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 34
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John Frederic Hessel attended the public schools and completed his education with two years in the University of Illinois, soon afterward embarking in the land and loan business, in which he has been interested ever since. He operates quite extensively in Northwestern lands and main- tains offices at Champaign. At present he has a project of great public value in view, it being concerned with connecting the University of Illinois with the city of Champaign by means of a boulevard system and a high grade residential district. If this plan or another he may find more workable, should be successfully carried through, Mr. Hessel will have done a great thing for Champaign, for it would bring numberless benefits in its train.
While Mr. Hessel has never been particularly active in politics, he has felt a citizen's responsibility at all times. He is a Republican. In fra- ternal life he is identified with the Elks and the Knights of Pythias, and a wide acquaintance has given him many agreeable social connections.
WILLIAM KEAL. While Champaign County has long been noted for its material riches and its magnificent assets as an agricultural district, its real wealth consists in its men and women, its families and homes, their standards of comfort and civic and domestic virtucs, and in those associa- tions which afford color to the material background of existence.
Of those families that have longest been identified with the county
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that represented by William Keal, a resident of Rantoul Township, has more than ordinary interest.
Mr. Keal was born in Prussia, Germany, and was seven years of age when he accompanied his parents to America. He is a son of Frederick and Louisa (Dahms) Keal. Altogether there were cight children, four born in America and four in Germany. Frederick and Louisa Keal pos- sessed the substantial German characteristics of ambition and thrift. To better their fortuncs they determined to come to America. After landing in New York they procecded directly to Champaign County, Illinois, where Frederick Keal had two sisters living, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Seams. For several years they lived at Champaign and worked largely as wage earners. Frederick Keal at one time farmed a portion of the land now included in the university farm. By the strietest attention to duty and by many sacrifices they were finally able to buy forty acres seven miles southeast of Rantoul. Mrs. Keal possessed energy and industry to as great a degree as her husband. In those early days Champaign County was noted for its production of broom corn. Mrs. Keal with other women did the heavy work involved in sorting the broom corn. The industry of herself and husband had its reward. After buying their first home they were able from time to time to add to their landed estate until they eventually owned 100 acres of as fine land as can be found anywhere in Illinois.
The names of their children were: Frederick C., deeeased; William ; Mrs. Sophia Wallen ; Charles G .; Minnie; Louisa ; Anna; and Lilly. The two last are now deceased. Lilly was Mrs. Tibbets, and she died in Urbana. All these children were educated in the district school at Maple Grove.
Mr. William Keal also attended school in the East Side High School at Champaign. His carly experiences were as a farmer, and he had reached the age of twenty-three when, on December 25, Christmas Day, 1878, lie laid the foundation of his own home and fortune by his union with Miss Frances M. Harris. She is a daughter of Marvin B. and Melissa Harris, the former a native of New York and the latter of Indiana. Marvin B: Harris moved from New York to the vicinity of Honey Creek, Indiana. The Harrises were of Scoteh-Irish deseent. In the family were three chil- dren, William, Albert and Frances. All were born at Honey Creck, Indiana, and for a number of years they had their home south of Terre Haute. Then the death angel eame and took away the mother and after her death Franees Harris spent three years with her uncle, John S. Brook- bank, who is still living at the age of ninety. Mr. Brookbank moved from Indiana to MeDonough County, Illinois, thence to Warren County and finally. to Champaign County. Eventually Frances returned to Indiana to live with her father, who had married again. Mrs. Kcal's father served gallantly as a soldier in the Civil War. At the close of the war he returned home and married, in order that he might furnish his daughter a home. Later Frances returned to Champaign County and kept house for her two brothers on a farm until her marriage to Mr. Keal.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Keal began in Rantoul Township on a rented farm. In order to see more of the country they subsequently took a trip to Iowa, but their investigations proved to them that no country was quite so satisfactory as Champaign County. Returning, they bought eighty acres in Rantoul Township, and with that strict application, energy `and good management which are the fundamentals of success as farmers they increased their prosperity from year to year. At the present time Mr. and Mrs. Keal have an estate of 280 acres, including some of the richest and most productive land of Champaign County.
