USA > Illinois > Champaign County > A Standard history of Champaign County Illinois : an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, civic and social development : a chronicle of the people, with family lineage and memoirs, Volume II > Part 15
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Mrs. Sophie J. Parr was born in Champaign. She is a highly educated woman and has long been identified with public school work in Champaign. She graduated from the University of Illinois in 1893, and for sixteen years has been a successful teacher. For the last three years she has been prin- cipal of the Colonel Wolfe School at Champaign. Mrs. Parr is the widow of the late Louis J. Parr, who was a successful architect and practiced during his active life in Peoria, Illinois. He was graduated valedictorian of his class from the University of Illinois in 1897. Mr. Parr died in December, 1907. Mrs. Parr has two children: Harold Leslie and Marie Christine, both at home with their mother. The late Mr. Parr was an active member of the Congregational Church.
JOSEPH KERR. One of the oldest and most honored names in Champaign County is that of Kerr, and its substantial qualities arc fittingly commemo- rated by that name being assigned to one of the prosperous townships. It is in section 5 of this township that Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Kerr reside and have their fine country home. Mr. Joseph Kerr has for many years been a hard
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working and prosperous farmer and has a great deal of real accomplishment to his credit.
He was born in Kerr Township, a son of Samuel and Betsy Ann (Taylor) Kerr. His father was born in Ohio and his mother in Kentucky. Samuel Kerr, who was of Seoteh-Irish stock, was one of the earliest pioneers of Champaign County and the first settler in the Sugar Grove community. He located there when his nearest neighbor was six miles away. The country was a raw and unbroken prairie. There were no railroads nor towns, and the Kerr home was a nucleus around which other settlers gradually gathered and began the development of one of the finest sections of the entire county. Samuel Kerr was not only a hard working pioneer but a man of splendid eharaeter, and it was for him that the township was named.
Mr. Joseph Kerr grew up in this county, attended the local schools, and 'started life independently when he married Emma Bradshaw. Mrs. Joseph Kerr was born in Fountain County, Indiana, a daughter of Thomas and Nancy (Daily) Bradshaw. She was only two years of age when her father died. Her mother then married again and moved to Champaign County, locating on the land which now constitutes the home of Mr. and Mrs. Kerr. Mrs. Kerr was the youngest of ten children. She secured her education in the Sugar Grove district school.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Kerr started housekeeping on the place of her stepfather, David Morehouse. Mr. Morehouse had bought the land, consisting of eighty acres, from the Government at $1.50 an acre. At this time the land could hardly be bought for $175 an acre. Mr. and Mrs. Kerr had good ideas, sound ambition and industry, and these qualities have taken them far along the road to success.
Into their home came four children. One of them died in infancy. The three who grew up are Nancy Belle, Rosa Lee and Joseph Foster. Mr. and Mrs. Kerr took great pains to give them the best of advantages both at home and in school. They first attended Sugar Grove Sehool, where Mrs. Kerr was edueated, and the daughters also attended school at Rankin, and Nancy took further courses in the Wingate High School in Montgomery County, Indiana. She fitted herself for teaching and followed that vocation for several years at the Strayer School, the Campbell School and the Trickle Grove School. She is now the wife of Milton Strayer, formerly a farmer but now living in Onarga, Illinois. The daughter Rosa Lee married Thomas McIntosh, a carpenter living at Henning, Illinois. They have a bright and attractive daughter, Leta Ilene, now thirteen years of age and entering upon her work in the eighth grade of the public schools. The son, Joseph F. Kerr, is a successful agriculturist in Eaton County, Michigan. He married Cora McHaley. Their daughter, Agnes Cleo, is only eighteen years of age but has graduated with honors from the college at Olivet, Michigan, and has done some most creditable work in sehool, her record being a matter of pride to her parents and grandparents.
Mr. Joseph Kerr is one of the publie spirited citizens of Champaign County. For six years his neighbors kept him in the office of road commis- sioner and for twenty-five years he was a school director. He believes that the best in schools are none too good for this rural district. Mr. and Mrs. Kerr attend the Methodist Episcopal Church at Pleasant Grove and are liberal supporters. Politically Mr. Kerr is a stanch Republican and has cast his vote for the principles of that party since early manhood. Mr. and Mrs. Kerr have spent their lives in Champaign County and have made their work and example count for good in the uplift of the community. Their home is one of generous hospitality and a distinct influence in the commu- nity. They are able to look back upon days and duties well spent and per- formed, and they may look back without regret and to the future without fear.
