lot (nearly two acres), one town lot, and an 
 equal part in all barns, horses, cattle, hogs, sheep, 
 or 'other domestic ,animals, and all farming imple- 
 ments and household utensils were given. All under 
 this age received a share corresponding in amount 
 and value to the age of the individual, no discrimina- 
 tion being shown to either sex. The smallest share 
 was about 8 acres of land, a correspondingly small 
 town and timber lot, and part of the personal prop- 
 erty. 
 
 The same year, in April, the town was laid out by 
 the Trustees, Olef Johnson, Jonas Erickson, Swan 
 Swanson, Jonas Olson, Jonas Kronberg, Olef Sten- 
 berg and Jacob Jacobson. In r86r the Olson party, 
 being divided into three factions, continued to prose- 
 cute their labors under the colony system. One 
 year's trial, however, convinced them of the results. 
 These factions were known as Oison, Stoneberg and 
 (Martin) Johnson divisions, which, at the close of the 
 year r86i, divided their property to the individuals 
 comprising each faction, on the basis adopted by the 
 Johnson party in i860. The shares were, however, 
 not quite so large. The large brick buildings are 
 now principally owned by the old settlers. » 
 
 After the establishment of the colony the school- 
 room was removed from the cave to any vacant 
 
 room which could be utilized for that purpose. The 
 school-room was therefore constantly changing, until 
 the erection of the large frame building spoken of, 
 when the upper room in it was occupied for a num- 
 ber of years. In 1858 or '59 a school-house was 
 erected. It contains four rooms for school purposes 
 and a library. 
 
 Village of Bishop Hill. 
 
 ! HE village of Bishop Hill is a prosperous 
 station on the Rock Island & Peofia.Rail- 
 ^ road, occupied almost entirely by Swedes, 
 foreign-born, and the younger generation- of , 
 them born in this county. Here, among the 
 old, you will hear only the Swede language, and 
 among the young, a curious mixture of Swede and 
 English. They are all,, however, educated in Eng^ 
 lish, and it is bu{ a few years until'this will be prac- 
 tically the only language spoken among them. The 
 town has a population of 350 souls, and excellent 
 school and church buildings. 
 
 The Swede Methodist Episcopal Church was or- 
 ganized in 1864, with twenty members, the principal 
 of whom were: Eric Bengtron, Jonas Engstrom, 
 Eric Soder, Jons Watstrom, George Ericson. Meet- 
 ings at first were held in the Bishop Hill School- 
 house, and in private residences. Soon after the 
 organization a wagon -shop was, bought for $400, and 
 Church services were held in the second story of this 
 building until i868j when a church building was 
 erected, at a cost of $3,500. In their order the 
 preachers were N. O. Westergreen, Peter. Chairman, 
 A. J. Anderson, Eric Shogren, W. K. Eklund and J. 
 E. Bergren. 
 
 There are over 200 in the congregation, with a 
 flourishing Sunday-school. A few years ago several 
 of the members of this Church, emigrated to Kansas, 
 where they now reside. 
 
 WESTERN TOWNSHIP. 
 
 NOTHER plan of colonizing, that was 
 If almost an exact pattern of the New York 
 *< Colony, before described, was the La Grange 
 
 *$> 
 
 Colony, which first settled in Western Town^ 
 ship. The company, in July, 1839, through 
 their authorized agents, Killbourne and Buel 
 purchased- in townships 15 north, 1 east, and 16 
 
 ft. 
 
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 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 north, i east, and 16 north, 2 east, about 18,000 
 acres of land, and after the New York Colony plan, 
 
 qj p laid out a big town, divided it up, and sold preference 
 for choice at public auction, receiving as premiums 
 
 fk about $7 ,000. Kilbourne and Buel were paid $25 
 for each quarter-section, and the premium money 
 was then to build a hotel, a seminary and a slush 
 fund, to lobby through the Legislature a charter for 
 a seminary, and also procure a charter for a Beet- 
 Root Sugar Company, as well as have a State road 
 located and made from the mouth of Rock River 
 to Hennepin. Mr. Kilbourne lobbied two seasons at 
 the Legislature. These brilliant schemes came to 
 naught. A wing of the great public house was put 
 up in township 16 north, 1 east, in 1836. Afterwards 
 it became the home of Mr. Denton. Some of the 
 timbers of the main building (30 x 40), were got out 
 and hauled to the ground from Richland Grove, a 
 distance of seven miles, and they lay unused on the 
 
 (j ' grounds for a few years, and were finally sold to J. 
 B. Trego, who used them in constructing a barn. 
 The colonists were to come out, and each was to 
 build on his piece of land. Alfred Buel built his 
 house near the company's hotel, and some one erect- 
 ed another frame house, but never occupied it. 
 These were the entire improvements of the new 
 town, and in after years they were sold to the Bishop 
 Hill Colony, of which a full account is given in an- 
 other place. 
 
 In the fall of 1837 M. B. Lloyd purchased of the 
 La Grange Company 240 acres, paying $3.33 per 
 acre. He could have got thousands of acres in the 
 county just as good for $1.50 per acre. He built the 
 first house outside of the town, about two miles dis- 
 tant. Albert and Francis Wells bought of the com- 
 pany a half-section in 1838. They were from Sing 
 Sing, N. Y. Francis Wells came out and brought a 
 large lot of Berkshire hogs, and fenced his farm with 
 a sod fence, and entered upon raising hogs for the 
 New York market. He raised quite a crop of corn, 
 and had to carry water to his hogs. They became 
 diseased, many died, and a part he slaughtered, took 
 to Knoxville, and sold at $1.50 per 100. He sunk 
 about $4,000 in his hog speculation, and having a 
 horse and $10 left he mounted and turned his horse to 
 the East, and left the country. His abandoned house 
 was divided out piece-meal among the neighbors, 
 and when last heard from Francis was in California 
 in the hot pursuit of wealth. He was a man of edu- 
 
 1 
 
 cation, a lawyer by profession, but, like the majority 
 of graduates who came West, with only the bright 
 but superficial ideas of the school-room, are signal 
 failures nearly always, the only exception being 
 those young men who are enabled to throw off the 
 education that has cost them so much time and 
 money as thqpgh it was a loose-fitting cloak, and as 
 quickly learn that practical education of life that 
 adapts men to their surroundings. 
 
 William Blackfan removed from Pennsylvania and 
 settled two miles west of La Grange in 1839. Dr. 
 Alfred Trego soon followed, and two other families 
 from Bucks Co., Pa., came in 1840. This last 
 named was known as West La Grange. These con- 
 stituted the settlements in this part of the county 
 for ten years. Dr. Robert D. Foster bought 1,100 
 acres of th t company's land in 1847, and the next 
 year sowed 200 acres in wheat. This crop and his 
 improvements, and all his lands, he sold to the Bish- 
 op Hill Colony. Buel removed to Galena in 1844 and 
 died there. Blackfan died on his farm in 1841. Dr. 
 Trego removed to Mercer County. 
 
 Orion. 
 
 fcENRY County has numerous wide-awake, 
 enterprising villages, but one of the pleasant 
 
 fand most enterprising is Orion. It stands 
 almost in the center of Western Township, is 
 surrounded by magnificent farming country, has 
 excellent railroad accommodation, and is looked 
 upon by the people, for miles around, as an excel- 
 lent-trading point. It is on the Rock Island Divis- 
 of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, at the 
 junction north of the Peoria & Rock Island Railroad, 
 18 miles south of Rock Island, and 12 miles from 
 Cambridge. 
 
 Mahlon B. Lloyd, the first settler to locate in 
 Western Township, came' as early as 1837. He was 
 an enterprising business man, and did much to ad- 
 vance the interests of the township. His son 
 Charles was the first white male child born in the 
 township, and a daughter of William and Elizabeth 
 K. Blackfan was the first female child born in the 
 township. Dr. Alfred Trego came in 1840, and a 
 year later the Blackfan family came in, and by 1852 
 there were but five families living in the township. 
 These were M. B. Lloyd, H. B. Engle, Edward 
 
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 $ 
 
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 ^^>umi^r9- 
 
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 HJB.NR Y CO UNT Y. 
 
 T 
 
 I 
 
 
 Blackfan, George Anderson and Elizabeth Blackfan 
 and her family. The latter was the widow of Will- 
 iam Blackfan, who died in 1843. This lady, though 
 so early left a widow with a large family upon her 
 hands and in a new country, displayed rare business 
 ability, and succeeded in gaining considerable prop- 
 erty, as well as to prove an earnest worker for the 
 moral growth of the place. 
 
 As early as 1850 a postoffice was established in 
 the v township, called Orion. Mrs. Blackfan was ap- 
 pointed Postmistress, and held the position until it 
 was moved to Orion in 1853. In JDecember of that 
 year Charles W. Dean laid out Orion, which for some 
 time was known as Deanington. In 1867 it was 
 christened' its present name. Mr. Dean immediate- 
 ly erected a store-building, and embarked in the 
 grocery business. But little growth, however, was at- 
 tained until the completion of the railroad, which was 
 in the autumn of 1870. The coming of the' iron 
 horse awakened many new enterprises. Buildings 
 went up on every hand, stores and shops were 
 opened, and the business of the place soon quad- 
 rupled. There -are excellent schools at this point, 
 three, prosperous churches, a bank, a weekly news- 
 paper, and all the necessary appointments for a 
 first-class town. x 
 
 In 1852, when there were but five families in the 
 township as above mentioned, it was determined to' 
 erect a school building, and a tax was therefore 
 voted. The school-house was erected on Mr. Lloyd's 
 farm, the site of which is at present almost within 
 the corporation of Orion. Charles Dean erected 
 the building, at a cost of $140. In 1854, it was 
 moved to Orion, and the following year the first 
 school at this place was opened by Charles Moon. 
 Great progress has since been made in the facilities 
 for accommodating the children in this place, and 
 to-day Orion can justly boast of one of the best 
 schools in the county. 
 
 In 1853, the Methodist Episcopal Church was or- 
 ganized in the school-house above mentioned, while 
 it was standing on Mr. Lloyd's farm. John and 
 Mary McHenry, Henry and Mary Kyle, and Eliza 
 J. McWhinney were among the first members. Rev. 
 G. W. Brown was the first appointed minister. 
 Meetings were held in the school-house until 1867, 
 when a commodious church building was erected, at 
 a cost of $3,500. Rev. F. M. Chaffee was the first 
 resident Presiding Elder of the Methodist Episcopal 
 
 Church of Henry County. , He lived at Orion in the 
 parsonage that was built here in 1873, at a cost of 
 $3,poo. Rev. A. R. Morgan is the present Presid- 
 ing Elder of this district, and he also resides at 
 Orion. 
 