Into their home were born four children: Rose B., Thomas A., 2-15
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Charles W. and John Harold. These children were all given the advan- tages of the local district school and subsequently the high school at Ran- toul. Rosa B. Keal married Arthur Hadler, a farmer whose home is five miles west of Rantoul. Their three children are named William Har- ris, Henry Kenneth and Frances Caroline. Charles W. Keal married Stella Tweedy, and they live on a farm south of Rantoul. John Harold Keal married Cecil Cornelia Baker on May 29, 1917. They are living at the Keal homestead. Thomas is still at home with his parents.
Politically Mr. Keal has come to prefer the man to the party and is exceedingly broad minded in his attitude and views of public questions. He believes that the honors of politics should go as a reward for real service and that only the men of tested honesty and ability should be pre- ferred for public positions. Mr. Keal is also a strong prohibitionist and looks forward to the time in the not far distant future when the state - and nation will be irrevocably committed to the prohibition of the liquor traffic.
Mr. and Mrs. Keal and their children all attend the Christian Church. Mr. Keal was for many years an elder in the church. His community has bestowed upon him many marks of esteem and confidence, and for a number of years he served as a member of the school board and has done all he could to secure the best advantages not only for his own children but for those of his neighbors. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America. They come in close touch with the social life of Rantoul, and their home is a place of unbounded hospitality for their friends both in the country and in the town. Mr. and Mrs. Keal reside on one of the fine places in the splendid agricultural district two miles south of Rantoul.
Before closing some mention should be made of a souvenir possessed by Mrs. Keal, which has some historic interest. It is a letter written from her great-grandmother to her grandparents. It was written at that picturesque spot of Lewiston in Niagara County, New York, and was dated January 26, 1828. The letter was written and was folded according to the old custom, without envelope, was sealed with sealing wax, and the rate of postage stamped upon it was 25 cents.
DAVID H. COFFMAN is one of the older residents of Champaign County, went from this district to serve in the Union Army during the Civil War, and has turned his hand with credit and success to many under- takings, from farming to commercial lines. Mr. Coffman is now an honored retired resident of the city of Champaign, where in 1909 he built a substantial two-story home at 606 West Hill Street.
He was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, October 1, 1840, a son of Noah B. and Elizabeth (Lamb) Coffman. His parents were also natives of Fairfield County and in 1859 brought their family to Champaign County, Illinois. Their home was a farm three miles north of the city of Champaign. Noah Coffman proved himself a successful farmer and stock raiser and continued to live in Champaign County until his death in January, 1864. The mother is also deceased. They had nine children : William H., of Champaign; Aaron F., deceased; Mary C., of Champaign ; David H .; Lucinda Frances, deceased; Peter J., deceased; Samuel C., living in Iowa; Thomas D., of Oakland, California; and Sarah Elizabeth, deceased.
David H. Coffman was nineteen years of age when the family removed to Champaign County. His early educational advantages were those of the public schools of Ohio. He remained a practical assistant to his father on the farm until September, 1861. Already the war had broken
Tory A. Coffman
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out and was raging in unlimited fury when he answered the call of patriot- ism and enlisted in Company I of the Tenth Illinois Cavalry. He was with that gallant regiment, whose record is so well known, for two and a. half years. It was a hard service, and he was finally disabled and spent considerable time in a hospital at Little Rock, Arkansas. He was sent home on a sick furlough, and was discharged at Springfield, Illinois.
The war over, he resumed the quiet lines of civil affairs as a farmer on the homestead for about three years. He then bought a hundred and seventy acres near Savoy, kept it about a year, then sold out and farmed another year near Champaign. For three years Mr. Coffman lived in Springfield, Missouri, employed by the Missouri Pacific Railway as sta- tionary engineer. He resigned that position to return to Champaign County, and at Bondville became associated with his brother in the grocery, grain and general merchandise business for three years.