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WILLIAM H. ZORGER, M. D. For thirty-one years Doctor Zorger has practiced his profession in DeWitt and Champaign counties. He is a talented physician, has the advantage of long and thorough experience, and has been trained in the best schools of this country and by extensive observa- tion and study here and abroad. His able assistant and partner not only in life but in his profession is his wife, who is one of the pioneer women of the state to take up medicine as a profession and is one of the best equipped specialists in Champaign County.
Doctor Zorger was born in DeWitt County, Illinois, September 5, 1860, a son of Jacob S. and Margaret (Miller) Zorger. His father was born in York County, Pennsylvania, and in 1833 removed to Monticello, Illinois. He established a mill, which for a number of years was the only mill to supply flour and meal to a large section of country. The mill was sold to Mr. Collins in 1858, and he in turn sold it to Mr. McIntosh, and for many years it was known as the McIntosh Mill. Jacob S. Zorger died at Weldon, Illinois, in 1902, and his widow is still living there. Of their ten children five are living, and Doctor Zorger was the fifth in order of birth.
Doctor Zorger spent his early life in his father's home, had ample com- forts and had the advantages of the common schools, but his preparation for his profession he had to acquire largely through his own efforts and earnings. Three years he taught in the district schools of DeWitt County. He then spent a year in the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Chicago, and in 1886 graduated from the medical department of Drake University at Des Moines, Iowa. Doctor Zorger received his diploma on the 20th of March and almost immediately began practice in his native county. In 1888 he removed to Champaign County and after five years at Sadorus he moved to the city of Champaign.
On July 3, 1887, Dr. Zorger married Miss Annie L. Swan. She is a daughter of Alexander and Rebecca (Marvel) Swan. Her father was born in Scotland and her mother was a native of DeWitt County, Illinois. Her father came to America in 1857, locating on a farm near Waynesville, DeWitt County, Illinois. He was one of ten children and eight brothers came to America, he being now the only survivor of the family. Mr. and Mrs. Swan had four children, three of whom are still living, and Mrs. Zorger is the oldest.
Mrs. Zorger was educated in the common schools of Elm Grove, Illinois, afterwards attended the Illinois Wesleyan University at Bloomington, and taught school four years before her marriage. Their marriage was not only a mating of personalities but of professional inclinations. Mrs. Zorger went into a drug store and learned pharmacy. This experience was followed by her attending the Woman's Medical College at St. Louis, now known as the University Medical College of Missouri. She was grad- uated M. D. in 1894 and then joined her husband in practice at Cham- paign. In 1901 Dr. Zorger and wife went abroad and spent a year in Europe, where they attended clinics and courses in many of the most cele- brated medical centers. She took up the special study of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, while he emphasized post-graduate courses in surgery.
Dr. Zorger is a member of the Knights of. Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, while Mrs. Zorger is active in the Pythian Sisters, the Court of Honor, the Tribe of Ben Hur, the Royal Neiglibors, the Maccabees and by virtue of her ancestry is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She has also made herself an effective and influential member of the Woman's Club of Champaign and Urbana. They attend the Unitarian church, and Dr. Zorger in politics is a Democrat.
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LOUIS WILLIAM SCHLUTER. A splendid farm and country estate two miles east of Gifford represents the toil and effort and expenditure of char- acter and industry on the part of the Schluter family covering a long period of years. The present manager of that farm, and one who knows full well how to get the best out of the soil, is Louis William Schluter, a young and progressive farmer whose activities have brought him commendable promi- nence among the agriculturists of this section. ' Mr. Schluter's home is in section 36 of Kerr Township.
He is a native of Champaign County and a son of John William and Gesche (Fccht) Schluter. His parents were both born in Germany but came to America when single and were married in this country. They first located in Adams County, Illinois, and then came to Champaign County. They possessed the sturdy characteristics of the German fatherland, and by energy and economy secured the comforts of their simple home and gradu- ally expanded their holdings to the possession of a very splendid estate. For a long time John W. Schluter worked for wages of $13 a month. There came a time when he was able to buy his first land, and he gradually accu- mulated more until his estate consisted of 480 broad acres, improved with excellent buildings, shade trees, and altogether constituting one of the most attractive farms in Champaign County. He and his good wife had a large family of children, one of whom died in infancy, another at six years, while Martin passed away at nineteen. The surviving children are John, Harın, Catherine, Anna, Louis and Antje.