 The -Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church is one of the 
 oldest religious organizations in the county. On 
 the 21st of November, 1843, a few earnest members 
 of this denomination met at the house of V. W. 
 Washburn, in Colona Township, and effected 'an 
 organization. Among those present were Luke C. 
 and Mrs. Mary A. Sheldon, N. W. and Mrs. Eliza- 
 beth Washburn. It received but few additions for 
 many years. Meetings were, however, held in school- 
 houses, and finally the congregation .moved to 
 Orion and erected a good house of worship, costing 
 about $5,000. 
 
 The Swedish Lutheran Church effected an organi- 
 zation May 26, 1870, having at the time 30 members. 
 For a time the meetings were held in the Baptist 
 Church, when they erected a large house of worship; 
 costing $4,500, and later erected a good parsonage. 
 
 Th« United Brethren Church, known as the Eden 
 Church, located on section -16 of this township, was 
 organized in 1867. Meetings, however, were pre- 
 viously held, under the charge- of Rev, St. Clair 
 Ross and Rev. D. F. Blair. There were 28 persons 
 present at the organization. Shortly afterwards a 
 pleasant church structure was erected, costing about 
 $2,000. 
 
 ,- The business men of Orion are worthy the liberal 
 patronage they receive from the farmers of the sur- 
 rounding country. They display commendable 
 enterprise in looking after their trade, as well as hold- 
 ing out inducements to a good class of people to 
 come and locate here, Personal sketches of the 
 leading business men of the place, as well as its 
 most prominent citizens, are given in the biographical 
 part of this Album. 
 
 WETHERSFIELD TOWNSHIP. 
 
 HE delegated agents of the colony which 
 located here, E. Goodrich and Col. S. 
 * Blish, entered land in township 15 north, 
 range 4 east, for the colonists, May 12, 1836. 
 William and Samuel Carson entered lands in 
 the same vicinity, August 8, and Ed. G. "Dele- 
 van August 1 2th following. The next spring Jacob 
 
 I 
 
 
 It 
 
 >>gB<ft»- 
 
 ^^ — ^A^nn@DHf^A^ — **^- 
 

 &*- 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 > 
 
 
 i 
 
 Kemmerling settled in the neighborhood, and he 
 raised the first crop in this township. The Carsons 
 had gone outside the township to raise their first 
 crop. These first improvements were made along 
 the eastern side of the township, skirting the timber 
 or in it. In 1841, Dr. David Norton commenced an 
 improvement in Round Grove, to be devoted to 
 dairying purposes. His father was widely known in 
 the East as " Old Connecticut," and he made cheese 
 in large quantities, but he never knew the secret of 
 the proper coloring matter to give his cheese the 
 rich yellow appearance, and therefore, though his 
 cheese was the purer and better, he was at a disad- 
 vantage in the market, and had to content himself 
 with a lower price. He eventually gained this col- 
 oring secret, however, and to this was due the world- 
 wide famous Goshen cheese and butter. 
 
 In 1843, Dr. Norton got his log dairy building up, 
 and was ready for operations. As an explanation of 
 the then advanced state of the country, it may be 
 stated here that he had to get his help to raise his 
 log house from a distance of fifteen miles. But the 
 range for his cows was unlimited. He was soon 
 producing more cheese than he could find a remun- 
 erative market for. He wagoned it to Chicago and 
 there found great trouble in selling it for enough to 
 pay for hauling it. And again, two or three good- 
 sized cheese would be liable to overload the market. 
 To stand now on the side of the tracks of any road 
 from the south, and see the daily trains con- 
 taining hundreds of cars loaded with strawberries, 
 and still the market is never overstocked, and all this 
 change in a short life-time, is like a fairy dream. 
 The Doctor shipped to St. Louis, hauled it to Peoria, 
 Rock Island, Galena, and tried to peddle it out, when 
 finally he branded it " Goshen cheese," and he then 
 could readily sell all he could make. He abandoned 
 the business in 185 1. 
 
 In 185 1, there were three families in Round 
 Grove, — Seller's, Norton's and Charles. Dr. Norton 
 removed to Galva when that place was started, and 
 built the finest block of business houses in that 
 place. 
 
 Concerning the Wethersfield Colony, a member of 
 that organization says : "The Protestant Christians 
 of our country were in a ferment about the years 
 1834-5 and '6 over the probable expansion of Ro- 
 man Catholicism in the Valley of the Mississippi, 
 
 and that earnest efforts were made to pre-occupy 
 with Christians of the right stamp that vast field for 
 human industry and development. Several colonies 
 in this county, including that of Wethersfield, owed 
 their origin principally to this feeling. Mr. Pillsbury 
 and his associates, Slaughter and Pike, as stated 
 elsewhere, had been commissioned by the New York 
 Association, in 1835, to select a location for the " An- 
 dover Colony. " Upon the return of Mr. Pillsbury in 
 the fall of '35, he was written to by the Rev. Caleb 
 J. Tenney, of Wethersfield, Conn., upon the possibil- 
 ity of locating another colony in the region of 
 the Andover Colony, and an interview requested. 
 The interview induced the Doctor to project another 
 colony in Henry County, to be styled the " Wethers- 
 field Colony. " 
 
 Dr. Tenney was an eminent divine and well ac- 
 quainted with the prominent men of that region who 
 would be likely to favor an enterprise by which the 
 Papacy might be thwarted, addressed many of them 
 in relation to the matter he had then at heart and in 
 hand, urging various substantial reasons for suppos- 
 ing a colony could be formed, religion and education 
 in the West promoted, and the projectors of the en- 
 terprise secure a liberal return for the money in- 
 vested. 
 
 The efforts of the Doctor led to a meeting in the Con- 
 ference room of the Congregational Church in Weth- 
 ersfield, somewhat late in the fall of 1835. At this 
 meeting lhe project assumed a tangible shape, and 
 another meeting was appointed to be held in the 
 same place soon after, at which an organization was 
 effected for the purpose of locating acolony in Illi- 
 nois, by means of which the mental, moral and re- 
 ligious growth of that part of the country might be 
 promoted and their own means for doing good in- 
 creased. 
 
 Following is a complete list of the original com- 
 pany : Rev. Caleb J. Tenney, Selden Miner, Roger 
 Wells, Martin Kellogg, John Francis, Chancey Cole- 
 man, Weltha Willard, Rev. John Marsh, Ann Marsh, 
 Joshua Goodrich, George Wells, Horace Blane, Hen- 
 ry Robbins, Sylvester Blish, Rev. Samuel Redel, 
 William Butler, Rev. Ithamar Pillsbury, Miles Ad- 
 ams, Elizur Goodrich, Samuel Galpin, E. Porter, Rev. 
 Horace Hooker, Wm. Tenney, Geo. P. Shipman, 
 Russell H. Nevins, Timothy Stillman, Allen Talcott, 
 Rev. Geo. Calhoun, Francis Loomis, Rev. Edward 
 
 
 
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 fjJKV^§*K 
 
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t^k 6V4£fl!lilD tt^T 4 ^ atfC^s: 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 
 
 Payson, Rev. Geo. Stebbins, Rev. John Woodbridge, 
 Gershom and George Bulkley, Rev. Gardner Spring, 
 Merritt Butler, Osmond Harrison, Rev. Harvey Tal- 
 cott, Norman Hubbard, Jonathan Hubbard, Sulli- 
 van Howard, George Richards, Jasper Gilbert, Rev. 
 Alpha Miller, Nathan DeWolf, J. L. Belden, Nathan 
 Kelley, Stephen Topliff, Dr. A. Welch, Geo. B. 
 Holley, Rev. Chancey Booth, Richard T. Haines, 
 Rev. Ralph Emerson, Robert Gipson arid a few 
 others not now known. 
 
 The company was styled the " Connecticut As- 
 sociation." The stockholders in the concern resided 
 at different points, from Maine to New York. Some 
 of them were quite wealthy and others occupied 
 prominent positions in the religious world. The great 
 Temperance Agent will be recognized . in the Rev. 
 John Marsh. Dr. Payson in his day was a distin- 
 guished Christian minister, and Gardner Spring an 
 eminent divine in New York, at the head of one of 
 the most aristocratic Presbyterian Churches in the 
 nation. 
 
 The stock of this Association was valued at $250 a 
 share. During the winter of 1835-6, roo shares were 
 taken and $25,000 paid Into the treasury. As early as 
 February, 1836, Rev. Ithamar Pillsbury, Col. Sylves- 
 ter Blish and Elizur Goodrich were appointed a 
 " committee of purchase, " to proceed to Illinois and 
 select the land. The first named gentleman was 
 appointed because he had already 'performed the 
 same duty for another colony and was supposed to 
 be familiar with the details of such an enterprise. 
 The last najned got his appointment because he was 
 a competent surveyor and could " run out " the 
 lands, when necessary to determine boundaries, with- 
 out additional cost to the company. Col. Blish was 
 appointed on account of his eminent fitness for the 
 post as a man of energy and prompt business habits. 
 The route of the committee was through Baltimore, 
 over the mountains to Wheeling, down the Ohio by 
 steamboat, up the Mississippi to the mouth of the 
 Illinois River, and up that to Peoria; thence to 
 Knoxville, Henderson Grove and Andover, where 
 was a house or two, but none of the colonists had 
 yet arrived, nor did they till ,in July of that season. 
 At Andover neither feed nor horses could be ob- 
 tained, and the party had to foot it, a distance of 20 
 miles over to " Barren Grove " (with only a deserted 
 cabin on the route, in Sugar-Tree Grove) along the 
 south side of which they commenced at once to se- 
 
 lect the company's land. They camped out during 
 the several nights they had to remain. It will be 
 borne in mind that Mr. Pillsbury had been out the 
 preceding fall and assisted in " locating " the lands 
 for the colony at Andover, and had been on and 
 over the ground they now proposed to select from, 
 his " prospecting " at that time obviating the neces- 
 sity now of protracted examination of different local- 
 ities. 
 
