Full text of "Portrait and biographical album of Stephenson County, Ill.: containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, together with portraits and biographies of all the governors of Illinois, and of the presidents of the United States"

TffA/7

""MtaAit , ^

'..-

:
'
.

V* Tj&VSfi V *; <*T *> (t 1 * X?<^| 7 i *Ktig*

TA- ^^fJ** C<X 5e ^Oftal 1 ^**^ Se

Jftsrning anb i'abot.

LIBRARY

University of Illinoi

Hooks an 1 not, to hi; ta-ii liuiiutlic

itiwois

: &

mmm
iSgis?s*i

'.^- JiV ' f . .... . r~fffL ^ ^

i*S^K
5^i

*-*-

ALBUM

TEPHE

TIMTV IT
U1N 1 I , ILL,,

CONTAINING

Full Page Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent
and Representative Citizens of the County,

TOGETHER WITH

PORTRAITS AND BIOGRAPHIES OF ALL THE GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS, AND
OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES.

CHICAGO:

CHAPMAN BKOTHEES.

1888.

*-*-

HIST'

E HAVE completed our labors in writing and compiling the PORTRAIT AND BIO-
GRAPHICAL 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 t'r.at a record of their lives and deeds should be made. In local 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 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 heritage, 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 abrilliant
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 be 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, January, 1888.

CHAPMAN BROS,

OF THE

AND OF THE

IKHftn

OF THE

FIRST PRESIDENT.

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.

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 Lietuen-
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

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

trip was a perilous one, and several times 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 levelinT my companions
on every side." An Indian sharpshooter said he was
not bo'rn 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
look 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 "The cause 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, r774, 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 member of 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 lo 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 tin's country
were so long confided. The war was conducted by
him under ever)- 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, 1783, 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, 1789, 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 very 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 years 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 Ivs throat, produced inflammation, and terminated
fatally on the night of the fourteenth. On the eigh-
teenth his body was borne wi'h 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 tan, 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.

SECOND PRESIDENT.

tt'^'Kfff;

<V- '! !-'-t\ xi-
5j|

..^.feA..^.^.^.^

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 1640, with a family of eight
, sons, and settled at Braintree. 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 pur]x>se 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 Congrets,
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 througl
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 wile,
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, shows,

JOHN 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 j 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
cliosen to go to Paris, and there hold himself in readi-
ness to negotiate a treaty of peace and of commerce
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 goto England to drink the waters of
Bath. \Vhile in England, still drooping anddespond-
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 at heist 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 1824, 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 a
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, at 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.

THIRD PRESIDENT.

2 7 , ,

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 obode of 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 lo 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 1769 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

THOMAS JEFFERSON.

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
uf 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
tranquilily 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 rSog, 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
day, 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 tne 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.

FOURTH PRESIDENT.

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
Estates 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
r8 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 1771, 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 heafth 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-lovir.g 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

JAMES MADISON.

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 destioyed 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 our Government could induce
the British cabinet to relinquish.

On the i8th 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, 1813, 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 with 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
dilator. 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, 1815, the treaty of peace was signed atGhent.

On the 4th of 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.

FIFTH PRESIDENT.

AMES MONROE, the fifth
Presidentof The United States,
was bom 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 Legislature 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,

JAMES MOWROE.

he was in the succeeding year chosen a member of
the Congress of the United States.

Deeplyas 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 \vith 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
light 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 lie 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 o(
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/'

Tliis famous doctrine, since known as the " Monroe
doctrine," was enunciated by him in 1823. At that
time the United States had recognized the independ-
ence of the South American states, and did not \\ish
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 second 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^n the 4th of July, 1831.

SIXTH PRESIDENT.

OHN QUINCY ADAMS, the
sixth President of the United
States, was bom 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, then
the University at Leyden. About a year from this
time, in 1781, 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, under a private tutor, at Hague. Thence,

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 logo 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 mairied 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.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

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
the 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
Qnincy 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 important
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
1 8th 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
an 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 daring 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 2istof 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 pa ta ly-
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, "f am content" These were the
last words of the grand " Old Man Eloquent."

SA VENTH PRESIDENT.

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
1781, 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
disabled 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 meml.cr 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

ANDREW JACKSON.

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 for 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 genlleman
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 bendsof theTallapoosa River, nearthe 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 suplyof 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 the Creeks 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 w hich 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.

EIGHTH PRESIDENT.

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 farmer,
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
^pending six years in an office in his native village,
4*

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, th<:
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, Mi.
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 1812, 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

4 8

MARTIN VAN BUREN.

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 1821 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 spiings 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
tew thought then could be accomplished.

When Andrew Jackson was elected President he
appointed Mr. Van Buren Secretary of State. This
position lie resigned in 1831, 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 2oth 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 1 848,
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, 1841, 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.

NINTH PRESIDENT.

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 An 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 was then entitled to but one member in
Congress and Capt. Harrison was chosen to fill that
position.

In the spring of 1800 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-
deiit 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

S 2

WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON.

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 in 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, 1812, 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 accompained by a shower of bullets.

The camp-fires were instantly extinguished, as the
light aided the Indians in their aim. With hide-
Bus 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 1819, 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
pleurisv-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.

TENTH PRESIDENT.

*-*-*

OHN TYLER, the tenth
Presidentof 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, he
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-

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.

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 Whigs, 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 1841, 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 reccommsnded 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 lelief. 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
means 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.

ELEVENTH PRESIDENT.

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

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 1815, 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 exerqise, 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. Folk'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. Folk's father was a Jeflersonian Republican,
and James K. Polk ever adhered to the same politi-
cal faith. He was a popular public speaker, and was
constantly called upon io 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

JAMES K. POLK.

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 i4th of Octo-
ber, 1839, took the oath of office at Nashville. In 1 84 1 ,
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. ^olk was inaugur-
ated President of the United States. The verdict of
the country in 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

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 he 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. Folk'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 djed on the isth of June, 1849, in the fifty-fourth
year of his age, greatly mourned by his countrymen.

TWELFTH PRESIDENT.

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 1812, 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

company of infantry numbering fifty men, many of
whom were sick.

Early in the autumn of 1812, 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 lire 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, Major Taylor 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-

ZACHARY TAYLOR.

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 toil; 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 pilblic service found
their claims set aside in behalf of one whose name

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 pth 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."

THIRTEENTH PRESIDENT.

ILLARD FILLMORE, thir-
teenth President of the United
States, was born at Summer
Hill, Cayuga Co., N. Y ., on
the yth 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
1831 ; 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 he 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 FHlmore. 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
ind then enters a law office, who is by no means as

MILLARD FILLMORE.

well prepared to prosecute his legal studies as was
Millard Fillmore when he graduated at the clothing-
miH 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 Grande, 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 tiumpet-tones all over the land. But
it was necessary to associate with him on the same
ticket some man of reputation as a statesman. 1

Under the influence of these considerations, the
names of 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.
1 On the gth of July, 1850, 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. Fillniore 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.
Fillmcre'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.

FOURTEENTH PRESIDENT.

RANKLIN PIERCE, the
fourteenth President of the
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. Hi's 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 yeats. The last two years he was
chosen speaker of the house by a very large vote.

In 18.33, at tne a g e 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 r837, 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

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

three sons who were bom 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 2yth 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. 1 '
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 I2th of June, 1852, 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.

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 his 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 gladened by his material bounty.

t.
/f

FIFTEENTH PRESIDENT,

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 yeats 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-

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 1812, 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 1831, he retired
altogether from the toils of his profession, having ac-
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-

7t*
, , 76

JAMES BUCHANAN.

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. Folk'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 1 14 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
nominal ed 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 offerthem
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, 1860; nearly
three months before the inauguration of President
Lincoln. Mr. Buchanan looked on in listless despair.
The rebel 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 canr.ot 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 i, 1868.

SIXTEENTH PRESIDENT.

BZ" 1 1 mt^mnt \m * mm

LINCOLN. >

BRAHAM LINCOLN, the
sixteenth President of the
United States, was born in
Hardin Co., Ky., Feb. 12,
1809. 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. Only two 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 shall 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-

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

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 them 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
-.lavery question, and he took the broad ground of
:he 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 i6th of June, 1860. 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
a place in the 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 frought
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, bo'h 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, witli 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; hiscountry-
men.being unable to decide which is the greater.

SEVENTEENTH PRESIDENT.

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 combine 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 res)X>nsible posi-
tions, he discharged his duties with distinguished abiU

8 4

ANDRE W 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 1860, he
was the choice of the Tennessee Democrats for the
Presidency. In 1861, when the purpose of the South-
irn 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 impotently,
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. On Jan. 26, 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 27th of July, 1875,1)16 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

EIGHTEENTH PRESIDENT.

LYSSES S. GRANT, the
eighteenth President of the
United States, was born on
the zgth 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
j 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
side of the anir^al, ran the gauntlet in entire safety.

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, 111. This was in the year 1860. 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 isth of

, , 88

ULYSSES S. GRANT.

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
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
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 technical 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
and enter upon the duties of his new office,

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, 1865.

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 21, 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.

He was the most prominent candidate before the
Republican National Convention in 1880 for a re-
nomination for President. He went to New York and
embarked in the brokerage business under the firm
nameof Grant & Ward. The latter proved a villain,
wrecked Grant's fortune, and for larceny was sent to
the penitentiary. The General was attacked with
cancer in the throat, but suffered in his stoic-like
manner, never complaining. He was re-instated as
General of the Army and retired by Congress. The
cancer soon finished its deadly work, and July 23,
1885, the nation went in mourning over the death of , ,
the illustrious General.

NINETEENTH PRESIDENT.

UTHERFORD B. HAYES,
the nineteenth President of
the United States, was born 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-
ried 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 inNew 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 1812, 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

9 2

RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.

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 attorn ey-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 1849 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^hief Justice Salmon P. Chase,

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 Cluu brought Mr. Hayes into
constant association with young men of high char-
acter and noble aims, and lured him to display the
qualities so lon'g 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 1861, 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 791)1 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 he 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
in 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, "for gallant and distinguished 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 1866.

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, however, with satisfaction to his party,
but his administration was an average on?

TWENTIETH PRESIDENT.

AMES A. GARFIELD, twen-
tieth President of the United
States, was born Nov. ig,
1831, in the woods of Orange,
Cuyahoga Co., O 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
born 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 barn 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 he- ^niggles 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.
Afier 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 he 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 :

^1 9 6

JAMES A. GARFIELD.

" 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 love our Lord in sincerity.'"

Mr. Garfield was united in marriage with Miss
Lucretia 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 1 85 6,
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 1861 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, 1861. 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. 10, 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 of 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 1880.
Of his labors in Congress Senator Hoar says : " Since
the year 1864 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, 1880, 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, 1881, 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 Elaine, 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 farther
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 Elberon, 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.

TWENTY-FIRST PRESIDENT.

HESTER A. ARTHUR,
twenty-first Present of the
United States, was born in
Franklin Courty, Vermont, on
thefifthofOc'ober, 1830, and is
the oldest of a family of two
sons and five daughters. His
father was the Rev. Dr. William
Arthur, aBaptistd',rgyman,who
emigrated to tb'.s country from
the county Antrim, Ireland, in
his i8th year, and died in 1875, in
Newtonville, neai Albany, after a
long and successful ministry.

Young Arthur was educated at
Union College, S< henectady, 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
I 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 marrpd 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

1 I

10O

CHESTER A. ARTHUR.

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 1872, to suc-
ceed Thomas Murphy, and held the office until July,
20, 1878, 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, 1881, 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 trying 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.

TWENTY-SECOND PRESIDENT.

io 3

- OOP ,

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. ]., 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 Hill, 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

104

S. GROVER CLEVELAND.

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, waile 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 for
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 mos 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
ir, 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.

-4

1 '

GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS.

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 i8iz-r4 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 1818 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
*.

112

SHADRACH BOND.

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 Siate, 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 wjre 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
Ke.it 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 f.im HIS 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 1 8 1 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
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 oat 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 Kim 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-
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 i r, 1830, in peace and contentment.

GO VERNORS OF ILLINOIS.

]>\v>ar& Coles*

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 de-
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-

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 oilier parts of Europe, especially Paris, where
he was introduced to Gen. Lafayette.

In the spring of 1819, he removed with all bis
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 countenance.; beaming with expression which
no words could convey, and which no language
can describe. As they began to see the truth of
what they had heard, and realize their situation, there
came on a kind of hysterical, giggling laugh. After
a pause of intense and unutterable emotion, bathed
in tears, and with tremulous voices, they gave vent to
their gratitude and implored the blessing of God
on me."

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 Edwardsvil.e,
at that time one of the principal land offices in the
State. While acting in th's capacity and gaining
many friends by his politeness and general intelli-
gence, the greatest struggle that ever occurred in
Illinois on the slavery ques ion culminated in the
furious contest characterizing the campaigns and
elections of 1822-4. In the summer of 1823, when a
new Governor was to be elected to succeed Mr.
Bond, the pro-slavery element divided into factions,
Dinting 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 whi':h 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 Governor, 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 cam.; 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.

GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS.

119

INIAN EDWARDS, Governor
from 1827 to 1830, was a son
of Benjamin Edwards, and
was born in Montgomery
County, Maryland, in March,
5 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. VVm.
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
i-'ounty before he was 2 r yea'fs 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
1802, he received a commission as Major of a battal-
ion of Kentucky militia, and in 1804 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, 1809. Edwards arrived at Kaskaskia in
June, and on the i 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
years of his administration he had the power to make
new counties and appoint all the officers, yet he always
allowed the people of each county, by an informal

NINIAN ED WARDS.

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
i8r2, he was re-appointed for another term of three
years, and again in r8is 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 1821, 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 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 and 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-
kaskia from 1809 to 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.

GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS.

123

|: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 1 800 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,

this time to the " Goshen Settlement," at the foot of
the Mississippi bluffs three or four miles southwest
of Edwardsville.

On arriving at his 2oth 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 1812 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.

, i 124

JOHN REYNOLDS.

From his services in the West, in the war of 1812,
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 1818 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 reccmmended 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 witli 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
ana 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-

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 ha 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 1839 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 1860, 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.

GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS.

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 igth 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 I^iver, where a veritable battle e
resulting in the death of about 68 of Black Haw
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-

128

WILLIAM L. D. SWING.

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 xyth days, in-
clusive, of November. On the lyth 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 public life. In person
he was above medium height 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.

GO VERNORS OF ILLINOIS.

.86;-

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 militaiy 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 6,321 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 penonal 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 to 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

JOSEPH DUNCAN.

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 reformer!

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 t842
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 intercoujse 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, 1844, a devoted
member of the Presbyterian Church, leaving a wife
but no children. Two children, born to them, had
died in infancy.

GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS.

=4-

135

IHOMAS 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 1812 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-
soari, where he followed farming, and then removed
to Greene County. He located the town site of Car-
roxton, 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 ele :tion was: Carlin, 35,573; Ander-
son, 30,335; Edwards, 29,629; and Davidson, 28,-

7i.S-

Upon the meeting of the subsequent Legislature

(1839), the retiring Governor CDuncan) in his mes-

THOMAS CARLTN.

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. Cn'cago 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 warranty 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.
Scales, 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 1 84o-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 1842, 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.

GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS.

139

^f*!?^.^^^

Kt.&.tAt..&fet..^

HOMAS 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

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

140

THOMAS FORD.

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, o>ving 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 1841,
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 lie had held were unsolicited
by him. He received them upon the true Jefferson-
ian principle, Never to ask ,ind 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
"ound, 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 decade, 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 witli 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 noi-committal concerning Mormon affairs,
and was therefore claimed by both parties and also
accused by each of sympathizing too greatly with the
other side. Mormouism 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.

GO VERNORS OF ILLINOIS.

Augustus c. French.

UGUSTUS 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

elevated to the gubernatorial chair. In 1844 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. Scales,
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 votf-s.

144

AUGUSTUS C. FRENCH.

By the new Constitution of 1848, a new election for
State officers was ordered in Novembei 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 mcu.nben't 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, lie received 67,-
453 votes, to 5,639 for Pi.rre 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 Win 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 special permission of Congress, declared that
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
1850, for the first time since 1839, the accruing State
revenue, exclusive of specific appropriations, was
sufficient ta 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.

In 1849 the Legislature adopted the township or-
ganization law, which, however, proved defective,
and was properly amended in 1851. 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 Gdv. 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 thera 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 cf industrious citi-
zens, and by the charter a good income to the State
Treasury is paid in from the earnings of the road.

In 1851 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 not 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.
Pair Co., 111.

GO VERNORS OF ILLINOIS.

:OEL 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 Au
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 iras bo

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

JOEL A. MATTESON.

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 t.vo full succeeding Senatorial terms,
discharging its important daties 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 v tes 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
rirtues 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 fewballotings
in the Legislature (1855), 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 obtaied 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. Matleson's admin-
istration the taxable wealth of the State was about
trebled, from $137,8^,079 to $349,957,272; the pub-
lic debt wns reduced from $17,398,985 to $12,843,-
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 lebs 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 $224^82.66. By a suit in the Sangamon Cir-
cuit Court the State recovered the principal and all
the interest excepting $27,500.

He died in the winter of 1872-3, at Chicago.

GO VERNORS OF ILLINOIS.

|L II.

ILLIAM H. BISSELL, Gov-
ernor 1857-60, was born
April 25, 1811, in the
State of New York, near
Painted Post, Yates County.
His parents were obscure,
honest, God-fearing people,
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 lo 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 of 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,

, , '5*

WILLIAM H. BISSELL.

of" Monroe County, by whom he had two children,
both davighters. 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,
1860, 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.

GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS.

'55

;:OHN WOOD, Governor 1860-1, and
the first settler of Quincy, 111.,
was bom 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 lai.guages, 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 1)2 years.

The subject of this sketch, impelled by the spirit
of Western adventure then pervading everywhere,
left his home, Nov. 2, 1818, 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 1820, 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 1821 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 thfc river a small cabin,

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
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 < '

JOHN WOOD.

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, 1860, 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 1860, 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 nacion from destruction.

In 1861 ex-Gov. Wood was one of the five Dele-
gates from Illinois to the " Peace Convention " at
Washington, and in April of the san.e 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 i37th 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.

GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS.

HCHARD YATES, the "War
Governor," 1861-4, 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 1860 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, rg6 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 '

i6o

RICHARD YATES.

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

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 271)1 of November following.

GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS.

163

Michard J. Ogles

UCHARD 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, lie 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 1860 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-

i6 4

RICHARD J. OGLESB Y.

mediate death. That rebel ball he carries to this
day. On his partial recovery he was promoted as
Major General, for gillantry, his commission to rank
from November, 1862. In the spring of 1863 he
was assigned to the command of the i6th 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 Uuion, 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 ("lark, 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, 1865.
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 i3th
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 1819. 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 Koerner 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 their 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 15,018 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 gesture-,
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.

GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS.

167

JOHN M. PALMER

j- : OHN Me 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 1812, 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
eaily aptitude. His father, an ardent Jackson man,
was also noted for his anti-slavery sentiments, which
he thoroughly impressed upon his children. In 1831
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
1 8 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,

-mr

168

JOHN MC AULEY PALMER.

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 1860 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
I4th 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 hours maintained their position
when they were cut off by overpowering numbers.
Under Gen. Sherman, he was assigned to the i/jth
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 Pejri.i May 6, r868, 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.

O.i the meeting of the Legislature in January,
r869, 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 f>r
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 r^.ilroai 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 statesmanshin.

GO VERNORS OF ILLINOIS.

OHN LOWRfE BEVER-
IDGE, Governor 187 3-6, 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 Bcveridge, 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
1 Washington Co., N. Y., wiih 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 igth
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 i8th 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 r842 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.

172

JOHN L. BE VE RIDGE.

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. 20, 1848,
he married Miss Helen M. Judson, in the old Clark-
Street M. E. church in Chicago, her father at that
time being Pastor of the society there. In the spring
of 1848 he returned with hjs 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, 1 2 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. 1 8, and on its organiza-
tion Mr. B. was elected Second Major. It was at-
tached, Oct. ii, to the Eighth Cavalry and to the
Army of the Potomac. He served with the regiment
until November, 1863, participating in some 40 bat-

ties 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 summer of 1 863, 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 I7th 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.

GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS.

HELBY M. CULLOM, Gover-
nor 1877-83,13 the sixth child
of the late Richard N. Cullom,
and was born Nov. 22, 1829,111
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 s.now '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

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 teachino- school,

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 lie 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 foi
packing, for A. G. Tyng, in 1'eoria, 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 Fillrnore men for Speaker. Practicing

176

SHELB Y M. CULLOM.

law until 1860, 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 1861, he was a candidate
for the State Constitutional Convention called for
that year, but was d-'feated, a:id thus escaped the
disgrace of being connected with that abortive parly
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 Li.icoln on a Government
Commission, in company with Gov. Boutwell of
Massachusetts and diaries 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 enteied upon a larger political field,
being nominated as the Republican candidate ibr
Congress from the Eighth (Springfield) District, in
opposition to the incumbent, JohnT. 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 oa 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. Be veridge. 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

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, GJV. 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 314,565, 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, iSSi. In his mes-
sage he announced that the last dollar of the State
debt had been provided for.

Marcli 4, 1883, the term of David Davis as United
States Senator from Illinois expired, and Gov. Cul-
bm 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 oflaw 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.

GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS.

OHN MARSHALL HAMIL-
TON, Governor 1883-5, was
born May 28, 1847, in a log
house upon a farm about two
miles from Richwoud, Union
County, Ohio. His father was
a 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 McMoiris, 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
2 1 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 he 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 1860 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.

i8o

JOHN MARSHALL PA MILTON.

and in the following May he again enlisted, for the
fourth time, when he was placed in the 141 st 111.
Vol. Inf., a regiment then being raised at Elgin, 111.,
for the too-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
Bloomington, he eniered 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, 1871. Mr. Hamilton married Miss Helen
M. Williams, the daughter of Prof. Wm. 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 part " on the stump "
in the campaign, for the success of his party, and was
elected by a majority of 1,640 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, againct :^
much opposition that the bill was several times
" laid on the table." Also, this session authorized
the location and establishment of a southern per ; -
tentiary, which was fixed at Chester. In the sessior
of 1879 Mr. Hamilton was elected President pro 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 for 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 a* Governor expired Jan. 30,

1885, when the great favorite "Dick" Oglesby was
inaugurated.

i *-

ZZinois.

lr+-'

-i

INTRODUCTORY.

HE time has arrived when it
becomes the duty of the
people of this county toper-,
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
jf 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-bu'lders, in piling
up their great mounds of earth, had but this idea
to leave so-nething to show tlut they had lived. All
these works, though manv 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.

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

^MITH D. ATKINS, who is a
lawyer, soldier, journalist and
politician, was born on the 9th
of June, 1836, near Elmira,
Chemung Co., N. Y.,and came
with his father's family to Illi-
nois in 1848, and lived on a
farm until 1850. He then became
an apprentice in the office of the
Prairie Democrat, which was the first
paper published in Freeport. He
was educated at Rock River Sem-
inar} 7 , Mt. Morris, 111., working in
the printing-office and studying dur-
ing his spare hours, and in 1852 ob-
tained the foremanship of the Mt.
Morris Gazette, while he was yet a
student in the seminary. In 1853 he became asso-
ciated with C. C. Allen, who, during the war, was a
Major on the staff of Maj. Gen. Schofield ; they
bought this paper and established the Register at
Savanna, Carroll County. In the fall of the same
year he entered the office of Hiram Bright, in
Freeport, as a student of law, and was admitted to
practice June 27, 1855. After his admission he
continued to read law for some time in the office of
Goodrich & Scoville, of Chicago, 111., and then
entered upon his practice in Freeport. dating his
entry into the active duties of his profession Sept.
1, 1856.

In I860 Mr. Atkins made a spirited canvass for
the election of Lincoln to the Presidency and one
address of his delivered in this memorable cam-

paign, which was a careful and thorough review
of the Dred Scott decision, went through several
editions. He was elected States' Attorney for the
Fourteenth Judicial Circuit of Illinois, and on
April 17, 1861, while trying a criminal case in
Stephenson County Circuit Court a telegram was
received stating that President Lincoln had issued
his first- call for troops to'suppress the Rebellion.
He immediately in the court room drew up an en-
listment roll, which he headed with his own name,
being the first man to enlist as a private soldier in
this county. He then announced to the Court and
jury his decision to prepare without delay for serv-
ice in the Union army. Leaving the half finished
case in the hands of a brother attorney he hastened
out of the court room with his enlistment roll and
went into the streets of Freeport to find men to
enlist. Before dusk 100 had signed the roll, and in
the evening a company organization was formed
with him as its Captain. He and his companions
in arms went to Springfield, where they were mus-
tered in asjCompany A of the ilth Illinois Infant-
ry. Upon the expiration of his three months' serv-
ice he re-enlisted for three years as a private, and
was again mustered in as Captain of Co. A, Ilth 111.
Vol. Inf., at Bird's Point. He was at Ft. Donel-
son with the unexpired order cf leave of absence
on account of sickness, in his pocket, when the com-
mand of "Forward" was given. He took sixty-
eight men into this desperate engagement and
came out with but twenty-three, having been in
the very thickest of the carnage.

For gallant service at Ft. Donelson Capt.

190

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

Atkins was promoted to the position of Major of
the llth Regiment, and by the special assignment
of Gen. Grant, went on the staff of Gen. Hurl-
hurt as Acting-Assistant Adjutant General, and in
that capacity was engaged with Hurlburt in the
battle of Pittsburg Landing. His bravery and
conspicuous service here secured special mention
in general orders after that fight. Ill-health brought
on by exhaustive labors and exposure compelled
his resignation after the battle of Pittsburg Landing,
and he spent the two subsequent months on the sea
coast. He recruited in time to take the stump to
raise troops under the call of 1862, and enlisted in
the 92d Illinois Infantry, which was mustered in,
with himself as Colonel, on September 4 of that
year. He remained in command of this regiment
until Jan. 17, 1863, when he was placed in com-
mand of a brigade. While the 92d was at Mt.
Sterling, Ky., Col. Atkins being in charge of it, a
grave issue arose. It was the first Yankee regiment
which had visited that section and hundreds of
slaves flocked to camp begging for protection, and
offering their services to fight for freedom. They
refused to return to their masters, and when their
owners demanded them as chattels, Col. Atkins
declined to entertain the peremptory request, not
feeling that his force should be used to drive them
back. The owners appealed to the commander of
the brigade, a Kentuckian, who ordered Atkins
to return the slaves, but the latter persistently de-
clined to do this, and never did; his reasons being
that he was not responsible for the escape of the
slaves, and that his men had not enlisted to act in
the capacity of blood-hounds to hunt them down
and drive them back.

The order issued is worthy of preservation and
is as follows :

HEADQUARTERS CAMP DICK YATES,

MT. STERLING, Ky., Nov. 2, 1862.
GENERAL ORDER No. 1.

In compliance with General Order No. 1, issued
from the Headquarters of Demi-Brigade, I hereby
assume command of the post of Mt. Sterling and
vicinity.

Loyal citizens will be protected as such, and the
civil authorities assisted in the enforcement of the
laws.

All loyal citizens and soldiers in Mt. Sterling

and vicinity are commanded to give information
of the whereabouts of any one who is now, or has
been in any capacity in the confederate service,
and to arrest all such parties found in Mt. Sterling
or vicinity and report them in custody to the com-
mander of the post for further proceedings.

All loyal citizens are commanded to give in-
formation to the commander of the post, of the
whereabouts of any citizen who has at any time
during hostilities given any aid or comfort to the
common enemy.

Farmers are invited to bring their marketable
products to the town and camp for sale, and will
be granted protection in so doing.

Dealers in intoxicating liquors are commanded
not to sell, or in any way to dispose of any intoxi-
cating liquors to any soldier. Anyone doing so,
will, for the first offense have his stock-in-trade de-
stroyed ; and for the second offense be severely
punished and confined.

Loyal citizens who are owners of slaves, are re-
spectfully notified to keep them at home, as no
part of my command will in any way be used for
the purpose of returning fugitive slaves. It is not
necessary for Illinois soldiers to become slave-
hounds to demonstrate their loyalty their loyalty
has been proved upon too many bloody battle-
fields to require new proof.

By command of SMITH D. ATKINS,

Col. 92d 111. Vol. Com. Post.

I. C. LAWVER, Adjt.

With reference to the order the General edito-
rially says:

"The last paragraph of that order gave us no end
of trouble. The colored people would flock into
camp; at night all who were not employed as offi-
cers' servants would be turned out of camp; some
of them would streak it for the North star, while
others would return to their masters; our own serv-
ant was a colored man born at Elkhorn, Wis.,
but we were held responsible for every one of our
fellow-citizens of African descent who disappeared
from the plantations about Mt. Sterling. After the
regiment was ordered away, the Judge of the Cir-
cuit Court convened a special grand jury and we
were duly indicted for stealing niggers; we were
not arrested because the Sheriff found it inconven-
ient to take us in custody, there being too many
blue-coated soldiers around; Champ Furgusson, a
rebel guerrilla, went to Mt. Sterling, and some of
the citizens of Mt. Sterling being loyal people, and
belonging to the Episcopal Church, Furgusson set

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

191

flre to the Episcopal Church, from which the court-
house caught flre, and was burnt up, including
the indictments. We have never heard anything
of them since then. In the end the war freed all
the colored people of Kentucky, arid of all the
States where slavery existed. The South, when
there was no danger of the abolition of slavery in
any of the States, took up the sword to save slavery,
and thereby lost slavery. Those who took up the
sword perished by the sword."

Col. Atkins on June 17, 1863, was placed in
command of the 2d Brigade, 3d Division, Army of
Kentucky, which he commanded while in the De-
partment of the Ohio. When the 92d Regiment
was removed to the Department of the Cumber-
land he was placed in command of the 1st Brigade,
1st Division, of the Reserve Corps, and when the
regiment was mounted and transferred to Wilder's
Brigade of Mounted Infantry he accompanied it
and commanded it until transferred to Kilpatrick's
Cavalry Division.

When Gen. Kilpatrick reformed his division
preparatory to the great march witli Sherman, he
assigned the command of the 2d Brigade to Col.
Atkins. When Sherman advanced southward he
aimed to throw his army between the rebel forces
and Savannah. The task of deceiving the enemy
and holding them while the movement was being
effected was given to Atkins by Kilpatrick and his
brigade, and he skillfully accomplished it. At Clin-
ton he charged the enemy and drove them fourteen,
miles to Macon. He assaulted their lines about
the city and forced them into the works, and held
them there until Sherman swept to the eastward, leav-
ing him with the enemy in his rear, and nothing be-
fore him to impede his rapid progress.

In all the engagements in which he participated
with his brigade Col. Atkins greatly distinguished
himself, and especially so at Waynesboro, where
Wheeler and his cavalry were overwhelmingly de-
feated. While leading the charge of his troops
against the rebel columns his color-bearer, Gede
Scott, was shot down by his side, and his brigade
flag attracted the attention of the enemy, who
poured upon it their concentrated flre. In this ter-
rible storm of leaden hail he bore a charmed life,
leading prominently in the van and cheering on his

troops to victory. At Savannah he was breveted
Brigadier General for gallantry, and was assigned
to duty under his commission as Brevet Brigadier
General by special order of President Lincoln and
at the close of the war, when he was mustered out,
he was breveted Major Genera) for faithful and
important service. In all his stations as command-
ing officer he was popular with both rank and file.
He was a perfect disciplinarian and was kind and
considerate to the men under him. His courage
and his judgment as a stratagist won their confi-
dence and they readily and heartily supported him
wherever he went.

After his military service Gen. Atkins returned
to Freeport where he has since resided. For many
years he has been and is now the able editor of the
Freeport Journal, a daily and weekly, and for nine-
teen and a half years he held the office of Post-
master of the city of Freeport. His life has been
one of great activity, and whatever part lie phvyed
in public affairs has been with great energy and
fidelity, and we take pleasure in presenting his
portrait with this brief sketch of his life.

AMUEL H. AURAND, M. D. It is said
that "a prophet is not without honor save
in his own country." Old sayings, how-
ever, are not always true, and a living il-
lustration of this is the subject of this sketch, who
has been ''man and boy" in Jefferson Township.
and is now a respected phj'sician and surgeon in
the village of Loran. Dr. Aurand is the son of
Joel and Susannah (Getgen) Aurand, who were
natives of Union County, Pa. They came to Illi-
nois in 1822, when settlements were sparse and
neighbors many miles apart. They were attracted
by the appearance of the country [included in Ste-
phenson County, and settled in Jefferson Township,
where they remained until about 1865, when they
removed to Carroll County. The father died in
August, 1867. In 1861, when President Lincoln
was calling upon the State, and Gov. Yates was
calling upon the counties of Illinois for volun-
teers to serve in the army and assist in crashing
the Rebellion, which was then in its inception, Joel

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

Aurand heeded the call and enlisted in Co.
F, 92d 111. Vol. Inf. During his term of three
yearslhe served faithfully and honorably. _j While
the regiment was located in Tennessee he contracted
a disease from which he never recovered and_which
was the final cause of his death. The mother sur-
vives and resides in Loran. They. fc had a .family
of ten children, nine of whom are. living.

The subject of this sketch was the sixth^child of
his parents. He was born in Jefferson Township,
Stephenson Co., 111., on^.the.'j 26th of October,
1854. When quite young he commenced attend-
ing the common schools of .Stephenson and Carroll
Counties, and continued up to the age of nineteen
years. In the spring of 1874 he entered the Wes-
leyan University, of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, where he
remained one term. In the summer of 1875 he
taught his first school, and followed this ^ calling ten
terras. He worked his way along and managed to
teacli two terms and attend school two terms in
the year until the spring of 1881, when he was
graduated from the Academic Department of Mt.
Morris College. He subsequently taught school
one winter and one summer and during this time
he began the study of medicine. In September,
1882, he entered Hahnemann College at Chicago,
and was graduated in the spring of 1884, securing
his diploma. With this document in his pocket
and with his mind well stored with the most mod-
ern ideas of medicine, he returned to his home at
Loran and commenced the practice of medicine in
July, 1884. Having the confidence of the people
on the score of competency and their esteem because
of his worth, he at once started on a career of pros-
perity, .which assumes increased proportions as the
years go by.

On the llth of May, 1887, Dr. Aurand was mar-
riedjn Jefferson Township, to Miss Maggie Toll-
meier, daughter of Simon Tolluieier (see sketch).
Mrs. Aurand was born in Jefferson Township on
the 21st of July, 1866. She is a lady of much in-
telligence and a member of the German Evangel-
ical Church.

Dr. Auraud was elected Justice of the Peace,
but he found that to perform the functions of that
ollice would interfere too much with his duties as a
physician, and accordingly after a short term of

service, he resigned. He is a Republican in poli-
tics, and does whatever he can to further the in-
terests of his party.

ATHIAS SCHLEDER was Dorn in me
Rhine Province, called Rhenish Prussia.
The Rhine, which is there navigable and cel-
ebrated for its picturesque beauty, divides
the Province in two parts. The country is rich in
agricultural and mineral productions, and the vine
is extensively cultivated there, the celebrated Rhine
and Moselle wines being largely manufactured in
the Province.

Mathias Schleder, one of the old pioneers of Jo
Daviess County, is now a retired fanner living in
Lena. He attended school steadily until he was
thirteen years of age, and was then employed in
assisting his father on the farm, and remained on
the homestead until he was twenty-one years of
age. At that period of his life he was inspired
with military ardor, and resolved to be a soldier.
He joined the arm}', and after serving two years
returned home and remained with his parents until
1845. In the autuiiin of that year young Schleder
started from home in a sailing-vessel bound for
America, and after a passage of thirty-nine days,
during which they encountered some tempestuous
weather, he landed at New York, and went west-
ward as far as Pittsburgh, Pa., where, laboring un-
der the disadvantage of speaking in a foreign
tongue, in a country and among people whose cus-
toms were unfamiliar to him, he found it difficult
to obtain employment. However, with a stout
heart and willing iniud he turned his hand to what-
ever work he could procure, and during a great
part of the time was engaged in coal mining.

Mr. Schleder was married in 1848 to Miss Annie
Maria Kalts, who was also a native of Rhenish
Prussia. She was born June 29, 1816, and came to
America in 1846. They remained in Pittsburgh
until 1851, and then in the hope of improving his
circumstances he started for the West, going first
to Galena via the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.
Here he spent two months in looking for employ-
ment, and gaining all the information in regard to

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

193 T

the Western country which he could. Having
learned many of the details of farming while with
his father at home, he decided to invest in land,
and purchased a tract of forty acres in Eush Town-
ship, at thirty-one cents per acre. There was a log
house standing on the place which the family occu-
pied nearly four years. They then built a com-
fortable frame house. The post-office and nearest
market was at Galena, thirty miles distant, and let-
ters at that time were rare and costly.

Mr. Schleder cultivated and improved his farm,
occasionally adding to it until he finally owned an
estate of 100 acres. He lived there until 1878,
when he rented his farm and purchased the place
in Lena where he now resides. The two acres of
ground surrounding his residence are well culti-
vated, and his table is supplied with delicious fruit
and vegetables from his own garden. Mr. and
Mrs. Schleder had a family of six children born to
them. The following is their record : Mary, now
Mrs. Bear, is a resident of Carroll County ; Kate,
now Mrs. Matheny, is a resident of Lena; John J.
is a resident of Lena; Philamena resides in Kansas;
Josephine resides in Dakota, and Theodore is a
resident of Chicago. Mr. Schleder and family are
members of the Roman Catholic Church.

jl RI AH BOYDEN. The Boydeu family have
a history connected with the early affairs
of New England which dates back prior to
the Revolutionary War. They came from Scotland
and settled in New England some years before the
struggle for American freedom, and participated in
the fight to overthrow British oppression. William
Boyden, father of our subject, was a native of
Vermont, and was by trade a miller. He was
reared to maturity in Brattleboro, and married his
wife in the State of Vermont. Her name was
Lydia Simons, a native of Vermont, and of English
and Irish descent. The grandfather of Mr. Uriah
Boyden was a carpenter, and Mrs. Boyden's grand-
father was widely known as a skillful fancy dyer.
The father of our subject after the birth of two
children moved to Chenaugo County, N. Y., and
there followed his trade of milling. The mother

afterward died July 16, 1833, in Jefferson County,
N. Y., and the father later came to the State of
Illinois, and subsequently lived with our subject,
dying here Nov. 23, 1863. He had then arrived
at the remarkably advanced age of ninety-three
years.

Uriah Boyden was the youngest of five sons and
five daughters, and is the only surviving member
of the family. His birth occurred in Chenango
County, N. Y.. Oct. 15, 1818. . He was reared in
Jefferson County, N. Y., to which place his parents
removed when Uriah wastwo years old. Sept. 16,
1838, Mr. Boyden was married in Onondaga
County to Miss Almira Snyder.

Mrs. Boyden was born Jan. 18, 1811, and reared
in Jefferson County, N. Y. She is the daughter
of James and Clarissa (Downer) Snyder. Mr. and
Mrs. S. lived on a farm and were natives of New
York State. They subsequently lived and died
at Turner Junction, 111. The father had nearly
attained one hundred years, when he died in Sept-
ember, 1886, his age then being ninety-eight.
The mother died at the age of eighty-three, in 1887,
in Rock City, this county. The father was a mem-
ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the mother
an Adventist.

After marriage, Mr. Boyden brought his young
bride to Illinois, which was in 1839, and took up
his residence in Rock Run Township. Since then
he made a trip to California, but returned within
a year. He was in the army six months, and was
a member of Co. I, 74th Illinois Regiment. Capt.
Irvin was commander of his company, and Col.
Marsh at the head of the regiment. Mr. Boyden
saw no active service, however, and while his regi-
ment was in the South he was discharged on lac-
count 'of heart disease ; since then he has been
farming.

Mr. Boyden now owns 157 acres of land, which
is mostly improved, and his residence is located on
section 20 in Rock Run Township. He is the
father of five children, two of whom are deceased :
Caroline, widow of John Marsh, lives with her
father; Ann J. is deceased; Eva E. is the wife of
John Bowlen Bright, a farmer residing in Jo
Daviess County; Lucinda is the wife of Joseph
Kagel, and resides on the Boyden homestead ;

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

James S. is deceased. The family are members of
the United Presbyterian Church, of which Mr.
Boyden is Trustee. He has been a Road Commis-
sioner for seven j'ears. In politics he is a Repub-
lican.

UTHER G. HALE, after an active and suc-
cessful career, has retired to private life,
and in the enjoyment of a handsome home
in Freeport, is spending his later years in the midst
of plenty and comfort, secured by labor in the
earlier years of his manhood. He came to the
West about 1838, and first entered a hardware
store at Kenosha, Wis., whence he removed to
Geneva Lake, and established in business for him-
self. In 1853 he disposed of his interests there,
and set up in the same business at Freeport, where
he was engaged until 1857. Then selling out, he
entered the office of the Milwaukee & St. Paul Rail-
road Co., at Freeport, which position he occupied
for a period of eighteen years, in the meantime
laying aside from a good salary sufficient upon
which to retire. He is now usually found at his
pleasant residence on the corner of Stephenson and
West streets. His home dwelling is a handsome
structure, surrounded with beautiful grounds, or-
namented with evergreen and forest trees. He has
four lots, and the whole comprises a valuable prop-
erty, and one complete in its entirety as any home
within, or adjacent to the city. Mr. Hale and his
estimable wife are passing down the hill of life, a
happy, cheerful old couple, and a fine illustration
of well-spent lives.

Mr. Hale was born in the town of Brandon, Rut-
land Co., Vt., Aug. 18, 1818, and is the son of Dr.
Josiah W. Hale, a successful physician, and distin-
guished as one of the strongest Abolitionists of
that time. Dr. Hale was a native of New Hamp-
shire, and married Miss Rhoda Green, daughter of
William Green, who served as a soldier in the Rev-
olutionary War. After removing from his native
State, he commenced practice near Salisbury, Vt.,
where he continued successfully many years and
thence removed to Brandon, where he spent the
remainder of his days, his death taking place in
1851. The mother had died in early life, when her

son Luther was a mere lad. The parental house-
hold included five children, and our subject was
the only son, and is now the only survivor of the
family.

Mr. Hale was reared and educated in his native
county, completing his studies in Casselton Semin-
ary. Upon starting out for himself in life, he first
engaged as a clerk, in which capacity he served seven
years. His subsequent movements we have already
indicated. The wife of our subject was formerly
Miss Sarah J. Fitch, of Kinderbook, N. Y. They
were married Aug. 2, 1849. Mrs. Hale is the
daughter of Albert B. Fitch, who died of cholera
in Keuosha, in 1 849, and by her union with our sub-
ject became the mother of three children : Albert
F., now agent in the depot of the St. Paul Railroad ;
Edith, who died when eighteen years of age, and
Elsie, who remains at home with her parents.

Mr. Hale when first becoming a voter, was a
member of the old Whig party, but since its aban-
donment has cordially endorsed Republican prin-
ciples. Duriug the course of a long and worthy
life, he has gathered around him scores of friends,
and is the favorite of both young and old.

AMUEL R. DUBS, the Police Magistrate
of Freeport, is a native of Pennsylvania,
and was born in York County, on the 17th
of February, 1820. His parents were
George and Sarah (Rider) Dubs, who were both
born and raised in York County. They moved to
Centre County, Pa., when Samuel R. was about
two years of age, and the family remained in that
county until 1843, when the father died. The
mother, after the death of her husband, came to
Stephenson County and made her home with her
son, Samuel R., until her death, which occurred
suddenly in May, 1863. She was the mother of
two children, a daughter named Abigail, who mar-
ried Daniel Machamer, and now resides in Jo Da-
viess County, 111., and Samuel R.

The subject of this sketch passed his youth upon
his father's farm in Centre County, until twenty-
one years of age, during that time obtaining as
thorough a common-school education as it was pos-

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

sible, and becoming skilled in the work required
of a farmer. In 1854 he removed to Stephenson
County, where he opened and improved a farm, on
which he remained until 1862, when he disposed
of it and moved to Freeport, leasing what is known
as the Pennsylvania House. After operating this
house as a place of public entertainment for about
a year, he purchased a dwelling north of the Brew-
ster House, where he lived somewhat retired from
business. In 1886, through the partiality of his
friends, and the citizens generally, he was elected
to the office of Police Magistrate for a term of four
years. In the administration of this office he
seems to be giving general satisfaction.

Mr. Dubs was married, in 1840, to Miss Susannah
Hockman, of Centre County, Pa. They became
the parents of nine children, six of whom grew to
maturity, but only four of whom are living, one
daughter and three sons: Charles F. is deceased;
Henry is an operator on the New Board of Trade,
Chicago; Daniel, a blacksmith in the Stover Man-
ufacturing Company; Samuel, a clerk; Jennie, the
wife of George Dana, of Boone, Iowa; Sarah J.
married Peter Bixler, and is now deceased.

Iii politics, Mr. Dubs is a Democrat, and is a
strong supporter of Cleveland's administration.
He is closely attentive to the cases brought before
him, firm and prompt in his decisions, and dispenses
justice without fear, favor or affection. The of-
ficial record he is making reflects credit upon his
judgment and his capacities.

ANFORD S. SHERMAN, a farmer who
resides on section 19, in Waddams Town-
ship, was born in Essex County, N. Y.,
Aug. 18, 1830. He grew to manhood in
his native county, where he attended the district
school and assisted his father in the routine of farm
labor. At the age of nineteen he was sent by his
father to choose a location for the family in the
far West. He first came to Knox County, 111.,
where his elder sister lived. Here he rented a farm
of 1 60 acres, and in the following spring his father's
family joined him. In the fall of the same year he
procured a pair of horses and a light wagon, and

with his father, mother and eldest sister, set out for
Jackson County, Iowa. At that day the country
west of the Mississippi River was thinly settled,
and his father not liking the prospects concluded
to return. Sanford S., the following spring, went
to Peoria County, with but twenty -five cents in his
pocket. He engaged to work for a farmer for nine
months, at $13 per mouth, who afterward engaged
his services for one year at $15 per month. He
then remained with the same man's brother-in-law
for nearly two years, after which he returned to
Galesburg and worked for his own brother-in-law
for $26 per month. He remained with him two
seasons, then engaged with another man in the
same locality, working with different farmers until
the year 1855, when ne began teaming for a flour-
ing-mill at Henderson, Galesburg, and other places
on the line of the C., B. & Q. R. R. In the spring
of 1856 he returned to New York State, but be-
coming homesick in two weeks retraced his foot-
steps to Illinois, and for one year rented a farm two
miles west of Galesburg, and there engaged in
farming until the fall of 1858, when he came to
Stephenson County and farmed for two seasons,
after which he purchased the farm upon which he
now resides. By dint of hard labor he has suc-
ceeded in placing his farm under a high state of'
cultivation, with a fine orchard and beautiful shade
trees, and has also erected costly farm buildings.

Sanford S. Sherman and Emma Lock were mar-
ried Feb. 6, 1859. Mrs. S. was the daughter of
John M. Lock, who was a native of Vermont. She
was born Oct. 14, 1842, at Port Henry, Essex Co.,
N. Y. Her grandfather was Rev. Isaac Lock, a
minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and
one of the first settlers of Essex County, N. Y. He
spent the last years of his life in Maria. The father
of Mrs. Sherman was very young when his parents
moved to the State of New York, where he grew
up and was married to Lucinda Fowler, who was a
native of Vermont. He served several years as
dock master at Port Henry. In 1 856 he came to
the Prairie State, and settled in Waddams Town-
ship on section 25, where he remained until his
death, which occurred Oct. 3, 1882, leaving his
widow on the old homestead.

Mr. and Mrs. Sherman have six children living,

196

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

to-wit: Birdie L., wife of J. H. Becker, now living
in Melrose Township, Grundy Co., Iowa; Edric
E. lives in Mt. Morris, Ogle County; Lillie re-
sides with her grandmother; John E. L., Rose D.
and Raymond L., are at home. Four children,
Earnest, Grace, Rogers and Daisie, are dead.

Sanford S. Sherman is a member of the United
Brethren Church. Mrs. Sherman is a member of
the Methodist Church. Mr. S. is a Republican in
politics, his father formerly being a Whig until the
time of the Rebellion, when he became a Repub-
lican. Sanford S. is one of the representative men
of Stephenson County, and is a living illustration
of what may be accomplished by a young man who
has the determination and industrious habits pos-
sessed by our subject. He looks about his pleasant
and happy home, and maj r well feel great satisfac-
tion when he remembers that it was by his own
tireless energies that he became the possessor of
the comfortable home in which he can spend the last
days of his life.

S. WAGNER, one of the men who have
assisted in making Oneco one of the best
townships of Stephenson County, is a native
of Northumberland County, Pa., where he was born
on the 1 4th of February, 1 833. He is the son of
Jacob Wagner, who was born in 1799, and died in
1867. The grandfather's name was also Jacob; he
was born in Berks County, Pa., and was married in
Northumberland, and died May 27, 1833, at the
age of seventy -five. The latter years of his life
were spent in Northumberland County. The grand-
mother was Miss Eva Ranchler, who died May 7,
1813, aged fifty-two years.

The father of the subject of this sketch was by
trade a carpenter. He learned his trade in North-
umberland County, where he was born, and at the
age of eighteen or twenty he went to work for him-
self, visiting different towns throughout that sec-
tion of Pennsylvania. At the age of thirty-three,
in Northumberland County, he married Miss Sarah
Seiler. After his marriage he farmed a property
he had bought, consisting of thirty acres, and
worked at his trade at such times as" the farm did

not claim his attention. He accumulated land as
his means increased. In the year 1846 he went
overland, to Pittsburgh, Pa., and from there by
boat on the Ohio and Mississippi, to Savanna, III.,
and from that point overland to Ogle County,
where he remained several weeks. From there he
removed to Oneco Township, Stephenson County,
where he had purchased a farm of 320 acres, 100 of
which were under improvement, and on which
stood two log cabins. The farm cost him $1,000,
and was situated half a mile south of the present
home of E. S. Wagner. He lived there until his
death, and during his residence was School Director
and filled several other local offices. His wife was
the daughter of Mr. Seiler, a native of Pennsyl-
vania, as were all of her people. Her father was a
miller by trade. There were born to them twelve
children, of whom Mrs. Wagner was the second
child. Plight of the children are living in this
county and other parts of the West. Five of them
were born in Stephenson County.

E. S. Wagner lived with his parents until he was
twenty-five years old, and worked on the farm dur-
ing the summer, and attended the district schools
during the winter months. At the age of twenty-
five he rented a portion of his father's farm for three
years, then purchased a part of the old homestead
for which he worked four years, and which he sub-
sequently sold back to his father, purchasing his
present home, which consists of eighty acres in
Oneco Township, and twenty-four acres over the
line in Wisconsin. He paid for this land $30 per
acre. In 1880 he bought eighty additional acres,
paying therefor $45 per acre. He has resided on
this land continuously since. He is now serving
as Assessor for the third term. He has been School
Director and President of a farmers' cheese factory.

Mr. Wagner was married, in 1858, to Miss Mary
C. Hassinger, born in 1842, and (laughter of George
Hassinger, of Pennsylvania. Their children are Ad-
die M., born June 8, 1859; Willard A., Feb. 23,
1861; George S., Jan. 6, 1863; Samuel G., March
7, 1864; Ira J., Nov. 2, 1866. Willard is married
and is living on the home farm ; George S. is a
merchant, and conducts a clothing store and ex-
press office at Monroe, Wis. ; Samuel is a druggist
in Beloit, Kan., and Ira is at home.

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

197

The brothers and sisters of Mr. Wagner are Se-
linda J., born July 13, 1831; Carolina, Oct. 14,
1834; Harriet, Oct. 24, 1836; Franklin, 5born Nov.
19, 1838, and died March 30, 1840; Amanda, born
Jan. 10, 1841, and died Oct. 23, 1861; Emanuel,
born March 5, 1843, and died Aug. 5, 1851 ; Sarah
Ann, born Feb. 16. 1845; Mary Ellen, born Aug.
3, 1847, and died Aug. 13, 1851; George, born
May 24, 1849; Amelia C., March 21, 1851 ; Daniel
S., April 8, 1853. Mr. Wagner's father died March
30, 1867, and his mother Feb. 2, 1883.

Mr. Wagner is an Elder in the Lutheran Church,
and for several years has been the Sunday-school
Superintendent. He has lived a Christian life as
nearly as it is possible, and enjoys the[esteem and
respect of all.

EN JAM IN HARTZELL, father of Aman-
dis Hartzell, who is well" known through-
out Buckeye Township, was a native of Al-
lentown. Pa., born March 2, 1815. His
father, Solomon, and his grandfather, Henry Hart-
zell, were natives of the same county. The father
of the latter, who was the great-grandfather of our
subject, was a native of Germany. He emigrated
to America as a Hessian soldier during the Revo-
lutionary War, and after the termination of the
conflict between the Colonies and the Mother
Country, he settled in Lehigh County, Pa., "'where
he was married and reared a family. His son
Henry was born and reared in Lehigh County,
where he spent his entire life, and also reared a
family. Among the children of Honry Hartzell
was Solomon, the father of our subject.

Solomon learned the trade of a weaver and also
that of a stonemason, and served as a soldier in
the War of 1812. Afterward he followed his
trade of stonemason in Lehigh County until 1858,
when he migrated to this State and died at the
home of his son Benjamin in 1861.

Solomon Hartzell married in early manhood
Miss Rebecca Smith, a native of his own county,
but who died while they were residents of Lycom-
ing County. Mr. Hartzell early in life became ac-
quainted with its difficulties and hardships, and
often worked as a stonemason at twenty-five cents

per day while serving his apprenticeship. Benja-
min Hartzell became a resident of this county in
1848, stopping first with William Retzman'amVsub-
sequently taking up his abode in Oneco Township,
remaining there three years employed on a farm,
after which he purchased the property in Bucke.ye
Township which he now occupies. Upon this is a
good set of farm buildings, and the entire premises
presents the picture of a country; home" furnished
with all modern conveniences and abounding in
comfort and plenty. The sons managed the farm
while the father was employed at his" trade," until
1840. His marriage with Miss Sarah Schadle took
place in Lehigh County, Pa., in the spring of 1857.
This lady was a native of Union County, Pa., and
became the mother of eight children, namely:
Priscilla; William, deceased ; Susanna; Samuel is a
resident of Cass County, Neb. ;'Amandis"occupies
the homestead; Daniel and Satila are deceased, and
Susanna is the wife of Henry" Rubendall, a resident
of Waddams Township; Benjamin Hartzell is a
resident of Orangeville.

Amaudis Hartzell received his'early education in
the district school and supplemented his studies by
an attendance of four' terms at Northwestern Col-
lege at Naperville. When prepared to establish a
home of his own he" was" united in marriage 'with
Miss Carrie Hughes, Nov. 16, 1881. Mrs. Hart-
zell is a native of Du Page County, 111., and the
daughter of Bushrod Hughes, who was born in
Schuyler County. Pa. Her paternal grandfather,
John Hughes, was a native of Ireland, whence he
emigrated when a young man, settling first in
Schuylkill County and removing later to Lebanon
County, where he spent the remainder of his life.
Bushrod Hughes came to Illinois in 1857, and set-
tled in Naperville, where his death ftook place in
1879. His wife was formerly Miss Sarah Shindle,
a native of Reading, Pa. Mr. and Mrs. Hartzell
have two children, a son and a daughter, Edna
May and Allen L. Amandis soon after his mar-
riage settled on the old homestead, where he has
since been successfully engaged in general farming,
and is worthily wearing the mantle of his honored
father, being'successful in his farming and business
transactions, and is numbered" among the valued
members of the community.

198

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

R. W. S. CALDWELL, who enjoys a
large and lucrative practice, is a native of
Southern Kansas, and was born on the 8th
of August, 1832. His father, Abner
Caldwell, belonged to the celebrated Caldwell fam-
ily of half a century ago. He was a full cousin of
the Southern statesman, John C. Calhoun. The
Doctor's advantages on the frontier, his father hav-
ing been an Indian agent, were so limited that at
the age of fourteen he knew not a letter of the al-
phabet. When fourteen years of age Dr. Caldwell
went to Michigan, where be commenced and com-
pleted his literary course; then he began his ex-
tended course in the study of medicine at the Uni-
versity of Michigan. He afterward pursued the
study of medicine and surgery in Cincinnati, Phil-
adelphia, New York, Berlin, Vienna, Paris and
London. Dr. Caldwell came to Jo Daviess County
in the year 1856, carrying his entire worldly pos-
sessions, which consisted of $20, in his pocket. He
taught school one winter and then engaged in the
practice of his profession at Elizabeth, where he
remained fifteen years. He then removed to War-
ren, where he resided seven years and built up a
very large and successful practice.

In April, 1877, the Doctor went abroad and spent
two years in Europe, pursuing his studies in Berlin,
Vienna, Paris and London. Returning to America
in June, 1879, ripe with the experience of twenty-
one years' practice and two years' study in the
most eminent institutions of the Old World, he lo-
cated in Freeport, and at once entered upon a pro-
fessional career which has been a success from the
start. Dr. Caldwell has received five diplomas
from different medical institutions. He is Presi-
dent of the Board of Pension Examiners of this
district, appointed by the Commissioner of Pen-
sions. He is a member of the Illinois State Medi-
cal Society, and also of the International Medical
Congress, which met at Washington, D. C., in Sep-
tember, 1887. He is also a member of the Ameri-
can Medical Association, and of the British Gyne-
cological Society.

During his visit to Europe Dr. Caldwell devoted
his time to surgery and the diseases of women. He
is a great student, and is thoroughly devoted to
the interests of his profession. His practice has

proved very remunerative and he is considered one
of the wealthy men of Freeport. While his pro-
fession is very exacting, yet he improves every op-
portunity to participate in all movements for the
advancement of the city.

The Doctor's familiarity with French and Ger-
man enables him to keep abreast of the march of
science in those countries, which he persistently
does, through reading their standard works.

The Doctor was married to Catharine Hutchins
April 1, 1858.

~t OHN DILLE Y is a successful farmer now liv-
ing on section 10, Ridott Township, where
I he owns 160 acres of well-improved land.
i Mr Dilley was born in Germany, Sept. 21,
1827. His father, John Dilley, Sr., is now living in
Silver Creek Township, at the ripe age of eighty-
four years. The father had married Dora Schmidt,
who is yet living, and is eighty-two years of age.

John Dilley and wife came to the United States
about 1854. The subject of our sketch is the eldest
child and only son, there being three girls. He
grew up in his native Province until fifteen years
old. At thin age he set out for the United States,
and made his first settlement in Minnesota in 1842.
He worked at Stillwater in that State for seven
years. When he left Minnesota he came to Illinois
and located in Ridott Township. He was married
here in 1856 to Miss Barbara Miller, who was
born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, April 15, 1837.
She is the daughter of Louis Miller, who came to
this country in 1840 and died at the age of about
seventy-five years in Iowa. Mrs. Dilley was the
youngest daughter of six children. Her mother's
maiden name was Barbara Kline, who is now
deceased, having died in this township at the age of
about fifty-five years. Mrs. Dilley is the mother of
a large family of children, one of whom is dead.
These are Louis, who is married ; Charles, Barbara,
Albert, George ; Katie, who is also married ; August
and Adam. John Adam is the deceased child.

After marriage Mr. Dilley settled on section 16,
in Ridott Township, where he partly improved his
eighty acres of land. He sold it and bought
where he now lives. His farm is being constantly
cultivated and is well improved. The family are
members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. In
politics, Mr. Dilley is a Democrat.

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

ii==7>RED FLACHTEMEIER is senior partner

Pj) of the firm of Flachtemeier Bros., marble
and granite dealers, Freeport, 111. This
concern is the largest of the kind in the Northwest,
and occupies a large, two-story brick building, with
a glass front. Besides doing all kinds of marble
cutting, they do a large business in the way of cut-
ting and dressing fine building stone, curbing,
door and window sills, fronts for banks, steps, etc.

The subject of this sketch was born in Prussia,
on the 5th of July, 1851. His parents were Chris-
tian and Minnie Flachtemeier, who were emigrants
to America in 1867. After arriving in New York
they came West and located at Freeport, 111. Be-
fore coming to this country the subject of this
sketch attended school seven years. When he ar-
rived at Freeport with his parents he was sixteen
years of age. He commenced working at the mar-
ble cutting business when about twelve years of
age, and after coming to Freeport engaged in work
at his trade with a Mr. H. Nott, continuing for
some seven years, in which time he acquired a thor-
ough knowledge of all branches of the business.
He then embarked in business for himself, opening
an establishment on Galena street, in which he con-
tinned for nine years. He formed a partnership
with his brother, W. H., in January, 1885, and in
1886 they built the business house on Stephenson
street which they now occupy. It is 40x60 feet,
and is two stories high. They are very extensively
engaged in the manufacture of all kinds of marble
work, both plain and ornamental, and are prepared
to produce work from the plainest slab to the most
elaborate monument. They also prepare stone for
the various purposes of building. They ship the
products of their skill into all the neighboring
towns. Their business extends throughout Ogle,
Jo Daviess, Champaign, Stephenson and other coun-
ties. He and his brother are both practical men,
being marble cutters; they constantly employ ten
men, and sometimes as high as fifteen. Their
works are kept in constant operation during all
seasons of the year.

Mr. Flachtemeier was married to Miss Minnie
Wittbekcr in 1873, daughter of A. and Minnie
Wittbeker, of Freeport. They have two children

Ada L. and Arthur S. Mr. Flachtemeier has

held the office of Assistant Supervisor, and is a
member of Freeport Lodge No. 239, I. O. O. F.,
and Excelsior Lodge No. 91, A. F. & A. M. He
and his wife are members of the Evangelical Church.

N1EL C. STOVER, of Freeport, has been
identified with the business interests of
Northern Illinois for over twenty years.
He has been distinguished by native en-
ergy to a more than ordinary extent, and from his
youth his busy brain has been ever active, devising
some scheme which could be put to practical use
and become of benefit to the farming and indus-
trial community. He was the original inventor of
the automatic machine for the manufacture of
barbed wire, -which from the first rendered great
service and commanded an immense sale. He has
been continuously improving his first device, and
for the past twenty years has devoted his time to
perfecting his patents, of which he has taken out
fully 100, nearly all of which have been of great
utility and upon which he has realized a snug
fortune. At the same time his work has consti-
tuted him a public benefactor, his inventions being
as valuable to the country as remunerative to him-
self.

Mr. Stover is a native of Pennsylvania and was
born near Greeucastle, Franklin County, May 9,
1840. His father, Jacob P. Stover, was a success-
ful farmer of Franklin County, and his mother,
formerly Miss Elizabeth Emmert, was a lady pos-
sessing a fine intellect and all the womanly virtues
to a high degree. She was born in Washington
County, Md., and the parents after marriage
located in Franklin County, Pa., where they reared
a family and spent the remainder of their days.
The household included twelve children, six sons
and six daughters. Daniel C., the subject of our
sketch, was next to the youngest of the family. His
boyhood days were spent upon his father's farm,
and he received the advantages of the common
school, only remaining with his parents until
eighteen years of age. He then left the home roof (
to commence the. battle of life upon his own ac-

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

count. He was variously employed for a time and
finally decided to go to California. He embarked
upon a steamer at New York, and going by way of
the Isthmus of Panama, arrived upon the Pacific
Slope four weeks later, and in company with a
brother entered the mines and was occupied over a
year in searching for the yellow ore.

Young Stover, upon returning from California,
remained for a time at his old home in Pennsyl-
vania, and in 1864 drifted westward to this State.
He first took up his residence at Lanark, where he
spent two years. He had already begun his career
as an inventor by perfecting a corn cultivator, and
in 1866 came to Freeport and began its manufact-
ure, having already secured a patent. He operated
on a small scale at first, utilizing his spare time in
the invention of a wind-mill, upon which he
secured letters patent, and soon began the manu-
facture of this also. His first shop was in the old
Presbyterian Church, which was located at the
corner of Walnut and Stephenson streets. He con-
tinued the manufacture of the latter invention a
number of years, then disposed of his interest in it
and turned his attention to the manufacture of
barbed wire for fencing. To this he had already
given much thought, and was prepared to put it
upon the market in a state which at once com-
mended it to those who had use for that article.
After securing the large number of patents which
we have already mentioned, he produced a machine
for the manufacture of wire door-matting, on
which he has taken out four different patents, and
the right of which he sold for the round sum of
$25,000. His wind-mills are manufactured and
sold extensively in every part of the civilized
world.

The success of Mr. Stover has been largely the
result of his inventive genius, which manifested
itself early in life. Even when a small child the
spectacle of wheels in motion had for him a re-
markable fascination, and to this day there is noth-
ing which so excites his admiration as the magnifi-
cent machinery of this age, as displayed either in
stationary or locomotive engines. In addition to
this peculiarity of his make-up, nothing has pleased
him better than to note the development of his
adopted State and the building-up of its institu-

tions, both industrial and educational. He is one
of the heaviest stockholders in the Henny Buggy
Works of Freeport, which is one of the largest
manufactories of its kind in the Northwest, and of
which Mr. Stover is President. He also holds the
same position in the Stover Manufacturing Com-
pany, which was organized in 1879 and of which
he is a leading stockholder. His success in life has
been phenomenal, and there is no question in the
minds of those who have watched his useful career
and noted the benefits which he has involuntarily
strewn around him, concerning the propriety of his
occupying, as he does, a leading position among
the representative men of Stephenson County. His
successes have also operated to continue in him the
genial and companionable spirit which character-
ized his youth and boyhood, and there is no man
more attentive to the call of assistance for deserv-
ing charities and to build up the enterprises which
have for their object the advancement of the com-
mon people. It would be impossible in a brief
sketch of this kind to enumerate the many chan-
nels in which his generosity has flowed, but the
man is universally recognized by the people who
have known him best and longest.

The marriage of Daniel C. Stover and Miss
Mary C., daughter of Dr. J. B. Porter, of Lanark,
111., was celebrated at the home of the bride, July
13, 1871. This union has been blessed by the
birth of two children, a sou and a daughter Por-
ter S. and Mary P. The residence of Mr. Stover
is located on Stephenson street, in the midst of
beautiful grounds, with a fine lawn in front, orna-
mented with choice shrubs and shade-trees. The
building is of brick, two stories in bight, finished
and furnished in modern style and indicating
within and without the cultivated taste and ample
means of the owner. Here Mr. Stover and his
estimable wife entertain in a hospitable manner a
large circle of friends, composed of the refined and
cultivated people of Freeport and vicinity.

The father of Mrs. Stover, Dr. Porter, of Lanark,
was one of the most prosperous physicians of Car-
roll County, where he built up an extensive prac-
tice and fully established himself in the esteem
of the people of his community.

Among the numerous portraits presented in this \

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

203

volume, none will be more highly appreciated by
the patrons of this work, which embraces the best
people in the county, than that of Mr. D. C. Stover.

O DAVIESS WADAMS, of West Point
Township, is the proud possessor of a tract
of land entered by his father from the
United States Government. He has been a
resident of this county since a child four years
of age, when his parents came hither to en-
ter upon the vicissitudes of life in a new and un-
tried section of country. They located upon an
unimproved tract of prairie and erected a dwelling
after the fashion of those days, at a time when
their neighbors were few and far between, and in
a locality where there were no schools established
for many years later. The father of our subject,
however, who was a man of more than ordinary in-
telligence and forethought, determined that his
children should not grow up in ignorance, and
hired a teacher to come to his house and instruct
them.

The children of the parental household were also
taught those habits of industry which became the
secret of their success in after life, and the econ-
omy which formed so large a part of the principles
of the old pioneers that their descendants in the
midst of plenty still hold contempt for waste and
extravagance. This principle, if more thoroughly
taught, would be the means of saving many from
loss of property and the embarassment and suffer-
ing consequent upon the idle outlay of money.

Young Wadams remained under the home roof
until the death of his parents, assisting in the de-
velopment of the farm and becoming an important
factor in the cultivation of the soil and the best
means of managing the farm. His father added
to his first possessions after the land came into the
market until the farm included 300 acres. At the
beginning the nearest market was among the lead-
mines at New Diggings and across the line in Wis-
consin. The farmer received for his oats but ten
cents per bushel, and for pork from one and one-
half to two cents per pound when dressed.

Mr. Wadams is a native of Illinois, born Oct. '2,

1829. His father, William Wadams, a native of
New York State, was born in Auburn Dec. 2, 1786,
where he grew to manhood and was united in mar-
riage with Miss Lucy Rolland, who was born in
Corinth, Vt., Aug. 31, 1799. In 1814 they re-
moved to the Territory of Indiana, locating in La
Fayette County, where, with the exception of two
years spent in Lorain County, Ohio, they remained
until 1827. This latter year was marked by their
emigration to this State, and they settled on the
present s.'te of the flourishing city of Galena. The
only features which then attracted attention to the
spot were a few straggling log cabins and one or
two stores carried on after the fashion of those
days, also in cabins. After the breaking out of the
Black Hawk War the family repaired to White Oak
Springs, in Jo Daviess County, to which many
other settlers fled for safety. Mr. Wadams had
been engaged in mining, but afterward rented
land and occupied himself in farm pursuits. Sub-
sequently he made a claim on section 13, in that
part of Jo Daviess County now included in West
Point Township, Stephenson County, where he put
up a log cabin, of which he took possession with
his family after the close of this war. He then
commenced in earnest to cultivate the soil and es-
tablish a permanent and comfortable homestead,
where he spent the remainder of his days, and
where his death occurred May 15, 1856. The
wife and mother survived him for twenty-
two years, her death taking place at the home-
stead Aug. 31, 1878. The grove near which the
father of our subject first located was named in his
honor, as was also one of the townships in Jo Da-
viess County.

The father of Jo Daviess Wadams was character-
ized by energy and industry, and became prom-
inent in the local affairs of Jo Daviess and Stephen-
son Counties. He served as Justice of the Peace
for several years, and presided at the weddings of
many of the young men and maidens in that
locality. While living near what is now Galena,
he put up a flouring-mill, which was operated by
water-power and had its machinery fashioned con-
siderably after the style of the modern coffee-mill.
It was the first mill of the kind in that section, and
was valued accordingly by the pioneers. Mr.

' L 204

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

Wadams after a time added to his facilities for
grinding by procuring two good buhr-stones,
which greatly assisted operations. He was a
man of decided opinions, and in early man-
Hood a stanch adherent of the old Whig party.
After its abandonment by the organization of the
Republicans, he cordially wheeled into the ranks of
the latter party and remained an earnest supporter
of its principles until his death. Like many of the
sturdy spirits of that time, he had little sympathy
with "new-fangled notions," and was averse to
change unless it appeared decidedly for the best.
His wife never rode in a steam-car, and saw but
few of them during her life. The parental family
included'thirteen children.

Our subject, with the exception of one winter
spent in Iowa after he was twenty-one years old,
remained continuously a resident of this and Jo
Daviess Counties until December, 1886. That win-
ter he spent in Florida, returning north in June,
1887. The log cabin where he was born remained
his dwelling-place until about the outbreak of the
late war. In 1863 he completed a frame house
which occupies the site of the primitive structure
which he for so many years called home, and was
content to consider the dearest spot on earth.

eW. BROWN, deceased, one of the best-
known men and merchants of Stephenson
County, was born in Providence, R. I., and
is the last of a family of six brothers and one sis-
ter. He was born in 1818, and at the time of his
death was in the sixty-ninth year of his age. lie
attended the common schools at Providence, until
he was fifteen years of age, when his father sent
him to an academy at Plainfield, Mass. After fin-
ishing his education there, he went to New York
and entered into partnership with his elder brother,
the firm being John A. Brown & Co., and they did
a dry-goods commission business for about two
years. In 1841 he and his brother went to Buffalo,
N. Y., and bought a dry-goods store there-
in 1842 Mr. Brown was united in marriage with
Miss Sarah S. Niles. They left Buffalo in 1847 for
the Great West, to try their fortunes in a new

country. They settled in Oneco, Stephenson
County, and bought a mill on Richland Creek,
above Cedarville. Mr. Brown operated this mill
for about two years, and many of the pioneers of
this county hauled their logs to his mill to have
them sawed. From there he moved to Silver
Creek Township, and bought a sawmill on the
banks of the Pecatonica. This he operated for a
number of years, and in 1857 built a flourmill in
Silver Creek Township which is known as '-Brown's
Mill," and is operated by his sons, Edward and Al-
fred. He lived in Silver Creek Township until
1865, when he moved his family to Freeport. In
this city he opened a flour and feed store, and soon
erected the handsome, three-story brick on Galena
avenue, where his business has been carried on.
He had resided in various parts of the city. When
Dr. Prentice died, Mr. Brown bought his handsome
house on Stephenson street, where he resided at the
time of his death.

Mr. Brown was for many years a member of Em-
bury Church, and was for some time Superintend-
ent of their Sunday-school, but when he moved his
family to their home on Stephenson street, he
joined the First Methodist Church, because it was
so much nearer. No man was more regular in his
attendance at church than he. He could always
be found in his place Sunday morning and evening.
In every sense of the word he was a Christian gen-
tleman, kind to his family and to all about him.
He possessed the confidence and respect of his fel-
low business men, and his word was as good as his
bond in any of the business houses. He was a
hard worker, and learned the lesson of industry and
activity from- his old, moss-covered water-mill.
He fully realized that

"The mill will never gri ml again
With the water that has passed,"

and so he attended strictly to business, and left his
family in comfortable circumstances. Being quite
wealthy, Mr. Brown gave liberally of his means to
all worthy objects. Of little children he was es-
pecially fond, and they miss the kind, genial gen-
tleman with the snow-white hair and beard, who
always had a cheering word and a sunny smile for
them. His death, which took place Aug. 2, 1887,
is deeply felt by the citizens of Freeport, and on

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

205

every hand there have been heard expressions of
sorrow and regret.

Mr. Brown leaves an aged widow, four sons and
several grandchildren, and other relatives to mourn
his death. Supervisor Edward Brown is his oldest
son; George and Charlie take care of the store.
Edward and George were born in Buffalo; Charlie
was born in Oneco and Alfred in Silver Creek
Township. He had a brother murdered in New
Orleans in a hotel for his money, at the breaking
out of the war, Another brother was studying art
in Paris, and ivas taken sick and came home to
Providence, where he died. The Browns were an
old family in Rhode Island, and did much to build
up the city of Providence, and have a long and
honorable history. Their career in Stephenson
County is one which reflects credit upon them,
both the father and the sons, and the business be-
gun by the father and built up by him, has been
transmitted to the safe-keeping of his sons, in whose
hands it will be conducted in the future with the
same energy and enterprise that characterized the
father in his business affairs.