The parents did much for the education and training of these children, sending them to the Pleasant Valley school and also to the German school at Flatville. The family were for many years members of the German church at Flatville, but at present all of them attend the German Lutheran Church at Gifford.
Louis W. Schluter grew up on the home farm and learned lessons of industry from his parents, acquiring the fundamentals of a literary training in the local schools. In 1913 he married Miss Annie Sjoken. Mrs. Schluter was born in Germany, daughter of John and Margaret Sjoken, natives of the same country. When she was twelve years of age the family immigrated to America. She was educated partly in the schools of Germany and partly in Champaign County.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Schluter located on his father's estate and he assumed active management and has made good as a crop raiser and general farmer. Some years he has raised crops of 6,000 bushels of corn and 5,000 bushels of oats and is one of the young men who responded vigorously to the call for increased food production in the year 1917. Besides a large equipment of farm machinery he has some very fine horses.
Mr. and Mrs. Schluter have two bright young children, William, born in July, 1914, and John, born in July, 1916. In politics Mr. Schluter while usually a Republican is quite careful in the matter of casting his vote for the man and the principles he believes best suited for good government and progress. He is a splendid type of American citizen and it is his conviction, based upon experience, that no greater country cxists in the world for the poor man who is ambitious and willing to work. Mr. Schluter has served as school trustec of Kerr Township. Having stepped into the position vacated by his father and having assumed the large responsibilities of managing the farm, he has neglected none of the rich opportunities thus presented, and has kept up the fields and all the details of the homestead and is a man of mark among the younger agricultural element of Champaign County. Standing by him through all his labors is his good wife, who is endowed with the solid virtues and the methodical industry characteristic of her German forefathers, and they have already gained many of those things which constitute success, while there is still a large future before them.
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DAVID G. FISIIER, now living retired at Champaign, began farming in this county nearly half a century ago. He realizes as few men still living do the difficulties and the handicaps to which farming was subject in those early years, and he has also realized along with extensive experience financial independence and the success which is the object of all ambitious men.
Mr. Fisher was born in Fulton County, Illinois, December 3, 1839. His parents, Frederick and Sarah (Fouts) Fisher, were both born in Clark County, Indiana. When they went to Illinois in 1833 they passed through Champaign County, but sought what to them seemcd a better loca- tion in Fulton County. There they lived prosperously the rest of their days as farmers and both of them died in that county. Their children were: Jacob, John, Henry, Cynthia, all now deceased; Mary, who still re- sides in Fulton County ; Sarah, wife of Marion Kimberland, of Missouri; David G .; Clara, deceased; Isabel, living at Canton in Fulton County, widow of Jacob Fouts ; Elizabeth, deceased; Ellen, wife of Thomas Beets, of Kokomo, Indiana ; and Fred L., of Canton, Fulton County.
David G. Fisher was reared and educated in Fulton County. He left home at the age of twenty-four and bought a farm of 140 acres near Canton and was busy with its cultivation and management until ill health compelled him to give up his enterprise in the country and remove to town, where for three years he conducted a livery business. On selling out his interests in Fulton County Mr. Fisher came to Champaign County in the month of February, 1868. Land was then comparatively cheap and he bought a splendid place of 640 acres in Tolono Township. That was the scene of his efforts as a practical farmer and stockman and he continued to reside on his farm until 1900, when he sold and invested his capital chiefly in real estate property in Champaign. In 1907 Mr. Fisher built a fine two-story brick house at 1191/2 South Neil Street. He now gives his time to the management of his private affairs and is a citizen of whom the people of Champaign County think most highly. In politics he is a Republican and is a Knight Templar Mason.
Mr. Fisher was married May 23, 1863, to Mary Ellis, who died in 1906. She was the mother of the following children: Kate, Robert and Hattie, all now deceased ; Fred, a farmer near Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Pearl and Myrtle. On July 28, 1911, Mr. Fisher married Serena (Hinds) Graves, a native of Champaign County. Her death occurred Novem- ber 8, 1916. By her first husband she had two children : Gertrude, de- ceascd ; and Ethel, wife of Fred Becker of Champaign.