 As they were sent out to enter lands for the com- 
 pany, some, of course, had to be purchased, but he 
 looked upon the enterprise as chimerical to a very 
 great extent, and advised that the bulk of the money 
 be taken back, because the land would not be set- 
 tled up even along the grove, for one hundred years 
 to come. The despondency of the surveyor affect- 
 ed neither the clergyman nor the soldier, and they 
 compelled him to trudge around, compass in hand, 
 till they, at different times, succeeded in selecting 
 and entering 99 quarter-sections of land, in town- 
 ships 14-5 and 15-5, the first entry being made May 
 7, 1836. The following month of March, another 
 quarter-section was purchased, which made the en- 
 tries a round hundred. $5,000 of the purchase fund 
 was returned to the treasury. Mr. Pillsbury declin- 
 ed having his name appear upon the entries, and 
 the purchase was made of the Government, by 
 Goodrich and Blish, who deeded the land in trust, 
 for the purposes of the association, to the secretary 
 and treasurer, Chester Bulkley, who afterwards 
 deeded to individual members, or to those who pur- 
 chased of the company. 
 
 The Committee of Purchase having returned and 
 reported their doin'gs, a committee of three other gen- 
 tlemen was appointed to survey and lay out a town 
 plat, and to divide up the timber land into lots of 
 twenty acres each. This committee consisted of Rev. 
 Joseph Goodrich, John F. Willard and Henry G- 
 Little. Mr. Goodrich had but recently returned 
 from a missionary expedition to the Sandwich Islands 
 where he had spent several years, and returned to 
 his native land in broken health, to assist in secur- 
 ing Protestant domination on the fertile and almost 
 boundless prairies of the West. s 
 
 November n, 1836, the committee to survey and 
 plat the town — Rev. Joseph Goodrich, John F„ Wil- 
 lard and Henry G. Littler-arrived on the ground./ 
 The timber was divided into lots of 20 acres each 
 
 w t» 
 
 vfe- 
 
 ^«#II!1*0A^ 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 -a 
 
 4 
 
 <<> 
 
 <s 
 
 John Kilvington was the only one then found living 
 near the colony's location. He lived north towards 
 where Kewanee now stands. He came in the spring 
 of 1836. The committee made their home at Kil- 
 vington's. The party wintered at French Grove, 
 Peoria County, and the next spring John F. Willard, 
 H. G. Little, Nelson Simons, William Wheeler, W. T. 
 Little, Sullivan Howard and Simeon B. Stoddard re- 
 turned to Wethersfield. Willard built a cabin, and 
 in 1836-7 he, in company with N. Butler and Joseph 
 Goodrich, " bached " through the winter. In the 
 early part of 1837, Sullivan Howard put up a board 
 cabin. He had hauled his lumber from Spoon River, 
 seventy miles. Henry G. Little " raised " his cabin 
 in March, 1837, and soon after William T. Little 
 built another. In this last Abner B. Little and his 
 family resided with his son's family. There were 
 nine persons easy and comfortable in a single room 
 18 by 20 feet in dimensions. Elisha Wolcott and 
 Caleb Little arrived in April, Evan Wheaton in June 
 and C. B. Minor in July. Sylvester Blish and his 
 son William, and also Selden Miner, came in August, 
 and a little later Luther C. Sleight. In 1838 David 
 Potter and family, John H. Wells and Francis 
 . Loomis came. There were eight children in Potter's 
 family ; all still living, and all the boys becoming very 
 prominent in the affairs of the county. David Potter 
 planted the first orchard in the settlement and had 
 the first fruit. Champlain Lester came in 1839, in 
 the spring, and Zerias Hotchkiss in the summer. 
 Potter raised a family of eight children, four boys and 
 four girls. 
 
 Col. Sylvester Blish, a son of Thomas Blish, of 
 Glastonbury, Conn., married Rhoda Cheny, Jan. 1, 
 181 1, and got his title of Colonel by promotion in the 
 Connecticut militia. He was in the Legislature of 
 that State in 1833. He brought his family in a wagon 
 and landed here in August, 1837. He was the first 
 Postmaster in Wethersfield and held that position 
 from 1838 to 1849. He was one of the proprietors of 
 Kewanee, and was Postmaster at that place, hold- 
 that position until he died. He is affectionately re- 
 membered all over the county as one of the best men 
 that ever made the county his home. He settled on 
 the northwest quarter of section 4, where he really 
 lived until he died, Oct. 8, 1855. 
 
 M. B. Potter has long been one of the leading and 
 influential men of the county, and nearly all his life 
 
 since maturity has been spent in public office. He 
 was Sheriff, and arrested Root in a few minutes after 
 he (Root) had shot Jansen. He was re-elected ir 
 1852. He also served as County Judge, and now 
 
 <j> 
 
 and for many years has been a leading member of 
 the Board of Supervisors. Judge Potter is a liberal 
 and large-minded gentleman, a man of great natu- 
 ral force of character and at the same time of liberal 
 and broad culture, and full of those eminent qualities 
 of head and heart that deeply impress themselves 
 upon old friends and new acquaintances. He is one, 
 of those chosen few who contribute greatly toward 
 making this world a bright and cheerful place to 1 
 live in. 
 
 H. G. Little's father, Abner, came in 1837. He 
 was from Salem, N. H. He was the father of ten 
 children, all of whom came to Henry County. His 
 wife, Nancy Little, nee Nancy Tenny, of Hollis, N. 
 H., died July 7, 1847, aged 66 years. Abner Little 
 died Sept. 8, 1863, aged 89 years. 
 
 The colonists built a mill, and the evidences of^ 
 their lack of financial ability is given in the fact that&v 
 they expended over $9,000 on it, involved themselves 
 badly, and sold the whole concern to Jeduthan Hub- 
 bard for $2,000. Out of the long array of colonists_ 
 in the list of eager organizers, only four came West$^ 
 and personally aided the organization in killing ofiV 
 the horrid Pope of Rome, and thereby "brace up "(>) 
 the true God. These were Col. Blish, Charles Rich- 
 ards, Sullivan Howard and Francis Loomis. Selden 
 Miner sent his two sons, and Gardner Spring sent 
 one of his sons. Ithamar Pillsbury had his hands 
 full here at Andover. James E. Carson opened a 
 store in the settlement in r839, but closed out in less 
 than one year, leaving the people without a stor& 
 until Garey E. Smith opened his in 1845. In 1849 
 Daniel McClure opened a store, and the next year 
 William Blish commenced merchandising. 
 
 The first school-teacher was Parmelia Stewart, who 
 taught in the Old Colony log church. She was the 
 daughter of R. R. Stewart. She eventually laid 
 down the birch, and married Dr. Hume of Geneseo 
 
 Rev. Ithamar Pillsbury was the colonists' preach 
 er. He contracted to give them one- fourth of hisjf; 
 time. No regular Congregationalist Church was 
 organized until Oct 19, 1839. Pillsbury ministered 
 to the faithful nearly all over the county. He ante- 
 dated the " circuit-riders," for the substantial reason 
 
 1- 1 
 
HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 - 4 ? @&C <i 
 
 (> 
 
 * 
 & 
 
 0) 
 
 that he "footed" it. Clothed and shod in enthu- 
 siasm mostly, armed with a pocket Bible only, he 
 sallied forth and bared his breast to the pitiless 
 elements and the swollen streams, where no bridges 
 spanned their turbid waters,, the " wild varmints " 
 of the desolate plains, and everywhere proclaimed 
 the solemn and divine commands of peace on earth, 
 and down with the Papists ! Pillsbury was an 
 earnest, sincere and enthusiastic follower of Christ. 
 His deep and solemn convictions of his faith and 
 tenets never cooled, and there was but one road be- 
 fore him, the path of duty, and the more rugged and 
 difficult that way became the more eagerly and earn- 
 estly did he push his course along it. For many 
 years he was the leading and prominent figure in the 
 religious movements in the county, and when he 
 passed away from earth his flock sincerely mourned 
 the lo.ss of the Good Shepherd. 
 
 Rev. W. F. Vaill was sent as a missionary from 
 . Connecticut in November, 1838, and in the following 
 vear the Church was fully organized, at the house of 
 John H. Wells, with 15 members: Rev. Joseph 
 Goodrich and wife, Rev. Vaill, Nancy T. Little, Mrs. 
 Rhoda Blish, John H. Wells, Mrs. Julia Wells, L. C. 
 Sleight, Hosea Buckley and wife, Deacon Zenas 
 Hotchkiss and wife, and Francis Loomis. 
 
 The first election in Wethersfield precinct was 
 held in the little log cabin of Henry G. Little, in 
 August, 1837. The one room was i6xr8. Three 
 families were living in this room — Mr. Little's, Col. 
 S. Blish and W. H. Blish : the two latter had just 
 arrived in the county. There were two sick men in 
 the room— Hazel ton Page and W. H. Blish. This 
 was the state of affairs in the leading house of that 
 part of the county at that day, and where the sov- 
 ereigns met to cast their votes, talk over the pros- 
 pects of the country, and cheer each other up in 
 their new homes in the new country. It is said that 
 even Henry G. Little, — now of Grinnell, Iowa, who 
 loves to dwell on the good old times, and never ad- 
 mits there were any "hardships, — even he has been 
 known in forgetful moments to admit that on that 
 election day his cabin was " a little crowded T 
 
 Rev. Vaill remained Pastor eight years. Meet- 
 ings were generally held at Colonel Blish's, but 
 sometimes in other residences. In the summer of 
 1838 a log church was built, and this served the 
 worshipers until 1849, when a frame house was 
 
 erected. A parsonage was built in 185 1. When 
 the Kewanee Church was organized many of the 
 Congregation£.rists united - with that Church, and hi" 
 time about all went there. Rev. Samuel Ordway suc- 
 ceeded Vaill, and he remained three years. He in 
 turn was succeeded by Rev. Darius Gore, who re- 
 mained about the sarne length of time, when R. S. 
 Thrall came, who preached about 18 months. Then 
 Rev. W. T. Bartle was Pastor for two years ; then 
 the next 18 months Rev. Thomas Snell, and he was 
 succeeded by Rev. Robert Rudd — one year. Rev. 
 B. B. Parsons was installed Aug. T7, 1859. He was 
 followed by Rev. L. D. Pomeroy for four years, and 
 then came Rev. Rider, two years. Then W. T. Bar- 
 tie was again called and served them two years, and 
 this practically ended the separate existence of the 
 Wethersfield Church, and it became absorbed in the 
 Kewanee congregation. 
 
 The Methodist Episcopal Churfh was organized in 
 this settlement in 1841. Meetings were held in resi- 
 dences and the school-house until 1853, when a 
 building was put up. The building of the church 
 commenced, in i85r, but was not completed until 
 1853. Again, the Kewanee Methodist Episcopal 
 Church absorbed this church and it ceased to exist. 
 