ON. JAMES S. COCHRAN, Freeport, was
I born in Pittsburgh, Pa., on the 22d of Feb-
ruary, 1 834. His father, James B. Cochran,
was a man of liberal education, a physician
by profession, and graduated by Jefferson Medical
College, Philadelphia, in the year 1824. He mar-
ried Miss Susan Cramer, a daughter of Zadoc Cra-
mer, May 13, 1829. They became the parents of
three children, /adoc C., James S. and Mary E.,
the latter of whom married Mr. Joseph Emmert,
and resides at Freeport. Mr. Cramer was an early
settler in Pittsburgh, and started the first book pub-
lication house west of the Alleghany Mountains, in
that city in 1800. He was a man of genius, ambi-
tion, industry and high reputation. In 1814 he
visited Cuba for his health, where he died. A
bound volume of old letters containing a history of
his travels as well as the current history of the
times, written by him, is now of much interest.
The postage on these letters varied from seventeen
cents to $1.25 each.

James S. Cochran, the subject of this sketch, at-
tended by his older brother, Xadoc C. Cochran, en-
tered Bethany College, Va., where they spent two
years under that eminent scholar and divine, Alex-
ander Campbell, the founder of what is known as
the Campbellite Church. After that the two broth-
ers became students of Jefferson College, Pa. Mr.
Cochran commenced reading law in the office of
Messrs. Shaler, Stanton & Umbstetter, at Pittsburgh,
Pa., and afterward attended the law school of
Judge J. W. Brockenbaugh, at Lexington, Va. In
1858 he was admitted to the practice of law at
Pittsburgh, and on the 3d of July of the same year,
came to Freeport, and entered upon the practice of
his chosen profession.

In 1861 Mr. Cochran was elected City Attorney
of the city of Freeport. In 1872 he was elected
State's Attorney for Stephenson County, and con-
tinued to serve as such for twelve years, when in
1884 he was elected State Senator for the Twelfth
Senatorial District, comprising the counties of Jo
Daviess, Carroll and Stephenson, and has now just
finished the second session of his first term, in both
of which he served with usefulness to his constitu-
ents and reputation to himself. Of his work in the
Thirty-fifth General Assembly, it is said that the
Journals of the Legislature will exhibit the fact
that more of his public measures, pertaining to
general subjects, became law, than those of any
other member of either branch of the Legislature.
He introduced nineteen bills, eight of which became
law. Among the other public measures, he was
the author of "An Act to encourage the planting of
trees," by which the Governor is required by law
to designate annually in the spring an "Arbor Day."
"An Act to authorize the inmates of the Soldiers'
and Sailors' Home in the State of Illinois to vote
at elections." "An Act to prevent telegraph, tele-
phone, electric light and other companies, from ac-
quiring a prescriptive right to the use of buildings
or lands."

Of this Legislature the Freeport Journal of June
22, 1887, spoke as follows: "The Illinois Legisla-
ture adjourned on Thurday last. It is the general
verdict that it was the most industrious and useful
Legislature that has assembled in Illinois for many
years. This Senatorial District is honored by being

N . 206

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

represented by Hon. James S. Cochran, one of the
most sensible, practical and industrious members
of either branch of the Legislature. No abler man
has ever been sent to Springfield from Stephenson
County, and we do not forget that T. J. Turner,
John A. Davis, H. C. Burchard and John H. Adams
are among those who have represented this county
at Springfield. No one of these gentlemen made
a better reputation in the State Legislature than
has been made by Mr. Cochran. His constituents
welcome him home with the plaudit of 'Well done,
good and faithful servant.' "

Mr. Cochran was married, in 18C3, to Miss Eva
Tarbox, daughter of Horace Tarbox, Esq., one of
the early settlers of Stephenson County. In April,
1877, Mrs. Cochran died, leaving one daughter.
Miss Mary E. Cochran, an accomplished young
lady, and one son, James Agnew Cochran. Mr.
Cochran is a member of the Masonic fraternity,
Evergreen Lodge, and an attendant at the First
Presbyterian Church. He has also taken an active
and conspicuous part in the interest of education
and the public schools of Freeport, and is now serv-
ing his second term as a member of the Board of
Education of Freeport school district.

While in the Legislature Mr. C. framed and se-
cured the passage of a law to regulate the attendance
of teachers upon teachers' institutes, which seems to
involve great possibilities of reform in county in-
stitutes in this State, providing that the teachers of
the county can attend county institutes during
term, time not exceeding three days in any one
term, or five days in any one year, and that such
time actually spent shall be considered as time law-
fully expended in the service of the district where
such teacher is employed, and no deduction of
wages shall be made for such absences.

JOSEPH KACHELHOFFER, veterinary sur-
I geon, office at New York House, residence
No. 136 Oak street, Freeport, has devoted
some eighteen years of his life to his pro-
fession.. He was born in the city of Buffalo, N.
Y., on the 19th of November, 1846. His father,

Joseph Kachelhoffer, was born in Alsace, France ;
his mother was Magdalene Bower. They emi-
grated to America in 1837, and landed at the city
of New York, from whence they went to Buffalo,
where they settled. Here the father carried on
the carriage and wagon making business. In 1 852
he moved his family to Stephenson County, and
located in Silver Creek Township, and began the
business of brewing, in connection with carriage-
making and blacksmithing, until 1855, when he re-
tired to a farm where he spent the balance of his
days. Joseph Kachelhoffer died on the 2d of July,
1880. The mother died in 1878. There were
eight children, two boys and six girls, seven of
whom survive, of which the subject of this sketch
is the oldest son.

When the parents of young Joseph moved to
Stephenson County, he was about six years of age.
His boyhood days were spent in attending the
common schools, and working on a farm. As a
farmer he became very skillful. He followed farm-
ing until he engaged in the profession of veter-
inary surgeon. Mr. Kachelhoffer still owns the
farm containing 186 acres, lying in Silver Creek
Township, which is well improved. Asa veterina-
rian, Mr. K. is a self-taught student, gaining much
of his knowledge from actual experience and ob-
servation; he is regarded as a fearless and skillful
surgeon in his special line of practice. His man-
ner of treating the diseases of horses has been at-
tended with remarkable success, and has gained for
him such a reputation that his entire time is occu-
pied with professional duties. His theory of prac-
tice has been largely acquired from long experience
on a farm. He makes practical demonstrations in
treating critical cases of diseases in horses. Dr.
Kachelhoffer has successfully treated twenty-five
cases of pinkeye, a disease in horses that lias baffled
the most learned men of the profession. Besides
treating the diseases of horses, he also successfully
diagnoses and treats diseases peculiar to cattle.

In 1875 Dr. Kachelhoffer was married to Miss
Magdalene Able, of Silver Creek Township, for-
merly of Buffalo, N. Y. They have three boys
and three girls, all living. The Doctor is a mem-
ber of the Order of Red Men, and in politics is a
Democrat.

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

207

OHN SCHWARZ, of the firm of Bongye &
Schwarz, dealers in paints, oils, glass, wall-
paper, curtains and picture frames. No. 109
Galena street, Freeport, is a native of Ger-
many, and was born in that country on the 1 4th of
March, 1835. His father and mother were John
and Catherine (Gutjahr) Schwarz, who died some
years ago, having never left their native land.

John Schwarz attended school from the time he
was six years old until he was fourteen, when he
began learning the trade of a painter, serving :in
apprenticeship of three years. He continued to
work at his trade in his native country until he vvas
twenty-one years of age, when he sailed for
America and arrived at New York, from which
point he went to Chicago, in January, 1857. He
remained in Chicago about three months and then
went to Kansas. During the days of border-ruf-
fianism he engaged in fighting bushwhackers.
After remaining in Kansas a few years engaged in
the manufacture of lumber, he returned to Chicago
and soon after went South and stopped for a time
at Louisville, Ky. He then went to Natchez where
he remained until the State of Mississippi went out
of the Union. He then returned North and located
at Freeport in January, 1861, where he engaged in
the painting business until 1862, when he enlisted
in the army, becoming a member of Schwarz' Bat-
tery, Co. E, 2d 111. Lt. Art., in which command
he served for three years and was in the sieges of
Vicksburg, Baton Rouge and Jackson, Miss., and
many other engagements. He escaped being
wounded or taken prisoner, and was mustered out in
June, 1865. He then returned to Freeport, and for
two years was engaged in painting, and later began
clerking with Daniel Adamson, with whom he re-
mained until January, 1882, at which time he and
Mr. Daniel Bongye formed a partnership and began
the business in which they are now engaged, on
Galena street, opposite their present place of busi-
ness. They carry a large and complete stock of
goods in a building 20x100 feet, three stories high.
Both partners are well known throughout the
country as honorable men and excellent artists.

Mr. Schwarz was married in 1865 to Miss Cres-
cents Burkhardt, of Freeport, and they have six
children, two boys and four girls Matilda,

Robert, Walter, Amelia, Katie and Mary. He is
a member of Evergreen Lodge, A. F. & A. M. ; of
Freeport Lodge, I. O. O. F., and of John A. Davis
Post, G. A. R., and of the Gennania Society. He
is a member of the St. Joseph Catholic Church, and
politically is a Democrat.

RANKLIN J. MIDDLEDlTCH,of the firm
of Middleditch & Potter, wholesale and re-
tail dealers in foreign and domestic wines
and liquors, at No. 47 Stephenson street, is one of
the go-ahead and enterprising citizens of Freeport,
evidences of whose success are shown in all his sur-
roundings. Mr. Middleditch is a native of the State
of New York, and was born in Erie County, near
Buffalo, on the 22d of November, 1831. Alonzo
Middleditch, his father, was a farmer of modest
means. He married Miss Silvia Frost, a native of
New York.

Franklin J. Middleditch had the advantages of a
good common-school education, which he improved
to the best of his ability. He grew to manhood in
the State of New York, and began his business ca-
reer early in life. He came to Freeport in 1865,
and soon thereafter established his present busi-
ness. In 1865 he formed a partnership with Mr.
O. B. Potter. The firm of Middleditch & Potter
have successfully carried on the business for the
past twenty-two years, and have earned an envi-
able reputation and built up a large and profitable
trade in the States of Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa and
Nebraska.

Mr. Middleditch was elected a member of the
Board of Supervisors, in which capacity he served
for two years, discharging the duties of the office
to the entire satisfaction of the people. For a con-
siderable time he held the office of chief-engineer
of the fire department, and during his incumbency
the efficiency of the department, as well as the dis-
cipline among the men, was above the average.
Besides the establishment at No. 47 Stephenson
street the firm owns another at No. 143 Stephen-
son street.

Mr. Middleditch was married in 1854 to Miss
Mary Ryan, of Buffalo, N. Y., and they arc the

h > 208

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

parents of two children, Marie and Francis, the
latter of whom is deceased. He occupies an ele-
gant residence upon Galena avenue which he has
furnished comfortably. The business house first
named above is 24x74 feet, and is three stories
high, not including the basement. In politics Mr.
Middleditch is a Democrat.

ON. HUBBARD GRAVES, deceased, was
numbered among the pioneers of Stephen-
son County, to which he came in the days
of its first settlement, poor in pocket but
strong in resolution and enterprise, and gifted by
nature with more than ordinary ability, which ren-
dered him a highly prized citizen and a business
man who uniformly met with success. By his own
efforts he obtained a good education. An exten-
sive course of reading fully qualified him for the
important position which he was destined to take
in life. He served in some official capacity most
of the time after reaching manhood and discharged
with fidelity the various duties assigned him. He
was born in Chenango County, N. Y., Nov. 4,
1804, and departed this life at his home in Wad-
dams Township, Sept. 26, 1884, having reached the
advanced age of nearly eighty years.

The father of our subject, Consider Graves by
name, was born it is supposed, in Massachusetts.
whence he removed to New York State, where he
remained until about 1810, when he removed to
Ohio, settling near what was then the embryo town
of Portsmouth, on the Scioto River. He had traded
his farm in New York for a large tract of timber
land in Scioto County, and eight years afterward
was drowned in the Ohio River. He left a wife
and six children in limited circumstances, being
as were many others at that day "land poor."
Hubbard being the eldest, the care of the family
afterward mainly devolved upon him, and he re-
mained the support and counselor of his widowed
mother until her second marriage. After this event
he started out for himself and learned the stone-
cutter's trade, which he followed until 1834. In the
meantime he had been married, and now, accom-
panied by his wife and one child, started for Illi-

nois via the Ohio, Illinois and Mississippi Rivers,
and located near Hennepin, whence he removed to
Waddams Township in what was then Jo Daviess
County and is now a part of Stephenson. This lat-
ter journey was made overland by teams. He pur-
chased a claim on section 1 of what is now Waddams
Township. A log cabin stood upon the land and
into this he moved his family and made them as
comfortable as possible. The land then was not
even surveyed.

Mr. Graves had met with an accident and re-
ceived injuries which incapacitated him for hard
labor, so that at the time his land came into the
market he had no money with which to purchase. He
was accordingly obliged to move and made a 'claim
in Rock Grove Township, which he was enabled to
sell not long afterward for the sum of $400, which
greatly relieved him from embarrassment. In 1843
he made another claim on section 2 of the same
township, where he opened up a farm, established
a good home and spent the remainder of his days.
In the meantime he had accumulated a competency,
and left his family well provided for and surrounded
by all the comforts and many of the luxuries of
life.

The marriage of Hubbard Graves and Miss Cyn-
thia Roby took place in Ohio, May 16, 1829. Mrs.
Graves was born in Scioto County, Ohio, and was
the daughter of William and Mary Roby, who are
mentioned in the sketch of their son Levi, on an-
other page in this volume. Of this union there
were born eleven children, five now living, namely,
Mary, Charles; Martha J., the wife of George Stites^
and a resident of Cadiz Township, Green Co.,
Wis. ; Lora and Fannie, the two latter still remain-
ing on the'old homestead. Mrs. Graves survived
her husband a little over two years, her death tak-
ing place Jan. 2, 1887.

Mr. Graves in early manhood had identified
himself with the old Whig party but on its aban-
donment cordially indorsed Republican principles.
He was the first Sheriff of Stephenson County,
and besides occup3'ing many of the minor ollices
of his township was Justice of the Peace for many
years. He represented this and Jo Daviess County
in the Illinois Legislature from 1842 to 1844, and
introduced many measures which proved advanta-

RESIDENCE OF JOHN DiRKSEN.SEc.1 1 !-. RIDOTT TOWNSHIP.

RESIDENCE OF FRANKTRUNCK,275 GALENA AVE.,FREEPORT, ILL.

RESIDENCE OF DANIEL WEBER, SEC. 2. RIDOTT TOWNSMI p.

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

211

geous in conducting matters under the local gov-
ernment.

The mother of Hon. Hubbard Graves in her
girlhood was Miss Mitty Waite, a native of Hamp-
shire County, Mass., born April 27, 1784, and the
daughter of Asa Waite, a highly respected citizen
of the Bay State. Her parents emigrated from
Massachusetts to New York in 1787, and were
among the earliest pioneers of Chenango County.
Their daughter remained under the home roof
until her marriage, at the age of twenty-one years.
She came West with her husband, remained his
faithful and affectionate companion during his
labors and struggles in a new country, and died at
the homestead in Waddams Township, April 27,
1874.

\**4x AVID BROWN, a gentleman on the sunny
side of forty, and one of the leading mer-
chants of Davis, is distinguished by energy
of character, and integrity in his business
affairs, which qualities have secured him the pat-
ronage of a large portion of the most reliable peo-
ple of this thriving little city and its environs. He
carries a large and well-selected stock, and com-
mands a trade which is steadily increasing. So-
cially, he ranks with the refined and cultivated
people of Davis, and is an especial advocate of
temperance and good order.

Our subject first drew breath in Logansville,
Clinton Co., Pa., Nov. 23, 18oi. His father, Henry
Brown, also a native of the Keystone State, was
the son of John Brown, whose ancestors settled in
Pennsylvania several generations back. John
Brown at one time visited Wayne County, Ind.,
but later returned to his native heath, which re-
mained his home thereafter until his death, which
occurred after he had passed his eighty-first birth-
day. His wife was a Miss Dinges. who was of Ger-
man ancestry, but a native of Pennsylvania, and
who died in Clinton County when eighty-six years
old. Grandmother Brown was noted far and wide
for her strength of character and remarkable intel-
ligence. She retained her plrysical powers in a
marked degree. Upon the day of her death she

walked one and one-half miles. It was in June,
one of the hottest days of the season. Becoming
over-heated, she sank down lifeless before reaching
her home.

The father of our subject, Henry Brown, mar-
ried Miss Catherine Stamm, a resident of Clinton
County. She was of German parentage, and con-
tinued with her husband a resident of Hublersburg
until her death, which occurred April 16, 1886,
when she was fifty-eight years of age. She was a
consistent member of the German Reformed
Church, and a lady highly esteemed for her many
estimable qualities. The father of our subject after
his marriage, engaged in general merchandising at
Logansville for three years, when he moved to the
above-named place, of which he is still a resident.
He is now sixty-five years of age, and employs
himself about his store, active and energetic as of
old.

David Brown was the second born of his parents,
whose family consisted of two sons and two daugh-
ters: Sarah J. died in infancy; John married Miss
Hervetta Morris, and is a resident of Clinton
County, Pa., where he operates the Rockville Mills;
Mary E. continues with her father; David, of our
sketch, was three years of age when his father re-
moved to Hublersburg, Center County, where he
was reared to manhood, and obtained a good edu-
cation, studying for a time in Penn Hall, and com-
pleting his education in the Iron City Commercial
College at Pittsburgh. He commenced teaching
when twenty-one years old, which he followed for
five years in his native State. He then came to
this county and took up his profession in the pub-
lic schools of Davis, in which he was Assistant one
year, and the following two years was Principal.
He also taught in district schools for some time.

The marriage of David Brown and Miss Sevilla
Wenzel was celebrated at the home of the bride
in Davis, 111., March 30, 1882. Mrs. Brown was
born in Lycoming County, Pa., Dec. 2, 1860, and
came with her parents to Davis when a child four
years of age. Her parents, Daniel and Margaret
(Bond) Wenzel, were natives of Lycoming County.
Pa., and her father was a carpenter by trade. Mrs.
Brown, like her husband, also followed teaching in
her younger years. This union resulted in the

212

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

birth of one child, Lyell E.. who is now past three
years. Mr. Brown and his wife are members in
good;standing of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.
He is a straight Prohibitionist, with which party he
uniformly votes. His attractive home indicates
the fine taste of its inmates, and is the resort of the
cultivated people of Davis.

JEORGE BAADTE, one of the successful
German farmers of Silver Creek Township,
is a native of the Kingdom of Bavaria and
born not far from the River Rhine, March 28, 1838.
He came to this country with his parents when a
lad fifteen years of age, and after a brief residence
in Ohio they emigrated farther westward and took
up their abode not far from the present homestead
of their son. The latter, since then, has been a
resident of Stephenson County, where his industry
and enterprise have received due recognition by
placing him in a good position socially and finan-
cially. The farm embraces 131 acres and occu-
pies a portion of section 33. He also owns forty
acres on section 28.

Peter Baadte, the father of George, was also a
native of the Rhine Province, where he continued
until reaching manhood and learned the trade of
blacksmithing, which he followed for some years.
There also he was married to Miss Catharine Rohen-
beck, who was born and reared like himself, in Ba-
varia. Some years later, with their three children,
George, Anton F. and Francisco, they set sail for
the United States, which they reached after an
ocean voyage of thirty-seven days, landing in New
York City. Thence they proceeded to Cleveland,
Ohio, near which city the father engaged in farm-
ing for the next three or four years, and later re-
moved to Freeport, 111. From there they came to
Silver Creek Township, locating on section 28 in
the spring of 1857. The father improved a good
farm from the uncultivated soil and established a
comfortable homestead, which the parents occu-
pied until the death of the mother, in November,
1885, at the age of seventy- six years. Since that
time the father, now over eighty years of age, has

made his home with his son, our subject. He is
still strong mentally and physically, and possesses a
large portion of the activity and energy which
characterized him in his younger days. Both par-
ents were members of the Catholic Church.

Our subject remained a member of his father's
household until twenty -seven years of age, andjwas
married in Freeport, 111., Oct. 12, 1865, to Miss
Sophia Wichman, a native of Prussia, born Nov.
19, 1843. Her parents, Frederick and Sophia
(Gerke) Wichman, spent their entire lives in their
native land, where the former was engaged as a
wagon-maker. Both died in 1849. Mrs. B. came
to the United States with a married sister, landing
here in July, 1862. They located in Freeport,
where she remained until her marriage. She is
now the proud mother of six children, namely
Peter J., Frank A., Katie, George William, Clara
M. and Josephine S.

Mr. and Mrs. Baadte located on their present
farm soon after their marriage, and where they
have since resided. Upon this farm Mr. B. has
erected a comfortable frame residence, a good bam
and all the other buildings necessary for his com-
fort and for the successful prosecution of his call-
ing. Mr. Baadte is a liberal Democrat, politically,
and has served the people of his township as As-
sessor and Collector. Both he and his estimable
lady are valued members of the German Catholic
Church at Freeport. The other children of his fa-
ther's family are all living: Anton F. is farming in
Carroll County, Iowa; he married Miss Catherine
Blattan, of Lancaster Township. The youngest,
Frances, is the wife of Charles Rader, who owns a
good farm of 105 acres in Silver Creek Township.

"~^f^IM^^~

tLIZABETH C. ASPINWALL, residing on
section 32, Harlem Township, is ji daughter
of Robert C. and Mary (Stearns) Schotield,
a sketch of whose life appears in "this work. _^Shu
was born in Charlotte, Chautauqua;Co.,_N._Y., on
the 8th of May, 1842, and was about two.years of
age when her parents came to Stephenson County,
where her life has been spent. Her marriage with

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

213

John S. Aspinwall took place in Harlem Township
on the 13th of October, 1859. She is the honored
mother of three living children Carrie E., Nettie
O. and Edith K. Carrie is the wife of Henry F.
Wallbaum, and resides in Plymouth County, Iowa;
Nettie and Edith are at home with their mother.
A son, Worthy J., died hi infancy, June 30, 1881.
Mrs. Aspinwall is the owner of 120 acres of
land, the greater portion of which is under a high
state of cultivation. The farm buildings, including
the residence, are above the average. She displays
great tact in the management of her farm, and every-
thing about the premises is as orderly arranged as
are the details of a well conducted household. She
is a consistent member of the Baptist Church and
takes great interest in its affairs.

OHN Q. ADAMS. New England has fur-
nished many of the most intelligent agri-
culturists of the West. They farm on scien-
tific principles, and are consequently en-
abled to secure greater and better results than
those who cultivate the soil without regard to the
laws that underlie the entire structure of rural
economy. John Q. Adams received his early and
valuable experiences in rugged old Vermont, and
these have been invaluable to him in his career in
the West. His parents were Abial A. and Irene
(Gray) Adams, the former of English-Scotch de-
scent, the latter descended from pure Scotch an-
cestry. They settled in Newport, Orleans Co., Vt.,
where they lived, reared a large family of children,
and closed their eyes to all earthly scenes. Abial
was a farmer, but being of a mechanical turn of
mind, was also engaged as a carpenter. He lived
until August, 1879. His wife died in 1855.

Of the thirteen children in the family of which
John Q. was the fourth, ten were boys. He was
born in Newport, Vt., July 12, 1831. He early
left the parental roof, being only sixteen when he
entered the college at Burlington, Vt., where for
two years he applied himself to his books, with the
exception of the winter seasons, when he taught
school in order to secure money to pay his way.
He came West at an early day, as we find him in
Freeport in 1851 working at the carpenter's trade

and teaching school. He evidently possessed a
venturesome disposition, as in 1853, when only
twenty-two years of age, we find him on board a
steamer bound for California. Here in the mines
he labored for five years, and in search of the yel-
low metal met with fair success. He returned to
Freeport in February, 1858, and soon thereafter
settled on a farm in Florence Township. Since
then, with the exception of a year and a half passed
in Freeport working at his trade, he has followed
farm life.

Mr. Adams was married in Florence Township,
Feb. 18, 1858, to Miss Julia, daughter of Conrad
and Harriett (Searl) Van Bucklin. The former
was a native of New York, and his wife of Massa-
chusetts. This worthy couple lived for a time in
Lewis County, N. Y. In the spring of 1835, very
early in the history of this county, they located in
Florence Township. Here Conrad died Nov. 3,
1877. His widow still resides in the township. Of
their family of seven children, Mrs. Adams is the
eldest. She was born in Lewis County, N. Y.,
Sept. 29, 1833, and coming here two years later
has consequently passed almost her entire life in
this county. Mr. and Mrs. Adams are the parents
of nine children Morris, Hattie I., Oscar C. A.,
Eva A., Lincoln, Florence J., Grant, Clara E. and
William A. Grant died at the age of two and a
half years; Morris married Minnie Pattow, and re-
sides in Grundy County, Iowa; Hattie is the wife
of L. W. Wolf, of Franklin County, Iowa; Oscar
resides in O'Brien County, Iowa, where also live
Lincoln and Eva.

Mr. Ad'auis has served as Supervisor of his town-
ship for two years, in fact has held all the offices
with the exception of Collector, and is at present
Treasurer. He is a member of Excelsior Lodge
No. 47, A. F. & A. M. Mr. Adams and wife are
both members of the Evanelical Church.

AJ. FRANK LOHK, manufacturer of and
dealer in light and heavy harness, trunks,
valises, carriage trimmings and turf goods,
is contributing his full quota to the busi-
ness interests of Freeport, where he has been estab-
lished since 1882. He possesses all the c-haracter-

, , 214

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

istics of his substantial German ancestry, is upright
and reliable, and in all respect a desirable adjunct
to the community.

Maj. Lohr was born in the Kingdom of Prussia,
Germany, Feb. 14, 1849. He is the son of Joseph
and Sophia (Schmitz) Lohr, who were also of Ger-
man birth and parentage, and who emigrated to
America in 1850, when our subject was less than a
year old. They landed in New York City and
thence proceeded to Madison, Wis., where the
father engaged in teaching and where young Frank
grew to manhood. He attended the public schools
until thirteen years of age, when he engaged in a
wagon manufactory. This business not being suited
to his inclinations, he abandoned it, and at fifteen,
began learning harness-making. After serving his
apprenticeship, he was desirous of seeing some-
thing more of the Western country, and started
out and visited many of the principal cities in the
West, paying his expenses by working at his trade.
He migrated to Freeport in 1874, where he was an
employe until 1882, then entered into partnership
with J. H. Rineke, and established his present bus-
iness. Two years later he purchased the interest
of his partner, and has since continued alone and
won a profitable patronage. He has a large and
well-selected stock of goods which occupy a build-
ing two stories in hight fend 20x80 feet in area.
He employs six men and manufactures most of his
goods to order. He is complete master of the
trade and a neat and skillful workman, although
the work of superintending his establishment oc-
cupies most of his time.

Maj. Lohr has been quite prominent in city
affairs since becoming a resident of Freeport, and
served as Assistant Fire Marshal three years.
Afterward he became a member of Co. C, 3d 1. N.
G., and May 29, 1882, was appointed First Lieu-
tenant; in September following he was given a
Captain's commission. AsjCaptain he served three
years and was re-elected. He was advanced to
Major of the regiment Jan. 13, 1887. He is^very
active and strong physically, and was Captain of
the running team of Hose Company No. 2, and of
the Gymnastic Club. For five years the Major has
been in charge of the Turner Society. He was
married, June 11, 1876, to Charlotta Mueller,

daughter of Christian Mueller. One child, a
bright girl seven years of age, Etta by name,
blesses the union.

ILLIAM W. SISSON, a farmer residing on
section 23, Waddams Township, is the
eldest son of Robert and Mary (Foreman)
Sisson. He was bom in the township in which he
now resides, Oct. 20, 1844, and there he attended
the district school, acquiring the best education
that the facilities warranted, until he was ten years
of age, when he left the school and assisted his
father in clearing up and cultivating the large
farm. By the time William had reached the age
of eighteen, the great Rebellion was threatening to
disrupt our Government. Though but a boy, his
patriotism Dwelled up within his breast until he
deemed it his dut}' as an American citizen, to lay
aside his plow and shoulder a musket and march to
the front in response to President Lincoln's call
for 300,000 volunteers. In August, 18G2, he at-
tached himself to Co. G, 92d III. Vol. Inf., and
shortly after went with his company to join the
Army of the Tennessee. His regiment was en-
gaged in some of the hardest fought battles of the
war. It took part in the bloody carnage at Chiek-
amauga, and then went with Sherman from Chatta-
nooga to Atlanta, participating in all the battles on
the way. Mr. Sisson escaped unhurt in the desper-
ate encounters of Chickamauga and Chattanooga,
yet his eyesight failed him at Atlanta. During the
siege of that place he was compelled to go to the
hospital, and did not recover sufficiently to report
for duty until January, 1865. In June, 1865, he
was honorably discharged, and returned home. He
resided with his parents until his marriage, which
occurred Feb. 10, 1869, and then located upon the
farm which he now occupies.

Miss Eliza Murphy, who became the wife of
William W. Sisson, is a native of Waddams Town-
ship, where she was born Jan. 19, 1852. She is
the daughter of Martin and Ann (Stocks) Murphy,
a biography of whom may be found elsewhere in
this book. Mr. and Mrs. Sisson are the parents of
two interesting children, Alice G. and Carrie L.

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

215 '

Our subject's shattered health and almost entire
loss of eyesight, is due to his hard service in the cam-
paign of the slaveholders' rebellion. It is to the
services of just such men as William W. Sisson
that the American people owe the safety of the
Republic. They left the comforts of home, their
parents and friends, and risked their lives in the
defense of their country, and many promising-
young men fell before the enemy's fire, while
others, as in the case of Mr. Sisson, were maimed
for life. He is now a member of Maj. Goddard
Post No. 25, G. A. R. He is also in good standing
in Lena Lodge No. 192, I. O. O. F.

ISSEL P. BELKNAP. During the early
settlement of this county it seemed the cyn-
osure of all eyes over a territory extending
from the Middle States to the northeastern
portion of New England. The intelligence of its
fertile lands awaiting development reached the ears
of the young man anxious to start out in life for
himself by a way which we can hardly now account
for, before the advent of the daily paper or the
telegraph, and while mail facilities were limited
and slow. Certain it is, however, that the news
traveled and greeted eager and willing ears, brave
hearts and strong hands, who considered that no
sacrifice was too great if they could attain to the
accomplishment of their desires. Among the young
men thus willing to make the sacrifice of leaving
their childhood's home and old associations, was
the subject of this sketch, whose long and interest-
ing experience if fully detailed would make a vol-
ume well worth perusal.

Mr. Belknap began life in Randolph Township,
Orange County, Vt., Dec. 24, 1811. His grand-
father, Moses, Sr., and his father, Moses Belknap,- Jr.,
were [natives of Somers Township, Conn., where
the former followed shoemaking and farming, and
materially assisted in the building up of that sec-
tion of country. Subsequently he removed to
Vermont, locating in Randolph Township, where his
death took place at the advanced age of eighty-
nine years. His son, Moses, Jr., followed farming
his entire life, and died in the county of his birth
about 1837.

Our subject remained under the parental roof in
his native county until twenty years of age, and
then, desirous of beginning to make his own way
in the world, went to Albany, N. Yi, where he en-
gaged, in draying, and was thus occupied from 1831
until 1835. Thence he migrated to New York
City, of which he remained a resident one year,
and subsequently went into St. Lawrence County,
being employed there upon a farm. Two years
later, in 1839, he started for the West, going first
to Wisconsin, where he spent the winter, and in
the spring of 1840 migrated to this county. The
journey from New York was made via the lakes
to Milwaukee, where he had intended to take a
stage coach. The seats all being taken, however,
he started on foot and walked a distance of 125
miles to Gratiot, Wis., where he had relatives. At
that point he employed himself as a carpenter,
erecting barns and other buildings in that vicinity.
He was a natural mechanic, and took up the trade
readily without serving a regular apprenticeship.

Mr. Belknap had been married in Vermont in
1836, and after having decided to make his perma-
nent home in this county he sent for his family,
who joined him the following snmmer. He first
rented a tract of land in Oneco Township, on sec-
tion 23, which he occupied two years, and then
moved two miles southeast, where he took up a
claim of 160 acres, cut a quantity of wild hay, and
then deferred his operations for a time. Subse-
quently he sold this property at a good profit, and
with the proceeds purchased the land included in
his present homestead. This also was a wild and
uncultivated tract of the same extent as the other,
but the location pleased him better, and he was
satisfied to consider it his abode for an indefinite
period. He commenced breaking the sod, moved
a frame building, which had been used as a black-
smith-shop, from another locality, and thus pro-
vided a shelter for his family until he was enabled
to erect a more pretentious dwelling, which he did
in the summer of 1854. This building, which still
continues the family residence, was built of brick,
the material being manufactured two and one-half
miles distant. When completed it was the admira-
tion of all the country around, and was considered
one of the finest structures in that locality. After-

216

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

ward a good barn and other necessary out-buildings
were added, and Mr. Belknap was enabled to re-
lax his arduous labors and take time to look about
his possessions and enjoy the comforts which he
had accumulated for himself and his family.

All the education our subject received was ob-
tained in the district school of his native county,
away back in Vermont. But he was a bright and
intelligent boy, made the most of his opportunities,
and was considered quite an oracle among his asso-
ciates. After becoming a resident of Oneco Town-
.ship he was instrumental in the establishment of the
first school, in which he also officiated as pedagogue.
The temple of learning consisted of one-half of a
log cabin, whose owner was good enough to rent
it for school purposes. The seats" and desks were
home-made, constructed of slabs, and the other
conveniences for teaching " the young idea how to
shoot" were in keeping with the other devices of
that day. People at that time believed in the birch
rod as an effectual means of compelling knowledge^
but our subject 'being more than ordinarily kind-
hearted, seldom resorted to this method of instruc-
tion, and was beloved by his pupils accordingly.
Mr. Belknap since that time has been prominent in
the affairs of his township, where his worth as a cit-
izen has always been recognized. He served as
Collector two years, was Constable eight years,
Road Commissioner two years, and County Cor-
oner one year. When he first became a voter he
identified himself with the old Whig party, but
upon its abandonment cordially cast his lot with
the Republicans. His whole course has been
marked by manly worth and honesty of purpose,
and few men in Oneco Township are held in greater
respect than he.

The faithful and affectionate wife of our subject,
who has been his closest friend and companion for
over a period of fifty years, was formerly Miss Deb-
orah Beebe, and assumed his name Jan. 10, 183G.
She was born in Orange County, Vt., and is the
daughter of Calvin and Deborah (Cole) Beebe, na-
tives of Windsor County, that State. The mar-
riage took place after the removal of our subject to
Albany, N.Y., and during the days he was employed
there in draying. His wife did not accompany
him to the West, but joined him afterward, when

he had prepared a shelter for them. She cheer-
fully shared with her husband the hardships and
privations of life in a new settlement, and their
pleasures and responsibilities were augmented by
the birth of nine children. Of these, three have
been laid away in the quiet country burying-
ground. Those surviving are: Mary, Mrs. Ever-
ett, of Monroe, Wis. ; Hannah, Mrs. Mulks, of
White Water, Wis. ; Corwin, who, although thirty-
nine years of age, is s^ill unmarried and remains
with his parents, attending to the more arduous la-
bors of the farm and relieving them of care and
labor; Horace lives about two miles north of the
old homestead; Edwin A. is an employe of the
Ft. Scott, K. & G. R. R. Co. ; Lillie, the youngest,
is enjoying single happiness at home.

NDREW J. BRUBAKER, of the firm of C.
Brubaker, confectioner, at No. 101 Ste-
phenson street, Freeport, 111., is a native of
Pennsylvania, born near Mt. Joy, Lancas-
ter County, March 1, 1844. His father, R. K.
Brabaker, who was born in the same State and
county, is a farmer. The mother was Elizabeth
(Secrist) Brubaker. and she also was a native of
Lancaster County. The}' are both descendants of
old German families. Mr. Brubaker and family
moved to Stephenson County in 1851, spending
the first year in Freeport, and then moving to a
farm in Lancaster Township, upon which they re-
sided until the father's death, which occurred Dec.
30, 1880. He left a wife and nine children, seven
boys and two girls Abraham, John, Andrew J.,
Jacob, Benjamin, Daniel, Rudolph; Maria, married
to David Ebersold, and Elizabeth, the wife of Jo-
seph Shoemaker, of Stephenson County.

Andrew J. Brubaker was reared on the farm and
remained there until fifteen years of age, during
which time he attended the common schools of his
neighborhood. At the age of fifteen years he be-
gan to serve an apprenticeship of three years to a
candy maker. After completing his apprenticeship
he formed a partnership with his father under the
firm name of R. K. Brubaker & Son, and engaged
in the grocery and confectionery business, which

StEPHENSON COUNTY.

partnership continued for three years, at which
time he sold his interest, and engaged in the whole-
sale tobacco business with W. A. Youngman. This
partnership existed two and a half years, when the
business was closed up and Mr. Brubaker took a
trip west, locating in Sioux City, Iowa, where he
worked by the day, and at the end of a year his
employer started him in the confectionery business,
which he conducted until 1871. Having accumu-
lated some means, he then returned to Freeport
and embarked in the ice business with his brother-
in-law, J. R. Smith, and continued thus occupied
until 1879, when the firm purchased of J. D. Dif-
fenbaugh his fruit and confectionery business, and
carried on the business until 1885, when the mem-
bers of the firm divided the goods. Mr. Smith
chose the ice business, and Mr. Brubaker the fruit
and confectionery business, in which he is at pres-
ent engaged, manufacturing candy for the whole-
sale and retail trade. Included in his establish-
ments are handsome ice cream and oyster parlors,
which are well patronized by the best citizens of
Freeport.

Mr. Brubaker was married, in June, 1864, to
Miss Catherine Bollman, the second daughter of
George and Fanny Bollman. They have seven
children, five boys and two girls. Mr. and Mrs.
Brubaker are members of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, of which Mr. B. is Class-Leader and Stew-
ard. Politically, he is a Republican.

US. MARGARET D. WELTY, widow of
the late Charles E. Welty, of Waddams
Township, is the daughter of one of the
oldest pioneers of Stephenson County, and
was born near Portsmouth, Ohio, Oct. 6, 1834.
Her parents were Isaac and Elvira (Graves) Dive-
ley (see sketch of William Diveley). She was two
years old when they removed from the Buckeye
State to Illinois, and was reared on a farm, receiv-
ing her education in the district school. She pos-
sessed more than ordinary intelligence, and at an
early age became qualified for a teacher, which call-
ing she pursued for some years before her mar-
riage. This event occurred Jan. 2, 1872. The

main incidents in the history of her husband are
as follows: Charles E. Welty, a native of Adams
County, Pa., was born March 2, 1825, and was the
son of Daniel Welty, also a native of the Keystone
State. The latter spent most of his life upon a
farm near Gettysburg, where was fought one of
the great battles between the North and South dur-
ing the late war, the land included in the farm
having resounded with the tramp of soldiery and
the roar of cannon.

The wife of Daniel Welty "was formerly Miss
Catherine Slothower, also a native of Pennsylva-
nia. She became the mother of thirteen children,
who in common with her son Charles were reared
on the farm and received a common-school educa-
tion.

Charles remained a resident of his native county
until about twenty-five years of age, and in the
spring of 1850, repaired northwestward into Wis-
consin, where he located in La Fayette County, and
lived for six years following. He had in the mean-
time secured possession of a tract of good land
which he now sold, and with the proceeds came to
this county and purchased a farm in Waddams
Township. He proceeded with the cultivation and
improvement of this until the outbreak of the late
Civil War, then, laying aside his personal interests
enlisted as a Union soldier Sept. 5, 1861, becoming
a member of Co. B, 7th 111. Vol. Cav. He served un-
til October, 1864, and when his term of enlistment
had expired he received his honorable discharge
and returned home. Mr. Welty soon afterward
sold his farm and purchased the land now included
in the family homestead, which is well improved
and provided with good buildings. The house is
a commodious brick structure and the barn a frame
building of ample size, and convenient for the pur-
poses to which it is devoted. Mr. Welty, after
returning from the army continuously engaged in
agricultural pursuits. In politics he uniformly up-
held the principles of the Republican party, and
was a member of the Lutheran Church. He died
March 9, 1863.

Mr. Welty was first married, in 1849, to Miss
Amanda A. Stock, who was a native of Pennsylva-
nia, and the daughter of Rev. Michael John Steck,
a prominent minister of the Lutheran Church.

i 218

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

This lady became the mother of eight children, and
died at the home of her husband, Dec. 22, 1868.
The offspring of this marriage are recorded as fol-
lows : John S. is a resident of Seward County, Neb. ;
Henry lives in Osborne County, Kan. ; Lavina L.,
in Fayette County, Pa.; Daniel and Gilbert M., in
Seward County, Neb. ; Bessie died when nineteen
years of age ; Charles E. is farming in Nebraska, and
Amanda H. lives on the old homestead with her
step-mother. Of the second marriage, with Miss
Margaret Dively, there were no children.

J~~)ACOB EISELE. Among the early settlers
I of this township conspicuous for energy and
I courage in struggling against adverse cir-
' cumstances and the hardships and perils of
pioneer life, Jacob Eisele is worthy of an honorable
plage. He was born in Wurtemberg, Germany,
March 6, 1831, where he attended school regularly
until he was fourteen years of age. He then de-
voted six years to learning the carpenter's trade.
Ambitious to acquire greater independence than it
seemed possible for him to attain in his native land,
he resolved to come to America, whither so many
have turned from foreign lands in search of free-
dom, riches and a home, and who, when they come
equipped with courage, industry and integrity of
character, are seldom disappointed in their quest.
April 26, 1853, -Jacob Eisele sailed from Havre,
and landed at New York on the 13th of the follow-
ing June. After his arrival he went directly to
Pittsburgh and engaged in farm work twenty-four
miles from that city at $6 per month. He remained
there until autumn when, in the hope of improving
his circumstances, he pushed farther westward and
came to Stephenson County. When he arrived in
America he was in debt for his passage across the
Atlantic, and had been reduced to such extremities
that it was two years before he could pay off his
indebtedness and begin even with the world. On
his arrival in Stephenson County he obtained em-'
ployment on a farm at $10 per month, and retained
the position until I860, when he worked for two
summers at sixty cents a day, and during the win-
ter season chopped and hauled wood.

In 1862 Mr. E. purchased fifty acres of wild land,
covered with a thick growth of underbrush, inter-
spersed here and there with clumps of large trees.
He built a little frame shanty and began resolutely
to clear and improve his land. Here he made his
home for twenty years. In the meantime he had
increased his farm to ove.r 100 acres, having at one
time added to it twenty acres and at another, forty.
In 1882 he sold his property there and came to this
township, where he now owns a farm of 120 acres,
all of which is enclosed.

In 1860 our subject married Miss Hannah Ridel,
also a native of Wurtemberg. They have a family
of six children Lydia, William, John, Julia,
Anna and Ella. Lydia married John H. Zipse, and
lives in West Point Township. Mr. Eisele and his
family are highly esteemed members of the Meth-
odist Church, and it may be said of him that he
possesses the respect and confidence of all who
know him. By the exercise of industry and good
judgment he has worked his way successful!}', strug-
gling against many disadvantages and obstacles,
and is now in the enjoyment of a pleasant home
and independent circumstances.

LAWSON WRIGHT, of the firm of Wright
& Harding, dealers in books, stationery,
pencils, gold pens, picture frames, etc., at
No. 115 Stephenson street, Freeport, was
born in Union County, Pa., on the 10th of Septem-
ber, 1837. His father was Paschal L. Wright, who
was a farmer by occupation, and his mother was
Jane (Lawson) Wright. Both parents were natives
of Pennsylvania, and moved to Stephenson County
in the summer of 1838, settling on a farm not far
from Cedarville, and four miles north of Freeport.
This county was then very sparsely settled, and
the neighbors were few and far between ; not a
house was erected where the city of Freeport now
stands. At that time the family of Mr. Wright
consisted of five children, three girls and two boys.
Mr. and Mrs. Wright both died in the fall of 1872.
J. L. Wright, who is the oldest child of the fam-
ily, was less than a year old when his parents came
to Stephensou County. His early education was

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

221

obtained in the primitive district schools of those
days. In 1870 he entered the State University at
Normal, from which he was graduated in 1873, and
then followed the occupation of school teacher un-
til 1883, having taught in all forty-five terms of
school in Ogle, Carroll and Stephenson Counties.
The last term he taught was at Cedarville. His
longest engagement as a teacher was for a term of
four years at Forreston, Ogle County. Upon retir-
ing from the profession he formed a partnership
with C. G. Sanborn, which continued until the sum-
mer of 1884, when Mr. Sanborn sold his interest to
I. F. Kleckner. This partnership was continued
until 1887, when Mr. K. sold his interest to John
R. Harding, who is Mr. Wright's present partner.

Onr subject was married, in 1871, to Miss Hose
Clarridge, a native of the State of Ohio. Mr.
Wright is a member of Moses R. Thompson Lodge
No. 381, A. F. & A. M.; Freeport Chapter No. 23;
Freeport Commandery No. 7, and Freeport Con-
sistory. He was elected Alderman for the Second
Ward in 1887, which position he holds at the time
of this writing. He is a member of the Presbyter-
ian Church; his mother was one of the charter mem-
bers at the first organization of that church.

The firm of Wright & Harding is one of the
popular houses of Freeport, and is headquarters for
all articles in their line. By a straightforward
policy in business they have secured a good trade,
which they have an admirable knack of holding.

ON. ALFRED H. WISE, a portrait of whom
is shown on the opposite page, is a promi-
nent farmer and stock-dealer living on
Cedar Springs Farm, Harlem Township.
His life is but another instance of what may be
made from small beginnings; His parents were
William and Hannah (Speese) Wise, who were of
old German stock of Pennsylvania. They came
from Lycoming County, Pa., in 1848, to Stephen-
son County, and settled in Florence Township, af-
terward removing to Freeport, where the father
died in 1878; the mother's death took place eight
years later, Nov. 16, 1886, in Harlem Township,
when she had attained seventy-seven years of age.

She left a record of many Christian virtues and
was held in high esteem by the community at
large. She was a worth}' member of the Baptist
Church in Freeport, of which her husband was a
Deacon. Her death was quite sudden, and she ex-
pired at the house of her son, Alfred H. Of their
children, Elizabeth A., Sarah J., Mary, Emma B.
and Katie are deceased; A. J. is President of the
Clark & Wise Axle Grease Company of Chicago;
E. E., another son, is President of the Chicago
Cottage Organ Company.

Alfred H. Wise, the subject of this sketch, was
born in Lycoming County, Pa., Oct. 22, 1830, and
came to Stephenson County with his parents in
1848, when eighteen years of age. He had at-
tended excellent common schools before leaving
Pennsylvania, and continued to do so in Stephen-
son County until he was about nineteen years old.
At twenty he started in business for himself, estab-
lishing a hack-line between Freeport, Elgin, Galena
and Dubuque, which he operated several years and
was very successful in making considerable money,
which he faithfully turned over to his parents.
During the latter part of the time, he associated
himself with, the Hon. David H. Sunderlaud, sub-
sequently State Senator, when they ran a daily line
from Freeport to Rockford. They ultimately sold
out, and Mr. Wise went East for a visit. His life
had up to this time been a ceaseless round of work,
and he thought it was time to take a rest. On his
return to Freeport he was employed in the grain
warehouse of C. J. Marsh & Co., as a grain buyer.
This house soon afterward was changed to Green-
wood, Griffin & Co., and Mr. Wise remained with
this firm as clerk and grain buyer until he formed
a partnership with Mr. H. H. Taylor, under the
firm name of Taylor & Wise. Up to this time he
had given all the money he had made to 'his par-
ents; now he thought he would put his earnings to
business use.

Taylor & Wise engaged in the grain and agri-
cultural implement business, and continued to-
gether for about two years. When they dissolved
Mr. Wise carried on the same business on his own
account until 1873. He was very successful until
his health compelled him to close his business. He
had worked so hard that a complete cessation of

( 222

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

business was deemed imperative, and accordingly
he went to California, spending one winter with
his family, then returned to Freeport and purchased
the farm where he now lives, known as Cedar
Springs Farm. As showing the estimation in which
he was held by the community, he was elected
President of the Second National Bank of Free-
port, Aug. '22, 1882, to fill the vacancy caused by
the death of Hon. John H. Adams. Mr. Wise had
attracted the attention of the moneyed men of
Freeport earlier in his career, and they had watched
his upward progress with admiration. Before his
election to the Presidency he was known to the
bank as a shrewd financier, and the stockholders
felt that they had an acquisition in putting Mr.
Wise at the head of the bank. He was and is re-
garded as a man of the strictest integrity. He is
at present one of the Directors of the Second Na-
tional Bank, having resigned as President on ac-
count of ill-health and at the urgent advice of his
physicians.

Mr. and Mrs Wise are prominent members of
the Baptist Church. In 1870 Mr. Wise paid the
entire debt of the First Baptist Church of Free-
port, amounting to $1,700, and has contributed
largelj r toward that church for thirty years. He
has also assisted liberally in building other
churches in Freeport and vicinity. He has been
engaged in various business enterprises, in which
he has met with uniform success. It seemed that an
enterprise simply wanted his countenance directed
toward it for it to succeed. His farm is one of the
handsomest in Stephenson County, being fully
equipped with modern buildings and implements,
and presents a beautiful pastoral scene.

Mr. Wise was married in Freeport, Nov. 24,
1854, to Miss Caroline Schofield, daughter of Rev.
James and Caroline (McAllister) Schofield, who
were natives of New York State and came to Ste-
phenson County about 1844, where Rev. James
Schofield organized the First Baptist Church of
Freeport. He was pastor there for six years, when
feeling it necessary to labor in the Master's vine-
yard without a settled charge, he resigned and en-
gaged in home missionary work in Iowa. He has
finally been compelled to give up his labors, being
an almost helpless invalid at the residence of his

daughter and son-in-law in Chicago. His wife
died in Freeport May 9, 1852. Mrs. Wise was
born in Crmutauqua County, N. Y., Aug. 15, 1829.
She is a sister of that gallant soldier, Maj. Gen.
John M. Schofield.

Mr. and Mrs. Wise have become the parents of
seven children, two of whom are dead. The living
are Burton W., Hannah C., James J., John M. and
Henry A.; those deceased are Willie S. and Alfred
S., who died in infancy. Burton W. married Miss
Alice Shaffer, and resides in Freeport; Hannah is
the wife of Henry G. Andress, and lives in Chi-
cago; James married Miss Eliza Gastou, and re-
sides in Beloit, Wis. ; John M., named after his
illustrious uncle, Gen. Schofield, resides at home
with his father; Henry Alfred is with G. M. Gross
& Co., manufacturers of cloaks, at Chicago, and
alreadj' is an ardent Republican.

Mr. Wise is engaged in farming and stock-rais-
ing, callings which he finds health-giving, quiet, and
every way congenial to his tastes. He and his
wife are held in the highest esteem in the com-
munity in which they live. He has taken an active
and prominent part in all social and business af-
fairs of the county, and no man stands higher in
the estimation of his fellow-citizens. He is the
founder and proprietor of the famous Cedar
Springs herd of Short-horn cattle, which has an en-
viable reputation both at home and abroad.

RICHARD BICKENBACH, who is book-
[|( -^ keeper in the Second National Bank of
^^^/ Freeport, 111., is a native of Rhenish Prus-
sia, where he was born on the 19th of June, 1821.
His parents were John C. and Joanna (Petichen)
Bickenbach. The early life of Mr. Bickenbach was
spent in Prussia, where he entered school at the age
of six years and continued until the age of sixteen.
His father was a merchant and a manufacturer of
silks, and also of cotton ginghams. At the same
time he was engaged in manufacturing dyes, mak-
ing a specialty of the color known as "Turkey
red." In each of these manufactures he was suc-
cessful. His death occurred when the subject of
this sketch was but four years of age. The mother

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

223

disposed of the manufacturing enterprises of her
husband and engaged in conducting a store for the
sale of provisions, which C. Richard entered as as-
sistant, and where he remained until 1849, when,
accompanied by his wife and child, he sailed for
America, landing at New York in the month
of September; they immediately started west-
ward and located at Freeport, 111. After remain-
ing a time in Freeport Mr. Bickenbach rented a
farm and engaged in agricultural pursuits, which he
followed for several years. Not being suited to
this business he sold out his stock and implements
and moved again to Freeport, and was employed by
the firm of A. D. Barnum in the capacity of clerk
and book-keeper for several years, after which he
was variously engaged for a time. He then entered
the store of George Maynard, where he clerked
for six years. He was then employed by E. H.
' Hyde, dealer in dry-goods and general merchan-
dise, and afterward bought out Mr. Hyde and
formed a partnership with Mr. Hallensleben, and
engaged in the sale of dry-goods and notions. This
partnership existed for three years, when the busu
ness was closed out, after which he was employed
by Mr. Hyde in the wholesale notion business,
with whom he remained until Mr. Hyde closed up
his business. In 1865 he became book-keeper in
the Second National Bank of Freeport, 111., which
responsible position he has held ever since. In
1868 he crossed the Atlantic to gratify an in-
tense desire ,to visit his old home in Europe, and
remained among the scenes of his childhood for
three and one-half months, then returning to Free-
port, he resumed his former position in the bank.

Mr. Bickenbach was married, in 1848, to Miss
Augusta Heyner, a native of Germany, by whom
he had six children, one of whom was born in
Europe and the others in Freeport. Two children
died in infancy. The names of those living are:
Eugene, Paul, Robert and Richard.

Mr. Bickenbach is Secretary of the Stephenson
County Bible Society, a position he has held for
the last twenty-five years. He is Vice President of
the Y. M. C. A., was a member of the Second Pres-
byterian Church, of which he was a Ruling Elder, a
position which he held for twenty-five years. lie
is now an honorary member of the First Presby-

terian Church of Freeport, joining in 1885. He
has just completed a neat and substantial residence
building on Stephenson street in the Queen Anne
style of architecture. The house has many exter-
ior attractions and is beautifully surrounded, while
the interior is the personification of comfort itself.

ENRY D. BENTLEY, the well-known man-
ufacturer of piano and organ stools, of
Freeport, 111., was born in London, England,
in the year 1851. He was brought to
America by his parents, Peter J. and E. A. Bent-
ley, in the same year. The father of Henry D.
Bentley is Peter Johnson Bentley, who was born at
Reeth, Yorkshire, England, on the 13th of February,
1811. In 1826 he moved to London, takinga posi-
tion in the wholesale mercantile establishment of
Bentley, Pawson & Co., Cheapside. He remained
in London until May 3, 1851, when he came to
the United States, arriving at Fr-seport, 111., on the
9th of August, 1851. At this time he took up his
residence on Stephenson street, where he has con-
tinuously lived since. Mr. Bentley came to the
United States, believing it better for himself and
family than to remain in London. He has always
been associated and identified with the Methodist
Episcopal Church, and was largely instrumental in
the erection of Embury Church. His family con-
sists of his wife, daughter, and two sons : Miss Liz-
zie A. Bentley, Charles F. Bentley, of Grand Island,
Neb., and A. D. Bentley, of Freeport.

Henry D. Bentley was reared and educated in
the public schools of Freeport; after leaving school
he was employed at different kinds of business un-
til reaching his twenty-third year, when he became
engaged in the sale of musical instruments for the
firm of Pelton& Pomeroy, remaining with this firm
about two years. He then went to Chicago, where
he was engaged in the same business for a period
of five years. He then returned to Freeport and
embarked in the music business on his own account
in the year 1879, at his present stand, No. 144
Stephenson street. After conducting the retail piano
and organ trade exclusively and successfully for a
time, he began the manufacture of piano and organ

'224

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

stools, which business he pursues in connection
with his music store, and so popular are the stools
of his manufacture that they are now sold in
every State in the Union.

In December, 1875, Mr. Bentley was married to
Miss Elida Pattison, daughter of Richard Pattison,
Esq., of Freeport, 111. They are the parents of
two children Charles Johnson and Henry D.

Mr. Bentley is a Mason in good standing and a
member of the Freeport Consistory, and takes
great interest in Masonic matters. He is a liberal-
minded and progressive citizen, and takes great
pride in the progress of the city of his adoption.

ALZER KLECKLER, an extensive farmer
residing on section 16, in Waddams Town-
ship, is one of the representative self-made
men of Stephenson County. He was born
in Baden, Germany, on the 4th of November, 1820,
and is the son of Balzer and Eva (Henninger)
Kleckler, both natives of Baden, the father being a
tailor by trade, in which vocation he spent his life
in Baden. When the subject of this sketch was
but two years old his father died, leaving him to
the care of his mother, with whom he lived until he
attained the age of fourteen, in the meantime
attending the public schools. At that age he went
to France, where, without much trouble, he obtained
employment as an operative in a cotton manufact-
ory, for which he received a remuneration equiva-
lent to about twenty-five cents of American money
per day. He remained in the factory until 1844,
when on the 8th of May he set sail from Havre for
America, landing in the city of New York thirty-
two days later, with about $52 in his pocket. He
immediately started for Stephenson County, via
the Hudson River and Erie Canal to Buffalo, and
thence by lake to Chicago, from which point he
traveled the remainder of the journey by stage to
Freeport. Here he readily secured employment as
a farm hand, working in the fields while his wife
assisted in the domestic affairs of the household.
Here they remained for fifteen months, receiving
for their services the sum of $100.

We now come to the record of Mr. Kleckler as a

farmer in his own behalf. After having left the
employment of the farmer as before stated, Mr.
Kleckler leased land in Waddams Township for
nine years, after which he bought twenty-five acres
now included in his present farm,' though he did
not at once cease renting land. He has from time
to time added to his farm by purchase until he is
now the possessor of 225 acres of as fine land as
there is in any section of the State. He has also
erected convenient and comfortable farm buildings
for his family, his stock and his grain.

It was in the month of July, 1844, that Miss
Ursula Sigvalt, who was a native of Alsace, France,
was united in marriage to Mr. Kleckler; she
set out for the New World in 1844. Mrs.
Kleckler aided with her own strong hands in ac-
cumulating the neat little fortune which she and
her husband now possess. The children of Mr. and
Mrs. Kleckler are eight in number, to wit: John
Pells, Jacob, Frederick, Henry, Michael, Mary,
Louisa and Caroline. Mrs. Kleckler, the mother
of these children, and the faithful wife of the, sub-
ject of this sketch, passed to the other shore on
July 30, 1883. She was a Christian, strong in the
faith of the Lutheran Church, and was a model
mother, a kind wife and an exemplary woman.
Mr. Kleckler is a sturdy German, with strong con-
victions, and in politics is a Democrat and in relig-
ion a Lutheran.

J'lACOB AURAND. One traveling through
| Jefferson Township will not fail to be at-
1 tracted by the high state of cultivation and
' the admirably arranged buildings which
have been erected on the 260-acre farm, on section
11, owned by the pioneer citizen whose life we will
here sketch. The parents of Mr. Aurand were
Henry and Susan Aurand, who were natives
of Pennsylvania. They came to Stephenson
County in 1844, when both the State of Illinois
and this countj- were in their infancy. They set-
tled in Jefferson Township, where they resided un-
til his death, which occurred some years ago. The
mother died in Freeport in February, 1868. Ja-
cob was the oldest of a family of eight children,

i p

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

225 , ,

who lived to grow up. He was born in Union
County, Pa., in 1829, and emigrated to the West
with his parents in 1844. During the nearly half
a century which has intervened he has been a resi-
dent of Stephenson County, and stands as one of
the remaining landmarks of the primitive dajS of
that section of the State. He has spent his life
upon the farm and has been eminently successful.
If he was ambitious to accumulate land, that ambi-
tion has certainly been satisfied, both in number of
acres and the quality of the soil. The farm build-
ings, including residence and out-buildings, are of
modern style and possess all the conveniences.

Mr. Aurand was married first, in Jefferson
Township, in 1855, to Maria Phillips, and to them
were born seven children, four of whom lived to
grow up George, Will, Jacob and Lizzie. George
married a Miss Keiser, and resides in Jefferson
Township; Will married Louisa Meyers, and re-
sides in Jefferson Township; Jacob married Hester
Betts and resides in Jefferson Township; his wife
died July 19, 1887. Mr. Aurand's first wife died
in Jefferson Township Feb. 14, 1868. He was
again married in Freeport, 111., March 17, 1870, to
Rosinna Borries, who was born in Germany Feb.
23, 1842. Her parents died in Germany. The
children by the second marriage were Lottie, John
A. and Daisy L. Mr. and Mrs. Aurand are mem-
bers of the Evangelical Church.

yiLLOUGHBY BEAR, one of the self-made
men of Oneco Township, opened his eyes
to the light in Union (now Snyder) County,
Pa., March 20, 1838. Of his father, John Bear, a
sketch appears elsewhere in this work. Our subject
remained with his parents during his childhood, re-
ceiving but limited advantages, and when fifteen
years of age commenced the struggle of life on his
own account, his father having died the year pre-
vious.

Mr. Bear, in seeking for employment, first was
induced to take up the trade of a bricklayer,
at which he succeeded so well that he has followed
it now in connection with farming for a period of
over thirty years. The family came to this State

in 1841, and Willoughby was married in 1861. Not
long after this last interesting event he rented his
father's farm in Oneco Township, upon which he
remained two years, and thence removed to Rock
Grove Township, farther east, to a tract of 260
acres, upon which he farmed four years. After-
ward he went into the village, where he resided two
years. Then, in company with his brother Peter,
he purchased the old homestead from the other
heirs and occupied it for several years. A man by
the name of McCaully then purchased Peter's in-
terest, and this gentleman and our subject operated
together one year, when the latter purchased Mc-
Caully's interest and became sole proprietor. In
the meantime he continued at bricklaying, giving
employment to five men. and has received con-
tracts from Iowa and Nebraska, also largely from
the cities of Chicago and Freeport. Most of his
bricklaying, however, for the past eight years has
been done in Monroe, Wis. He has also had the
contract for the erection of every brick building
which stands in the town of Orangeville and, as
may be supposed, has realized from this industry a
handsome income.

Mr. Bear was married Sept. 12, 1861, at the home
of the bride in Buckeye Township, to Miss Re-
becca, daughter of Michael and Elizabeth (Decker)
Hartman, of Union County, Pa. The parents came
to this State in 1857, locating in Buckeye Town-
ship, where the father built up a good farm, and
departed this life at about the age of seventy-three
years. The mother, who was born in Berks County,
Pa., in October, 1809, after the death of her hus-
band made her home with her daughter Rebecca,
where her death took place Aug. 14, 1886. Mrs.
Bear remained a member of the parental household
until her marriage with our subject. Of this union
there were born eight children: Sarah J. is the
wife of Albert Fair, a farmer of Buckeye Town-
ship; Mary E. is employed as a teacher; Ida L.,
Howard C., Bertha, Wilson G., Arthur M. and
Lloyd are all under the home roof. Howard is
learning his father's trade of bricklaying, and
Lloyd, the youngest, is now (1887) three years old.

Mr. Bear cast his first Presidential vote for Abra-
ham Lincoln and since that time has been a stanch
adherent of the Republican party. He has held

226

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

various local offices and is numbered among the
enterprising and valued citizens of Oneco Town-
ship. His farm embraces 190 acres of good land
and he still occupies the frame residence which his
father erected in 1849, and into which the family
moved from the old log cabin which had been
their home for many years. Our subject put up
the main barn in 1886. This is a substantial
structure, with modern conveniences for the shel-
ter of stock and the storing of grain, and the other
out-buildings supply the requirements of the mod-
ern and progressive agriculturist.

-*-

JHOHN T. HANCE. Tho years this gentle-
man has devoted to business have been
I passed in this county, having come here with
' his parents when a young man less than
twenty years of age. It is proper in this connec-
tion to mention that highly respected couple who
were early residents of this county and among the
most intelligent of its pioneers. They were John
and Mary (McCall) Hance, natives of Calvert
County, Md., and were united in the holy bonds of
matrimony in that State, and as early as 1817 came
West to Belmont County, Ohio. About thirty-six
years later, in 1853,. they took up the westward
march, coming toStephenson County. For a short
time they made Freeport their home, and then se-
cured a farm in Florence Township. Here the
elder Hance labored actively for a few years, when
he returned to Freeport. His energetic habits of
life, however, would not permit him to rest in
quiet, and we soon again find him on a farm in
Florence Township. Here he died in August, 1870.
His widow still survives. To them were born a
family of five children, named respectively: Fran-
cis, Mary, Benjamin, John T. and James B.

John T. Hance gives as his place of birth Bel-
niont Count}', Ohio, and the date thereof, June 13,
1834. He received a good common-school educa-
tion, and has devoted himself to farming and car-
pentering thus far through life, the greater portion
of the time, however, being passed in farming. He
is now the owner of 136 acres of good land, mostly

improved, and is regarded as an honest and upright
farmer, and one who enjoys the respect of his
neighbors.

Christmas Day of the year 1861 was a memorable
one to Mr. Hance. It witnessed the marriage cere-
mony which united the fortunes of himself with
those of Miss Sarah C. Babcock. This lady is the
daughter of Anson and Harriet (Price) Babcock,
both of whom are natives of the Empire State.
They came into this county as early as 1840, and
located in Ridott Township, subsequently remov-
ing into Florence Township, where they remained
until they retired to Freeport, in the year 1875.
Here Mr. Babcock died, Dec. 3, 1885. There was
born to them a family of five children, of whom
Mrs. Hance was the third. She was born in Flor-
ence Township, May 13, 1844.

Mr. and Mrs. Hance have been blessed by the
birth of three children, whom they have named
Jessie M., John E. and Charles A. The parents
are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church;
in his political affiliations John T. labors for the
success of the Republican party.

RS. RACHEL LEE came to this county
during the days of its earliest settlement,
and for a period of thirty-five years has
occupied a comfortable homestead on sec-
tion 13, in Waddams Township. Her earliest rec-
ollections are of Brown County, Ohio, where she
was born Jan. 2, 1809. Her father, Jacob Kratzer,
was a native of Virginia, and the son of Simon
Kratzer, who was of German birth and parentage,
and was brought by his father and mother to this
country when a small child. They located in the
Old Dominion, where young Simon grew to man-
hood and was married. He continued there until
about 1805, then migrated to Ohio and located in
Brown County, where he made his permanent home.
His son Jacob, was reared and married in Virginia
and accompanied his father to Ohio, the removal
being made down the river on a flatboat. They
were among the first settlers of Brown County, and
Jacob Kratzer, like his father, located in a timber
tract and built a log cabin, which he occupied for a

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

227

number of years with his family, and where his
daughter Rachel, of our sketch, was born.

The father of Mrs. Lee felled the forest trees
around his cabin home and had prepared a con-
siderable portion of the soil for cultivation, when
his title proved defective, and the land was taken
from him. He thus lost all his labor and was
obliged to leave his improvements, without being
compensated. About 1827 he emigrated overland
to Indiana, accompanied by his wife and eleven
children and his widowed mother. He located in
Shelby County when the settlements were few and
far between and-repeated the process which he had
gone through in Ohio, felling the timber and clear-
ing a farm, but this time with better results. He
retained possession of his property and occupied it
until his death. He had married in early manhood
Miss Annie Atkinson, also a native of the Old
Dominion, and who became the mother of eleven
children, among them being Rachel, of our sketch.

The earl}' years of the subject of this history
were spent under the parental roof, where she as-
sisted her mother in household duties, and after the
fashion of the maidens of those days, became an
expert at spinning, weaving and knitting. When
a young lad}' of twenty-three years of age she
was united in marriage with Elliott Lee, the
wedding taking place at the home of her par-
ents Dec. 10, 1832. Mr. Lee was born in Cler-
mont County, Ohio, April 21, 1805, and was the
son of William Lee, a native of the North of Ire-
land. After marriage the young people located on
a farm in Hamilton County, Ind., where they lived
until 1836. They then determined to seek a per-
manent home in Illinois. The household goods, in-
cluding cooking utensils and provisions, were
loaded into a wagon, and by means of two horses
they started overland and reached this county after
a journey of thirty days. Mr. Lee selected Rock
Run Township for his future residence and here
made a claim, where he put up a log cabin and
gradually proceeded with the cultivation of the
soil. The land had not been surveyed at that
time, but as soon as this was done and the land-
office opened at Dixon Mr. Lee scoured his title
and began the establishment of a permanent home-
stead. The family occupied the cabin until a saw-

mill was started and then Mr. Lee procured lumber
and built a frame house. This they occupied until
the spring of 1848, and Mr. Lee then sold out
and purchased the place where his widow resides.
He died here on the 5th of March, 1853.

Of the twelve children born to Mr. and Mrs. Lee
seven are now living: Luther is a resident of
Warren, this county ; James lives in Santa Fe, N.
M. ; Mary J. is the wife of Hiram Shippee, of Wad-
dams Township; Elliott occupies the old home-
stead with his mother; John lives in Webster City,
Iowa; Samuel lives in Freeport, 111., and Josephine,
the wife of Henry Kleckler, lives in Waddams
Township. Mr. Lee was reared in the doctrines of
the Lutheran Church, which remained his religion
during his lifetime.

ETER T. ELLIS, deceased. The parents of
t ' 1 ' s t? en ''l enlan w ere Eli and Jane (Baker)
Ellis, who were natives of Dutchess County,
N. Y. After living in Dutchess, Delaware
and Greene Counties in that State, in 1841 they emi-
grated to Stephenson County, and settled in Flor-
ence Township, where they lived until their respect-
ive deaths. She died Oct. 27, 1866, and he died
March 22, 1867. They had a family of five chil-
dren, viz: Peter T., Cornelius, Johanna, Electa B.
and Phineas B. Peter T., the subject of this sketch,
was born in Dutchess County,N. Y.. Sept. 11, 1812.
He was raised on a farm and received a common-
school education, and when he attained to manhood,
his attention was given entirely to agricultural pur-
suits. He lived at home with his parents until he
was twenty-four years of age. On the 20th of
October, 1836, he was married to Miss Lydia Peck,
daughter of Tenant and Mary (Moore) Peck, who
were natives of Massachusetts and Rhode Island
respectively. They removed and settled in Lex-
ington, Greene Co., N. Y., and afterward re-
moved to Reading, and later on returned to
Lexington, from which place they emigrated to
Stephenson County, in the summer of 1844, and
settled in Florence Township, where they had been
preceded by his parents, who located herein 1841.
His parents were Eli and Jane Ellis. He died

228

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

March 22, 1867; she died Oct. 27, 1866. Both had
passed the mark of fourscore years. Lydia, Mrs.
Ellis, was born Sept. 21, 1814; she is the mother of
four children Catherine J., Eli, Mary P., and one
child who died when about one year old. Cather-
ine is the wife of Milton Treat, and resides in Wis-
consin ; she was formerly the wife of W. O. Saxlon,
who was County Surveyor of Stephenson Count}'.
Eli married Mary Dimmic, who died in 1862, seven
weeks after marriage. He afterward married Lucy
Mabie, and now resides in Freeport, 111. Mary P.
is the wife of Mansfield W. Goodsel, and resides in
Florence Township.

Mr. Ellis died in Florence Township, March 20,
1878. When he came to Stephenson County and set-
tled in Florence Township, he assumed the control
of a public house, known as the Florence House,
which he conducted for about nine years. He was
also for seven years Postmaster. He was a devoted
member of the Baptist Church, in which he was
Deacon. His widow is also a merab.er of that church
and has been for sixt3 r -two years. Mr. E. was a
School Director for about twenty years, and his long
service in that capacity was the best evidence that
he faithfully discharged every duty devolving upon
him. In politics he was a Democrat.

[OHN METZ. The life-history of this gen-
tleman, although of necessity briefly detailed
here, illustrates a man of more than ordinary
ability ; one who has made his mark in the
world and whose course has been such as to com-
mend him to the respect and confidence of his fel-
low-citizens. His career has been a varied and in-
teresting one, and he is still the active and energetic
business man who commenced life in earnest by
starting out on his own account when a young man,
in 1850. He has occupied many responsible posi-
tions in life, in all of which he has acquitted him-
self creditably. In 1868 Mr. Metz established him-
self at Lena, in the drug business, in which line of
merchandise he is now the acknowledged leader in
that section.

The childhood and early youth of John Metz

were spent on the other side of the Atlantic in Hes-
sian Germany, where his birth took place Sept. 27,
1829. His father, Peter Metz, was born in the same
locality, where he grew to manhood and married
one of his early playmates, Miss Margaret Dapper.
When our subject was a youth of fourteen years,
in May, 1842, his father, accompanied by his wife
and four children, embarked on a sailing-vessel for
America. After a tedious voyage of forty-eight
days, they landed in New York City, where Peter
Metz had his effects transferred to a steamer and
proceeded via the Hudson River, the Erie Canal
and the Lakes to Milwaukee. They tarried there
two weeks and then hired a man with oxen to con-
vey them to Washington County, Wis. The road
a part of the way lay through an unbroken forest,
and their axes were often utilized in chopping down
trees so that the team could effect a passage.

They located in that part of Washington County
now included in Polk Township, where Peter Metz
unloaded his goods under a tree and provided as
best he could for the comfort of his family until en-
abled to put up a cabin. He had no nails, doors or
window sashes, his ax being the main tool available
for the construction of the dwelling. Peter Metz,
however, had notgone into the wilderness with his
eyes shut, but had abundant faith that there would
be some means at hand to carry out his purpose.
Necessity became the mother of invention, and
without wasting any time in bewailing the absence
of a tool-chest, he proceeded to split open some
basswood logs with which he laid a floor and cut
down some small oak trees from which to manufact-
ure shingles. In the absence of nails he whittled
out wooden pins and the same material was used in
forming hinges for the door. After the cabin was
roofed over, the family felt ver} r proud and com-
fortable. The next thing was the furniture. This
also was home-made. Rude benches served for
chairs, and the bedstead was constructed by means
of poles inserted in the wall.

The family soon settled down to the routine of
daily life, and Peter Metz proceeded to cultivate
his claim. The nearest market and depot for sup-
plies was Milwaukee, twenty-two miles distant, and
to this point their produce was conveyed by ox-
teams, which in returning, brought home the needed

D n n n

n n

RESIDENCE OF JOHN F05H A ,SEC . 35 , SILYERCREEK TP .

RE5IDENCEOF LORENZO D .H ART , J5EC . 16 , H ARLE M TP .

RESIDENCE OF JOHN METZ,COR. MASON AND RAN TOU U 5TS. LENA ,'ILUS .

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

231

provisions for the family. Flour at times was a
scarce commodity and corn-meal had to take its
place. Wild game, however, was plenty, and the
family fe!sted upon what is now considered in the
cities a rare dainty.

They occupied the log cabin for three or four
years, and then Peter Metz put up a more preten-
tious structure, namely, a hewed-log house, which
was the admiration of the whole neighborhood.
This constituted the home of the family for many
years, and here the faithful wife and mother passed
to her final rest, her death taking place in 1848.

After the death of his wife, Peter Metz remained
upon the land which he had transformed into a
good farm until declining years unfitted him for act-
ive labor, and he reluctantly abandoned the ener-
getic and industrious life which was his second na-
ture. In 1853, he retired from the farm and took
up his abode with his son, our subject, in Lena,
where his death took place in 1885, after he had
rounded up the measure of fourscore years.