For another period of about three years Mr. Coffman was in the monu- ment business, and for one year was with C. W. Clark dealing in monu- ments, with their headquarters at Urbana. Mr. Coffman then took up the building and contracting business, which he followed for three years. He has always owned a farm during this period, and about that time he put his son in charge on the farm. The son remained on the property one year, and then both father and son began selling implements for the International Harvester Company. He finally closed out his business affairs and now gives his time only to looking after his home and invest- ments. Mr. Coffinan has been a regular supporter of the Republican party for a great many years. He is affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic and the Methodist Episcopal Church.
On December 28, 1876, Mr. Coffman married Sarah E. Ruhl, daughter of A. G. and Barbara (Vanderau) Ruhl, both of whom were natives of Germany. Her father came to America at the age of three years, the family locating near Marysville, Ohio. Later they went to Rockford, Illinois, and in 1857 established a home in Champaign County. He lived on a farm in Hensley Township, but about five years before his death re- moved to Bondville, where he lived retired. The children of the Ruhl family were: William, a resident of Kansas; Mary, deceased; Mrs. Coff- man ; Emma, deceased ; Carric, wife of Newton Taylor; Charles, deceased ; John, of Mahomet; Martha, wife of Charles Pfiester, of Bondville; Lulu, wife of William McBride, of Iowa; Elizabeth, deceased; and Maud, wife of Robert Hill, of Cincinnati.
Mr. and Mrs. Coffman have one child, Harry A., who is a capable young man of varied experience and attainments, and he was born May 30, 1879. He continued his educational training in the district schools of Condit Township until he reached the age of fourteen, and then entered the grade schools of Champaign. He was also a student in the high school of Champaign, and then entered the University of Illinois and graduated from the law department of that institution in 1901. For one year after leaving the University he was engaged in farming, and then formed a partnership with his father in the implement business, that rela- tionship continuing for three years. Mr. Coffman then accepted a posi- tion with the Luthy Manufacturing Company, and later became sales manager for the Hart Grain Weigher Company. He has remained with this company to the present time, and is now filling the office of secretary and general sales manager.
Harry A. Coffman married Jessie Trotter, of Champaign, a daughter of Jefferson and Eliza Trotter, also of this city, and they have become the parents of three children : Frances, Harriet and David, the latter having been named in honor of his grandfather, David H. Coffman. Mr. and
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Mrs. Coffman are members of the Congregational Church, and he has fraternal relations with the Masonic order, in which he has attained the Thirty-second degree. He is held in the highest regard both in business and social circles.
WOLF LEWIS. The modern merchant is the man who knows what the people want and supplies the best facilities for meeting those wants. He acts on that solid commercial principle that real success is only a return for an adequate service rendered. Of Champaign merchants of this class there is no more conspicuous example than Wolf Lewis, whose department store in the large Illinois Building means to Champaign County about what the Marshall Field store means to the shopping public of Chicago. Mr. Lewis is a merchant almost by birthright, but has profited by a long and thorough experience and has been tested by the fire of adversity as well as by the stimulus of prosperity. Along with success in his private business ventures, he has combined a public spirit which has made him a factor in civic improvement and municipal betterment. · He is looked upon as a man of the finest character and useful influence.
Mr. Lewis is a native of Poland, where he was born May 15, 1858, a son of Reuben and Eva (Lewis) Lewis, both natives of Poland. The mother died in Poland when her son Wolf was a very small child. Reuben Lewis then immigrated to the United States, located at Troy, New York, and engaged in the wholesale dry goods business. He had left his six children behind him in Poland, and did not send for them until he was well located in the New World. He spent the rest of his life as a successful business man at Troy, New York, where he died. His children were: George, now a resident of Chicago; Himan, deceased; Dora, widow of I. Schiller of Troy, New York; Wolf; Rosa, wife of Mr. Rosenthal of New York City; Samuel, a resident of Chicago.
Brought to this country when a small boy, Wolf Lewis grew up in Troy, New York, and acquired his early educational advantages there. The first thing to attract him away from home surroundings was the Cen- tennial Exposition at Philadelphia, in the year 1876. He spent a time at the exposition, and also came to know something of New York City during that year. He then returned to Troy, acquired some additional business training, and in 1879 went West to Chicago. Subscquently he and his brother George established a merchandise business at Marinette, Wisconsin, and he soon took over the store himself, while George returned to Chicago.