WILLIAM TOMLINSON. One of the oldest residents of Champaign County is Mr. William Tomlinson, whose home is at Penfield in Kerr Township. Mr. Tomlinson has experienced more than the average trials and ordeals of existence and he is well entitled to the esteem and respect that he enjoys in his community.
Mr. Tomlinson was born in the Village of Franklin, near the City of Indianapolis, in Marion County, Indiana, a son of Robert and Rachel (Sheets) Tomlinson. His parents were both born in Indiana and his Grand- father Slicets was of German descent. Mr. Tomlinson was one of eight chil- dren, seven sons and one daughter. When he was a child his father died and . a little later his mother passed away at Carlyle on the Mississippi River.
William Tomlinson came to Vermilion County, Illinois, with his uncle, Elisha Crawford, in 1849, when ten years old. He came to Champaign County in 1852, and arrived here a poor and friendless boy with no money and with nothing except his own determined ambition to stand him in good stead while making a way in the busy world. For a year he worked for a farmer at $6.50 a month, and his hours of employment were from sunup to
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sundown. When Mr. Tomlinson came to Champaign County there were no railroads and very few towns. The nearest market place for mail and other supplies was Danville or Urbana. The young man had instead of money a boundless supply of push and energy, and he has used his industry to secure the living which he believed the world owed him.
At the age of twenty-two he married Miss Lydia Carter. She was born in Vermilion County, Illinois. After his marriage Mr. Tomlinson bought cighty acres on the middle fork of Vermilion River, paying $7 an acre. Therc he started the task of founding a home of his own. Not long after- wards his plans were temporarily shattered when his young wife passed away at the birth of her first child. Mr. Tomlinson married for his second wife Mary E. Walker. Four children were born to their marriage, three sons and one daughter, John, Albert, Andrew and. Rachel. These children werc educated in the Kuder sehool. Again death visited the family and the inother passed away, leaving her youngest child only thirteen days old. Mr. Tomlinson again took upon himself the duties of a homemaker as well as a farmer, and proved both father and mother to his children. Some of the time he depended upon a housekeeper, but for months at a time he did his own housekeeping. For his third wife he married Ellen Rigleman, who died within two years. For his next wife he married Miss Louisa Lingo. A son and daughter were born to that marriage. The son while plowing corn in his father's field was killed by a stroke of lightning. The daughter, Effie, is now the wife of Harry Shumate and they live in Penfield. For his last wife Mr. Tomlinson married Mrs. Ellen Bates, who died about twelve years ago.
Few citizens of Champaign County have been so severely tested as Mr. Tomlinson. With remarkable fortitude he has withstood the vicissitudes and trials of existence and everyone must wonder at his endurance and admire his faithfulness to family and children.
His son John married Mahala S. Chenoweth and they live in South Dakota and. are the parents of two children, George and Nellie. The son Albert married Erma Deidrieh, and their four children, Alberta, Russell, Earl and Marlin, with their parents, all live in the home of Mr. William Tomlinson, and he takes great delight in these grandchildren. Andrew Tomlinson, the third child, now deceased, married Alta McClaren, and her children are Rosetta, Raymond, Merle and Arthur. The daughter Rachel married Mr. Gray, now deceased, and she lives at Penfield, the mother of three children, Orin, Elden and Grace.
During the passing years Mr. Tomlinson added to his land until his estate now comprises 130 acres, his home being about the center of the farm. His house is located on a fine bluff overlooking a rich valley of fertile bottom lands, with the Vermilion River sweeping gracefully around a border of trees. Thus he ean live like a king, monarch of all he surveys, whose right there is none to dispute. He has for years been recognized as one of the successful and energetie farmers of Champaign County and the earth has yielded abundantly to his labors. He is a man of great publie spirit and a thorough American in every sense. For a number of years he served as road commissioner of his distriet and also as a school director. Politically he is a stanch Republiean. He cast his first vote for President Abraham Lincoln. Though a boy at the time, he has recollection of the stirring cam- paign when Polk was candidate for President in 1844, and he acquired his first knowledge of political issues in that time. Mr. Tomlinson's life has been elosely identified with Champaign County. Coming here an orphan boy, he worked hard for his daily bread, and his industry has been steadfast through all the years of vicissitude and change and today he lives in a beau- tiful home, surrounded with children and grandehildren, and none will begrudge him his comfort and prosperity.