The children of Peter and Margaret (Dapper)
Metz, four in number, were Philip, who still re-
mains in Washington County, Wis. ; John of our
sketch; Elizabeth, who became the wife of A. Kap-
fer, and died in Dakota in February, 1887; and
Michael, a resident of Northern Wisconsin.

John Metz was placed in school at an early age
and obtained a good education in his native Prov-
ince. The system of compulsory education there
has no doubt had much to do with the reliable and
substantial character of the average German citi-
zen. Young John thus obtained a practical insight
into the matters which would be most apt to con-
cern him in after life, and which has been no in-
considerable aid to his later success. He remem-
bers well the incidents connected with the prepara-
tion for the ocean voyage and still more distinctly
the subsequent life of the family in the wilds of
Washington County, Wis. He lived with his par-
ents in Polk Township two years, and at an early
stage in life evinced a worthy ambition to do some-
thing for himself and to become somebody in the
world. With this in view he left home when six-
teen years old and going to Milwaukee, secured a
situation as clerk in a boot and shoe store, remain-
ing with his first employer two j-ears. During this

time he had been faithful to his early training, and
had saved sufficient means to indulge himself in a
vacation. This he employed in visiting an uncle
in New York State, where he spent the summer.
Then returning to Wisconsin, he was connected
with different branches of trade until twenty-two
years old, when he established in the boot and shoe
business for himself at Mayfield, where he con-
tinued until 1869.

In the spring of that year his attention was di-
rected to the advantages of business in Northern
Illinois, and coming to Lena he associated himself
with Dr. Bunson, a practical chemist, and they
opened up a drug business, and operated together
two years. Mr. Metz then purchased the interest
of his partner and has continued alone since that
time. As may be supposed, it required the exer-
cise of more than ordinary good judgment to as-
sume such responsibilities after the brief experience
of two years in a branch which is supposed to usu-
ally require a long and close apprenticeship. The
course of our subject, however, has been uniformly
onward. By the closest attention to the smallest
details he has made of this venture a complete suc-
cess, and is now recognized as a pharmacist second
to none in Stephenson County.

In addition to his business interests. Mr. Metz
has given much of his time and attention in assist-
ing to build up his community, and no man has
taken a livelier interest in its progress and welfare.
He has held the office of Trustee, and been the en-
courager and supporter of every enterprise calcu-
lated to advance its social and business status. He
has assisted in embellishing the town by the erec-
tion of one of its most beautiful residences which
now constitutes his home, and is located at the cor-
ner of Mason and Rantoul streets. This structure
built in 1885, is finely finished and furnished, and
all its surroundings indicate the taste and means of
its proprietor. While a resident of Wisconsin Mr.
Metz represented Polk Township on the County
Board of Supervisors three years, and was Superin-
tendent of the Infirmary eight years, which position
he resigned upon coming to Lena.

When not quite twenty-three years of age Mr.
Metz, in March, 1852, was united in marriage with
Miss Johanna Hoffman, who was born in the little i

232

8TEPHENSON COUNTY.

Kingdom of Bavaria, Germany, and was the daugh-
ter of Christian and Barbara Hoffman, who emi-
grated to America when their daughter was a young
child. They located in Washington County, Wis.,
where the wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Metz took place.
The children of this marriage, five in number, are
Lydia; Carrie, the wife of William Koenig, of Free-
port; Bertha, the wife of John Sehleter, of Lena;
Robert and Cora. Our subject since becoming a
naturalized citizen, has voted with the Democratic
party, and both he and his estimable wife are mem-
bers in good standing of the English Lutheran
Church.

A view of Mr. Metz's handsome residence is
shown in this work.

HEP W. REIGARD, one of the pleasant
and agreeable business men of Freeport,
\vhotn it is a pleasure to meet on any occa-
sion, is the subject of this sketch. He may
truly be said to be the leading clothier of the North-
west, as he carries one of the very largest stocks of
clothing, hats, caps, and gents' furnishing goods. In
years he is young, but old in business experience.
In the arrangement of his store he displays a re-
ma ikable degree of taste and neatness, and in the
treatment of customers he is always courteous and
obliging. He is a man of very pleasing address and
at once secures confidence. These qualities all
belong to the successful merchant and account
very largely for the success of Mr. Reigard. His
business career in Freeport has been gratifying and
successful.

Mr. Reigard was born in Huntingdon Countv,
near Mt. Union, Pa., on the 6th of March, 1847.
He is the second son of Jacob and Lucinda Rei-
gard. Both his father and mother reside in Ste-
phenson County (see family sketch in another part
of this work.) The subject of this sketch was a
lad of six years, when, with his parents, became to
this county in 1852. His early boyhood days were
passed on his father's farm, and he was educated in
the public schools of Freeport. On leaving school
he entered the store of Robert Little, and after re-
maining there for a considerable time, accepted a

position with William Walton, one of Freeport's
noted business men, and with whom he remained
twenty-three 3 7 ears. He then embarked in business
for himself, which was in the month of September,
1886, in the room he now occupies at No. 91 Ste-
phenson street. He is central^' located, and by his
energy and courteous treatment, has succeeded in
securing a very large trade. His long experience
in business in Freeport has secured him a wide ac-
quaintance among the people of Stephenson and ad-
joining counties. At all times be carries a large
and varied stock of goods, which he is careful to
select with reference to the wants of the people of
this section of the country.

In 1877 Mr. Reigard was married to Miss Mary
Herbig, of Freeport, by whom he has four chil-
dren Gordon B., Arthur, Lulu and Ada. In 1877
the people of the First Ward of Freeport elected
Mr. Reigard a member of the Board of Aldermen.
He is a member of Stepheuson Lodge No. 61, A. F.
& A. M., Winneshiek Lodge No. 32, 1. O. O. F.,and
of the improved Order of Red Men. He is a regular
attendant of the First Methodist Episcopal Church.

ANIEL WADE, deceased, formerly one
of the most prominent citizens of Lancas-
ter Township, where he had settled in
1847, when that neighborhood was nearly
all a wild unbroken territory, was born in Lancas-
ter County, Pa., Feb. 19, 1822, his father, John
Wade, being also a Pennsylvanian by birth, of En-
glish ancestry. The elder Mr. Wade became identi-
fied with the German people, among whom he lived.
He died at the age of thirty-five in Lancaster
County, Pa. His wife, Susan (Warfle) Wade, sur-
vived him, dying in 1835 at the age of forty -seven,
being at the time of her death a devout member of
the Mennonite Church.

Daniel Wade was second child of five in the fam-
ily. He was reared and educated in the common
schools of Lancaster County. Having lost his
father when he was but seven years of age, he was
compelled to earn the most of his own support, in
doing which he acquired the trade of miller, which
vocation he followed until his marriage to Anna

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

233

Mayer, which event occurred in the township of
Westanfield, Lancaster County, Dec. 19, 1844.
She was born in Lancaster County, the daughter of
Jacob and Mary (Mayer) Mayer; although their
names are the same, they are no relation. The
father was brought up on the same farm which was
for many long years held by the family, the same
being located near the city of Lancaster, Pa. It
was there Mrs. Mayer grew to womanhood and was
married. The}' moved to this county in 1H47, and
there resided until July, 1870, when she died at her
home in Freeport. The father is now living in this
township at the advanced age of eighty-three years.
He was married a second time, his partner being
Maria Kaler, who is yet living, comforting him in
his old age. Mrs. Wade, wife of Daniel, is the
eldest of the family of ten children, five sons and
five daughters. Four of the former and two of
the latter are yet living. Mrs. Wade was brought
up and educated in the city of Lancaster at her
home, where she remained until her marriage,
having learned, however, before that event the
trade of a tailor, and became very efficient in the
use of the needle and thimble. She and her hus-
band after marriage settled on a farm in Lancaster
Township, this county, in 1847, the year they came
West, and made their home since in Lancaster until
the death of Mr. Wade. He was the owner of twenty-
five acres of timber besides his farm of eighty
acres. Mrs. Wade, since the death of her husband,
together with her good, hard-working and intelli-
gent children, have added to the home a fine 80-
acre tract on the west of the old homestead. The
farm has now, properly speaking, two sets of good
farm buildings. Mrs. Wade is the mother of
twelve children, two being dead. The names of
the children are as follows: Susanna, now resid-
ing at home; Maria M., widow of Elias Good, now
living in Carroll County, 111. (On the 18th of
August, 1887, Mr. Good was killed by being kicked
by a horse.) Anna is the wife of Joseph Lapp ; tuey
live in Otoe County, Neb.; John W., deceased;
Daniel M. married to Maggie Fink, living at
Freeport; Jacob M. married to Hannah M. Clump,
residing on the homestead; Olivia C. at home; Es-
rom M., who assists in conducting the home farm;
Sarah E., William L., Lizzie N. and Carrie E., are

also at home. Mrs. Wade and her husband were
active members of the Mennonite Church. Mr.
Wade when living voted the Republican ticket. Mr.
Wade died on the 31st of March, 1879, and is
buried in the Mennonite Cemetery.

^ILLIAM E. BOWKER, representing the
real-estate and insurance business at Lena,
first opened his eyes to the light in the
Green Mountain State, June 17, 1836. His father,
James M. Bowker, was a native of the same county
as his son, iind his grandfather Bowker, also a
New Englander, born in New Haven, Conn., was
one of the earliest pioneers of Franklin County,
Vt. He purchased land of the Government and
cleared a farm which he cultivated and occupied
until his death. He only lived to middle age,
however, his son James M. being but an infant
when the father died. The mother, by economy
and excellent management, kept her children to-
gether on the old homestead until they were fitted
to go out into the world and take care of them-
selves. The maiden name of this worthy lady was
Sybil Loomis, also a native of Connecticut, who re-
moved to Franklin County, Vt., with her husband
soon after their marriage. She remained on the
homestead established by them during their early
married life until the close of a long and eventful
career, being ninety-seven years of age at the time
of her death.

The father of our subject was assisted a number
of years in his farming operations by his brothers
and the}' together became the owners of an exten-
sive tract of land. The death of James M. Bow-
ker took place in 1845, when he was thirty -six
years of age. His wife, who, before her marriage
was Miss Emily Storey, was a native of Fairfax,
Vt., and after the death of her husband she came
to this county, and lived in Lena, where her
decease occurred. The parental household in-
cluded eight children, of whom our subject was the
eldest. He continued a resident of his native town
during his childhood and youth, attending school
as opportunity afforded, and working on a farm.
He set out for this State in March, 1857, when not

-H

1 234

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

quite twenty-one years old. He stopped in Kent
Township, and rented a tract of land upon which
he operated one year. In the spring of 1858, he
purchased 100 acres lying partly in Kent Township
and partly across the line in Jo Daviess County.
The sod had never been turned by the plowshare,
and he set himself industriously to work to bring
the soil to a state of cultivation. He worked suc-
cessfully upon it four years, and then leaving it in
the hands of a tenant, decided to change his occu-
pation. Establishing an office at Lena, he com-
menced business as an insurance agent, which he
has carried on since that time, and the past few
years extended his operations, and began dealing in
real estate. His transactions embrace lands in
Minnesota and Kansas in addition to a large area
in this State, together with houses and other prop-
erty of the kind.

While a resident of Lena, Mr. Bowker was mar-
ried, in June, 1859, to Miss Mary J., daughter of
Ezra and Nancy (Andrews) Latham, natives respect-
ively of Vermont and Ohio, and pioneers of Jo
Daviess County. Mr. and Mrs. Bowker have one
child, a daughter, Effie, who is now at home. They
are members in good standing of the Baptist Church,
and Mr. B. uniformly casts his vote with the Re-
publican party.

pT?ARON BOWER was born Feb. 11, 1840,
in Union County, Pa. His father was
Abraham Bower (see sketch). He assisted
his father on the farm until he was twenty-
three years of age. He married Miss Amelia Hack-
enburg. Soon after their marriage they moved to
the homestead one mile and a quarter west of
Orangeville, where they have resided ever since.
At the age of seven years Mrs. Bower was left an
orphan by the death of her father. She was reared
in the family of S. G. Dentler, who was a native of
Pennsylvania. He is now a retired farmer living
in Kansas. Mrs. Bower remained with this family
until two years before her marriage, these years be-
ing spent with the family of Judge Dorn, of
Orangeville. The only recollection Mrs. Bower

has of her father is that he peddled clocks. She
only heard of her mother once or twice after her
father's death. Mr. and Mrs. Bower have five
children: Cora Alma, Mrs. Barron. residing in
Oneco Township; Cornelia, Eva B. , Otto A. and
Melvin.

Mr. Bower has frequently been called to fill local
offices in the county. In politics he is an ardent
Republican. He is a man who very strictly attends
to his own affairs, believing when one attends to
his own business he will have no time to devote to
that of others. He is now in the prime of
life, and bids fair to live to an old age, filling the
measure of his days with usefulness.

L. WRIGHT, who is engaged in gen-
eral merchandising at Winslow, is a native
li of this county, born in Oneco Township,
Sept. 27, 1846. His father, Joshua Wright,
was born in Genesee County, N. Y., from which
State his grandfather, Joshua Wright, Sr., removed,
and located in Warren County, Pa., during the
early settlement of that region. Here he purchased
a tract of timber, built a sawmill, and engaged in
floating lumber down the river to market. He
also put up a flour and fulling mill, and founded
the town of Wrightsville, which still bears his name.
He was a large property holder, at one time own-
ing the whole of the ground comprising the town,
which he sold for residence lots at a good profit.
Mr. Wright was liberal minded and enterprising,
always willing to assist in advancing the moral and
educational interests of his community. He erected
a neat little church building which was opened to
preachers of all denominations. He lived to a ripe
old age, possessing to the last in a remarkable de-
gree the energy and industry which had been his
chief characteristics. His family, consisting of six
sons and two daughters, all married, and reared
families of their own. Among these was Joshua,
Jr., the father of our subject, who grew to man-
hood and was married in New York, where he de-
cided to settle, and purchasing a tract of timber
land in Genesee County, established a comfortable
home there, which he occupied for two or three

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

235

years. He then returned to the Keystone State,
and became associated with his father in business,
and settled on a tract of timber land one-half mile
from the village, which he occupied until 1837.
Thence he removed to Erie County, and purchased
a tract of partially cleared land, upon which he
operated until 1845, then sold out, and, accom-
panied by his wife and five children, started for
the West.

The journey of Joshua Wright. Jr., and family,
to this State, over forty years ago, was performed
overland by the aid of horses and oxen. After
three weeks' continuous travel, during which they
camped and cooked by the wayside and slept in
their wagons at night, they landed in Stephenson
County, and Mr. Wright selected as his future loca-
tion a tract of uncultivated prairie in Oneco Town-
ship. The land had not yet come into market, but
he erected a large hewed log house, and secured
his title to the property as soon as the land-office was
opened at Dixou, During the summer of 1846,
he fenced and broke forty acres, but the following
year was induced to sell his claim and remove to
Waddams Township. There he purchased a claim
of 200 acres, and as soon as possible received his
warantee deed from the land-office at Dixon. Upon
this he labored a few years successfully, then sold
out, and retiring to the town of Winslow, spent the
last years of his life in the peace and quiet which
he had so justly earned.

The mother of our subject, formerly Miss Esther
Ben ham, was born in Genesee County, N. Y., and
was the daughter of Bartholomew Benham, one of
the earliest pioneers. He went into that section of
country while it was yet a trackless forest, and put-
ting up a log cabin, commenced to clear the ground
around it, and thus labored until he had cut the
forest trees from a large acreage and opened up a
good farm. He lived there until an old man and
finally removed to Byron Center, where his death
occurred in about 1855. The children of Joshua
and Esther Wright, twelve in number, lived with
one exception to mature years; nine of them still
survive. Byron L., of our sketch, was the young-
est of the family, and at an early age commenced
attending school with his elder brothers. His edu-
cation, begun in his native township, was completed

at Winslow, to which town his parents removed
when he was a lad nine years of age. He remained
under the parental roof until twenty-two years of
age, and then with a capital of $150, which he had
earned himself, and a sum borrowed from his
father, embarked in general merchandising. - In
1862 he was appointed Deputy Postmaster. Soon
afterward he became the partner of his elder brother,
Willard W. Wright, and they continued together
until 1881. They then divided their stock, since
which time our subject has run his business alone.
He carries a large and well selected assortment of
dry-goods, groceries, and general merchandise,
which is valued at about $6,000.

In the spring of 1866 Mr. Wright was married
to Miss Emily Chase. She was born in New Bed-
ford, Mass., and is the daughter of Resolve and
Delia Chase. Mr. Chase was for many years a
sailor on a whaling- vessel, and died in New Bed-
ford in about 1854. He married in early life Miss
Delia Lincoln, a native of the same town. She
remained in New England several years after the
death of her husband, and coming to this State in
1863, resided in Winslow Township for a time,
then returned East to Providence, R. I., where she
now resides. Grandmother Lincoln is still living
at North Dartmouth, Mass., and is ninety-six years
of age. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Wright
are named respectively, Herman Frank, Minnie
May, Cora D., Carrie G., Elsie E., Elmer L. and
Bessie C.

E. JOSEL, Superintendent of Free-
port Water- Works and also City Engineer,
is an Austrian by birth, and completed his
education in engineering and architecture in the
city of Vienna. He was born in Stecken, a village
in the Province of Bohemia, June 26, 1840, and is
the son of John and Maria (Langhams) Josel. His
father, a man of more than ordinary ability, was
General Superintendent of farming in the district
comprising a portion of his native Province, and
the soil of that section under his supervision re-
ceived. the most thorough and systematic cultiva-
tion. Both parents passed their entire lives in

: ^-

236

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

their native land, and long since entered upon
their final rest.

Our subject graduated from the schools in Vienna
when a youth of nineteen years, just in time to
participate as a soldier in the Crimean War, and
was in the service two and one-half years, being
present at the battles of Magenta and Solferino,
the terrible record of which is remembered to this
day by the readers of both countries. During
this war young Josel received an honorable wound
which, however, disabled him for a short time, and
at the close of the war he returned to his old home
and there remained until setting sail for the United
States. He embarked on a steamer in the month
of May, 1863, and after a voyage of twelve days
landed in New York City. Thence he proceeded
southwestward to St. Louis, Mo., where he had
already acquired an interest in the lead mines of
that locality, and which he now disposed of. This
accomplished he returned to Austria, where he re-
mained until 1865. In the meantime Mr. Josel
was united in marriage with one of his childhood
associates, Miss Sophia A. Koehlar, a native of his
own Province. Thus fortified for the further bat-
tle of life, he returned with his bride to this country,
and again seeking his old haunts in St. Louis, soon
afterward secured a position as civil engineer, and
became the assistant of Capt. Eads in the con-
struction of the great bridge spanning the Missis-
sippi at that point.

Mr. Josel came to Northern Illinois in 1867, and
departing somewhat from his former occupation,
established the Freeport Vinegar Works, and car-
ried this on until the enacting of the law relating
to the manufacture of vinegar. This law proved
adverse to his success in this business. He then
disposed of his interest therein and returned to his
former vocation. He was elected City Surveyor,
and subsequently County Surveyor, which position
he creditably filled for a period of four years. -In
the meantime he made use of his skill as an archi-
tect in'which he had become efficient in his native
country. In all his operations in this line, his
natural adaptation to the business is uniformly
apparent, and he ha* taken pride in perfecting him-
self in its finer and minutest details.

In the spring of 1 884, Mr. J. was appointed Super-

intendent of the Fret-port Water- Works, the opera-
tion of which he has conducted economically and
with excellent judgment. The machinery under his
supervision has been kept in the best order and is
consequently capable of better and longer service.
His operations as a surveyor, engineer and archi-
tect, have covered a wide range of work, and there
are few points in his profession with which he is not
thoroughly familiar. The only accurate map of
the city was drawn by Mr. Josel in 1876, and is a
marvel of correctness. From the first his aim was
to excel in his profession and the result is he has
attained to the highest excellence.

The two children born to Mr. and Mrs. Josel
died while young. Our subject and his amiable
lady number many warm friends among the intelli-
gent people of Stephenson County. They occupy
a handsome home, where they are surrounded by
all the comforts and many of the luxuries of life.
Mr. Josel, socially, belongs to the following: Ever-
green Lodge No. 170, A. F. & A. M. ; Royal
Arch Chapter No. 23; the A. O. U. W. No. 23;
Freeport Legion No. 14, I. O. O. F. ; Freeport
Lodge No. 239, and Stephen A. Douglas Lodge
No. 100.

RS. RUTH M. THORP, daughter of James
Taylor, and widow of the late William
Thorp, of Lena, was born in Wilkes Barre,
Pa., Feb. 3, 1837. Her father was of
Scotch birth and ancestry, and remained a resident
of his native county in Paisley, Scotland, until
twenty-one years of age. He then emigrated to
America and located in Pennsylvania, remaining
there until about 1838, and went to Canada where
he remained until 1848, then came to this county,
and taking up his abode in Winslow, spent the
remainder of his days. He died about 1867. The
mother of Mrs. Thorp was formerly Miss Maria
Lane, a native of Burlington, Bradford Co., Pa.
She died at Wilkes Barre in February, 1837, when
her daughter Ruth was but a few days old. The
latter was taken into the home of her aunt. Mrs.
Elizabeth Ballard, of Burlington, with whom she
lived until fifteen years of age. She came to Illi-
nois with her father, and afterward made her home

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

237

with her brother Alexander till her marriage. She
became the wife of William Thorp, Nov. 18, 1857.
Mr. T. was also a native of the Keystone .State, and
the son of John Thorp, of Lancashire, England,
who emigrated to America and settled first in
Pennsylvania, whence he removed later to this
county, remaining for a time a resident of Cedar-
ville, but afterward going to Monroe, Wis.. where
he spent the last years of his life.

William Thorp was quite young when he was
brought to this county by his parents. He re-
mained with them until his marriage. After this
event he located on a farm in Winslow Township
and was successfully engaged in the cultivation of
the soil until the illness which terminated in his
death. He was cut down in his prime at forty-
seven years of age. He looked his last upon the
faces of his friends Aug. 13, 1878. Mr. and Mrs.
Thorp were the parents of two children, John B.
and Adelbert, both now residents of Lincoln,
Neb. They commenced life in a little log cabin
sixteen feet square, and at the time of the death
of Mr. Thorp he was the possessor of 339 acres of
well-improved land, all of which Mrs. Thorp has
still in possession.

AVID BRADLEY, one of the self-made
men of Rock Grove Township, came to
this vicinity in the spring of 1856, and is
now the proprietor of 420 broad acres,
the larger part under a good state of cultivation
and the balance comprising sixty-five acres of val-
uable timber. His real estate is the accumulation
of his own industry and energy, as he began life
at the foot of the ladder and was dependent upon
his own resources. He is in consequence self-reli-
ant and sensible, and one of those men who most
readily encourage the marks of diligence and reso-
lution wherever found in the young men of to-day.
When first purchasing his land it had been but
slightly improved and the homestead now with its
shapely and substantial buildings, the stock and
farm machinery and all the evidences of thrift and
prosperity, are silent witnesses of that which has

been accomplished by the labor and frugality of
our subject.

The first representative of this branch of the
Bradley family in this country emigrated from
Ireland and located in Pennsylvania during its
early settlement. He was the paternal grandfather
of David, our subject, and among his sons was
Joseph, who became the father of David. He was
born in Columbia County, Pa. where he grew to
manhood, reared to farming pursuits. In due time
he was united in marriage with one of the maidens
of that region. In 1844, he started for the West,
accompanied by his son, our subject; they made
the journey with a horse and buggy. The father
was pleased with the face of the country and saw in
it great encouragement for the enterprising emi-
grant. Later he sent for his family and the}' spent
their last days in Rock Grove Township, not far
from the present homestead of David Bradley. The
mother was formerly Miss Mary Marshall, a native
of Maryland, and by her marriage with Joseph
Bradley became the mother of six children. These
were named respectively, William, Margaret, Eliza-
beth, David, Sarah Jane and Mary Ann. Margaret
and Mary Ann are deceased.

David, remained under the home roof until reach-
ing his majority, and then for ten years following
was occupied as a farm laborer. In the meantime
he had lived economically and saved what he could
of a limited income. In 1856, he visited the State
of Michigan and purchased 100 acres in Cass
County, for which he paid $20 per acre. Three
years later he sold this for $44 per acre, and. taking
the proceeds removed to Wisconsin where, how-
ever, he only remained a year and invested his
capital, which purchase he sold at an advantage
soon after. After his exploring tour through
Stephenson County he selected a tract of 182 acres
in Rock Grove Township, where he has since been
a resident although making some exchanges of
property. He subsequently sold forty acres of
his original purchase and then bought elsewhere,
and now has a fine farm which comprises one of the
finest estates in the northeastern part of Stephen-
son County.

The birth of David Bradley took place in Colum-
bia County, Pa., where, as we have already seen,

238

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

he remained until after reaching manhood. His
first marriage took place in Michigan, with Miss
Margaret Miller, a native of the State of Delaware.
Of this union were four children Mary Agnes,
who married Frank Spangler and has five chil-
dren ; Stephen A. Douglas, Rebecca and David F.
The present wife of our subject was formerly Miss
Mabel Williams, and they were married at the home
of the bride in Cass County, Wis., in 1874. Mrs.
Bradley is the daughter of Seth Williams, native of
New York State, where the father died about 1882,
aged seventy-four years, and the mother died when
seventy-six years old. Miss Williams was thirty-
six years of age when she became the wife of our
subject. Of this union there is one son, Joseph,
now a bright boy of thirteen and at home with his
parents. Mr. Bradley is engaged mostly with the
matters inseparable from his farming interests, but
upon occasions of important election, uniformly
votes the Democratic ticket.

The maternal grandmother of David Bradley
lived with her husband in Pennsylvania during
the Revolutionary War and distinguished herself
among the patriotic women of that day by her con-
tempt of the armed Britishers. She often went
through the lines taking provisions to her husband
at the front. In later years her grandchildren en-
joyed nothing better than to get her started at
story telling in connection with the old days when
the Colonists were struggling for their liberty, when
the women of that period all assisted in holding up
the arms of their husbands and sons while engaged
in the conflict that secured their freedom.

>ILLIAM OHLENDORF, the proprietor of
the Chicago Bakery, located at No. 113
Galena street, Freeport, 111., is a native of
the State of Illinois, and was born in the city of
Freeport, Stephenson County, on the 18th of May,
1859. He is the second son of Henry and Engel
Ohlendorf. He attended the city schools of Free-
port until twelve years of age, when he went to
learn the trade of a baker, serving an apprentice-

ship of three years, mastering all the intricate de-
tails of that business. After completing his trade,
he became clerk and principal baker for William
Weismann, with whom he remained for about thir-
teen months. He then went to Chicago, and was
employed by Potter Palmer, proprietor of the
hotel bearing that name, as baker. He worked for
Mr. Palmer five months and then went to the Tiv-
oli Gardens, where he was employed as salesman
for the Brewing Company. After a time he re-
turned to Freeport and bought the Aaron Long
Bakery, and embarked in that business on his own
account. He has been engaged in the bakery busi-
ness for nine years. He owns his business house
which is 22x120 feet, three stories high. The
storeroom is 18x120 feet in the clear. He has
another building 18x 120 feet, two stories high;
they are both built of brick and are first-class
buildings. The capacity of the bakery is between
five and six hundred loaves daily.

Mr. Ohlendorf was married, Dec. 29, 1879, to
Miss Louisa Koehler, daughter of F. P. Koehler, of
Freeport. They have two children, a son and
daughter, named Edna and Elmer. Mr. Ohlendorf
is a member of the A. O. U. W., Germania Society,
and German Benevolent Society.

The father of William Ohlendorf is Henry Oh-
lendorf, dealer in flour and feed, No. 61 Galena
street. He is a native of Germany, and was born
in April, 1820. He came to America in 1847, land-
ing in New York City, and going from there to
Chicago, where he remained and worked for eight
years as a salesman. He then went to the country
and engaged in farming about five years. In 1 856 he
removed to Freeport, 111., and for a time engaged
in the manufacture of vinegar, the works being
located on the north side of Pecatonica River. He
continued in the manufacture of vinegar for several
years, and then engaged in teaming, which business
he followed for ten years. In 1878 he opened a
flour and feed store at his present location, where
he has carried on quite an extensive business.

Mr. Ohlendorf's business house is 22x60 feet,
two stories in height, built of brick, and is his own
property. He was married, in 1844, to a MissEu-
gel. who is also a native of Germany. They are
the parents of seven children, four boys and three

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

241

girls: Henry, William, Fred, Jacob; Minnie is the
wife of William Helmin; Louisa S. is married to
Henry Otto, and Sophia, who died at the age of
twenty-five years.

<OHN A. WEIGHT, Buckeye Township.
The first representative of this branch of
the Wright family in America was a native
of Lancashire, England, whence he emi-
grated in 1714, and settled in the town of Chester,
Delaware Co., Pa., where he established a store of
general merchandise. Fourteen years later he re-
moved to Hempfield Township, resolved to change
his occupation and engage in farming pursuits.
He purchased 250 acres of land of Robert Barber,
and tilled the soil the balance of his lifetime. He
was a man of great energy of character, and became
prominent in public affairs, officiating as Judge of
the Circuit Court, and also as a minister in the
Society of Friends. He was fluent of speech, and
an address delivered before the grand jury was at
one time published, and may still be found in
Frond's History of Pennsylvania.

James Wright, son of the foregoing, was the
youngest of the family, and born in America. He
was reared to manhood in Pennsylvania, where he
married and became the father of a family of sons
and daughters, among them being John, Sr., the
grandfather of our subject. He also engaged in
farming pursuits, from which he retired late in life,
and spent his last years in Columbia, Pa. His son
Samuel, the father of our subject, was born and
reared in Lancaster County, but early in life
thought that he would like something better than
farming' pursuits, and accord ingly learned the trade
of a hatter. Upon leaving home he went into
Union County, settling in West Buffalo Township
in about 1816. He abandoned the hatter's trade,
and having been married, located on the farm of
his father-in-law, where he remained -until the- spring
of 1843. Illinois was then beckoning to the enter-
prising emigrant, and he joined tlie caravan coming
hither, reaching Stephenson County after a journey
of forty-two days. Quite a colony had started
from his neighborhood at the same time, and there

were fourteen teams in line. The journey was
made overland, and was attended with many diffi-
culties and hardships. The men of that time, how-
ever, were made of stern stuff, and prepared to
meet every emergency. 'Samuel Wright selected
his location on a part of section 12, Harlem Town-
ship, and in company with his sons entered a tract
of land and remained with them in that vicinity
until his death, which took place twenty-five years
later, on the 3d of August, 1868.

Samuel Wright was married early in life to Miss
Mary B. Lewis, of Union County. Pa., the daugh-
ter of Paschal Lewis, who was the son of Daniel
Lewis, a native of Wales. The mother of our sub-
ject departed this life at the homestead in Harlem
Township, thirteen years after the death of her hus-
band, her decease taking place Aug. 26, 1875.
The parental household included six children, of
whom four grew to mature years. Paschal died in
Harlem Township, in October, 1872, and William
Aug. 12, 1883. John A., of our sketch, was the
third son; Elizabeth, the wife of Alexander Tem-
pleton, is a resident of Cleveland, Tenn.

The subject of our sketch was born in West Buf-
falo Township, Union Co., Pa., July 6, 1825. In
common with his brothers and sisters he attended
school during his younger years as opportunity
offered, but also became early acquainted with the
more serious business of life. As soon as old
enough his services were utilized on the farm, and
he became imbued with those self-reliant qualities
which have been of such good service to him in
later years. When the family set out for the West
he was a youth of eighteen years, and had charge
of a team during the journey from Pennsylvania
to Illinois. They started from Union County, May
25, 1843, and lauded in Freeport, 111., on the 4th
of July following. The whole company camped
and cooked by the wayside, and slept in the wag-
ons at night. After their arrival and location in
Harlem Township, our subject and his brother
William farmed together for a number of years.
Afterward John A. secured a tract of. laud of his
own which he operated until 1873, then consigned
the, tilling of the soil to other hands until the
spring of 1881, when he removed to Cedarville.
At this time Mr. Wright had already become inter-

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

ested with the firm of J. W. Henney & Co., in the
manufacture of buggies at that place, and retained
his connection with them until 1881. .Since that
time he has given his attention to his private and
official duties.

Mr. Wright was.first married, Nov. 6, 1851, to
Miss Margaret Ewing. who was a native of Holmes
County, Ohio, and came to Illinois with her parents
in L848. Of this union there were born two chil-
dren: Emily L., Mrs. Parr, a resident of Harlem
Township, and Oliver P., of Freeport, who is con-
nected with the old firm of his father. Mrs. Mar-
garet Wright departed this life at the home of her
husband in Harlem Township, April 27, 1856. Mr.
Wright was again married, Jan. 23, 1862, to Miss
Mary B. Heise, a native of Columbia, Lancaster
Co., Pa. ' She was of pure German ancestry, and
her great-grandfather, Solomon Heise, settled near
Hagerstown, Md., during the pioneer days. Her
father, Samuel B. Heise, was born in Hagerstown
in 1799, and from the time he was six years of age
was reared by an uncle in Columbia. He became
a skilled mechanic and an expert worker in wood
and iron. He spent his entire life in his native
county, and died in Columbia, in December, 1885,
after arriving at an advanced age. The mother of
Mrs. Wright was formerly Mrs. Emily (Boude)
Lewis, a native of Union County, Pa. Of this
marriage there was born one child, Margaretta H.
The parents and daughter are members and regular
attendants of the Presbyterian Church.

Mr. Wright cast his first Presidential vote for
Martin Van Buren in 1848, and believed in the
principles of Republicanism long before they were
formulated into a name. Considering this it is
not surprising that he abandoned the old Whig
party, and cordially supported the Republicans
after their organization. He has been a man who
always enjoyed in a marked degree the confidence
of his fellow-citizens, and has most of the time
been the incumbent of some office within their gift.
He was the Srst Police Magistrate, and has held
the office since its first establishment. He has also
served as School Director and Assessor, and has
been Secretary of the Old Settlers' Association for
the last eight years.

When Mr. Wright first came to this county, deer

and other wild game was plentiful, and frequently
the settler had only to go a few steps from his cabin
door in order to level his rifle at one of these.
Hard cash was very scarce in those days, and the
merchants at the little hamlet of Freeport readily
took grain in exchange for their goods. The farm-
ers frequently transported their produce to Chi-
cago, which involved a round trip of several days,
and considering the time and difficulty of getting
wheat to market, and the low price which it brought,
they were indeed sometimes but poorly paid for
their labor, it often selling as low as thirty cents
per bushel, and corn from ten to twelve cents. Mr.
Wright relates that often while attending church
the pioneer sportsman would be hunting for game,
and frequently bringdown a deer upon the present
site of Stephenson County court-house. He com-
menced keeping a diary in 1869, and has now
about 2,000 pages of foolscap paper covered with
the relation of his thoughts and experiences. Under
proper training and with favorable opportunities,
he would have been a scholar and a penman. He
now reports the weather to the Signal Service at
Springfield each week. The incidents which may
be gleaned from that diary it is possible sometime
in the future may be compiled into an interesting
volume which his descendants will peruse with
pride. As 'a fitting accompaniment to this sketch
we take pleasure in presenting the portrait of Mr.
Wright, which will be seen on a preceding page.

EVI ROBEY, ESQ., a portrait of whom ap-
pears in this connection, has been widely
and favorably known throughout Waddams
Township for a period of fifty-three years, being
one of its earliest settlers, and is probably the oldest
living pioneer of the county. Nature in bestow-
ing her gifts upon Mr. Robey provided him with a
good supply of cheerfulness, a generous and unself-
ish heart, and the genial spirit which has always
rendered his companionship pleasant and desirable.
He is beloved as thoroughly as he is known, and is
the center of a large circle of friends and acquaint-
ances, who entertain for him the highest respect
and who watch his declining days with the sohci-'

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

tutle natural in connection with one who has com-
pleted his fourscore years.

Mr. Robey was born in Washington Township,
Scioto Co., Ohio, Oct. 22, 1807. His father, Will-
iam Robey, was- a native of Maryland, and his
grandfather, also named William, served under
Gen. Clark during the Revolutionary War, and as-
sisted in driving the British from the soil of his na-
tive State. After this trouble had ended in the
victory of the Colonists, William Robey, Sr., in
company with five or six others repaired to Ken-
tucky and made a claim, put up a log cabin and
contemplated returning home for the winter, but
before completing their preparations the entire
party with one exception was murdered by the In-
dians, including William Robey. He had been
married, but his wife had not accompanied him to
Kentucky. She was afterward married to Philip
Moore, of Maryland.

After peace had been declared between England
and the Colonies the Moore family removed to the
Northwestern Territory, and located in that por-
tion now included in the State of Ohio. The jour-
ney over the mountains was made with pack-horses,
and the father of our subject located at the mouth
of the Scioto River, which was then designated as
the "Nile of America." The Robey family were
among the earliest settlers of that region. Mr.
Moore also cleared a farm and there spent the last
years of his life. Grandmother Moore survived
her husband several years, and also died in what is
now Jo Daviess County, 111.

William Robey, Jr., the father of our subject,
was but four years old when his parents removed
to the Northwestern Territory, and in common
with the others was conveyed on a pack-horse
across the Alleghany Mountains. As soon as old
enough he engaged in boating on the Scioto and
Ohio Rivers, and upon reaching manhood became
the owner of several boats, by which means he
transported produce from Portsmouth to other
points. During one of his expeditions he purchased
a pony, and riding across the country visited his
old friend, Daniel Boone, in Kentucky. He re-
mained a resident of Scioto County, Ohio, until
1834, then disposing of his interests in that region,
started in the month of June for the prairies of Illi-

nois, whither his family had preceded him a few
weeks. They joined him near Hennepin, where
they spent the summer, and in the fall came to that
part of Jo Daviess County which is now included
in Stephenson. They first stopped at Brewster
Ferry, which now lies in Winslow Township, and
renting the Brewster farm carried on agriculture
and operated the ferry across the Pecatonica River
until 1836. Afterward Mr. Robey made a claim in
Buckeye Township, on the present site of the vil-
lage of Cedarville. He secured his title as soon as
the land came into market and lived there several
years, then crossing the Mississippi went down into
Texas and located twelve or fourteen miles north
of Austin and not far from Round Rock. There
he improved the farm which he occupied until his
death in about 1877, after he had reached the ad-
vanced age of ninety-eight years. His wife, the
mother of our subject, was Mary, the daughter of
Judge John Collins, one of the earliest pioneers of
Scioto County, Ohio. She also died in Texas. The
parental family included twelve children, eight of
whom grew to mature years.

Levi Robey was educated in the subscription
schools of his native county, which were conducted
in a log cabin with puncheon floor, slabs for seats
and desks, and greased paper for window-panes.
His studies were conducted mostly in the winter
season, and as soon as large enough his services
were utilized on the farm. In due time he devel-
oped into a pedagogue, following teaching, how-
ever, but a short tim, and later traveled over the
country selling clocks. He was married, when
twenty-six years of age, to Miss Almira Waite, the
wedding taking place at the home of the bride in
Washington Township, Ohio, Dec. 26, 1833. The
following April, accompanied by his wife and his
mother's family he started for Illinois, proceeding
via the Ohio, Illinois and Mississippi Rivers, and
then by hired teams traveled sixteen mjles further,
where Mr. Robey rented a tract of land and re-
mained until fall. He then started for Jo Daviess
County, equipped with teams of horses and oxen.
At Dixon they met a party of Indians who fright-
ened one of the oxen so that he broke loose from
the yoke, but was caught after much chasing. Soonl
after his arrival Mr. Robey entered a claim on secy

+ Jf-

t 244

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

tion 1, of what is now Waddams Township, and on
St. Valentine's Day, Feb. 14, 1835, signalized him-
self as the first settler of the township. It had not
yet been subdivided but afterward became a part
of Stephenson County.

Mr. Robey made it his first business to put up a
log cabin, which was located on the northwest quar-
ter of section 1, and which he occupied with his
family twelve years. In 1847 he sold out and pur-
chased his present homestead. The nearest market
during these pioneer days was at Galena, forty-five
miles distant, and Chicago for several years was
comparatively unheard of. The postage on a let-
terjwas twenty-five cents, which oftentimes proved a
larger sum than a settler could raise. Had it not
been for the people required to operate the lead
mines the settlers would probably have been com-
pelled to transport their produce even farther than
Galena.

Mr. Robey watched with intense satisfaction the
gradual development of the rich resources of his
adopted State, and was no unimportant factor in
the building up of Waddams Township. He was
uniformly successful in his labors, meeting with an
ample reward for his toil and sacrifices. He became
identified with local matters at the beginning," and
was one of the Commissioners appointed to lay off
the townships in this county. He represented the
people of Waddams on the County Board of Super-
visors seven years, and served as Justice of the
Peace, receiving his appointment from Gov. Dun-
can. There were few enterprises connected with
the public welfare in which he was not consulted,
and no man took a warmer interest in the prosper-
ity of the country around him. He cast his first
Presidential vote for Andrew Jackson, and since
that time has been a stanch supporter of Demo-
cratic principles.

The wife of our subject, who has been the cheer-
ful and patient sharer of his fortunes for a period
of more than fifty years, is the daughter of Asa and
Lydia (Kendal) Waite, a sketch of whom appears
elsewhere in this ALBUM. Of her marriage with
our subject there were born five children, of whom
the record is as follows : William A. operates a siock :
farm in Nora, 111. ; Louisa E. is the wife of Robert
Young, a farmer of Rock City ; Cyrus A. is a resi-

dent of California; Mary A. married James L.
Hartsough, and lives at McConnelFs Grove; Levi
Woodbury occupies the homestead ; a granddaugh-
ter, Amanda E. Robey, has been a member of the
family since infancy. Our subject and his wife are
connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church,
Mrs. R. being the oldest member of that church
in this county.

ENRY M. BARNES, This aged and re-
spected resident of Loran Township came to
this section of country over thirt} 7 yrars
ago, prepared to put his shoulder to the
wheel and assist his brother pioneers in the devel-
opment of its resources, and the building up of its
business and agricultural interests. He was then a
young man, strong and hopeful, prepared to meet
the difficulties which lay before him, and to suffer
privation and hardship if necessary, in order to
build up the homestead which he had planned for
himself and family.

Mr. Barnes was born in Oneida County, N. Y.,
Aug. 16, 1813, and is the second child of Henry
and Achsah (McGregory) Barues, of New England
birth and parentage, who emigrated to New York
after their marriage. They continued in the Em-
pire State until 1854, and until after their children
had grown to mature years. These consisted of
two sons and three daughters. Then, although
past middle life, they determined to spend their
last days in the western country, and accordingly
emigrated thither. The father- took up a tract of
land in Silver Creek Township, and lived for a
number of years, during which time he had suc-
ceeded in establishing a comfortable home, and
there both parents died, the mother passing away
in 1859, and the father in 1860.

Our subject upon leaving the parental roof be-
came a resident of Ilerkimer County, N. Y., for a
short time, but followed his parents to this State
the year succeeding their arrival here. He so-
journed in Ridott Township a short time, then re-
moved to "\Vinnebago Count}', but a year later
returned to Stepheusoii County and took up his

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

245

residence with his parents in Silver Creek Town-
ship, where he remained three years. His next re-
moval was a return to Ridott Township, whence
three years later he removed to Loran Township,
where he had purchased 125 acres of land, which
is now included in his present homestead. He was
prospered in his farming operations, and invested
his surplus capital in additional land, until he now
has a fine farm of 325 acres with excellent build-
ings and all the machinery required by the modern
farmer. The place is well stocked, kept in goo'd
repair, and is in all respects one of the model
homes of Stephenson County.

The lady who has been the close friend and com-
panion of our subject for nearly fifty years, who
accompanied him in his journey to the West and
in his subsequent removals, was in her girlhood
Miss Louisa M; Byington, and became his wife on
the 28th of January, 1838. Their marriage took
place at the bride's home in Camden, Oneida Co.,
N. Y., and they began life together on a farm in
Vienna Township, that county. Mrs. Barnes is the
daughter of Jared and Hannah (Brunson) Bying-
ton, natives of Connecticut. They were reared
and married in their native county, where they re-
mained for a time afterward and thence removed
to Salisbury, Ilerkimer Co., N. Y., where both par-
ents spent the remainder of their lives. The mother
passed to her long home Sept. 5, 1835. The death
of the father occurred fifteen years later, Nov. 28,
1850. Their seven children grew to manhood and
womanhood, and of these Louisa, the wife of our
subject, was the sixth in order of birth. She first
drew breath in Herkimer County, N. Y., July 2,
1813, and remained under the parental roof until
her marriage with our subject. This union re-
sulted in the birth of six children, whom we record
as follows : George H. remained with his parents
until the outbreak of the late war, and enlisted in
the 7th Illinois Cavalry, inarching with his com-
rades to the scene of conflict in the South, and
yielded up his life in the hospital at Savannah, Ga.,
where his remains fill a soldier's grave; Harriet
died when a little child two years of age; Adel-
bert married Miss Gertrude Stinley, of La Fayette
County, Wis., and is engaged in the Iiver3' busi-
ness at Red Oak, Iowa; Jared B. married Miss

Emma Buffington, of Iowa, and occupies his time
at farming in Pierce County, Neb. ; Harriet L. (2d)
is the wife of Charles F. Scott, a prosperous farmer
of Loran Township; Whiting S. married Miss Sarah
Hahn, of Loran Township, and carries on the home-
stead.

Mr. Barnes, while a resident of his native State,
and in his younger years, was considerably inter-
ested in political affairs, and held the various offices
of his native township. Since coming to the West
he has devoted his attention mainly to his farming
interests. Politically, he votes independently,
aiming to support the men whom he considers best
qualified for office.

JONAS. This gentleman, late a
resident of Buckeye Township, came to
Stephenson County, 111., during its early
settlement and assisted in developing the agricult-
ural resources of this section. He was born near
Paris, France, in Jiine, 1801, and grew to manhood
near the outskirts of one of the most wonderful
cities of the 1 world. His parents were French by
birth and people in the middle walks of life. Their
son attended school during his childhood and youth,
and later engaged in a saw and grist mill until start-
ing for America. Upon reaching the shores of the
New World he stopped first at Buffalo, N. Y., where
he learned blacksmithing, and where he was mar-
ried and resided until 1839. After a time he de-
cided to change his location and occupation, and
started with his wife and four children for Illinois.
The journey was made via the Lakes to Milwaukee,
and there he hired two teams to take his family and
effects to Freeport, in the southeastern part of this
county. Six weeks later he went up into Waddams
Township and made a claim on section 5, which he
entered later from the Government. He put up a
sawmill on his land and engaged in lumbering and
farming, building up a good homestead and accum-
ulating a competency, and there resided until his
death, which took place April 15, 1881. He was
noted for his industry and energy, and was particu-
larly fortunate in his investments. He acquired a

,246

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

large property, and the beautiful farm with its ele-
gant buildings now stands as a silent but forcible
witness of his business capacity and his success in
life.

The marriage of Thomas Jonas and Miss Saloma
Wrench was celebrated at the home of the bride
near Buffalo, N. Y. Mrs. Jonas is the daughter of
Rudolph and Elizabeth Wrench, of French birth
and ancestry, and came with her parents to America
in 1827. They settled in Buffalo, N. Y., and there
spent the last years of their lives. The wife of our
subject was but eleven years of age when she
crossed the ocean, and she remained until her mar-
riage under the home roof. She became the mother
of ten children, and is still living on the homestead
established by herself and husband during the
younger years of their married life. Her eldest
son, Frederick, is farming in Iowa; Margaret is
married to Richard Ditmtre; Elizabeth married
Criss Colman; Magdelena, Mrs. Grost, lives on a
farm in Oneco Township; Sophia, Mrs. Hoffman,
is a resident of Waddams Township; Jacob lives
on the old homestead ; Mary, Mrs. PYench, is a resi-
dent of Freeport; Henry is farming in West Point
Township; Addie, Mrs. Reynolds, lives in Oneco
Township, and John is in Minnesota.

;

J. BURCKHARDT, a representative
farmer of Silver Creek Township, and in all
respects worthy of the esteem and confidence
of his fellow-citizens, was brought by his
parents to this section of country in the spring of
1847. His birth took place in Baden, Germany,
April 14, 1846, and a year later his parents gath-
ered together their household goods, and embark-
ing upon a sailing-vessel at Bremen, started on their
long and perilous voyage to the New World. Our
subject was the eldest of ten children, nine of whom
were born in this country. His parents after land-
ing in the United States made their way westward
to this county, and located upon the land which
became their permanent home, and where their son
George M. still resides.

Our subject was reared under the home roof and
received his education in the district school, and

as soon as old enough assisted his parents on the
farm. After reaching man's estate he went to
Dane County, Wis., and in due time was united in
marriage with Miss Bertha Watzkey, a native of
Wisconsin, and the daughter of Anton and Sophia
Watzkey, of Germany. Mr. W. is a retired citizen
living in Minnesota, where he removed after hav-
ing been for some time a resident of Wisconsin.
Mrs. Burckhardt was reared mostly in Wisconsin,
and by her marriage with our subject became the
mother of five children, viz., Henry, Carrie, Au-
gusta, Albert C. and Frank.

After their marriage Mr. Burckhardt and his
wife continued to occupy what is known as the
Neimen homestead, which is now supplied with
good buildings and well stocked with cattle, horses
and hogs. It is also provided with the requisite
farm machinery and all the implements required by
the intelligent and progressive agriculturist of to-
da} T . Mr. and Mrs. B. are members of the German-
Lutheran Church, and the former, politically, votes
with the Democratic party.

ffiOHN BAUMGARTNER, Loran Township.
The life history of this gentleman is of more
than ordinary interest. He commenced at
the foot of the ladder in life, with limited
means, and after he, with his father's family, had ex-
perienced a series of misfortunes sad enough to bring
dismay to the stoutest heart. His early home was
in Pennsylvania, where his father had taken up his
residence upon emigrating from Germany, and
where they lived until 1848. Then, not being satis-
fied with their prospects and their condition in that
region, they decided to seek their fortunes further
westward. The elder Baumgartner possessed but
limited means, and the family of six persons, com-
prising the parents and their four children, started
with a one-horse wagon to make the long trip from
Columbia County, Pa., to Northern Illinois. The
journey occupied six weeks, and their route lay
over a section of country often unmarked by a
wagon track, and much of the journey through
swamp land. It may readily be supposed that

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

247

many miles of this distance were traversed on foot
by the older members of the family, as their one
horse was nearly exhausted before the journey was
half completed. They gave him the best of care,
however, and the father was enabled to exchange it
for his first payment on a tract of land which he
took up in Loran Township. The mother had been
obliged to part with some of their bedding on the
way, in order to obtain sufficient funds for their
immediate use. During the first year of their set-
tlement here, the land being uncultivated and much
rain having fallen, they suffered greatly from mala-
ria in addition to their other hardships. The
mother only survived three years, passing away
with two of her children during the week ending
Sept. 10, 1851. Everything was done for the
mother and children that the physicians of that re-
gion could devise, but without avail, and the family
were sorrowfully compelled to part with their best
friend. The father of our subject proceeded with
the cultivation of his laud as best he could, and sur-
vived until 1868, then folded his hands for his final
rest in the home which he had built up in Loran
Township. Our subject is now the sole survivor
of the family, his brothers and sisters likewise be-
ing all deceased. There were thirteen children in
the parental family.

John Baumgartner was born on the other side of
the Atlantic in Germany, Jan. 19, 1830, and when
a youth of seventeen years emigrated with his par-
ents to America, settling in Columbia County, Pa.,
where they lived until their removal to the West.
He is the son of John G. and Julia A. (Rudel)
Baumgartner, who were also of German birth and
parentage. The family for generations had fol-
lowed agriculture in their native country, and were
possessed of the characteristic perseverance and in-
dustry of their nationality. Our subject remained
a member of his father's household four years after
the death of the mother, and was married in Loran
Township, Dec. 20, 1855, to Miss Johanna C. Oln-
hausen, a native of his own country. Her parents
were Christopher and Johanna (Mindling) Oln-
hausen, also natives of Germany, whence the}' emi-
grated to the United States in 1854. They settled
first near Marietta, Ohio, but a year later they
started for the West, locating first in Galena, Jo

Daviess County, 111. Soon afterward they came
into Stephenson County, and took up their abode
in Loran Township, where the father spent his last
days. The mother survived until 1869, and after
the death of her husband made her home with her
daughter, the wife of our subject. The parental
household included two children only, a son and
daughter. Mrs. B. was born in Germany in the
same Province as her husband, Feb. 7, 1837. Her
union with our subject resulted in the birth of
twelve children: Johanna J., the eldest, born Feb.
17, 1857, is the wife of John Schaper, of West
Point Township; Lydia was born Oct. 19, 1858;
Louisa C., born Oct. 20, 1860, married August
Schaper, and ft a resident of Edmunds County,
Dak.; Mary, born Aug. 1,1863; Julia, Nov. 14,
1865; Anna, Dec. 4, 1867 ; John S., Aug. 12, 1870;
George, Sept. 1, 1872; Willia A., Sept. 24, 1874;
Albert C., Sept. 25,1876; Rebecca A., Dec. 23, 1878;
Binie, born May 1, 1881, died July 24 following.
Mr. and Mrs. Baumgartner are greatly respected
among their neighbors and are members in good
standing of the German Methodist Church.

The homestead of our subject includes 155 acres
of land, mostly under a high state of cultivation.
After his first early struggles had ended, he was
uniformly prosperous in his labors. The soil yielded
bountifully under his judicious management, and
in the course of time he was enabled to put up
shapely and substantial buildings. The residence
is particularly noticeable, and is the object of ad-
miration by the passing traveler. The barn is a
fine structure, admirably arranged and finely
adapted to the purposes for which it is intended.
The stock bears fair comparison with those of the
prosperous farmers around him.

Mr. Baumgartuer was particularly fortunate in
his selection of a wife and helpmeet, and he lias the
manliness to render her due credit for the manner
in which she has performed her part in the estab-
lishment of a home and a good position socially
among their neighbors. She bore with cheerful-
ness and patience their early privations, and was
willing to make any reasonable sacrifice for the
sake of their future good, and that of their chil-
dren. As they pass down the sunset hill of life,
both our subject and his wife are enabled to look

248

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

with satisfaction upon the result of their labors and
the prosperity which has compensated them for the
struggles of other days.

BROWN TAYLOR, Cashier of the Second
National Bank of Freeport, 111., is a native
of Ohio, having been born in Holmes Coun-
ty, near Millersburg, on the 9th of May
1838. His parents were Joseph Taylor and Eleanor
Boycl, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania,
and emigrated to Stephenson County, 111., in the
spring of 1 855. They located in Rock Run Town-
ship, where they resided until 1863, when they
moved to Bond County, 111., where they still reside.
When his parents moved to Stephenson County, the
subject of this sketch was but seventeen years of
age. His primary education was received in Ash-
land County, X)hio, and after coming to Stephen-
son County he attended for a time the district
schools, then the Cedarville Academy, where he
was a student at the breaking out of the war in
1861. He enlisted in Co. A, of the llth Illinois
Infantry, in which command he served as a private
during all the inarches, battles and skirmishes up
to the siege of Vicksburg. On the day Grant at-
tempted to take that stronghold by storm, his regi-
ment was assigned to an exposed position on the
line and in the memorable charge which it partici-
pated in, Mr. Taylor was wounded by the well
aimed ball of a rifleman. The ball passed in be-
low the shoulder, ranging upward and coming out
under the right ear, just missing the vertebra of
the neck and jugular vein, lodging under the large
cords of the neck. It remained buried there for
three daj'S before being removed by the surgeon.
He was sent to the hospital at Memphis, Tenn.,
where he remained four months, and was then sent
to Jefferson Barracks near St. Louis, where he was
kept under treatment two months. He was then
discharged on account of wounds received in action
and returned to his parents in Bond County. The
next spring he resumed his studies at the academy
at Cedarville, where he continued for one term.

In 1864 Mr. Taylor entered the Second National
Bank in the capacity of teller and clerk, in which

T Bai

capacity he continued till 1880, when he was ap-
pointed cashier upon the death of the former cash-
ier, Mr. L. W. G-uiteau. Since that time he filled
this responsible position to the satisfaction of the
Directors and stockholders, and by his spirit of ac-
commodation and pleasant manner has popularized
himself and the bank with the business community.
In 1865, Mr. Taylor was married to Miss Carrie
Bamberger, who at that time was a resident of
Cedarville. They have three children Jessie E.,
William Arthur and Bertha S. Mr. and Mrs. Tay-
lor are both members of the Second Presbyterian
Church. He is an enthusiastic member of the
Grand Army of the Republic, of which he is at
present Post Commander.

AMUEL BOBB, of Oneco Township, was
born in Snyder, then Union County, Pa.,
Oct. 7, 1843. He is the son of Daniel
Bobb, of the same county, and where his
father was a- weaver in his younger days, and later
engaged in farming. Daniel Bobb married Miss
Sarah Close, whose people, on both sides of the
house, were natives of Pennsylvania. Mr. and
Mrs. Bobb came to this county in the spring of
1847, and consequently were pioneers. They lo-
cated on the property where they now live, the
land being wild prairie, with the exception of
about twenty acres, and upon which was the cus-
tomary log cabin. In this primitive way they be-
gan life in the West, suffering all the privations
and hardships of the early settlers.

Our subject lived with his parents until Aug. 20,
1865, when he married. His time until this date
was passed in working at the carpenter's trade to aid
his family in keeping the wolf from the door.

The first marriage of our subject was with Miss
Margaret Newmiller, daughter of Frederick New-
miller. Both her parents were natives of Prussia.
Mrs. Bobb was born June 24, 1845. and died
March 14, 1881. Two children were born of this
marriage: Ida May, May 2, 1867, who resides at
home, and Howard C., born Feb. 25, 1870; he also
lives at home.

Mr. Bobb was a second time married, Sept. 17,

RESIDENCE OF W. H . M ATTER , 5EO. 18 , BUCKEYE TP .

RESIDENCE OF G - M . BURC KHARDT,5EC . 9, SILVER CREEK TP.

RESIDENCE OF W V KRYDE R , 5EC .5, ROCK RUN TP,

.SB

"T"

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

251

1882, to Mrs. Mary E. Potts, daughter of Michael
Gift, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work.
By this marriage he has one child, Aranion B., who
was born Feb. 27,1884. In the spring of 1884 our
subject moved to his present home, and since then
has been actively engaged in its cultivation and
improvement. Samuel Bobb is a Democrat in
politics and his father is a Republican. Both our
subject and his wife belong to the Lutheran Church.
The great-grandfather was born in Prussia, and
came to this country when three years old with his
parents, and settled in Pennsylvania. The grand-
father of our subject was born in Pennsylvania.

ENRY METZ has been for many years one
of the leading men in the meat business in
the city of Freeport. After a very suc-
cessful career he has retired from business
to enjoy the accumulations of a busy life. Al-
though he began without capital, his well-known
energy has stood him in good stead at all times.
He has been successful in whatever he has under-
taken. Mr. Metz has evidently been on good
terms with himself, and is without dispute one of
the big men of Freeport. his weight being about
300 pounds. He is a loyal American citizen, though
a native of Germany, where he was born on the
31st of December, 1832. His parents were John
and Mary (Reser) Metz, who remained in Ger-
many, where they died.

Henry began life on a farm, and attended school
until he was fourteen years of age, after which he
was employed upon a railroad for about three
years. In his nineteenth year he sailed for America,
landing in the city of New York in May, 1852,
from where he went to Pennsylvania, locating in
Lancaster County, where he worked at the wagon-
maker's trade until 1854, then came to Freeport,
where he has since resided. After arriving here he
worked at wagon-making for some time for Charles
Dollemcir, and then for eighteen months engaged
in the bakery business with other parties. Leav-
ing this business he again worked at the wagon-
maker's trade for some time. In 1858 Mr. Metz
opened a meat market on Chicago street, where he

remained two years, and then moved to Galena
street, into property which he had purchased, where
he continued in business and enjoyed a large trade
until 1884, when he retired from commercial cares.
He still owns the property where he so long flour-
ished and has rented it to other parties.

Mr. Metz first began his business career on a
very small scale, but was prudent and economical
iu all his transactions, and now owns five good
buildings: two business houses, two dwellings and
hisown residence, also a good farm comprising 1GO
acres in Silver Creek Township. This farm is
composed of excellent land, and on it is one of the
finest hdtases in the neighborhood and a commo-
dious barn. The farm is drained by 15,000 feet of
tile, and lies four and one-half miles southeast of
Freeport.

Mr. Metz was married, in 1857, to Miss Barbara
Kackelhoffer, a native of Alsace, Germany. They
had five children, two having died. The living are
Charlie, Theresa and Matiida. His first wife died
in 1867. He married for his second wife Agatha
Kackelhoffer, who is the mother of six children,
three boys and three girls. Henry, Clara, Jose-
phine, John and William are living.

Mr. Metz has served the people one term as As-
sistant Supervisor. In politics he is a Democrat.
He is a member of the Gernmnia Society and takes
considerable interest in the affairs of that organi-
zation. It can well be said of Henry Metz that he
is an excellent citizen on general principles, and
has many friends in the city of Freeport who hold
him in the highest esteem.

J"~/OHN S. BOOP, one of the independent
| farmers of Jefferson Township, owns 273
I acres of first-class land located on section 2.
/ The homestead and its appurtenances are
creditable to their proprietor and as comfortable
as those of any farmer in Stephenson County.

The subject of this biography is the son of
George and Mary (Hassenplug) Boop, who were
natives of Union County, Pa. In the general
hegira from Pennsylvania to the West in 1858,
came the parents of Mr. Boop and settled in Kent

252

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

Township, where they resided for two years. They
then removed to Loran Township, and were located
at Yellow Creek two years, then returned to Kent
Township. After a residence of twenty years in
Stephenson County the father died on the last of
March, 1879. The mother passed away 'Aug. 26,
1887. Their children were William H., who mar-
ried Maria Michler and resides in Kent Township;
Sarah E., the wife of Gains Blanch, and a resident
of Iowa, and John S. of our sketch.

The subject of this history was the eldest child
of his parents. Me was born in Union County,
Pa., on the 29th of December, 1842. He came to
Stephenson County with his father in 1858. He
remained at home with his parents until the spring
of 1865, when he responded to the urgent demand
for men for the army and enlisted in Co. E, 7th
111. Vol. Cav., and served with that command
until November, 1865, when he was discharged and
mustered out of the service and returned to Kent
Township. He has always been engaged in agri-
cultural pursuits and has been a resident of Ste-
phenson County ever since 1858. In 1871 he settled
in Jefferson Township, where he has since resided.

Mr. Boop wa married in this county on the 18th
of January, 1866, to Miss Sarah C. Bottorf, who
was born in Jefferson Township Jan. 18, 1847.
They have had six children Laura M., Mary E.,
William B., Franklin S., Lawrence A. and Chester
A. William B. died when fifteen months old. Mr.
Boop has held the offices of Assessor and Highway
Commissioner three years. Socially he is a com-
rade of W. R. Goddard Post, No. 258, Grand Army
of the Republic, and in politics he is an ardent
Republican. His thirty years' residence in Ste-
phenson County is without a sullied spot, and he en-
joys the esteem and respect of his neighbors, as an
honest man and an upright citizen.

OHN WIRTH is of German descent, and is
endowed with all the perseverance of the
people of that nationality. As a farmer he
is persistent in compelling his acres to yield
largest per cent of product possible, and has
earned the reputation of being one of the mostsuc-

cessful farmers of Dakota Township and Stephen-
son County. He is the owner of 200 acres of
highly cultivated land. In addition to this he owns
ten acres of timber land in Buckeye Township, all
of which he has acquired through his own efforts.
His home is located on the 200-acre tract which
lies on section 34, Dakota Township. When he
first came to Dakota Township in 1854 he pur-
chased eighty acres </f land. With the exception
of one year's residence in Lancaster Township he
has been a constant resident of this township.
Throughout this section of Stephenson County he
is looked upon as a skillful farmer, and the im-
provements which he has made are emulated by his
neighbors.

Mr. Wirth was born on the 5th of September,
1826, in Wurtemberg, Germany, where his father,
Adam Wirth, was also born and reared. The latter
was the son of a German farmer, who was above
the average in intellectuality, and was for many
years an office-holder under the Government. He
lived and died in Wurtemberg. Adam, the father
of our subject, was one of ten children, nine of
whom were boys. He married a lady by the name
of Elizabeth Finkbeiner, and they reared a family
of ten children, of whom John Wirth was the
fourth child, and was eleven years of age when his
mother died. He is the only survivor of the
family of ten by this marriage. His father remar-
ried after the death of his first wife, the lady being
a Miss Brown. Of this marriage six children were
born, making Adam Wirth the father of sixteen
children in all. The father and step-mother both
died in Fredstadt, Wurtemberg; the former was
about eighty-four years of age when he died. He
was a man noted for his industry and perseverance
in whatever he undertook.

In 1852 the son of whom we write came to this
country with his uncle, John Wirth, now a well-to-
do man of the Colony of Economj' of Beaver
County, Pa. After living two years in Buffalo, N.
Y., he came to this county. While in Buffalo, on
the 20th of February, 1853, he was married to Miss
Catherine Haist, who was born in Buffalo Jan. 29,
1833. Her father, George Haist, also came from
Wurtemberg, Germany, where lie had married a
Miss Burkhart, and soon after came to this country.

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

253

He was a farmer and both he and his wife died in
Erie County, N. Y. Three of the children are
yet living, of whom Mrs. Wirth is one. The chil-
dren of Mr. and Mrs. Wirth number eight, one of
whom is deceased. John J. married Maggie Rut-
ter, and they live on one of the finest farms of
Dakota Township; Mary is the wife of Darius
Elston, a successful farmer; George married Flora
Gorman, and they. reside in Rock Run Township;
Louisa married Otto Seyfried, who with Henry T.,
Anna and Kate reside at the home of Mr. Wirth.

Mr. and Mrs. Wirth are members of the Lutheran
Church, of which Mr. Wirth has been a Deacon
for many years. In politics he is a Democrat, and
has been chosen. by .that.party to several township
offices.

UGH BENNEHOFF, the subject of this
\ sketch, was born Feb. 5, 1831, in Union
County, Pa. He is the son of Daniel Ben-
nehoff, who was born in the same county
in 1797, and lived at home until he grew to man-
hood. He served an apprenticeship at the trade
of masonry, and became one of the most skillful
workmen in that calling. He came to this county
in the spring of 1847, and bought the farm where
the subject of this sketch now lives. After dis-
posing of his farm in the East, he bought ninety-
two acres, on which was a log cabin, which he oc-
cupied with his family until 1848, when he built
an additional log house- which he occupied until
his death in 1869. At the time of his death he
was seventy-two years of age. The mother of our
subject was Elizabeth Dauberman, of Pennsylva-
nia. Her family and relatives were natives of
Pennsylvania and were all farmers. She died in
the fifty-sixth year of her age, having been born in
1790. They had five children, three boys and two
girls, all of whom are living in this vicinity, ex-
cept one who is absent in Iowa. The subject of
this sketch was the youngest of the family, and he
remained at home with his parents until he was
twenty years of age, when he served an appren-
ticeship of one year at harness-making, which he
followed for twelve years in Rock Grove Town-
ship and Green County, Wis. He then bought

the father's estate from the other heirs, and this,
with eighty-eight acres he had previously bought,
gave him a a farm of 180 acres, of which he after-
ward sold eighteen acres. After managing a leased
farm at Shannon, III., for two years, he moved to
the home place in 1864. In 1886 he erected the
commodious house in which he now resides.

Mr. Beunehoff has held the offices of School Di-
rector, Commissioner of Highways, Tax Collector,
Assessor, and has served as Supervisor three terms.
He is Republican in politics, and evidently inher-
ited his political convictions from his father, who
was an old-line Whig until the organization of the
Republican party in 1856.

The subject of this sketch was married to Jane E.
Kramer, on the 2d of October, 1856. She was the
daughter of John, and he the son of Frederick
Kramer. The maiden name of her mother was
Mary Ann Pieffer. The father and mother were
both natives of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Bennehoff was
but three years of age when her parents moved to
Ohio, where they remained eleven years, and then
removed to Stephenson County. Mrs. Bennehoff
was born Feb. 12, 1838, and was married in her
eighteenth year They have had seven children,
the two youngest being twins, one of whom died
in infancy; the other died at the age of fourteen
years. The five surviving are Mar}' E., Mrs. John
Wallace, aged thirty, who lives with her parents;
Ida J., Mrs. William Wells, aged twenty-eight, who
resides in this neighborhood ; John W., aged twen-
ty-five; Effie S., aged twenty-three, and Charles
F., aged twenty-one, all of whom reside at home
with their parents. As were their parents before
them, Mr. and Mrs. Bennehoff are members of the
Lutheran Church.

ETER WOLF, Jit., of Rock Run Town-
ship, is a man of honest and respectable
antecedents, and bears the virtues of his
ancestors in a marked degree. His grand-
father was Abraham Wolf. He was a farmer by
occupation, and emigrated from Germany to this
country, locating in Center County, Pa., where his
death took place. The father of our subject was

254

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

Peter Wolf, Sr. He was a native of Center County,
Pa., and was also a farmer, but in early life learned
the trade of a weaver, which he followed, however,
only a short time. He was the eldest son of a
large family, and married Sally Ream, also a native
of Center County. She came of genuine Pennsyl-
vania Dutch stock, and was the mother of five
children, one of whom is deceased.

Our subject is the youngest of the four children
living. John is a farmer, and resides on part of
the old homestead in Center County, Pa. ; Mary
married S. N. Harter, Esq., and is now deceased;
Margaret married George Newcomber; she is a
widow and lives with her children, George resides
in Preeport; our subject is the remaining member
of the family. The father was married the second
time, to Catherine Kerr, who, dying in 1866, left
two children Leah and Catherine C. After the
death of his second wife, Peter Wolf, Sr., came
West and lived with his children in Iowa and this
State, until his death, which took place at the ripe
old age of eighty-six years and four months. This
was in February, 1884. He was a good man, re-
spected 1)3' all who knew him.

Our subject was only two years old when his
mother died. He was bora April 10, 1830, was
educated in the common schools, and lived at home
with his father until he was thirteen years old. He
then started to learn the trade of a cabinet-maker
with his brother-in-law, S. N. Harter, of Center
County. He was with Mr. Harter two years, after-
ward working at millwrighting for a time. He
then followed his trade, and later carpentering.
Peter Wolf, Jr., was married in Center County,
Pa., in 1848, to Miss Elizabeth Rowray, who was
also a native of Center County, having been born
there April 14, 1829. She was the daughter of
John Rowray, who came West in 1854, and died in
this township in 1 865. After the death of her hus-
band Mrs. Rowray made her home with her daugh-
ter, Mrs. Wolf, and died here in 1867. Mr. Row-
ray was a tinsmith by trade. Airs. Wolf lias be-
come the mother of twelve children, two of whom
are deceased: George W. married Miss Mary Mal-
lery. and resides on a farm in this township; John
P. lives in Dakota Village, this county; James F.
is a farmer now living in Iowa;. Katie C. is the

wife of H. B. Tate, a farmer now living in Lancas-
ter Township, this county; Elizabeth is the wife of
Thomas Niblo, who is engaged in farming in Ridott
Township, this county; Ellen is the wife of F. S.
Nestelrode, and lives in Clay County, Neb., on a
farm; Frank F.. .Sadie, Edwin and Orrin reside at
home; Mary and Charles died in infancy.
. On April 1, 1855, Mr. Wolf, wife and three chil-
dren, first came to Illinois, locating for a time in
Freeport, and then came to this township. He
finally purchased land, and later went to Dakota,
Dakota Township. In the spring of 1 858 he located
on his farm in this township, where he now lives.
Altogether he owns 193 acres of land, most of
which is under the plow. Mr. Wolf and his family
are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Politically, he is a Republican.

RUSTON is a dealer in produce,
choice dairy butter, eggs, paper and rags,
etc., at Nos. 155 and 157 Stephenson street,
Freeport, 111., which business he established in
1862, first opening on lower Stephenson street,
where he began in a modest way. Through his
energy, and by close application, he has succeeded
in building up a large business, and is looked upon
as one of the live and enterprising business men of
Freeport. Mr. Ruston was born in London, En-
gland, on the 18th of December, 1840. His father
was John Ruston, a merchant in early life, who
married Matilda Edwards, and settled in London,
where they resided until the spring of 1842, when
they emigrated to the United States, arriving at
New York, in which city they permanently settled,
and where they both died. George Ruston was
educated in that city, attending school until the
age of fourteen, when he entered the banking house
of Kissman & Taylor, where he occupied the re-
sponsible position of Collector and Recorder, in
which capacity he served" two ye"ars, at which time
he severed his connection with that firm, enjoying
their fullest confidence and esteem. In 1857 he
determined to cast his lot somewhere in the West,
and came to Batavia, 111., where he accepted a
clerkship; after remaining there some time, he

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

went to Janesville, Wis., where he stopped for one
year, and thence to Chicago, in which city he re-
mained three years. In the spring of 1862 he left
Chicago and came to Freeport, where he began his
present business.

In 1881 Mr. Huston was married to Miss Lyma
E. Bordmer, of Freeport. She was born in Ste-
phenson County, 111., and is a lady of culture.
They have two sons Leonard B. and George Al-
fred. Mr. Ruston has been in active business in
Freeport so long that he has become a part and
parcel of the business history of the city. In the
various lines in which he deals he is an authority
as to quality and prices, and his transactions are
so extensive that he comes very nearly naming the
prices for those products in that vicinity.

Mr. Ruston and wife are acceptable members of
the First Presbyterian Church, of which he is one
of the Trustees, and in the affairs of that organiza-
tion they both take a lively interest.

ENRY WOHLFORD, who is numbered
among the pioneers of this county, has been
resident of Waddams Township since
1843, his homestead occupying a good loca-
tion on section 4. The land which he now owns
and occupies, was entered by him from the Gov-
ernment and was without improvements, with the
exception of a small log cabin, of which he took
possession, and lived with his family until he could
provide them with a more commodious dwelling.
He is fully acquainted with all the vicissitudes of
life in a new country, and in common with his
brother pioneers, labored and waited the slow, but
sure development of Northern Illinois, and has
lived to see his labors rewarded, and the once un-
cultivated prairie transformed into beautiful and
valuable homesteads. He has been no unimpor-
tant factor in the bringing about of this satisfactory
state of affairs, and can look back upon a well-spent
life with the satisfaction which brings its own re-
ward.