 The Baptists commenced in 1843, w i tn eight mem- 
 bers : Elder Edward Otis, Charles B. Miner, Mary 
 G. Miner, Edward Otis, Merrill Otis, Hileman Otis, 
 Hannah and Sarah Otis. The first three above were 
 from Connecticut, and the others from Ohio. 
 
 The Church was too feeble for a regular Pastor, 
 and Elder Otis, Jonathan Miner and others of the 
 flock, and occasionally a preacher from abroad, of- 
 ficiated. Meetings were generally on the north side 
 of the grove, and sometimes in a school-house at the 
 west end, and often, when the weather was good, in 
 the open air. Elder Charles E. Tinker was secured 
 to preach one Sunday in each mouth, in 1845. ' Dur- 
 ing his ministrations the Church gradually trans- 
 ferred its membership to Annawan. Another Church 
 was then, established at Wethersfield, in May, 1851, 
 with eleven members : Ezekiel Cole, Mrs. Maria 
 Cole, John Ewing, Mrs. Keziah Ewing, Mrs. Jane, 
 White, Mrs. Susan Ellenwood, Mrs. Caroline Purvi- 
 ance, Mrs. Maria F. Miner, Charles B, Miner, Mrs. 
 Mary A. Miner and Austin Sykes. Elder J. M. 
 Stickney commenced preaching for these In July, 
 1852. He was succeeded by J. S. Mahan. The 
 
 I 
 
 9 
 
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 to 
 
 i-v^^f 
 
 ^QP- — @^MI@H!]<>^9 — ^€^ 
 
■e-T^BD&nifc-^B* 
 
 saT*^ 
 
 ^7^ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 827 
 
 i 
 
 > 
 
 XL 
 
 congregation dropped to nine members. ' In 1854 a 
 revival added about 50 new ones. Mahan resigned 
 in 1855. Dr. J. M. Winn for a short time, and then 
 Elder S. P. Ives succeeded. In 1856 it voted to 
 merge itself into the Kewanee Church. 
 
 YOBKTOWN TOWNSHIP. 
 
 HIS is the northeast township of the county 
 its boundary lines on the east and north, 
 being also the county lines. No part of it 
 is traversed by a railroad, and hence, to some 
 extent, its settlement was mostly the overflow 
 from the adjoining townships that were filling 
 so rapidly by the excitement of the first railroad 
 building in the county in 1853-4. 
 
 Four brothers, Jacob, Barnhart, John and Judah 
 Wolf and Benj. Goble and J. Luther, were the first 
 settlers. Of these, we suppose from the best obtain- 
 able authority, Benj. Goble and John Luther were 
 here first of all as permanent settlers. J. J. Wolf 
 still resides in the township, the only one remaining 
 of the first settlers. Phillip Ott, now a prominent 
 and wealthy citizen of Geneseo, came in 1854, and 
 to this fortunate fact is due mostly the coming of the 
 large settlement of Germans that are now thrifty 
 farmers in this part of the county. He was accom- 
 panied in his immigration here by his brother, Jacob 
 Ott. The two brothers came to this State and set- 
 tled in Cook County in 1836. They were a fine type 
 of the Pennsylvania Germans, whose great brick and 
 stone barns are the chief characteristics of the Ger- 
 man and American farmers of Pennsylvania. Phil- 
 ip Ott visited his old home and wrote to friends and 
 influenced Germans fresh from the fatherland to 
 come and look at the cheap, rich lands of this part 
 of Illinois. The first of the natives to come to the 
 township made their improvements, and after a few 
 years sold out to some new German arrival and 
 went West. Some of the Gobies went to Oregon. 
 
 The rush of immigration was in the high tide in 
 r855. Among these were George Seyller, from Du 
 Page County, George Clemens and John Gross. 
 
 A school-house was built in 1854 on section 30, 
 in the grove just west of the lake, and in this build- 
 ing was taught the first school by Delia Wilmot, who 
 came from Cook County. The building was a rough 
 log house, and it had been put up by the neighbors 
 
 I 
 
 interested gathering and doing the work without 
 money and without price. 
 
 Captain Charles Jack was an Englishman who had 
 worn his spurs in the British army, where he had 
 served long and faithfully. When he came to this 
 country he brought large wealth with him and invest- 
 ed much of it in Illinois lands, and improved a very 
 extensive farm near Shabbona Grove. A gentleman 
 now living in Geneseo informs us that when a boy 
 he saw Captain Jack's teams breaking the fresh prai- 
 rie land where it was five miles each round of the 
 furrow, and the Captain, with an old drawn-down 
 chip hat, dropping corn in the fresh-turned sod. 
 This was a common way of planting the first corn 
 crop at one time. The corn would be dropped every 
 third or fourth furrow and it would sprout and come 
 between the edges of the sod, and was never touched 
 while growing with plow or hoe, and sometimes it 
 would produce by this simple culture a fair crop. 
 
 Captain Jack was a man of remarkable enterprise, 
 liberality and great force of character. His will was 
 iron, and in defense of any of his rights, small or 
 great, he would go to the courts and pour out his 
 money with a lavish hand. He seemingly cared 
 nothing for money, but would wreck a world if he 
 could in defense of a principle. He was charitable 
 and liberal and would give without stint where he 
 imagined the favor asked was honest and deserving, 
 but woe betide him who attempted by force or fraud 
 to wrong him of a cent. 
 
 A short time before the late war he went South on 
 one of his annual winter visits and invested largely / 
 in sugar plantations and slaves, and then expended 
 large amounts of money in improving his Southern 
 property. When the war came all this investment 
 was swept away in the fortunes of war. 
 
 Captain Jack died in St. Louis. His death was 
 sudden and very sad. He left surviving only a 
 daughter, who is married and a resident of Rock Isl- 
 and, and is one of the wealthiest women in this part 
 of Illinois. 
 
 The Evangelical Association was organized in 
 185 1, at the house of Peter Luther, with 17' mem- 
 bers. It soon increased to over 200. A church build- 
 ing was erected in 1867 on section 27, at a cost of 
 $3,000. The first pastor was secured in 1854, Rev. 
 William Kalb ; then John Schneider, J. C. Anthus, 
 J. C. Spielman, John Dengel, R. Rothermund, A. 
 Heilman, Joseph Schnee, M. Heyl, A. Gockley, P. 
 Himmel, E. Freeden, M. Hegel, V. Forkel, A. Go'et- 
 schel, A. Wseher, C. Gagstetter. 
 
 
 
 ¥£ 
 
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 BIOGI^JBIJHSpa 
 
 \k> 
 
 • >i $ o.g^<B)ill>^sao •§—£<• 
 
 
 (!) 
 