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ALBERT C. BURNHAM. Even the most casual visitor in Champaign is accustomed to associate the name Burnham with that city, where two of its most prominent institutions bear the name. It is true in a broad sense that the good or evil men do in their days lives after them, but seldom does this continuing influence take a better form of concrete benefit than in the Burnham Athenaeum Library and the Julia F. Burnham Hospital in Champaign. They are memorials with a purpose, and a reaction for good day after day upon the lives of thousands in the community which the late Albert C. Burnham did so much to enrich and improve.
There was little significance attached at the time to the quiet advent of Albert C. Burnham into the law office of J. B. Mckinley as a student in the spring of 1862. He was practically unknown, but at the end of thirty-five years of labor as a lawyer, banker and business man his work was firmly entrenched in the esteem and the business fabric of the com- munity.
Albert C. Burnham was born at Deerfield, Michigan, February 20, 1839, and died at Champaign, September 13, 1897. He had the training of a Michigan farm boy. His early education was from the public schools. During the years 1860-61 he taught school during the winter months in Iroquois County, Illinois. He possessed a studious, thoughtful nature, and he began life with a solid foundation of practical knowledge and integrity of character. After completing his studies with Mr. Mckinley at Champaign he was admitted to the bar and became junior member of the law firm of Mckinley & Burnham. From the first this firm had
influential financial connections. Through its instrumentality a large amount of eastern capital was brought west to invest in farm securities in and around Champaign. The Middle West was not then overflowing with wealth as it is today, and the money brought in by this firm was greatly needed and was wisely expended in the improving and upbuilding of many farm properties. Mr. Burnham continued to be actively associ- ated with the law firm until 1876.
From the law he then transferred his energies to the banking house of Burnham, Mckinley and Company. In 1876 J. R. Trevett and R. R. Mattis were taken in the firm, Mr. Mckinley retiring, and the business continued under the title Burnham, Trevett & Mattis. Mr. Burnham was senior member of this widely known financial house until the time of his death.
It was Mr. Burnham's fortune and privilege to witness a marvelous development in Champaign County in the course of his active career. That development was primarily based upon the increasing agricultural resources. While not a tiller of the soil himself he wisely employed the forces of capital in agricultural development, and his banking house was always justly considered an integral part of the business and industrial structure of his home community. He was public spirited in every sense and was cqually interested in the educational and moral development of his county.
It was his long cherished plan to add something to the cultural elements in his community that led him two years before his death in 1897, to give to the city of Champaign a magnificent lot in the heart of the business district, accompanied by the gift of fifty thousand dollars to be expended for the erection and maintenance of a library building. This gift has taken practical form in the Burnham Athenaeum. It is a library, and one of the real civic centers of the town. It is a monument to the memory of this sturdy banker and noble citizen, and thousands have benefited from the service it affords and will continue to so benefit for years yet to come.
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MR. AND MRS. ALBERT C. BURNHAM
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In 1866 Albert C. Burnham married Miss Julia F. Davison, who was born in New York City, April 16, 1839. Mrs. Burnham died in New York City October 25, 1894. She was reared and cducated in the public schools at Newark, New Jersey, and lived in the east until she came as the bride of Mr. Burnham to Champaign. Mrs. Burnham, while ever devoted to her home, had many other interests through which she expressed her character and culture. She was devoted to her church, was charitable, and throughout her life was a prominent figure in local society. For years she served as secretary of the State Board of Charities, and held that position at the time of her death. She was one of the first women to serve on the public school board at Champaign and was also a member of the Champaign Art Club. It was a memorial to her good works as well as a testimonial of his own appreciation of her companionship and character that Mr. Burnham after her death crected the Julia F. Burnham Hospital, which was formally opened March 5, 1895. The hospital has been in existence more than twenty years. As a public institution it is one of the most important in Champaign County. While its annual revenues come largely from the pay patients, it is also a practical charity, inasmuch as a large part of its service is rendered free. During the year 1916 nearly fifteen hundred patients were admitted, with a daily average of thirty-four. A number of cases are treated free, especially children's cases. It is a noble institution, and stands as a memorial to a noble woman.
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