Mr. Wohiford is a native of Center County, Pa.,
and was born Dec. 'J, 1811. His father, Philip
Wohiford, a native of York County, removed to

Center County after his marriage, and purchased a
tract of timber land, where he cleared a farm, and
there passed the balance of his life. His remains
were buried in the cemetery at Rabersburg. Young
Henry assisted his father on the farm until a youth
of eighteen years, then learned the trade of a tan-
ner, at which he served three years, and afterward
worked as a journeyman fifteen months. Subse-
quently he established a tannery in Clinton County,
where he operated until 1843, then selling out,
turned his steps westward to Illinois. The journey
was made via the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to
Galena, where he hired a team, and was thus, with
his wife and four children, conveyed to Waddams
Township, in this county. He first rented a farm
east of Cedar Mills, and the year following pur-
chased the land included in his present homestead,
and of which he has since retained possession, cov-
ering a period now of over forty years. It is hardly
necessary to say that the labors of the first few
years were continuous, and sometimes with doubt-
ful results, but he persevered through - rain and
shine, with the same courageous and persistent
spirit, and the result now lies around him. in cul-
tivated fields and two sets of ample and substantial
farm buildings. Mr. Wohiford has always been the
encourager of whatever tended toward the religious
and moral education of the people around him, and
St. James' Church is located on his farm.

The first crops which Mr. Wohiford raised on his
land were conveyed laboriously by ox and horse
teams to Chicago, the trip consuming eleven days,
and the receipts not being sufficient to pay ex-
penses. The next season he transported his prod-
uce to Galena, concluding not to patronize the
future great city thereafter. Deer were plenty, as
well as other kinds of wild game, and the family
were never without the luxury of sweet, fresh meat.
The advance of civilization, however, long ago
drove the deer and the partridge from their hiding-
places, and so scarce have they become that their
flesh is now considered a rare dainty.

The lady who has been the close companion and
wise counselor of our subject for a period of over
fifty years, was formerly Miss Catherine Wamel-
dorff, and she became his wife Nov. 18, 1836. She
is a native of Miles Township, Center Co., Pa., and

i , 256

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

was born Dec. 15, 1815. Her parents, Frederick
and Barbara Wameldorff, were natives of Pennsyl-
vania. Mr. Wohlford and wife have had a family
of ten children, who are recorded as follows: Eliz-
abeth, the wife of Peter Roberts, is a resident of
Clark County, Wis. ; Joseph lives in Frontier
County, Neb. ; Amelia is the wife of Jacob Wau-
ter, a resident of Iowa; Malinda, the wife of Will-
iam Magle, resides on a farm in Franklin County,
Neb. ; Frank is farming in Redwood County, Minn. ;
Fayette married Miss J. Whittemore, and is farm-
ing in Waddams Township, 'this county ; Charles
lives in Oneco Township; Jane is the wife of Isaac
Bechtold, of Harlem Township; Mary, Mrs. Ira
Shippee, lives on a farm with her husband in Wad-
dams Township; Wells, the youngest son, died in
December, 1883, aged twenty-seven years.

Mr. Wohlford, upon first exercising the right of
suffrage, was identified with the old Whig party,
but upon its abandonment, cordially endorsed the
principles of the Republicans, and is to-day one of
their stanchest supporters. He and his estimable
lady are members in good standing of the United
Brethren Church, and enjoy the respect of all who
know them.

fILLIAM DIVELEY, Supervisor of Wad-
dams Township, and one of the extensive
and progressive farmers of Northern Illi-
nois, has been especially favored of Providence,,
being in the possession of a pleasant home and a
fine family, and the respect and confidence of his
friends and neighbors.

Mr. Diveley was born in Scioto County, Ohio,
Jan. 7, 1831, and is the son of Isaac Diveley and a
native of Pennsylvania. His grandfather, Freder-
ick Diveley, after his marriage and the birth of
several children removed to Darke County. Ohio,
where he spent the remainder of his life. There
Isaac Diveley grew to manhood and took up his
abode afterward in Scioto. County, where he met
and married Miss Alvira Graves.

The mother of our subject was born in Che-
nango County, N. Y., and was the daughter of

Consider Graves (see sketch of Hubbard Graves.)
After their marriage the young people continued
in Scioto County until in the spring of 1837, then
started for Illinois. They made the journey to
Galena via the Ohio, Mississippi and Fever rivers,
and thence overland to the banks of the Peca-
tonica. The party consisted of the parents, three
children, and the mother of Mr. Diveley. He
rented a house in what was then Ransomburg,
which they occupied from May until December.
In the meantime Mr. Diveley purchased a claim
which is now included in his present homestead,
but upon which there was then no building. He
first erected a log cabin, and commilted the ex-
travagance Qf laying a floor of sawed lumber pro-
cured at McConnell's mills, which was said to have
been the first dwelling in that section supplied with
such a luxury.

When the land came into market Mr. Diveley
entered 125 acres from the Government, receiving
his title from the office at Dixon. He lived and
labored here the remainder of his life, and folded
his hands for his final rest on the 28th of January,
1866. The mother of our subject died nine years
later at the homestead, June 2, 1875. The family
of Isaac Diveley included seven children, of whom
but four are now living: William, of our sketch,
was the eldest; Margaret, Mrs. Welty, lives on a
.farm in Waddams Township; Emily F., Mrs. Blair,
is a resident, of Almeda; Mrs. Rockey resides at
Nora, Jo Daviess County.

The subject of our sketch is the only son of his
father's family who is now living. He was six
years of age when he came to this county with his
parents,, where he attended the first school taught
within its limits. This school was conducted by
Miss Jane Goodhue, in a log cabin at Ransomburg.
Young Diveley, as soon as old enough, was in-
structed in the various duties of the farm where he
made himself useful, and in due time gained a good
insight into the best methods of agriculture. He
distinctly remembers the time when the farm
products were transported overland to Galena
forty miles away, and especially one trip made
in 1851, when he took out oats and barley and re-
turned with the sawed lumber which was used for
the construction of a new frame dwelling which

257 T\

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

supplanted the log cabin. This was built mostly
of native lumber. Mr. Dfveley still occupies the
dwelling which has now been standing over thirty-
five years, and with proper care it is good for
another decade.

The lady who lias been the companion and help-
meet of William Diveley for nearly thirty years
was formerly Miss Mary Hulburt, a native of this
county, and who became his wife Oct. 29, 1857.
The parents of Mrs. Diveley, Lyman and Jane Hul-
burt, are noticed in the sketch of John Hulburt
found elsewhere in this volume. Of her union with
Mr. Diveley there were born twelve children,
namely : Lewis, a resident of Buffalo County, Neb. ;
Delia Harriet, the wife of Adam Wales, of Rapaho,
Col.; Louisa, Howard H., Mittie, Lucy, Laura,
Julia, Bradley, Mabel, Isaac and Althea. The
parents and all the children are members in good
standing of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr.
Diveley when first becoming a voter identified him-
self with the old Whig party, but upon its aban-
donment cordially indorsed Republican principles.
He cast his first Presidential vote for Gen. Winfield
Scott, and while a resident of Waddanis Township
he has served as Highway Commissioner and School
Director for a number of years. He has in all re-
spects fulfilled his obligations as an honest man and
a good citizen, and is valued accordingly by his
friends and neighbors.

LBERT ASKEY, lumber merchant of Ri-
dott, is one of the most important factors
in the business interests of this thriving
little village, where he established himself
in 1883, and carries a large and well-selected stock
of building materials. His praiseworthy methods
of doing business have secured him a profitable
patronage, which is constantly increasing. He is
the successor to the well-known firm of H. Poffen-
burger, with whom he was formerly associated as
clerk and manager.

The parents of our subject, Ellis and Eliza (Fox)
Askey, were natives of Center County, Pa., of Ger-
man and Irish ancestry. The paternal grandfather

of our subject was a soldier in the Revolutionary
War, whose given name was Thomas, and he
changed the patronymic from Erskine to Askey.
One of his kinsmen also distinguished himself for
his braveiy, and fought under Commodore Perry.
The Commodore had made it a rule to reject the
services of married men, but this gentleman de-
termined to have a hand in the naval engagement
in prospect, and accordingly, although prevented
from boarding the ship that was carrying the sol-
diery to the scene of the conflict, after the boats
had cast anchor aiid had placed a mile between
themselves and the shore, he plunged into the
water and swam to the ship, trusting that he would
be allowed to participate in the battle. His bravery
was rewarded by the commander consenting to
take him on board, and thus he had the honor of en-
gaging in the battle which was afterward distin-
guished as one of Perry's greatest victories. After
peace had been declared Thomas Askey located on a
farm in Pennsylvania, where he continued until his
death, at an advanced age. In the meantime he
had married and reared a family of sons and
daughters.

The father of our subject, Ellis Askey, remained
a resident of his native State until 1848. then
started with his family for Illinois, locating in Ri-
dott Township, this county, upon a tract of unim-
proved land. Ellis Askey, in common -with his
brother pioneers, labored faithfully and industri-
ously, and succeeded in building up a comfortable
home. He wisely retired from active labor in 1 881,
and removed to the village where he is now living
comfortably with his faithful wife, himself being
seventy-one years of age and the mother sixty-
three. They are members of the Presb3 r terian
Church, and politically, Ellis Askey is a pro-
nounced Republican.

The subject of this sketch remained under the
parental roof until he reached his majority. He
had made the most of his opportunities at school
and qualified himself for a teacher, which he fol-
lowed, however, but a short time, the profession
not being exactly in accordance with his tastes and
capacities. One of the most important steps of his
eaMy manhood was his marriage, April 22, 1881,
with Miss Susie Sibert, which was celebrated at the

258

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

home of the bride's parents in Ridott Township.
Mrs. Askey was born in Hardin County, Iowa, Nov.
10, 1864, and is the daughter of William Sibert,
formerly a resident of this township and now de-
ceased. The family is of German ancestry, and
the maiden name of the mother was Elizabeth
Kimel. The latter is still living on the homestead
in Ridott Township, being about fifty-five years of
age.

Our subject and his wife became the parents of
four children, one of whom, Celia, died when a
year and a half old. Those survivingare Garfield,
born Sept. 26, 1882; Hazel. Dec. 24, 1885, and a
babe unnamed. Mr. Askey, like his father before
him, is a straight Republican, and socially, is Mas-
ter Workman of Ridott Lodge No. 259, A. O. U. W.
He is also Advisor in Ivy Camp No. 81, M. W. A.

ANIEL BONG YE, of the firm of Bongye
& Schwartz, dealers in paints, glass, wall
paper, etc., No. 109 Galena street. Free-
port, was born near Little York, Par, on
the 6th of November, 1842. His parents were
Daniel and Elizabeth (Miles) Bongye, who moved
to Freeport in the spring of 1866, and settled on
a farm, where they resided for some time, and then
moved to Lena, where they passed the balance of
their days. The father died in May, 1884, and the
mother in the fall of 1885. They were the parents
of seven children, three boys and four girls, of
whom Daniel was the fourth child in the order of
birth. He passed his youth in the town of Little
York, where he attended school, and where, when
a young man, he served an apprenticeship to the
painter's trade for three years, making house paint-
ing a specialty. When the war brok.e out he en-
tered the army in defense of his country, becoming
a member of Co. A, 87th Pa. Vol. Inf., and served
three years in that regiment. He was then trans-
ferred to the navy, and assigned to duty on the
United States sloop of war "Richmond," and
served on this vessel one year, taking part in the
engagements in Mobile Bay under Admiral Farra-
gut. In his three years' service in the 87th Penn-

sylvania Infantry, he participated in the following
battles: Winchester, Manassas Gap and Mine
Run under Gen. Meade, and escaped being taken
prisoner by being wounded. He was mustered out
of the service in March, 1865, at the Brooklyn
Naval Yard.

Mr. Bongye then went to Columbus, Ohio, re-
maining there, working at his trade, for two years.
In 1867 he came to Freeport, where he located and
has since resided. Soon after his arrival he began
working at^his trade for Daniel Adamson, contin-
uing with him for seven years. lie then started in
business for himself, opening a small shop and do-
ing a general business in the way of house paint-
ing, both exterior and interior, continuing until
1882, when he formed a partnership with his present
partner, Mr. Schwartz. This firm is well known in
the towns and country of this part of Illinois. They
carry in stock everything pertaining to their line,
which includes lead, oils, paints, paper, etc. Their
business is extending throughout Stephensou and
adjoining counties, and the best commendation of
their work is the work itself.

Mr. Bongye has been twic.e married, first to Miss
Mary E. Sprague. She died soon after marriage.
He married his present wife in 1877, she being Miss
Mary Cox, of Rockford, and a native of England,
Mr. Bongye is a member of Evergreen Lodge, A.
F. & A. M., and of the Improved Order of Red
Men. He is an enthusiastic Democrat, and a strong
supporter of the Cleveland administration. The
Bongye family is of French ancestry.

the

L. ROBINSON, one of the enterprising
young business men of Freeport, is engaged
in the manufacture of spring- wagons. He
was born in the city of Pittsburgh, Pa., on
9th of August, 1848, and with his parents,
Israel and Cornelia Robinson, moved to Tazewell
County, 111. Here he received his primary educa-
tion, afterward completing his -studies at the State
Normal University, at Normal, 111. His father
died in the year 1859 ; his mother and four children
are living. Mr. Robinson learned the carriage-
making trade while a young man, but began his

RESIDENCE OF JOHN P. M ITCH ELL , S EC , 2 5 , RIDOTT TP.

RESIDENCE OF E.R. MULNIX .SEC.15 , HARLEM TP .

RESIDENCE OF JOSEPH WAG N ER , 5 EC.35,(27=N.), RIDOTT T.P.

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

261

business life in the occupation of a farmer. During
the time he lived on a farm he was engaged in the
sale of farm implements at Delavan, 111. In 1876
he came to Freeport, and started in his present
business. He had been a resident of Stephenson
County for three years previously and was engaged
in business at Ridott.

Mr. Robinson, of our sketch, commenced in
Freeport, in 1876, at Nos. 118 and 120 Exchange
street. From a small beginning his business has as-
sumed large proportions; the annual product is now
between six and seven hundred wagons. His trade
extends into the States of Wisconsin, Minnesota
and Iowa, and his establishment is represented by
two energetic and pushing salesmen on the road,
who have no difficulty in disposing of his goods,
because their sterling qualities recommend them to
whoever may examine them. The present man-
ufacturing establishment is very commodious, the
dimensions being 50x120 feet, two stories high,
besides the basement. It is substantially con-
structed of brick and is made as nearly fire-proof
as possible. This establishment is looked upon as
one of the most promising now located in Freeport,
and its proprietor enjoys the good-will of all the
citizens of the place. Like most successful men in
the West Mr. Robinson's beginning was on a very
small scale.

In 1875 Mr. Robinson was married to Miss Sarah
A. Briggs, formerly of Alton, 111., and the union
is a very fortunate one, and their domestic life very
happy.

5-"5:S- *^H><- 3%r~&

J"~| AMES M. BYBOLT, of the firm of Hinds &
Rybolt, who represent the grocery trade at
I Lena, is a gentleman in the prime of life
1 and a partner in a good business among the
friends whom he has known from boyhood. He is
a native of this county and was born in Oneco
Township, Nov. 13, 1847. His father, Henry Ry-
bolt, was born in Brown County, Ohio, in 1818,
and having been deprived of a father's care when
an infant, was reared by strangers. He lived on a
farm in his native county until a youth of sixteen
years and then began an apprenticeship at the car-
penter's trade, serving out his time and following
this occupation in Ohio until 1843. Then belie v-

ing that he could better his condition in Northern
Illinois he started overland in company with a
friend, Lewis Gibler, and took up his residence in
Oneco Township, this county. Here he followed his
trade, and being skillful with his rifle often realized
both pleasure and profit from excursions into the
woods and fields in search of wild game. He pos-
sessed many excellent traits of character, and
gathered about him a large circle of friends and
acquaintances, among whom he lived worthily un-
til called hence, on the 27th of January, 187o. In
the meantime he had married and reared a family,
and established himself on a good homestead where
he spent his last years.

The mother of our subject who, in her girlhood,
was Miss Elizabeth McMear, was a native of Ken-
tucky and of Scotch-Irish ancestry. Her parents
emigrated to this country and were settlers of Du-
buque, Iowa. The parental household included
nine children, of whom our subject was the third
in order of birth. His early studies were conducted
in the district schools, and at an early age he
learned to make himself useful on his father's
farm. After being graduated from the common
school he spent a year each at Dubuque and Jeffer-
son, Wis., in the pursuit of more knowledge, and
when twenty-two years old had developed into a
competent teacher. He followed this profession
continuously until the spring of 1887, being
mostly ernployed in the schools of this county.
He closed his last term in March of the year men-
tioned, and established himself in his present
business. His upright methods and courteous
treatment of llis patrons are building up for the
house a good patronage which bids fair to steadily
extend.

James M. Rybolt was united in marriage with
Miss Idella May Hinds, May 11, 1879, the wedding
taking place at the home of the bride in Green
County, Wis. Mrs. R. was born in Oiieco Town-
ship, and is the daughter of Andrew Hinds, of
whom a sketch is given elsewhere in this work.
Of this union there are two children, a daughter
and son Minnie and Homer. Mr. Rybolt is Demo-
cratic politically, and while a resident of Winslow
represented the township on the County Board of
Supervisors. He was also connected with Winslow

i 262

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

Lodge No. 564, A. F. & A. M. ' Both he and his
estimable lady are valued members of the Christian
Church.

ACOB KNAPP, the subject of this sketch,
is of German parentage, and was born in
the Fatherland. From friends who preceded
him he learned of the free institutions of
this country and the chances there were for every-
one who desired to attain prosperity. In the year
1854 he concluded to emigrate to America, and in
the spring of that year landed at New York. After
remaining in New York a short time he proceeded
to Allegheny, Pa., where he secured employment
for nearly three years, when he concluded to join in
the tide of western emigration, and with it drifted
to Jo Daviess County, where he lived until the
spring of 1864. In that year, with his wife and one
child, he changed his location and settled in Loran
Township, Stephenson County, where he has since
resided and surrounded himself with many com-
forts.

In July, 1859, Mr. Knapp was united in mar-
riage to Mary Shantz. Mrs. Knapp was born in
Germany on the 2d of March, 1842. When her
parents emigrated to the United States she was but
five years of age, and her impressions of the old
country are therefore very meager. Her parents
are dead. During their wedded life there have
gathered around their hearthstone eleven children,
eight of whom are living; three are lying in the
churchyard. Those who yet live to comfort their
parents and make their pathway down the hill of
life pleasant, are Louisa, Charles, Anna, John,
Mary, Clara, Maggie and Bennie. George, who
was a particularly bright boy, died when he was a
little over four years of age; two others died in in-
fancy.

In religious belief Mr. and Mrs. Knapp are
Methodists and have long been members of that
church. Having arrived in this country in the
period immediately preceding the war, Mr. Knapp
became thoroughly imbued with the spirit of free-
dom prevailing in the North at that time. On ac-
count of the impressions thus early received he has

ever since cast his destinies with, and his votes for
the Republican party. He has never sought or
held office, but has been content to exercise the
privileges of an elector through purely patriotic
motives.

OAPT. JOHN R. HARDING, of the firm of
, Wright & Harding, dealers in books, station-
ery, pictures, etc., No. 115 Stephenson street,
Freeport, 111., is a native of England, and was born
in Banbnry, Oxfordshire, on the 18th of July, 1835.
His parents were Charles and Elizabeth Harding.
He attended the common schools of his native
land until he was thirteen years of age, when he be-
gan learning the trade of a tailor with his father, at
which occupation he worked until 1857, when in
February of that year he sailed for America, and
arrived in the city of New Orleans during April.
From New Orleans he journeyed north to St.
Louis, and thence to Dubuque, Iowa, and from
there to Freeport, 111., where he secured employ-
ment and went to work at his trade for the firm of
Stine Bros. He worked for them one summer and
then went to Kansas City, where he engaged in
business.

At about this time the trouble in Kansas and
Missouri over the question of whether there should
be slavery in the Territory of Kansas was at its
height. Capt. Harding being a Free-State man,
his residence in Missouri was anything but pleas-
ant, for in that State at that time the pro-slavery
sentiment was almost universal.

In the fall of 1860, he left Kansas City and re-
turned to Freeport. In the spring of 1861, he en-
listed in Co. A., llth 111. Vol. Inf., and im-
mediately with that command started South by the
way of Cairo, and was in the campaigns of Ten-
nessee and Mississippi, which included the battles of
Ft. Donelson, Shiloh, siege of Corinth, and the
campaigns in front and rear of Vicksburg. and the
memorable forty-seven days' siege which followed.
After these engagements he was detailed by Gen.
McPherson to assist in the organization of a col-
ored regiment, but through a blunder was discharged
from the service. He remained out of the service

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

263

for a time, when he was commissioned First Lieu-
tenant, and four months later was promoted to a
Captaincy in the 48th United States Colored Troops,
in which rank he actively served untilJan. 4, 18'66.
During this term of nearly five years of service he
received but one slight wound.

Capt. Harding was mustered out at Baton Rouge,
La., in January, 1866. He then went toFreeport and
served twelve months as clerk in the post-office
under Postmaster Smith D. Atkins; then opened a
merchant tailoring establishment in the building
where the German Bank now stands. Here he con-
tinued business eighteen months, and then entered
into partnership with Benjamin Noble, of Lanark.
While there he accepted a situation as Postal Clerk
on the Illinois Central Railroad, which position he
held for eighteen years, beginning in 1868 and re-
tiring in 1886. He was relieved from his position
for "offensive partisanship." Returning to Free-
port at the close of his service in the Postal De-
partment he received the Republican nomination
for County Clerk, and although he made a gallant
race was defeated by a small majority ; immediately
after the failure of this political adventure he pur-
chased the interest of I. F. Kleckner, of the firm of
Wright & Kleckner in 1887, and is now a partner
in the firm of Wright & Harding.

Capt. Harding was married in 1864 to Elizabeth
A. Wurtz. who died in May, 1879, leaving three
children, two daughters and a son Carrie, John
R., Jr., (deceased) and Nellie. Carrie is a gradu-
ate of the Freeport High School. Capt. Harding
is a member of the Masonic fraternity and G. A. R.

I. BYINGTON, one of the enter-
prising young fanners of Loran Township,
owns and occupies the homestead of his
late lamented father, which the latter.built up from
the uncultivated soil during the early settlement
of Stephenson County. This comprises 200 acres
of finely improved land on section 36, and is one
of the points of attraction in the southwestern part
of the county. Its substantial buildings and the
evident care which has been exercised over the en-

tire premises for a period of probably over thirty
years, have made it the observed of all through
that part of the country, where it stands out prom-
inently as one of the homesteads whose founda-
tions were laid by economy and industry, and
which has been perpetuated by the exercise of the
same admirable qualities.

The parents of our subject, Ira S. and Harriett
(Barnes) Byington, were natives of Oneida County,
N. Y., where they passed their childhood and youth
and where they united their fortunes for life.
Soon after their marriage they sought what was
then the far West, and pitched their tent first in
Ridott Township, this county, of which they were
residents for a period of eleven years. Thence they
removed to Loran Township, having sold out their
property in Ridott, and in the former place spent
the remainder of their days. The mother died
Oct. 1, 1884, and Ira Byington looked his last upon
the scenes of earth nearly three years later, on the
9th of May, 1887. The family consisted of seven
children, two sons and five daughters, of whom
our subject was the youngest.

Clark I. Byington was born in Ridott Township
on the homestead which he now occupies, Dec. 12,
1858. He spent his early years after the manner
of most farmers' sons, his education being chiefly
carried on in the winter season. He was a bright
and ambitious boy and anxious to obtain a better
education than that afforded by the district schools.
His studies accordingly were completed in the
graded school at Shannon, in Carroll County, where
he attended two years and obtained a good
knowledge of 'the classics. His subsequent reading
of practical matter yielded him a good fund of in-
formation, so that he now ranks among the intelli-
gent and thinking men of his locality. After com-
pleting his studies our subject returned to the home
farm, and at once began to assist his father in its
labors and management. Upon the death of the
latter, the son became possessor of the property,
and has made it his aim and object to keep up its
reputation and its value. He had been married in
Cherry Grove Township, Carroll County, Oct. 27,
1881, to Miss Mary, daughter of James and Eliza-
beth Willfong. Mrs. B. was born in Carroll
County March 8, 1862, and remained under the

264

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

parental roof until her marriage, receiving a fair
education in the district schools of her native
township. Her parents are natives of India, and
now reside in Iowa.

Mr. and Mrs. Byington have two daughters,
Harriett M. and Mary E., now interesting little
girls of five and two years respectively. Our sub-
ject, politically, is identified with the Democratic
party, hut gives little attention to politics, his time
and thoughts being mostly absorbed by the many
duties which devolve upon him as the proprietor
and superintendent of a large farm and valuable
estate.

>ILLIAM ASCHER, a long-established con-
tractor and builder, of Freeport, was born
in that city on the 14th of March, 1851.
His father was Frederick Ascher, and the mother
was Minnie (Flechtemeyer) Ascher. They emi-
grated to America in 1848, and the same year of
their arrival in this country they came to Freeport,
where they settled. After remaining there for
some years they moved into Jefferson Township,
but subsequently returned to Freeport, where they
are now residing.

William Ascher was educated in the schools of
Freeport, and after leaving school he learned the
trade of stonemason, and formed a partnership
with a practical mechanic, with whom he conducted
business for some years, when he concluded to be-
come a contractor and builder on his own account
and the work he has done on county jails, school-
houses, business houses and fine residences attests
his skill in his business.

In 1872 Mr. Ascher was married to Miss Minerva
Boardman, of Freeport, and they have had three
children, two of whom are living. He has been

quite frequently chosen to office. He was Street
Commissioner from 1875 to 1876: was Commis-
sioner of Highways for three years; was Alderman
for the Second Ward for two years, and was Super-
visor for two years. He was nominated on the
Democratic ticket for Sheriff of Stephenson County,
and was defeated by only thirty-seven votes. He
is a member of Freeport Lodge of Odd Fellows,
of the Knights of Pythias, Independent Order of

Red Men, the German Society and the German
Benevolent Society. While inclined toward the
Democratic party Mr. Ascher is rather independent
in his political views and practices, and his race
for Sheriff shows that he has never been an offen-
sive partisan: He is a man of few words, and his
life has been made up of acts rather than declara-
tions. He is of a kind and sympathetic nature,
and performs many acts of benevolence of which
the public never learn, and in winter many are the
drafts upon his own means for the relief of the
poor and needy. In the line of stone and brick
work he is the principal contractor and builder in
Freeport, and the foundations and walls of many
of the principal buildings and blocks of the city
were built by him. His work is honest and sub-
stantial and invariably stands the test of time.

OBERT SISSON, deceased, late of Waddams
Township, was born in Cambridgeshire,
England, Nov. 8, 1811. He was the son of
William and Mary (Winn) Sisson. His
father held the position of steward of a large farm,
where he spent his entire life. As soon as Robert
was large enough, he was put to work to assist in
maintaining the family. For his first services he
received the insignificant sum of threepence a day;
however, his wages were increased from time to
time until he was enabled to earn 10 a year.

In 1843 Robert came to America. At the time
he landed in New York he was yet indebted for
his passage over the briny deep. First going to
Schenectady, N. Y., where he worked a few months,
he earned sufficient money to pay the passage for
himself and wife to Stephenson County, 111. Here
he was so fortunate as to find immediate employ-
ment on a farm. After working for some time
he began farming for himself, settling on the
farm on which he resided at his death. When
he first located there, but a few acres of land were
broken, but he set to work with a will and soon
had placed quite a large farm under cultivation,
erecting suitable farm buildings, including a com-
modious stone house. After a life of usefulness,

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

he died May 10, 1884. The maiden name of his
wife was Mary A. Foreman ; she was also a native
of Cambridgeshire, England.

Robert Sisson's brother, William, also arrived
from England and located in Stephenson County
in 1840, since which time he has been a prominent
citizen of Waddams Township, and has done much
toward placing that township among the foremost
fanning communities in the United States.

The children of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Sisson
were eleven in number, and in the order of their
ages are as follows: William W., living in Wad-
dams Township; Robert living in Nemaha County,
Neb. ; Mary A., the wife of Alfred A. Foreman,
living in Friend, Saline Co., Neb. ; Christopher,
also living in Saline County, Neb.; Peter, residing
in Waddams Township; Rebecca, who lives on the
old homestead ; Ruth, who married Albert Van
Epp, lives in Waddams Township; Susan, the wife
of James Ferguson, lives in Merrick County, Neb. ;
Moses, who also lives in Nebraska; Joshua, living
in Waddams Township, and Jane, who still remains
on the old homestead.

OHN BARDEL, located on section 3, in
Silver Creek Township, is the owner of 211
acres at this point and a quarter section of
land in Rock Run Township, besides forty
acres of timber in Lancaster. His entire posses-
sions of 629 acres, with the exception of a timber
tract, is under a good state of cultivation, well
watered and finely located, and he has distinguished
himself as an intelligent and skillful agriculturist,
forming an important factor among the agricult-
ural interests of Northern Illinois.

Mr. Bardel came to Silver Creek Township in
1839, and first purchased 131 acres. He has been
successful in tilling the soil and fortunate in his
investments, and presents an example of thrift and
enterprise pleasing to contemplate. He belongs to
that class of German citizens who have contributed
so materially to the development of Northern Illi-

nois, having been born across the Atlantic, in
Alsace, Aug. 19, 1816. His father, Jacob Bardel,
also a farmer by occupation, spent his entire
life in the same Province, which was then under the
French Government. He was of German descent
and lived to be about fifty-five years of age, his
death taking place in 1841. He married in early
life Miss Mary Bastian, who died when her son
John, of our sketch, was three months old.

The father wasflsubsequently married and John
remained a member of the household until thirteen
years of age, when he started out in the world for
himself. Not being satisfied with his condition or
his prospects in the Fatherland, he set sail for
America on -the English ship '-Lorain," and after a
tedious voyage of forty-three days landed at Wa-
terloo, in the Province of Ontario, Canada. He re-
mained in the Dominion five years, employed as a
common laborer. He then came to the States,
soon afterward settling in Illinois, having arrived
in this county with a cash capital of $3 in his
pocket.

The lack of money, however, did not particularly
trouble him, as ne had a pair of strong hands, a
willing heart and a heritage of honesty and integ-
rity. He lived economically and saved his earnings,
in the meantime employing himself at farm work,
and in due time purchased a small tract of land in
Silver Creek Township and put up a house of pro-
portionate size. The only thing now needed to
complete his happiness was some one to preside at
the hearthstone, and accordingly on the 4th of
July, 1850. he was married to Miss Philipena Gross.
This lady was born in the Rhine Province, Ger-
many, where she remained until twenty-four years
of age, and then came alone to the United States.
Her parents spent their entire lives in their native
Germany. Her father, Christian Gross, was a miller
by occupation. Her mother, whose maiden name
was Philipena Long, lived to an advanced age. Mr.
and Mrs. Bardel became the parents of three chil-
dren, two now living, namely, Philip, who remains
at home with his parents, and Margaret, the wife
of William H. Kachelhoffer. John died when a
promising young man twenty-two years of age.
Mr. and Mrs. Bardel are members in good standing
of the German Lutheran Church, and our subject,

266

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

a stanch Democrat, politically, has served his town-
ship as Road Commissioner and has been connected
with many of the enterprises tending to the general
welfare of the county.

. ANIEL ADAMSON, house, sign, and or-
namental and decorative painter, and
dealer in paints, oils and wall paper, No.
73 Stephenson street, stands at the head of
that line of business in Freeport. He was born
in Westport, Ireland, on the 23d of August, 1834,
and reared in Manchester, England, in which coun-
try he was educated and grew to manhood. His
parents were John and Margaret (Cousins) Adam-
son, who emigrated to America in 1856. In 1858
the father died, leaving a widow and six children.
After the death of her husband, Mrs. Adamson and
her family came West and settled in Stephenson
County, in 1863. After remaining in this country
several years she then moved to Waterloo, Iowa.
At the time this sketch is written she is in the sev-
enty-seventh year of her age, and owns a farm in
Plymouth County, Iowa, and runs it herself.

Daniel Adamson was married in 1856 to Miss
Elizabeth Preston, of Manchester, England, and
they have had six children, four sons and two
daughters: John E., Mary E. ; Lydia C., now the
wife of L. Hughes; Daniel P., George T. and
Charles F. Mr. Adamson has served his fellow-cit-
izens of the First Ward as a member of the Board
of Aldermen. He is a Mason of high standing,
having reached the altitude of the thirty-second
degree in that fraternity. He is also a member of
Winneshiek Lodge, I. O. O. F.

Mr. Adamson was educated in his present busi-
ness in England, principally under the auspices of
the Government. He attended the School of De-
sign for seven and one-half years, from which he
graduated, and was awarded diplomas and medals
for his proficiency in his profession. During this
time he completely mastered the technique of the
profession. He afterward engaged in teaching for
several years. In 1857 he came to Toronto and
was engaged in portrait painting there; then he

went to New York, where he engaged in art and
decorative painting. He came to Freeport in 1862,
and established his present, business in a small way,
in a room only sixteen feet square, and from that
small beginning he has built up his present exten-
sive business, which extends from Chicago to
Western Iowa. There are very few persons in the
western country so thoroughly educated in their
profession, and, we might say, wedded to it, as Mr.
Adamson. In frescoing, art and decorative paint-
ing he excells, and the fine character of work done
by him through Illinois and Iowa testifies to his
taste and ability. He carries a large stock of all
kinds of goods, and of the best quality in his line,
and conducts the leading business in paints, oil,
glass and wall paper in this section of Illinois. He
is a business man and citizen of whom Freeport is
justly proud.

UDOLPH HEFTI, Secretary of the Barnes
? Manufacturing Company, of Freeport, has

LO M. ' / :f

held his present position since the organ-
ization of the company in 1881. He is a
native of Switzerland and was born March 26,
1851. His early education was conducted in the
schools of his native country, where he remained
during his youth and early manhood. When
starting out for himself he first served an appren-
ticeship of four years in a wholesale house, in the
department of embroideries and all kinds of white
goods, and thereafter repaired to the city of Paris,
France, where he was employed as clerk in a large
establishment and where be remained until 1875.

In the spring of that year young Hefti embarked
on a steamer bound from Liverpool to the city of
New York. After landing at the metropolis, he
at once proceeded westward to his relatives in
Monroe, Wis. From there, in 1876, he came to
Freeport, and soon afterward entered the employ
of W. G. Barnes <fe Co. as book-keeper. He re-
mained with the firm until the business was
merged into a stock company, and upon its incor-
poration, in 1881, was elected its Secretary, which
position he has since held with credit. He is also
a stockholder in the company, and is held in high

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

267

esteem as a business man and member of society.
In a quiet and unobtrusive manner, he is perform-
ing the obligations of a conscientious and re-
sponsible citizen.

Mr. Hefti, before coming to this country, was
united in marriage with Miss Louisa Stahel, the
wedding taking place in the spring of 1874, at the
home of the bride in Switzerland. They have no
children. Their present comfortable home is
located on Clay street, and they enjoy the friend-
ship of the best people of Freeport. Mr. H., so-
cially, is connected with Freeport Lodge No. 239,
I. O. O. F., and in all the relations of life has dis-
tinguished himself by his genial manner both with
friends and strangers, which has insured to him in
a high degree their friendship and respect.

ANIEL BEAVER, a resident of Stephen-
Vi son County for over forty years, where he
has been engaged in carpentering, was born
in what is now Snyder County, Pa., Nov.
23, 1817. His first trip to this State had been prac-
tically an experiment to determine whether he
would select it as his future residence. The face
of the country and the class of people which were
settling it up, suited him in all respects, and he re-
turned to Pennsylvania for his family.

The first representatives of the Beaver family in
this country settled in Pennsylvania prior to the
Revolutionary War, and almost without exception
followed agriculture. Our subject did not return
West as soon as he expected, but remained on his
father's farm, assisting in its management and the
cultivation of the soil until 1864. On the 31st of
May, that year, occurred one of the most important
events of his life, namely, his marriage with Miss
Elizabeth Young, and shortly afterward he set out
with his bride, and once more sought the great
West. They began housekeeping in a small dwell-
ing in Buckeye Township, and Mr. Beaver com-
menced working at his trade, which he has followed
almost uninterruptedly since thattime. Toagreat
extent he labors still with his old-tirne energy, and
is never contented unless employed. His children,

five in number, are Clara A., Mrs. Bolander of Or-
angeville ; William F., engaged in irrigating land in
Colorado; Charles E., in a book-bindery at Law-
rence, Kan. ; Adela M. and Rosa A., the latter at
home with their parents. Mr. Beaver is Repub-
lican in politics, and a Lutheran in religion. His
estimable wife belongs to the Reformed Church.

H. BROWN, Postal Clerk on the Chi-
cago, Forreston & Dubuque Railroad, United
States Mail Service, owns a good property
on section 14, Lancaster Township, includ-
ing 220 acres, and in connection with this has
charge of about 100 acres additional, of which he
has the supervision and keeps well stocked with
good grades of domestic animals, including horses,
cattle and Poland-China hogs, and making a spec-
ialty of the latter. His land is under a good state
of cultivation and supplied with convenient farm
buildings, including a handsome and commodious
residence which is finely located and occupying a
rise of ground commanding a fine view of the sur-
rounding country for eighteen miles away.

Mr. Brown has been in possession of his present
farm since 1882. He also owns a section of land
in Lincoln County, Dak., a part of which is under
cultivation, and is becoming quite valuable. He
became connected with the mail. service in 1872,
his first route being on the Chicago & Northwest-
ern, where he was a trusted employe for a period
of seven years, and in 1879 was proffered his
present position.

Mr. Brown was born in Rock Run Township,
this county, June 5, 1843. His early studies were
conducted in the common school, and he subse-
quently took a course at the Bryant & Stratton
Business College in Chicago. The coming on of
the Civil War interfered considerably with his
first plans in life, as he considered it his duty to
assist in the preservation of the Union, and accord-
ingly enlisted in the 144th Illinois Infantry and
marched with his comrades to the scene of conflict.
Going down into Tennessee, they were first en-
gaged in the attempted capture of Gen. Price, who,
however, escaped that time. Our subject served

268

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

his term of enlistment, and although meeting the
enemy at different times and places, was neither
wounded nor taken prisoner, and his health was pre-
served to such an extent that he was always able
to report for duty. After retiring from the service
he engaged as a general merchant in Dakota Vil-
lage, and began to lay his plans for the establish-
ment of a permanent home. One of the first im-
portant steps was his marriage with Miss Sarah C.
Young, which took place at the home of the bride's
parents in Silver Creek Township, Dec. 31, 1867.
Mrs. Brown is the daughter of Capt. William and
Sarah Ann (Reitzell) Young, natives of Pennsyl-
vania, who came to Illinois in the pioneer days.
She was born iu Lancaster Township, Oct. 19, 1845,
and completed her education at Rockford Sem-
inary. Afterward she engaged in teaching. Of
her marriage with our subject there were born six
children, namely, Nellie C., William Y., Hattie J.,
Ada H., Mattie E. and Clark J.

Mr. and Mrs. Brown after their marriage located
in Rock Run, Dak., and then in this county, and
became connected with the Methodist Episcopal
Church, with which they still continue. They
enjoy the society and friendship of a large circle
of acquaintances, and are numbered among the
best residents of this county. Mr. Brown votes the
straight Republican ticket, is a man prompt to
meet his obligations, and fulfills in all respects the
duties of an influential and responsible member of
the community.

ILLIAM BROKHAUSEN, an extensive
land -owner and successful farmer of Silver
Creek Township, occupies a fine estate on
section 4, comprising 370 acres with valuable im-
provements, including a substantial farm residence,
a good barn, and all the other out-buildings required
by the progressive agriculturist. The main points
in his history are substantially as follows :

Anton Brokhausen, the father of our subject, was
a native of Germany, and when a young man
learned the trade of a weaver, which he followed in
his native country until starting for the United
States, in 1856. He had been married and had be-

come the father of a family, among whom was Will-
iam, of our sketch, who had preceded his father to
America, in 1848. The latter, after arriving here,
proceeded westward to Wisconsin, locating in She-
boygan County, and there spending the balance of
his life. His wife was formerly Miss Dora Prit-
house, who was also of German birth and parent-
age, and who died before the family emigrated to
this country.

William Brokhausen was the fifth of nine chil-
dren born to his parents, the family including three
sons and six daughters. He also learned the trade
of weaving from his father, and followed it while
in Germany. He made the voyage across the At-
lantic on a sailing-vessel, landing in New York af-
ter a tedious voyage of fifty-one days. He pro-
ceeded by canal to Buffalo, thence to Albany, and
from there journeyed on to Chicago, 111. - There he
spent but a few days, and then proceeding to a point
near the vicinity of Elgin, engaged to work on a
farm and was thus employed for three years follow-
ing. Upon his arrival in Chicago, he was penni-
less, and the first season worked for $6 per month.
As his usefulness increased, his wages were raised,
and in due time, with genuine German persistence
and economy, he began to save money. He finally
returned to Chicago and secured employment in a
distillery, of which he became foreman and man-
ager. While in that city, he met and married Miss
Helmina Korf, a native of his own country, and the
daughter of Henry Korf , a well-educated man, who
was a teacher by profession, and who died in Ger-
many in middle life. Mrs. B. came to this country
with her sisters.

After his marriage, Mr. Brokhausen repaired to
Genoa, De Kalb County, and engaged in distilling.
Subsequently the house by which he was employed
failed, and he was obliged to seek new quarters.
He returned to Chicago, remaining for a short time,
and then proceeded to Joliet, where he was engaged
in a distillery, and remained fifteen months. His
next move was to Northern Illinois, and this county,
where, in company with J. S. Miller, he became
connected, in October, 1857, with the Yellow Creek
Brewery. After sojourning there for a time, he
was employed at Mt. Carroll, and soon afterward
began to invest in laud. This venture proved so

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

269

successful that he followed it up, and in due time
became the owner of a large extent of territory.
In the meantime he continued his connection with
the distilling business, of which he gained a com-
plete knowledge, and finally commanded a salary
of $2.500 per annum, from the firm of Fry & Miller,
in whose establishment he occupied the position of
general manager. He continued to invest his
spare capital in real estate, and is now the owner of
nearly 800 acres in Stephenson County.

Mr. and Mrs. Brokhausen became the parents of
thirteen children, three now deceased, but five sons
and five daughters living. The parents are mem-
bers of the Evangelical Lutheran Church at Free-
port, and our subject, politically, is a Democrat
of the first water, and has held the office of Road
Commissioner.

|ICHARD R. HUGHES, City Treasurer of
Freeport, is a native of this county, and was
born in Lena, July 3, 1852. His parents,
^Richard and Jane (Murther) Hughes, came
to Northern Illinois during its early settlement, and
established themselves at Lena when it was but a
hamlet, and there spent the balance of their lives ;
the father engaged in railroading and farming. He
departed this life March 5, 1885, and the mother,
June 2, 1883.

The subject of this sketch, after being graduated
from the common schools of Lena, repaired to
Freeport and learned blacksmithing of Mr. Klapp,
under whose instructions he remained as an ap-
prentice for a period of three years, then continued
as a journeyman with the same gentleman ten
years longer, which fact speaks well for both em-
ployer and employe. Mr. Hughes next became
connected with the Henny Buggy Works at Free-
port, with which company he has continued since
that time, and is now inspector of the blacksmith
and wood departments. He proved himself capa-
ble and efficient, and in addition to his labors and
duties has found time to keep himself thoroughly
informed upon matters of general interest and is
numbered among the intelligent and valued citizens
of the town. He was elected City Treasurer in

May, 1887, and is discharging the duties of his
office with satisfaction to those most interested.

Mr. Hughes was married, Dec. 3, 1879, to Miss
Mary A. Ryan, of Freeport, and they have become
the parents of four children, namely, Margaret,
Jennie, James and Mary A. Mrs. Hughes was born
in Freeport, in 1852, and is the daughter of James
and Margaret Ryan. James Ryan died about four-
teen years ago.

Our subject, socially, belongs to the I. O. O. F.,
Stephenson Lodge No. 61, also the National Union
of Machinists. He is a skillful and practical work-
man, and takes pride in excelling in the various
branches of his chosen calling.

ARVEY LOOMIS, deceased, who became a
resident of Stephenson County in 1840,
conducted the first school taught at Wad-
dam's Grove, and afterward became famil-
iarly known among the people of this section as a
citizen worthy of their esteem and confidence. He
was a New Englander by birth and first opened his
eyes to the light in Litchfield, Conn., April 29,
1816. When but a child his parents emigrated to
Ohio, settling among the early pioneers of Geauga
County, where our subject grew to manhood, as-
sisting in the labors of the farm and making the
most of his oportuuities for securing an education.
After a year's residence in this county he returned
to Ohio and purchased a farm in Geauga County,
which he occupied until 1852. He then sold out
and, returning to this State, purchased land on
section 27, in West Point Township, which he oc-
cupied a number of years, then rented and re-
moved to a tract on section 35, the location of
which suited him much better. Here he erected a
set of frame buildings and brought about all the
comforts and conveniences of a home, where he re-
mained until his death, which occurred Nov. 18,
1880.

The subject of our sketch was married, July 6,
1873, to Miss Antoinette Kelley, a native of
Broome County, N. Y., and the daughter of
Ephraim and Mary A. (Hayes) Kelley. Mr. Kelley
came to this county in 1848, and located upon a

270

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

farm in West Point Township, where his death
took place in 1873. The mother had died in 1845,
in New York State. The four children of Mr. and
Mrs. Loomis were named respectively, Warren E.,
Susie R., Clarence H. and Henry Charles. They
are all at home with their mother. Mrs. Loomis is
the possessor in her own right of 272 acres of laud,
thirty acres of which lie in Kent Township. She
is a lady of more than ordinary business capacity,
and since the death of her husband is completing
the education of her children and training them
carefully for the duties and responsibilities of life.

JIILIP H. HOEBEL, of the firm of Hoebel
<fe Moogk, druggists, is a native of Ste-
phenson County, and born in the city of
Freeport on the 6th of December, 1853.
He is the son of John Hoebel, who was a native of
Germany, and was born in 1825 (see sketch of
John Hoebel.) Philip II. Hoebel lived and at-
tended school in the city of Freeport during his
boyhood ; later he entered the German American
Academy at Milwaukee, Wis., studied for eighteen
months, and then returned to Freeport, entering the
drug-store of F. Weise as apprentice, and served in
that capacity for four years. Mr. Hoebel then
went to Chicago, where he was employed as a. clerk
in the establishment of J. W. Ehrman, a noted phar-
macist, with whom he remained four years. From
Chicago he went to Eau Claire, Wis., where he
clerked in a drug-store for another four years, at
the expiration of which time he returned to Free-
port and began business on his own account. He
formed a partnership with Mr. H. J. Moogk, and
they embarked in the drug trade in January, 1880.
The firm has continued without interruption from
that time. Their place of business is Nos. 103 and
104 Chicago street, at the crossing of Galena street.
The firm carries a large and well-selected stock of
drugs and fancy goods. Both partners are prac-
tical druggists, and Mr. Hoebel is particularly com-
petent, having had long service in establishments
in other cities where competency and carefulness
were the two qualities which secured permanent
employment, and his extreme care and proficient

knowledge of the business obviate any of those
serious mistakes which sometimes occur in com-
pounding prescriptions.

Mr. Hoebel was married, in 1878, to Miss Bertha
Woltersdorf, of Eau Claire, Wis., who is a native of>
Germany. They have three children, named Ada,
Fritz and Otto. Mr. Hoebel is a member of the
Knights of Pythias. He takes very little part in
political matters, but conscientiously aims to cast
his ballot for men who will administer the affairs
of the city and county honestly and economically.

J"~j ACOB HUTMACHER is another gentleman
from Pennsylvania of Dutch extraction, who
has won his way to success amid many trials
' and discouragements. He lives on section
27, Harlem Township, and is a farmer by occupa-
tion. His parents were Adam and Mary (Brong)
Hutmacher, natives of Monroe County, Pa., where
they were married. In 1856 they came to Stephen-
son County, and settled in Erin Township, where
they lived one -year before removing to Harlem
Township. Here they died, the death of the father
occurring Aug. 24, 1880, and that of the mother
Aug. 8, 1882. They had a family of twelve chil-
dren, but only three sons lived to maturity. Their
names are Joseph, Jacob and Charles.

The subject of this sketch was born in Monroe
County, Pa., Aug. 15, 1836. The vocations of
farming and running a sawmill occupied his younger
years. He lived in his native county until the
spring of 1856, when he came to Stephenson
County, where he has since been a resident. Farm-
ing has mostly engaged his attention since then.
He is the owner of a farm of eighty-seven acres of
land. This he has improved, and erected good
buildings thereon.

Mr Hutmacher was married in Green County.
Wis., Feb. 19, 1860, to Miss Nancy Kohl, daughter
of George and Mary (Will) Kohl, both natives of
Pennsylvania. The wife's parents married and set-
tled in Lycoming County, Pa., and in 1850 came
to Stephensou County, settling in Harlem Town-
ship where they have since made their home.
About 1884 the wife's father retired from the active

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

271

duties of farming, and went to live with his chil-
dren. The mother died July 7, 1887. Mr. Kohl
is the father of eleven children, of whom Mrs. Hut-
macher was the fourth. She was born in Lycom-
ing County, Pa., March 6, 1842.

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Hutmacher have had eight
children, of whom four are living. These are Ma-
tilda, William, Frank and Hattie M. Matilda is
the wife of Franklin Haney, and resides in Wad-
dams Township. The deceased children all died in
infancy save two. Mr. Hutmacher has held sev-
eral offices in the township. Both he and his wife
are members of the Reformed Church. In politics
he is a Democrat.

OHN F. STRUNK, one of the substantial
residents of West Point Township, was born
at Spring Mills, Center Co., Pa., Aug. 29,
1832. He is the son of John and Nancy
(Henry) Strunk, and his family is of German ex-
traction. The father of our subject was brought
up to the miller's trade, and operated a mill in
Center County for a Mr. Duncan. It was in the
early days when there were no railroads, and Mr.
Duncan used to construct large boats, load them
with barrels of flour, and take them down Penn's
Creek to the Susquehanna River, thence to Phila-
delphia, where the flour was sold. After his chil-
dren'were grown, he decided to change his busi-
ness, and purchased a farm in Marion Township,
where he passed the remainder of his life engaged
in agricultural pursuits. His death occurred in
1884, in his seventy-sixth year. His wife, who
was born in Union County, Pa., died in 1860.
They had a family of fourteen children, of whom
John F. was the fourth in order of birth. While
a boy he attended the district school a part of the
time, and also assisted his father on the farm.
When our subject was twenty years of age, he ap-
plied himself to learning the carpenter's trade, and
continued in that business until 1855. He then
came to Stephenson County, where he worked at
his trade until 18G2, when he married and settled
on a tract of land in Ridott Township, which was
presented to him by his wife's father.

The land which Mr. Strunk's father had pur-
chased in Pennsylvania was secured from that
State by Catherine Colrnan, and the patent for it
is now in Mr. Struuk's possession. It bears the
signature of Benjamin Franklin, also the seal of
the State, and in the center is a figure in relief,
representing Liberty, with one foot on a lion
crouched at her feet, and on it is inscribed this
motto " Both cannot survive."

Mr. and Mrs. Strunk lived on the farm in Ridott
Township t sixteen years, and then removed to
Freeport. He had managed the grange store there
two years previous to the removal of his family
from Ridott Township. Afterward he withdrew
from the grange store, and went on the road as
traveling salesman for an agricultural warehouse
in Richmond, Ind. He traveled in Illinois three
years, and in the meantime purchased a tract of
improved land in Nebraska, also some town prop-
erty, which he traded for a farm of 200 acres in
West Point Township. He settled on this place
in 1882, and lived there until 1884, when he sold
out and bought his present place. It contains 143
acres of valuable, well-improved land. He has a
commodious brick residence, surrounded by a spa-
cious lawn, embellished with fruit and shade trees.

In July, 1861, John F. Strunk was united in
marriage with Miss Mary Catherine Lamb. She is
the daughter of Samuel Lamb, and was born in
Clinton County, Pa. Her father was a native of
Center County, that State, and came to Stephenson
County in 1845, where he settled on a farm in
Ridott Township, and still resides on the home-
stead. Mr. and Mrs. Strunk have five children
Edgar, William, Laura, Nancy and Pearl. Mr.
Struuk is a Republican in politics.

J~~)OHN REEDER, one of the wide-awake busi-
I ness men of Lena, in 1873 purchased a
I large elevator near the line of tin; I. C.
' R. R., which he has operated since that
time in connection with an extensive warehouse.
He is one of the representative German citizens
who have become a power in Northern Illinois, and
have perhaps, to a greater extent than any other

272

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

nationality, assisted in developing the resources of
the Prairie State. The early home of John Reeder
was in the city of Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany,
where he was introduced to the responsibilities of
life Aug. 15, 1837. His father, Louis Reeder, a
resident at present of Cologne, was a native of the
same city as his son, where for many years he was
successfully engaged in merchandising, and from
which he removed at the time of the Franco-Prus-
sian War. He was very successful as a business
man, and now at seventy-five years of age is enjoy-
ing the sunset of life upon a competency. In 1883
he came to this country, visited a year among his
children, then returned to the Fatherland, where he
expects to spend the remainder of his days. Mr.
Reeder is essentially a self-made man, who under
the training of his excellent parents imbibed those
correct principles which have enabled him to suc-
ceed in life. He received a good scuoolingin his
native country and afterward learned the trade of
a bricklayer, at which he worked a short time before
coming to America. He was a youth of seventeen
when he left his native land and landed in New
York City in February, 1855. He visited with
friends in York County, Pa., a few months, and
then came with them to Freeport where he followed
his trade, taking up his abode at Lena in the spring
of 1856. Five months later he was married, and
returning to Freeport followed his trade two years
there successfully, and with his surplus cash pur-
chased a piece of land two miles west of Lena, upon
which he settled. He continued to work at his
trade and improve his purchase as he had time and
opportunity.

After the breaking out of the Civil War Mr.
Reeder became a member of the State Militia and
afterward enlisted in Co. G, loth 111. Vol. Inf.,
serving until June, 1862, when he was discharged
on account of disability and returned to his farm.
This he sold a year later, being unable to work it,
and purchased two lots on North Railroad street in
Lena, where in 1865, he put up a good residence.
This he occupied with his family until 1873, in the
meantime being in the employ of Moses Weaver, a
grain-dealer, and gaining a good insight into that
branch of trade. Before the close of the year
mentioned he embarked in business on his own ac-

count, and has dealt successfully in grain since that
time, extending his transactions each year.

Mr. Reeder was married, Feb. 22, 1856, to Miss
Elizabeth, daughter of Henry and Christina Lapp,
who were natives of Germany and came to this
country in 1835, locating in Summit County, near
Cuyahoga Falls. There Mrs. Reeder was born in
1839. The children of this marriage were named
respectively, Christie, Helen, Alfred L., Frank,
John, Arthur, Bert, Irvin, Daisy and Sherman.
The latter died when one year old. The family
residence is pleasantly located on North Railroad
street, and its inmates are surrounded by all the
comforts and many of the luxuries of life.

Robert Reeder, the elder brother of our subject,
came in 1 850 to the United States, and afterward
served as a Union soldier in Co. G, 15th 111. Vol.
Inf., being promoted Second Sergeant. After six
months he was discharged on account of disability

and died thirty days later.
ried.

He was never mar-

eB. BORDNER, of Dakota Township, is a
prominent general merchant and Assistant
Postmaster at Afolkey in this township, and
lives on section 15. Mr. Bordner comes of an old
Pennsylvania family who had their settlement in
the Keystone State, the progenitor of which came
from Germany. Our subject is of the third genera-
tion of the family, who figure in the history of this
country. The great-grand and grandparents spent
their lives in Pennsylvania, where they both died.
It was in Cumberland County, that State, that
George Bordner, the father of our subject, was born.
He first saw the light of day in Center County, and
was there reared, educated, and married to Miss
Wilhelmina Kline, also a native of Pennsylvania,
of German descent. After the birth of their first
child, whom they christened David, the parents
went to New York State, making settlement in Sen-
eca County, and there the father began farming, at
the same time engaging in the occupation of a
cooper, which trade he had learned while young.
There were nine children born in Seneca Count}-,
and of these our subject was the eighth child and
fourth son of the family, which afterward came

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

273

West in the year 1851, and made settlement in Da-
kota Township, locating on a farm of ninety acres,
which the father had purchased before coming to
this State.

Of the eleven children included in the home cir-
cle, three are now deceased, and the parents have
both passed away, having been worthy and repre-
sentative people. The father's death occurred
Feb. 19, 1881, in Dakota Township. He was a
member in excellent standing of the Evangelical
Association. The mother died April 16, 1880, at
her home near Afolkey. She had continued a de-
vout adherent of the faith that she possessed a half
century before her death. Her marriage was cele-
brated in 1827, when she was living in Cumberland
County, Pa. She was a devoted mother, a loving
wife, and a neighbor whose place cannot soon be
filled. The father, George Bordner, politically,
was a Democrat.

Going back to the early life of Mr. Bordner, we
find him like other boys, under similar circum-
stances, seeking his education in the common
schools, until he came West with his father, but
later he attended the Northwestern College, of the
Evangelical Association, then of Plainfield, Will
County, and now of Naperville, Du Page Co., 111.
He lived at home and taught school in Dakota and
Buckeye Townships, this county, and was married
in Buckeye Township, Dec. 26, 1867, to Miss Sarah
J. Kuntz, daughter of Owen and Sarah (Leibengutt)
Kuntz, from Pennsylvania, and now residing on a
farm in Buckeye Township. Mrs. Bordner was
born in 'Allen Township, Lehigh Co., Pa., Sept. 11,
1847. .She came with her father to Illinois when a
girl, and resided at home until her marriage.

Since marriage Mr. Bordner has been teaching
and farming. In 1884 he purchased property and
started a first-class general store, and has since en-
gaged in trade. He subsequently secured a part-
ner in the person of A. N. Hoffnagle, who is now
the Postmaster of this place, and resides in Dakota
Township. Mr. and Mrs. Bordner are members of
the Evangelical Association, and Mr. Bordner for
many years has been Superintendent of the Sunday-
school. He believes in temperance principles, and
votes the Prohibition ticket. His stock is large
and well arranged, and the establishment excells in

appointments the usual country store. The firm

command a fine trade, and owe their success to

their fair and courteous treatment of their cus-
tomers.

<fl felLLIAM A. RICE, one of the prominent
\aJ/l f armers f West Point Township, residing
V^xy on section 1, was born Nov. 14, 1847, in
Taylor, Fulton Co., N. Y., and is the son of Joseph
and Harriet (Coleman) Rice. Joseph Rice was
twice married. His first wife, Harriet A. Coleman,
was a native of Taylor, N. Y., where her death oc-
curred in 1851. His second wife was Frances E.
Prince, who was also a native of Taylor. Two
children born of the first marriage are now living:
William A., our subject, and Ira D., a resident of
Jo Daviess County. Anette died at the age of
twenty-two. The children of the second marriage
are: Frank, a resident of West Point Township;
Burdette, of Nebraska; Edwin, George, Edith and
Minnie Myrtle.

William Rice, Sr., the paternal grandfather of our
subject, and after whom he was named, was a na-
tive of Massachusetts, and married Miss Theodosia
Thompson. He left his New England home and
became one of the early settlers of Cortland
County, N. Y., where he purchased a tract of tim-
bered land. A log house stood in a little clearing,
but otherwise it was a dense forest. It proved,
however, a profitable investment. The timber was
in itself valuable, and after it was cleared, Mr.
Rice brought it to a high state of cultivation. Here
Mr. and Mrs. Wiliiam Rice passed the remainder
of their lives. The former died at the age of
eighty-two years.

The family of William Rice consisted of six
children, and Joseph was the fourth in order of
birth. The school privileges were very limited at
that early day, and he grew to manhood assisting
his father in clearing the farm, but acquiring little
education otherwise. At the age of eighteen he
commenced his life as a wage-worker, hiring out
both by the month and by the day. In the course
of five years he married, and had acquired sufficient
capital to purchase 100 acres of land in Taylor
Township, N. Y., where he resided until the year

274

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

1863. He then soM out and came to Stephenson
County, purchasing 350 acres of land in West
Point Township. His estate was located on section
1, where he resided a few years and then removed
to section 6, where he lived until 1881, when he
again sold out and purchased the place where he
now resides.

William A. Rice was reared on the home farm,
where he passed his boyhood attending school and
assisting his father. He accompanied his parents
from New York to Illinois in 1863, and continued
with them until he reached the age of twenty-one.
He then rented a farm by the year and commenced
business for himself. In the meanwhile ^he made
a purchase of 120 acres of land, which he began
cultivating and improving, while renting at the
same time. As opportunity offered he purchased
more land at different times until he now has a
fine farm of 412 acres located in Wes Point and
Winslow Townships.

Mr. Rice, Jan. 28, 1875, was married to Miss
Rosetta Satterlee, daughter of Zenas and Leethe
(Tumbleson) Satterlee, of West Point Township.
Her father was a native of Southern Illinois.

Mr. and Mrs. Rice have a family of four children
Kittie, Star, Fern and Pearl. Mr. Rice is one of
the substantial men of the township. He possesses
much executive ability and carries on an extensive
farming business, which usually engrosses his at-
tention to the exclusion of public affairs. While
not actively interested in politics he always votes
with the Republican party.

HARTMAN, one of the most
successful farmers in Lancaster Township,
where he, in connection with his brothers
Isaac and Henry, is extensively engaged in general
stock-raising and farming, is the subject of this
notice. His father, whose name was Henry, was
born in Chester County, Pa., and was brought up
in what is now Snyder County, where he was mar-
ried at first to Annie Staner, who died after the
birth of two children. Mr. Henry Hartman, Sr.,
was the second time married, to Mary Freed, of Old

Pennsylvania Dutch stock. After this marriage
the couple resided in Snyder County where they en-
gaged in farming, until the year 1864.

During the latter year the parents, together with
the family, came to Illinois, locating on section 20,
Lancaster Township, where they secured 1 60 acres,
and here he built his home, and after a long and
useful life departed to the other shore in
1870, at the advanced age of seventy-five
years. Mr. Hartman was an active member of
the Lutheran Church, and in politics was a faith-
ful Republican. His aged widow still remains
in thelland of the living, residing on the old home-
stead with her sons, she having reached three-
score years and ten. She is a member of the
Lutheran Church, and is the mother of nine chil-
dren, two of whom are dead. The living are in the
order of their ages, are Samuel, married and living
in Wright County, Iowa; he is a farmer and his
wife was Catherine Aurand. Caroline, wife of G.
W. Snyder, a blacksmith of Freeport; Elizabeth,
wife of J. H. Gaskins, who resides near Laporte,
Iowa, where he follows the occupation of a shoe-
maker; George P. resides on a farm in this town-
ship, and is married to Amelia Berry Gott. The
next in order is the subject of this sketch.

Frederick Hartman was born in Snyder County,
Pa., Jan. 27, 1845, and remained at home until he
arrived at the age of seventeen, when together with
the family he removed to Illinois, assisting his
father in carving a farm out of the Western prairies,
until he arrived at the age of maturity. Since the
death of his father, he has still remained at home,
where he owns an interest in the homestead. He
was married to Miss Mary A. Allen, in Mt. Mor-
ris, Ogle County. She is a native of Maryland, and
came to Illinois with her father, who settled in
Ogle County and there resided until the time of
his death. Mr. and Mrs. Hartman are the parents
of one child, Effle E.

The next member of the Hartman family is
Isaac P., who is next younger to the subject of this
sketch. He was also born in Snyder County,
coming to Illinois with the family as has been
stated, and he now lives with his brother on the
old homestead and is a joint owner of the farm.
Henry T. is the younger son, and was born in Penn-

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

275 i

sylvania, July 3, 1849. He resided at home
until after the death of his father, since which time
he and his brother have operated the farm in part-
nership. He was married in Harlem Township,
first to Jennie Bennet, who died at tho birth of
the first child, the child surviving the mother and
being named for her. Mr. Hartman married the
second time in Black Hawk County, Iowa, his
happy bride being Susan Anton, of a well-known
family, noted for their good, neighborly habits and
their successful and thrifty farming.

The Hartman brothers and all the members of
the family in general are Republican in politics, and
attend the Second Presbyterian Church at Freeport.
They have a beautiful home, the farm being em-
bellished with fine, first-class buildings of brick, and
there is no better illustration of the prosperity of
the farmers of Lancaster Township than the sight
of the pleasant home of the Hartman family.

til :

H. MILLER, of Oneco Township, was
born in Lewisburg, Pa., Oct. 23, 1852, and
is the son of Charles S. Miller, born in 1826,
in York County, that State. Mr. Miller is
a comparatively young man, and is a prosperous
lumber-dealer, whose progenitors were people of
renown. Our subject's paternal grandfather was a
native of York County, Pa., and his great-grand-
father came from Germany and settled in the Key-
stone State at an early day. The grandfather was
a farmer by calling, and also worked at the cooper's
trade, spending the last years of his life in Clinton
County, Pa. He had a family of twelve children,
of whom ten are living.

Our subject's father was the eighth child of his
parents, and lived with them until 1848. That
year he was married, and rented his father's farm
in Clinton County, remaining on it two years. He
then removed to Union County, and farmed in that
section of Pennsylvania until 1858, when he took
up his residence near Harrisburg, that State, re-
maining there until 1862. He then went to the
war as a substitute. Charles S. Miller was in the
army ten months, participating in several skir-
niishes, and then returned to his family, who were

at that time with his wife's people. He engaged
in farming in Union County, Pa., until the spring
of 1866, when he came to this county, and a year
later bought a farm in Waddams Township. He
lived there two years, then sold out and moved to
his present farm in Oneco Township. The mother
of our subject was of English descent on her
father's side, and on the maternal side of the house,
German. Her grandparents were natives of Penn-
sylvania. Mrs. Miller's maiden name was Eliza-
beth Dersham. She is the daughter of Samuel
Dersham, and was born in Union Count}', Pa., and
is the fourth child in a family of eleven children.
John H. Miller lived with his parents until, he
was married, in 1877. His early days were spent
in working on the farm and attending the district
school. In 1871 he attended the Northwestern
College at Naperville, 111., and was an apt scholar.
After marriage, he kept books, the same work he
was doing the year before his marriage. In the
fall of 1880 he engaged in the creamery business
with a firm that" was already established, and fol-
lowed the same two years. He then farmed one
year on property he had purchased. Leaving the
farm he went back to book-keeping, and continued
it until the spring of 1887, when he started a lum-
ber-yard. He was married to Miss Lilah Bobb,
daughter of David Bobb, in 1877. She was born
Feb. 1, 1856. His son, who was named David
Stanley, died June 25, 1886. Both Mr. and Mrs.
Miller belong to the Evangelical Church, and both
sing in the choir of that church. Mr. M. is a Re-
publican, politically, and has served as Township
Clerk, besides occupying other local offices.

BRACE. The paternal grand-
III father of our subject was a native of Con-
necticut, of New England ancestry, and
tilled the soil there, where he spent his entire life.
His son David was the father of our subject and
grew to manhood in Connecticut. When he had
arrived at maturity, he married Miss Mima Steb-
bins, also a native of Connecticut, and of the same
ancestry as her husband. After the birth of six
children in Connecticut, our subject being the

*^-^-

276

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

youngest, the parents went to New York State, and
settled in Tioga County. This was when Norman
was about two years old. The parents moved
around considerably in New York State, living in
Madison and Chenango Counties, and finally in the
latter place the father came to his death by drown-
ing in the Chenango River. He was a farmer by
calling, was in the Revolutionary War and fought
at the battle of Bunker Hill, and died in his prime
when fifty-five years old. The mother lived to
come west to Illinois, and died at her son's home
July 4, 1870. She was then seventy-four years
old, and the mother of twelve children.

Norman Brace, our subject, was born in Connect-
icut, June 31, 1814. and reared in New York
State. He came to Illinois in 1835, and lived in
Peoria for one year, then came to this county and
secured a home in Ridott Township. He has since
made this township his residence, and now has over
100 acres in his homestead, besides twenty acres of
timber.

Mr. Brace was married in Ridott Township to
Mary Rippbarger, a native of Germany, but who
came to the United States when a child with her
parents. Her father died in this township; her
mother is yet living aged seventy-two years. Mrs.
Brace grew up in this county and lived at home
until her marriage. She is the mother of eight
children : Two, Emma and Frank, are deceased ;
Daniel and Orrin reside at home ; Arthur is mar-
ried ; Flora Coon resides in Gage County, Neb.,
on a farm ; Ellen and Henry are at home.

Mr. Brace is not a partisan in politics, but usually
casts his vote with the Republican party.

eHARLES KEELER, a resident of this
county since 1840, has been actively en-
gaged in agricultural pursuits here from the
time of arriving at sufficient age to engage in man-
ual labor. He is the son of Frederick and Caro-
line Keeler, who were born in Germany, and who
were there married and lived until emigrating to
this country. The parents of our subject sailed for
the United States in 1833, and upon their arrival
located in Ohio. From the latter State they re-

moved to Indiana and there lived for about a year
and a half. They then, in 1840, came to this
count}- and settled in Silver Creek Township.
There the father continued to reside, engaged the
while in agricultural pursuits, until his death. His
good wife died in Freeport in the fall of 1882.
The product of their union was five sons and five
daughters.

Charles Keeler was the sixth, in order of birth,
of his parents' ten children. He was born in Ger-
many Nov. 27, 1832, and was about three months
old when brought to this country. Charles con-
tinued to make the parental home his abiding-place
until 1884, when he moved into Halem Township,
and after a residence there of one year, located in
Florence Township, where he now lives. He owns
a fine farm of 160 acres in the latter township, and
also one of 270 acres in Silver Creek Township.
Both places are well improved and stocked. In
conducting them Mr. Keeler is meeting with that
success which energetic effort, coupled with good
judgment, is sure to bring.

Charles Keeler and Miss Minnie Brookmier were
united in the holy bonds of matrimony, Sept. 17,
1854, in Silver Creek Township. She is a daugh-
ter of Christopher and Elizabeth Brookmier, na-
tives of Germany, in which country the mother
died in 1841. The father came to this country in
1848, and settled in Ogle County, this State, where
he met a sad death in the fall of 1869. His house
caught fire and he perished in the flames. Chris-
topher and Elizabeth Brookmier became the par-
ents of three sons and three daughters, Mrs. Keeler
of this notice being the fifth in order of birth. Sh&
was born in Germany May 23, 1836, and was
twelve years old when she accompanied her father
to this country.

Eleven children have been born of the union of
Mr. and Mrs. Keeler and their names are, Helen,
Elizabeth M., Lorinda, Caroline C., Minnie L.,
Mary A., Ida O., Charles 11., Evaline C., Matilda
M. and Floretta. Helen is the wife of Calvin Arsh-
erman, and they are residents of Ogle County, this
State. Elizabeth is the wife of Fred Rusenburg,
and they also live in Ogle County. Mr. Keeler
has followed farming for a livelihood thus far in
life. He has held some of the minor offices in his

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

279

township, and in politics, is a Democrat. Mrs.
Keeler is a member of the Reformed Church, and
both our subject and his wife are respected and
honored citizens of their community.

ON. JACOB KROHN. The eminently ad-
mirable career of this well-known resident
of Northern Illinois, has been closely identi-
fied with the various interests of Freeport
and vicinity, and must of necessity be briefly de-
tailed in a work of this kind. We give its main
points as follows:

Mr. Krohn was born in Prussia, Feb. 22, 1832,
where he spent his early years. In accordance
with the laws and customs of his native country,
he was placed in school at an earl}' age, and received
a good education in his native tongue. When
fourteen years old he was apprenticed to a tobac-
conist and served four years. He became an ex-
pert at the trade, but was not satisfied with his con-
dition or his prospects in his native land. Before
reaching his majority he determined to seek his
fortune in the New World. Accordingly, board-
ing a sailing-vessel at the port of Hamburg, he bade
adieu to his old friends and early associations, and
after a voyage of four months landed in the city of
New York in January, 1852.

Young Krohn did not long remain in the metrop-
olis, but proceeding to Saugerties, in Ulster Coun-
ty, secured employment at his trade, and took up
his residence there, where he remained until the
spring of 1855. The wider fields of the West now
appeared to him as a more desirable place for en-
terprising young men. After visiting Freeport he
resolved to make it his permanent abiding-place.
Soon after coming here he established himself in
the tobacco business, and at once began building
up a profitable trade, which finally assumed such
proportions that he was enabled to command a snug
fortune.

Jacob Krohn's natural energy of character, and
the genuine interest which he took in everything
pertaining to the advancement of public good, com-
mended him to the esteem and confidence of the
people of Freeport, and it was not long until'his

name became familiarly known as one of its most
enterprising citizens. He was soon called upon to
fill various offices. He was chosen Alderman from
the Third Ward, which position he held four years.
He was also a member of the Count} 7 Board of
Supervisors. At this time the magnificent county
court-house was under process of construction, and
Mr. Krohn was at once appointed a member of the
building committee, and introduced measures which
added greatly to the prestige of the board in their
deliberations concerning the outlay of funds, and
various other important questions connected there-
with. This structure is the pride of Stephenson
County, and an ornament to the city of Freeport.
Mr. Krohn was twice elected Alderman from the
Third Ward, and served two terms as Mayor of the
city. He was a member of the Board of Education
from 1878 to 1881, during which time the First
Ward school-house was being built, and which is
now known as the High School building. This
structure is also a credit to its projectors. The
educational element of Freeport has been one of
its distinctive features, and no man has been more
warmly interested in the wise maintainance of its
schools than Mr. Krohn.

Afterward the present High School building was
put up, and Mr. Krohn was again appointed a mem-
ber of the School Board, to assist in carrying for-
ward another most important enterprise, and one
closely connected with the interests of the people.
This building, in point of size and architecture, is
not excelled by any in the State, and is a credit to
its people as well as the board having it in charge.
After the organization of the Second National
Bank, Mr. Krohn became one of its leading stock-
holders, and in 1883 was elected its President,
which position he has since held.

Perhaps the distinguishing point in the character
of our subject is the quality of benevolence which
he possesses in a marked degree, and the reverence
for whatever is in itself of good repute. His name
has been especially prominent in the various bene-
ficiary societies of the State, and his talents as a
brother and leader have developed more than ordi-
nary ability. His name has been prominently asso-
ciated with Odd Fellowship in Illinois. After hav-
ing been in this country but two years he was ad-

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

milted as a member 'of Confidence Lodge No. 51,
at Saugerties. N. Y. Soon after his arrival in Free-
port, he identified himself with Winneshiek Lodge
No. 30. The need of a German lodge in Freeport
soon becoming apparent, Brother Krohn was chiefly
instrumental in the organization of Freeport Lodge
No. 239, being one of its charter members. This was
organized in 1857, its membership being entirely
composed of Germans. Subsequently Mr. Krohn
became identified with Western Star Encampment,
No. '25, from which, however, he afterward with-
drew, in order to assist in the organization of S. A.
Douglas Encampment No. 100, of which he was also
a charter member.