 Ackerman, Casper 716 
 
 Adams, Harriet K 700 
 
 Adams, John 23 
 
 Adams, John Quincy 39 
 
 Adams, Moses 562 
 
 Adams,Dr. W. W 424 
 
 Albro, A. W 461 
 
 Aldeen, A. E 307 
 
 Aldrich, Earl P 305 
 
 Aldrich, Henry S ....700 
 
 Allan, James M 284 
 
 Allan, Rev. W. T 326 
 
 Allen, John H 672 
 
 Allen, Royce. ... , 700 
 
 Anderson, A. E 275 
 
 Anderson, A. G 534 
 
 Anderson, A.J 361 
 
 Anderson, A. L 197 
 
 Anderson, August 211 
 
 Anderson, Edward 262 
 
 Anderson, J. 226 
 
 Anderson, John 277 
 
 Andrews, Bela 478 
 
 Andrews, James 515 
 
 Angell, Henry L 430 
 
 Armstrong John 627 
 
 Arnett, George , 3x9 
 
 Arnett, Samuel 240 
 
 Arnett, William 689 
 
 Arthur, Chester A 99 
 
 Ash,E. H 361 
 
 Atkinson, Charles 700 
 
 Atwater, Robert 192 
 
 Austin, William 449 
 
 Ayers, Buenos 381 
 
 B 
 
 1 Bachus, James. 216 
 
 Bailey, R. F 497 
 
 ( Baird, F. N 477 
 
 Baker, W. P 718 
 
 Barge, David B 727 
 
 Barker,S. N 625 
 
 Barlow, Andrew 344 
 
 Barnes, Wm. L , 504 
 
 Barrett, James M 701 
 
 Bartlett, C. K 251 
 
 Bartlett, Wm. C 700 
 
 Bass, Henry 718 
 
 Bassett, Chauncey 650 
 
 Batton, R 720 
 
 Bauer, Charles 499 
 
 Baum, Charles 434 
 
 Beals, R. F 215 
 
 Becht, Anton 432 
 
 Beck, Alfred 701 
 
 Beckwith, P. W 240 
 
 Bell, Edward 563 
 
 Bell, T. F ....249 
 
 Benedict, Geo. W 557 
 
 Bennett, Sterling 404 
 
 Beveridge, John L 171 
 
 Bigelow, Hiram 706 
 
 Billings, John 200 
 
 Bissell, William H 151 
 
 Black, Jerome 575 
 
 Blackfan, Elizabeth K 701 
 
 Blair, Tames, 647 
 
 Blakely, James P 723 
 
 Blish, Charles C 694 
 
 Blish, J. K 687 
 
 Blish, Sylvester 641 
 
 Blish, William H 692 
 
 Bliss, Hosea F 517 
 
 Blodgett, M rs. E.J 700 
 
 Boice, Robert D 223 
 
 Bolen, Thomas 522 
 
 Bolles, Jesse 426 
 
 Bolles, Wm. A 427 
 
 Boltenstern, Wm 212 
 
 Bond, Shadrach in 
 
 Boomer, Henry 561 
 
 Booth, R. P 493 
 
 Bothwell, L. R 361 
 
 Bowen, W. A 488 
 
 Boyd, John, Sr 700 
 
 Boyd, Robert 668 
 
 Brady, Thomas 495 
 
 Brainard,W. E 448 
 
 Brandenburg, Francis M 700 
 
 Brandenburg, George 700 
 
 Brasel, Lewis 664 
 
 Brawley, Wm. H 433 
 
 Breckenridge, J. E 626 
 
 Brittain, Jerome 700 
 
 Broadbent, Robert.. 685 
 
 Broadbent, William 438 
 
 Bronson, Ethel V 611 
 
 Brooks, C. H 637 
 
 Broughton, W. F 300 
 
 Brown, B. J 517 
 
 Brown , Garrett 629 
 
 Brown, George 252 
 
 Brown, T. Scott. 679 
 
 Browning, Joshua 700 
 
 Browning, Preston 700 
 
 Brush, Joseph B 297 
 
 Bryan, Cornelius 700 
 
 Bryan, Dr. J. L 228 
 
 Buchanan, James 75 
 
 Buck, G. W 413 
 
 Buell, Christian 345 
 
 Buelt, John 708 
 
 Burgeson, Axel 206 
 
 Burn,R. B 684 
 
 Burns, J. M 583 
 
 Burns, John 594 
 
 Busenbark, D. N 638 
 
 Busenbark, Redding 700 
 
 Butzer, Adam 360 
 
 Butzer,Geo. F 228 
 
 Cady, Hiram J 276 
 
 Cahow, G. W 639 
 
 Cain, Thomas 213 
 
 Caldwell, J. V 666 
 
 Calhoun, Andrew 395 
 
 Calkins, Anson 355 
 
 Campbell, L. C 244 
 
 Carlin, Thomas 135 
 
 Carlsson, Rev. Erland 711 
 
 Carson, Hugh G 613 
 
 Carter, George A 307 
 
 Carter, John N 613 
 
 Chamberlain , Samuel 461 
 
 Chamberlin, Lee 382 
 
 Chapin, Rev. Jason 354 
 
 Chapman, John W 551 
 
 Charles, Wm. S 371 
 
 Chesley, T. H 485 
 
 Chilberg, Leander 377 
 
 Chinburg, Andrew 276 
 
 Chisnall, John. 482 
 
 Churchill, John 606 
 
 Clark, Samuel 701 
 
 Clarke, John P 690 
 
 Clarke, William 442 
 
 Clay, W. L 240 
 
 Cleveland, S. Grover 103 
 
 Clough, H. V , . .. .349 
 
 Clow, E. C 707 
 
 Colbert, George A 701 
 
 Colbert, Washington B 701 
 
 Cole, A. B 528 
 
 Cole, Joshua 628 
 
 Cole, L. J 726 
 
 Coles, Edward 115 
 
 Combs, John L 411 
 
 Cone, Elisha 262 
 
 Cone, Reuben 700 
 
 Conover, S. N 448 
 
 Cook, F. A 653 
 
 Corkhill, John J 507 
 
 Cornell, William 380 
 
 Cosner, Jacob 516 
 
 Cosner, Wm. H 523 
 
 Countryman, A 271 
 
 Cowl, E. T 624 
 
 Cox, Joseph F 384 
 
 Cox, F. J 701 
 
 Cox, Mrs. Juliett 371 
 
 Crane, A. A 493 
 
 Crane, E. M 667 
 
 Crawford, J. W 556 
 
 Cree, James H 204 
 
 Crook, Asa 269 
 
 Crossley, Hiram 393 
 
 Crouch, R. G 532 
 
 Crouch, Silas 397 
 
 Cullom, Shelby M 175 
 
 Curry, S. I ..199 
 
 I 
 
 
 j^c — e^Hw^s — ^^^ 
 
# 
 
 ■^^sr- — @V4S1I 0@B H& v r c) ^ #g»g- 
 
 -eeS 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 1 
 
 D 
 
 Dairy mple, Wm. L. ........ . .6Q9 
 
 Davenport, Charles W 701 
 
 Davenport, T. F r8g 
 
 Davis,. J. G 457 
 
 Day, George 499 
 
 Dean, John H 222 
 
 Deem, Jacob L 282 
 
 Deem, S. V .564 
 
 Deets, Jackson 456 
 
 Derby, J. F 251 
 
 Dewitt. Henry ..38.5 
 
 Dickey, D. T 578 
 
 Dickey, S . H , 602 
 
 Dickinson, Dr. J. D 512 
 
 DilenBeck, Myron H 423 
 
 Dinnick, L. F 191 
 
 Dodge, James P 699 
 
 Dorr, B. M 680 
 
 Douglas, S^S 244 
 
 Dubbs, J. H 351 
 
 Duff, George 480 
 
 Dunbar, Washington -.481 
 
 Duncan, James ^-243 
 
 Duncan, Joseph 131 
 
 Dunlap, Adam '686 
 
 Dunlap, G. W., M. D 197. 
 
 Durmann, Joseph 513 
 
 Dyal, Amos 337 
 
 Dyson, E. K 456 
 
 a; ' 
 
 (!) 
 
 Eaton, Hugh 415 
 
 Edgerton, S. E 207 
 
 Edwards, J.C... 204 
 
 Edwards, Milton F 723 
 
 Edwards, Ninian.. ng 
 
 Eldridge, Benj. S 513 
 
 Ellingsworth, J..S 704 
 
 Elliott, George D. v 634 
 
 Elliott, Zadock 457 
 
 Emmert, George S .700 
 
 Emmert, Philip 390 
 
 Engdahl, John 416 
 
 Engle, H. B 523 
 
 Epperson, J. W 700 
 
 Espey., Walker 512 
 
 Everett, J. H 373 
 
 Everett, R. F 412 
 
 Ewing, W. L. D 127 
 
 Kyer, Francis H 467 
 
 F 
 
 Farwell, Edwin 321 
 
 Fell, James. 526 
 
 ) Ferguson, George 349 
 
 Ferris, Sylvan us 700 
 
 Fickling, Jacob 658 
 
 Fierce, Wilson. 665 
 
 Fillmore, Millard 67 
 
 Finch, John T 388 
 
 Fisher, H. V .-..383 
 
 , Fitch, E. E 366 
 
 Fitch, Thomas 700 
 
 Flagg, Nahum H 500 
 
 Fleming, John 362 
 
 Fleming, R. W 367 
 
 Follett, Abram H 470 
 
 Follett, John M 700 
 
 Ford, M. M ...585 
 
 Ford, Thomas 139 
 
 Foster, Alfred P 233 
 
 Foster, J. P 728 
 
 Francis, Morrison 727 
 
 Frank, Jacob 242 
 
 Fraser, W. A 241 
 
 Freeman, Pliny.. 438 
 
 French, Augustus C 143 
 
 Fritzsche, Frederick 351 
 
 Fronk, Joseph 442 
 
 Fronk, Levi 565 
 
 Fry, Abraham 603 
 
 Furst, August 666 
 
 Gabrielson, Eric. 518 
 
 Gager, Dr. George 700 
 
 Gaines, C. H 620 
 
 Gaines, Nelson 348 
 
 Gamble, S. A 241 
 
 (Gamble, T.W. 575 
 
 Gardiner, John L 407 
 
 Garfield, James A ^ 95 
 
 Garland, George 700 
 
 Garnett,_ Robert 271 
 
 Garrison, Robert M 194 
 
 Gaster, James... .525 
 
 Gibson, Job 265 
 
 Gierhart, C. G.... 406 
 
 Gilbert, E. C 250 
 
 Gilbert, N. C ; 447 
 
 Gilbert, O. E....... 43 i 
 
 Gilbraith, James 222 
 
 Gilfillan, Joshua 478 
 
 Glenn, James 239 
 
 Glenn, Thomas 700 
 
 Glenn, Thomas W 315 
 
 Glenn, William ...322 
 
 Gochenouer, Cristena 521 
 
 Gochenbuer, William L 577 
 
 Goembel_, Henry 524 
 
 Goembel, Samuel .405 
 
 Good, S. W 659 
 
 Goodell, B . H 281 
 
 Goodell, L. B 700 
 
 Goodley, Ainger 643 
 
 Goodrich, George 553 
 
 Goodrich , J oseph .'.... 700 
 
 Goodrich, Wm. R --479 
 
 Goold, H. L 552 
 
 Goshorn, G. W 476 
 
 Goss, John 310 
 
 Goss, John W 22g 
 
 Gottsche, John Jacob 468 
 
 Gould , A mos 230 
 
 Gould, N. B 567 
 
 Gradert, William 191 
 
 Grammar, John H 345 
 
 Grammar, William G 332 
 
 Grant, A. W 205 
 
 Grant, Daniel 342 
 
 Grant, Ulysses S 87 
 
 Graves, C. S ., 249 
 
 Graves, Emery C 309 
 
 Greene, Thomas 366 
 
 Greenlee, James. 421 
 
 Gresser, F. E '691 
 
 Griffin, Henry G 337 
 
 Grove, W. A., M. D 509 
 
 Gunther, Frederick * 665 
 
 Gustafson, A. P. P 455 
 
 Gustus, Nelson : 213 
 
 H 
 
 HaafT, H. H. .651 
 
 Hachtel, George 488 
 
 Hadley, Brittan 586 
 
 Hadley, Jeremiah 597 
 
 HadsalI,J. S 36s 
 
 Hagin , Daniel 547 
 
 Hagin, John B 701 
 
 Hallgren , Oscar. — — 649 
 
 Hamilton, James S 475 
 
 Hamilton, John M 179 
 
 Hamilton, Levi A 479 
 
 Hammond, F. N. ..; 614 
 
 Hammond, Joseph 425 
 
 Hammond, Peter 378 
 
 Hammond, Wm. T 199 
 
 Hand, Henry 235 
 
 Hand, J. P 721 
 
 Hanna, H. N 1 .270 
 
 Hanna, J. M .369 
 
 Hanna, John P 701 
 
 Hnnna, Peter. .'. 393 
 
 jHanna, Rev. P: K 369 
 
 Harbaugh, Wm... 341 
 
 Harkness, D. D .....200 
 
 Harms, Henry 642 
 
 Harper,. Joshua '. 346 
 
 Harrington, Ransom 237 
 
 Harrington, S. M 417 
 
 Harrison, Wm. H 51 
 
 Hathaway, A. F '. 576 
 
 Hawkins, Wm. G... 423 
 
 Haxby, Harriet E 522 
 
 Haxby, Wm 712 
 
 Haxtun , W . E 653 
 
 Hayden, A. R 209 
 
 Hayes, Cornelius 387 
 
 Hayes, E. K ' .678 
 
 Hayes, Rutherford B 91 
 
 Heaps, C. L ...610 
 
 Heaps, I. G 194 
 
 ' Heaps, J. P 683 
 
 Heaps, Wm. G 384 
 
 Heath, Jesse R., Jr ^511 
 
 Hellyer, Izri 399 
 
 Henderson, John 471 
 
 Henderson, Robert 404 
 
 Henderson, T. S ..238 
 
 Henney, Daniel 248 
 
 Henney, Peter .270 
 
 Herbner, Herman....^ 504 
 
 Herdien, Peter. ..508 
 
 Herman, Henry 39! 
 