In 1897 Mr. Lewis sold his holdings in northern Wisconsin and removed to Champaign. Here he opened a stock of general merchandise in the old Odd Fellows Building, but subsequently removed to a new building, which was later destroyed by fire, and he and its other occupants suffered complete loss of their business. Not at all disheartened, Mr. Lewis opened another store in temporary quarters, and when the Illinois Building was com- pleted he took a lease on the basement, first and second floors and a part of the third floor. The Illinois Building is in the heart of the shopping district of Champaign, and its tenants are all high class business concerns. Mr. Lewis has rapidly built up a department store enterprise that is one of the largest and most successful in Illinois.
Mr. Lewis is a Republican in politics. He is affiliated with the lodge of Masons and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, is a member of the Jewish Synagogue of Champaign and a member of the Champaign Country Club.
Mr. Lewis married for his first wife Lena Ruler. At her death she left one son, Leonard D., who is now treasurer of his father's company.
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Mr. Lewis married for his second wife Ray Ruler, sister of his first wife. They have two sons, Herman, secretary of the W. Lewis Company, and Roy, who is now located in Chicago.
C. O. NELSON. A thriftier body of citizens the United States has obtained from no one country than from Sweden. While representatives of that land are not so numerous in Champaign County as in other sec- tions of Illinois, to at least one family, that of C. O. Nelson, the county owes a tribute for what it has accomplished in the years that have passed. Mr. Nelson and his wife came to this county many years ago and began work on a tract of raw prairie land. Their possessions have increased and they now enjoy the comforts of one of the most beautiful country homes in the entire county.
Mr. Nelson was born in Lockneve, Province of Kelmar, Sweden, a son of Nels Magnus and Annie Marie. He grew up in his native land, and in 1872 married Miss Charlotte Nelson, who was born in the same province in Sweden.
For their wedding journey they crossed the ocean to America, landing in New York and going on to Paxton, Illinois, where they had friends and relatives from the old country. Here they started out to make a home and living, and for two years lived in Ford County, where Mr. Nelson worked at regular wages. While he and his wife did the duties that lay nearest them, they were also seeking a long look ahead and were making their present efforts conform to their future prospeets. In time by econ- omy they had accumulated enough to enable them to purchase forty aeres of land in section 8 of Champaign County. For this land they paid $27 an aere. It was not a large farm, and the land had been little developed. It was prairie soil, and part of it was covered every year by water. They had a small house and a small barn. In those humble surroundings may be found the beginning of their present generous prosperity.
Mr. and Mrs. Nelson moved to that farm in Champaign County in 1881, and since then year after year has seen some increase in their hold- ings. They subsequently paid $3,000 for eighty aeres, and. then bought 160 acres at a price of $10,000. They now own 360 acres of as fine land as can be found in the entire county.
In the meantime three children were born to them, Alfred Gustav, Carl Oscar and Hulda Marie. To these children Mr. and Mrs. Nelson gave the best possible educational advantages, at first in the district school of Maple Grove, while Alfred attended school at Gibson.
· Mr. and Mrs. Nelson are active members of the Lutheran Church at Farmersville, and had their children baptised and confirmed in the same church. Politically Mr. Nelson is a stanch Republican. While they have endured the usual privations and vicissitudes of early settlers, their later prosperity tastes all the sweeter for what they went through to acquire it. In 1915 Mr. Nelson erected one of the most beautiful country homes in Champaign County. It is a ten-room modern residence, located four and three-quarter miles west of Ludlow, on Rural Route No. 30. Many city homes have not the complete facilities of this place. It has a water system operated by compression tank in the bascment and with gasoline power. There is hot and cold, soft and hard water, and bathroom, and Mr. Nelson is now planning the installation of an independent electrie light plant. The home is heated by a hot air furnace.