From this we see that Brother Krohn has been a
progressive Odd Fellow, and during his connection
with the bodies above mentioned he officiated in
every capacity where he could make himself useful,
having at different times held about every office in
both lodge and encampment. Recently he has
become actively identified with the Rebecca De-
gree, having been instrumental in organizing Busy
Bee Lodge No. 138, of that degree, which is a most
flourishing lodge, and one of the most prosperous
and valuable adjuncts to the order in the city.
After passfhg through the several gradations in the
Grand Encampment, Brother Krohn was in 1875
elected Grand Patriarch of the Grand Encampment
of Illinois, and the following year represented this
body in the Sovereign Grand Lodge of the United
States, which in 1877 met in the city of Baltimore.
He was, however, obliged to decline this distinc-
tion, as his duties as Mayor of the city at a time
when the State Fair was being held in Freeport,
seemed to him of too much importance to be rele-
gated to other hands. He was extremely desirous
that the strangers who would naturally visit the
city at this time should leave it with a good opin-
ion of its municipal government, and accordingly,
much to the regret of the Odd Fellows of the State,
remained at his post. Too much credit could not
have been given Mr. Krohn at this time for the
sacrifice of his feelings and inclinations, as the con-
vocation of the Sovereign Lodge at that time was a
memorable event in the order, and one at which
every brother esteemed it a high privilege to be
present.

Mr. Krohn is equally prominent in Masonry.
With this fraternity he also became connected
while in Saugerties, becoming identified with Ulster
Lodge No. 93, Feb. 7, 1855. In 1856, after com-
ing- to Freeport, he joined Excelsior Lodge No.
97. He is also a member of Freeport Chapter No.
23, R. A. M., and of Freeport Council and Free-
port Consistory, and has held all the minor offices,
besides that of Presiding Officer, in Lodge, Chap-
ter and Council. He has been Treasurer of the
Consistory for the past seven years, and Deputy
Grand Master for the Fifth Masonic District for a
long period. He is also Past Grand Royal Arch
Captain of the Chapter, and now Principal So-
journer. His connection with the relief funds of
the several orders, especially the life insurance
feature, has been of long standing and particularly
active, and has resulted in much good to individual
members. For many years Mr. Krohn has been a
Director and member of the Finance Committee,
and President of the Illinois Masonic Benevolent
Society of Princeton, and now holds a similar posi-
tion in the Covenant Mutual Benevolent Associa-
tion, in the working of which he has taken a leading
part. The large and increasing permanent reserve
funds held by these societies, and adding so much
to the welfare of the members, have had no stronger
champion than Mr. Krohn. He has also recently
been elected a Trustee and Vice President of the
Illinois Masonic Orphans' Home, an institution
just being started by the Masons of the State, and
which bids fair to be one of the shining ornaments
of the fraternity.

Mr. Krohn was married, March 22, 1857, to Miss
Dora Fleischman, a native of Germany. They
have eight children, seven girls and one boy Ber-
tha, Moses, Lena, Maime, Emma. Rosa, Carrie and
Edna. Of these Bertha is the wife of Henry J.
Streng, of Richmond, Ky. ; Moses lives in Milwau-
kee, Wis. ; Maime is the wife of Leon Hiller, and
jives in Waverley, Iowa; Emma is at La Porte,
Ind., taking a Normal course; the others are at
home. Mr. Krohn is in the prime of life, being
fifty-five years of age. His dark hair is scarcely
touched with gray. The cares and worry of life
have affected him lightly. He is active and ener-
getic, and always first in any enterprise calculated

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

281

to enhance the growth of the city or any of the
institutions with which he is connected, and bids
fair to long continue a useful career.

The; portrait of Hon. Jacob Krohn will be highly
appreciated by all acquainted with his honorable
and successful career. It is with pleasure we give
it place in the ALBUM of Stephenson County.

ETER SEISE, of the firm of Crotzer &
J) Seise, is, with his partner, carrying on a
flourishing hardware trade in Lena, where
he has been a life-long resident, and where
his birth took place Jan. 9, 1856. His father, Peter
Seise, Sr., was a native of Bavaria, bora June 10,
1827, and was the son of Frederick and Mary Seise,
who are mentioned in the sketch of John Seise,
found elsewhere in this ALBUM.

Peter Seise, Sr., was reared and educated in his
native country, pursuing his studies from the time
he was a young boy until he was fourteen years of
age. He then learned stone-cutting, which he fol-
lowed until 1852, then seeing little prospect of ad-
vancement in his own country, he determined to
cross the ocean and seek his fortune in the New
World. After landing upon American shores, he
came directly westward to this county, locating in
Lena at a time when Rockford was the western
terminus of the Illinois Central Railroad. The
balance of the journey was made by stage. Mr.
Seise followed his trade during the summer seasons,
and in the winter chopped wood at thirty-seven
cents per cord, and boarded himself. He was re-
markable for his persistence and industry, and made
a comfortable living for his family, pursuing his
trade most of the time, and remaining a resident of
Lena until his death, which took place June 27,
1872. He had in the meantime accumulated prop-
erty, including a good residence on Lena street,
which his wife and daughter still occupy.

The mother of our subject was formerly Miss
Catherine Rockenn^-er, also a native of Bavaria,
and by her marriage with Peter Seise, Sr., became
the mother of seven children. The eldest daugh-
ter, Lena, is the wife of E. P. Brown, of Lena;

Katie died in Freeport, in 1853, when tvvo years of
age; Peter, of our sketch, was the third child; Au-
gust died Aug. 19, 1886, when twenty-eight years
of age; Henry is a resident of Warren County, this
State; Adolph lives in Lena and Louisa is at home
with her mother. The two elder children were born
in Bavaria, and the remainder in Lena.

Peter Seise, our subject, was the eldest son of
his parents, and spent the most of his time in school
until fifteen years of age. He then commenced to
learn the tinner's trade, at which he served five
years, then engaged as clerk in the hardware store
of Z. Stover, at Lena, with whom he remained
three years. Afterward he clerked for Crotzer
Bros, three years, and in 1881 purchased a half
interest in the business, which is now conducted
under the firm name of Crotzer & Seise. Mr. S.
possesses all the reliable and substantial character-
istics of his German nationality, and as a business
man and citizen is held in great regard by his
patrons and friends. He has lived wisely and
economically, and is in a fair way to realize a hand-
some competency.

The marriage of our subject with Miss Nellie
Hall was celebrated at the home of the bride in
Lena, April 15, 1880. Mrs. S. was also born in
Lena, and is the daughter of W. W. and Sarah
Hall, who came to Stephenson County from New
York in the pioneer days. Mr. Seise, since becom-
ing a voter, has been a stanch upholder of Demo-
cratic principles, and with his estimable wife is a
member in good standing of the Baptist Church.

J"l WEBER ADDAMS, of Cedarville, is the
| only living son of the late Hon. John H. Ad-
I dams, who was well known throughout North-
ern Illinois. He was born at the home of his

father, in this village, Feb. 19, 1852, and received
his early education in the public schools. Later he
entered Beloit College, Wisconsin, where he took a
preparatory course, and in 1869 commenced the
higher classics in the Michigan University, at Ann
Arbor. He was, however, compelled to abandon
this cherished scheme on account of failing health,

282

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

and reluctantly returning home, occupied himself
twelve years in agricultural pursuits.

Mr. Addarns, in 1881, purchased the Cedar ville
flouring-mill, and carried on its operations as it stood
until 1883. He then refitted its machinery, and
supplied the mill with all the modern improved ap-
pliances, so that it became in all respects', first-class,
and receives the patronage of the people of the
country around. The superiority of these milling
facilities, combined with the genial character and
straightforward business metliods of the owner,
have been the means of securing to the latter an-
ually a handsome income, and socially, as well as
financially, he is classed among the representative
men and valued citizens of Buckeye Township. As
may be noted, he is yet on the sunny side of forty,
and has not yet reached the meridian of his use-
fulness.

Mr. Addams, on the 16th of March, 1876, was
united in marriage with Miss Laura Shoemaker, at
the home of the bride in the city of Lena. Mrs.
A. was born in Mifflin County, Pa., Oct. 11, 1856,
and is the daughter of John and Henrietta Shoe-
maker, natives of Pennsylvania. Of this congenial
union there is one child only, Sarah W., born Feb.
26, 1877. Their home is pleasantly located, and in
all respects indicates the cultivated taste of the
proprietor. The residence, which was built in 1882,
is a handsome and commodious structure of modern
style of architecture, and beautifully located on a
rise of ground adjacent to the bank of Cedar
Creek, and with its surroundings, is the object of
admiration by all who pass by it. Our subject and
his estimable lady are members in good standing of
the Presbyterian Church, and Mr. Addams, politi-
cally, is a strong Republican. He has represented
Buckeye Township on the County Board of Super-
visors, and takes a lively interest in the various en-
terprises set on foot for the progress and welfare of
his township. Socially, he belongs to Evergreen
Lodge No. 170, A. F. & A. M., Freeport Chapter
No. 23, R. A. M., and Freeport Consistory.

Hon. John H. Addams, the father of our subject,
was one of the most widely known and popular men
of Buckeye Township. He came to Northern Illi-
nois in the pioneer days, and was one of the most
enterprising of those who set about the develop-

ment of its resources. A more extended sketch of
him will be found on another page in this work.

John Shoemaker, the father of Mrs. Addams, was
a native of Lancaster County, Pa., and the son of
a farmer of modest means, who, in addition to the
cultivation of his land, also carried on blacksmith-
ing. Her mother, whose maiden name was Henri-
etta Bupp, was born in Mifflin County, Pa., and
came to Illinois with her husband, in 1857. They
took up their residence near Lena, where they spent
the remainder of their lives, the father passing to
his long home Jan. 12, 1869. and the mother, April
12,1881. The parental household included six chil-
dren, of whom Laura, Mrs. Addams, was the eldest;
Charles, Frank and Edward are residents of Mont-
gomery County, Iowa; William is engaged in busi-
ness at Lena; Sarah, the youngest, died in infancy.

,,.,, ARON KOSTENBADER is an industrious
LM farmer in comfortable circumstances, liv-
ing on section 17, Harlem Township. The
Kostenbader ancestry will be found of
Teutonic extraction, latter!}' of Pennsylvania. The
parents of Aaron were Henry and Rosamond (Sae-
bard) Kostenbader, natives of Pennsylvania, of
German ancestry. They married and first settled
in Columbia County, Pa., afterward removing to
Union County of that State, which has furnished so
many emigrants to Stephenson County. The old
people died in Union County, having had fourteen
children, three girls and eleven boys.

Aaron Kostenbader was the fourth child of his
parents. He was born in Columbia Countj', Pa.,
Feb. 22, 1817, and was reared on a farm until twen-
ty-two years old, when he began to work at the
carpenter's trade. He followed carpentering about
fourteen 3'ears. In 1 840 he left Pennsylvania and
went to Ohio, remaining there until 1845. In the
fall of that year, he came to Stephenson County.
He worked a few months at cabinet-making in
Freeport, four months at 110 a month, working
earlv and late, and then labored at his trade, wher-
ever he could find employment. In the fall of
1846 he returned to Pennsylvania, and remained
there until the spring of 1847, when he came back

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

283

to Stephenson County. He has lived here since,
and followed his trade until, the occupation of
a farmer proving more pleasant, he settled on his
farm in Harlem Township in the fall of 1852. He
has lived the life of a farmer, and has also worked
at his trade during a small portion of the time in-
tervening since then. He is the owner of 160 acres
of land, over thirty of which is in timber, and has
erected good farm buildings.

Mr. Kostenbader was married in Lancaster Town-
ship, Stephenson County, Sept. 18, 1848, to Mar-
garet Newcomer, a native of Columbia County,
Pa., she having been born there Sept. 21, 1827.
She bore him eight children as follows: Samuel,
Susanna, Lizzie, Henry. Jacob, Reuben, Daniel and
Solomon. Samuel married Mary A. Crow, and re-
sides in Harlem Township; Susanna died in the fall
of 1885; Lizzie resides at home; Henry married
Miss Emma Bennett, and settled in Harlem Town-
ship; Jacob is at home; Reuben died when about
two years old ; Daniel married Mary E. Bennett,
and resides in Buckeye Township; Solomon lives
at home.

Mrs. Kostenbader died in Harlem Township in
May, 1865. Mr. Kostenbader has held some of the
minor offices in the township. He has been School
Director for several years, and is a member of the
Reformed Church. In politics he is a Republican.

T 01

\T? EVI BOLENDER. Rock Grove Township
I ^S) and much of the territory contiguous owes
J_ "- its settlement and development mainly to
men who emigrated from Pennsylvania for the pur-
pose of establishing a permanent home on prairie
soil. Some were young and unmarried, and some,
after gaining a precarious living among the mount-
ains of the Keystone State, cut loose from early
ties, old associations, and came with their families
to a new and untried territory. There were just
such men needed in this section at that time, and
it is doubtful whether it would have become so
eminently prosperous without them.

Among the class above mentioned was John Bo-
lender, the father of our subject, who in the spring
of 1840 set out from his native State for Northern

Illinois. He was accompanied by his wife and fam-
ily. Their outfit consisted of five horses, two
wagons and one buggy, by which means they trans-
ported their household goods and provisions, and
as there were no hotels along the route, camped and
cooked by the wayside and slept in their wagons at
night. The elder Boleuder, who had considerable
means, purchased 400 acres of land, mostly prai-
rie and partially improved. Their goods had been
shipped by water, and when these arrived the fam-
ily took possession of the substitute for a dwelling
which had already been erected on the land. The
same year he erected the present commodious resi-
dence which is occupied by his son Levi. Mr. John
Bolender managed his own farm until 1859, then
rented the land to Levi and retired from active
labor, remaining at the old homestead until his
death, which occurred about 1868. He was then
seventy-two years of age. The faithful wife and
mother had passed to her long home two years
before. The father of our subject was a man of
much force of character and held various local of-
fices. Both parents belonged to the German Re-
formed Church.

John Bolender was born in Union County, Pa.,
Feb. 26, 1796. He was the son of Henry Bolender,
whose father was a native of Germany, but emi-
grated to America and located in Pennsylvania at
a period in the early history of that State. Henry
Bolender married and reared a family of seven sons
and three daughters, and spent his entire life in
Pennsylvania, engaged in agricultural pursuits.
The father of our subject remained with his par-
ents until his marriage. For a number of years
thereafter he remained upon and rented a part of
the old homestead. Afterward he removed to
Buffalo Valley, Union County, where he resided for
a period of eight years, while he completed his
preparations for a removal to the West. He had
married, in early manhood, Catherine Stees, a na-
tive of Union County, Pa., born in 1800, and
daughter of Frederick Stees. The parental house-
hold of John Bolender included fourteen children,
of whom Levi, of our sketch, was the fourth in
order of birth. Of these nine still survive. Levi
remained under the parental roof until his marriage
in 1852, receiving a fair education in the public

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

schools and gaining a good insight into the methods
required in order to succeed as a farmer. After he
had assumed the responsibilities as the head of a, fam-
ily ^he commenced working the farm on shares. Two
years after the death of his father the property was
sold, and our subject purchased 154 acres of the
farm. This has continued his home since that time,
and he has kept pace with the progress of the age
in adding modern improvements and keeping up the
reputation of the estate as one of the most valua-
ble in the township.

The marriage of Levi Bolender and Miss Sarah
Haas took place at the home of the bride in Oneco
Township, Oct. 19, 1852. Mrs. B. was born in
Snyder County, Pa., April 27, 1834, and became
the wife of our subject when just past eighteen
years of age. Her father, David Haas, was a native
of Union County, Pa., where he carried on farming
and shoemaking, and from which he removed to
this State in 1850. The paternal grandfather of
Mrs. B. was a coverlet-weaver by trade and was of
German parentage. He served in the War of 1812,
and died in Pennsylvania at the ripe old age of
eighty-four years. . The marriage of Mr. and Mrs.
Bolender resulted in the birth of thirteen children,
who were named respectively, Henry H. ; Emma C.,
now the wife of John D. Lass; David C., Allen;
Amanda J., now Mrs. G. Thorn; Edward J., Ida
May, John, J. H. ; William, who died in 1859;
Claj^ton S. in 1880, and two died unnamed. The
eldest living is over forty, and the youngest son a
lad of fifteen years. Mr. Bolender is a man highly
respected among his neighbors, and with his wife
belongs to the Lutheran Reformed Church. His
father early in life was identified with the old Whig
party, but later subscribed to the principles of the
Republicans, to which his son Levi, and his grand-
children, the sons of Levi, also closely adhere.

ARVEY P. WATERS, who is widely known
throughout Ridott Township as an intelli-
gent farmer and stock-raiser of more than
ordinary business capacity, is one of the
finest representatives of his substantial English an-
cestry, who distinguished themselves in the Colon-

ial days by active sympathy with the American
people in their desperate struggle for liberty. The
paternal grandfather of our subject, Biglow Waters,
held the commission of Major in the Colonial
army. After the conflict had ended, he settled
down quietly on a farm in Connecticut, where he
lived for several years. Subsequently he removed
to Chenango County, N. Y., where he built up a
good farm from the uncultivated soil and continued
to reside until his death. He died at seventy-eight
years of age. The wife of his youth was in her
girlhood Miss Hester Gardiner, who was born and
reared in New England, being a member of the old
family which owned the Island of that name. She
survived her husband a number of years, and died
at an advanced age on the old homestead in Che-
nango County, N. Y. The eldest son of their family,
which included three sons and four daughters, was
named Gardiner, and became the father of our sub-
ject. His birth occurred after the removal of his
parents to Chenango County, wliere he was reared,
educated, and became familiar with the various
duties on the farm. He was also married in that
State to Miss Clarissa C. Pardey, who was born in
New York State of Scotch parentage. This union
resulted in the birth of a family of four sons and
one daughter. All of the sons, with the exception
of Harvey, of our sketch, are now deceased. The
daughter, Mrs. Harriet Anibal, resides on a farm
near Hampton, Iowa. The brothers of our subject
were Dennison, John and Edwin. Deunisou died
unmarried. He went to the war and was never
heard from afterward.

In the fall of 1833, the family all came West to
this State, stopping fora time in Chicago, but sub-
sequently the father took up a claim sixteen miles
southwest on the Dixon Road. The land had not
then been subdivided, but as soon as it came into
market the father of our subject secured his title
from the Government and there built up a good
homestead. The mother passed to her long home
in 1843, in middle life. Mr. Waters afterward
married Miss Alvira Gravis and removed to Wash-
ington Township, Winneshiek Co., Iowa, where he
purchased land and remained upon it seven yoars.
lie then returned to this county and located near
the home of his sou, our subject, where his death

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

285

took place in 1864, at the age of seventy-seven
years. His last wife survived him some years but
is now deceased.

Harvey Waters was born Oct. 30, 1815, in Che-
nango County, N. Y., and remained under the par-
ental roof until twenty years of age, when he set
out to do for himself. His first movement was to
migrate westward, and he arrived in this county in
January, 1836, where he emplo3'ed himself until
the following year at whatever his hands could find
to do. He then made a claim of sixty-six acres in
Ridott Township, which was afterward included in
the fine homestead which he built up after years of
active toil, and forms one of the most attractive
spots in the landscape of Northern Illinois. He
subsequently purchased additional land, and is now
the owner of 300 acres with valuable improvements
and fertile soil; this has been largely devoted to
the raising of grain and stock. The latter included
Morgan horses and thoroughbred cattle, besides a
good quality of swine. Mr. Waters, in 1886, re-
tired from the active labors of the farm which he
has left in the hands of tenants, and is now living
comfortably and quietly in a handsome home in
the village. He is amply entitled to the comforts
which now surround him, as he has labored worthily
and well, and been one of the most important fac-
tors in the agricultural interests of this section.

After he had laid the foundations of a permanent
home Mr. Waters, feeling the need of a companion
and helpmeet, to share his fortunes, was united in
marriage with Miss Mary Lloyd, the wedding tak-
ing place at the home of the bride in Ridolt Town-
ship, July 22, 1842. Mrs. Waters is the daughter
of John Lloyd, a native of Pennsylvania of Welsh
ancestry. Her father was born in Pennsylvania,
and in early manhood became a resident of Upper
Canada, where he met and married Miss Lydia
James, who was born in Pennsylvania, and after-
ward became a resident of the Dominion. The
young people after their marriage remained in
Canada, where they became the parents of three
sons and five daughters, of whom the wife of our
subject was the youngest but one. Mrs. Waters
was born March 11, 1826, and was thirteen years
old when her parents and a part of their family
came to Illinois. They located in Winuebago

County, where the mother died in middle life, near
Pecatonica, in 1844. The father afterward removed
to Iowa, where his death took place in 1881, he
having arrived at the advanced age of ninety-eight
years.

Mrs. Waters was educated in the common
schools, completing her studies at Mt. Morris, and re-
mained with her parents until her marriage. Of
the eight children born of her union with onr sub-
ject, two are now deceased, namely, Gardiner and
Cornelia. Clara C., the widow of J. M. McCracken,
is a resident of Ridott ; Lyda married Frederick
Stockberger, a carriage-maker of Pecatonica; Fred-
erick is single and lives in Missouri; Carrie and
Emma are at home with their parents. Mr. Waters
votes the straight Republican ticket, and with his
estimable lady, is a valued member of the Meth-
odist Episcopal Church.

eHARLES NIEMAN, of the firm ol Charles
E. Meyer & Co., manufacturers of cider,
cider and wine vinegars, and wholesale
dealers in syrups and New Orleans molasses, of
Freeport, is one of the reliable business men of
that city. This business was established by Mr.
Meyer in 1858, and 'was known as the Freeport
Vinegar Works. The beginning was in a small
way, but as the demand for the product grew the
establishment was enlarged. Mr. Meyer continued
to conduct the establishment alone until 1880,
when Mr. Nieman was taken in as a partner. The
name of the Freeport Vinegar Works was then dis-
carded and the firm name of Charles E. Meyer &
Co. adopted. The works- are located in the south-
eastern part of the city, and occupy a square of
ground with a frontage of 120 feet on each side.
The buildings are of brick, and steam power is
used exclusively. The capacity of the establish-
ment is fifty barrels per day. They find a ready
market for all the products of the establishment.
Their market extends over Illinois, Iowa, Ne-
braska, Kansas, Dakota, Southern Minnesota and
Wisconsin. Their works being located near the
tracks of the Illinois Central and Chicago & North-
western Railroads, they are thus afforded the best

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

and most convenient shipping facilities. Freeport
manufacturers are fortunate in this, as this city is
one of the best distributing points in Northern Illi-
nois or Southern Wisconsin. Both members of the
firm are excellent business men, and have a prac-
tical knowledge of the business in which they are
engaged. Their establishment is run during the
entire year, no season conflicting with the pro-
duction of their goods. They give constant em-
ployment to fourteen men.

Mr. Nieman is a native of Germany, and was
born in that country in 1847. He emigrated to
America when he was twelve years of age. On ar-
riving in this country he made New York his home.
He came to Freeport in 1875, and was for a time
connected with the Freeport Syrup Refinery, re-
maining with this firm until it closed its works,
when he became interested in his present business.

Mr. Nieman was married in the city of New
York to Miss Margaret C. Adler, who at the time
was Principal of the grammar school in District
No. 42 of that city. She is a woman of good edu-
cation and high culture. They have had four
children. Mr. Nieman holds the office of District
Deputy Grand Chancellor of the Knights of Pyth-
ias, in the affairs of which order he takes great in-
terest. In 1885 he was elected Alderman for the
Third Ward, which office he holds at the time this
sketch is written.

ffiACOB F. LANGENSTEIN, of Buckeye
Township, who established himself on sec-
tion 4 in 1853, is numbered among its most
/ thrifty farmers. He is a native of Wurtem-
berg, Germany, and was born Dec. 16, 1825, on
the farm of his father, where he lived until 1833.
He is the son of Jacob and Anna M. Langenstein,
who were also natives of the same section of coun-
try as their son and who, at the date above men-
tioned, with their four children, determined to seek
their fortunes on another continent. Embarking
on a sailing-vessel, they landed in New York City
after a tedious voyage of sixty days, and proceeded
thence directly to Lycoming County, Pa. The
father of our subject was better provided for than
many of the emigrants of those days, and brought

with him sufficient means to purchase 400 acres of
land, which with the exception of forty acres, was
covered with timber. He cleared a large portion
of this and occupied it until 1853, then decided
upon pushing further westward. His mind was
fixed upon Northern Illinois and, coming into this
county, he purchased 240 acres of land in Buckeye
Township, and proceeded again, as he had done in
Pennsylvania, clearing the timber and building up
a comfortable homestead. Here he lived and la-
bored until eighty-five years of age, retaining his
native energy to a remarkable degree, and folded
his hands for his final rest on the 22d of June, 1885.
The wife and mother had preceded her husband to
the silent land on the 22d of June, 1878, her death
occurring on the same day of the month as his.
Their eight children, consisting of six sons and two
daughters, all lived to mature years and became
reputable and worthy citizens.

The subject of this sketch was the second child
of his parents, and was twelve years of age when
they emigrated to America. lie remembers well
the old home in Wurtemberg, the incidents of
preparation to leave it, and the long voyage across
the Atlantic. He assisted in the improvement of,
his father's two farms in Pennsylvania and Illinois,
and remained under the parental roof until his
marriage. After this event he located on the land
which he now occupies. This he has brought to a
fine state of cultivation, erected all necessary build-
ings, and has accumulated a nice little property
upon which to fall back in his old age.

The marriage of Jacob F. Langenstein and Miss
Sarah Yoorg took place at the home of the bride,
in Illinois, in the spring of 1858. Mrs. L. was
born in the city of Philadelphia, Pa., April 24,
1836, and is the daughter of Frederick and Catha-
rine Yoorg, natives of Germany, who emigrated to
America in 1831, and spent their first few years in
this country in Philadelphia. Thence they re-
moved to Freeport, this county, and subsequently
Mr. Yoorg purchased a farm near Cedarville, which
he occupied until 1863. He then retired from act-
ive labor and, returning to Freeport, died there in
the spring of 1880. The mother continues a resi-
dent of that city. Mr. and Mrs. Langeustein be-
came the parents of six children, namely, Mary

RESIDENCE OF JACOB LANGENSTEIN SEC 4. BUCKEYE TOWNSHIP.

" PLEAS ANT HOME" RESIDCNCE or C.M. SAX BY , SEC. 36. HARLEM TOWNSHIP.

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

289

A., Catherine E., J. John, Ida S., Ellen C. and lid-
ward. They are numbered among the substantial
residents of their township and belong to the Evan-
gelical Church.

eHARLES M. SAXBY is a general farmer and
stock-dealer of Harlem Township. While
he resides in that township he has large
agricultural and stock interests in other sections of
the country. He settled in Stephenson County in
1861, coming from Floyd County, Iowa. His par-
ents were William K. and Nancy (Gile) Saxby.
His father was a native of New Hampshire and the
mother of New York State. They came West and
settled iu Boone County, whence they afterward
moved to Beloit, Wis. In 1860 they moved to
Freeport, and resided in that city until Mr. Saxby's
death, which occurred in October, 1886 ; the mother
still survives. They had seven children, four boys
and three girls, all of whom are living and married.
Charles M. was the second child in order of
birth of the family of seven. He was born in Boone
County, 111., on the 19th of November, 1843. At
an early age he went to live with his grandparents,
in Booiie County, and resided with them most of
the time until he arrived at the age of fifteen, when
he concluded to commence the struggle of life for
himself. He crossed over into Iowa during the
year 1860, and engaged in farm work there for
about one and one-half years, when he came to
Freeport, and was employed in the livery business
for several months. His judgment and knowledge
of horses attracted the attention of Miller, Hodges
& Co., who employed him as their purchasing
agent, and he remained with them for about one
year. He then began trading and dealing in horses
on his own account, and in November, 1864, in
company with August Bergaman, bought out the
livery business of I. II. Miller, which they carried
on jointly for six months, when Mr. Saxby sold his
interest and went to Monroe, Wis., and engaged in
the livery business there from July, 1865, to 1871,
and in February, 1872, he came to Freeport. Dur-
ing these years he found it profitable to cross the
plains to Colorado and Wyoming, and in the year

1871 made three trips. On these trips he purchased
various kinds of stock, which he shipped to the far
West.

In 1878 Mr. Saxby began shipping stock to
Florida, and has been engaged in that business up to
the present time, making one or more trips during
the winter months. He has been quite largely inter-
ested at different times in stock on the ranges in
the West. He owns 100 acres of land in the vicin-
ity of Freeport, and has also owned various tracts
of land in the West. He, in company with S. Von
Alstine, owns a herd of imported cattle in Pocahon-
tas County, Iowa. He is largely interested in
breeding horses and owns several stallions, some of
which are in Freeport. The firm name of Saxby
& Zimmerman is widely known throughout this
section of country.

On the 30th of May, 1865, at the residence of
James Benson, in Cedarville, 111., Mr. Saxby was
married to Eliza Benson, who was born in Lebanon
County, Pa., on the 27th of February, 1842. Her
parents were James and Mattie (Kratzer) Benson,
who were natives of Pennsylvania, and who came
to Stephenson County in 1847, and resided at Ce-
darville. Mr. and Mrs. Saxby have five children:
Mattie, born Dec. 28, 1866; Clarence M., March 15,
1870; Charles B., May 31, 1873, Alda G., April 25,
1880; Aural G., Feb. 12, 1882.

Mr. Saxby has been Supervisor for his township
several terms. He joined the Independent Order
of Odd Fellows in 1865, and has always taken a
lively interest in that organization. In politics he is
Democratic.

As above mentioned, Mr. Saxby is largely en-
gaged in raising fine horses, and we are pleased to
present in this ALBUM, and iu connection with his
homestead, portraits of some of these magnificent
animals.

eAPT. PHILIP ARNO, who obtained his
title during a faithful service of four years
in the army of his adopted country, is one
of the most valued German citizens of Freeport,
and conducts a first-class saloon at No. 54 Stephen-
son street. His birth took place in a small town
in the Province of Bavaria, Germany, July 30,

290

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

1837, and his parents were Conrad and Margaret
(Wind) Arno. They emigrated to America when
their son, Philip, was a lad eight 3'ears of age, and
after landing in the city of New York proceeded to
Rochester, where the father followed his trade as a
cooper and where they resided six years.

Our subject received two years' schooling in his
native town, but after coming to this country his
services were required in his father's shop and
his education practically ended at the age of eight
years. Me kept his eyes open, however, to what
was going on around him, and picked up consider-
able knowledge through the books which came into
his hands. He had good natural business capacities
and made his way in life comparatively easy,
although the first few years were rich in the exper-
iences of industry and economy. He emigrated
westward from New York in 1851, first taking up
his abode in Milwaukee, Wis., and subsequently
worked at his trade in Milwaukee for three years.
Being skillful and well informed he succeeded ad-
mirably, and after a brief time spent in Chicago,
finally settled down in Freeport, in January of
1858.

Philip Arno worked at coopering until the out-
break of the Rebellion necessitated a call for vol-
unteer soldiers, and was among the first to respond.
He served in the Union army three years and four
months, being a member of Co. C, 4l!th 111. Vol.
Inf., which belonged to the 6th and 17th Army
Corps. He was present at many of the important
battles of the war, including the siege at Ft. Donel-
son, the battles at Shiloh, Corinth and Vicksburg,
and for his bravery and efficiency was promoted
from First Lieutenant to Captain, and was breveted
Major. He commanded his company in the siege
at Vicksburg, the battle at Jackson, Miss., and met
the enemy in various other engagements and
skirmishes. At Vicksburg he was captured and
held a prisoner three days, then paroled and sent
North. Upon being exchanged he returned to his
regiment, which was stationed at Natchez, and
again buckled on his sword, continuing with his
comrades until 18G4, when a sunstroke disabled
him for further duty, and he was mustered out De-
cember 21 of that year.

After being transformed from a soldier to a

civilian, Capt. Arno returned to Freeport and en-
gaged as "mine host" of the New York House, for
the five years following, when he established his sa-
loon, which occupies No. 54 Stephenson street. Here
he keeps the finest of beverages and admits none
but orderly and well conducted customers. He
has deported himself worthily as a citizen, and in
1868 was elected City Treasurer. Socially, he
belongs to the I. O. O. F. ; Evergreen Lodge, A. F.
& A. M. ; Germania, and G. A. R., and politically,
is an uncompromising Democrat.

During his parole in 1863, Capt. Arno returned
to Freeport and was united in marriage with Miss
Sarah A. Albright, a native of Pennsylvania, who
became a resident of this county in her girlhood.
They have three children, two daughters and one
son, viz., Maggie A., Eddie C. and Emma L.

Harlem

Township. His parents were Joseph and
Martha (Price) Houser, who were both
born in Union County, Pa., and emigrated
from Mifflin County, Pa., to Stephenson County,
111., in 1850, and settled in Waddams Township,
where they lived until 1870, when they moved to
Lena, where, on the 22d of February, 1887, Mr.
Houser died. The mother survives, and still re-
sides in Lena. Ten children were born to them,
five boys and five girls. The subject of this sketch
was the third child. He was born in Mifflin
County, Pa., June 18, 1840, and came to Stephen-
son County with his parents. He received such ed-
ucation as could be obtained in the primitive
schools of that day. He never attended college,
but being of studious habits and a close observer,
he obtained a practical knowledge that served him
well. With the exception of time spent in the
army, he has always been engaged in farming.
When nineteen years of age he left home and en-
gaged in work on a farm until 1861. On the 9th
of August, 1862, deeming that the country needed
his services, he, with thousands of other patriotic
young men of Illinois, shouldered their muskets
and marched to the front; he as a member of Co.
G, 92d 111. Vol. Inf. His term of enlistment was

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

291

for three years, which time he fully served, and
was honorably discharged on the 7th of July, 1865.
On account of his qualities as a soldier and the
confidence reposed in him by his superiors, he was
appointed Corporal in his company. During the
entire term of service he was never absent from
his regiment a day unless on duty. When he was
through with his army service, and marched home
as one of the victors in that great struggle, he
turned his sword into a plowshare, and resumed
the habiliments of a private citizen. From the ex-
citement attending the three years of army life, he
resumed the quiet vocation of farmer, living on a
rented farm in Harlem Township for two years,
and in Waddams Township for two years. He
then purchased sixty acres of land in Waddams
Township, on which he lived until February, 1877,
when he sold the farm and bought ninety-nine acres
in Harlem Township. Mr. H. has added to this un-
til he now owns 160 acres, every acre of which is
valuable laud. He has erected comfortable and
commodious buildings, and is fast surrounding
himself with all the conveniences coveted by the
prosperous farmer.

On the 25th of December, 1861, at Lena, 111.,
Samuel Houser was married to Miss Caroline Gates,
daughter of Justice and Polly (Fuller) Gates, who
were natives of New York State. They came to
Winuebago County, 111., in 1837; about 1844-45
they removed to Stephenson County and settled in
Waddams Township. Mrs. H. died in Harlem
Township on the 19th of June, 1882. Mr. H. died
in Nebraska, while on a visit to his sons, on the
21st of August, 1882. They had eight children
who lived to grow up, six boys and two girls.
Mrs. Houser was the eldest daughter and fourth
child, and was born in Winuebago County, 111., on
the 7th of April, 1841. Mr. and Mrs. Houser
have had two children, Lewis J. and Lois M.; the
former died in Waddams Township when four
years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Houser are members
in good standing of the Lutheran Church.

Ever since the close of the war Mr. Houser has
been a Republican, and has shown his fealty to that
party on all occasions. He had two brothers in
the Union army, Abram and Christopher F. They
were both members of Co. G, 92d 111. Vol. luf.

During an engagement at Nigger Jack Gap, Ga.,
Abram was taken prisoner, and was confined in
Andersonville for nine months. While the regi-
ment was on the march through South Carolina
Christopher was captured, and was held a prisoner
of war for three months.

SA CARY is one of the old settlers of the

/U\{ county, and is what is known as a general
farmer, living in Ridott Township. Mr.
Cary is of Puritan stock. His father was
born in Massachusetts, near Hat field, lived there a
farmer and was married in his native State. His
wife was Damarius Hickox, a native of New Hamp-
shire, but was partly reared in Massachusetts.

Some years after the father of the subject of this
biography, Asa Cary, Sr., was married, he, his wife
and first members of the family went from Mass-
achusetts to Casenovia, N. Y. He was a third
cousin of those sweet and tuneful poetesses, Alice
and Phtube Cary. The elder Cary and wife lived
to be over threescore years, and were the parents
of twelve children. One died when young and
the others lived to be men and women.

Asa Cary, Jr., was the youngest of the family.
He was born in the township of Boston, Erie Co.,
N. Y., Aug. 22, 1822, and lived on his father's
farm until he was twenty-five years old, at which
time he engaged in merchandising at Boston Cor-
ners in the same county, and was thus engaged for
five years. In 1852 he came to Silver Creek
Township in this county, making his purchase of
land in the spring and locating in the fall. He
bought 168 acres of land and lived on it fourteen
years. It was wild prairie soil, rich in strength,
but as yet it had not been tilled. After he had
sold this he purchased 120 acres on section 35,
where he is making his residence. Besides this he
has eighty-five acres on section 2, of the same
township, and also ten acres of fine timber land.

Asa Cary was married in Erie County, N. Y.,
Nov. 18, 1851, to Miss Laura Rice. She was born
and reared in Erie County, and is also of Puritan
stock. Her parents were farmers and lived and

. -

292

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

died in New York State. The father was Wilder
Rice; the mother's maiden name was Mary Brooks.
Mrs. Gary died at her home in this township July
30, 1880. She was the mother of seven children:
Homer resides at Clear Lake, Iowa, is a farmer, and
married Miss Elizabeth McDonald ; Minnie E. is
the wife of Dr. J. N. Pickett, of Odell, Neb.;
Lillian G. is the wife of George Waddington, and
lives in Filley, Gage Co., Neb. ; Adelaide P. is the
wife of Louis D. Canfleld, also of the latter-named
place, and a harness-maker by trade ; Merton E.
and William W. assist their father in the manage-
ment of the farm; Mary A. also lives at home.
The family are attendants of the Methodist Episco-
pal Church. Mr. Gary and son are members of the
Republican party.

ANIEL KOHL, living on section 28, Har-
lem Township, is a farmer who. by dint of
perseverance and economy, has attained
to comfortable circumstances. His par-
ents were George and Mary (Will) Kohl, both na-
tives of Pennsylvania, and the father is still living
with his children. The, mother died July 7, 1887.
Daniel was the second child of a family of eleven
children. He was born in Lycoming County, Pa.,
March 4, 1841, and enjoyed but the little educa-
tion afforded by the district schools. However,
he made the most of his opportunities and devel-
oped some degree of shrewdness, gained from his
observations. He accompanied his parents when
they came to Stephenson County, and lived at
home until he arrived at his majority, when he en-
gaged in farming on his own account. His thrift
and industry are apparent in the fact that he is the
owner of 200 acres of well-improved land, on
which he has good buildings. This is the result of
his labors and tells its own story, but who can tell
of the plodding industry which accomplished it.

Mr. Kohl was married in Green County, Wis.,
March 30, 1861, to Miss Sarah A. Lizard, daughter
of Peter and Elizabeth Lizard. Mrs. Kohl was
born in Centre County, Pa., Nov. 25, 1835. To
our subject and his wife there have been born six

children Ira E., Cora J., Oscar, Elmer, Mary E.,
Hattie M. Ira died when an infant; Cora is the
wife of Alphert Hutmacher, and resides in Harlem
Township.

The estimation in which Mr. Kohl is held in the
community where he resides is shown by the fact
of his election to most of the minor offices of his
township. The neighbors appreciated a man of
steadfast character and hence placed reliance in Mr.
Kohl. In politics he is a Republican.

ARQUIS M. BARKER, son of one of the
honored pioneers of Stephenson County,
is an enterprising young farmer of Oueco
Township, located on section 34, on his
father's old homestead, and where he has just
fairly started about the more serious business of
life and his establishment as a responsible citizen.
He was married on the 7th of April, 1886, and has
every prospect of a successful future, as he is
equipped with an intelligent mind, a healthy frame,
and the disposition to become a praiseworthy and
valued member of society.

The first representatives of this branch of the
Barker family in America located in the State of
Vermont, over 100 years ago. Gerard Barker, the
father of our subject, was born in the Green Mount-
ain State March 12, 1812. His father was also
a native of Vermont, and his grandfather was
born in Canada, from whence he migrated to Ver-
mont and his sons located. They were men of
good stature and strong frames, mostly engaged in
agricultural pursuits, and distinguished for lon-
gevity. The paternal grandfather of our subject
lived to the advanced age of ninety-four years, re-
taining to the last his natural energy, and a year
previous had fed and fattened ninety head of hogs,
husking the corn for them with his own hands.
Gerard Barker remained under the parental roof
until the fall of 1846, after he had passed his
thirty-fourth year, and then with a team of horses
started on the long journey from Vermont to some
point in the fertile West, the exact location of

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

293

which he had by no means deiermined. He was
bent upon seeing the country, and probably was
fully satisfied in this respect by the time he had
reached the end of his journey. Upon reaching
the present site of Chicago, which was then an un-
pretending hamlet of three or four stores and a
few other rude buildings designated as houses, he
was offered 100 acres of the land which now com-
prises the heart of the city for one of his horses,
which offer he rejected with disdain. After view-
ing the town sufficiently, and refreshed by a brief
rest and a sojourn of a night or so, he harnessed his
team but was yet undecided upon the direction he
should pursue. He accordingly set a rail upright
and determined to follow the point of the compass
toward which it fell, and after a few days ac-
cordingly landed in the neighborhood of Campbell,
in Coles County. The locality, however, did not
exactly suit him, and not long afterward he made
his way eastward into Rock Grove Township, this
county.

The father of our subject now possessed a cash
capital of fifty cents, but borrowed enough money
to carry out his original intention of entering a
tract of land. He selected 160 acres of land,
where he put up a log cabin which he occupied
with his family some years, and in the meantime
brought his land to a good state of cultivation,
and was then enabled to sell out at reasonable
profit. His next purchase was 400 acres in Oneco
Township. He now began to rise in the world and
enjoy the reward of his industry and perseverance.
In due time his farm was equipped with handsome
and substantial buildings, and all the machinery
required by the progressive agriculturist. His en-
terprise and his value accordingly were duly recog-
nized by the people around him, and he was called
upon to fill the various local offices, and became
prominent in matters pertainiug to the progress
and development of that section of country.
Formerly a Whig, he had cordially endorsed Re-
publican principles upon the abandonment of the
old party, and upheld these ever afterward.

The mother of our subject before her marriage
was Miss Hannah E. Goodrich, and she was born
Aug. 30, 1815. The male members of the Good-
rich family were distinguished for their skill as

natural mechanics, and one brother especially, be-
came one of the most expert machinists in that
section of country, although never having served
an apprenticeship at the trade. He, like the
others, however, was fond of farm life and its pur-
suits, and they were mostly members of the rural
community. Mrs. Hannah Barker departed this
life at her home in Oneco Township, in February,
1884, when sixty-nine years of age. Of the seven
children included in the parental household two
are deceased: Dudley A., the eldest son, who was
born May 12, 1844, was a youth of seventeen at
the breaking out of the late war, and consequently
had to forego for a time his riesire to become a
soldier. In 1864, however, he enlisted in an Illi-
nois regiment, and after having participated in
various engagements with the enemy was wounded,
although not seriously. Afterward he was con-
fined by sickness in the hospital at Shreve-
port, La., but although urged by his friends
and family to return home he refused, think-
ing he would recover and be able to rejoin
his regiment. His hopes, however, were des-
tined to disappointment, as he expired on the
17th of June, 1865; his remains now fill a sol-
dier's grave in the cemetery at Spring Grove.
Charles M. Barker is engaged at farming in Minne-
sota; Arba F. is a resident of Orange ville; Alida
F. is the wife of Charles Fields, of Pipe Stone, Minn. ;
Lemuel G. died in Rock Grove, Jan. 17, 1852,
when about two years of age; Nancy L. is the wife
of Charles Pratt, of Edgerton, Minn. ; Marqliis M.,
our subject, is the youngest of the family.

Mr. Barker remained with his parents until
1881, and then crossed the Mississippi into Wyo-
ming, where he engaged as a stock-dealer two
years. Afterward he spent one year in Minnesota,
Dakota and Iowa, traveling over the country, and
then returned- home and rented the old homestead
where he has since remained. He was united in
marriage with Miss Sarah C. Periott April 7,
1886, and brought his bride to a comfortable and
handsome home, where they are surrounded by all
the comforts of life, and have begun their journey
together in marked contrast to the early life of his
parents in this township. Mrs. Barker is the daugh-
ter of Richard Periott, of Virginia, and was born

< , 294

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

Sept. 28, 1861. Her father is one of the most suc-
cessful farmers and highly respected citizens of
Stephenson County. Our subject adheres to the
Republican principles taught him by his father, and
keeps posted upon all matters of general interest.

'jijOHN HERSHEY, a prosperous farmer of
Loran Township, occupies a good property
on section 33, which consists of 160 acres of
highly cultivated laud, with substantial farm
buildings, good stock and machinery, and every-
thing required by the modern agriculturist. He is
still a young man, and by his native energy and
industry, has already established himself as one of
the important factors in the agricultural element of
Stephenson County.

Our subject is the son of Jacob and Susanna
(Essig) Hershey, of whom a sketch will be found
elsewhere in this volume. He was the eldest in a
family of three children, and was born in Alle-
gheny County, Pa., Oct. 5, 1850. He came to this
county with his parents, and has since resided in
Loran Township. He was fairly educated in the
common schools, and when of marriageable age
took unto himself a wife and helpmeet, in the per-
son of Miss Sophia Hasselmann, their wedding be-
ing celebrated at the home of the bride in Loran
Township, Sept. 21, 1876. The wife of our sub-
ject is the eldest daughter of August and Henrietta
Hasselmann, of whom a sketch will be found on an-
other page in this work. The parental household
included nine children. Mrs. H. was born in Loran
Township, July 27, 1857, and by her marriage
with our subject has become the mother of four
children, namely, Susannah H., Sarah C., Lillie L.
and August J. W. Mr. and Mrs. H. are members
of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.

DAM BOLENDER. The man who settled
in Stephenson County in the year 1840,
/// ls> was truly one of the pioneers, for at that
time there was but little improved land
in the county, and were it not for the fact that a
large proportion of the county was prairie land, it

might have been called a " howling wilderness."
It was in that year that Mr. Bolender settled in
Stephenson County. He is the son of John Bolen-
der, and a brother of Levi Bolender. (See sketch
of latter.) He lived at home until he was twenty-
six years of age, devoting his working days to the
farm, and as it was possible, attended the district
and subscription schools. The building in which
these schools were taught was constructed of logs,
and heated by a large fireplace with a wooden
chimney. Lacking the essentials of a fire-proof
building, it caught fire and burned down.

At the age of twenty-five, Mr. Bolender was
married, and a year later left the parental roof and
rented a farm near Rock Grove, which he culti-
vated for two years, at the end of which time he
purchased eighty-seven acres from his father, all
of which was wild prairie land, except six acres.
There was no improvement upon it whatever. The
first year he built a granary, in which he lived
until he built what is now the kitchen of his pres-
ent residence. In 1861 he built one of the largest
barns in that part of the county, and erected other
suitable out-buildings. In 1867 he finished his
present residence, portions of which had been con-
structed before. He owns 136 acres of land, which
he farmed until 1880, when he rented it to his son
William on shares, and then retired from active
farm life.

Mr. Bolender has occupied many places of trust
and honor. He has been Road Commissioner sev-
eral terms, Collector one year, Assessor five years,
and School Director over a quarter of a century.
He was an Elder, Deacon and Trustee in the Luth-
eran Church, in Rock Grove. He and his wife be-
long to the Evangelical Church now. He is an
original Republican, having assisted in the organi-
zation of that party in Stephenson County, in 1856,
when John C. Fremont was the presidential candi-
date. He has always supported the National and
State ticket of that party, but through local jeal-
ousies, much against his own will, he became a
Mugwump, and was nominated for Assessor on the
People's ticket, and elected by a large majority.
Mr. Bolender evidently did not believe much in
mugwumpery himself, for the ballot he cast on
this occasion was against his own candidacy. At

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

295

this same election, his son William was elected a
Supervisor. The latter has been Town Clerk a
number of years.

Mr. Bolender has been married three times; first
to Miss Esther Kline, daughter of Joseph Kline, a
native of Berks County, Pa., who came to Stephen-
son County about 1845, and died at the age of
sixty. He was a miller by occupation, but his life
in this county was that of a farmer. Mrs. Bolen-
der was born Sept. 11, 1824, and was the mother
of four children : John M., born May 26, 1862,
died Jan. 13, 1H65; one child born Sept. 11, 1867,
died in infancy; William H., the oldest son, was
born Sept. 25, 1852, and he married Miss Ellen
Kline, daughter of George Kline (see sketch),
and now occupies the old homestead. Mary E.,
Mrs. J. Emerich, was born Aug. 5, 1859. The
mother of these children died on the llth of Sep-
tember, 1867, on the forty-third recurrence of her
birthday. The second wife was Miss M. Dinges,
daughter of Samuel, a native of Pennsylvania, who
came to this county about 1866. This marriage
occurred in 1868. His wife was born in Pennsyl-
vania, and died at the age of fifty-five years and
eleven months. They had one son, Samuel M.,
who was born in 1869, and is employed by William
on the old homestead. His third wife was Miss
Demaras J. Rocky, daughter of Henry M. Rocky /
They were married in 1883, and she was thirty-
three years of age. Her people were from Pennsyl-
vania, and her father is now a merchant of Rock
Grove.

>ILLIAM Z. TUNKS, Justice of the Peace,
Notary Public, and Collection Agent at
Davis, is one of the oldest and best known
Justices of Stephenson County. His official career
has extended over a period, of thirty years in this
county, of which he became a resident in 1843,
and with the exception of four years has held this
office continuously since 1852. He made his first
purchase of land on section 12, in Rock Run Town-
ship, and which consisted mainly of a timber tract,
from which he cleared the trees and prepared the
soil for cultivation. He also added good improve-

ments, and remained in possession of the home
thus established until November, 1877. He then
retired from the active labor of the farm, and re-
moving to Davis devoted his entire attention to
the duties of the office. In the meantime he has
consolidated his property interests, selling his land
and investing part of the proceeds in village lots
and a comfortable dwelling. He is now quite well
advanced in years, and takes life comparatively
easy, enjoying the affection of his children and the
respect of the community at large.

The birth of our subject took place in Clarke
County, Ohio, March 9, 1817. His father, Thomas
Tunks, was a native of Kentucky, born and reared
on a farm. The family is of English ancestry.
Thomas Tunks was married in Clarke County, Ohio,
to which he had removed in early life. The maiden
of his choice, Miss Anna Wallingsford, who was of
Irish parentage, was born in Boonesboro, Ky., and
reared in Clarke County, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. T.
began life together on a farm there, and became
the parents of eight children, six sons and two
daughters. Two of the former and one of the lat-
ter are now deceased. The parents continued on
the old homestead in Ohio, enjoying the good-will
and confidence of all who knew them until called
to the rewards of worthy and well-spent lives. The
father died when eighty-two years of age, in 1859,
the mother having preceded her husband to the
better land some years before, about 1844. She
was a devoted Christian woman, and a member in
good standing of the Baptist Church.

Our subject was the fifth child of the parental
household, of which he remained a member until
his marriage. The lady who became his wife on
the 5th of October, 1843, was Miss Paulina Win-
chester, who was born in Union County, Ohio, in
1822, and died at her home in Rock Run Township,
this county, in 1849, leaving two children. These
were Anna J., at home, and Albert, who is now in
Nebraska. Mr. Tunks was the second time mar-
ried, in Winnebago County, to Miss Armadilla
Mclntire, who was born and reared in Union
County, Ohio, and came West after the death of
her parents, locating in Winnebago County, which
remained her home until her marriage. She be-
came the mother of three children, and departed

296

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

this life at her home in the south part of this town-
ship in 1864. Two of her children have since died.
The surviving child is a daughter, Rose, now the
wife of William M. Dustin, of Valley County, Neb.

The present wife of our subject, formerly Mrs.
Candace S. (Emery) Daniels, is a native of Cuya-
hoga County, Ohio, whence her parents removed
while she was young to this State. She was at
the time of her marriage with our subject, a resi-
dent of Rock Run Township. Of her first marriage
there were born six children, of whom but three
are living, namely, Albert, Henry B. and Omri.
The children deceased were daughters Candace,
Fidelia and Luella.

Mr. Tunks represented Rock Run Township on
the County Board of Supervisors seven terms, and
was Township Treasurer for a period of twenty-four
years. He is a solid Republican, politically. In
all respects be is considered a reliable and responsi-
ble citizen, respected for bis integrity, and occupies
a good position socially and financially.

JOSEPH SECHLER was born in that
part of Columbia County which is now
Montour County, Pa., Nov. 21, 1822. His
father, Jacob Sechler, a native of the same
county, was born when that tract was included in
Northumberland County. His father, the grand-
father of our subject, was a native of German}',
emigrated to America when a young man, and was
among the earliest pioneers of Northumberland
County, where, in company with his brother Jacob,
he purchased a tract of timber land. The latter
never married, but proceeded with the improve-
ment of his purchase, and spent his last days upon
the land where he first settled. The grandfather of
our subject was a blacksmith by trade, but assisted
in redeeming the soil from its original condition.
He was married to Miss Elizabeth Stump, who was
of German ancestry ; she was born in Lehigh County,
Pa. Mrs. Sechler was left a widow with six chil-
dren, her husband having died when about thirty-
six years of age. She continued afterward on the
farm of her brother-in-law, until the death of the lat-

ter, when she came into possession of the entire farm,
where she reared her children, and spent the re-
mainder of her life.

Jacob Sechler was but six years old when his
father died. He had grown to manhood at the
time of his uncle's death, and continued on the farm
as its manager and part owner, he having inherited
a part of it from his father, and also received by
his uncle's will, his share of the property. He re-
mained a resident there continuously until his
death, Dec. 13, 1869, when he had attained to the
ripe old age of seventy years. There also he was.
married and his children were born. His wife was
formerly Miss Elizabeth Mench, who was born in
tne same county as her husband, and was the daugh-
ter of Abraham Mench, of German ancestry, and a
native of Berks County, Pa. She died on the old
home farm in Montour County. She had, like her
husband, resided in three different counties without
changing her location.

The parents of our subject had ten children,
nine of whom grew to man and womahood. Joseph
was the second child and eldest son. When of suit-
able years, he commenced attending school during
the winter season, and was employed on the farm
the balance of the time until reaching his majority.
Afterward he attended the High School at Danville,
and was engaged in teaching one year. In 1855
he left his native State and came to Illinois, reaching
Freeport November 13, and soon afterward secured
a position as clerk in a general store at Orangeville.
Here he was employed the greater part of the fol-
lowing six or seven years. In the meantime he
employed his leisure moments in studying and pre-
paring himself for the ministry. The denomina-
tion of his choice was the Reformed Church of the
United States, in which he commenced preaching as
a supply at Cedarville and Lancaster, in 1860. He
continued his pious labors for five years, and was
obliged to abandon them on account of throat
trouble. He afterward engaged in mercantile pur-
suits at Lena', where he continued until 1882. He
then resumed, preaching until 1885, when lie was
appointed a traveling agent of the College of North-
ern Illinois, and was thus engaged for eighteen
months, in the meantime visiting from Michigan to
Pennsylvania. When this contract had terminated

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

299

he resumed his labors in the ministry, and now
preaches at Damascus and Harlem Center regu-
larly.

The marriage of Rev. Joseph Sechler and Miss
Mary Hartzel took place Oct. 5, 1847. The wife
of our subject is a native of Northampton County,
Pa., and the daughter of John and Maria (Andrews)
Hartzell, both natives of Pennsylvania. Her pa-
ternal grandfather was John Hartzell, of North-
ampton County, and her great-grandfather, Chris-
tian Hartzell, of Swiss ancestry, was a native of
Switzerland County, Pa., whence he removed to
Northampton County during its early settlement,
securing a tract of land along the banks of the Dela-
ware, where he cleared a farm and spent the re-
mainder of his life. His wife was the daughter of
Frederick and Magdalena (Butz) Andrews. The
Butz family were of German origin, and the de-
scendants of both families were widely and favor-
ably known throughout the counties of Bucks and
Northampton.

Our subject and his wife became the parents of
three children, two now living, namely, Ermina E.,
who married William Crotzer, a resident of Lena,
and Maria Margaret, the wife of A. S. Crotzer.

ILLIAM F. PRESTON, a pioneer settler of
Harlem Township, came to this county in
September, 1838, and located a claim,
which was staked out by his elder brother, Alex-
ander M., in 1835. This brother was in Dixon
when the Black Hawk War closed in 1832. Mr.
Preston, a native of Ohio, was born in Gallipolis,
June 19, 1819. His father, William Preston, was a
native of New York, and the mother, formerly a
Miss Miller, and the daughter of a Presbyterian
minister, Alexander Miller, was born in New Jer-
sey. Her father was a gentleman of fine talents,
and one of the principal writers in the compiling
of Murray's Grammar. William Preston, after
marriage removed to Ohio and located in Gallipo-
lis, wherehe turned his attention to surveying and
was in the service of the Government there and in

portions of Michigan from 1816 to 1819. The
compass which he used as well as his father before
him when he was a young man is now in possession
of his son and held among the precious relics of the
past.

Our subject's father came to this county when a
young man, settling first at a point three and one-
half miles northwest of Freeport, where he engaged
in farming, and, like his father before him, was oc-
cupied in surveying through different parts of the
county and laying out the public highways. He
lived on the farm ten years, then abandoned active
labor and moved into the city of Freeport, where
he resided until his death, which took place in
1875. He was elected County Clerk in 1848, and
held tUe office until 1852. While a resident of
Ohio he taught school a number of years at Gal-
lipolis, his first duties as a pedagogue beginning
when a youth of sixteen years of age. The death
of the mother was the first which. occurred in Har-
lem Township, and took place in March, 1839.
The parental family included fifteen children, ten
of whom lived to become men and women. Of
these only six remain ; three are residents of this
county, two of California and one of Texas.

The subject of our sketch was the eighth child of
his parents, and nineteen years of age when he came
to this county. He enjoyed the advantages of the
common schools, and continued on the farm until
1848. He then caught the California fever, and
took a trip across the plains in company with two
brothers. They started out with ox-teams, leaving
Freeport on the 6th of April and arrived at the
diggings Oct. 7, 1848. He engaged in mining, and
the first year cleared about $5,000. He remained
on the Pacific Slope until the spring of 1851, when
he returned to Stephenson County, via the Isthmus
of Panama and New Orleans. It is worthy of note
that Mr. Preston between coming here and going
to California really footed it from West Virginia
to California. He has a great reputation as a
walker, and walked across the continent at Pana-
ma. He now concluded to settle down upon the
farm and engaged in agriculture. In 1856 he
built a stearn sawmill, which he operated until
1869, at which time the mill was torn down and
converted into corn cribs, and he sold the boiler

300

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

and other iron work, and thereafter devoted his
time mainly to raising corn. He remained in the
rural districts until 1886, then retired from active
labor and took up his abode in the city of Freeport,
where he now proposes to enjoy the competency
which he has accumulated by his industry.

Mr. Preston has been twice married. His first
wife was Miss Alice Housen, who became the
mother of three children. Their eldest son, Will-
iam C., is a resident of California. The others
were named respectively, Tecumseh 8., who is also
in California, and Rupert, in Nebraska. Mr. Pres-
ton was subsequently, in 1 874, married to Miss
Amy Brigham, who for a period of seven years
had been an efficient .teacher in ; the Freeport
schools. Forithirteen; years prior she had'taught
constantly in New York and Pennsylvania. She
was born in WayiuTCounty^Pa., Oct. 15, 1832,
and is the daughter oflHiramiW. and Mary
(Sutliff) Brigham, the father a native of Montgom-
ery County, N. Y., and the mother of New England
parentage and born in Connecticut. Mr. Brigham
died Nov. 16, 1873, and Mrs. Brigham Sept. 11,
1884. Mr. and Mrs. Brigham came to Stephenson
County in 1868.

Mr. Preston while living in Harlem Township
served as Commissioner of Highways and Town
Clerk, and was otherwise idenified with local
affairs. Nothing pleased him better than to note
the progress and growth of his adopted county.
He was particularly interested in the establishment
of educational and religious institutions, and took
an active part in the erection of church edifices.
Religiously, he is connected with the United
Brethren Church. Politically, he was in former
years a stanch adherent of the Democratic party
until 1885, when he[allied himself to the Prohibi-
tionists. Mrs. Preston was one of the charter
members in the organization of Busy Bee Lodge,
of Rebekah, I. O. O. F. She is a Good Templar
and a member of the; Methodist Episcopal Church.
Mr. Preston, socially, is likewise an Odd Fellow.
Mr. and Mrs. Preston have one child, Ethel, a
bright girl of eight years.

Among the portraits^ of leading men of the
county presented in 'this volume, may be found

that of Mr. Preston.
4*

ffiACOB P. MITCHELL, one of the oldest
| settlers of the township of Lancaster, and
whose portrait is given in this connection, is
now living in retirement at his commodious
residence on section 11, where he has resided since
June 11. 1842. He was born in what is now
Clinton County, but formerly Center County, Pa.,
Sept. 18, 1818. His father, William Mitchell, was
born in the Highlands of Scotland and came of
pure Scottish ancsstry. When a boy he came to
the United States in company with some relatives
and his brothers and sisters. They first located at
Liverpool, Pa., but later removed to Penn's Val-
ley, where the father of our subject was married
to Miss Rebecca Knoss, who was born in Harris-
burg, Pa., and of German extraction, her grand-
father having come to the United States with Will-
iam Penn and his colony. The Knoss family were
sturdy, hard-working people, and usually long-
lived, the grandfather having lived to be over a
century old, while other members of the family
also became very aged.

William Mitchell, the father of our subject, was
a resident of what is now Clinton County, Pa.,
where he died, which event occurred at his home in
Brush Valley, when he was but thirty years of age.
At that time his sou, Jacob P., was but a child, one
of seven who were left to his mother's care.
After they had all grown up they came West by
the river route to Galena, then to Buena Vista, in
Stephenson County, where a short time afterward
the children scattered about, each seeking to make
his own living. The mother resided, until her
death, at the homes of her several children. She
died in Lancaster Township at the residence of her
widowed daughter, Margaret Sedan, at the vener-
able age of seventy-eight years, full of years and
full of honor. Mrs. Mitchell was a member of the
Evangelical Church. She was a woman noted for
her kindness, a beloved mother and a devout
Christian. Her seven children still survive her:
Mrs. Margaret Sedan, living at Hickory Grove,
Dakota Township, Stephenson County, and now
aged eighty years; Mrs. Emily Brown, now aged
seventy -seven, resides in Dakota Village; Massina
resides in Lancaster Township, his age being
seventy-five, and William, who is seventy-two, is

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

301

also a resident of the same township and is a farmer;
our subject is the next in order of birth; Mrs.
Anna Needier, aged sixty-five, now resides at Long
Grove, Lake Co., 111., and Robert, aged sixty-two,
now resides on a farm in Dakota Township.

Our subject, Jacob P. Mitchell, grew to man-
hood in his native county under the charge of his
good Christian mother, working around some of
the time to earn his own living, his mother being
in reduced circumstances. Just five days before
coming to Illinois, May 5, 1842, he was married at
Coverley Hall, Nitney Valley, Pa., to Miss Ellen
Pollock, who was born in Buffalo Valley, Nov. 5,
1821. She was the daughter of John Pollock, a
Pennsylvania farmer of Irish descent. His wife,
as well as himself, died before their daughter Ellen
was married. Mr. Mitchell with his bride departed
with the other members of the family for Illinois
on May 10, 1842, and, having reached Stephenson
County, engaged in farming on his own account.
At that time he entered forty acres of Government
land, upon which he erected a house, and from that
day to this has made his home here. At the time
of his coming this county was sparsely settled, and
in fact it required one year before he could obtain
his title from the Government, the land at that time
not having been put upon the market. He began
to make improvements and from time to time added
adjoining land, until he now owns 206 acres on
section 11, all of which is well improved and con-
tains excellent buildings.

Mr. Mitchell lost his first wife at their home by
death on March 14. 1882. She was the mother of
eight children, two of whom are now deceased, and
six married, viz : Norton, who married Margaret
Chambers, now resides on a farm in Lancaster
Township; Robert married Ellen Deery, and also
resides in Lancaster Township; Martha is the wife
of William Yarger, who resides on a farm in the
same township; James married Miss Sarah Ertel,
and lives in Marshall County, Iowa; Austin, the
third son, now living in Chicago, is a painter by
trade ; Sarah, the wife of John Lapp, resides on a farm
in Dickinson County, Iowa.

Mr. Mitchell was married the second time July
3, 1884, his choice being Mrs. Mary Babcock,
who was the relict of Frederick Babcock, who died

Oct. 4, 1877. She is the daughter of James Kelly,
who lived and died in New York State. Mrs.
Mitchell is the mother of two children by her
former husband : Omer, who married Miss E. Pot-
ter, now living in Waterloo, Iowa, and Elnora, who
resides with her brother. Mrs. Mitchell is a mem-
ber of the United Brethren Church, to which she
has been attached for fourteen years.

Mr. Mitchell is a very prominent citizen in the
township where he lives, and is active in all public
enterprises, and in the estimation of his neighbors
there is none more highly respected or more influ-
ential among the farmers of Stephenson County.
He is a man who has a fixed political belief and is
a member of the Republican party, which he gives
a very active support.

>HOMAS RODEBAUGH, of Winslow, occu-
pies a prominent place among the honored
pioneers of Stephenson County, of which he
became a resident in September, 1845. He entered
a tract of land from the Government and put up a
small frame house, and thus commenced life with
the hope and courage which characterized the men
of that day, and enabled them to endure uncom-
plainingly the hardships and privations of life in a
new country. His industry and frugality were am-
ply rewarded, and while building up a comfortable
homestead he witnessed with satisfaction the prog-
ress and development of his adopted State. The
main points in the history of our subject are as fol-
lows:

Mr. Rodebaugh was born in Centre County, Pa.,
Dec. 30, 1824. His father, John Rodebaugh, was
a native of Dauphin County, Pa., and was the son
of Peter Rodebaugh, who was born in Germany in
a town of that name. The great-grandfather,
Matthias Rodebaugh, emigrated to America with
his family prior to the Revolutionary War, and lo-
cated in Pennsylvania, where he spent the last years
of his life. His son Peter was a lad of ten years
when he came to America, and was afterward
bound out for the payment of his passage money.
He endured this kind of slavery for seven years,
and then ran away and enlisted in the federal army,

' ' 302

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

passing the memorable winter of 1773-74 at Valley
Forge with Gen. Washington. He served as a sol-
dier for a period of seven years, and after the Colo-
nies had established their independence purchased
a tract of land in Dauphin County, Pa., where he
remained several years and thence removed to
Ohio. He received a pension during the last .years
of his life, and died in Medina County, when
eighty-five years of age.

John Rodebaugh, the father of our subject, was
reared on a farm in his native county, and subse-
quently learned the trade of shoemaking. He was
married early in life, and located in Clearfield,
Centre Co., Pa., where he lived until about 1830,
thence removed to Medina County, Ohio, during
its early settlement, purchasing a tract of timber
land and clearing a farm, while at the same time he
employed his leisure hours at his trade. Subse-
quently he sold his farm there and removed to
Summit County, where his death took place about
1838. The mother of our subject was formerly
Miss Polly Bughman, a native of Northumberland
County, Pa., born about 1867. She accompanied
her husband to Ohio and survived him several
years, dying in Summit County. The children of
the parental household were named, respectively,
Susanah, Mary, Charles, Betsey, Elizabeth, Thomas,
John and Lovinia.

The subject of this sketch was the fifth child of
his parents, and was about four years old when
they emigrated from Pennsylvania to Ohio. His
early years were spent upon the farm and in attend-
ance at the pioneer schools, and when fifteen years
of age he commenced learning the cabinet-maker's
trade. He followed this in Ohio until in Septem-
ber, 1845, and then started for the farther West in
company with two other families. The journey
was made overland with teams and consumed eight-
een days. He first located in Buckeye Township,
where he entered a tract of land from the Govern-
ment and remained five years. He then took a con-
tract to complete one mile of the railroad then be-
ing constructed in West Point Township, which
occupied him six months. In 1855 he purchased a
tract of land in Winslow Township, which he im-
proved and lived upon until 1863, thence remov-
ing to Davis County, Iowa, where he sojourned ten

months, and then returning to Winslow Township
purchased a farm, where he occupied himself until
1869. In the spring of that year he sold out and
purchased hotel property in Winslow, where he
operated as "mine host" about ten years. In 1886
he purchased his present residence and the mill
property in Honey Creek, which fora period of two
years has furnished the dressed lumber for a large
proportion of the people of Winslow and vicinity.
The marriage of Thomas Rodebaugh and Miss
Lavina Ferguson was celebrated at the home of the
bride in Wayne County, Ohio, Nov. 12, 1844.
Mrs. R. is the daughter of Samuel and Phceba Fer-
guson (see sketch of Robert Ferguson). The six
children of this union are recorded as follows:
Mary A., the wife of D. E. Tyler, is a resident of
Green County, Wis. ; Elizabeth, Mrs. Wilson, lives
in Linn County, Mo. ; Lavina, the wife of Albert
Eells, lives on a farm in Minnehaha County, Dak.;
Charles B. is a resident of Winslow; Melissa. Mrs.
Edwards, lives in Umatilla County, Ore.; Daniel
T. is living near his parents.

OHN B. LEITZELL, M. D., is one of the

leading physicians of West Point Township,
where, doubtless, many are familiar both
with his cheerful countenance and his repu-
tation as a physician of skill and culture. He is
the son of Philip and Julia (Nofsker) Leitzell, and
was born March 16, 1829. The family is of Ger-
man extraction. His grandfather, Jacob Leitzell,
was a native of Berks County, Pa., and passed his
entire life in that State, engaged in farming. His
son Philip was born in Berne Township, Berks Co.,
Pa. He attended school and assisted his father in
the labor of the farm until he reached the age of
eighteen, when he removed to Centre County. A
few years later he purchased land and engaged in
farming in Gregg Township. His death occurred
Jan. 16, 1871. His wife died on the old home-
stead Nov. 9, 1869. Their family consisted of
thirteen children, of whom eleven grew to maturity.
John B. Leitzell remained with his parents, alter-
nately attending school and assisting with the farm
work, until he was twenty years of age. Possessing

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

303

an unusually thoughtful and studious mind, he de-
termined to enter one of the professions, and at
twenty years of age he commenced the study of
medicine in the office of Drs. Peter and Charles
Smith, at Spring Mills, Pa. He attended lectures
at the Pennsylvania Medical College, and gradu-
ated March 5, 1853, and commenced the practice
of medicine in Spring Mills. Not feeling satisfied
with his location there after a six months' trial, he
removed to Stormstowu, and from thence to Salona,
Clinton County, where he remained seventeen
years. In the meantime he purchased a farm near
Spring Mills, Centre County, but continued to
practice medicine, supervising the help employed
to conduct the farm labor. In 1883 he removed
to Stephenson County, and settled in Ridott Town-
ship, and in 1884 he purchased the farm which he
now occupies in West Point Township, of which
his son Harry is the manager.

Dr. Leitzell was twice married. In 1854 he was
married to Miss Emily Blakeley, a native of Belle-
fonte, Centre Co., Pa. Her death occurred May
18, 186f>. Nov. 9, 1869, he was united in mar-
riage with Miss Sarah D. Custard. She was a
native of Lamar Township, Clinton Co., Pa. There
were three children born by the first marriage:
Charles P., who graduated from the Baltimore Col-
lege of Physicians and Surgeons in March, .1882;
Harry B., who is a teacher, and Mary E. Charles
P. is now associated with his father, and assists
him in carrying on his extensive practice.

Dr. John B. Leitzell is a man of rare mental and
moral worth, and is also possessed of a vigorous
physique, which enables him to endure the fatigue
of the long drives imposed upon him by his large
practice. In his declining days he is reaping the
reward of a temperate life. Dr. and Mrs. Leitzell
are prominent membersjof the Methodist Church.
The Doctor belongs to the Republican party, and
since 1864 has been a member of Lena Lodge, I.
O. O. F.

P. J. Leitzell is now in Girard, Crawford Co.,
Kan., where he has been a resident since 1876. His
time has been employed since a resident of Kansas,
as County Superintendent and teacher. Charles
B. Leitzell, also a pli3 T sician and surgeon, graduated
at Jefferson Medical College, in Philadelphia, and

is now practicing medicine at Reimesburg, Arm-
strong Co., Pa., and is one of the successful prac-
titioners of the State. The remainder of the broth-
ers and sisters of our subject reside in Centre
County, Pa., engaged in various vocations, and are
all prospering and well-to-do in the world.

eORNELIUS FURST, a capitalist, is one of
the early settlers of Stephenson County.
He was born in Centre County, Pa., in

1827, and is the son of George and Rachel (Snyder)
Furst. both of whom were natives of that State.
They had a family of ten children, all of whom
lived to maturity, but only three of whom are now
living. The county where George Furst was born
was known as Centre, but the name was afterward
changed to Clinton. He moved from that county
to Stephenson County, 111., in the fall of 1839. The
journey was made in wagons and they were pro-
vided with their own camp equipage, which they
used in case they could not get shelter in houses
when they stopped for the night. On arriving in
Stephenson County he settled in what is known as
Lancaster Township, in which he secured and im-
proved the farm on which he resided at the time
of his death, which occurred in the year 1854.
His wife survived him five years longer, dying in
1859.

Cornelius Furst was a mere lad when he came
with his parents to Stephenson County. His boy-
'hood days were spent on the farm, and during the
winter time he attended school at short intervals,
as the schools in those days were uncertain and the
terms of short duration. He remained with his
parents until he reached his majority, and then
started in the world for himself. He became the
owner of a good farm of 160 acres, which he man-
aged for some time. He then rented the farm and
moved to the city of Freeport in the year 1855.
Since his residence here he has been engaged in
the general loan and real-estate business, having
long since disposed of his farm.

In 1878 Mr. Furst was married to Emma C.
Hoover, of Freeport, who was born in Jo Daviess
County, 111. In the same year he bought his pres-

304

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

ent residence property on Stephenson street, which
is well located and comfortably surrounded. It is
one of the many pleasant and inviting homes in
Freeport. Since locating here Mr. Furst has been
signally successful. His real-estate transactions
have been profitable, and he has been very fortun-
ate in his investments. In the matter of loaning
money he is discreet as well as liberal. When good
security is offered, he always has the ready money
on hand to respond to any demand made upon him.
In politics, he trains with the Republican party. In
the days of Abolitionism, before the Republican
party was organized, Mr. Furst was an original
Abolitionist, and was always an ardent admirer of
William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips and
Owen Lovejoy. The latter was the original leader
of the forlorn hope of the Illinois Abolitionists.