 Hier, H. G. v ,....407 I 
 
 Hill, George W 7°* 
 
 Hill, John D 548 
 
 Hill. William T ,.565 
 
 Hillery, Herman H 207 
 
 Hinman, A. V .* .330 
 
 Hinman, Elliott ......610 
 
 Hinman, Julius S ......354 
 
 Hinman, R. H 386 
 
 Hinman, William W 389 
 
 Hirschbarger, H .....726 
 
 Hofland, Charles J 625 
 
 Holland, EH.... 372 
 
 Holmes, Patterson... 700 
 
 Holzinger, George ..._. -.411 
 
 Hoppins, Henry J- , M. D..325 
 
 Hoppins, Annie M ;-3 2 S 
 
 Hoppock, Lewis". 588 
 
 Hoppock, Wesley 5 10 
 
 Horn, John W 203 
 
 Houghton, Mrs. C C 213 
 
 Houghton, E. W 631, 
 
 Houghton, Henry E 207 
 
 Houghton, John M.... 404 
 
 Houghton, Sarah. 216 
 
 Howe, Gen. John H. 587 
 
 Howell, Charles G 632 
 
 Howell, L. W 223 
 
 Howell, T. J 208 
 
 Howland. Wm-.G 495 
 
 Howlette, G. C 7*% 
 
 Hubbard, Jeduthan , . .701 . 
 
 Hubbard, Rufus ..;.. 701 
 
 Huffman, Abraham....- 388 
 
 Huffman, C. L .7. .bio 
 
 Hulin, B. 1 642 
 
 Hume, Dr. S- T ..700 
 
 Humphrey, H. F 578 
 
 Hunt, Anthony 7 01 
 
 Hunt, Lewis E 605 
 
 Hunter, J. M. H .". -: 621 
 
 Huntington, Nathan B 299 
 
 Hurd, Lewis, M. D ^...677 
 
 Hurlbutt, F. A..' -.--377 
 
 Irvin, Wm. 
 
 ■654 
 
 Jacobson, Jacob 425 
 
 Jackson, Andrew 43 
 
 Jagger, Albert 701 
 
 Jefferds, Phineas M 363 
 
 Jefferson, Thomas 27 
 
 Jennings, J . L 531 
 
 Jennings, Mrs. Susan H 359 
 
 Jewell, C. G.: ...573 
 
 Johnson, Andrew............ 83 
 
 Johnson, Andrew...... 721 
 
 Johnson i Olof. 364 
 
 Johnson, Edward 481 
 
 Johnson, Frank F.. 264 
 
 Johnson,. George W .....380. 
 