Mr. Nelson is a true type of the American citizen, and Mrs. Nelson is a fine example of the American mother. They eame to this eountry empty handed, though with big and courageous hearts and with all the energy and courage required for sueeess. Thus they may with pardonable
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pride look back over the past. Mr. Nelson has demonstrated what a man can do by earnest, honest and efficient cnergy. Such a career commands the admiration of all who appreciate the value of the good, sound elc- ments of life. America's most substantial citizens are made up of such people as Mr. and Mrs. Nelson. They have won prosperity for themselves, and in so doing have contributed something to the task which the world has to perform. As a farmer Mr. Nelson has distinguished himself by an ability to make mother earth respond with bountiful prodigality to his touch, and his ability and achievements in this direction are known and admired all over Champaign County. In the parlor of the home of these worthy people hang two paintings, showing the king and queen of Sweden, King Oscar and Queen Sophia. While Mr. and Mrs. Nelson have pleasant memories of their youth in Sweden, they have never had a desire to give up America. and all this country means to them for the sake of returning to Sweden.
GEORGE NEWTON CUNNINGHAM. No one family name has been so long identified with the drug business in Champaign County as that of Cunning- ham. In almost pioneer times, in 1854, Albert Palmer Cunningham came West to Champaign County and located at Urbana, where he found employ- ment in a bank and was later engaged in the drug business. He had a practical but no technical knowledge of pharmacy and he had a very suc- cessful establishment at Urbana for many years. In 1880 he removed his store to Champaign, and the business has been carried on by him or his sons in that city for over thirty-five years.
Albert Palmer Cunningham was born in New York State August 11, 1832, and died at Champaign October 12, 1893. He married Ophelia Jane Segar, who was born in Huron County, Ohio, May 26, 1835, and died June 23, 1896. Albert P. Cunningham was a man of note in Champaign County and at one time served as mayor of Urbana. He was a brother of Judge J. O. Cunningham. Albert Cunningham also was a gallant soldier in the Civil War, serving with Company G of the Seventy-sixth Illinois Infantry. He was mustered out as lieutenant of his company.
Albert P. Cunningham and wife had seven children: Frank, Addie and Herbert, all now deceased; Elmer S., born February 10, 1865, and a resident of Indianapolis ; George N .; Clara B., born August 25, 1869, now wife of C. S. Bouton of Springdale, Arkansas; and Edwin Ralph, born July 29, 1873, and associated with his brother, George N., in the drug business at Champaign.
George Newton Cunningham, who became associated in the drug busi- ness with his father and has since continucd the enterprise on a larger scale, was born at Urbana, Illinois, December 24, 1867. For three years he had the advantages of the University of Illinois and is thoroughly well educated. In 1888, at the age of twenty-one, he entered his father's store as a partner, under the firm name of A. P. Cunningham & Son. This title was continued until his father's death. Later his brother, Edwin Ralph, entered the business and together they have been able to broaden trade and build up a business which is now one of the most important in the city. The store had always handled sundries and stationery, but they made the stationcry business something of a special department and also handled school books and school supplies. In 1916 they built a branch store at the corner of Wright and Green streets, near the university grounds. Thus they have made the trade of the university accessible. At that location they built a two-story modern brick building 60x132 feet, and besides their other business they established there the Illini Bank, of which George N. Cunningham is president and his brother manager.
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Besides a general stock of stationery they carry magazines, current litera- ture and a complete line of text books used in the university.
George N. Cunningham served one term as city treasurer of Cham- paign. He is active in the Business Men's Club, is a Republican, and is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Sons of Veterans. He was married August 9, 1899, to Miss Alice Miller, a native of Champaign, and daughter of Edward Payson and Augusta (Segar) Miller. Both parents are now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham have two children : Eunice, born August 15, 1903; and Newton Miller, born April 17, 1908.
R. G. MORRISON. A Rantoul residence almost palatial in its architec- tural design, size and comforts is the home of Mr. and Mrs. R. G. Morrison in their retired years. Mr. Morrison is a veteran of the Civil War and fought gallantly for the preservation of the Union when the nation nceded his services. His industrious efforts as a farmer brought him large rewards and though lie began with very modest capital he acquired one of the handsomest estates of Champaign County.
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