\ UTHBERT WALTERS located in Winslow
Township in 1885, where he put up the first
and only cheese factory in the township,
and in connection with dairying began the cultiva-
tion of 200 acres of land on section 4. He is the
owner of a good property, the accumulation of his
own industry, and illustrates in a forcible manner
that which may be accomplished by steady perse-
verance and resolution.

Mr. Walters first drew breath in the eastern part
of Scotland, in May, 1833, and when an infant of
two months old, was taken by his parents to Ireland,
where he remained with them until seventeen years
of age, and then came to seek his fortune on this
side of the Atlantic. Upon reaching American
shores he proceeded to Philadelphia, Pa. He had
learned of his father the art of weaving, and now
followed his trade in Pennsylvania until about
1853. He then pushed toward the far West, and
coming to this county, commenced working by the
month, and was thus employed until the breaking
out of the late war in 1861.

Mr. Walters had acquainted himself sufficiently
with the political affairs of this country to deter-
mine at once with which party he would take sides
in the impending conflict, and in July of that year,
enlisted in Co. K, 52d 111. Vol. Inf., and rendered

good service as a Union soldier until the fall of
1864. In the meantime he had been present at the
battles of Ft. Donelson, Pittsburg Landing and Cor-
inth, also at the siege and capture of Atlanta.
After his term of service had expired, he received
an honorable discharge, and returned to the scenes
of his later operations in this county.

In the fall of 1864 Mr. Walters was united in
marriage with Miss Ellen Brown, who was a native
of New York State, and was brought by her par-
ents when a young child, to Elgin, Kane Co., 111.,
where Mrs. W. was reared and received a common-
school education. Her father, Lewis Brown, was
born in Canada, and was of French ancestry. He
is now in Chicago. Mr. and Mrs. Walters became
the parents of six children, namely, Ella, Nettie,
Willie, Frank, Cora, and a little daughter still un-
named. They are all with their parents, and the
family presents an interesting group, occupying a
home in the midst of plenty, and surrounded by
all the comforts of life. Mr. Walters has a herd of
sixty cows, and realizes each year from his cheese
factory, a handsome sum of money.

The father of our subject, Hugh Walters by
name, was also a native of Scotland, where he grew
to manhood, and was married to Miss Emeline
Craig. He removed to Ireland in 1833, and set-
tled near Londonderry, where he followed weav-
ing for nearly forty years, and then in his old age'
emigrated across the water, and located in the city
of Philadelphia, Pa., where he spent the remainder
of his life. He was twice married ; the mother of
our subject was Miss Emeline Craig, a native of
Scotland, who died three weeks after the birth of
her son Cuthbert.

TEPHEN TITUS occupies a comfortable
homestead on section 21, Waddams Town-
ship, and is a gentleman who made the
most of his opportunities while young, ob-
taining a good education and fitting himself by a
thorough course of reading to keep pace with the
well-informed people of the present day. He is
more than ordinarily intelligent and has consider-

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

305

able literary ability, having been a correspondent
of several local papers, and well fitted to discuss
the various questions which arise, and which are of
general interest to the intelligent citizens. He has
always been fond of country life, and possesses the
energy and industry required to make farming a
success. He is also a natural mechanic and a car-
penter of no little proficiency, at which trade he
employs his time when not otherwise engaged, and
has exhibited many evidences of his skill around
his pleasant and tasteful home.

Mr. T.'s early years were spent >n Washington
Tp., Dutchess Co., N. Y., on the farm of his father,
Jackson Titus, where he was born March 18, 18'21.
The latter was a native of the same county, and
the son of Samuel Titus, an extensive cattle-dealer
who purchased in the interior and drove to New
York City. The latter spent the last years of his
life in Dutchess County, where the father of our
subject grew to manhood and was married. Jack-
son Titus in time became the owner of a large
farm in Dutchess County, and also purchased a
tract of land in Michigan. He died in the latter
State while attending to business matters.

The mother of our subject was in her girlhood
Miss Hannah Conklin, a native of the same county
as her husband and son. Stephen, of our sketch,
was fifteen years old when his father died, after
which he made his home with an uncle. Subse-
quently he went into VVestchester County, N. Y.,
whence, after sojourning there two years, he re-
turned to his native county and took up the car-
penter trade, serving an apprenticeship of three
years. He followed his trade afterward, in West-
Chester County, four years, then returned to Dutch-
ess County and resided there until the spring of
1861. He now determined to seek his fortunes in
the Prairie State, and coming to this county, pur-
chased the tract of timber laud which he still occu-
pies, and purchased a part of his present farm
across the line in Buckeye Township.

Our subject, while a resident of Dutchess County,
N. Y., was united in marriage with Miss Harriett
Burlingame, a native of his own county, and who
was born in 1822. Of this union there is one
child, a daughter named Henrietta, now the wife
of John Kailey, a prosperous farmer of Buckeye

Township. Mr. Titus, in 1860, visited Putnam
County, Mo., where an uncle of his owned a large
tract of land. Mr. T. had engaged to put up a
house and barn, and remained there until after the
election, which resulted in seating President Lin-
coln in the National Executive Chair. This,
among other events at the beginning of. the war,
was the occasion of great excitement in that section
of country. Mr. T. at that time represented the
Budget, of Freeport. He is now one of the most
valued correspondents of the Freeport Democrat.
He takes a warm interest in educational matters,
and has served as School Director in Waddams
Township for a period of seven years. Before the
war he affiliated with the Democratic party, but
since 1860 has supported Republican principles.

OHN LOBDELL was born in the county of
Will, in the State of Illinois, B'eb. 10, 1837.
His father, Joseph Lobdell, was born in Her-
kimer County, N. Y., where the latter's father)
who was a native of Connecticut, had settled many
years before. During the Revolution, when the
elder Lobdell was but thirteen years of age, he was
made a prisoner by the British and Indians, and
conveyed to the enemy's camp in Canada, and
there kept a prisoner for a considerable time. Af-
ter his release, he came to the United States, and
settled in New York, where he married Elizabeth
Andrews, also a native of Connecticut, and whose
parents were pioneers in Herkimer County. The
grandfather of our subject was a farmer by occupa-
tion. After his captivity and marriage he spent
the remaining portion of his life in the eastern part
of New York State. His son Joseph, who was the
father of our subject, had arrived at the age of
seventeen years, when his parents moved to Cayuga
County and settled near Auburn. The lad ac-
quired a good education for those days, when the
facilities were so unfavorable, and for ten years af-
terward he taught school as a means of support for
himself and family. He married, Jan. 6, 1828, Miss
Olive Gallt. They resided in Cayuga County,
until the fall of 1834, when loading all their worldly
goods into a wagon to which they attached a pair '

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

of horses, they started for Illinois, a State which at
that time was famous the world over as the place
for the settler of moderate means. They made the
entire trip overland in twenty-seven days, landing
in Will County, where he found a vacant log cabin
which afforded shelter to his family. He located a
claim in July, 1835, and entered eighty acres of
land whereon he erected a rude log hut, in which
the family resided until 1837. In the month of
July of that year Mr. Lobdell concluded to go still
further West, in order to obtain more land. His
destination at this time was what is now known as
Waddams Township, Stephenson County, where,
having located a claim, he immediately began the
erection of a cabin. He also harvested sufficient
wild prairie grass to sustain his horses during the
winter, and then returned to Will County and
brought his family to their new home on the raw
and uncultivated prairie; he afterward purchased
from the Government 120 acres more. This new
home was at that time far away from any settle-
ment, in fact, at the time, there was but one house
upon the site which now contains the prosperous
city of Freeport, and that a log cabin. The near-
est trading point was at the Galena Mines, and a
trip to market required from three to four days;
flour was then sold at Galena at $7 per hundred.
Deer and wild turkey were plentiful. It was in this
new home that the father of the subject of this
sketch labored and improved, until the time of his
death.

John Lobdell was one of five children, who are
as follows : Frances, widow of David Patterson, re-
sides in Linn County, Iowa; Elizabeth, wife of Ed-
win Play ford, resides in Kansas; John, the subject
of this sketch; Ellen, the wife of Walter Ross, who
lives in Iowa; Daniel, who served in the late re-
bellion, first enlisting in the 46th Illinois Infantry in
1861, and again in 1863. He died at Cairo in 1864,
in August, while in the service of his country.
Mrs. Lobdell, the mother of the children above
enumerated, makes her home with her son John.
She was born in Middlefield, Otsego Co., N. Y.,
Oct. 1, 1804, being the daughter of Matthew and
Sally (Griggs) Gallt, natives of New York and
Connecticut respectively. The maternal grand-
father of Mrs. Lobdell was Samuel Griggs, who

married Penelope Goodell. The grandfather was
born in Connecticut, and was a soldier of the Rev-
olution, participating in the battle of Bunker Hill.
The grandmother was born in Massachusetts. Af-
ter their marriage they became among the first set-
tlers in New York State. The paternal grandparents
of Mrs. Lobdell, and great-grandparents of the sub-
ject of this sketch, were William and Margaret
(Harper) Gallt. The father taught the first school
in this district.

John Lobdell, of whom in particular we write,
was but an infant when his parents came to this
county. He has here grown from infancy to man-
hood, being reared on the farm, where he was
taught that industry which has enabled him to be-
come the successful farmer and citizen he is at
present. At the age of fifteen his father died,
which misfortune made it necessary for him, though
a boy in years, to perform the duties of a man.
He has done his work well, having added to the
old homestead 180 acres of magnificent farming
laud, all purchased and paid for by his untiring en-
ergy and perseverance, which may well be emulated
by any poor boy in the land. In politics, Mr.
Lobdell is a Republican.

On August 17, 1865, John Lobdell was married
to Miss Annie Foreman. She was born in Her-
kimer County, N. Y., on the 4th of July, 1845.
Her father, James Foreman, who was born in Lin-
colnshire, England, descended from a long line of
ancestors. His father, John Foreman, came from
England to Stephenson County in 1857, where he
spent the latter part of his life. The father of
Mrs. Lobdell arrived in America at the age of eight-
een, where he married Mary A. Laferty, who came
from Antrim, Ireland. He moved to Stephenson
County in 1845, settling in Waddams Township.
He removed in 1867 to Buchanan County, in the
State of Iowa. They have but one child.

EREND JANSSEN. Among the foreign-
born citizens of Loran Township, none are
more highly esteemed than Berend Janssen,
the subject of this sketch. He was born in
Germany, July 6, 1843, and emigrated to this

RESIDENCE OF JOHN S. PHI LLI PS, SEC. 30. WADDAMS TOWNSHIP.

RESIDENCE OF BEREND J ANSSEN, 5EC.35. LORAN TOWNSHIP.

RESIDENCEOF EMANUEL KAILEY , SEC. 3. ERIN TOWNSHIP.

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

309

country in 1867. He came direct to Stephenson
County, where for a year or more he worked in
Florence Township, and from that township moved
to Loran, where he has since resided. Mr. Janssen
is by nature a farmer, and since living in this
country has constantly followed that pursuit. He
is the owner in fee simple of 160 acres of very
productive land. Mr. Janssen believes in safely
garnering his grain, and has therefore erected on
his farm a commodious and conveniently con-
structed barn, so arranged that he can fulfill the
old adage, "a place for everything and everything
in its place." The same care and judgment have
been exercised in effecting the many other im-
provements shown on his premises, and which are
reproduced in the artist's best manner on another
page.

In the year 1873, and to be exact about date, on
the 8th of September, Mr. Jaussen was married to
Catherine Janssen in Freeport, 111. His wife also
came from Germany with her parents, Berend and
Johanna Janssen, when she was but eight years old.
She was born in Germany on the '28th of January,
1844. Three children have been born unto them,
and are named respectively, Bernard, Anna and
Johanna. The physical ruggedness of the parents
has been transmitted to the children, and they bid
fair to be long-lived and useful members of what-
ever part of the commonwealth they may choose
to make their home. Mr. Janssen is a member of
the Democratic party, and warmly endorses the
platform and the candidates of that organization.

) MANUEL KAILEY, proprietor of 250 acres
of valuable land in Erin Township, is ranked
IW 3) among its progressive and intelligent farm-
ers, and has been a resident of this section since
the spring of 1849. That he possesses taste and
means is exemplified in the view of his snug home-
stead on another page of this work. Like many
who took the first steps toward the development of
Northern Illinois, he comes of excellent Pennsyl-
vania stock, and was born in Union County, that
State, March 26, 1838. His parents, Solomon and
Elizabeth (Phillips) Kailey, were natives of Leba-

non County, Pa., at least it is believed that the
mother was born there, and it is known for a cer-
tainty that the father was. Thej' were married in
their native county, whence they soon afterward
removed to take up their residence in Union County.
In the latter they built up a good homestead, and
continued to reside until the fall of 1849. Then
gathering together their household goods and break-
ing loose from old friends and associations, they
migrated westward, and pitched their tents at a
point near Cedarville, this county, and in what is
now Dakota Township. Two years later, however,
they removed to what was afterward laid out as
Buckeye Township, where the father built up an-
other home from the uncultivated soil, and where
both parents spent the remainder of their lives.
The death of Solomon Kailey occurred March 19,
1867. The mother survived her husband a little
over seventeen years, her death taking place on the
8th of August, 1884, at the old homestead near
Cedarville.

The children of Solomon and Elizabeth Kailey,
ten in number, are recorded as follows: Joseph
during the late war enlisted in Co. A, llth 111. Vol.
Inf., and yielded up his life for his country at the
siege of Ft. Donelson; Noah, also a sacrifice to the
exigencies of war, was a member of Co. G, 125th
N. Y. Vol. Inf., and after the battle of the Wilder-
ness, in which he participated, was never more
heard from ; John and Samuel died when quite
young; Catherine became the wife of Jonathan
Nittle, of Freeport, and died there about 1877;
Sarah J., the wife of Frederick Englebert, died in
Kansas about 1875; George \V. is in Lawrence
County, Mo. The others were Emanuel, John C.
and Elizabeth A.

Mr. Kailey spent his childhood and youth amid
the scenes of country life, remaining in his native
county in Pennsylvania until the removal of his
father's family to this State. He was then a lad
twelve years of age, and became entirely familiar
with the vicissitudes of pioneer life. His school
advantages were extremely limited, and at an early
age he began to assist in the maintenance of the
family by making himself useful upon the farm,
i and supplying the place of a hired hand. When
I twenty-three years of age, the war being in prog-

310

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

ress, he enlisted in 1862 as a Union soldier, in Co.
G, 93d 111. Vol. Inf., serving as a private thirty-one
months, and by his faithful attention to duty
receiving the approval of his superior officers and
the respect of his comrades. He had participated
in many important battles, and in the fight with
the rebels in the mountains near Altoona, Ga., Oct.
5, 1864, was seriously wounded, and never fully
recovered, his discharge being effected on account
of the injuries received. He was also present at
the battle of Champion Hills near Vicksburg, and
was there wounded in the head by two buckshot.
At Altoona he was shot in the hip by a minie ball.
After retiring from the army Mr. Kailey returned
to his home in this county, and resumed farming
on his father's land one year. He then engaged in
drilling wells, at which business he became an ex-
pert, and followed it successfully for a period of
fourteen years in Stephenson and adjoining coun-
ties. In the meantime he also dealt in agricultural
implements and pumps at Lena. Subsequently he
abandoned this department of trade, and estab-
lished himself with a stock of dry -goods at Lena
in company with Henry Rife, under the firm name
of Rife & Kailey. He continued with his partner
four years, then sold out and wisely invested the
proceeds in a part of the land which comprises his
present homestead

The marriage of Mr. Kailey was celebrated in
the city of Freeport, 111., Oct. 26, 1865, the lady of
his choice being Miss Teresa Bitz. Mrs. Kailey
was born in the Province of Baden, near Heidel-
berg, Germany, March 1, 1846, and came with her
parents to this country when a young child, about
1853. They proceeded directly westward, taking
up their abode in West Point Township, this
county, where the father purchased a tract of land,
and where he spent the remainder of his life, dying
in about 1878. The mother afterward removed to
the home of a daughter, where her death took place
in 1885.

The children of our subject were Carrie E., Will-
iam E., Lulu, Mabel, Bertha (the two latter de-
ceased), and two babes who died unnamed. Mr.
Kailey has held the various offices of his township,
is a solid Republican, politically, and socially, be-
longs to William Goddard Post No. 258, G. A. R.

He is also a member of the Masonic fraternity.
The parents of Mrs. Kailey, Jacob and Teresa
Bitz, had a family of eight children, seven of whom
lived to mature years. They were named Teresa,
Jacob,. Katie, Annie, Lizzie, Emma, Frederick and
Sarah. Mrs. Kailey was the eldest of the family.
Jacob during the late Civil War enlisted in Co. F,
92d 111. Vol. Inf., and was killed near Kingston,
Ga., by bushwhackers, upon his refusal to become
their prisoner. The remainder of the children liv-
ing are residing in various parts of this county.

ffiOHN S. PHILLIPS, a gentleman of good
I education and more than ordinary ability,
is one of the most valued factors of the
farming community. in Waddams Township
and the proprietor of a comfortable home on sec-
tion 30. His birthplace was Hamburg, Berks Co.,
Pa., and the date thereof Nov. 5, 1829. His fa-
ther, John W.. and his grandfather, Jacob Phillips,
were natives of the same State, the former also
born in Berks County. They were of German an-
cestry, and Jacob Phillips, a blacksmith by trade,
followed this occupation until within a few years
of his death, when he purchased a farm eight miles
west of Hamburg, and there spent the remainder
of his days in the peaceful pursuits of agriculture.
His wife was also a native of Pennsylvania. They
reared a family of sons and daughters who were
carefully trained to habits of industry, and John
W., who became the father of our subject, learned
the blacksmith trade of his father and followed it a
number of years in his native State.

The father of our subject emigrated from Penn-
sylvania to Illinois in about 1847, locating on a
farm in East Hanover Township, Lebanon County.
He there carried on agriculture and blacksmithing
until 1851, then exchanged the property for a
smaller farm in the same county, which he occu-
pied seven years. Afterward, selling out, he
came to Illinois and purchased a farm in Waddams
Township, this county, upon which he remained
until his death, in 1876. The mother of our sub-
ject, before her marriage, was Miss Sibilla Schad,
of Berks County, Pa. John S., of our sketch, was

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

311

the eldest son born of this union, and inherited in
a marked degree the natural energy of his sire. He
commenced at an early age to assist his father in
the shop, and became quite an expert in the use of
the sledge. In the meantime he also attended
school, and wisely took up the study of German,
of which he became master and in which he is still
proficient. Afterward he attended an English
school, and being naturally bright and fond of his
books, was provided with a better education than
usual among the lads of that section. After reach-
ing his majority he started out in life for himself,
coining to this State in 1851. In the fall of the
year following he learned the carpenter trade, and
afterward returned to Pennsylvania, where for
several months he visited among the friends of his
boyhood while he occupied himself at his trade as
opportunity offered. In 1854 he returned to Wad-
dams Township, this county, and leased one acre
of land, upon which he put up a dwelling and pre-
pared to establish a permanent home. In 1857 he
was enabled to purchase the land upon which his
house stood, and continued at carpentering, saving
what he could of his earnings until he was enabled
to purchase ninety-four acres of land. This was
located in Waddams Township, and he subsequently
traded it for the farm he now owns and occupies.
This also includes ninety-four acres, which is un-
der a good state of cultivation, with a substantial
stone house which he built himself and all neces-
sary out-buildings in the rear.

The lady who was the close companion and
helpmeet of our subject for a period of nearly thirty
years was formerly Miss Sarah Price, and she be-
came his wife Dec. 29, 1854. Mrs. Phillips was
born in Snyder County, Pa., in 1828, and was the
daughter of Daniel and Hannah Price, natives of
Pennsylvania, where they spent their entire lives.
Mrs. Phillips departed this life at her home in
Waddams Township, Feb. 16, 1881, aged fifty-two
years, six months and twelve days. Of her union
with our subject there were born five children:
John operates a farm in Waddams Township; Han-
nah S. is the wife of Nathaniel Klock, who is also
farming in Waddams Township; Daniel is a resident
of Winslow Township and Samuel of Waddams;
James M., the first born, died in infancy. Mr.

Phillips was reared in the doctrines of the Lutheran
Church, to which he has faithfully adhered since a
boy. His second marriage took place Aug. 15,
1885. His present wife was formerly Miss Lovina
Price, a native of Pennsylvania, and the daughter
of Jacob Price.

The home and all its surroundings' indicate the
refined and cultivated tastes of the proprietor, who
keeps himself well posted on all the topics of the
day, and while each year adds something to the
embellishment of his homestead, by a thorough
course of reading there is also something added
to his store of knowledge.

The Phillips homestead, which is reproduced on
another page by the careful pencil of the litho-
graphic artist, bears fair comparison with the ad-
jacent country residences of au industrious and
intelligent class of people.

OHN F. KNORR comes from old Pennsyl-
vania stock, his parents being John and
Mary (Deihl) Knorr, both of whom were
natives of the Keystone State. In 1856
they left their native soil and came West, settling
in Florence Township, this county, where they re-
sided until the death of the father, which occurred
while on a visit in Nebraska, in September, 1885.
Mrs. Knorr is still living, and is a resident of
Florence Township. They were the parents of
seven children, all of whom grew up to mature
years. John F. Knorr was the eldest of the family,
and was born in Berks County, Pa., on the 9th of
May, 1837. When about eighteen years of age he
concluded to leave Pennsylvania and go to Ross
County, Ohio, where he resided for two years.
The conditions there not being as favorable as he
anticipated, and desiring to go further west, he
moved on to Stephenson County, where he has
since resided. He has secured himself a model
farm of 120 acres, and its yield is sufficient to
make him content and prosperous.

On the 25th of December, 1862, Mr. Knorr was
united in marriage with Miss Sarah Empey, daugh-
ter of Anthony and Betsy (Dyer) Empey, who
were natives of New York. They emigrated to

312

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

Stephenson County in 1856 and settled in Loran
Township, where they have since resided. During
their entire residence in Stephenson County they
have been successfully engaged in farming. They
had one son and one daughter, the latter the wife
of the subject of this sketch, who was born in Oneida
County, N. Y., Aug. 31, 1837. Mr. and Mrs.
Knorr are the parents of four children Sophronia
V., Anthony F., Thomas J. and Lulu M. Sophro-
nia is the wife of Palmer Kemper, and resides in
Kansas; they have two children, named John D.
and Goldie 8. Mr. Knorr is known as a solid Dem-
ocrat, and for his fidelity to his party has been re-
warded with a school directorship and other offices
of Loran Township.

RS. CELESTIA A. STAVER, widow of
Jonathan M. Staver, and daughter of
Thomas and Louisa (Grains) Bowen. is a
native of Vermont, where her birth took
place Feb. 18, 1836. Thomas Bowen was one of
the early settlers of Green County, Wis., to which
he removed when a young man from his native
place, Johnstown, Fulton Co., N. Y., after his mar-
riage. In November, 1 835, he started for the West
and spent the winter in Michigan, whence he pro-
ceeded in March of the following year to Wiscon-
sin. There he selected a claim in what is now
Clarno Township, Green County, and drew lumber
from Galena, 111., with which to build a house. He
had made the journey by himself. In the spring
he was joined by his wife and her brother, John
Granis. The journey was made overland, through
a country but sparsely settled. Monroe, Wis., now
a flourishing city, was not then started, and at
Freeport there was but one building, a store, which
supplied the few settlers around with the necessa-
ries which the}' could not well do without. The
Indians had but just vacated the land upon which
Mr. Bowen settled. After being joined by his
family he proceeded with renewed courage to the
establishment of a permanent home, and in time,
having improved a fine farm of 309 acres, he put up

substantial buildings, planted fruit and shade trees,
and added everything required for the comfort of
himself and family. He thus lived and labored
until past the age of threescore years and ten, his
death taking place in October, 1883, when he was
seventy-three years old. His wife, Louisa, also a
native of New York, died at the homestead in 1854.
They were people who exercised a decided influ-
ence upon the community around them, and were
noted for their honesty of purpose and kindness of
heart.

After the death of her mother Mrs. C. Staver re-
mained with her father until her marriage, March
24, 1861. Her husband, Jonathan M., was born in
Centre County, Pa., Sept. 21, 1834, and was the
son of Frederick Staver, a native of the same
county. When eighteen years of age he left home
and located in Green County, the same State, where
he purchased a farm of 250 acres in Cady Town-
ship, upon which he located with his wife after
their marriage, and which they occupied until 1875.
In the spring of that year they sold out and pur-
chased the present homestead of Mrs. C. A. Staver.
Mr. Staver lived only a little over a year after tak-
ing possession of this later purchase, closing his
eyes to the scenes of earth April 4, 1876, after an
illness of seven months. The seven children born
to Mr. and Mrs. S. are all living but one, and are
residents of Winslow Township. Oscar and George
B. are married and engaged in farming; Mary B. is
a teacher in the public schools; James B., Perry B.
and Alma L. are at home with their mother.

When Mrs. Staver was left a widow her eldest
child was but fourteen -years old. For a time it
seemed as if the care involved in looking after the
large estate and the interests of her children was a
task greater than she could accomplish, but she
bravely rallied from her bereavement, and proved
herself equal to the emergency. In her manage-
ment of the farm and the training and education of
her children, she has exhibited a discretion and
forethought truly admirable. The estate includes
426 acres of land under a good state of cultivation,
and supplied with two sets of farm buildings. The
stock and machinery are of first-class description,
and the immediate surroundings of the residence
give evidence of the refined tastes and ample means

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

313 L

pertaining thereto. The homestead, in all its ap-
pointments, comprises one of the most attractive
features in Winslow Township, and one upon which
the eye of the passing traveler dwells with atten-
tive admiration.

OL. GEORGE WALKER, of Dakota. The
grandfather of our subject was probably
born in Ireland, and came of Irish parent-
age. He was unmarried when he came to the
United States, and after settling in Pennsylvania
he there married a lady of German descent; they
both died in the Keystone State.

The father of our subject, Philip Walker, was
born in Northampton County, Pa., and there reared
and educated. He married Miss E. Barbara Brown,
who was of American parentage and was born in
Northampton County. The Brown family were
large, strong and stout people, while the Walkers
were persons who were short and stout. After
the marriage of Philip Walker, about 18.01, he went
to Centre County, and there resided until his death,
in 1854, at the age of eighty-three years or there-
abouts. Where he had made settlement, later be-
came divided into what is now known as Clinton
County. He was a man of very amiable disposi-
tion, and a successful farmer and influential citizen.
His wife survived him some years, and died about
1864, within a month of being eighty-live years of
age. She was the mother of nine children, four
sons and five daughters, our subject being the sixth
child.

Three of the children are yet living, namelv :
George ; Susan, who is the widow of Daniel Wisor,
recently murdered by a desperado while he was
performing his official duty as Marshal of Valley
Falls, Kan. ; Mrs. Wisor makes her home in Valley
Falls, and is aged sixty-two. The brother's name
is Philip, Jr., and he is now living on part of the old
homestead in Clinton County, Pa., aged sixty-
seven years.

The early life of our subject was spent at home.
He received a good education and was a close stu-
dent, acquiring a large fund of information from
his readings. By reason of the commanding posi-

tion he took in the county, in 1831 he was made
First Lieutenant of the home militia, held the office
for five years, and was made Captain of the 10th
Company of the lllth Pennsylvania State militia.
He acquitted himself so ably in this office for a per-
iod of seven years that he was made Lieutenant
Colonel of the same regiment. Here he continued
for seven years, the three last as aid-de-camp of
Gov. Shunk. the State Executive.

In the fall of 1849 Col. Walker came to Illinois,
taking up his location in Hock Run Township.
This was before tiie era of railroads, and the Col-
onel came overland, using that useful vessel in
general service at that time, a prairie schooner,
which was propelled by animal power, and re-
quired five weeks to make the journey overland.
On landing here the Colonel secured 380 acres of
land, which he got directly from Uncle Sam. He
began to make improvements here on section 19
in Rock Run Township, although part of his land
was in Ridott Township. He began on a pioneer
scale to build himself a home, and first erected a
low. building of one story and a half in height )
and 13x21 feet in size, built of oak timber. After
improving his house and land somewhat he moved
to Dakota Township, locating on section 24, which
was a tract of excellent land. Col. Walker lived
on this farm until 1868, when he retired to the vil-
lage of Dakota, purchasing a good property, upon
which he erected a substantial dwelling. He also
purchased other property in the village, which he
still owns. His home in Dakota Township com-
prises 160 acres of land located on section 24, on
which there are good farm buildings.

In 1836 our subject was married near his old home
in Clinton County, Pa.; the lady was Miss Mary
Gamble, a relative of the late Gen. John A. Gamble,
and Judge James Gamble, of Lycoming County,
Pa. She is the daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth
(Williamson) Gamble, of Cumberland County, Pa.,
of Scotch-Irish descent. They were farmers by oc-
cupation. Her parents came to what is now Clin-
ton County, then Centre County, where they lived
some years, and where the mother died when the
daughter, Mrs. Walker, was eleven years old. Later
on the father went to Monroe, Wis., and there died
at threescore years of age.

314

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

Mrs. Walker was born in Centre County, now
Clinton Count}', Pa., Dec. 16, 1816, and died at
her home in Dakota, 111., Aug. 16, 1883. The
Colonel is the father of nine children, two of whom
are now deceased: James W. and Franklin reside
on a farm in Dakota Township; Catharine, wife of
Emanuel Lambert, late of Pennsylvania, but now
living with the Colonel, Mr. Lambert being a car-
penter; John S. is a farmer living in Rock Grove
Township; Nancy E., wife of farmer Sam Askey,
residing in Montgomery County, Iowa; Amanda is
the wife of Howard Barr, a farmer residing in Rock
Run Township; George V. married Miss Ora Kling-
man. The deceased children are an infant and
Emma S.'

The Colonel has been one of the live men of the
township and county, and has held most of its of-
fices. In politics he is an uncompromising and un-
impeachable Jacksonian Democrat. His first vote
was cast for that father of the Democracy, and he
has continued steadfast in that faith ever since.

J~~l ACOB HERSHEY, who came to this county
| from Pennsylvania in the spring of 1854,
I owns and occupies a good farm on section
' 33, of which he has been in possession for a
period of thirty-five years. Mr. Hershey was born
in Allegheny County, Pa,, Sept. 27, 1824, and has
been engaged in agricultural pursuits his entire
life. Upon coming to this count} 7 he first located
in Loran Township, where he resided until 1879,
and then removed to Kansas. A year later, how-
ever, he returned to Northern Illinois, under the
impression that it was about the best section of
country he could find, and here determined to stay.
He farmed in Loran Township until the spring of
1883, then removed to Dakota and was a resident
of that village for one and one-half years. After-
ward he returned to the old home in Loran Town-
ship, where he has since remained. He was the
owner at one time of 320 acres, where he effected
good improvements, but which he afterward sold.

Mr. Hershey was married near Canton, Ohio, to
Miss Susannah Essig, and they became the parents

of three children: John, the eldest son, married
Miss Sophia Hasselmann, and is farming in Loran
Township; Elizabeth is the wife of John P.
Fiscus, and resides in Kansas ; Susannah died when
about five years old. Mrs. Hershey departed this
life at her home in Loran Township, Feb. 27,
1875. She was a faithful and careful wife and
mother, and performed all her duties creditably in
life, enjoying the affection of her family and the
esteem of her neighbors. Mr. Hershey, politically,
is a Republican, and religiously, a member in good
standing of the Evangelical Church.

AMUEL OTTO is a successful general
farmer, living near the limits of Dakota,
and located on section 36. He is a man of
very energetic and decided character, and
owes his success in life to his unfaltering industry
and economy. His farm now consists of ninety-
six acres of land which he has succeeded in well
improving. His grandparents had a large family,
his father being the third son of fifteen children,
and his means of acquiring a good education were
limited, but he availed himself of every oppor-
tunity to add to his store of knowledge. The
grandfather, Daniel Otto, was kept poor in main-
taining his large family, and beyond giving his
children a common-school education, could not fit
them any better to encounter the battles of life.

Samuel Otto's father was born, probably, in
Union County, Pa., and at an early age learned the
carpenter's trade. He chose a helpmate in the
person of Miss Mary M. Narhood, a native of
Pennsylvania, and their early married life was a
succession of struggles. After some years they re-
moved to Brush Valley, Indiana Co., Pa. This
was QII May 3, 1824. The family are of German
descent, and our subject speaks German fluently.
When Samuel Otto was a boy of thirteen j'ears, he
went with his parents to Clearfield and Armstrong
Counties, Pa., and then went with them to Rich-
land County, Ohio, as it now is. There the family
lived for seven years, when on Nov. 14, 1845, they
came to Stephenson County, and made a settlement
in Lancaster Township, where they made their

-1=

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

315

home for some years. The county was then new,
and Mr. Otto after he had been here three years,
entered eighty acres of land, where he now resides.
His early career in this county was marked with
severe hardships, and many times he split rails at
fifty cents a hundred to earn the money with which
to pay for the land he purchased.

Mr. O. was married to Miss Ann C. Ilgen, in 1848.
She was born and reared in Centre County, Pa.,
and when fifteen years of age came with her par-
ents, George and Mary (Musser) Ilgen, to Illinois,
where they located in Lancaster Township. Later
on, Mr. Ilgen founded the town of Cedarville in
this county, platting it, and our subject carrying
the chain used in the survey. There Mr. Ilgen
and his wife died.

Our subject after his marriage operated his
present farm. His father was killed by accident
on the railroad, northeast of Freeport. He is the
father of five children, three of whom are deceased,
George, living at home, is a railroad man ; John,
who married Sadie Walker, also lives with his
father.

Mr. Otto and wife are members of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, and so respected is he in the
county, that he has been Constable for twenty-three
years, and has held other minor offices. He is a
Prohibitionist, adhering to temperance principles
and policy, and his life daily illustrates those prin-
ciples.

bEWIS B. PECK. Within the past quarter
of a century a disposition has grown up,
both in the mercantile and the professional
world, to drift into specialties. Many years ago
the merchant carried goods, including groceries,
hardware, dry-goods and drugs, but to-day you
will find each line of these goods distinct and sep-
arate. Ordinarily the dry-goods merchant knows
nothing of the shoe trade, and the successful hard-
ware merchant would be entirely lost in a dry-
goods or drug store. In times past, in our schools
and colleges, one professor would teach four or five
different branches, but in the changes of time these
have all been separated, so that to each important
branch of study, a professor especially trained for

that department, is assigned. So in the practice of
medicine, though not in so great a degree as in the
business world, have specialists grown up for the
treatment of special diseases, and it stands to rea-
son, that one who has made a close study of a
particular line of diseases, must better understand
that disease than one who has attempted to master
a knowledge of all.

We are led to the above reflections because of
'the fact that Dr. Peck makes a specialty of treating
cancers and tumors. He has been actively engaged
in the practice of medicine for twenty-four years.
He is a native of the State of New York, where he
was born in Greene County, on the 9th of August,
1825. His parents were Tenant and Polly (Moore)
Peck. His father was by occupation a farmer, and
he moved to Stephenson County, 111., about the
year 1848, and settled in Florence Township, where
the parents passed the remainder of their days. The
father died March 21, 1866, aged eighty-four years,
two months and seventeen days, having been born
Jan. 4. 1782. The mother survived him, dying
June 16, 1870, aged eighty-one years, eight months
and twenty-one days, her birth taking place Sept.
25, 1788.

Dr. Peck grew to manhood in Greene County,
N, Y., and was educated in the common schools of
the neighborhood, after which he became the stu-
dent of Profs. Foote & Swift, both of whom were
very noted physicians in their day. With these
parties he acquired a knowledge of medicine and
of his specialties. In 1845 he came to Stephenson
County, 111., and engaged in the ministry of the
Methodist Episcopal Church. He continued in the
ministry until 1863, when he began the practice of
medicine, making the cure of cancers and tumors
a specialty, to which he has devoted his whole
time. While engaged in the ministry in Loran, he
was elected to the office of Pathmaster under pecu-
liar circumstances. He had publicly declared that
this was the only office he could be induced to
hold. His fellow-citizens, more in jest than earnest,
elected him to the position. He availed himself of
his rights, and much to the discomfiture of those
who elected him, secured an excellent road through
a slough, where teams unnumbered had mired
down during the years preceding his term of office.

316

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

1 r

To accomplish this, much work, in fact all the road
laws of the State would permit, was exacted of his
constituency. The perfected road yet remains, a
lasting monument to his incumbency in office.

Dr. Peck's first wife, Elizabeth Peck, died Jan. 5,
1868. leaving four children, and he was subse-
quently married again. Religiously, he is a mem-
ber of the United Brethren Church.

W. LOVELAND, Justice of the
Peace at Ridott, and for many years prom-
inent in the public affairs of this county,
has been the incumbent of his present office for a
period of twenty-six years. He came to this
county in the spring of 1854, when a young man
twenty-nine years of age, and since that time has
been closely identified with the various interests
which have served to build up its reputation as
one of the most desirable sections of the State.
He first located at what was known as Nevada,
where he established a general store and traded in
all kinds of merchandise, including grain and pro-
visions. Three years later he turned his attention
to other matters and became agent at this point
for the Northwestern Railroad, and also officiated as
Postmaster. The Northwestern Company, in
1860, removed their station and office to Ridott
and gave Mr. Loveland a lot near by, at the same
time constituting him their agent at the new sta-
tion. where be also became Postmaster. In 1864,
he resigned the post-office, but continued with the
company six years. Subsequently he established a
livery stable and hotel and was, in 1862, elected
Justice of the Peace, which office he has since held,
and since 1884 has given to it his entire time and
attention.

Mr. Loveland, in 1 869, wisely invested a portion
of his surplus capital in a quarter section of land
in Rock Run Township, and afterward purchased
forty acres of timber in Ridott Township; of this he
still retains possession, and also has city property
in Freeport, besides his residence in Ridott. His
early years were spent in Madison County, N. Y.,
where his birth took place at the country home of

his parents, Dec. 31, 1825. His father, Joel Love-
land, a native of Massachusetts, was of New En-
gland parentage and the son of George W. Love-
land, Sr., a carpenter and joiner by trade who, later
in life, engaged in farm pursuits and spent his last
years in the Bay State. Joel, the father of our
subject, subsequently removed with his widowed
mother to Madison County, N. Y. The paternal
grandmother of our subject was formerly Miss
Mercy Webster. Her death took place in Madison
County after she had passed her eightieth birthday.
Joel Loveland also learned the trade of a carpenter
and superintended the building of the Madison
University, at Hamilton, N. Y., laying its founda-
tions in 1836.

The father of our subject was married in early
manhood to Miss Hannah Brownell, and they com-
menced life together on a farm in Madison County,
where they spent the remainder of their days.
Neither lived to an advanced age, the mother
dying before forty years of age and the father
when forty-two. At the time of his father's death
our subject was a youth of eighteen years and soon
afterward commenced his more serious struggle
with the world. He had been fairly educated and
first employed himself at fanning. He was mar-
ried at Morris ville, Jan. 20, 1849, to Miss Lucy J.
Watson, a native of Madison County, born and
reared in Hamilton. Her birth took place Dec. 14,
1827. She came West with her husband and died
at their home in Ridott Township, Jan. 9, 1882.
She was a lady of the highest Christian character
and the daughter of David Watson, who, with his
estimable wife, spent the greater part of his life on
a farm in Madison County, N. Y., where the
decease of both occurred. The paternal grand-
father of Mrs. Loveland served in the Revolution-
ary War, participating in many of its important
battles. The wife of our subject at the time of
her death was a member of the Universalist Church
at Pecatonica. She had but two children, both
sons: Clarence L. married Miss Charlotte Eddy,
and is a passenger conductor on the Northwestern
Railroad; he was born May 14, 1850, in Madison
County, N. Y., and is at present a resident of
Freeport. George R. also makes his headquarters
in that city ; he married Miss Lena Moyer, of

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

319

Riclott, and represents the Robinson Buggy Works,
throughout this and other States.

Mr. Loveland is a solid Republican, politically,
and has been Road Commissioner of Ridott Town-
ship for fifteen years.

HUNT, the subject of the follow
ing biography, a resident of Ridott Town-
ship, has been widely and favorably known
throughout this county for over forty years. He
came here in the pioneer days and at once identi-
fied himself with the labors and hopes of the early
settlers, having in common with them only his
strong hands and brave heart with which to com-
mence the battle of life. The main points of a
history more than ordinarily interesting are sub-
stantially as follows:-

Mr. Hunt was born on the other side of the At-
lantic, in Nottingham, England, June 26, 1818.
His father, Joseph Hunt, was a hair dresser by trade,
and spent the greater part of his life in his native
town of Nottingham, whence he removed a few
years before his death to Derbyshire. Our subject
at that time was a lad nine years of age. Early in
life he began to earn his own living, his widowed
mother having been left with but a small property.
Thomas grew to manhood in his native shire and
learned the trade of baker and confectioner, which
he followed until 1842, when he decided to seek
his fortune in the New World.

In the meantime Mr. Hunt had been married
and now, accompanied by his wife, joined the Owen
Colony, who, on the 21st of June, 1842, embarked
on a sailing-vessel from Liverpool, and braved the
dangers of an ocean voyage in the hope of some-
thing better in the future. The design of the
Owen Colony, which was known as the Universal
Community Society of Rational Religionists, and
possessed peculiar religious ideas, was to enlarge
their possessions and at the same time establish
their belief and add to their membership as rapidly
as possible. They came to this State and located
in Ridott Township, taking up their abode on a
timber tract, where they lived after the simple man-
ner of their faith, and cultivated the soil for their

maintenance. They did not prosper, however,
as well as they had hoped, and finally disbanded.
Mr. Hunt and Mrs. Fairburn, of Ridott, are the
only living members of the community. The for-
mer still clings to his early beliefs.

Mr. Hunt, with the exception of his mother, who
accompanied him, is the only member of his father's
family who came to America. His first wife was
formerly Miss Marj 7 Kirk, a native of his own
county in England, and the daughter of a highly
respectable family. This lady became the mother
of twelve children, and after remaining the faithful
companion of her husband for a period of more
than forty years, departed this life at the homestead
in 1882, mourned by her husband and family as
their best friend and most faithful counselor, who
by her blameless life had secured their undying
respect and affection.

The present wife of our subject, to whom he
was married June 11, 1887, was formerly Mrs.
Agnes E. (Colburn) Burdick, daughter of Horace
D. Colburn, a native of New York State, who came
to Illinois in 1836, and was among the earliest set-
tlers of Ridott Township. He was a gentleman of
fine business capacities, a millwright by trade, and
in the early days superintended the erection of
most of the mills of Northern Illinois. His wife
was Miss Eliza Paddock, who became the mother
of three children. Mrs. Hunt is a lady of rare in-
telligence and completed her education in Rockford
Seminary , being one of the first graduates from
that institution. She taught school for a number
of years and also gave lessons in music, in which
she excels. Of her first marriage there were born
two children. Her former husband, Delos Bur-
dick, was an early settler and successful farmer of
Ridott Township, where he was held in the highest
respect for his sterling worth and upright business
methods.

The traveler in passing through Ridott Town-
ship cannot fail to note the finely cultivated farm
and the stately residence of Thomas Hunt, which
forms one of the most attractive spots in the land-
scape of Stephenson County. The dwelling is a
very large structure, built of solid stone, and has
been standing for over thirty-five years. In the
pioneer da}'s it was a favorite place for public

320

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

gatherings, being supplied with a dance hall and
capable of entertaining a large number of people.
It is located on the old State road on section 4, and
the hospitality of the pioneer times still lingers
under its roof, where Mr. Hunt delights in meeting
the friends and companions who are left from the
early days. Although energetic and industrious
by nature he has given much attention to the im-
provement of his mind, and is well posted upon
the'events of the day. He is of commanding ap-
pearance and the strong points of his character are
marked in the lines of his countenance, which
beams kindly upon his friends while at the same
time he frowns upon wrong-doing, and has always
made his simple love of justice one of his leading
characteristics. Although now quite well ad-
vanced in years. Mr. Hunt manages his farm and
his business affairs with his old-time good judg-
ment, and keeps up the early reputation of the
homestead, its stock and its farm machinery. The
estate embraces nearly 600 acres of land, which he
began building up from the first purchase of eighty
acres from the Government. He presents a fine
illustration of the self-made man who by his native
energy and resolution, overcame great obstacles,
and now lives in the enjoyment of the most pro-
found respect of the people of Stephenson County.
We are proud to have secured the portrait of Mr.
Hunt to aid in the embellishment of this work,
which otherwise would not have been considered
complete by the scores of old-time friends who
have known him so long and learned to admire his
character.

EMMANUEL MLSHLER. Both in age and
point of residence the subject of this sketch,
) who is a retired farmer, living upon section

31, is one of the oldest citizens of Stephenson Coun-
ty. He is the son of John and Maria (Rinehold)
Mishler, who were born in Lancaster County, Pa.,
the father on the 20th of January, 1788, the mother
on the 17th of July, 1789. After marriage they
settled in their native county, where they reared
their family and lived until their death. The mother
passed away March 24, 1877; the father preceded
her Oct. 10, 1875.

The father of our subject was a stock-dealer and
farmer, and his family consisted of ten children,
eight boys and two girls, of whom the subject of this
sketch was the sixth child. Emanuel was born in
Lancaster County, Pa., Sept. 13, 1822. At the age
of sixteen he was thrown from a horse, and his left
arm was broken, which accident for a considerable
time unfitted him for work. He served an appren-
ticeship of two and one-half years at the tailor
trade, followed it while in Pennsylvania, and since
his residence in Stephenson County he has at in-
tervals engaged in that occupation. In 1844 Mr.
Mishler left his native State and moved to Summit
County, Ohio, where he worked at his trade for
two and one-half years, then removed to Elkhart
County, Ind., where he also followed his trade, and
engaged in farming in a small way. In May, 1850,
he concluded to go further West, and after spend-
ing a month or more in Iowa, and finding that there
was no convenient market, he retraced his steps as
far as Stephenson County, 111., and in June of that
year bought a tract of 240 acres of land in Kent
Township, where he has since lived and given his
attention principally to agricultural pursuits, in-
cluding the raising of stock. The measure of his
success can be gauged by the fact that he now owns
465 acres of land, most of which is under cultiva-
tion. His farm buildings are ample and commodi-
ous. Having reached an age when one must hus-
band his strength, he has relinquished the active
management of his farm, and leased it to other par-
ties, and is now living a quiet and retired life.

Mr. Mishler was married in Summit County,
Ohio, Sept. 10, 1845, to Miss Susanna, daughter of
Joseph and Mary (Palmer) Mishler. Her father
was born in Juniata County, Pa., and her mother
in Hagerstown, Md. They settled in Stark County,
Ohio, and afterward moved, first to Miami, and
then to Summit County, in which latter county
they passed away. They had twelve children, eight
boys and four girls. Mrs. Mishler was the fourth
child. She was born in Stark County, Ohio, on the
2d of March, 1825.

Mr. and Mrs. Emanuel Mishler became the parents
of ten children : Maria, born May 18, 1846 ; Joseph,
who died in infancy; Elizabeth Day, born Nov.
24, 1850; John F., Jan. 7, 1853; Phares, Sept. 2,

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

321

1855; Calvin H.,Aug. 21, 1857; James L., Feb. 4,
1860; Susie S., Jan. 2. 1862; Levi, Dec. 10, 1864;
Marcus, Dec. 12, 1867. Levi died Aug. 11, 1886,
in Elmwood, Neb., Maria is the. wife of William
Boop, and resides in Kent Township; Elizabeth J.,
Mrs. Isaac M. Royer, resides in Cass County, Neb. ;
her husband died there in June, 1883; she is Post-
mistress of that village, and also proprietor of a
small store. John F. married Eva Stafford, and re-
sides in Kent Township; Phares lives in Hagers-
towu, Md. ; Calvin married Louisa Miller, and
resides in Iowa; James L. resides at home, as
do also Susie and Marcus. Mr. Mishler has held
the offices of Highway Commissioner, Town-
ship Assessor, School Trustee, and Director. He
is a member of the religious body known as the
United Brethren of Christ, and Mrs. M. is connected
with the Dunkard Church. The Mishler family is
remarkable for longevity. Of the children of John
and Maria, no deaths have occurred, and the young-
est child is now fifty-three years of age.

Two remarkable circumstances of the family of
Mishlers of whom our subject constitutes one, are
as follows: there was but three days' difference in
the ages of the father and mother at the time of their
death, and but two days' difference in 'the ages of
two of their sons at the time of their death. In
politics Mr. Mishler is an independent Democrat;
his sympathies are usually with the party, but when
that party enunciates a principle or performs an
act which he does not endorse, he invariably "kicks
over the traces."

The strong and earnest character of Mr. Mishler
is fully depicted in the finely executed lithographic
portrait which is rightfully placed among the other
strong men of Stephenson County.

Vf/OSHUA K. BOMGARDNER is a worthy
and successful farmer living in Oneco Town- -
ship. He was born in Cambria County, Pa.,
in 1837. His father, Joseph Bomgardner,
was a native of Somerset County, that State, and
lived with his parents until he became of age, work-
ing on the farm and otherwise being employed at
hard labor to support himself and get ahead in the

world. The first independent job of young Joseph
was making rails, splitting them at thirty-seven
cents a hundred, and taking his pay in iron ore
which he converted into iron and then welded into
chains. His occupation at this time was very
varied. He was still young when he went to the
mountains of Pennsylvania, and taking up a claim
there, made 'a covering of spruce boughs where-
with to protect himself from the wild animals. The
third year after leaving home he married Miss
Catherine Kring, a daughter of German parents.
Her father ran a still-hortse, and was also a farmer
in Pennsylvania, and a prominent man of the town-
ship where he lived. Joseph Bomgardner threshed
grain with the old-time "flail," the only known
method at that time of separating the wheat from
the chaff. In the first year of his married life he
began clearing a farm, twelve miles northeast of
Johnstown, Pa., and Catherine, his wife, helped in
the clearing, and when not thus engaged, spun and
wove the clothes for the family, and was a noted
midwife. They lived there until they came West.
Mr. B. also ran a sawmill on his Pennsylvania
farm. He had 125 acres of land cleared, and 100
acres of timber. This he sold at a sacrifice, and
came to Buckeye Township, this county, and
stopped with his brother Samuel who had preceded
him three years before. Mr. Bomgardner also had
a son who came to this county about eighteen
months prior to the arrival of the father. On com-
ing to this county, Joseph Bomgardner bought the
farm which our subject now occupies, and where
he spent the remainder of his life, dying oh the
30th of July, 1880. On his journey from Johns-
town here, he came via the canal to Pittsburgh,
and then via the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to
Savanna, 111., and from the latter-named place
by team to Buckej'e Township, this county. He
was a devout Christian from boyhood ; had been
ordained a minister, and preached in private
houses on his journey, and did much good to the
people with whom he came in contact. Every Sun-
day during the latter days of his life, he always
preached a sermon, lie belonged to the United
Brethren Church, as did also his wife, and was a
Democrat in politics until Fremont ran for Presi-
dent on the Republican ticket, when he became a

' 322

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

convert to the new party and continued so until
his death. For some time he was Overseer of the
Poor, and persons in indigent circumstances always
aroused his pity and sympathy.

Joseph Bomgardner was an expert hunter and
sportsman, and many a deer has fallen in this
county, as well as in Pennsylvania, by his unerring
aim. He sold the venison which he killed, and
peddled sugar which he made from the]sap of trees,
until he had earned enough money to start in life.
He never received one cent from his father or
mother, and by his own efforts maintained a family
of eight children, and of these our subject was the
seventh.

Joshua K. Bomgardner always lived at home,
never leaving it except for about four weeks, which
were spent in Iowa. He was -married to Miss Har-
riet Wohlford, of Pennsylvania, Nov. 25, 1860.
Her father, John Wohlford, was a blacksmith, who
came to this county about 1843. Mrs. Bomgard-
ner was at the time of her marriage twenty-three
years old, and continued the faithful and affection-
ate wife of our subject until June 6, 1866, the date
of her demise. One child was the result of this
marriage, Sarah Catherine, and she died March 4,
1880. He was married the second time, Feb. 6,
1868, to Miss Lucy Blatigh, of Ohio, who lived
there until she was twenty-one years of age, and
then moved to Illinois, in which State she was mar-
ried. On her mother's side her parents were En-
glish, but as far back as known her father's folks
were natives of Pennsylvania. Her mother- was
her father's second wife, but he had his third wife
when he died. Lucy Bomgardner was born May
27, 184C. Her father was a preacher as well as a
carpenter and mason. He built his own house be-
fore he was married, and moved his bride into it.
He by his three wives had nine- children, all of
whom are living but one.

Our subject is the father of four children, all of
whom live at home. These are Ida M., Emma J.,
Moses M. and Mary F., who were borne to him by
the second wife. Both heads of the family belong
to the United Brethren Church, and fill offices in
the same. lie is a Class-Leader, and has been en-
gaged in Sunday-school work since he was four'
teen years old. Mr. Bomgardner was a Republican .

until St. John was nominated on the Prohibition
ticket, since which time he has cast his lot, politi-
cally, with the party having temperance views.
The family is one of the oldest and most promi-
nent in this township, where Mr. Bomgardner has
won a reputation as a sober and upright citizen.

The life of our subject has been full of hard-
ships, and he has surmounted seeming impossibil-
ities by dint of his determined character. Chicago
was the nearest market for farm produce, and he
got his wheat ground at Cedarville, hauling his
flour and delivering it from house to house at
Doddsville, Mineral Point and Galena. He ped-
dled hundreds of bushels of potatoes, getting for
them five cents a peck, which at this time seems a
marvelously low price. Coming home from one of
these trips our subject's brother David was drowned
near Winslow while trying to ford Honey Creek.
Most marketing was done then by team, Mr. B.
making six or seven trips a year. He camped out on
these trips, there being no hotels or places of enter-
tainment, and he was forced to subsist on such
accommodations as his wagon afforded. Mr. Bom-
gardner is now living on the old homestead, which
he bought from the heirs. His possessions here
comprise 23a acres, and he also owns forty acres of
timber in Wisconsin, besides 135 acres in Buckeye
Township, and about nine acres of bottom land.
He rents his Buckeye farm.

eHARLES BETTS, whose name is familiarly
known throughout the city of Freeport and
vicinity, is a native of the Empire State,
having been born at Batavia, Genesee County,
June 13, 1825. Without the advantages of a col-
legiate education, he improved his early opportuni-
ties for study, and while still a youth entered
the law office of Hons. Heman J. Redfleld and
Benjamin Pringle, who were then associated in
partnership, and occupied a high position in the
legal profession of New York State. He studied
under the instruction of these eminent gentlemen
for a time, and afterward became connected with
the office of Hons. Isaac A. Verplauk and John
H. Martindale. The counsel and assistance of

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

323

these distinguished attorneys had great influence
in molding his character and educating him up to
a high standard of excellence in the profession of
his choice, and being honorable, high-minded and
faithful, through his inbred moral principles he
early gave evidence of his fitness for the high career
to which he was subsequently called.

Mr. Belts was esteemed and beloved not more
for his genial social qualities and the grace of his
person, than for the brilliancy of his talents which
began developing at an early age. The writer
well remembers that at the greatest political mass
meeting ever assembled in the United States, and
numbering over 100,000 persons, on the 4th clay
of October, 1844, at Rochester, N. Y., one of
the highly .praised speakers on that occasion was
the subject of our sketch. Fie then delivered
his maiden speech, which in a marked degree
pointed to a distinguished future. Three years
later he was admitted to practice in the courts of
New York State with the highest honors of his class,
at Rochester, in December, 1847. The following
year he emigrated to Illinois and located in the
city of Freeport, where he has since resided en-
gaged in the practice of his profession, and in
which he has uniformly sustained a prominent and
honorable position.

In the political campaign of 1852, when quite a
young man, Mr. Betts received unsolicited the
nomination by the Whig party for Auditor Gen-
eral of Illinois. He also took the stump in behalf
of the party in that campaign, in which he rendered
valuable service in support of the great principles
he entertained. In the great political revolution
of the country, in 1858, our subject finding that
the principles which had divided the two great
parties had become measurably obsolete and sus-
pended by the all-absorbing question of slavery in
the Territories, saw the great Whig party swallowed
up by a new party, based upon the slavery ques-
tion. As an honorable, high-minded man, having
no selfish political ends to serve, he believed that
the success of the party, sectional in its character
and based upon the single idea of slavery, would
result in civil war and possibly dissolution of the
Union, tie readily indorsed the sentiments and
principles of the lamented Hon. Stephen A. Doug-

las, and remained the fast friend and\able supporter
of that great statesman to the hour of his death.
Convinced of the vital importance to his'country
of this issue in the election campaign of 1860, few
men in Illinois labored with pen and from rostrum,
with greater energy, eloquence and power to secure
the election of Douglas than did the subject of our
sketch. Since that time he has remained an active,
energetic, able and eloquent expounder of the
Democratic faith, as viewed from the standpoint
of Jefferson, Jackson and Douglas.

At the Congressional Convention of the Demo-
cratic party in the famed Third Congressional
District of Illinois the E. B. Washburne district
of 1870 Mr. Betts received without solicitation the
appointment of standard bearer of his party, and ef-
fected a highly commendable result against his
Republican antagonist' in this district] where the
candidate of his party _two",'years [previous was'de-
feated by 10,000 majority, and reduced n. that
majority nearly one-half, signally demonstrating
his deserved popularity.

Mr. Betts, haying a thorough contempt for the
office-seeker, has uniformly declined public posi-
tions which have been tendered him and which he
would have filled with honor and ability. Few
men laboring in early years with like disadvantages
have more signally achieved and deservedly ob-
tained the esteem and confidence of their fellow-
men than Hon. Charles Betts. Never in any
instance has his ambition, although highly com-
mendable, been known to overreach;his judgment
or set aside the best interest of his State and
county. He has carried his honors modestly, and has
built up a record which his descendants will be
proud to review iu.coming'years.

ANIEL L. BEAR was born in Lehigh
County, Pa., on"the^2d of May, 1834, and
has been a resident of Stephenson County
since boyhood. He is the son "of John
Bear, a native of Lehigh County, Pa. The grand-
father was a native of Pennsylvania also. The
great-grandfather and two brothers emigrated from
Switzerland and settled in Lehigh County ; after-

324

STEPHENSQN COUNTY.

ward the two brothers went -South and settled.
About five years ago when the subject of this
sketch was in Missouri, he accidentally met one of
the descendants of one of these men, and from him
obtained the only intelligence ever had of either of
the brothers who settled in the South. The great-
grandfather was a pioneer settler of Lehigh County.
The grandfather was born in that count}", spending
his entire life there. He was the father of a large
family, of whom Mr. Bear's father was the oldest
boy. He was born in Lehigh County, in 1794,
where he grew to manhood. He came to Stephen-
son County overland with a pair of horses and one
horse and carriage. He landed at Rock Grove
where friends who had preceded had arranged for
him a home, in which they lived until after hay cut-
ting, when they removed to Long Hollow, where
they resided in a neighbor's house temporarily un-
til they secured possession of a house he had
bought in the spring, which they secured in the
fall of 1842. There were two log cabins on the
place, which were considered splendid residences
in those days. This land was secured by saving a
dollar, or fractions of a dollar, at a time, until
he had -accumulated $50, which he expended
in entering the land. In 1849 he built a new
house. The products of his farm were disposed of
in and around Galena. On these marketing trips
they would go from house to house selling flour.
Most of the grain in those days was threshed by
the tramping process. He remained upon the
tract of land he first entered until the time of his
death, which occurred in 1850. He was always a
hard-working man. AVhat means he had left in the
East were lost to him through treachery of friends
to whom he loaned money.

The subject of this sketch came to Stephenson
County with his parents, and lived with them un-
til his father's death. In the summer of 1851 he
worked on the Northwestern Railroad, near Free-
port, but was compelled to return home in the fall
on account of malarial diseases contracted. The
wages he earned were paid to him in sums of $1
and $2 at a time, and it vvas a long time be-
fore he received all his money. During the fol-
lowing winter he was incapacitated from work on
account of ague and other complications. In the

spring of the next year he rented his father's old
home, his mother furnishing the money with which
to purchase horses, wagons and other farm imple-
ments. At the expiration of four years he re-
newed the lease of this land for five years longer,
but none -other than a verbal contract was exacted
of him. During this time he purchased the eighty
acres on which he now resides, where he has con-
tinued to live since. By dint of industry and
prudent economy, he has not only improved his
land, but has from time to time added to it until
he now possesses 438 acres, thirty-five of which is
timber land.

On the 6th of May, 1858, Mr. B. was married to
Susannah Wohlford, who was the daughter of
George Wohlford, and was born on the 25th of
March, 1836. The marriage ceremony was per-
formed by Rev. Miller, at Cedarville. They have
had six children, all living Lucy Ann, Mrs. Pot-
ter; Aaron W., Peter D., Christian B., David G.
and Jonathan II., the latter being twins.

The measure of success in life attained by Mr.
Bear, considering the disadvantages and drawbacks
which confronted him in his early career, is above
the average. He and his family are members of
the United Brethren Church, and politically, he
espouses and maintains the principles of the Repub-
lican party.

ON. JOHN H. ADDAMS, deceased. The
v name of this late prominent and influential
citizen of Stephenson County is held in the
highest regard by a large proportion of her
citizens to whom his form was familiar, and to
whom his name was known as that of an especial
benefactor. He was a man of more than ordinary
ability, possessing a keen insight into human nature,
and eminently qualified by the persistent qualities of
his character to be a leader among those who had
elected to develop a section of country possessing
almost inexhaustible resources, and holding out the
largest inducements to those not ashamed to labor,
either with head or hands.

The subject of this sketch was born in Berks

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

325

County, Pa., July '22, 1822. His father, Samuel
Addams, a native of the same county, was a farmer
by occupation, and spent his entire life in his
native count}'. He married in early manhood
Miss Catherine Huy, also a native of Berks County,
and they became the parents of four sons and six
daughters. Three of the sons and five of the
daughters married and reared families. Samuel
Addams, himself, was one of a family of six sons.
John H., our subject, pursued his first studies in
the common schools and later attended an academy
at Trappe, Pa. His preceptor, imagining that he
detected more than ordinary capacities in the
bright and ambitious boy, endeavored to still
further incite him to noble effort, placing before
him the desirability of the legal profession. Young
Addams, however, was more inclined to trade, and
after teaching one term of school in the district
near his early home he went to Kreidersville, Pa.,
-and entered the employ of Col. George Weber,
where he learned milling, and with whom he re-
mained until the spring of 1844, and until after
reaching his majority. He then decided to avail
himself of the inducements 'held out by the Prairie
State to the enterprising emigrant. His father was
well-to-do, and John H. came to the West fairly
equipped with hard cash. He purchased a large
tract of laud in what is now Buckeye Township
but which was theri unsurveyed. Included in his
purchase was a water-power and rtouring-mill, and
after fitting the latter up properly he began the
operations which in the course of time made him a
very wealthy man. The nearest market at that
time was at Galena, and sometimes the flour was
sent to Chicago, the transportation being effected
with horse and ox teams.

In addition to his private interests Mr. Addams
was equally interested in the welfare of the people
around him, which he rightly judged would shape
the progress necessary to enhance the value of
property, add to the intelligence of the people, and
increase the natural attractions of this section as a
place for residence and a point for business. He
was foremost in the many enterprises projected in
order to bring about this desirable state of affairs,
among the most important being the construction
of a railroad. He was instrumental in calling the

convention of land-owners and business men which
resulted in a concert of action that pushed to com-
pletion the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad,
and exerted himself particularly to draw the at-
tention of the people to its importance and induce
them to become subscribers to the stock. The
natural result of his energy and forethought was
his election to important offices, and after serving
in various other responsible positions he was, in
1854, elected to the State Senate, in which he
served continuously until 1870. The principles of
the Republican party had been his before its or-
ganization, and he was present at the first conven-
tion held at Rockford when these principles
definitely assumed a name.

Mr. Addams was a co-worker with Lincoln,
Washburne and Yates, the leading Republicans of
the clay. In 1869 his friends wished him to be-
come a candidate for Congress, to succeed Wash-
burne, but he declined to allow his name to be
used in that connection. In 1864 he assisted in the
organization of the Second National Bank, of Free-
port, and was elected President, holding the posi-
tion until his death, which occurred Aug. 17, 1881.
This event cast a gloom over the whole county,
which felt that it had lost a man whose place it
would be extremely difficult to fill. The evidences
of his generosity, his enterprise and his ambition
for the advancement of his adopted county and
city, are to be seen on every hand in the many
features of its excellent institutions, and in the
various departments of business where his counsel
and his assistance have left an ineffaceable mark.

The first marriage of John II. Addams was cele-
brated at Kreidersville, Pa., at the home of the
bride, formerly Miss Sarah Weber, a native of
Kreidersville, and born in the year 1817. This
union resulted in the birth of five children, of
whom the record is as follows : Mary C. became
the wife of Rev. J. M. Linn, and is a resident of
Geneseo, 111.; Martha died when an interesting
maiden of seventeen years; she was at the time a
student at the Rockford Seminary, in the class
preparing to be graduated in a short time.
John Weber is written of elsewhere in this
work; Sarah Alice, the wife of Dr. II. VV. Haider-
man, is a resident of Girard, Kan.; Jane, the i

326

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

youngest, resides at home. The mother of these
children departed this life in the village of Cedar-
ville, Jan. 14, 1863. Her father, George Weber,
was for many years a prominent merchant and
miller at Kreidersville, Pa., whence he removed in
1834 to this State, locating at Como, where he
erected a large mill which he conducted until re-
tiring from active labor. His death occurred there
in 1851. His wife, before her marriage, was Miss
Sarah Beaver, which .name was also borne by the
paternal grandmother of our subject. The Beaver
family is well known throughout the Keystone
State as being largely identified with its agricult-
ural and industrial interests. The second marriage
of Mr. Addams was to Mrs. William Haldeman,
and was celebrated in 1868.

BRAHAM BOWER, retired farmer, and a
resident of Orangeville, is numbered among
IS 1 the honored pioneers who came to this
county during its early settlement and as-
sisted in the development of its resources. He
located on a tract of land on section 35, Oneco
Township, but a few acres of which were broken,
and the only building a log house. From this hum-
ble beginning he built up a fine farm, erected a
substantial dwelling, together with a large frame
barn, and other out-buildings, and occupied the
homestead thus established until the spring of 1867.
He wisely judged, then, that he had labored suffi-
ciently, and leaving the farm in other hands, took
up his abode in Orangeville, where he has since
lived in the enjoyment of a competence.

Mr. Bower was born in Union County, Pa., Oct.
18, 1809. His father, Christian Bower, was a na-
tive of Lancaster County, where the grandfather of
our subject carried on farming and spent the last
years of his life. Christian Bower grew to man-
hood in his native county, whence he afterward re-
moved to Union County, during its early settle-
ment. He purchased a tract of timber land, put up
a log cabin, and in due time cleared a farm -from
the wilderness, which he occupied until about 1855.
Thence he removed to Mercer County, where his

death took place. He had married in early man-
hood Miss Susan Funk, a native of his own county,
and who died in Union Count}', in 1850. She be-
came the mother of six children, and endured with
her husband all the trials and hardships of life in a
new country, and is remembered as one of the
model pioneer mothers, looking well to the ways of
her household, and training her children to habits
of industry and principles of honor.

Abraham Bower continued a resident of his na-
tive count}- several years after reaching manhood.
When nineteen years old he commenced learning
the carpenter trade, serving an apprenticeship of
two years, and afterward working three years as a
journeyman. This, however, did not suit him as
well as agriculture, and he accordingly rented his
father's farm, and was engaged in tilling the soil in
the Keystone State for fourteen years thereafter,
during which time he saved $1,400. In the
meantime he had been married, and his wife died
in 1848. In the spring of that year he decided to
visit the West, which he hoped would be the scene
of his future operations. An elder brother had al-
ready preceded him to Northern Illinois, and to
him Abraham had sent a sum of money to be in-
vested in land. After visiting his brother a few
weeks, during which time he had made up his mind
to locate in Stephenson County, he returned to
Pennsylvania, and was married in the fall of 1848.
The following spring, accompanied by his bride and
the two children of his first wife, he started over-
land on the long journey. They visited friends on
the way, and did not arrive at their destination un-
til the 25th of August. They settled on the land
previously purchased in Oneco Township, and com-
menced housekeeping in the small frame structure
which had been already built for their reception.
Mr. Bower at once began the cultivation of the
soil, and by degrees added the improvements which
in due time made his homestead one of the most de-
sirable in that section.

The first wife of our subject was formerly Miss
Lusette Schadle, who was a native of Northumber-
land County, Pa., and the daughter of Samuel and
Ann E. (Ziebach) Schadle, natives respectively of
Northumberland and Bucks Counties. Samuel
Schadle, with the exception of a few years spent in

53
m

z
o
n

o
-n

O
CD

OJ
33

I
H

in
n
N

2
H

H
o

Z
m
3:

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

329

Union County, passed his entire life near the place
where he was born, and there his remains were laid
to rest. The second wife of Mr. Bower. Miss Ann
May Schadle, was the sister of his first wife. The
two children of the latter were Mary, now the wife
of Dr. W. P. Naramore, of Lena; and Aaron, who
occupies the homestead. Of the second marriage
there were no children. Mr. Bower and his estim-
able lady are members in good standing of the
German Reformed Church, and our subject, politi-
cally, since his young manhood, has cordially en-
dorsed the principles of the Republican party.

ST SCHUDT, one of the most success-
ful and extensive farmers of West Point
Township, was born Sept. 19, 1837, in
Frankfort- on-the-Main, which is one of
the most ancient and interesting of the old free
cities of Germany. His father, George Sctuult,
was a native of Hesse-Homburg, but after his mar-
riage he removed to Frankfort, where he was en-
gaged in agriculture until 1849. At that time,
being satisfied that America offered greater privi-
leges and advantages in land than his native coun-
try, he resolved to emigrate, and accordingly set
sail in June of that month, and in August landed
in New York. A few months later his wife and
eight children joined him there. They purchased
a farm in West Seneca Township, Erie Co., N. Y.,
where they lived until the death of Mr. Schudt, in
1852, which occurred through an accident. Mr.
George Schudt was twice married, his first wife
havii g died in Germany, before he came to this
country. His second wife died in Iowa in 1886.
August Schudt was about eleven years of age
when, in 1849, he came to America with his broth-
ers and sisters. He passed his boyhood in the
home of his parents, and after his father's death
remained with his step-mother until 1861, when he
came to Illinois and purchased 1 46 acres of land
on section 8, West Point Township. Having
erected a small frame house, very limited in its ac-
commodations, he began to cultivate and improve
his farm. He subsequently, from time to time,
purchased more land, until he now owns a fine es-
tate containing 385 acres, all of which is enclosed.

In 1873 he built a large barn 47x75 feet. His
present tasteful and commodious residence was
built in 1882, in the modern style of architecture,
and it is with pleasure that we present it in this
volume as one of the representative country resi-
dences of Stephenson County.

In 1865 Mr. Schudt. was united in marriage to
Miss Rosa Scharpf, a native of Wurtemberg, Ger-
many. They have a family of five children, named
as follows: Cornelia S., Arthur O., Charles Otto,
George F. and Milo Walter. Mr. Schudt is one of
the most progressive citizens of the county, and
his farm improvements are among the best: He is
hospitable and social in nature, and his residence,
which is located on section 9, is always open to a
large circle of friends. His family are members of
the English Lutheran Church. Mr. Schudt was
School Director for nine consecutive years, and re-
linquished it in order, to accept the position of
Township Trustee. In politics he affiliates with
the Democratic party.

ACOB ALBRIGHT, of Kent Township, is a
prosperous farmer, living on section 7, and
the view of his homestead which will be
found on another page, illustrates more
forcibly than any words which we can employ, the
nature of his standing in the community, his skill
as an agriculturist, and his good judgment as a
business man. His parents were George and Mary
B. Albright; the father was born in York County,
Pa., and the mother in Centre County of that State.
After marriage, they settled in Canton, Ohio, the
mother going there in 1817, while the father did
not join her until one year later. They lived there
until their death, and had twelve children, of whom
our subject was the fifth child.

Jacob Albright was born in Stark County, Ohio,
Feb. 14, 1826. He lived at home on the farm
with his father until he was just twenty years old,
and then learned the carpenter's trade, following
this occupation until the spring of 1848, when he
came to Stephenson County with his wife, and lived
in Freeport four and a half years working at his
trade.

When Mr. Albright came to Kent Township, he

330

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

lived near Yellow Creek about two and a half
years, and then settled where he now resides. He
has erected good and substantial buildings on his
farm, and is the owner of 275 acres, most of which
is valuable land. He began life poor, and has ac-
quired his property by his own industry, with the
help of his estimable wife. He was married in
Stark County, Ohio, March 23, 1848, to Miss
Martha Erwin, the daughter of David and Sarah
(Rudy) Erwin, who came to Stephenson County in
1848, and settled in Kent Township, where they
have since lived. Mr. and Mrs. Erwin had seven
children, of whom Mrs. Albright is the eldest.
She was born in Lancaster County, Pa., May 8,
1830.

Mr. and Mrs. Albright have had fifteen children
Lydia A., Charles H., David E., Mary B., Sarah
C., Benjamin F., William R.. Almeda L., George
A., Emma J., Lizzie R., John E., Jacob L. and Al-
len A. ; one child died in infancy, and Lydia died
when eight months old; Charles H. married Lovina
A. Keiser, and resides in Kent Township; David
E. married Nancy J. Stewart, and resides m Col-
orado; Mary B. is the wife of Adolphus Dammier,
and resides iu Kent township; Sarah is the wife of
P. A. Soul, and resides in Erin Township; Benja-
min F. married Nancy Brien, and resides in Ne-
braska.

Mr. Albright has held the office of Highway
Commissioner, was elected Justice of the Peace,
has been Constable, and since 1857 a School Di-
rector of the township. Mrs. Albright religiously,
is a Dunkard. In politics, Mr. A. is a Democrat.
Their home is highly creditable to those who have
built it up; their children have been well raised
and educated, and the family in all respects is
prominent among the well-to-do residents of Kent
Township.

J "JAMES BENSON, of Cedarville, Buckeye
Township, during a long life of more than
threescore and ten years, has become the
1 possessor of a wide and varied experience,
not the least valuable of which was that part of his
life which was spent in this count}' during the pio-
' neer days. He is essentially a self-made man, aud

since the time when, a lad eight years of age,' he
was thrown upon his own resources, has battled
manfully with the elements of a changing world,
and may be pardoned for feeling that he has come
out of the conflict essentially a victor. The early
years of his life implanted within him a self-reliant
spirit, and his natural honesty and integrity se-
cured for him the universal respect of his acquaint-
ances, and served to establish him in a good posi-
tion among his fellowmeii.