 Johnson, Gust ... . ..601 
 
 Johnson, Henry 630 „ 
 
 Johnson,' Marshall .. . ....... .205 
 
 % 
 
 £^@*f«- 
 
 ■^^^ — @jA^mi®irai>^ 
 
 ~ 
 
■6*b<*iiii® ana /c) j^ s- 
 
 -em 
 
 §*^ 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 <!> 
 
 -«) 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 ;4> 
 
 
 Johnson, Norman 454 
 
 , Johnson. Peter. 503 
 
 Johnson, Peter G 624 
 
 Johnson, Swan P 267 
 
 Johnson, S. W 206 
 
 Johnston, James 489 
 
 Johnston James 7 2 5 
 
 Jones, R. W 599 
 
 Jones, Orson 604 
 
 K 
 
 Kaiser, Frederick 606 
 
 Keel, Henry D 370 
 
 Keeler, P. B 5 86 
 
 Keleher, Daniel L 416 
 
 Kelly, William 409 
 
 Kemerling, Elbert P 386 
 
 Keramerling, Jacob 701 
 
 Kemmis, C. H .261 
 
 Kemmis, Frank E 261 
 
 Kemmis, W m . H 704 
 
 Kennish, W. E 462 
 
 Kent, Charles 609 
 
 Ketch um, Daniel 595 
 
 Kiner, H. L 257 
 
 King, RufusD...., 5g 8 
 
 Kingdon, J. M 405 
 
 Kinsey, J. C 638 
 
 Kirkland, William 486 
 
 Knorr, Erasmus 292 
 
 Knudde, Peter 722 
 
 Kramer, Barnhart 7x7 
 
 Kreidler, Oscar 663 
 
 Kuhl, Henry 567 
 
 L 
 
 Lafferty,A. B 193 
 
 Laird, John 500 
 
 Laird, S. J 459 
 
 Larson, A. G 612 
 
 Larson, A. G 454 
 
 Larzon, John , 724 
 
 Larson, John A 515 
 
 Lawson, Andrew P 451 
 
 Lay. Hiram T 622 
 
 Lay, Nelson 627 
 
 Lay, S. H 364 
 
 Lee, Wm. B 643 
 
 Lester, Charles. 701 
 
 Lewen, John 383 
 
 Lewis, John 434 
 
 Lewis, Samuel A 724 
 
 Lieberknecht, A 620 
 
 Like, Rev. H. H 458 
 
 Liken, Thomas 440 
 
 Lilley, Wm 692 
 
 Lincoln. Abraham 79 
 
 Lincoln, George H 701 
 
 Lindquist, Gustaf 253 
 
 Linnell, R. E 644 
 
 Linton, Robert 623 
 
 Little, Abner T 701 
 
 Little, C. J. T 661 
 
 Little. Henry G 70* 
 
 Little, R. Augustus 639 
 
 Little, William T 701 
 
 Litton, Isaac 482 
 
 Long, Dr. H. H 428 
 
 Long, Jacob 57° 
 
 Long, J. H 573 
 
 Long, John 449 
 
 Long, John S 705 
 
 Long, Thomas 209 
 
 Loomis George H 498 
 
 Loomis, 0. H...., 1640 
 
 Looney, Robert 392 
 
 Love, John 379 
 
 Love, William 644 
 
 Lovejoy, H. W 688 
 
 Lowry, N. H., M. D 373 
 
 Loyd, M. R 236 
 
 Luther, David 615 
 
 Lyle, James 680 
 
 Lyle, John 541 
 
 Lyle, Thomas ' . .591 
 
 Lyman, W. H 595 
 
 Lyon, Henry L .324 
 
 Lyon, Lyman 524 
 
 M 
 
 Machesney, D. L., M.D 263 
 
 Mackey, A. A 518 
 
 Madison, James 31 
 
 Maher, Alexander 342 
 
 Maine, Thomas H 702 
 
 Mannon, J. H., M. D 603 
 
 Manville, Henry 322 
 
 Marshall, Stephen 701 
 
 Marston, Ira D 664 
 
 Martin, C. H 281 
 
 Mascall, James 558 
 
 Mascall, Richard 289 
 
 Mathews, Ambrose 671 
 
 Mathews, Simeon 511 
 
 Matteson, Joel A 147 
 
 Matteson, L. F... 696 
 
 Maul, Adolph 597 
 
 McClanahan, A. M., M. D...506 
 
 McClure, W. B 447 
 
 M cDermolt , John 250 
 
 McDonald, F. M 516 
 
 McFarland, Andrew 701 
 
 McFarland, Reuben . - .422 
 
 McHenry, Daniel B 701 
 
 McHenry, George 280 
 
 McHenry, William 436 
 
 McHenry, T .J 400 
 
 McKane,T. F 387 
 
 McKibbons, Mrs. Jane 398 
 
 McMeeken, Wm 444 
 
 McNeely, John C 450 
 
 McNeill, James 33 2 
 
 Meatman, Adam 340 
 
 Melloy, John 7°4 
 
 Melvin, G. T 453 
 
 Messmore, Henry 440 
 
 Messmore, Jacob, Jr 679 
 
 Metcalf,Prof.W. A v 313 
 
 Milar, R. W 242 
 
 Milchrist, Thomas E 385 
 
 Milem, John 444 
 
 Miles, Eric 701 
 
 Miles, S. T 630 
 
 Miller, Abram 315 
 
 Miller, James F 701 
 
 Miller, Rev. M. J 356 
 
 Miller, Mrs. Phebe 701 
 
 Miller, Thomas 703 
 
 Miller, Wm 477 
 
 Minard, Solomon 452 
 
 Minnick, W. A 633 
 
 Mitchell, James H 291 
 
 Mix, Edward A 702 
 
 Mock, Anthony R 279 
 
 Mock, John 717 
 
 Moderwell, E. G 224 
 
 Moffitt, J. B 699 
 
 Monesmith, Henry 332 
 
 Monroe, James 35 
 
 Moon, Ann 681 
 
 M oon , Seth H 491 
 
 Moori, Stephen 506 
 
 Moore, Robert 600 
 
 Morgan, Alonzo 536 
 
 Morgan, A. R 374 
 
 Morgan, John N .394 
 
 Morton, Joseph 526 
 
 Moses, H. W 427 
 
 Munson, Merritt 324 
 
 Murchison, Alexander 684 
 
 Murchison, D. L 64T 
 
 Murchison, Kenneth 658 
 
 Murchison, Roderick 490 
 
 Murphy, A. F 572 
 
 Mussey, Henry 226 
 
 M ussey , Wm. A 255 
 
 N 
 
 Nelson, Charles 582 
 
 Nelson, Robert 659 
 
 Newman, J. H 340 
 
 Newman, W. L 417 
 
 Newton, John 662 
 
 Nichols, J. C, M. D 603 
 
 Nightingale, John 494 
 
 Norling, John E 510 
 
 North, Levi 593 
 
 Nowers, John F 236 
 
 Nowers, Thomas, Sr 312 
 
 Nowers, Thomas, Jr 272 
 
 Nowers, William 300 
 
 o 
 
 Odeman, J- E 722 
 
 Odine, Malcom 330 
 
 Oglesby, Richard J 163 
 
 Ole, Heniy W .574 
 
 Oliver, Andrew 702 
 
 Oliver, William 497 
 
 Olson, Eric 702 
 
 Olson, Jonas W ,719 
 
 Ordway, Stephen 600 
 
 Orr, James 573 
 
 Osborn , M arcus B 702 
 
 Ott, Philip 328 
 
 Ours, Wm 505 
 
 Owen, John 427 
 
 p 
 
 Paddelford, Hannah 703 
 
 Paddelford, J. H 410 
 
 Paden, Isaac 703 
 
 Page, J. H 672 
 
 Palmer, George D 3go 
 
 Palmer, Grove N 697 
 
 Palmer, John M 167 
 
 Parish , R ufus P 703 
 
 Parker, Ira 508 
 
 Parsons, John S 529 
 
 Patterson, O. H 414 
 
 Patty, David 490 
 
 Paul, R. B 437 
 
 Payne, Richard 609 
 
 Payton, L. F 343 
 
 Peck, C. A 333 
 
 Penny, Solomon 703 
 
 Peregoy, G. W 339 
 
 Perkinson, Edward 572 
 
 Perry, A. W 283 
 
 Peterson, A. M 707 
 
 Peterson, Andrew 430 
 
 Peterson, E. A 480 
 
 Peterson, P. A 450 
 
 Peterson, Peter B 208 
 
 Peterson, Samuel 543 
 
 Peterson, S . P .' 487 
 
 Pettit, Samuel 527 
 
 Phillips, G. B 574 
 
 Piatt, John L 394 
 
 Piatt,J.T 398 
 
 Pierce, Franklin 71 
 
 Pierce, Rev. John T 331 
 
 Pillsbury, Caleb 703 
 
 Pillsbury, George B 327 
 
 Pillsbury, Ithamar ,...703 
 
 Pillsbury, Levi 341 
 
 Polk, James K 59 
 
 Pomeroy, George 258 
 
 Poppleton, George 542 
 
 Poppy, Henry . ..' 398 
 
 Poppy, John Henry 703 
 
 Poppy, William 392 
 
 Potter, David 703 
 
 Potter, John P 703 
 
 Potter, Matthew B 713 
 
 Pratt, N. H 681 
 
 Price, Obed 596 
 
 Pritchard, Henry 269 
 
 Pritchard, H. W ....429 
 
 Pritchard, Robert L 295 
 
 Pritchard, Samuel 219 
 
 Pritchard, Samuel 298 
 
 Pyle, Isaac... 669 
 
 R 
 
 Randall, Samuel B 311 
 
 Records, Benj 533 
 
 Redus, John 198 
 
 Reese, Thomas 527 
 
 Reese, T. W 278 
 
 Repine, Wm. M 714 
 
 Reynolds, John 123 
 
 Richards, L. H 530 
 
 Richardson , E . D 547 
 
 Richmond, Isaiah 460 
 
 Ridenour, John B 347 
 
 Riley, James 685 
 
 Ringle, James 584 
 
 Ringle, John 660 
 
 Robb, John 544 
 
 Robb, Joseph 491 
 
 Roberts, Wm 531 
 
 Robertson, T. M 413 
 
 Robinson, Dr. John L 482 
 
 Robinson, N.H 703 
 
 Robinson, Wm. R 703 
 
 Robinson, Wm. L 278 
 
 Robinson, Wm. L 545 
 
 Rockafellow, Abraham J 601 
 
 
 (D 
 
 *4?M 
 
HENRY COUNTY, 
 
 % 
 
 (•> 
 
 Si 
 
 I 
 
 Rogers, John 507 
 
 Roos, Jacob 695 
 
 Ross, Martin 350 
 
 Rosseter, E . C 602 
 
 Rosseter, F. S 596 
 
 Rowe,G. W 256 
 
 Ruggles, Isaac D 1 470 
 
 Rule, Alex 494 
 
 Rumler, Henry...; 708 
 
 Rummell, George 467 
 
 Rutledge, Wm v 205 
 
 Ryan, Michael 647 
 
 1 s 
 
 Sadler, James 657 
 
 Sale, J.H.,M.D 247 
 
 Samuelson, August ... 556 
 
 Samuelson, Charles M ..'.668 
 
 Samuelson, Tohn 616 
 
 Sand , Henry 7 11 
 
 Sand , Philip 310 
 
 Sargent, D. F 308 
 
 Sargent, A. F. 334 
 
 Sawyer, J. A 286 
 
 Schmitt, Blazy 492 
 
 Schnahele, P. S 35* 
 
 Schoettler, John A . . . 555 
 
 Schoonover, R. F 437 
 
 Schrader, G. H 582 
 
 Schwab, Samuel.. 486 
 
 Scott, Henry 49 2 
 
 Scott, John, Sr 628 
 
 Sears, John . 577 
 
 Searls, John 703 
 
 Seaton, B. W 528 
 
 Seioel, Wm 40° 
 
 Seyller, Conrad 605 
 
 Seymour, Arba M...: 703 
 
 Shearer, Lewis 42* 
 
 Shanahan, Henry 683 
 
 Shattuck, A.F ...280 
 
 Shaw, Emer E 584 
 
 Shaw, Jonathan . 581 
 
 Sheldon, Luther 702 
 
 Shepard, Wm. H 352 
 
 Sheppard, R. L 703 
 
 Shere,JohnE 412 
 
 Sherman, Augustus *---459 
 
 Sherrard, Wm 532 
 
 Shetler, J. W ...462 
 
 Shinn, C. A 268 
 
 Shively, Jacob 403 
 
 Shult, Hons 706 
 
 Shumway, S- B 702 
 
 Sickler, Albert 344 
 
 Sieben, John 592 
 
 Sieben, Leonard 424 
 
 Sieben, Valentine 313 
 
 Simmons, W. H 297 
 
 Slater, J ames 308 
 
 Slawson, Lewis 309 
 
 Sleight, Halman A 703 
 
 Sleight, Henry C 703 
 
 Sleight, John D. K 703 
 
 Sleight,' Luther C 703 
 
 'Smiley, J. C., M. D 682 
 
 Smith, Charles 268 
 
 Smith, Charles 408 
 
 Smith, D.H 529 
 
 Smith, Jacob 298 
 
 Smith, Jared H ....571 
 
 Smith, John F 473, 
 
 " Smith, John H 534 
 
 Smith, Wm 443 
 
 Smith, Wm. B .458 
 
 Smith, Wm. J ..368 
 
 Snow, Lyman 703 
 
 Soliday, Andrew. ., .293 
 
 South, E. A ..*. .669 
 
 Spelgel, E. F :...'/ .''U.6go 
 
 Spivey,J. R 210 
 
 Stabler, John 670. 
 
 Stackhouse, Wm .703 
 
 Stafford, B. 1 272 
 
 Stahl, Fred >. . - . -552 
 
 Steele, Robert F , 286 
 
 Stenholm, John E 329 
 
 Stickney, Henry 581 
 
 Stewart, Elisha M 314 
 
 Stewart, Isaac N 703 
 
 Stewart, John P 320 
 
 Stewart, Roderick R 703 
 
 Stickney, Alfred 234 
 
 Stickney, Wm. C..." 250 
 
 Stimson, Liberty. .. 2g4 
 
 Stitt, James 339 
 
 Stokes, Young 320 
 
 Stonebei'g, Andrew 408 
 
 Stoneberg, John E 399 
 
 Storey, Elijah 649 
 
 Storey, Janus.?**- 672 
 
 Stoughton, H. E.. 546 
 
 Stowell, Lyman ,: - .474 
 
 Strohecker, David 631 
 
 Sullivan, Henry 703 
 
 Sullivan, Samuel 703 
 
 Sultzer, Charles F 495 
 
 Sundberg, John D 409 
 
 iSunquist, Andrew 631 
 
 Swain, W. H 535 
 
 SwansQn, A. P 410 
 
 Swanson, G. A 367 
 
 Swanson, John A 612 
 
 Swanson John M . 300 
 
 Swanson, John V 372 
 
 Swanson, Swan 343 
 
 Sweney, Paul A 334 
 
 Swensson, John S 451 
 
 Sw.iger, Carl 553 
 
 Sykes, Austin 703 
 
 T 
 
 Talcott, A. H .■ 422 
 
 Taylor, Christopher G 493 
 
 Taylor, D. P., M. D 689 
 
 Taylor,H. R 713 
 
 Taylor, John 396 
 
 Taylor, John H 691 
 
 Taylor, O. P 212 
 
 Taylor, P. H 468 
 
 Taylor, Zachary 63 
 
 Tee, William B . . .721 
 
 Tenney, Charles F 702 
 
 Tenney, RalphA... 702 
 
 Terpening, Wm. H 554 
 
 Thayer, M. S 220 
 
 Thayer, S . M 222 
 
 Thomas, B. H 262 
 
 Thompson, C. H 4g8 
 
 Thompson, Fred 230 
 
 "Thornton, N, W 266 
 
 ^n — &A$IM< 
 
 Thorp, John J 219 
 
 Tibbetts.N. W 667 
 
 Tilden, O. E ...485 
 
 Tillson, Joseph 702 
 
 Timberlake, G. W ,..702 
 
 Timberlake, J. M.... 702 
 
 Timberlake, R. D ,,...214 
 
 Townsend, Eben. 702 
 
 Tracy, James A. .. . .476 
 
 Tracy, Joab 221 
 
 Tracy, Wm. R 220 
 
 Trego, HarrisOn 345 
 
 ,Tufts, John „....; 3*4 
 
 Turner, L. W 220 
 
 Tyler, Ebejiezer 702 
 
 Tyler," George 702 
 
 Tyler, John.. 55 
 
 u 
 
 "Underwood, A. D 213 
 
 Urban , Ch ristian 475 
 
 v 
 
 Van Aulacn, Fletcher 469 
 
 Van Buren, Martin 47 
 
 Van Housen, Charles 564 
 
 Van Landschoot, Mary J 418 
 
 Vannice, Wm. J 702 
 
 Van Winkle,, Adrian.. . 702 
 
 Vawter, G - A >, 633 
 
 Vincent, Aunt Polly 702 
 
 w 
 
 Wa-bo-kies-shiek 657 
 
 Wachs, John 545 
 
 Waite, George E 329 
 
 Walker, George. -... ..563 
 
 WalHne, P. E :. ......623 
 
 Walsh, Thomas .678 
 
 Walters, Ebenezer 702 
 
 Warner, A. O 489 
 
 Warner, John K ..506 
 
 Warner, O. R .499 
 
 Warner, S. W 629" 
 