Mr. Benson was born in South Lebanon Town-
ship, Lebanon Co., Pa., Oct. 11, 1814. His father,
Alexander Benson, a native of County Donegal,
Ireland, emigrated to the United States when a
young man, and located in Pennsylvania. There
he soon afterward married Miss Polly Brown, a na-
tive of that State, and died in 1815, leaving a widow
and three children, our subject being then scarcely
more than an infant. The mother .kept her little
family together until they were old enough to do
something for themselves, and then the struggle of
life with our subject began, as we have, stated.
He worked on a farm for his board and clothing,
until fourteen years old, and then during the sum-
mer months, was paid $3 per month. In the win-
ter he attended school, and worked mornings and
evenings for his board and lodging, operating in
this way two months in the year. This was before
the days of threshing-machines, the grain being
tramped out by horses, and our subject rode the
horses as they followed their monotonous round.
As his strength and usefulness increased, his wages
were raised, until he was paid $6 per month.
When eighteen years old, he commenced learning
the cooper's trade, at which he worked only a short
time, however, and then went into a mill at Leba-
non, and was there employed until 1847.

In the spring of the year mentioned, young Ben-
son decided to seek his fortune in the West. He
traveled by railroad and canal across the Allegha-
nies to Pittsburgh, and thence by the Ohio and
Mississippi Rivers, to Savanna, 111., where he ar-
rived on the 3d of June, being just one month
and eight days on the road. There he hired a
wagon to convey him to this county. He located
in Buckeye Township, and was variously employed
until the fall of the year, when he engaged in geu-

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

331

eral merchandising in partnership with William
Irvin, at Cedar Creek Mills, now known as Cedar-
ville. Nineteen months later he sold his interest,
and erected a brick building in that vicinity, where
he carried on the same business until March, 1877.
Thence he removed to Carroll County with his
stock, and set up his sou in business there. He
then retired, and has since lived at his ease in
Cedarvilfe.

Our subject was married, in the spring of 1840,
to Miss Magdalena Kratzer, the wedding taking
place at the home of the bride in Lebanon County,
Pa. Mrs. Benson was born in Lebanon County,
Pa., Nov. 8, 1820. Her father, John, Jr., and her
grandfather. John Kratzer, Sr., were also natives
of the Keystone State, while her great-grandfather
was born in Germany. Of this union there were
born three children : Joseph K. is occupied in
clerking at Freeport; Eliza is the wife of C. M.
Saxby, a prosperous farmer of Harlem Township,
and Mary is the the wife of D. G. Ilgin, Postmas-
ter of Cedarville. Mr. Benson, since exercising
the right of suffrage, has voted the straight Demo-
cratic ticket.

UGUST F. HASSELMANN, deceased, a
native of Germany, and late a resident and
one of the most successful farmers of Lo-
ran Township, was born in the Province
of Iloin, Aug. 24, 1833, and died at his home in
this township on the 12th of May, 1887. His
early years were spent in his native country, until
he had arrived. at the age of nineteen years, when
he emigrated to America, becoming a resident of
this county, where he acquired a good property in
Loran Township. His parents had died in their
native land, and he was accompanied by some of
his relatives to this country.

The wife of our subject, to whom he was mar-
ried in Stephenson County, March 24, 185G, was
formerly Miss Henrietta, daughter of .Simon and
Sophia Kulhmeyer. She was born in Germany,
Aug. 25, 1833, and, like her husband, came to this
country with her parents at the age of nineteen
years. The record of her children is as follows:

Sophia became the wife of John Ilershey, who is
farming in Loran Township; Frederick is a resi-
dent of Iowa; Henry married Miss Mary Brink-
meier, and is a farmer of Jefferson Township;
Martha married George Brinkmeier and lives in
Dakota; August, Mary, William, Lena and Rosa
are at home with their mother. The homestead
includes 240 acres of valuable land, with first-class
improvements, fine stock and all the necessary farm
machinery. Mr. H. was a member of the German
Methodist Church, with which his widow is also
connected. She is a lady highly esteemed among
her neighbors, and is fulfilling the part o! a faithful
mother to her children.

HRISTIAN R. LAIBLE, Ju., is one of the
most thrifty and successful farmers in the
township of Lancaster, and it is a pleasure
to introduce him to the public. His land is pleas-
antly located on section 15, and contains seventy-
nine and a half acres, all of which is well improved
and of great value. Mr. Laible came to the county
in the year 1870, and has since lived in the township
of Lancaster. He was born in Ela Township, Lake
Co., 111., Feb. 7, 1853. His father, Christian Lai-
ble, Sr., is now a successful farmer on section 19,
of Lancaster Township.

The subject of this sketch remained in his native
county until thirteen years old, when the family re-
moved to Dundee, Kane County, and subsequently
from there to Stephenson County, where he made
his home with his parents until becoming of age.
He was married to Miss Harriet Morse at the resi-
dence of his wife's brother-in-law, William Ruth,
on the 14th of December, 1880. The bride was a
daughter of James and Maria (Lintler) Morse, who
are both deceased. Mrs. Laible was born in Kane
County, in I860, but acquired her education mostly
in Wisconsin, where her parents lived during her
girlhood. She is a lady well versed in all domestic
affairs, and looks well after the ways of her house-
hold.

Mr. and Mrs. C. R. Laible are the parents of three
intelligent children Raymond, Viola M. and Ber-
tha. After their marriage Mr. L. engaged in farm-

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

ing on his "present land. By dint of hard work and
frugality he has accumulated enough to provide for
his family handsomely and also erected a hand-
some'and convenient residence, besides a good barn
and other out-buildings.

It is just such industrious and energetic men as
Mr. Laible, who within twenty-five years have
caused the wild prairies of Lancaster, Township to
bloom as the rose, and to become the home of so
many wealthy -and intelligent people. In politics
Mr. L. is an ardent Republican, and in religion a
worthy member of the Methodist Episcopal Church
at Freeport.

H. CRANE, proprietor of the Freeport
Omnibus and Hack Line (successor to J.
W. Crane, his father, now deceased), is a
New Yorker by birth, having been born in
the metropolis of that State on the 8th of April,
1837. His father, James W. Crane, was also a
native of the Empire State, and born May 29, 1808.
In that State he attained to manhood and was mar-
ried to Almina Lassou, who was born there April
10, 1805. Not long after his marriage James W.
Crane removed to Stephenson County, about the
year 1835, and located upon a farm, which he man-
aged successfully for several years. Thence he re-
paired to Freeport and purchased a livery stable,
which he thoroughly stocked with horses and vehi-
cles, and which he carried on successfully. In the
course of a few years he added a bus and hack line to
the business. During his residence in Stephenson
County he was known and regarded as a very en-
ergetic citizen, a man full of pluck and courage,
who never seemed to know the meaning of the word
"fail." He was better known as Capt. James W.
Crane, which title he gained as commander of a
military company at Freeport, some years ago.
He died Sept. 22, 1873; his wife survived him
seven years, and died Sept. 18, 1880. She was the
mother of six children, four girls and two boys, of
whom J. H. was but two 3'ears of age when he
came to this county with his parents.

Our subject was educated in the public schools
of Freeport, and as soon as old enough he entered

the stable of his father as an assistant. He remained
there in this capacity until the death of this parent,
when he and his brother, J. W. Crane, succeeded
to the business, the two becoming partners. They
continued together for four years, when J. W.
Crane sold his interest to William Schrader. The
new firm carried on the business about four years,
when Mr. Schrader disposed of bis interest to Will-
iam Esterbrook, and the new firm continued for
three years, when Mr. Crane purchased the interest
of his partner and has since conducted the business
alone. His outfit consists of twelve good horses,
three large omnibuses, three hacks, two baggage-
wagons and a large bus-sleigh. In short, he has
one of the best equipped establishments in the
Northwest. He has two good stables adjoining
each other, one 20x120 feet and the other 48x60
feet, which gives ample room for housing the ani-
mals and vehicles and the grain for feed. Mr.
Crane has grown up from boyhood in this business,
and consequently understands it thoroughly in
every detail. He takes pride in conducting it
properly, and the heart}' patronage he receives
from- the people shows that they appreciate his
efforts.

Mr. Crane was married, in 1879, to Miss Caroline
Lathrop, of Freeport; they have no children. He
has served one term as Alderman of the city of
Freeport, and during that time did what he could
for the best interests of the city.

AMUEL HERSHEY, of Loran Township,
and pleasantly located on section 33, is
the owner of 160 acres in a high state of
cultivation, and supplied with a fine set of
frame buildings. He came to this county in the
fall of 1870, from Allegheny County, Pa., where
he was born Oct. 15, 1828. He .was reared to
farm pursuits, which he has followed nearly all his
life, and in the management of his property lias
distinguished himself as a skillful agriculturist and
a wide-awake business man.

Our subject started out in life when twenty -one
years of age, and first made his way to Ohio, of
which State he remained a resident two years, en-

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

833

gaged in farming. In 1858 he visited California,
but after six months returned, to repeat the experi-
ment, however, four years later, when he remained
in that section of country for about seven years,
engaged in mining and milling. Upon returning
from California, he sought the home of his child-
hood in Pennsylvania, and the following year,
1870, came to Stephenson County, of which he
has since been a resident.

Mr. Hershey, upon his return trip to his native
county, was united in marriage with one of bis
childhood playmates, Mrs. Nancy Fennell, in
March, 1870. Mrs. Hershey is the daughter of
Robert and Ann (Hershey) Adair, and the widow
of John Fennell, who died in Westmoreland
County, Pa., in the spring of 1856. Of her first
marriage there were born two children Sarah A.
and William J. The former is the wife of Joseph
Boerr, a farmer of Loran Township, and William
J. married Miss Emma Fisher, daughter of Jacob
and Sarah (Hammond) Fisher, residents of Car-'
roll County, this State. William J. Fennell was
born in Westmoreland County, Pa., July 18, 1856,
and his wife, Emma, was born in Pennsylvania.
Thej r have three children Edith M., Myrtle M.
and Nannie V.

Our subject and his wife are the parents of three
children Logan S., Nannie and Robert J. Mrs.
Hershey belongs to the United Brethren Church,
and Mr. Hershey, politically, affiliates with the
Republican party.

fir OHN PRICE, one of the early settlers of
Stephenson County, and now numbered
among its prosperous and well-to-do citizens,
is a flue illustration of self-made men who
commenced at the foot of the ladder in life and
have by their own exertions attained a good posi-
tion socially and financially. Mr. Price comes of
substantial Pennsylvania ancestry, and is himself a
native of the Keystone State, bom in Centre
County, Sept. 10, 1815.

The father of our subject, Jacob Price, was also
a native of Centre County, Pa., to which his grand-
father, Henry Price, removed in early manhood,

and where he spent the last years of his life. He
was married and reared a fine family of sons and
daughters, Jacob being educated, like the others,
to habits of industry and farming pursuits. He
developed into manhood in his native county,
and purchased a farm in Potter Township, where
he located and spent the remainder of his life.
Jacob Price married, at an early age, Miss Kate
Conrad, a native of his own county, where she re-
mained with her parents until she became Mrs.
Price. Their children, in common with their son
John, were reared on the farm in Centre County
and commenced at an early age to assist their
parents in the maintenance of the family.

The early years of John Price were spent after
the manner of most farmers' sons of that period,
his education being extremely limited and his
prospects for the future dependent upon his own
exertions. He was married early in life, and after-
ward worked for a time in a sawmill and at what-
ever he could find to do, until the spring of 1848.
He had a strong desire for something better than
he had known, and then decided to seek his fort-
unes in the far West. Accordingly, accompanied
by his wife and four children, he started overland
on a long journey with but a small amount of
money, trusting to his good health and his strong
hands for their future welfare. They traveled af-
ter the manner of those days, taking with them
their household effects and provisions, camping
and cooking by the wayside. By the time he ar-
rived in Stephenson County he was without money,
but made arrangements for the comfort of his
family and located them in a rented house in
Waddams Township. His next business was to
seek employment, and during that first winter he
split rails at fifty cents per hundred and boarded
himself.

In the spring following, Mr. Price took pos-
session of a farm upon which his wife was employed
as housekeeper and himself as laborer. He had
still retained possession of his team, but the second
year traded one horse for one acre of land, which
constituted his first ownership of real estate, and
was located on section 4, in Waddams Township.
Upon this he put up a small log house, and cul-
tivated his limited area of soil, in the meantime

334

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

laboring elsewhere by the day or month, as he
could secure employment. He now began gradu-
ally to gain a foothold, and in due time became
the proud possessor of nine acres, for which he had
paid 9,000 rails. For thirty-six years, successively,
he followed threshing in the winter seasons. He
invested his surplus cash in additional land until
he became the owner of 154 acres, which in due
time was provided with a good set of farm build-
ings, including a substantial house and barn, and
the machinery necessary for the convenience of
the enterprising and progressive agriculturist.
He also gradually accumulated a goodly assortment
of stock. In 1866 he sold the old homestead on
section 9 and removed to his present location,
where he has practically abandoned active labor
and is enjoying, ?.s he deserves, the fruits of his
early industry.

The marriage of John Price and Miss Sarah
Babb was celebrated in November, 1838, at the
home of the bride's parents in Union County, Pa.,
in which county she was born. Of her marriage
with our subject there are six children living, and
located as follows : John J. is a resident of McCon-
nell's Grove, this county; Catherine, now Mrs.
Walters, is a resident of Waddauis Township;
James C. lives near Freeport; Elizabeth, now Mrs.
Rice, is a resident of Cook County, Neb. ; Jona-
than and William II. are residents of Freeport.
Mr. Price votes the straight Democratic ticket,
and with his estimable wife, is a member in good
standing of the Lutheran Church.

EDWARD T. MOORE, one of the most sub-
stantial citizens of Orangeville, has been a
resident of the county for nearly forty years.
His early home was in Northampton County, Pa.,
where he was born May 12, 1832. His parents were
Charles and Josephine Moore, to whom reference is
made in the sketch of J. J. Moore, which will be
found elsewhere in this work.

Our subject remained under the parental roof
until fourteen years of age, and then commenced to
learn cigar-making, which he followed until 1849.
In the spring of that year he came to this State with

his parents, via the lakes and railroads to Chicago,
where they hired a team to transport them to Free-
port. Young Moore afterward occupied himself at
various kinds of work in this count} 7 until the fol-
lowing year, when he went up into Wisconsin, and
for two months was employed in the lead mines near
Argyle. He then returned to Freeport, and for
seven or eight years following, was engaged with
his father in a flouring-mill, after which he went to
Ogle County, but returned in a few months to Free-
port. Subsequently his father operated a mill in
Rock Run Township, and he was employed with
him there for about ten years. In 1868 he became
connected with the mill at Orangeville, of which he
has since mainly had charge, conducting the busi-
ness for his father. He is regarded as an honest
man and a good citizen, and is filling the place as-
signed him in a creditable and conscientious man-
ner.

The marriage of Edward T. Moore and Miss
Sarah Fink took place at the home of the bride in
Rock Run Township, in 1858. Mrs. Moore was
born in Lehigh County, Pa., in 1840, and by her
union with our subject became the mother of six
children, namely, Anna, Stephen, Tillie, Mary, Ar-
thur and Stella. Tillie lives in Eastern Pennsyl-
vania; Anna in New York City, and the rest are at
home.

KENCKE was born Oct. 10, 1844,
|L^ ; in Newburg, A\ r ashingtou Co:, Wis., and
V has been a resident of Stephenson County
wg)' since the spring of 1858. At that time,
accompanied by his elder brother, Frederick, he
started out from his native town, and after reach-
ing this State took up his abode in Lancaster
Township. Not long afterward he became pro-
prietor of a tract of land on section 27, which he
has since brought to a good state of cultivation.
His real estate, although not remarkably extensive,
has been well cared for and finely improved, each
acre of the soil being utilized in the wisest manner.
Frederick Kencke, the brother of our subject,
soon after his arrival in this county became con-
nected with the Freeport Tribune, and Rudolph
for a time and during the existence of the paper,

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

335

was also employed there. ; He was afterward occu-
pied at farm labor until the outbreak of the Civil
War. During 1861 he enlisted in Co. G, 46th 111.
Vol. Inf., in which he served four years and five
months and participated with his comrades in some
of the most important battles of the war. He was
promoted to Orderly Sergeant, and although ex-
periencing many hairbreadth escapes, returned
home sound, in body and mind, the only discom-
fort with which he was visited having been a brief
attack of lung fever, which kept him in the hos-
pital about fourteen days. By his courage and
fidelity he received the approval of his superior
officers and the respect of his comrades. Upon re-
turning to Lancaster Township he employed him-
self at whatever his hands could find to do, subse-
quently engaging in farming, and on the llth of
June, 1867, took the first important step toward
the establishment of a home of his own. This was
his marriage with Miss Martha E. Smith, who was
born in Lancaster Township, Jan. 12, 1849, and is
the eldest child of Samuel and Reliance (Sprague)
Smith, natives of Ohio and early settlers of this
county. They were married in Clinton, DeWitt
Co., 111. The father by a former wife had seven
children, and the mother by her former husband
had four children. They thus commenced life to-
gether with a family of eleven children, and in due
time five more were added to the household circle.
Mr. Smith was accidentally killed during the fall of
1878, being run over by a train on the C. & N. W.
R. R., near his home in Lancaster Township. The
mother is still living, aged seventy-one years, and a
resident of Lincoln, 111. Mr. and Mrs. Kencke
are the parents of twelve children, of whom Edgar,
Henry, Arthur, William and Freddie are living,
while Hattie, Flora, Frank, Charles, Nellie, Alice
and Martha are deceased.

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Kencke set-
tled on a part of the laud included in their present
homestead. Mr. K. has been successful in the
cultivation of the soil and in his investments, and
while pursuing general farming put up a good set
of frame buildings and has made everything com-
fortable otherwise for his family. He is a Repub-
lican in politics and has served as Commissioner of
Highways, which position he now occupies. Both

he and his wife are members in good standing of
the Second Presbyterian Church at Freeport. The
homestead is pleasantly located and forms one of
the attractive spots of Lancaster Township.

Samuel Smith, the father of Mrs. Kencke, who
emigrated from Virginia to this State, is entitled
to special mention as having broken a greater area
of prairie in this county than any other man. He
was strictly temperate in his habits, enterprising
and industrious, and always bore the reputation of
a useful and worthy citizen.

ENRY KELLER, contractor and plasterer,
Freeport, has followed his line of business
successfully, and been closely identified
with the industrial interests of this section
for many years. He is of German birth and par-
entage, and his early life was spent in the city of
Cassel, Germany, where his birth took place Jan.
12, 1838.

Mr. Keller was placed in school when a lad six
years of age, and continued his studies until four-
teen. He then started out in life for himself, and
at once made preparations to emigrate to the
United States. He was comparatively without
means, and made the voyage alone, landing in the
citj r of New York friendless and penniless. His
intelligent face, however, and his desire to obtain
his living honestly, soon secured him friends and
employment, and he commenced learning the plas-
terer's trade, at which he served an apprenticeship
of three years and six months. In 1854 he started
for the West, and landing in Freeport, engaged at
his trade, which he followed until the outbreak of
the Civil War. He was among the first to enlist
in the Union army, becoming a member of Co. D,
4tith 111. Vol. Inf., in which he served faithfully as
a private over two years. He took part in the bat-
tles of Jackson, Miss., Ft. Blakeley, Spanish Fort,
and met the enemy in other important engage-
ments. At the expiration of his term of service,
he was mustered out at Baton Rouge, La., and re-
turned to Freeport, where he resumed his former
business.

Besides having charge of work under way, Mr.

336

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

Keller still s handles the trowel with his men, and is
one of the most expert workmen of the kind in
this section. His contracts include some of the
finest buildings in Freeport, and he frequently
gives employment to fifteen men. He has accumu-
lated a handsome property, which comprises a
comfortable home in Freeport, and two good farms
in Silver Creek Township, embracing 205 acres of
fertile and highly cultivated land.

The marriage of Mr. Keller took place in the
spring of 1856, the maiden of his choice being Miss
Gertrude Smith, who is the daughter of Conrad
Smith, of Freeport. They became the parents of
four children, three living, namely, John, Henry
and Catherine. Mr. and Mrs. Keller are connected
with the German Reformed Church, and socially,
Mr. K. belongs to Freeport Lodge No. 237, I. O.
O. F. The family residence is a substantial struct-
ure, built of brick, and its inmates are surrounded
by all the comforts of life.

In addition to his limited means upon arriving
in this country, Mr. Keller was also obliged to strug-
gle with the disadvantage of a foreign tongue, and
considering all that he has had to contend with, his
success in life has been truly remarkable. He is
highly esteemed by those who know him, as pos-
sessing nil the reliable and substantial traits of his
excellent German ancestry.

AMES L. HARTSOUGH, Postmaster of
McConnell's Grove, is also carrying on gen-
eral merchandising at that point, where he
has been located since the spring of 1877.
He was appointed Postmaster in 1886, and has
served as Justice of the Peace in Waddams Town-
ship for a period of seventeen years. He has also
represented the township in the County Board of
Supervisors many terms, and is in all respects a
citizen closely identified with its interests.

Mr. Hartsough was born in Indiana County, Pa.,
Aug. 23, 1840. His father, Jonathan, and his
grandfather, John Hartsough, were natives respect-
ively of Pennsylvania and Maryland. The latter
was a carpenter by trade, but fond of country life,

and spent his last years upon a farm in Indiana
Count}'. His son Jonathan was reared in his na-
tive State, where he remained until our subject
was a youth seventeen years of age. Jonathan
Hartsough then determined to remove to the West.
After disposing of his real-estate in Pennsylvania,
he gathered together his personal effects and, with
his family, journeyed overland toward the Missis-
sippi. Upon arriving in this county, he concluded
that the soil of Northern Illinois would satisfy his
requirements, and accordingly purchased a tract of
laud in Waddams Township, which he proceeded
to cultivate and improve, and upon which he re-
sided until he rested from his earthly labors in 1862.

The mother of our subject, in her girlhood, was
Miss Mary A. Lafferty, who was born in Hunting-
don County, Pa., and came West with her husband
and family. She survived the former a period of
twenty-one years, and departed this life at her
home in McConnell's Grove in 1883. Of her mar-
riage with Jonathan Hartsough there were born
seven children, of whom but three lived to mature
years. Mary J. is the wife of Samuel Fair, giving
at Lena; Susan became the wife of W. W. Robey,
and is now deceased; James L., of our sketch, is
the only son living.

Mr. Hartsough, during his boyhood and youth,
assisted his father on the farm and attended the dis-
trict school during the winter season. He re-
mained with his parents until their death, and then
assumed the management of the farm, continuing
on the homestead built up by his father. He then
sold the property and invested the proceeds in a
stock of merchandise, and has built up a profitable
trade, which is steadily increasing. He carries an
ample stock of the articles usuall}' contained in a
country store, well suited to the wants of the farm
or village household, including dry -goods, groceries,
clothing and hardware.

The lady who has been the close friend and con-
stant companion of our subject for more than
twenty years was formerly Miss Mary Robey, and
became his wife in 1866, the wedding taking place
at the home of the bride in Waddams Township.
Mrs. H. was born at her father's homestead in this
township, March 27, 1849. She is the daughter of
Levi Robey, Esq., a sketch of whom will be found

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

339

elsewhere in this work. This union resulted in the
birth of five children, namely, Frank, Jennie, Lulu,
Annie and James E.

Mr. Hartsough has held most of the minor offices
of the township and votes the straight Democratic
ticket. Socially, he is a member of Lena Lodge
No. 174, A. F. & A. M., and also belongs to the
I. O. O. F.,>t Lena.

AJ. JOHN M. McCRACKEN, deceased,
formerly one of the most prominent citi-
zens of Ridott Township, and a portrait of
whom is presented on the opposite page,
was a native of Pennsylvania, born June 3, 1831,
and departed this life Aug. 28, 1879, from the ef-
fects of wounds received in the army. He had
been a great sufferer, and it became necessary to
remove him to a private hospital at Elgin, where
his death took place.

The father of our subject, William McCracken,
a native of Pennsylvania, followed farming a part
of his life, and was also employed in the woolen-
mills of Tyrone, Pa., where he spent his last years.
In early manhood he had married Miss Mary M.
Milliken, who survived him and died in Atchison,
Kan., March 27, 1879, at the home of her son
Samuel. John M., our subject, was the third child
and second son of his parents, whose household in-
cluded five children. He was reared in Juniata
and Huntingdon Counties, received a common-
school education and was bred to farming pursuits,
while he also employed part of his time in the
mills with his father. He remained in his native
State until about twenty-five years of age, and
came to Illinois in about 1856, being joined later
by his mother and the remaining children, after the
death of the father.

Our subject was variously employed until the
breaking out of the late war, and at the second call
for troops enlisted in Co. K, 46th 111. Vol. Inf., in
which he was soon tendered a Captain's commis-
sion. He had been active in recruiting this com-
pany, and soon afterward led them to the scene of
action at Ft. Donelson, where they arrived just in
time to participate in that memorable engagement.

The young Captain came from this unharmed, and
afterward met the rebels at Shiloh and Pittsburg
Landing, where he received the high approval of
his superior officers for his meritorious conduct,
and which was rewarded by his promotion, Oct. 11,
1 862, to the rank of Major. He veteranized in
1864, when he was made a Lieutenant Colonel, re-
ceiving his papers in May, 1866, commission to
date from the 13th of March, 1865. He had been
severely wounded at Pittsburg Landing, but did
not desert his post until compelled, and remained
with his regiment until his honorable discharge:

Maj. McCracken, after his retirement from the
army, located in Bloomington, III. .and in company
with William H. Wentz engaged in the sale of ag-
ricultural implements for about three years, and
then removed to Freeport, where for a time he
carried on a similar business alone. The precari-
ous state of his health, however, obliged him to
abandon the responsibilities and cares of a business
life, and on the 28th of August, 1879, he closed
his eyes forever upon the scenes of earth.

During the progress of the war and while home
on a furlough, Maj. McCracken was united in mar-
riage, at the home of the bride's parents in Ridott
Township, March 2, 1864, to Miss Clara C., daugh-
ter of H. P. Waters, of whom a sketch is given on
another page in this work. Mrs. McC. was born
on her father's homestead in Ridott Township, Dec.
29, 1844, and remained with her parents until her
marriage. She received a good education in the
common schools, and early in life exhibited the in-
telligence and force of character which have since
distinguished her and secured for her the admira-
tion and respect of a large circle of friends and
acquaintances. Of her marriage with our subject
there were born four children, one of whom, Will-
iam H., died when four months old. Those sur-
viving are Mollie A., John W. and Carrie E., who
all remain at home with their mother. Mrs. McC.
occupies a pleasant home in Ridott Village. She
received from the Government the back pension
due her husband, amounting to $6,140, and also
receives $20 per month and the younger children
$2 each, making a total of $24.

Maj. McCracken, as a man and citizen, was held
in the highest respect for his fine personal traits,

340

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

and as a husband and father was mourned by his
family, who sympathized most deeply with his
affliction and did all in their power to smooth his
pathway to the grave. During the years of his
usefulness and activity, he interested himself in the
affairs of the country and used his influence as far
as he could to bring about those measures which
would be for the best good of the people. He was
a Methodist in religion, and politically a stanch
supporter of the Democratic party. At the time
of his enlistment in the army, the Major was the
main support of his mother and sister, and con-
tinued so to be until his last sickness.

/fi^ EORGE TROTTER is widely and favorably
known throughout Buckeye Township as
one of its earliest settlers and most highly
esteemed citizens. He came to Northern Illinois
during the pioneer days, and has watched with
deep interest the development of its resources,
while at the same time contributing his share to-
ward bringing it to its present condition. He first
opened his eyes to the light in Bourbon County,
Ky., June 13, 1809, whence he emigrated with his
father's family, in 1826, making the journey over-
land and locating five miles east of Springfield.
In 1826, he became a resident of this count}', and
since that time has been closely identified with its
agricultural interests.

James Trotter, the father of our subject, was
born in Virginia, in 1770, and was descended from
excellent Scottish ancestry. His father was born
in the Highlands, it is believed, whence he emigra-
ted to this country in the Colonial days. He first
located in Virginia, but removed to Kentucky pre-
vious to 1800, being among the earliest settlers of
Bourbon County. He purchased a tract Of timber
laud which he converted into a good farm, and also
put up a small mill, the first of its kind in that sec-
tion, and which was highly prized by the settlers.
He spent his last days in Bourbon County.

The father of our subject was reared in Virginia,
and after the removal of the family to Kentucky,
was married in Bourbon County, to Miss Elizabeth
Kenney, and settled on a part of the land which his

father before him had purchased. He put up a
log house in which the subject of this sketch was
born, and remained there until 1826. Then, emi-
grating to this State, he entered .a tract of Gov-
ernment land five miles east of Springfield, from
which he built up a good homestead and died there
in 1839. George, of our sketch, was seventeen
years of age when his parents came to Illinois.
Five years later, in company with others, he started
on foot for the lead mines of Wisconsin. There
he was employed as a clerk three months, and
worked in a smelting furnace at $15 per month.
Afterward he returned to Sangamon County, 111.,
and in 1832, volunteered as a soldier in the Black
Hawk War, under the command of Gen. James D.
Henry. He was in battle on the banks of the Wis-
consin River and also at the mouth of Bad Axe.
After the close of this struggle he resumed farm-
ing in Sangamon County, until the spring of 1836.
In the meantime he had been married, and now,
acorn pan ied by his wife and two children, started
out again for the State of Wisconsin. His outfit
consisted of a pair of horses, a yoke of steers and a
wagon. Into the latter were loaded the household
goods and provisions, and as there were no hotels
along the route, they camped out and cooked by the
wayside and slept in the wagon at night. They
spent the following summer at Honey Creek, Wis.,
but Mr. Trotter, not being satisfied with the out-
look in that section, determined to try his fortunes
on the soil of Northern Illinois, and accordingly
located on a tract of land which is now included in
his present homestead. The land was not yet sub-
divided but he put up a log house and made him-
self and family as comfortable as possible. He had
no money to enter the land but held it as a claim
for seven years following, and was then enabled to
secure a title. The nearest market for farm prod-
uce, and depot for supplies, was at Galena, forty
miles distant. Deer and wild turkeys were plenti-
ful, however, and when the family wanted fresh meat
Mr. Trotter had only to shoulder his gun and go a
little way from his cabin door. He once killed
two deer at one shot, and himself and neighbors
were supplied with venison for some time.

The marriage of George Trotter and Miss Sarah
Chilton took place at the home of the bride in

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

841

Sangamon County, 111., March 24, 1833. Mrs.
Trotter was born in Madison County, 111., Dec. 19,
1816. Her father, William Chilton, a native of
Virginia, removed from there to Tennessee and
subsequently to the then Territory of Illinois. He
served three and one-half years in the War of 1812,
and was one of the earliest pioneers of Madison
County, this State. Later he crossed the Missis-
sippi into Missouri, where his death took place near
Barnard, about 1872. The mother died at Larno,
Wis., in 1 852. The seven living children of Mr.
and Mrs. Trotter are located as follows : Thomas
in Kansas; James in Missouri; William at Polo, 111.;
Millard and John on the old homestead; Elizabeth,
Mrs. Van Metre, in Oneco Township, and Urania
in Polo. Our subject was reared a Presbyterian
and Mrs. Trotter is connected with the United
Brethren Church. Mr. Trotter cast his first Presi-
dential vote for Andrew Jackson, but of late years
has affiliated with the. Republican party. As one
of the honored pioneers of Stepbenson County,
and a man worthy of all respect and deference,
Mr. Trotter stands among the most worthy of his
compeers, and is looked upon as a gentleman of
large experience and one who has made much of
his opportunities in life. He is of that kindly and
genial disposition which has attached to him many
warm friends, and will be remembered years hence
as one of the most valued citizens of Stephenson
County.

OSES MATTER, Jn., a successful farmer
and stock-raiser on section 11, Dakota
Township, is the owner of 110 acres of
land, which he has well improved with
fences and buildings, including a fine residence. He
purchased his home in 1883, having farmed it as a
renter, for the eleven years preceding. He is
known by all his neighbors as a skillful manager.
Mr. Matter was born in Northumberland County,
Pa., on the 26th of February, 1840. He came with
his parents to this State in 1855, and resided with
them until his marriage. He is the son of William

Matter, an old and respected citizen of the town-
ship of Dakota, who came here with his family at
the date named above, and yet resides on the farm
he located at that time. William was the son of
John Matter, a native of Dauphin County, Pa., and
it was there his son, the father of our subject, and
the youngest of twelve children, was born Dec. 8,
1809. His father was a farmer, and lived and died
in Dauphin County. He married Elizabeth Rum-
berger, also born and reared in Pennsylvania.
The family on both sides were of German descent.
The father at the time of his death was seventy-
three years of age, and the mother ninety-two years
of age when she died. In religion the mother was
a member of the United Brethren Church, and the
father was a Methodist. William Matter was a
tailor by trade; he was married in Dauphin County,
Pa., to Lena Troutman, who was born in North-
umberland County, Pa., and was there reared and
educated. She came of Pennsylvania German par-
entage, descendants of Jacob and Mary (Williams)
Troutman. They were Northumberland County
farmers. She became the mother of eleven chil-
dren Elizabeth, Moses, Jonathan, Leo, Susanna,
Conrad, Gideon, Sarah, James; Mary and Amos,
deceased ; Amos and Moses were twins. The sur-
viving children are all married. After marriage,
Mr. Matter lived in Dauphin and Northumberland
Counties until 1855, when he went to Illinois, lo-
cated in Buckeye Township, and later, going to
Dakota Township, he purchased eighty acres of
land on section 23, where he at present resides.
My. M. is a member of the Evangelical Church, and
politically, is a Republican.

Moses Matter, whose genealogy has been traced
back three generations, can point with pardonable
pride to the record. On Dec. 8, 1867, he was mar-
ried to Sarah Fehr, who was born in Pennsylvania,
in 1844. She is the daughter of Peter B. and Le-
setta (Reich) Fehr, natives of Pennsylvania, and of
German descent. Her parents came to this State
sometime in the forties, and settled on a farm in
Dakota Township, and here the father farmed un-
til his death in 1878. The mother is living with
her daughter, Mrs. Matter; she is seventy -eight
years of age. Moses and Sarah Matter are the par-
ents of two children O. C. and Laura. The par-

342

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

ents are members of the Evangelical Church. In
politics Mr. Matter is a Republican, and is now
serving his second term as Commissioner of High-
ways.

j)ILLIAM KERR, the genial, energetic and
successful Postmaster of Ridott, is also
carrying on general merchandising, in
which he established himself in the spring of 1871.
He carries a stock of almost everything required in
the village household or the country home, and
has built up a thriving trade. He has been a resi-
dent of Ridott Township for a period of forty
years and during his earlier life engaged in farm
pursuits.

Our subject, a native of Northumberland
County, Pa., was born Oct. 11, 1846, and is the
son of Alex H. Kerr, also a native of the Keystone
State, and born Nov. 20, 1802. The family has
been represented jn this country for several. 'gener-
ations but away back were of Scotch descent. The
paternal grandfather of our subject,;who was born
and reared in the Colonial days, was one of the
most active soldiers in the war for independence.
His son Alex was reared to farming pursuits and
married one of the playmates of his childhood,
namely, Miss Catherine Karl, who was of German
parentage and born Nov. 10. 1813. The mother
of our subject spoke the language of her ancestors
fluently. The parents after their marriage located
on a farm in Eastern Pennsj'lvania, where they
lived until 1 846, and where four children were
born. William, of our sketch, was then the young-
est of the family. In the spring of that year Alex
Kerr decided to seek his fortune in the great West,
and accordingly started overland with teams.
Coining into this county he pitched his tent upon
a tract of unbroken prairie in Ridott Township
when the settlers were few and far between. Their
first dwelling was an old-style log cabin, which they
occupied a few years and until their industry was
sufficiently rewarded to enable them to put up a
more pretentious dwelling. They removed from
this farm in about 1850, to another not far away,
where the parents spent the balance of their lives.
The father was called to his long home Aug. 12,

1861, and the mother followed not long afterward,
her death taking place Aug. 24, 1 864. The for-
mer was fifty-nine years of age and the latter sixty-
one. Both were devoted members of the Presby-
terion Church, and Mr. Kerr had taken considerable
interest in local politics, being a stanch supporter
of the Democratic party. The mother is affection-
ately remembered by her children as faithful and
loving in her household, kind and hospitable to
both strangers and friends, and a lady who pos-
sessed all the Christian virtues.

William Kerr was born at the modest home of
his parents in Eastern Pennsylvania, and was
brought by them to Illinois when a babe. His
education was completed in the district schools of
Stephenson County, and he remained with his
parents until they no more required his filial care.
He posessed much natural business ability and his
excellent home training had prepared him for the
coming struggle of life. There was but little prop-
erty to fall back upon and he employed himself at
whatever he could find to do, and was never dis-
couraged as long as he was in possession of his
health and strength. He believed that the estab-
lishment of domestic ties would prove a stimulant
to further exertion and he was according^ married,
in July, 1873, in Ridott Village, to Miss Emeline
John. Mrs. Kerr was born Sept. 24, 1853, in Winne-
bago County, and is the daughter of Wesley and
Eleanor John, natives of Pennsylvania, where her
father learned the carpenter's trade, which he fol-
lowed the greater part of his life. He is now a
resident of Ridott. The wife of our subject re-
ceived a good education and taught school in
Ridott Township some years before her marriage.
After becoming the mother of five children she
departed this life at her home in Ridott, Dec. 23,
1883. She was sincerely mourned by her husband
and friends, and her name is held in tender re-
membrance as that of a refined Christian lady of
the highest moral principles and kindness of heart.
The offspring of this marriage were Nellie, Mary,
Frederick, Pearl and Hanson. Mrs. K. had been
reared in the Quaker faith, but not long before her
death connected herself with the Advent Church,
of which she was a valued and worthy member.

The present wife of our subject, to whom he

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

343

was married in Ridott, Dec. 26, 1885, was formerly
Miss Eveline Knight, a lady of English birth and
parentage, who came to this country with her
family in 1863. Her parents, John and Julia J.
(Lee) Knight, located first in Wisconsin, whence
they removed later to Ridott, where they now live.
Mr. Knight is a practical bricklayer and builder,
and commands a good patronage from the people
of this vicinity.

Mr. Kerr, a Democrat, politically, received his
appointment as Postmaster in the spring of 1885.
He has been somewhat prominent in local politics,
and is in all respects a praiseworthy and reliable
citizen.

PRANK SPITLER. The growth of cities is
necessarily slow, no matter how advantage-
ously they are situated, and yet, what re-
quired years of time and millions of dollars to
construct, can be destroyed from the face of the
earth within the space of a few hours by such de-
structive agencies as fire and tornadoes. The most
stupendous illustration of this was the Chicago fire
in 1871. During modern times the ingenuity of
man has been taxed to contrive appliances for the
extinguishing of conflagrations in cities, and the}'
have been rewarded with steam and chemical ap-
paratus which has robbed the cry of " fire " of half
its terrors. But these appliances must be handled
by skillful men ; men of nerve and courage, who
know when and how to act in emergencies where
seconds of time count for much. Of this class of
men is Mr. Frank Spitler, Chief of the fire depart-
ment of Freeport, who was born in that city on
the 25th of December, 1856. Mr. Spitler is the
third child in a family of seven children, and was
educated in the public schools in t"he city of Free-
port. For several years he was engaged in various
occupations, until in Ma}', 1883, he was appointed
as pipeman in the fire department, in which capac-
ity he served efficiently for about two years. In
1885 he was appointed Chief of the fire depart-
ment, to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation
of John F. Rodemeier, and on the 4th of May,
1885, was appointed for a full term of two years.

He was re-appointed on the 3d of May, 1887, and
now holds that position. Mr. Spitler is one of the
youngest fire department Chiefs of a pay depart-
ment in the United States.

On the 24th of August, 1882, Mr. Spitler was
married to Miss Sophia Staas, of Freeport, and
daughter of Christian and Minnie Staas. They
have two children, Everett L. and Frank. Mr.
Spitler is a member of Stephenson Lodge No. 51,
I. O. O. F. He is one of the most efficient firemen
ever in the service in Freeport, and his re-appoint-
ment as Chief shows that the people, as well as the
authorities, appreciate the worth of his services.
He is young in years but old in experience, and
while he is an incumbent of the office he holds, the
property of Freeport will be comparatively safe
from destruction by fire.

The father of our subject is John P. Spitler, who
is a native of Pennsylvania, and was born in Union
County on the 12th of March, 1827. His father
was a native of Pennsylvania, and was born in
Lebanon Count}', and the great-grandfather Spitler
was a Revolutionary soldier. The mother of John
P. Spitler was before her marriage Miss Eve Krat-
zer, and was born in Union County, Pa. She was
the mother of eleven children, of whom eight
four boy and four girls are still living, John P.
being the third of the family. H*e spent his first
eighteen years upon the farm, and at that age be-
gan the apprenticeship of three years to the shoe-
maker's trade. After coming out of his appren-
ticeship he went to Lock Haven, Centre Co., Pa.,
where he followed his trade for six months. In the
fall of 1848 he drifted to Freeport, 111., where he
has since resided. After working for other parties
for about two years, he started in business for him-
self, opening a shop first on Stephenson street, near
Chicago. In 1856 he built a brick block on Chi-
cago street, now occupied by John Doeserich as a
Domestic Sewing-Machine office. Mr. Spitler oc-
cupied the room until the spring of 1882, when he
retired from active business. This building is
20x40 feet, and three stories high. He owns seven
other buildings, six in Freeport and a dwelling-
house in Lanark. He has a good residence on Clay
I street, and is very comfortably fixed.

John P. Spitler was married on the 31st of De-

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

eeraber, 1850, to Miss Elizabeth McCaman, of
Freeport, who was born in Centre County. Pa.,
and came to Stephenson County in 1848. By this
marriage seven children were born : Ellen and Car-
oline, deceased; Frank, Emma, Jennie, Janette and
Jimmie. The latter died at the age of six months;
Janette married Philo V. Snow, and Emma married
E. D. Allington, and they all reside in Freeport.
Mr. Spitler is a worthy member of the Baptist
Church. In politics he is an old-line Whig, and
on the organization of the Republican party he
identified himself with it, and. has always remained
a Republican.

<Jp5) LIAS C. DE PUY, M. D. Few men in Free-
port were more widely known than Dr. De
Puy, whose death occurred July 11, 1879.
Belonging by descent to one of the old Huguenot
families, whose name is variously spelled in this
country, as De Puis, DePuy, De Pugh and Depew,
he was a man of strong personal character, deep
religious convictions and great tenderness of heart.
His parents were Dr. James B. and Sallie (De Long)
DePuy, of Onondaga County, N. Y. He was born
at the old homestead near Syracuse, on the 18th of
September, 1824. He was the fourth of a family
of six children, three sous and three daughters.
The sisters are still living, but Dr. De Puy was the
last survivor of the brothers. His early academ-
ical studies were pursued at Cazenovia, N. Y.,
his medical studies in his father's office and later
with Dr. Waters, of Fulton, N. Y., and afterward
at the Medical College of Rochester, N. Y. He
then spent a considerable time in surgical studies
in Bellevue Hospital, New York.

In 1849 the great rush to California aroused the
enthusiasm of the young physician, then twenty-
five years of age, and he joined the throngs who
went there, and spent the next three years in a
varied experience of travel, medical practice and
adventure in the mines. Not satisfied to settle in
the far West, he returned to the Middle States with
plans not fully determined, but intending to make
a home in some of the new extending States of the
interior. He attended a further course of medical

lectures in Cincinnati, and in June, 1855, came to
the then inconsiderable village of Freeport. Al-
most from the first day he determined to make this
his home, and here, except for a brief interval of
army service and travel for health, his home has
been for twenty-four years.

On the 1 4th of October, 1856, Dr. DePuy was
married to Miss Rhoda A. Butler, of Rockford,
111., who survives him and mourns his death. Mrs.
DePuy is a lady of culture and intelligence, and
held in high esteem by all who know her.

Dr. DePuy was regularly engaged in practice
until the breaking out of the war. He then ac-
cepted an appointment with the rank of Major,
and for three years saw hard and continuous serv-
ice. It was at Pittsburg Landing, while engaged
in the discharge of his duty, that he was prostrated
by the explosion of a shell, and received injuries to
his spine from which he never recovered, and which
were ultimately the cause of his death. He never-
theless continued to serve for some months until
obliged to give up the severe labors of his position.
Upon his return to Freeport, he was speedily
elected Treasurer of Stepheuson County by his fel-
low-citizens, which position he held for several
years. At the close of this service, he practically
retired from public life, practicing only occasion-
ally in a few families to whom he had become es-
pecially attached, and frequently being consulted
by other physicians in the city and county. About
1874 Dr. DePuy's health began to seriously de-
cline. At that time he sold his large and hand-
some residence in the suburbs of the city, and
thereafter spent most of his time in various at-
tempts, by travel and change of residence, to
arrest the progress of his disease. About a month
before his death, he came back from his travels, as
he said " to die among his old friends," a prophecy
too surely and speedily fulfilled. He passed away
in much physical suffering, but in perfect peace of
heart and mind, and victorious in faith.

Those who knew Dr. DePuy most intimately,

loved him most warmly. He knew how to forgive

an offender, as well as resent an offence. He would

move instantly to indignation by an act of mean-

i ness, and instantly melt to tears by a scene of suf-

I feriiig. In the discharge of his professional duties

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

345

he carrier! the deep sympathies of a friend, while
exercising a strict control over his feelings. In
the church his pew was never vacant; in the prayer-
meeting his voice was always ready to join in
praj'er or praise. He was passionately fond of
out-door sports, but never lost the dignity of a
gentleman. Having no offspring of his own,, it
was his delight wherever lie was, to caress and play
with children, and it was a matter of pride with
him that the little ones never withdrew from his
approaches. For nearly twenty years his house
was a home to different boys and girls, relatives,
whose education he regularly provided for, three
of them being permitted to stand around his dy-
ing bed, and by their kind ministrations endeav-
ored to show their love and gratitude to him who
was their friend and benefactor. His last days
were full of peace, and his last utterances were
words of rejoicing in a Christian hope. He was a
member of the First Presbyterian Church, in which
ho had worshiped for many years. The Elders
of the church acted as pall-bearers, and the physi-
cians of the city, of both schools of medicine, at-
tended his funeral in a body.

THAMES B. CURRIER, the most extensive
dairyman in this part of the State, has an es-
tablishment finely equipped for the business,
where he keeps a herd of fifty milch cows
which yield an average of seventy-five gallons
per day. He is also dealing quite extensively in
thoroughbred Poland-China swine, and takes great
pride in this line, having nothing but the pure
strain, all of which are registered.

Mr. Currier also owns one of the most valuable
farms in Stephensou County. It embraces 210 acres
of finely cultivated land, and is located just outside
of the city limits of Freeport, in Lancaster Town-
ship. Of this he took possession in 1864, and es-
tablished his dairy business in 18G5. He is recog-
nized as one of the most sk'illful farmers in this part
of the county, and has been uniformly successful
since starting out in life for himself. He has made
it a point to gather wisdom from the maxim of
Ben Franklin, who once strongly intimated that if

a man wished his business managed well he must
"do it himself."

Mr. Currier came to this county in 1864, and
since that time has been one of its most enterpris-
ing citizens, contributing his full quota toward the
development of its resources and assisting in build-
ing up its reputation as one of the most desirable
sections of Northern Illinois. His early home was
in Potsdam, N. Y., where his birth took place on
his father's farm, Sept. 28, 1833. The latter, David
Currier by name, was a native of the Green
Mountain State, born in Rochester, Jan. 26, 1802.
He was brought by his parents to New York State,
and was reared in St. Lawrence County. His par-
ents were of New England birth and Welsh ances-
try, and the male members of the family for
generations back were distinguished for their fine
stature and their longevity.

The grandfather of our subject settled first near
Potsdam, N. Y. and engaged in farming pursuits
to which his son David was bred, and adapted him-
self readily to the pursuits of country life. The
latter remained under the home roof until reaching
manhood, and married Miss Mary Bradshaw, who
was a native of Connecticut and of Scotch ances-
try. She was about ten years of age when her
parents removed from New England to the Empire
State, and came with her husband to Illinois, mak-
ing her home with her sons until called hence, Aug.
28, 1886, after she had arrived at the advanced age
of nearly eighty years. The father is still living,
an inmate of the home of our subject.

The parental family of our subject included four
sons and one daughter, of whom James B. was the
third in order of birth. His early education was
carried on in the schools of St. Lawrence County,
and he remained a member of his father's house-
hold there until his marriage with Miss Mary A
Turner, which took place at the home of the bride
near Potsdam, Dec. 28, 1857. Mrs. Currier was
born and reared in the same county as her husband,
and was the daughter of Bartholomew and Calista
(Farwell) Turner, the former a native of Ver-
mont. Mr. F. removed to New York early in life
and died in St. Lawrence County. The mother is
still living there. Mrs. Currier is a lady of education
and refinement, and occupies a good position in '

346

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

social circles. Of her marriage with our subject
there have been born five children, of whom Ida J.
and Cora M. are deceased ; William J. married
Miss Cora Sho waiter; Mary C. is a graduate of the
Freeport schools, and Edwin M. is still pursuing
his studies in the district school. These all make
their home with their parents.

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Currier lo-
cated in St. Lawrence County, N. Y., where our
subject commenced iu a small way the business he
is now engaged at. As years advanced and his
experience increased he was obliged to enlarge his
facilities, and has proved himself finely adapted to
that which he 'has undertaken. He has had little
time for outside matters, his farming and dairying
engaging the most of his attention, but has kept
himself well posted upon current events, and is one
of the most reliable members of the Republican
party, with which he has been identified for some
years. Both he and his estimable lady are mem-
bers in good standing of the Presbyterian Church.
The family is numbered among the solid and sub-
stantial residents of Stephenson County.

The Currier homestead, one of the finest in the
county, not only handsomely assists in the embel-
lishment of this work, but is a forcible reminder of
the taste and industry of the proprietor.

liU^ARRIS w - SABIN is a native, and still a
resident of Loran Township, his birth tak-
ing place at his father's farm, May 4, 1853.
He has since continued to reside on the old
homestead, which includes a half-section of land,
and which he has operated since the death of his
father. The latter was a man of great energy and
industry, and made extensive improvements upon
the land which he took possession of in its unculti-
vated state. There is now a good set of frame
buildings, and all the other appurtenances of a
first-class country home. The property lies on
section 21, and forms one of the most attractive
features of the southwestern part of Stephenson
County.

The parents of our subject, Ralph and Amanda

(Die) Sabin, were natives respectively of Ohio and
New York, and came to this county after their
marriage, in September, 1845. Two years later
the father purchased a tract of land in Loran Town-
ship, where he afterward turned his attention to
agricultural pursuits. He had operated a carding-
mill in Ohio, and followed this business for a time
after coming to this county. He departed from
the scenes of his earthly labors Oct. 28, 1884.
The mother still survives, and is a resident of Free-
port. The parental household included seven chil-
dren, two sons and five daughters.

Our subject was the second son of his parents,
and received his education mostly in the common
schools of Loran Township. He continued under
the parental roof, and upon the death of his father
assumed the management of the farm, which he
has since operated. He was married in Logans-
port, Ind.. Jan. 9, 1875, to Miss Cora Sage, and
they have become the parents of four children,
named respectively, Nellie, Mabel, Ralph and Har-
ris. Ralph Sabin, the father of our subject, was
quite prominent^in local affairs, and held the vari-
ous offices of his township, including that of Super-
visor and Assessor.

The homestead, built up by the father of our
subject, and most worthily perpetuated by his son,
is but one among many others so illustrative of the
determined and hardy spirit of the pioneers of Illi-
nois, who admitted within their vocabulary no
sueh word as " fail," and we are gratified in being
able to give it its rightful place of honor among
other views in the landscape of Stephensou County.

RS. SALLY A. SHOCKLEY, of Oneco
Township, is the widow of Seth V. Shock-
ley, who was born April 22, 1824, in Vi-
enna County, Ohio, and died in Oneco
Township, April 29, 1875. He was the son of
Benjamin, and grandson of Sampson Shockley, na-
tives of Ohio, who were of New England ancestry.
The father of Seth V. died when his son was a
child about two years old; he was a farmer, and
originally owned the land upon which Vienna, Ohio,
now stands. Mrs. Leah Shockley, the mother of

RESIDENCE OFH.W.SABIN.SEC.SI. LORAN TOWNSHIP.

RESIDENCE OF JAMES B.CURRI ER, 5 EC. 29. LANCASTER TOWNSHIP.

RESIDENCE OF MRS. SALLIE A.SHOCKLEY, SEC. 2J. ONECO TOWNSHIP.

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

349

Seth V., was again married, and Seth lived with
her until fifteen years old. then in 1839 came to
this State, accompanied by his half-brother, and
settled in Mt. Pleasant. He lived in that city a
number of years, and then bought property, and
put his brother on the same, to give him a start in
life.

Mr. Shockley attended school in the early days
in Ohio, where he acquired a good education, and
became expert in figures; he afterward taught
school several terms. He was a great reader, and
possessed a wonderfully retentive memory. As
showing his energy, he worked for twenty-five cents
a day to pay for his land, but notwithstanding he
was poor and in debt when he came to this State,
the possessions he left behind him testify how well
he succeeded. His brother Benjamin lives at Bos-
cobel, Wis., and is the only child living out of a
family of twelve.

Mr. Shockley was married, April 24, 1864, to
Miss Sally Stites, and settled on his farm in Oiieco
Township, where he continued until his death. He
put up the main buildings now on the place, and
was a natural mechanic, possessing much ingenuity.
Mrs. Shockley is the daughter of John Stites, of
Union County, Pa., and moved to Illinois at the
age of twenty-two years. Her mother was in her
girlhood Miss E. Pierce, and she died in this county
two years ago, at the age of seventy-eight years.
Mrs. Shockley's people were farmers, but her father
was also in politics to some extent. He was at
one time Sheriff of deal-field County, Pa., and held
other local offices. Mr. Shockley also had political
preferment before his death, he having filled local
offices of tTust. He was a Republican in politics,
as were most male members of the family, while
his wife's people were all Democrats.

Mr. and Mrs. Shockley became the parents of
four children: John P. Lincoln was born Jan. 7,
1866, and died at the age of three years; Hannah
was born Feb. 25, 1869, and lives at home; Benja-
min, born Aug. 7, 1870, died at the age of two
years; Anna L., born Dec. 25, 1872, is still living.
Mr. Shockley was highly respected in his commun-
ity, and his wife is a lady held in equal regard by
all who have the pleasure of her acquaintance.
She has exercised a careful oversight of the prop-

erty left her by her husband, and has sought to
perpetuate it in accordance with his correct and
progressive ideas. That it is fully worthy of illus-
tration in this work, will be acknowledged by those
who examine the fine lithographic view elsewhere.

ENRY HOEFER, a substantial German far-
mer of Loran Township, first opened his
eyes to the light in the Fatherland, May 21,
1823. When a young man twenty-four
years of age, not being satisfied with his condition
or his prospects in his own country, he resolved to
emigrate to America. After an ocean voyage of
nine weeks on a sailing-vessel, he arrived in this
country in 1847, and came directly to Freeport,
where he soon secured employment at wagon-
making, which he had learned in the old country.
He established the first shop for the manufacture
of these vehicles in Freeport, but after two years
concluded to change his occupation and location,
and accordingly purchased forty acres of land in
Florence Township, near the southern line of the
county, upon which he settled and remained for a
period of thirteen years. He then sold out and re-
moved to Loran Township, of which he has since
been a resident and is the owner of 120 acres of
improved land. He has a set of handsome and
substantial frame buildings, good stock and farm
machinery, and all the appurtenances of a first-
class agriculturist.

Our subject was married in Freeport, 111., Aug.
21, 1853, when just past thirty years of age. The
maiden of his choice was Miss Sophia Meiers, also
a native of Germany, and born Sept. 9, 1833. The
record of the twelve children born of this union is
as follows : Fred W. married Miss Paulina Koerter-
ineier and is living in Freeport, 111.; Bertha is the
wife of J. C. Siekmann, of Florence Township;
August married Miss Sophia Sandmeier; Matilda
is the wife of Jacob Sprague; Sophia married
Henry H. Kahl; Henry, Emil A., Simon, Murray
A., Minnie C. and Saddie E. are at home with
their parents; Willie died in infancy. Our subject
and his wife are members of the Methodist Episco-
pal Church, and enjoy the society and friendship

350

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

of the best people of their community. Mrs.
Hoefer when a child came near losing her life. Her
parents occupied a two-story frame house, which
caught fire, and Mrs. H. only saved herself by
jumping from the window of the first story. She
fortunately escaped uninjured, to the surprise of
all the spectators, who expected that she would
at least sustain some broken bones.

R. WILLIAM A. HUTCHINS, one of the

youngest members of the medical profes-
sion in the northeastern part of this coun-
ty, received his diploma from Rush Medi-
cal College at Chicago, on the 17th of February,
1885. After attending the Commencement exer-
cises and the banquet given by the Faculty at the
Palmer House, he came directly to Orangeville,
where he hung out his shingle February 20, and
was immediately called upon to exercise bis pro-
fessional skill. Since that time he has steadily
gained ground iu the confidence of the people of
this section, and a bright career is predicted for
him in the future.

Dr. Hutchius was born near Hanover in Jo Da-
viess County, this State, Jan. 23, 1860. His father,
Samuel S. Hutchins, was born near Ashtabula, Ohio,
in 1831. His paternal grandfather was a native of
Vermont, who emigrated to the Buckeye State dur-
ing its early settlement, and was one of the pio-
neers of Ashtabula County, locating there in 1814.
He brought under cultivation a fine farm from the
wilderness, and there spent the remainder of his
days. The Hutchins family is of English descent,
as were also the parents of the mother of our sub-
ject, who was before her marriage Miss Amanda
Southward.

S. S. Hutchins, the father of Dr. William A.
Hutchins, lived with his parents in Ohio until a
youth fifteen years of age. and then went to work
in a steam sawmill. Afterward he went to the
town of Ashtabula, where he engaged iu the lumber
business. Early in the fifties he came by lake to
Chicago and thence overland to Illinois in search
of a location. He found what he thought would
suit him, and returning to Ohio for the purpose of

securing a companion and helpmeet, was married
and returned to Jo Daviess County, locating in
Hanover, first upon rented land. With the pro-
ceeds of his labor he purchased a farm in Carroll
County, to which he removed, and lived there un-
til March, 1859.

In 1859 the father of our subject sold out all his
property in Carroll County, and started for Cali-
fornia. This proved a disastrous enterprise, as
he lost all his money and personal effects. He took
passage on a ferry to cross the Missouri River.
As the wagon struck the boat the lines gave way,
precipitating the horses and occupants into twenty
feet of water. Fortunately there was a good swim-
mer on board in the person of Mr. Ilubbard, a
brother-in-law of Mr. Hutcliins, who dove down
and rescued the drowning individuals, but the
horses and merchandise sank to rise no more. Mr.
Hutchius was, of course, compelled to return, and
upon reaching Hanover, III., had barely enough
money left to buy a cow and a barrel of flour.
Then he traded his property there for a farm west
of Oueco. To this farm he removed, and remained
there until retiring from active labor, when he took
up his residence in Orangeville, where he still re-
sides. Mr. Hutchins retains possession of his farm
property, and is largely interested in the breeding
of Short-horn cattle, some of which are in Clay
Count}', Iowa, where he has also large property in-
terests.

The parental family of our subject included four
children : William A., in common with his brothers
and sisters received his early education in the dis-
trict school, and early in life selected his future vo-
cation; his sister Helen became the wife of W. L,
Hunter, who owns and operates a good farm in Clay
County, Iowa, and in company witli his father-in-
law is engaged in stock-raising; Olive and Louis
are at home with their parents; William A., after
leaving the district school entered the office of Dr.
Cutter, of Winslow, 111., under whose instruction
he studied for two years, and then entered upon a
course of lectures at Chicago.

Dr. W. A. Hutchins was married, June 3, 1886,
to Miss Linda R. Krape, daughter of William and
Catherine Krape, of Orangeville, 111. (A sketch of
the Krape family will be found on another page of

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

351

this volume.) The paternal grandfather of our sub-
ject was a peculiar man in many respects, and
possessed great physical strength, and mental force
of character. After several years spent in Ohio,
he decided to visit his old home in Vermont, and
setting out on foot walked every step of the way
there and back, often distancing teams on the way.
Horses were scarce in the pioneer days, and those
in possession of the farmers were utilized in clear-
ing the land and transporting the crops to market.
Grandfather Hutchins used a compass for his guide
in making this trip, as his route lay through a new
and practically untraveled country. This feat made
him quite famous, as it excited the wonder and ad-
miration of the country around. The resolute pe-
destrian was in no way overcome by the fatigues of
this journey. His descendants delight to relate of
him that he cradled wheat in the harvest field when
eighty years old. He died at the age of ninety-
four years. The Southward family, through the
generations, were noted for their physical strength
and longevity. The maternal great-grandparents
each lived to be over one hundred years of age.

ANIEL C. LAMB, one of the enterpris-
ing and successful farmers of section 22,
Lorau Township, was but six years of age
when, with his parents, he came to Ste-
phenson County in the fall of 1842. His parents
were John and Catherine (Heccock) Lamb, the
father a native of Kentucky and the mother
of New York State. They were -among the pio-
neer settlers of Vigo County, Ind., which county
has produced two members of Presidential cabinets,
twj United States Senators, three foreign ministers,
and now has in the various departments at Wash-
ington, more representatives than any individual
county in the West. They emigrated from that
county to Stephenson County in the fall of 1 842,
and took up their residence in Loran Township,
where they have since been honored and respected
citizens. They were among the oldest settlers of
Loran Township. The mother died on the 21st of
March, 1854. The father, iu the fall of 1857, wa.
united in marriage with Mary Shumway Stout, who

died on the 3d of October, 1886. The fruits of
the first marriage were eight children, of whom
four sous and one daughter grew up to manhood
and womanhood.

The subject of this sketch was the oldest of the
family. He was born in Vigo County, Ind., on
the 16th of September, 1836. With the exception
of seven months' residence in Carroll County he
has been a citizen of Stephenson County since 1842.
On the 21st of October, 1863, he enlisted in Co.
I, 13th 111. Vol. Cav., and served in the army about
two years. For meritorious service and faithful-
ness as a soldier he was promoted First Sergeant
in his company. During the time he was a mem-
ber of the 13th he participated in all the skirm-
ishes and engagements in which his regiment took
part. When he was mustered out of the service
he returned to Loran Township arid resumed his
care of the farm. He has always been engaged in
farming, and has devoted considerable attention to
the raising of stock. He is the owner of 200 acres
of highly cultivated land. He has erected upon
this farm substantial buildings, both for place of
residence and the care of the products of the farm.
He is one of the progressive farmers of the day, and
is constantly adding improvements in the way of
buildings and machinery.

Mr. Lamb was married to Miss Julia A. Calhoun,
daughter of James and Elizabeth (Clouse) Cal-
houn, on the 22d of March, 1860. The parents
of Mrs. Lamb were of Irish and French ancestry,
and came to Stephenson County in 1857, settling
in Loran Township. Thence they afterward re-
moved to Jefferson Township, and subsequently to
Carroll County. The mother died in Lanark, 111.,
on the 10th of August, 1865. The father survives
at an advanced age. The family of these aged peo-
ple consisted of five boys and four girls. In the
order of birth Mrs, Lamb was the sixth child. She
was born in Bedford County, Pa., on the 6th of
May, 1844.

Mr. and Mrs. Lamb have had ten children, of
whom seven are living, viz: Emma C., Jessie A.,
Dora C., John W., Leslie L., Daisy E. and Shelby
E. Hardin died when about four and one-half
years old, and two died unnamed. Emma is the
wife of 1). \V. Wallerman, and Jessie is the wife of

352

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

Mr. M. E. Bashor. Through the partiality of his
neighbors Mr. Lamb has been chosen to several
offices, including School Treasurer and Township
Collector. He is a member of John A. Davis Post
No. 98, G. A. R., of Freeport. Ever since the
close of the war Mr. Lamb has espoused the cause
of the Republican party and although not a politi-
cian in the sense of being an office-seeker, he has
steadily and persistently advocated the principles of
that party.

.HILIPP FRONING is one of the oldest,
longest established, and most successful
physicians of the city of Freeport. He was
born in the village of Coesfeld, in the Em-
pire of Germany, on the 29th of April, 1827. His
parents were Henry and Catherine (Dannenfeld.)
Froning. At the age of six years he entered school,
which he attended until he reached sixteen, at which
time he went into the employ of a druggist and
served four years. He was then druggist's clerk
for five years, and subsequently attended a course
at the Pharmaceutical University at Berlin, from
which he was graduated in 1850.

For several years thereafter young Froning was
employed in the drug-store, during which time he
married Miss Maria Zenke, who was a native of
Bremen, Germany. In 1855, in company with his
wife, he sailed from -Germany for New York, in
which city he clerked in a drug-store one year. In
1856 he came to Freeport, 111., and soon after ar-
riving here, he opened the first German drug-store
in the city. He continued in business until 1865,
when he disposed of his store, and returned to the
old country, where he studied medicine under the
celebrated Dr. Busch one year, and was then ap-
pointed assistant surgeon in the hospital with Prof.
Busch during the Prussian and Austrian War. and
served in the hospitals until 1866. In September
of that year he was assigned to duty as cholera phy-
sician, in Essen, Prussia, during the prevalence of
that plague there. He remained thus employed
nearly seven weeks, until the dreadful scourge sub-
sided, when he was relieved, and in December of
the same year he sailed for America, having been
absent one year and seven months. Dr. Froning

returned directly to the city of Freeport, and be-
gan the practice of medicine, in which he was suc-
cessful from the start. The following year he es-
tablished a new drug-store, which he conducted un-
til 1886, during which time he also enjoyed a lucra-
tive and extensive practice. In that year he turned
his drug business over to the management of his
sons John C. and Gustav A., who have since con-
tinued the business successfully. Dr. Froning hav-
ing relieved himself of all business cares of a mer-
cantile nature, has since given his entire attention,
and devoted his whole time, to the practice of medi-
cine.

Dr. and Mrs. Froning are the parents of five chil-
dren, three of whom are living John Christian,
and Gustav Adolph, successors to their father, and
Matilda, who resides with her parents. In 1876 Dr.
Froning was appointed town physician, which posi-
tion by appointment he has held ever since. He
is a member of Freeport Lodge No. 239, I. O. O.
F., and also of the Germania Society.

Since his residence in Freeport, Dr. Froning has
taken an active interest in all matters tending to
benefit the city. He is public-spirited and enter-
prising, and in 1869 built the handsome block on
the corner of Galena avenue and Galena street.
He has always been one of the progressive men of
the city, and as such is duly recognized by its best
people.

> RAN KLIN LUTHER CROTZER, senior
member of the firm of Crotzer & Seise, with
his partner represents in a creditable man-
ner the hardware trade in Lena, which they estab-
lished in 1878. Our subject came to this county
when a boy nine years of age, with his parents,
George W. and Mary (Lower) Crotzer, a sketch of
whom will be found elsewhere in this ALBUM. He
was first introduced to the responsibilities of life in
the little town of Salona, Clinton Co., Pa.. Aug. 11,
1848, and passed his childhood in the rural regions
of that countj', mostly upon his father's farm.

The education of Mr. Crotzer, begun in the Key-
stone State, was completed in Lena, this county,
mostly during the winter seasons. When eighteen
years old, he started out to see something of the

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

353

world, and accompanied by his brother. Andrew 8.,
drove a four-horse team from Lena to Kansas, start-
ing in March, and reaching his destination five
weeks later. In the spring of 1877, he engaged in
clerking at Valley Falls, and soon afterward became
a member of a company which put up an elevator
and operated in grain until the spring following.
He then returned to Lena, and in company with his
brothers, engaged in the hardware business with
which he has since been connected. He associated
himself with his present partner in March, 1881, and
both being men of energy and straightforward busi-
ness methods, their success was assured from the
start. They carry a full line of everything in their
department of trade, and enjoy the patronage of
the most reliable people in West Point Township.
The lady chosen for the life partner of our sub-
ject was Miss Hannah K. Aigley, a native of this
county , and the daughter of George Aigley, of Wad-
dams Township. The marriage took place Oct. 14,
1884, and the pair are established in a pleasant lit-
tle home in Lena. Mr. Crotzer, since exercising
the right of suffrage, has aided in the support of
Republican principles, and as one of the rising
young business men of Lena, his course is watched
with interest, and the good wishes of hosts of
friends.

ENRY MENDEN, of Ridott Township, is a
thrifty farmer and successful stock-raiser.
He located there in 1859. and now owns
290 acres in this township, and forty in
Winnebago County, township of Seward. He was
born in the Kingdom of Prussia, Sept. 5, 1843. His
father, Leonard Menden, came to this' conn try with
his family in 1853, and lived in that township until
his death, which occurred Oct. 10, 1855. Later,
the mother went to Florence Township Dec. 10,
1855, where she died at Yellow Creek.

The subject of our sketch was the eldest of the
children, two having died when young. He was
only ten years old when he arrived in this country,
and soon after set about earning his own living.
We hear of his being a landed proprietor before
becoming a benedict, his marriage occurring Feb.
9, 1869, and Miss Martha Hamilton being the name

of his chosen bride. She was born in Seneca
County, N. Y., in 1841. In 1844 her parents,
William and Nancj 7 (Miller) Hamilton, came to
Illinois and took up their residence in Ridott, where
Mr. Hamilton purchased some of the wild prairie
land. The mother died in 1864, the father in 1874;
both were among the first settlers here, and were
honest, economical and thrifty people.

Henry Menden and his wife now live on the old
Hamilton homestead. While they have religious
convictions, they belong to no particular church.
The3 r are the parents of seven children, two being
deceased. Those living'are Mary, Sophia, Nancy,
Gertrude and Robert. The "deceased children are
Lewis and Leonard. Mr. Menden in politics is a
Republican.

DWARD KRAFT, proprietor of the Kraft
House, located near the depot of the Mil-
waukee & St. Paul Railroad, has been offici-
ating creditably as '-mine host" in this locality for
a period of seventeen years. He first obtained
this property by purchase in partnership with his
brother, Augustus, and they operated together un-
til the death of the latter, in 1882, since which time
our subject has continued the business alone. The
building is a substantial two-story frame structure,
containing thirty-six rooms, comfortably furnished
and neatly kept. Mr. Kraft has had a long experi-
ence in catering to the bodily comforts of the pub-
lic, to which business he seems admirably adapted
and in which he has met with success.

Our subject was born in the Province of Baden,
Germany, Sept. 25, 1847. He emigrated from his
native land with his parents, Michael and Rachel
Kraft, when about four years of age. They made
the voyage on a sailing-vessel and were forty-eight
days on the ocean. After a short time spent in the
city of New York, they came directly to the West
and took up their abode in Freeport, whence a year
later they removed to Buchanan County, Ipwa,
where the parents spent the remainder of their days.
Edward crossed the Mississippi with his parents
but shortly afterward returned to Freeport to at-
tend the city schools, and after completing his
studies became pastry cook at the Illinois Central

354

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

eating-house, which was located near the tracks of
that road. He worked in this capacity about seven
years, then rented the stand and continued the
business on his own accourit for four years, during
which time he had accumulated sufficient means, in
company with his brother, to secure possession of
the hotel which he now owns.

Mr. Kraft was married at Freeport in 1872, to
Miss Agnes Hess, a native of Wisconsin and of
German parentage. She was reared on a farm
near Shullsburg, and afterward, with her parents,
became a resident of Freeport. They have no chil-
dren. Mr. Kraft, politically, is an independent
voter, and socially belongs to the Knights of Pythias,
No. 98.

settled

H. KNAPP. The Knapp family is of En-
glish origin, and was first represented in the
United States by one or two members who
came prior to the Revolutionary War, and
in Hyde Park, Luzerne Co., Pa. They
ever delighted in the pursuit of agriculture, in
which they were uniformly successful, and wherever
they have located have been numbered among the
prominent and highly respected citizens of the
community. They have also possessed the quality
of continuity in a large degree, and their first pos-
sessions in Pennsylvania are still held by their de-
scendants.

The grandfather of our subject, Zephaniah
Knapp, lived and died on a farm in what was then
Luzerne, but a part of which was afterward di-
vided off and became a portion of Lackawanna
County. He lived to the advanced age of seventy-
five years, and is recorded as having been particu-
larly active and prosperous. Zephaniah Knapp
reared a fine family of sons and daughters, among
whom was Charles M., the father of our subject,
who was born in Lackawanna County, and there
grew to manhood. There also he was united in
marriage with Mrs. Amy (Cole) Bradford, whose
ancestry had become Americanized long before
her birth. She is known to have come of sub-
stantial and reliable stock. Her father was a
Methodist Episcopal preacher of prominence. After
marriage Charles M. Kuapp and wife located in

Bradford County, where their three children were
born. The eldest son, Charles M., Jr., who had
become a soldier in the Union army, died in the
service, Jan. 31, 1864; his regiment was under
the command of Gen. S. D. Atkins. Samuel H.,
of our sketch, was the second child ; the youngest is
Mrs. Laura A., the widow of Dr. E. A. Carpenter,
of Baileyville, 111.

Mr. Knapp was a youth of sixteen years when
his parents came to this State, in 1856, and located
near Baileyville, on section 32, Silver Creek Town-
ship. There the mother died May 18, 1886, after
having arrived at the advanced age of nearly sev-
enty-nine years. The father is still living, making
his home with our subject, and is seventy-five years
old. He is still active and vigorous in both mind
and body, and keeps pace with the political events
of the day, being still, as he has been for the last
thirty years, a stanch adherent of the Republican
party.

The early life of our subject was mostly spent
in the schools of his native county in Pennsylvania,
and he completed his studies at Rock River Sem-
inary, which was under the management of the
Methodist Episcopal Church. He was ambitious to
excel and made good progress, and followed teach
ing for several years before his marriage. This in-
teresting event took place on the 7th of April,
1867, his bride being Miss Laura A. Sprague, a
native of East Randolph, Orange Co., Vt., and who
was born Feb. 22, 1839. Her parents, Edgerton
and Philena (Carlisle) Sprague, were also natives
of the Green Mountain State, and descended from
French and Scotch ancestry. Edgerton Sprague
followed farming all his life, and in 1854, with his
wife, came to Illinois on a visit to his daughter,
Mrs. Knapp, at whose home he died in July of
that year. The mother died in August, 1880, in
Grundy County, Iowa, at the home of her son, C.
M. Sprague.

Mrs. Kuapp was the eldest child and daughter of
her parents, of whose three children one daughter,
Ida M., is now deceased. Mrs. Knapp received a
good education and began teaching at an early
age, which profession she followed both in Ver-
mont and in this county before her marriage. After
their marriage our subject and his wife located

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

355

upon their present farm, which consists of 169
acres, is finely located and provided with good
buildings. Mr. Knapp uniformly votes the Re-
publican ticket and has served as Assessor of Sil-
ver Creek Township three times. Mr. and Mrs.
Knapp have no children.

IF^\OBERT F. MITCHELL is one of the well-
\^tf' known Mitchell family of this county, who
have been established here since 1842. Our
/subject first saw the light in that part of
Centre County now known as Clinton County, Pa.,
his birth occurring June 11, 1824. His father is
William Mitchell, Esq.

The early life of our subject was spent at his
father's home until he was eleven years of age,
when he went out into the world, living amoiig
strangers until 1842. He then came with the rest
of the family to Illinois, and lived with his mother
for one year. Since that time he has looked out for
himself, doing a general farming business. Mr. M.
first purchased eighty acres of land in Lancaster
Township, and lived on it until 1864, when he came
to Dakota Township, and purchased 125 acres of
land. He now has 120 acres, on which he has made
his home. Pursuing the life of a farmer h has
paid attention to his property, and has well im-
proved it. He was married in Lancaster Township,
in 1848, to Miss Zero Oak. She was born Dec. 31,
1831, in Bucks County, Pa., and is the daughter of
George Oak, who was a musician and public school
teacher of standing.

Her father, Mr. George Oak, married Miss Su-
sanna Clevercy, who is now living in Rock City, in
this county, and is past eighty-five years. Mr.
Oak died in Lancaster Township, this count} 7 , in
October, 1847. Mrs. Mitchell was reared at home,
came West with her father and mother, and is the
mother of seven children, two of whom are now
deceased. Permilla resides at home ; Reuben mar-
ried Margaret Hayse, and resides in Dakota Town-
ship on a farm ; Joseph is married to Elizabeth
Stahl, and is living in Bennet, Lancaster Co. Neb.,
'where he is a mechanic; Charles E. marrried Emily

Smith, and also lives in Bennet, Neb., where he is
a saddler; George W. is now living at home, but
has been four years with the Eclipse Windmill
Company, of Beloit, Wis. The deceased children
are John L. and Andrew M.

Mr. Mitchell and family are members of the
Methodist Episcopal Church; politically he is a Re-
publican. He is an honest, upright citizen, much
esteemed in the community where he resides.

0~ HARLES G. FRISBIE, proprietor of a fine
, farm of 240 acres, on section 31, Silver
Creek Township, where he has been actively
engaged in agricultural pursuits for (.he last eight-
een years, is numbered among its representative
citizens. He is a New Englander by birth, and
first opened his eyes to the light in Hartford
County, Conn., Aug. 31, 1847. His father, James
Frisbie, was a native of the same State, and prided
himself upon being of pure, unadulterated Yankee
blood. The grandfather of our subject, by name
Gad Frisbie, "was of English ancestry, who came
to the United States prior to the Revolution-
ary War, a number of whom assisted the Colonists
in their struggle for freedom. He married Miss
Eliza Pettibone, and in connection with the labor
involved in keeping up a large farm, also operated
a public house, serving successfully as " mine host"
for a long period. The grandparents both lived to
an advanced age, each being nearly eighty-seven
years old at the time of death.

James Frisbie, the father of our subject, after
reaching years of manhood married Miss Henrietta
Pettibone, a native of his own State, and of simi-
lar ancestry. They emigrated to Illinois in 1857,
and the father of our subject opened up a good
farm in Silver Creek Township, where the parents
lived for the following ten years, then, with all
their children except Charles G., they crossed the
.Mississippi into Montgomery County, Mo., and
took up a homestead, where they have since re-
sided. James Frisbie is now sixty-five years of
age, and his wife, Henrietta, sixty-one. He is a
member of the Republican party, and the mother
belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church.

356

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

Charles G. Frisbie was the second of ten chil-
dren, consisting of seven sons and three daughters,
born to his parents, all living, and eight of them
married. The}' "held a family reunion on the 26th
of September, 1886, which was made the occasion
of general rejoicing, and was really an interesting
and remarkable spectacle to look upon, the parents
hale and hearty, with their ten children, in the very
midst of their strength and usefulness. Charles
G., in common with his brothers and sisters, was
educated, iu the district school, and remained a
member of the household until the breaking out of
the late war. Although then but a youth of sev-
enteen years, he was accepted as a Union soldier,
in Co. C, 46th 111. Vol. Inf., with which he served
until the close of the war, and returned home in
safety. Soon after leaving the army he returned
to Silver Creek Township, and 'prepared to resume
farming. After laying the foundations of a future
home, by purchasing a tract of land, he was united
in marriage, Dec. 16, 1869, with Miss Mary E.
Vought, the wedding taking place at the home of
the bride in Silver Creek Township. Mrs. Frisbie
was born on her father's homestead in the above-
named township, Aug. 24, 1849, and is the daugh-
ter of Godfrey and Lucy (Wilson) Vought, who
are now residents of Freeport. They came to this
county in 1844, and a?-e numbered among its most
highly respected citizens. The parental family in-
cluded nine children, two of whom are deceased.
Five of the seven survivors are married. Mrs. F.
was educated in the district schools, and remained
with her parents until her marriage. Her three
children were named respectively, Verna M., James
V. and Daniel William. The latter child was
christened in honor of an uncle who died in the
army, and now fills a soldier's grave in Scott's
Cemetery. Mrs. Frisbie is an active member of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Mr. Frisbie is
Republican in politics. He has been a useful man
in his community. He has served as. Road Com-
missioner three terms.

The maternal grandfather of Mrs. Frisbie was an
Englishman b}' birth, and a skilled mechanic, who
served as foreman in the shops of Robert Fulton,
during the building of the first vessel that was i
operated by steam, and to which the discovery by

this great man, of utilizing steam as a propelling
power, was then applied. This boat was ironed
throughout by Adam Wilson.

ESSE R. LEIGH. ex-Sheriff of Stephenson
County and a brave and gallant soldier for
the Union during the late Civil War, is now
engaged in the peaceful pursuits of farm
life on section 35, in Harlem Township.

The parents of our subject, Joseph and Eliza
(Thompson) Leigh, were natives of Washington
County, N. Y. The father was a farmer by occu-
pation, and with his excellent wife continued to
reside in Washington County until his death about
1877. The demise of the mother took place in
1835. Nine children were born of their union, all
of whom lived to attain the age of maturity.

Jesse R. Leigh was the seventh in order of birth
of his parents' children. He first saw light in
Washington County, N. Y., April 19, 1831, and
there developed into manhood. His early years
were passed on the home farm, and he continued
to reside with his parents until he was about six-
teen years old. At this age he began working in
a gristmill and later in a tannery, and subse-
quently learned the trade of a carpenter and joiner.
This latter he followed until his enlistment in the
Union army, which was in August, 1862. Join-
ing the 92d Illinois Infantry he became First Ser-
geant of Company A, and served his countrj'
faithfully and well until the close of the war, when
he received an honorable discharge. He was
wounded at the battle of Aiken, S. C. After
thirty days' experience in an ambulance he was
assigned to the hospital at Wilmington, N. C.,
thence to New York, and for about three months
he was there confined.

Mr. Leigh was discharged from the service June
21, and was subsequent!} 1 mustered out at Chicago.
He returned from the war and located in this
county, to which he had moved from New York
Stute in 1856, and since which time he has made it
his home. For about two j'ears after his return
from the war he was engaged in buying grain and
stock at Eleroy, and the remainder of his time

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

359

until the present has been devoted chiefly to ag-
ricultural pursuits. In 1876 he was elected Sheriff
of this county, and in 1878 re-elected to the same
position, and was the incumbent of that office for
four years. In 1881 he was appointed Deputy
Revenue Collector of the Second Illinois District,
which position he held until 1885, when, on account
of a change of administration, he was compelled
to vacate.

Jesse R. Leigh was united in marriage with Miss
Harriet L. fickard May 2, 1859, in Ogle County,
this State. Mrs. Leigh was the daughter of Squire
O. and Sarah (Way) Pickard, natives of Connecti-
cut. Her parents came to this county in 1839 and
settled in Erin Township. In the summer of 1865
they removed to Iowa County, Iowa, where the
mother died in 1871. The father survives and
is a resident of Shelby County, Iowa. Nine chil-
dren were born to Mr. and Mrs. Pickard, and grew
to the age of maturity. Mrs. Leigh was the oldest
of her parents' children, and was born in Erin
Township March 1C, 1840. Several months prior to
her marriage she was engaged in teaching. Her
union with Mr. Leigh has been blest with four chil-
dren Clarence W., Ivy C., Jennie W. and Jessie M.
Clarence W. married Miss Mary Miiun, and they
are living in Chicago, where he is engaged in the
practice of medicine. Mr. Leigh socially is a mem-
ber of the Masonic fraternity, and likewise belongs
to the G. A. R., holding fellowship with John A.
Davis Post No. 98, of Freeport. In politics he is
a member of the Republican party.

ILLIAM II. CLARNO, a resident of Oneco
Township for twenty-eight years, was born
in Tazewell County, this State, on the 3d
of April, 1835, and is the son of John H. Clarno,
who was born in Virginia in 1790. His paternal
grandfather, a native of France, emigrated to
America early in life and settled in Virginia, where
he was married and reared his family. His son,
John H., remained in his native State until chang-
ing his residence to Ohio, where he lived until he
was thirty-eight years of age. He then moved to

Tazewell County, 111., and engaged in farming for
a period of four years, thence moved to the farm
in Oneco Township where his son William H. has
lived since the 16th of August, 1838.

This property was purchased in that year as a
claim by John H. Arno, and consisted of 320 acres.
Here he labored industriously to eliminate a home-
stead from the primitive soil, and in the meantime
became prominent as a succcessful farmer and
a valued citizen. For a number of years he offi-
ciated as Justice of the Peace and held other local
offices. He died in 1856, at the age of fifty-six
years, on the farm which he had opened up from
the wilderness. He was a member of the old Whig
party, and became a Republican upon its abandon-
ment, a short time before his death. Mr. Clarno's
mother was in her girlhood Miss Jane Plimel, daugh-
ter of Anthony Plimel, who was born in Ohio. Her
people, so far as known, were through several gen-
erations natives of the Buckeye State, and farmers
by occupation.

Mr. Claruo lived with his parents until the fall
of 1855, with the exception of one year which he
devoted to the trade of blacksmithing. He then
went to Minnesota and engaged in farming and
breaking ground for others at a stipulated price per
acre. He remained there until in December, 1858,
then started on a visit to Oneco Township. He ar-
rived thereon the 1st of January, 1859, and has been
there ever since. He and his brother jointly owned
a claim in Minnesota and had equal interests in
their father's estate. William H. exchanged his
interest in the Minnesota claim for his brother's in-
terest in the estate, thereby becoming the possessor
of the homestead.

Our subject, in 1860, was married to Miss Mary
C. Kylor, who was born Feb. 16, 1841, and is the
daughter of Henry Kylor, of deal-field County,
Pa. The maternal grandfather of Mrs. Clarno
was a native of Germany. Her father was engaged
in farming and lumbering in Pennsylvania, where
he died nearly forty-six years ago. The mother
was subsequently married, and in 1857, the step-
father came west and located at Sac City, where he
remained one year. He then came to Stephenson
County and located in Oneco Township, where he
resided many years. He died in August, 1879.

fr-

t > 360

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

The mother is still living. Mrs. Clarno had one
sister and two brothers.

The family of John H. and Jane (Pliinel) Clarno
included eleven children, of whom William H. was
the fifth. The latter and his estimable lady are the
parents of nine children: Mary J., Mrs. Walter; Sa-
rah E., Mrs. Reeser; John H.; Oliver P., who re-
sides in Orangeville; Anthony J., Aaron A., Min-
nie L., Stella V., and Joseph A., who died in Janu-
ary, 1884. Mrs. Clarno belongs to the United
Brethren Church, and Mr. Clarno votes the Repub-
lican ticket. He has filled several local offices, and
by many other complimentary acts have his fellow-
citizens signified their approval of his career as a
citizen and business man.

The portraits of Mr. Clarno and wife shown on
another page, will be viewed with uncommon in-
terest as of those who looked upon this section of
country in its pioneer days, and watched its de-
lightful transformation with unalloyed satisfaction.

eECIL N. BENTLEY, a prominent repre-
sentative of the farming interests of Har-
lem Township, is located on section 22,
where he has a fine body of land. It has been cus-
tomary to speak of men who have raised them-
selves to honorable stations in life without the aid
of wealth or influential friends, as self-made men,
and in this sense the subject of this biography is
essentially a self-made man. His parents were El-
dred and Lydia (Niles) Bentley, the father a na-
tive of New York State, and the mother of Rhode
Island. They first settled at Stephentown, in Rens-
selaer County, N. Y. We hear of them in Chau-
tauqua County, that State, in 1829, having gone
there from Berkshire County, Mass. There is where
they died. The father was a farmer by occupation.
His wife bore him seven children, three boys and
four girls. The paternal grandmother of our sub-
ject was a sister of Gen. Ethan Allen, of Revolu-
tionary fame.

Cecil N. Bentley, of this sketch, was the sixth
child of his parents. He was born amid the Berk-
shire hills of Massachusetts, July 24, 1826, and was

only three years old when his parents removed to
Chautauqua County. He remained at home until
the death of his father, which took place when he
was sixteen years old. After his father's decease,
he set out to earn his own living. He returned to
his native county with the belief that there would
be the place to augment his fortunes, but after re-
maining there one year, he sought his old home
again in Chautauqua County, remaining until No-
vember, 1853. He then came to Stephenson County
and settled in Harlem Township. He only lived
there, however, about two years, and then took up
his residence in Winslow Township. Here he lived
until April, 1858, when the demon of unrest still
possessing him, he left for Kansas, but stopped in
Iowa. After roaming around, he finally deter-
mined to return to Illinois, and settled in Harlem
Township.

Mr. Bentley has acquired 300 acres of land here,
and 160 acres in Iowa. He has steadily increased
the value of his possessions, putting up substantial
buildings and effecting other improvements on his
farms. He was married in Fredonia, Chautauqua
Co., N. Y., July 8, 1844, to Miss Electa Smith,
daughter of Jeriol and Amy (Doud) Smith. The
wife's parents were natives of Connecticut, but set-
tled in Genesee County, N. Y., and later on came
from Chautauqua County, N. Y., to Stephenson
County, in the spring of 1853, making their perma-
nent home in Harlem Township, where they died.
They had twelve children, five boys and seven
girls.

Mrs. Bentley was the fifth child of her father's
family. She was born in Genesee County, N. Y.,
Aug. 19, 1823. Mr. and Mrs. Bentley have had
nine children, three of whom survive. Lucy I. is
the wife of Hercules Price, and resides in Freeport,
111. ; George married Lillie Barton, and resides in
Kansas; Charles C. married Theresa Mulnip, and
resides in Harlem Township. Lewis D. was kicked
by a colt, and died from his injuries June 23, 1866,
when twenty-one years old; Alva was scalded to
death when twenty months old; Arva, died when
four years old ; Lydia was three years old at the
time of her decease; Viola and another child died
in infancy. Mr. Bentley has been a School Di-
rector, Trustee, Constable and Highway Commis-

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

361

sioner, and Treasurer of the Commissioners for
many terms. In polities, he is a Democrat.

Lewis D. Bentley, who met his untimely death by
accident, during the late war was a member of Co.
D, 46th 111. Vol. Inf. He had enlisted only two
years before the close of the war. He had earned
the reputation of being a good soldier, obedient to
duty and always ready for action. When the war
ended, he returned home, February 2, and the fol-
lowing June was removed from earth, cut off when
his young manhood gave promise of a bright future.

Mr. Bentley is orthodox in religious views, be-
nevolent and kind in his manners, a good neighbor
and a kind father and husband. He is entitled to
the confidence of his neighbors and friends, which
he possesses in a marked degree.

A. GRAIN is a well-known attorney of
Freeport, whose ancestral history is of un-
disputed interest, and essentially as follows:
The Crane family (spelled then in this man-
ner) originated in England, where there are many
of them, and where, it may be mentioned as a fact,
there are disconnected records of them in the Her-
ald's College for over four centuries. In 1645 they
first appeared in America, and in the course of time
dispersed themselves along the Atlantic coast from
New England to Georgia. The southern branch
of this family altered the orthography of the name
into Grain, much we suppose as Smith is thought
to be improved by writing it Smythe, a harmless
kind of prevarication, which, gratifying an innocent
vanity, deceives no one as to the true origin of the
name.

A part of the Grains, then, settled in Oglethorpe
County, Ga., from whence some of the more ad-
venturous younger generation, in the Indian War
days, removed to Kentucky. In 1801 one of them,
whose Christian name we are sorry to say we have
forgotten, wishing to withdraw himself from, to his
taste, the effete civilization with which he deemed
himself hemmed in, with his family of nine girls
and six boys again removed to where he had more
elbow room, and where Indians were plenty, into
what was then the Illinois Territory. He located

in Randolph County, within a few miles of the old
French trading-post of Kaskaskia, at that time the
seat of the Territorial Government. Among his
famih 7 were Milly, Thomas and Benjamin; Milly
married Francis Garner, and in the course of time
the discovery of the lead mines at Galena, where
fortunes were supposed to be made suddenly, drew
Thomas Grain and Francis Garner with their fami-
lies into Northern Illinois, where Garner settled at
Cherry Grove, in Carroll County, and Thomas
Grain finally located at the place near Freeport
which took the name of Grain's Grove. Both of
them in 1832 were volunteers in the Black Hawk
War. After 1818, in which year Illinois became a
State, John Grain, one of the sons of Benjamin, re-
moved in 1827 to Washington County, where he
resided till his death in 1872, and where he held
the office of Sheriff, was in both houses of the State
Legislature, and served as a member of the Con-
stitutional Convention of 1848.

In 1830 in Covington, the then county seat of
Washington County, and which had lately been the
residence of Joseph Phillips, the first Chief Justice-
of Illinois, John Grain married Miss Anna Higgins,
and tuey made their home in that place in the
house of Judge Phillips, where was born to them,
Jan. 8, 1831, their only child, the subject of this
sketch. In 1833 the father of J. A. Grain entered
a large body of land near Nashville, to which the
county seat had been removed from Covington,
and opened up a farm where he made his home un-
til his death. Upon this farm the earlier days of
J. A. Grain were spent; here he went through the
usual experiences of farm life and district school,
doing a good deal of desultory reading among a
miscellaneous collection of books of which his
father, for- those days, had quite a library, up to
the age of twelve, when it was his good fortune to
be put under the tutelage of B. G. Roots, the pio-
neer educator of that region, and latterly, for many
years, the venerable President of the Board of Edu-
cation of our State, with whom he remained nearly
three years, and to whose superior practical train-
ing, unsurpassed even at the present day, and to
the methods of which, carried into his professional
life, Mr. Grain owes whatever of success he may
have had as a lawyer.

|
362

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

In 1849. through his own enterprise mainly,
young Grain was appointed at the same time with
the now Maj. Gen. John Schofield, a cadet to the
United States Military Academy, at West Point,
but owing to the strenuous opposition of friends to
which he finally yielded, resigned without ever
having left home, a mistake and loss of opportunity
for education he has ever since most deeply re-
gretted. He remained at home carrying on his
father's farm, getting such knowledge of books as
he could, until 1854, when, resolving he would try
and obtain a thorough legal education, he quitted
the farm and entered the Harvard Law School at
Cambridge, the oldest and then esteemed best in
the country, where, after two years of close appli-
cation he graduated in 1856 with the degree of L.
B. Desiring, however, to further avail himself of
the great advantages of the law school, he remained
a third year as a post-graduate.

In 1857 Mr. Grain returned to Illinois, and hav-
ing been admitted to the bar in February of that
year, located in Freeport and commenced the prac-
tice of his chosen profession. Here for a period of
over thirty years, he has been a diligent, close and
unremitting student of the law, steadily building
up a practice and reputation second to no attorney
and counselor in his county. He has confined him-
self strictly to his professional duties, devoting
himself to the interests of his clients, refusing to
have anything whatever to do with politics. Many
of his professional brethren, who began in Freeport
about the same time, have been honored with
offices both legislative and judicial, but Mr. Grain
has never desired or sought an office at the hands
of the public. His most intimate friends have been
his law books, an association which with him par-
takes of the character of companionship.- Of these
he has the most costly and complete library of any
lawyer in the State outside of the city of Chicago.
It is especially valuable in a rare and useful col-
lection of statutes, from the organization of the
Indiana Territory, of which Illinois once formed a
part, down to the present time, and the possession
of which in a single instance, enabled him by illus-
trating the gradual change since 1805 of our crim-
inal code to save a wrongly convicted client from
the penitentiary. In March, 1887, Mr. Grain was

admitted to the bar of the United States Supreme
Court at Washington. In 1860, at Freeport, Mr.
Grain was married to Miss Vennette, eldest daugh-
ter of Hon. Martin P. Sweet, who in this part of Illi-
nois is the most able and eloquent advocate ever at
the bar. Of this union there were born five chil-
dren Kitty. John, Vennette S., Charles F. and Ethel
G., the two eldest of whom died in infancy.

^ILLIAM H. KACHELHOFFER, a success-
ful general farmer of Silver Creek Town-
ship, has a snug homestead on section 16,
not far from the place of his birth. He is a native
of this township and first drew breath Dec. 16,
1853. He was the youngest but one of his parents'
family of ten children, and comes from substantial
German ancestry. II is father, Joseph Kachelhoffer,
emigrated to the United States from Alsace, now
Germany, in 1839, and located first in the State of
New York. Thence, about 1848, he migrated
westward, and coming into this county, assisted in
the erection of the old Yellow Creek brewery in
the northern part of the township. In this he
owned a half interest, and for some time was the
partner of Mr. Hettinger. Upon withdrawing from
this business he began purchasing land, and in due
time became the owner of more than 900 acres in
tliis township and 400 acres near Parkersburg,
Iowa. He departed this life at his home in Silver
Creek Township, on the homestead where his son
now resides, July 1, 1880. He is remembered as
a man of more than ordinary intelligence, and as
his career indicates, was uniformly successful in
his business transactions.

Our subject remained under the parental roof
until reaching his majority, and was married at
Freeport, 111., Nov. 28, 1877, to Miss Martha J.
Bardel, a native of Silver Creek Township, and
born July 30, 1853. The sketch of her father,
John Bardel, will be found elsewhere in this
Ai.r.i M. Mrs. K. was reared by her parents and
remained with them until her marriage. Her union
with our subject resulted in the birth of five chil-
dren, of whom one, Henry J.. died when nine
months old. Those surviving are Magdalena E.,

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

363 i

John H., Clara H. and Mary J. Soon after his
marriage our subject began farming for himself,
and is now the owner of 190 acres which has been
carefully cultivated and is supplied with valuable
improvements. He is considered a representative
farmer and citizen, and by his manly and straight-
forward course has attained to a good position
among his neighbors. Politically he is a Demo-
crat, and religiously, a loyal adherent of the
Catholic faith.

^ OHN M. REES, Supervisor of Erin Town-
ship, has resided in that locality for over
thirty-eight years, and been prominent in
its agricultural and local affairs. He held
the position of Constable two years, has served as
Commissioner of Highways and Township Clerk,
and with his estimable wife and four of their chil-
dren, is one of the pillars of the Lutheran Church.
He has been a member of its council for a period
of fifteen years and Sunday-school Superintendent
twelve years. Politically, he is a Democrat, and
one of the strongest advocates of temperance in
this section.

The homestead of our subject is pleasantly lo-
cated on section 24, where he cultivates 160 acres
of valuable land and has a substantial set of frame
buildings. His farming operations have been con-
ducted with the wisdom and good judgment which
have characterized him in .all his transactions, while
his personal character has secured him the highest
regard of his neighbors and acquaintances. The
residence and buildings indicate the thrift and in-
dustry of the proprietor, and the farm stock and
machinery bear fair comparison with that of the
farm property in a community noticeable for its
prosperity and enterprise.

Mr. Rees is a native of Union County, Pa.,
where his birth took place at the country home of
his parents, Nov. 13, 1834. He is the son of Seninh
and Margaret (Sights) Rees. also natives of Union
County, where they were reared and married. They
remained there for a time after beginning life to-
gether, but in April, 1850, gathered together their

household goods and traveled by water and over-
land to the Prairie State. They took up their
abode in Loran Township, this county, but nine
months later, in March, 1851, purchased a tract of
land in Erin Township, where the father established
a permanent home which he occupied until his
death, July 28. 1863. The mother survived her
husband nearly eleven years, her death taking place
at the home of her son, in March, 1874.

The parental household of our subject included
twelve children, nine sons and three daughters, of
whom John M. was the seventh in order of birth.
He was a lad sixteen years of age when the family
removed from Pennsylvania to Illinois, and since
that time has been a resident of Stephenson County.
He remained under the home roof until twenty-
three years of age, and then engaged in farming
on his own account on land adjacent to his father's
homestead. His early education had been extremely
limited, and he learned early in life to depend upon
himself, and thus gained that strength of character
and reliance which have been the secret of his suc-
cess. During the progress of the late war, consid-
ering it his duty to have a hand in the conflict, he
enlisted, in January, 1865, in the 26th Illinois In-
fantry, serving until the close of the war. This,
however, included but a period of six months, but
he had the pleasure of being present in the grand
review at Washington and the consciousness of
knowing that he had been ready to meet the rebels
in open fire if occasion offered. After the organi-
zation of the Grand Army of the Republic he be-
came a member of William A. Goddard Post, at
Lena, with which he is still identified. He takes a
lively interest in the affairs of his adopted county
and State, and keeps himself well posted upon cur-
rent events.

The marriage of John M. Rees and Miss Eliza-
beth Fye, was celebrated at the home of the bride,
on the 25th of March, 1858. Mrs. Rees is the
daughter of Conrad and Sarah (Rumbager) Fye,
natives of Pennsylvania, who emigrated to this
State after their marriage, becoming residents of
this county in 1846. After a residence of six
months in Freeport, the}' removed to a tract of
land in Florence Township, in the cultivation of
which Mr. Fye was engaged two years. Thence he

364

STEPHEN-SON COUNTY.

removed to Loran Township and finally to Eleroy,
in Erin Township, where he lived retired until
called from his earthly labors, his death occurring
Sept. 1, 1884. The mother still survives and is a
resident of Eleroy, being now seventy-four years of
age. The parents of Mrs. Rees had ten children,
of whom she was the eldest. She was born in
Cambria County, Pa., Jan. 17, 1835. She passed
her childhood and youth under the home roof,
availing herself of the instruction to be obtained
in the district schools, and under the training of
her excellent mother became well fitted for the
duties of life. Of her marriage with our subject
there have been born seven children, of whom the
record is as follows : Eleanor, now the wife of Rev.
William H. Hartman, is a resident of Davis, this
county ; Charles W. died when two and one-half
years of age; those remaining, Daniel F., James
M., Herbert V., William H. and Sidney J., are at
home with their parents.

j OHN J. MOORE, of Orangeville, a native
of Lehigh County, Pa., has been a resident
of Stephenson County, 111., for a period of
nearly forty years, coming here with his
parents when a child four years of age. He was
born Oct. 30, 1844, and is the youngest son of
Charles and Josephine (Switzhoupt) Moore, natives
respectively of Bucks and Northampton Counties,
Pa. Charles Moore was born Sept. 27, 1806, and
was the son of Thomas Moore, a native of Mary-
land. The great-grandfather of our subject, as
have been most of his male descendants, was a
farmer by occupation, and spent the last years of
his life on a comfortable homestead six miles from
Carlisle, Pa. His son Thomas, however, learned
the trade of a miller, which he followed during his
early manhood, but finally located on a farm in
Northampton County, upon which was a mill, and
operated both farm and mill until called from his
earthly labors. His wife was formerly Miss Eliza-
beth Y eager, of Bucks Count} 7 , Pa. She died in
1812, in Lehigh County.

Charles Moore, the father of our subject, availed
himself of his opportunities for securing an educa-

tion, although the facilities then provided would
at this day and age appear extremely limited.
There were no houses devoted to this purpose, but
the school, conducted on the subscription plan, was
carried on in any vacant room which could be se-
cured. The buildings erected in those days were
mostly of logs, and the desks and seats furnished
the pupils were constructed of slabs. After his
studies were completed young Moore commenced
assisting his father in the mill, and remained under
the home roof until twenty-two years of age; then,
starting out for himself he worked first by the
month and afterward rented a flouring-mill in
Northampton County, until 1848. In the spring
of that year he started with his family for this State,
and locating in Cedarville took charge of a mill
belonging to J. H. Addams, which he operated two
years, and then removed to Freeport, running a
mill there for two years. Thence he removed to
Brookville, Ogle County, but after a year returned
to Freeport, where he took charge of the Webster
Mills for four years following, then purchased a
flouring-mill at Rock. Run, which he operated in
connection with a farm until the spring of 1866.
Soon afterward he took possession as proprietor of
the Orangeville flooring-mills and sawmills, and has
since operated these successfully and profitably.
He rebuilt the sawmill in 1867, providing it with
the more modern machinery, and has since enjoyed
the patronage of the people throughout that section.

The mother of our subject was born Nov. 13,
1807, and became the wife of Charles Moore Oct.
26, 1828. Her parents, Joseph and Rosanna Switz-
houpt, were natives of Pennsylvania. She became
the mother of eleven children, five now living:
Annie S. is the wife of Franklin Kaufman, a resi-
dent of Orangeville; Edward T. also lives there;
Agnes, the wife of John Wade, is a resident of
Polo; Ellen married Edward Tucker, and lives in
LaFayette County, Wis. ; John J., of our sketch,
was the tenth child.

Our subject pursued his early studies in the dis-
trict schools, and assisted his parents on the farm
until his marriage, since which time they have re-
sided with him. For some years past he has been
associated with his brother Edward in the manage-
ment of the mills and farm.

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

365

The marriage of John J. Moore and Miss Lncinda
Woodriug took place in LaFayette County, Wis.,
March 25, 1871. Mrs. M. was born in Northamp-
ton Co., Pa., in 1848, and is the daughter of Daniel
and Catherine (Zeller) Woodring. By her mar-
riage with our subject she has become the mother
of two children Maud M. and Ralph W. Mr.
Moore is a member of Orangeville Lodge No. 687,
A. F. <fe A. M., J. R. Scroggs Lodge No. 372, I. O.
O. F., and Orangeville Camp No. 82, M. W. A.

JASPER B. MALLORY. The Mallory fam-
I ily, which originally came from Scotland,
located in New York State, and from the
original progenitor, our subject is a descend-
ant, down through several generations. His pater-
nal grandfather, Jasper Mallory, was both merchant
and farmer by calling. He left his native State
when a young man, and went to Hartford County,
Conn., where he met and married Miss Harriet
Newton, a direct descendant of the great philoso-
pher Sir Isaac Newton. After their marriage they
went to Clarington, Monroe Co., Ohio, and grand-
father Mallory was there engaged for some years
before his death as a general merchant. The grand-
parents lived to be quite old, Jasper Mallory ar-
riving at the age of eighty-four years before his
death; his wife died some years younger.

The father of our subject, DeWitt C. Mallory,
waa the eldest of a family of eight children. He
was born in Hartford County, Conn., in 1807, and
went to Ohio when a child. He was married in
Monroe County, that State, to Ellen Brown, who
was born in Greene County, Pa., about 1810. Her
father, John Brown, was a noted surveyor, and
represented Greene County in the Legislature of
Pennsylvania for some years. He died in Ver-
milion County, 111. His wife, whose maiden name
was Jane Hurley, later came to Stephenson County
and died at the home of her youngest daughter,
Mrs. Jane Ilenthorn.

After the marriage of DeWitt C. Mallory, he be-
gan farming in Ohio, and a few years later came to
Vermilion County, 111., about 1827 or 1828.

He made settlement on an unbroken section of
land in that part of the State, but early in the
spring of 1837 sold out his interest in Vermilion
County, and came with a stock of merchandise to
this county, locating on sections 7, 8, 17 and 18,
in Rock Run Township. He started his store on
what is now section 18 of Rock Run Township.
The claim that he settled on comprised 320 acres, a
large portion of which was in timber. He followed
merchandising and farming for some years, when
he quit the former occupation, and gave his whole
attention to the latter. His operations as a farmer
met with success and he lived here for some time,
then removed to Ridott Township. The mother
died May 5, 1870, in Freeport, and the father then
went to Vernon County, Mo., and is yet living
there, aged eighty years. He is and his wife was a
member of the Christian Church.

Our subject was born Sept. 30, 1831, in Ver-
milion County, 111., and was the third in a family
of thirteen children, eight sons and flve daughters.
Two of the former and four of the latter are
deceased. Jasper B. was educated in the common
schools and lived at home until his marriage, in
this township, to Miss Ella J. Luce, Feb. 12, 1852.

Mrs. Mallory was born in Oneida County, N. Y.
After the death of her parents she came to Ohio,
and was reared by Josiah Willard, the father of
Miss Frances E. Willard, the distinguished temper-
ance authoress and lecturer. While Mrs. Mallory
was living with Mr. Willard in Ohio, she came
here on a visit and met her husband. She is now
the mother of ten children, of whom two are de-
ceased and five are married. Nellie is the wife of
Harvey Cole, residing in Aurora, Hamilton Co.,
Neb., Mr. Cole being County Treasurer there;
Mary is the wife of William Wolf, a farmer of
Rock Run Township; Lizzie J. is also the wife of
a farmer, Henry B. Daniels, of Hampton, Iowa;
Josiah W. took to wife Cora Wilkison ; they live
on a farm in Rock Run Township, as does also Ed-
rnond G., who married Ida M. Cotherman; Ro-
manza A. is a teacher in the public schools of this
county; Jasper B., Jr., and Josie B. live at home.

After marriage Mr. Mallory lived in Lancaster
Township for twelve years. He owns his home-
stead on section 17, Rock Run Township, which

366

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

comprises 353 acres, most of which is under the
plow. He has a good farm, on which are very sub-
stantial buildings. The family are members of the
Methodist Episcopal Church of this township, of
which Mr. Mallory is a Trustee and Class-Leader.
He has been a Commissioner of Highways for
eighteen years, School Treasurer for ten years, and
the incumbent of other minor offices. His polit-
ical proclivities are Republican, and being a man
of earnest character, he is decided in his faith.

HRISTIAN LAIBLE, SR., oneiof the prom-
inent German citizens of Lancaster Town-
ship, is a successful farmer and stock-
grower, and owns a fine estate containing 110 acres
of highly cultivated land located on section 19.
He was born Jan. 21, 1821, in Wurtemberg, Ger-
many, and is the son of Christopher and Regina
(Hauser)Laible. Wurtemberg is favorably located
in the basins of the Rhine and Danube, and agri-
culture and stock-raising are extensively carried on.
Christopher Laible carried on farming m his native
Province for a time but, attracted by the superior
advantages offered in the United States he, in 1830,
came to this country. A family of seven children
had been born to him, only three of whom were
then living. On his arrival in the United States,
he settled with his wife and family in Black Rock,
Erie Co., N. Y., where he engaged iu fanning and
made his permanent home. He was enterprising
and successful, and with his wife, passed the clos-
ing years of life at the homestead in the enjoyment
of ease and plenty.

Christian Laible resided on the farm during his
boyhood and youth and assisted his father until he
was twenty-one years of age. His marriage to
Miss Anna Maria Clump took place May 7, 1843.
Mrs. Laible was likewise a native of Wurtemberg,
and came with her parents to the United States in
1832. They made their first settlement in Erie
County, N. Y., where the father, who had been en-
gaged in agriculture in his native land, carried on
farming successfully until 1845. The family then
removed to Illinois and settled in Lancaster Town-
ship, Stephenson County, where they passed the

remainder of their lives. Mr. Clump died at the
advanced age of seventy-six, and the mother's
death occurred at the age of seventy-four.

Mr. and Mrs. Laible had a family of eleven
children, eight of whom are now living: Hannah,
the wife of James Welsh, resides in Elgin, 111., her
husband being engaged in the Elgin Watch Manufac-
tory ; for the record of the next child see sketch of
C. R. Laible, Jr., elsewhere in this work; Jacob F.
married Miss Maria Glasser, who is now deceased;
he resides in Lancaster Township with his father-
in-law. William married Miss Mary Baker, and is
also engaged in the Elgin Watch Manufactory;
George C. married Miss Ida Best and resides in
Fleming County, Neb. ; Hattie is the wife of Al-
bert Hoover and resides in Freeport, and Ferris
and Ella are at home with their parents.

Mr. Laible came to Stephenson County and his
present home in 1870, and has applied himself very
closely to business. He is thorough and energetic,
and usually successful in his enterprises. He is
one of the most loyal citizens of his adopted
country, and a stanch supporter of the Republican
party.

IMON TOLLMEIER. Many of the most
thrifty agriculturists of Illinois were born
on the other side of the Atlantic, and to
Germany especially is Stephenson County
indebted for some of her most enterprising and
prosperous citizens. The subject of this sketch, who
occupies a good farm on section 35, Jefferson
Township, was born in the Fatherland on the 1 8th
of May, 1839, and was eighteen years of age when
be accompanied his parents to the United States.
Soon after arriving in this country he started for
the West and located in Freeport, where for five
years he was engaged in various occupations.
Upon concluding his residence in Freeport he came
to Jefferson Township, where he has since resided
and been continuously engaged in farming. He is
the owner of 400 acres of laud, which is eligibly
located and exceedingly productive. As the years
have gone by and his harvests have yielded boun-
tifully, he has expended the surplus profits of his

RESIDENCE OF SAMUEL ALBRIGHT SEC. 32 . WADD AM s TOWNSHIP.

RESIDCNCEOF REUBEN PENTICOFF.SEC.SI. LORAN TOWNSHIP.

H i LLSI DE STOCK FARM" RES.OFSIMONTOLLMEI ER ,SEC. 35. J EFFERSONTOWNSH IP.

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

3G9

farms in the erection of needed and commodious
buildings.

Mr. Tollmeier was married in Stephenson County
to Mary Riley, and four children have been born
to them, namely : Mary, the wife of Henry Kart-
ner, of this county; Fred, Rachel, and Maggie,
now Mrs. Dr. Aurand, of Loran. Mrs. Tollmeier
died in Jefferson Township on the 3d of July, 1870.
Mr. Tollmeier was again married, in Stephenson
County, to Caroline Garke, and by this marriage
there are three children Eddie. Louisa and Lydia.

Mr. Tolltneier has served as Highway Commis-
sioner and held other offices in Jefferson Township.
He has been a Director of the Loran Home Insur-
ance Company, a local organization, for several
years. He and his estimable wife are members of
the German Evangelical Church. Mr. T. takes a
lively interest in temperance affairs, and on that
question is liberal minded. He is an active Re-
publican, and upon all proper occasions does what
he can to further the interests of that party.

We cannot conveniently give the picture of all
the broad acres belonging to Mr. Tollmeier, and
represent the space they occupy, but we present a
view of the dwelling and its immediate surround-
ings, of which the owner has just reason to be
proud.

most of which is highly improved, and the build-
; ings he has erected would do credit to many men
who possess a more extended acreage. After be-
coming a resident of this State he was married, in
Loran Township, to Miss Mary J. Bush, daughter
of Frederick Bush, and a native also of Union
Count}', Pa. Mr. and Mrs. Penticoff have been
blessed with nine children, eight of whom are liv-
ing, and named respectively : Lydia A., the wife
of Charles Reed ; Salinda, the wife of Jackson A.
Lahr; Lisa, who was married to Paul Cramer Oct.
4, 1887: Kate, Lewis, Charles, Harry and Harvey.
Mr. Penticoff is a Republican, and has been
elected to township offices several times. If any
man should stand up before him and ask, "What
have you done ? " he can answer without words,
simply by pointing to the well cultivated farm and
its appurtenances, the neatly fenced fields, the
goodly assortment of live-stock, the residence and
the out-buildings. The picture of these latter our
artist has carefully transferred to paper, and which
the reader may find by examining another page.

EUBEN PENTICOFF, one of the pioneers
of Illinois and now residing on section 32,
Loran Township, came from his native
) State to Stephenson County in 1837, and
has been engaged in agricultural pursuits since be-
ginning the labors of life, with' the exception of
two years when he resided in Woodman's Grove.
He was born in Union County, Pa., on the 9th of
January, 1832, and spent his boyhood days there.
Ills whole life has been devoted to the calling
adopted by his father, and at which the latter was
content to labor and spend his days, . undisturbed
by the turmoil attendant upon men's lives in the
great cities and the marts of trade.

Mr. Penticoff is the owner of 120 acres of land,

AMUEL ALBRIGHT, of Waddaras Town-
ship, was born in Berks County, Pa., on the
6th of December, 1819. His father, Jacob
Albright, was a native of the same county,
and spent his life upon the farm where his death
took place April 18, 1838. Jacob Albright mar-
ried Elizabeth Stout, a daughter of Michael Stout,
who was a blacksmith and farmer combined, and
acquired a fine property including 400 acres of land.
The mother of our subject died at the homestead
in the year 1864. Samuel Albright applied him-
self to learn the trade of blacksmith when but
eleven years of age, working with his father until
the time of the latter's death, whereupon the young
man then worked with his brother for two years.
Alter this he started out for himself in Lower
Berne, and the next year he removed to Berne and
bought ten acres of land, upon which he built a
house and a shop, and there worked at his trade
and improved his farm for nine years. He then

370

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

sold out and started in the mercantile business in
the same township, and also kept a hotel two years.
Then removing to Lower Heidlersburg he bought a
store building and six acres of land, and engaged
in merchandising business three years. The busi-
ness being done on the credit system which was
much in vogue at that time, he lost quite heavily
from uncollectable debts. At the end of three
years he sold out his store and kept a hotel in the
same building for one year, then disposing of all
his interests there, next went to Lebanon, where he
began putting up patent medicines, and was also
engaged to some extent in veterinary work, in which
he continued for the space _of two years.

Hitherto the labors of Mr. Albright had not sat-
isfied his enterprising mind, and he now started for
Illinois, landing in Stephenson County, where he
had many acquaintances who had formerly lived in
Pennsylvania. He. first located in Buckeye Centre
and engaged in the blacksmith business for one 3'ear,
then removed to McConnell's Grove in Waddams
Township, and for four years engaged in black-
smithing at that place; then he bought the place
upon which he now lives. There was a small one-
and-a-half-story house, log stable and a granary
on the premises when he made the purchase, but
Mr. A. has since erected a fine set of buildings,
making his improvements rank equally with those
of any farmer in the community, and expending
for this a snug sum of money. He has a vineyard
containing one and one-quarter acres, which is very
productive, and considered the finest in Northern
Illinois.

Mr. Albright was married, the 20th of Decem-
ber, 1842, to Miss Margaret Grubb, daughter of
Jacob and Maria (Hollandbush) Grubb, who were
natives of Montgomery County, Pa. This union
resulted in the birth of seven children: Sarah A. is
the wife of Philip Arno, and lives in Freeporc;
William is at Leaf River, Ogle County ; James re-
mains at home ; Frank lives at Winters, 111. ; Martha
is the wife of John Folgate. who resides in Rock-
"ford; Mary is also at home; Charles is a telegraph
operator, and James has been veterinary surgeon
since 1876 in Stephenson County. He practiced
his profession for five years in Iowa, then returned
home. While he devotes his attention mainly to

blacksmithing, yet be serves at his profession when
called upon. He has written several interesting
articles for the Veterinary Review, as well as many
of the other leading veterinary journals, and has
an excellent understanding of this department of
medicine and surgery.

EORGE HULBERT, a reliable young far-
mer of Waddams Township, is located on
section 5, on the homestead where he was
born, Aug. 8, 1863. His father, Nelson Hulbert,
was a native of New York, and his grandfather, Ira
Hulbert. of English ancestry, was born, it is sup-
posed, on the other side of the Atlantic. He was
a wagon-maker by trade, and spent the last years
of his life in Cattaraugus County, N. Y. The pa-
ternal grandmother of our subject was in her girl-
hood Miss Lucinda Davis, of Connecticut. She
came to the West late in life and spent her last
years among her children in this county.

Nelson Hulbert, the father of our subject, was
7'eared to manhood in his native State, and was
here married to Miss Maria Handy, of Stephenson
County. He remained there until 1837, and then
started overland for Illinois. The entire journey
was made with ox-teams. Mr. Hulbert, in com-
pany with his brother, entered a tract of land from
the Government in Oneco Township, made some
improvements, lived there a few years, and then re-
moved to Waddams Township and built up the
homestead now occupied by his son, our subject,
where he spent the last years of his life.

At the time Nelson Hulbert came to this section
of country his neighbors were few and farbetween^
and deer and other wild game was plentiful. The
nearest market for produce was the lead mining
region near Galena, which was also the nearest de-
pot for supplies. Mr. H. lived to improve a good
farm, and to erect a convenient and substantial set
of frame buildings. The wife and mother departed
this life in February, 1872. Nelson Hulbert died
five years later, Sept. 30, 1877. They were the
parents of two children only, Lucinda, now the
wife of William Lawler, and George, of our sketch.
The latter was educated in the district schools and

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

371

remained with his parents until they were called
from earth. He is bearing the mantle of his father
worthily, and fulfilling his obligations as an honest
man and a good citizen. He is still unmarried. He
cast his first Presidential vote for James G. Blaine,
and is one of the most promising members of the
Republican party in this locality.

yiLLIAM KOENIG, dealer in and manu-
facturer of fine furniture, has been estab-
lished in business at Freeport since the
spring of 1876. He is noted for his enterprise and
energy, and possesses a worthy ambition to excel,
and judging from the position which he holds in
the community and the extent of his business
transactions, it would appear that he has met with
more than ordinary success. In addition to house-
hold furniture of every description, he also con-
ducts a large undertaking business, and keeps con-
stantly on hand a splendid assortment of everything
pertaining thereto. His well-known integrity and
his popularity as a business man and u citizen, are
proverbial, and few men in Freeport occupy a
more prominent or enviable position.

Our subject is a native of Erie, Pa., where his
birth took place May 12, 1853. He is consequently
in the prime of life on the sunny side of forty
and in the midst of a career which promises
greater things for the future. His parents removed
from Pennsylvania soon after his birth, and coming
to this .county, remained until the following spring,
when they went to Ogle County, remained two
years, and in 1856 located in Freeport, where the
father is still living. The latter, Joseph Koenig,
was a shoemaker by trade, which he followed until
1880, then retired from active business and is now
spending his declining years in ease and comfort.
The parental household included seven children, six
now living, and of whom William of our sketch
was the eldest. He was educated in the city
schools of Freeport and commenced his apprentice-
ship at the cabinet trade when sixteen years old, in
the factory of Darius Kuehner, of Freeport, with
whom he remained three years and four months.
He was next employed by J. B. Suyder, now de-

ceased, with whom he remained five years. Upon
starting for himself young Koenig formed a part-
nership which, however, was of short duration, as
he soon purchased the entire business and has since
controlled it. He commenced in a small wa3' with
limited means, and subsequently took in Mr. David
Kent. They operated together until 1880, when
Mr. Koenig again purchased the interest of his
partner, and has since continued alone. He carries
a large and well-selected stock, which occupies a
building 20x116 feet in area, and in height four
stories with basement. He likewise occupies two
upper floors of the adjoining building. Aside from
this business he is also interested in the manu-
facture of buggy and spring-wagon bodies, in com-
pany with Peter Bixler, under the firm name of
Koenig & Bixler. These are shipped to Wisconsin,
Iowa, Nebraska and Indiana. In his furniture and
undertaking business he gives employment to six
hands, and in the other manufactory from six to
fifteen.

Mr. Koenig was married in Lena, April 6, 1882,
to Miss Carrie Metz, a native of Wisconsin. They
have a son, Robert Franklin, born April 16, 1884,
and a daughter, Cora May, born July 26, 1887.
They occupy a snug home on Stephenson street,
and enjoy the friendship of a large circle of ac-
quaintances. Both our subject and his estimable
lady are members of the Evangelical Church. So-
cially, Mr. Koenig belongs to the Masonic fra-
ternity, and the I. O. O. F., and has filled all the
chairs in the latter order.

YI/OHN PENTICOFF, Ju., who resides on
section 29 of Loran Township, came to
Stephenson County about 1847 or 1850
from Union County, Pa. He was born in
that county on the 16th of August, 1832. His par-
ents, Jonathan and Elizabeth. (Kiesler) Penticoff,
were both natives of Lebanon County, Pa. They
were among the pioneer settlers of Stephenson
County, having arrived here at about the date
named at the opening of this sketch. They settled
in Lonin Township, where they remained for a
considerable time, afterward removing to Florence

372

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

Township, where the father now resides. The
mother died in that township on the 23d of August,
1887. They were the parents of five children, four
girls and one boy. John, the subject of this sketch,
was the eldest child. He has been a constant resi-
dent of Stephenson County since the advent of the
family into the county. He is the owner of 220
acres of land, 200 of which are highly improved.
The buildings which he has erected will compare
favorably with those of the best farmers of the sur-
rounding country.

On the 17th of July, 1855, in Oneco Township,
Stephenson County, our subject was united in mar-
riage with Elizabeth Myers, daughter of Conrad
and Lydia (Lukeubach) Myers, both. of whom were
sturdy natives of York County, Pa., from whence
they came and settled in Oneco Township. After
residing in that township for some time, they re-
moved to Lancaster Township, where the father
died on the 20th of January, 1881. They reared
a family of nine children, four girls and five boys.
The wife of Mr. Penticoff was the eldest child.
She was born in Dauphin County, Pa., on the 10th
of October, 183G. The names of their four chil-
dree are Laura J., Rosanna C., Oscar C. and Oliver
S. Mr. Petiticoff, while devoting his entire time
to agricultural pursuits, has permitted himself to
be chosen to several offices of trust and honor in
his township.

\w7OHN KERCH, proprietor of the New York
House, occupying Nos. 81-89 Galena street.
Freeport, has here operated successfully
as "mine host" for a period of twenty- eight
years. He is well fitted by his genial and active
temperament for a business requiring unusual
tact and discernment, and it is admitted by the
large number of guests which he continuously ac-
commodates that he is a success in this vocation.
He possesses good executive ability and an aptitude
for taking note of details which have largely aided
him to maintain the reputation of his house after
the standard by which it was established.

Mr. Kerch was born in the village of Calbach,
Germanj", March 5, 1819. His parents, George

and Katie (AVurtz) Kerch, were also of German
birth and parentage. The father was engaged in
farming pursuits. There were three brothers and
one sister in the family, all of whom are now liv-
ing. John was reared partly on the farm, and at-
tended school from the time he was six years old
until fourteen. He then served an apprenticeship
of two and one-half years at the blacksmith trade,
and when twenty-two years old determined to
cross the ocean and find out if anything lay. for
him beyond. He embarked on a sailing-vessel at
Havre and, after a tedious voyage of fifty-two
days, landed first at New York, whence he pro-
ceeded to Providence, R. I., and there followed
butchering. Later he migrated to New York City,
where he commenced operating a brewery, and con-
tinued thus occupied successfully until deciding to
seek the farther West. He then sold out and, com-
ing to Freeport, took charge of the City Hotel,
which he operated from 1855 until 1857. The year
following he purchased what is now known as the
New York House, in which he was successful from
the start, and continued until 1883. He then
rented the hotel and retired to private life, turning
over its patronage to his son-in-law, Ole F. John-
son, who now conducts it.

Mr. Kerch was married first while a resident of
New York, in 1845, to Miss Mary Kraem, who
lived only two years. The present wife of our sub-
ject, to whom he was married in 1848, was for-
merly Miss Mary Huf, and they became the parents
of one child only, a (laughter, Mary, who is now
the wife of O. F. Johnson, of Freeport. Besides
the hotel, Mr. Kerch is the owner of other good
property in Freeport, from the rent of which he
receives a good income. He has been quite prom-
inent in city affairs, and was foreman of the fire
department for many years. This was instituted
in 1 856, and re-organized in 1879, at which time it
was turned over to the city. Mr. Kerch donated
the ground upon which to erect the engine-house,
and has in other ways manifested his interest in the
progress of the cit} 7 , in which he takes an honest
pride as the home of his adoption. AVhile a resi-
dent of New York he was connected with the State
Militia for a period of seven years.

Mr. Kerch landed in New York City with

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

373

cash capital of $2 in his pocket, and contrasting
his condition then with that of the present, it
is easy to imagine what energy and industry he
has employed in the accomplishment of the results
which we now behold. He is essential!}' a self-
made man, and deserves great credit for the man-
ner in which he has improved his time and' oppor-
tunities.

ILLIAM B. HERLOCKER. The admoni-
tion to ''secure the shadow ere the sub-
stance fades " is a good one, if we mean to
perpetuate the faces and forms of our friends in
life. The improvements made in the art of pho-
tography in the last few years have enabled artists
to procure perfect likenesses, retaining the actual
expression of all the features at the moment they
are caught on the negative plate. One of the pro-
gressive artists in the West is Mr. Herlocker, whose
gallery is at No. 118 Stephenson street, Freeport.
He is a native of Pennsylvania, and was horn in
Madisonburg. Centre County, on the 8th of Sep-
tember, 1857. His father, Henry Herlocker, came
West when William was a mere boy, settling in
Stephenson County in 1 869, where he plied his trade
as a painter in Freeport. The mother, formerly
Miss Elizabeth Bair, died in Centre Count}', Pa.

William B. Herlocker passed his childhood in his
native county, making his home with his uncle, W.
J. Hosterman, with whom he remained until he was
fourteen years of age, in the meantime attending
the common schools. He then went to Delaware
County. Ohio, where he entered the Ohio Wesleyan
University and pursued his studies for three years.
Subsequently he. took a commercial course, and
was graduated with honors. After coming to Free-
port he opened an office and taught writing-school,
which he continued for some three years. lie then
began to learn the art of photography, taking his
first instructions from Mr. Tliayer. After becom-
ing well acquainted with the mysteries of the art,
lie formed a partnership with Mr. J. A. Schaad, in
January, 1887. This is one of the best pho-
tographic firms in the West, and there is little in
their line which they cannot accomplish. They are

especially successful in bromide and ink enlarge-
ments. Mr. Herlocker gives special attention to
group pictures, having the best of facilities for this
department of the art. Their apartments embrace
six rooms, fitted with all needful appliances, and
handsomely decorated. On the walls are displayed
magnificent specimens of pictures produced at this
gallery.

Mi'. Herlocker is identified with the Good Tem-
plars, and also belongs to the order of the National
Union, which is an insurance association; in both
of these organizations he takes an active interest.
In the business he has chosen for life he is an en-
thusiast, and devotes much time and study in ac-
quiring a knowledge of all the latest improvements,
both in chemical and mechanical appliances. He
possesses a worthy ambition to take his place
among the leading artists of the country, and
there are strong indications that he will be gratified.

eHARLES C. LESEMANN. The Lesemann
homestead consists of 210 acres located on
section 9, Kent Township, and is in charge
of the subject of this sketch, who is the son of
Charles and Mary (Diestelmeier) Lesemann. They
were both natives of Germany, and when they emi-
grated to this country, the former was about twen-
ty-one and the latter about sixteen years of age.
After the}' were married, they settled in Kent
Township in 1848, where they have lived with the
exception of a short residence in Freeport. The
father of our subject was a stonemason by trade,
and after coming to this country that was his prin-
cipal occupation, although he also farmed to a con-
siderable extent. He prospered in both lines of
business, and became the owner of 200 acres of
land, on which he erected good and substantial
buildings, and made all other necessary improve-
ments. His death occurred on the 9th of June,
1878, while living on this property. Their family
consisted of eight children, five of whom grew up
Mary C., Charles C., Matilda M., Fred H. and
Minnie E. Those who died were Minnie C., Carrie
and Daniel. Mary is the wife of Charles Gassman,
and resides in Erin Township; Matilda is the wife

, L 374

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

of Rev. John Hoffmeister. and resides at Waterloo,
Iowa.

Charles C. Lesemann married Anna L. Gassman,
on the 24th of March, 1881. She was a native of
Stephenson County, having been born in Erin
Township, April 2, 1858. To them have been
born two children Edwin C. and Laura M. Mr.
Lesemann since the death of his father, has had the
management of the old homestead, and under his
care, the standard of the farm has been kept up.
Mr. and Mrs. L. are members of the Evangelical
Church. Mr. L. belongs to the Republican party.
He is Director of the schools of his district, which
office he has filled for six years.

OHN F. DERRICK, a gentleman of more
than ordinary ability and fine personal traits,
which have secured him the high regard of
those who enjoy the pleasure of his acquaint-
ance, is the descendant of an old and excellent family
of English ancestry, the first representative of
which, in this country, located in Jefferson County,
Ohio. The grandfather of our subject, John Der-
rick by name, a native of England, remained in the
land of his birth until reaching manhood, in the
meantime learning the carpenter's trade, and being
married to Miss Jane Farnham, a native of the
same county. After becoming the parents of several
children, they emigrated to the United States, set-
tling first in Pennsylvania, and removing later to
Jefferson County, Ohio, where the death of grand-
father Derrick took place about 1817. He had
served as a soldier in the War of 1812, being then
over sixty years of age, but he was a man of strong
force of character, decided in his views, and a
stanch friend of freedom. His wife survived until
1845, reaching the advanced age of ninety years.

Among the children of John and Jane Derrick,
was James, one of the younger members of the
family, who was the only son, and was highly prized
on this account, as the family for two generations
previously had also been represented by one son
only. The lives of these sons, as was natural, were
guarded with jealous care, as they were depended
upon to perpetuate the name. James Derrick was

born in Allegheny County, Pa., and while still a
boy, removed with his parents to Jefferson County,
Ohio, where he was educated in the district school,
and, like his father before him, learned the trade of
a carpenter. After reaching manhood, he was uni-
ted in marriage with Miss Nancy Ellis, a native of
Ohio, whose parents had removed there from Mary-
land during the pioneer days. Her father, Christo-
pher Ellis, it is believed, was a farmer by occupa-
tion. He was married in Maryland, and several of
his children were born there. He and his second
wife both died in Ohio. The first wife had died in
Maryland after the birth of two children. Mrs.
Derrick was the daughter of the first wife, and was
left motherless at an early age. She remained with
her father until old enough to earn her own living,
and afterward supported herself until her marriage.
James Derrick and his young bride settled in Jef-
ferson County, Ohio, where he engaged in farming,
and fulfilled all his obligations as an honest man
and a good citizen. He is remembered by those
who knew him, as a gentleman of excellent Chris-
tian character, and for many years was a consistent
memDer of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He
identified himself with the Republican party soon
after its organization, and late in life came to Illi-
nois and made his home with our subject in Silver
Creek Township, where his death took place Dec.
1, 1883, when seventy -eight years old. The mother
had died in Jefferson County, Ohio, in 1809, aged
sixty-six. Mrs. Derrick, like her husband, was a
devoted Christian, and a member of the Methodist
Church.

The subject of this history was the oldest son,
and second child of his parents, whose household
included six children, and he is the only one now
surviving. The eldest, a daughter, died in infancy ;
James E. and Enos W. served as Union soldiers in
the late war, James E. being a member of the 46th
Illinois Infantry, and died in the service at Cairo,
111., June 9, 1862; Enos enlisted in the 93d Illi-
nois Infantry, and yielded up his life in the hospi-
tal at Memphis, Tenn., Jan. 27, 1863. The latter
enlisted after the deatli of his brother. Wesley li.,
who possessed literary talent of a high order, at the
age of nine years, was attacked with rheumatism,
which left him a cripple the remainder of his life.

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

375

He. however, acquired a practical education and
employed his time largely in writing for the maga-
zines and local papers. We can only give a brief
extract from some of his published writings, which
indicates the tenor or his poetical thought, and was
written upon his removal from Ohio to Illinois:

"My unlive State, adieu!
Adieu, ye everlasting- bills,
Ye lovely vales and gurgling rills.

Ye landscapes fair to view:
1 bid you all a long farewell
As hence 1 go. far West to dwell

Whore scenes and sights are new."

This, with a little volume of other poems, was
published some time since, and is preserved by the
family as a precious relic. He spent his last days
at the home of his brother, our subject, where his
death took place Sept. 24, 1885. Harriet, the
youngest child, died when twenty-six years of age,
at the home of her husband, J. L. Clark, in the city
of Cleveland, Ohio.

The early life of our subject was spent in Jeffer-
son County, Ohio, and he was educated in the dis-
trict schools. He remained there until twenty-four
years of age. when he emigrated to Illinois, arriv-
ing in Silver Creek Township in November, 1854.
He purchased a part of the land included in his
present homestead, and has been a continuous resi-
dent of Silver Creek Township since that time. He
has effected great improvements since taking pos-
session, the land being now in a good state of cul-
tivation, and provided with suitable frame build-
ings, pleasantly located and suited to all the re-
quirements of the first-class agriculturist. In addi-
tion to this property, Mr. Derrick is the owner of
eighty acres in Florence Township, six acres of
which are in timber.

The marriage of John Derrick and Miss Barbara
J. Chapman was celebrated at the home of the
bride in Freeport, 111., Oct. 28, 1856. Mrs. I).,
like her husband, was born, reared and educated in
Jefferson County, Ohio. She came to Illinois with
her parents in 1854, the same year in which her hus-
band emigrated, and is the eldest daughter and
child of Gilead and Elizabeth (Shelly) Chapman,
also natives of the Buckeye State. They were mar-
ried in Jefferson County, where her father followed
farming until coming to Illinois. After reaching

the Prairie State, he settled first in Ridott Town-
ship, whence he subsequently removed with his
family to Freeport, and spent his last years retired
from active labor, his death taking place in the
spring of 18(56. The mother is yet living at the
old homestead at Freeport, being now seventy-six
years of age. They were most estimable people,
and members in good standing of the United Pres-
by'terian Church.

Mr. and Mrs. Derrick have no children. The
wife of our subject is a lady possessing all the wo-
manly virtues, and is noted for her charity and
hospitality. With her husband, she is an active
member of the Methodist Church, in which both
have labored with much zeal to promote the
cause of religion, and exert a good influence upon
the community around them. They have been
cheerful and liberal contributors to the support and
maintenance of all good enterprises, and are held
in the highest esteem throughout Silver Creek
Township. Mr. Derrick votes the straight Re-
publican ticket, and is a gentleman whose excellent
breeding and high character impress themselves at
once upon the stranger, and are the means of at-
taching to himself hosts of warm friends.

HARLES MUSSER, a thrifty and prosper-
ous farmer of Oneco Township, owns and
occupies a comfortable homestead on sec-
tion 32, which he purchased in 1879, and to which
he has since given his undivided attention. The
land is fertile and well cultivated, and mostly de-
voted to the raising of grain and wheat in connec-
tion with the provisions required for the family
consumption. He keeps a limited number of cat-
tle, horses and hogs, and takes life comparatively-
easy, generally keeping pace with his neighbors
around him in the effort to maintain himself and
his family comfortably, and looking well to his
position as a worthy member of the community.

Mr. Musser first opened his eyes to the light in
Centre County, Pa., Dec. 15, 1844. He is the son
of Jonas and the brother of James Musser, a sketch
of whom will be found on another page of this
work. His father was born in 1800, and spent his

376

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

entire life in the Keystone State, where his death
took place in 1852. Two years later our subject,
accompanied by his brother James, came to this
county. They settled in Buckeye Township and
Charles lived with them two 3 r ears thereafter, and
for six years afterward was employed on a farm
for his board and schooling. His first wages were
fifty cents per day, which he earned by working
for his brothers. He was thus employed two years,
then going to Buena Vista engaged as a clerk in a
store, where he remained one year, and subse-
quently took up his residence in the city of Free-
port.

The war had now been in progress for some time,
with no immediate prospect of an adjustment of
difficulties. Young Musser, who had now reached
his twenty-first year, decided to be one of those
responding to the call for additional troops, and in
February, 1865, enlisted in Co. A, 46th 111. Vol.
Inf., in which he served until the close of the war.
In the meantime he met the enemy at the siege of
Mobile and the battles of Spanish Fort and Ft.
Blakeslej. The surrender of Gen. Lee not long
thereafter, was followed by the disbandment of
many regiments, and our subject with his comrades,
was discharged and mustered out of service at
Springfield, 111., a year from the time he had en-
listed. He subsequently returned to his old home
in Pennsylvania, where he spent about six months,
then coming back to Illinois, was employed for a
time by his brother, and afterward rented land a
year in Oneco Township. This last venture not
proving what he had hoped, he subsequently em-
ployed himself for a time at whatever he could find
to do, and then going to Oraugeville, was engaged
as a clerk by his brother James, for two years. In
1870 he was united in marriage with Miss Mary A.
Pollock, who was the daughter of Thomas and the
sister of Samuel R. Pollock, prominent residents of
this county, and a sketch of whom will be found
on another page.

Mr. and Mrs. Mnsser after their marriage, con-
tinued to reside at Orangeville until the spring of
1871, and then Mr. M. rented the homestead of
which he is now the owner, for a period of nine
years. His labors in the meantime, had been
crowned with success, and he was now happily in

a condition to purchase, and in the spring of 1879
he received the warranty deed, and resumed his
labors with renewed courage upon his own property.
He has effected many improvements, and stands
well among the neighboring farmers both socially
and financial^'. There were born to our subject
and his wife three children, of whom only one is
living, Thomas O., whose birth took place April 4,
1871, and who continues with his parents. Winnie
M., who was born May 21, 1879, died Jan. 13,
1883; Charles R., born Oct. 25, 1881, died Nov.
29, 1882.

REDBRICK GUND, the subject of this
sketch, is the Secretary of the German In-
surance Company, of Freeport. 111. There
is scarcely any business enterprise which depends
upon the public for an existence that requires such
careful management, good judgment and fine dis-
crimination in its conduct as the insurance. There
is no business in which honesty and fidelity count
for more. It depends for its success largely upon
the fulfillment of every obligation made with the
great public, and this is particularly true of com-
panies that are maintained in the smaller cities of
a country. The German Insurance Company of
Freeport has established itself in the confidence of
its neighbors and with the public abroad, and no
man has done more to put it in that status than Mr.
Gund. This company has grown under his man-
agement until it is now recognized as one of the
most substantial insurance companies west of New
York or Philadelphia.

Frederick Gund was born in the Empire of Ger-
many, on the 13th of September, 1846. His par-
ents were George and Sophia Gund, who emigrated
to America in 1848. After arriving at New York
City they came immediately to Stephenson County,
111. (see family sketch in another part of this
work), and located upon a farm some distance east
of Freeport, where the father died in 1850. After
the death of his father'the subject of this sketch went
to live with an elder sister in Galena, 111., with
whom he remained until 1856, when he removed
to Freeport, and was taken into the family of Mr.
Ilettinger, his brother-in-law. He remained with

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

377

him until 1864, when he entered the employ of
Stine Bros., for whom he worked until 1867, when
he became Secretary of the German Insurance
Company of Freeport, which position he has held
and efficiently filled ever since. He received a
good common-school education when a boy, but
never had the advantage of a collegiate training.
Commercial transactions seemed to be a second na-
ture to him, and few men can see further into an
account than he. Mr. Gund is one of the partners
in the German Bank of Freeport, and one of the
Directors of the celebrated Henney Buggy Works.
In 1871 Mr. G. married Miss Josephine Het-
tinger, daughter of Matthias Hettinger, Esq., of
Freeport. He has a fine residence on Carroll street,
and many pleasant surroundings. He began life
poor, but has been successful in all his business
undertakings and enterprises. In political mat-
ters he affiliates with the Democratic party.

AMUEL MARKEL, who is numbered among
the successful farmers and stock-raisers of
Lancaster Township, owns and occupies
about 192 acres of land on suction 9, of
which he took possession in the spring of 1875. He'
is well posted in all matters pertaining to agriculture,
and devotes the greater portion of his land to the
raising of grain and stock. The main points in a
life-history which, although perhaps has not been
the subject of any very thrilling events, are still of
interest, we give briefly as follows:

Mr. Markel was born in Lancaster County, Pa.,
Jan. 19, 1853. His father, Samuel Markel, Sr.,
was a farmer by occupation, and spent his entire
life in Lancaster County, his death taking place
Oct. 15, 1854. He came of substantial German
ancestry, his father, Daniel Markel, having emi-
grated from the Fatherland directly after his mar-
riage. The maiden name of the grandmother was
Catherine Shirk. They were people greatly re-
spected in their locality and numbered among its
prosperous and well-to-do citizens. They raised a
fine family of sons and daughters, their son Samuel,
the father of our subject, possessing in a marked
degree the traits of character which constituted

him a Christian gentleman and a desirable citizen.
He was reared in his native county in Pennsyl-
vania, and after reaching manhood was united in
marriage to Miss Mary M. Miller, a native of Berks
County, who was also of German ancestry by her
paternal grandfather. The parents of our subject
settled down in Lancaster County, where, after
the birth of six children, the father passed away,
leaving the mother with large responsibilities and
the entire care of the family. There was a
comfortable property and the mother wisely kept
her children under the home roof until they were
capable of starting out in the world for themselves.
She lived to see them all comfortably settled in
life and five are yet living. The mother is now
living with her daughter, Mrs. Kurtz, in Davis,
this county. The offspring of Samuel and Mary
Markel are recorded as follows : Catherine became
the wife of M. W. Kurtz, and is now a resident of
Davis, 111. ; Daniel S. married Miss Isabel Yarger,
and is living on a farm in Lancaster Township, this
county; Henry G. married Miss Mary Glasser, and
is living at Davis, 111.; Levi B. married Miss Mol-
lie Hill, and is carrying on general merchandising
at Ridott; Samuel, Jr., of our sketch, is the young-
est of the family living; John M. died when eight-
een years of age, in Lancaster County, Pa.

The early life of our subject was spent under the
home roof, and after the death of his father he con-
tinued with his mother until twenty-two years of
age. He came to Illinois in 1870, accompanied by
his mother, and settled in Lancaster Township,
where there had already preceded him some of the
older members of the family. Our subject, in 1875,
took possession of the land now included in his
present homestead, which he has brought to a good
state of cultivation, and which, with its buildings
and other appurtenances, bears fair comparison with
the property of his neighbors. He has kept him-
self well posted upon current events and uniformly
votes the Republican ticket.

Mr. Markel was married in Rock Run Township,
March 8, 1877, to Miss Elnora Motter, who was
born in Freeport, 111., Aug. 23, 1 850. Her parents,
Jonathan and Lydia (Mese) Motter, were natives
of Pennsylvania, and are now residents of Davis,
this county. Mrs. Markel was educated in the dis-

' ' 378

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

trict schools of her native county and remained
with her parents until marriage. She is a member
of the Evangelical Church and a lady held in high
regard by a large circle of friends and acquaint-
ances. Of her marriage with our subject there have
been born four children, viz. : Daisy B., Irena 8.,
Ralph M. and Clayton M., which constitute a fine
family group, and still remain with their parents.

Vf? OHN A. VAN EP, one of the earliest settlers
of Stephenson County, arrived here in the
spring of 1838, and proved to be of that
stanch material required to assist in the settle-
ment of a new and undeveloped section of country.
He built up a good record, one which his de-
scendants may be proud to look upon, and contrib-
uted his full quota toward establishing the reputa-
tion of this county and its standing among other
communities of the Prairie State.

Mr. Van Ep was born in Glenville, Schenectady
Co., N. Y., Dec. '24, 1813. His father, Albert
Van Ep. was also a native of that county, where he
spent his entire life. The family originally came
from Holland and located in New York during its
early settlement, being numbered among its most
substantial residents. John, of our sketch, was reared
on the old homestead where he remained until
twenty-five years of age, and then resolved to in-
vestigate this part of the great West. The trip was
made overland to Buffalo, thence via the lake to
Toledo, and from that point he proceeded by teams
to within a few miles of his present homestead. He
purchased one-half of section 23, Waddams Town-
ship, which he occupied eighteen months, and then
on account of the scarcit3 r of water disposed of it
and purchased his present farm, which under skill-
ful cultivation has become one of the most valua-
ble in Stephenson County.

Mr. Van Ep, in common with his brother pioneers,
experienced the disadvantages attending transporta-
tion to a distant market by horse and ox teams,
the farmers being obliged to carry their produce to
Galena forty-five miles distant. He occupied, with
his family, a log cabin the first five years, and when

his circumstances improved sufficiently to warrant
I the erection of a frame dwelling the lumber and
building material were laboriously transported from
Galena. The house when completed was consid-
ered quite a stylish structure, and was the admira-
tion of the country around as giving evidence of
the thrift and enterprise of the proprietor. Mr.
Van Ep, soon after coming here, became prominent
in local affairs, officiating as Town Supervisor,
Town Clerk, Assessor and School Director. He
commenced duty in this line soon after the act was
passed which established the free school system
thirty years ago, and there have been few enter-
prises connected with the general welfare of his
community in which he has not occupied a leading
position.

The marriage of our subject with Miss Christi-
ana Haverly took place in Glenville, N. Y., in the
spring of 1835. This lady was born and reared in
the same county as her husband, and is the daugh-
ter of Christian and Susan Haverly, who were num-
bered among the early pioneers of New York State,
their first settlement being near the city of Albany.
Her grandfather served on the side of the Colonists
in the Revolutionary War, and made for himself an
enviable record among its brave men. Of her un-
ion with our subject there are three children Al-
bert, Haverly and James. The first two mentioned
are residents of Waddams Township, and James is
prominently connected with the stock-raising inter-
ests of Webster County, Iowa, where he is also
conducting a large mercantile business in the city
of Moorland.

REDERICK SCHAPER, one of the most
successful German farmers of Loran Town-
ship, has, by his industry and energy,
acquired a line property, and is a man of more
than ordinary intelligence and good education.
Since coming to this section he has identified him-
self with the moral and educational interests of his
community, and is looked upon as one of its first-
class citizens and representative men. He has also
been particularly fortunate in the choice of a com-
panion and helpmeet, Mrs. Schaper being a most

STEPHENSON COUNTY.

379

suitable companion for such a man as her husband.
Their children are being carefully trained and
educated, and the family group presents a most
pleasing picture of health, intelligence and pros-
perity.

Mr. Schaper first drew breath in the Province of
Hanover, Germany, May 16, 1821, and remained
in that vicinity until thirty years of age. Then,
believing that he could do better for himself and
his family in the New World, he embarked on a
sailing-vessel,.and after a .tedious trip of 101 days
landed in the city of Baltimore, Jan. 7, 1852.
Thence he proceeded to Pittsburgh, Pa., and from
there westward to Randolph County, this State.
The following spring he took up his abode in Ogle
County, where for four years he was employed in
the Grand Detour Plow Factory. While a resi-
dent there, one child was added to the household
circle, and in the spring of 1856, Mr. Schaper re-
solving to change his occupation, migrated to this
county, where he was first employed on the farm
of Charles Waterman in Loran Township. He
lived economically and saved what he could of his
somewhat limited earnings, and the following year
was enabled to purchase forty acres of land in
Loran Township, where he settled and has since re-
mained. He was greatly prospered in his labors of
improving the soil, and in due time effected great
improvements. The residence is a shapely and
substantial structure and the barn is not excelled
by any in that locality, affording ample storage for
grain, and shelter for the farm stock and imple-
ments, which are first-class. Mr. Schaper wisely in-
vested his surplus cash in more land, and has now
127 acres, all under a fine state of cultivation. He
has been connected with the German Methodist
Church since about 1852, and has always extended
a helping hand to the various projects set on foot
for the gen