 Warner, W. W ...619 
 
 Warnock, James 432 
 
 Washburn, Abisha 702 
 
 Washburn, Chauncey E 702 
 
 Washburn, Lucinda 703 
 
 Washburn, N.W 406 
 
 Washington, George. ig 
 
 Waterman, Levi ^265 
 
 Watson, Joseph : . . .712 
 
 Wayne, Wm _ 4^5 
 
 Weaver, Peter 415 
 
 Webb, Hiram.. 698 
 
 Webb, J. C. 441 
 
 Weidlein, John 698 
 
 Weidlein, John George 613 
 
 Weimer, Wm ..397 
 
 Weinrich, Charles F 571 
 
 Weir, Joseph 29G 
 
 Welch , Zachariah 702 
 
 Wells, George 2g2 
 
 Wells, George S 435 
 
 Wells, Ira R., M. D ....471 
 
 Wells, Joel 395 
 
 Wells,. Capt. John H 702 
 
 Welton, Mrs. Adaline joi 
 
 ^9— 
 
 Welton, F. G ....234 
 
 .Welton, James M 521 
 
 Welton, Lester^C 702 
 
 Welton* Street C ;. 702 
 
 Wennerstftum, Charles F. ....562 
 
 Westerlund, Eric ...^489 
 
 Westerlund, Jonas...? ..264 
 
 Westerlund, Peter -.418 
 
 Westran, Jonas. . .-. 488 
 
 White, Alexander , 312- 
 
 White, Henry --599 
 
 White, Henry A. 264 
 
 Whiting, E. S.. L_. -,-487- 
 
 Whitmore, 'David. 334 
 
 Whitney, J. B .505 
 
 Whitney, Wm ; 255 
 
 Wickstrum, P. M . . ., 472 
 
 Wight, John 253 
 
 Wight, Wm. K....... ,..234 
 
 Wilcox, Royal M 469 
 
 Wiley, D. L .' 496 
 
 Wiley, David 702 
 
 Wiley, James 695 
 
 Wiley, James M 713 
 
 Wiley, Wm. L . 693 
 
 Wilkinson, L. J 725 
 
 Williams, Rev. Edgar L... 333 
 
 Williamson, Richard . 530 
 
 Williamson, S . M .7 660 
 
 Wilson, Abner .296 
 
 Wilson, Charles C 688 
 
 Wilson, J. L 663 
 
 Wilson, J. S 497 
 
 Wilson, Uri-i 557 
 
 Wilson, Wm. C..., 703 
 
 Wimermar.k, A. H., M. D...566 
 
 Winans,J. W, 254 
 
 Winsor, F. L 355 
 
 Winters, George... 491 
 
 Withrow, Amariah 441 
 
 Withrow, James. . . 543 ' 
 
 Withro w; John M 702 
 
 Withrow, J. W 323 - 
 
 Withrow, Neely 544 
 
 Wo lcott, Elisha R 503 
 
 Wolcott, Marshall F~. . . :~ 474 
 
 Wolever, R. W .' 533 
 
 JWolf, George 453 
 
 Wolf, William 7.... 486 
 
 Wood, John ..155 
 
 Wood, Wellington. ....325 
 
 Woodruff, Rev. George C 341 
 
 Woodruff, Leander' '. . .429 
 
 Wo'odruff, Leroy ....382 
 
 Woods, R. L.... 211 
 
 Woodward,, Hiram 561 
 
 Woodward, Luman.... ... 551 , 
 
 - Woolsey, Jesse . ... 1 702 
 
 Woolsey, W. S-T 258 
 
 Worthington, T.J .-650 
 
 Wright, B. H 695 
 
 Wright, Henry 682 
 
 Y 
 
 Yates, Richard 159 
 
 Yocuiti; L. .M 648 
 
 Youngquist, J. A 330 
 
 z 
 
 Zimmerman, D. F .•■365 
 
 •; *• 
 
 \k 
 
 & 
 
 
A 
 
 
 INDEX, 
 
 Adams, John 22 
 
 Adams, John Quincy 38 
 
 Aldrich, Earl P 302 
 
 Aldrich, Caroline 303 
 
 Anderson, A. E 274 
 
 Arnett, George 318 
 
 Arthur, Chester A g8 
 
 Be ve ridge, John L 170 
 
 Bissell, Wm. H i S o 
 
 Blair, James 646 
 
 Bond, Shadrach no 
 
 Brooks, C H 636 
 
 Buchanan, James 74 
 
 Carlin, Thomas 134 
 
 Carlsson, Rev. Erland 710 
 
 Cleveland, S. Grover 102 
 
 Coles, Edward 114 
 
 Cullom, Shelby M 174 
 
 Davenport, T. F 188 
 
 XSQS 1 -zd& K A ^9&X 
 
 i frgDQ^ ^^ \C) §£?fl 
 
 Duncan, Joseph 130 
 
 Edwards, Ninian 118 
 
 Ewing, Wm. L. D 126 
 
 Eyer, Henry 464 
 
 Eyer, Sarah 465 
 
 Fillmore, Millard 66 
 
 Ford, Thomas 138 
 
 Foster, A. P , 232 
 
 French, Augustus C .142 
 
 Garfield, James A 04 
 
 Gilbert, N. C 446 
 
 Grant, Ulysses S 86 
 
 Griffin, H. G 336 
 
 Hamilton, John M 178 
 
 Harrison, Wm. H 50 
 
 Hayes, Rutherford B 90 
 
 Horn, J. W 202 
 
 Hurd, Lewis 674 
 
 Hurd, Mrs. Caroline M 675 
 
 Hurlbutt, F. A 376 
 
 Jackson, Andrew. 42 
 
 Jefferson, Thomas 26 
 
 Jennings, J. 'L 530 
 
 Jennings, Susan H 358 
 
 Johnson, Andrew 82 
 
 Kemmis, C. H 260 
 
 Kent, Charles 608 
 
 Lincoln, Abraham 78 
 
 Lyle, John 538 
 
 Lyle, Esther D 539 
 
 Lyle, Thomas 590 
 
 Madison, James 30 
 
 Mascall, Richard 288 
 
 Matteson, Joel A 146 
 
 Monroe, James 34 
 
 Oglesby, Richard J 162 
 
 Olson, J. W 726 
 
 Palmer, John M 166 
 
 Pierce, Franklin 70 
 
 Polk, James K 58 
 
 Pritchard, Samuel 218 
 
 Reynolds, John 122 
 
 Sale, Dr. J. H 246 
 
 Shearer, Lewis 420 
 
 Shively, Jacob 402 
 
 Smith, Jared H ; . .570 
 
 Stickney, Henry 580 
 
 Taylor, Zachary 62 
 
 Tilden, O. E 484 
 
 Tyler, John 54 
 
 Van Buren, Martin 46 
 
 Warner, W. W 618 
 
 Washington, George 18 
 
 Welton, James M 520 
 
 Wolcott, Elisha R 502 
 
 Woodward, Hiram....' 560 
 
 Woodward, Luman 550 
 
 Wood, John 154 
 
 Yates, Richard 158 
 
 s 
 
 
 (cj\ 
 
 *J£ 
 
 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 HISTORICAL 
 
 72! 
 
 EARLY SETTLEMENT 723 
 
 Indians 723 
 
 Political Descent 724 
 
 The Pioneers 725 
 
 Firsts 727 
 
 A Sad Life 728 
 
 Doctors 729 
 
 Ancient Records 730 
 
 ACTS OF THE COUNTY 
 
 COMMISSIONERS 731 
 
 ■.<frv.-' 
 
 County Seats 
 Richmond 
 Morristown 
 Cambridge 
 
 Officials 
 
 7.33 
 734 
 736 
 737 
 737 
 
 •——>$—# — °<s$ 
 
 LEGAL HISTORY 
 
 740 
 
 Bench and Bar 
 
 742 
 
 THE PRESS 
 
 745 
 
 Henry County Gazette 
 
 74S 
 
 Geneseo Republic 
 
 746 
 
 Chronicle 
 
 746 
 
 Kewanee Courier 
 
 747 
 
 Independent 
 
 747 
 
 Galva Union 
 
 748 
 
 Henry County News 
 
 748 
 
 Galva Standard 
 
 749 
 
 Galva News 
 
 749 
 
 Local Reporter 
 
 7So 
 
 Orion Times 
 
 75° 
 
 Woodhull Gazette 
 
 75° 
 
 Woodhull Dispatch 
 
 7Si 
 
 &A 
 
 rs K 
 
 Kewanee Advertiser 751 
 
 Union Democrat 751 
 
 ' Public School Messenger 751 
 
 Our Home Paper 751 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION 752 
 
 RAILROADS 
 
 C, B. & Q. 
 C, R. I. & P. 
 P. & R. I. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS 
 
 Crime 
 
 Bank Robbery 
 
 Shocking Murder 
 
 Another 
 Old Settlers' Society 
 
 755 
 
 75 6 
 758 
 759 
 
 759 
 
 759 
 760 
 
 760 
 
 761 
 
 761 
 
 ®mw$>4& — *&^- 
 
 
 f$! 
 
 e.\te 
 
 
 
INDEX. 
 
 
 VNSHIPS 
 
 763 
 
 Alba 
 
 763 
 
 Andover 
 
 764 
 
 Orphans' Home 
 
 76S 
 
 Churches 
 
 766 
 
 Annawan 
 
 767 
 
 Churches 
 
 767 
 
 Atkinson 
 
 769 
 
 Burns 
 
 770 
 
 Cambridge 
 
 771 
 
 Churches 
 
 775 
 
 Schools 
 
 777 
 
 Miscellaneous 
 
 777 
 
 Clover 
 
 777 
 
 Colon a 
 
 779 
 
 Cornwall 
 
 781 
 
 Edford 
 
 780 
 
 Galva 
 
 782 
 
 Churches 
 
 785 
 
 Geneseo 
 
 Hanna 
 
 Kewanee 
 
 Loraine 
 
 Lynn 
 
 Munson 
 
 Osco 
 
 MorrfslQwn Colony 
 Oxford 
 Phenix 
 Weller 
 
 Bishop Hill Colony 
 Western 
 Wethersfield 
 Yorktown 
 CITIES AND VILLAGES : 
 Alpha 
 Annawan 
 Atkinson 
 
 787 
 797 
 799 
 808 
 806 
 809 
 809 
 812 
 814 
 
 815 
 816 
 
 816 
 
 820 
 
 822 
 
 827 
 
 815 
 767 
 769 
 
 Cambridge 
 Cleveland 
 Galva -fifl-"' 
 Geneseo 
 
 Incorporation" 
 
 Educational 
 
 Churches 
 Kewanee 
 
 Churches 
 
 Schools 
 Lynn Center 
 Morristowri ■ . 
 ' Opheim 
 Orion 
 Osco 
 Oxford 
 Wethersfield 
 Woodhull 
 Bishop Hill 
 
 820 
 
 -J 
 
 (J 
 
 (i) 
 
 t 
 
 \ , 
 
 » 
 
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