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 53
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In 1915 Mr. and Mrs. Harper decided to relieve themselves of the duties and responsibilities of their farm and coming to Ogden bought a beautiful modern home at the edge of town. They have nine acres of ground sur- rounding their home and that affords them every opportunity to indulge the pursuits of gardening on a small and intensive scale and at the same time they have the nearby advantages of the town.
Mr. and Mrs. Harper began with the 160 acres which she inherited, but their achievements in a business way brought them great increase to this talent, and Mr. Harper added 320 acres more. At the present time he owns 525 aeres of as fine land as can be found anywhere, one of his farms being in the state of Indiana.
All this time he has manifested a commendable public spirit and has filled the offices of sehool director and school trustee and has worked for the advantage of everything that concerns his community. He and his wife are active members of the Prospect Christian Church, and in politics he is a Republican. He has always voted the Republican tieket and has found that party the most capable of satisfying his views on public ques- tions. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias.
ELIJAH J. ANDERS is both a successful fariner and an active business man at Sidney. He has always lived in close touch with the soil and with agricultural conditions, and that experience has been invaluable to him as a grain merehant.
Mr. Anders has spent nearly all his life in Champaign County but was born at Canal Winehester, Ohio, May 19, 1875. His parents, John and Mary (Krumm) Anders, werc both born in Germany. His father was brought to America by his parents when about two years of age, the family locating in Ohio. He grew up there, took up farming and in 1878 came to Champaign County, locating in Philo Township. He and his wife are still living at Sidney. They had a large family of children, named briefly as follows: William, of Sidney; Elijah and Etta, twins, the latter the wife of Charles Shipps of Fairmount, Illinois; Emma, wife of S. T. Mosier, of Fort Wayne, Indiana ; Henry, of New Berlin, Illinois; Minnie, wife of Arthur Cole, of Block, Illinois; Mary, wife of Charles Thompson, of Urbana ; Mrs. Archie J. Hall, of Sidney ; and Jolin, now deceased.
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Elijah J. Anders grew up on his father's farm in Champaign County and lived at home with his parents until he was twenty-six. In the mean- time ·he had acquired a good education in the district schools and also in the business college at Champaign. When he began farming on his own account it was as a renter of 155 acres, and after entering business at Sidney in 1913 he continued to supervise his farming interests. At Sidney Mr. Anders joined Mr. Golden in the implement business a year and a half. Then for fifteen months he was assistant bookkeeper in the State Bank and has since been manager of the Sidney Grain Company. He is utilizing his important connections and acquaintance with the grain raisers in this section of Illinois to build up a highly profitable and success- ful business.
Mr. Anders married, February 26, 1902, Miss Alice Porterfield. They have two bright young children, Dorothy Mildred and Clifford Burt, both of whom are receiving their education in the local schools. Mr. Anders is a Democrat and is a present member of the town board of Sidney. He and his family attend worship at the Methodist Episcopal Church.
J. K. P. YEATS, who before he reached his majority gave loyal service to the Union in the Civil War, has spent half a century as a practical farmer in Champaign County and his life is closely identified with its welfare and making.
The Yeats family were pioneers in southwestern Champaign County and lived as close neighbors to that great pioneer whose name appears so prominent in this history, Henry Sadorus. Mr. Sadorus often told the children of the Yeats family niany interesting experiences of his pioneer life.
J. K. P. Yeats was born in Fountain County, Indiana, and was five years of age when his parents, Zepheniah and Matilda (Kerr) Ycats, came to Champaign County in 1850. His father was a native of Ohio and his mother of Kentucky. During the youth of Mr. Yeats the only school in the neighborhood was one maintained on the subscription plan and he learned his lessons in that institution.
He was nineteen years of age when he enlisted toward the close of the war in Company H of the Twenty-third Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He went with other boys from Champaign County to Chicago, and almost immediately after his enlistment went on to Richmond, Virginia, and camped a mile and a half from that city. His company and regiment were in the Fourteenth Army Corps of the Army of the Potomac. Most of his duty was as guard around Richmond and he remained in the service until July 24, 1865, when he was mustered out and given his honorable discharge.
On August 26, 1867, Mr. Yeats married Elizabeth E. Johnston. She is a native of the Blue Grass State of Kentucky, daughter of Robert and Olivia (Muir) Johnston, also natives of Kentucky. Her parents came to Illinois and settled in Champaign County in 1854, when Elizabeth was a small child. She grew up in this state and gained her education in the Swearingen and the Kirkpatrick schools. After returning from the war Mr. Yeats was employed by Mr. Busey and boarded at the home of Mr. Johnston, and repaid his landlord's kindness by marrying his daughter.'
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Yeats located four miles north of St. Joseph, and for six years rented the farm of Harrison Drellinger. Later they moved to Sadorus, where they lived ten years on his father's farm. This land, comprising 160 acres, had been entered direct from the Government by his father at the price of $1.25 an acre. Mr. and Mrs. Yeats finally bought 160 acres in Stanton Township, and made that their
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permanent home, and it is a place endeared to them and their children by many grateful associations.
Ten children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Yeats: Clara, Minnie, Carrie, Elmer, Anna, Nellie, Jimmie, Pearl, Carlos and Bernice. The oldest, Clara, died at the age of four months, and the youngest, Bernice, died when two years of age. The other children were well educated in the Baldwin and No. 7 district schools and some of them attended high school. Minnie is now the wife of Charles Martin, a farmer at Lebanon, Indiana, and they have four children, three daughters and one son, Myrtle and Mabel (twins), Vern and Lois. The daughter Carrie is the wife of Lee Dunn, a resident of Champaign. and their five daughters and one son are named Raymond, Wintress, Wilma, Mildred, Olive and Myrtle. The son Elmer is a Stanton Township farmer, and by his marriage to Alta Yeazel has children: Ray, Ralph, Ruby, Russell and Roma. The daughter Anna married Nathan Rudolph, a farmer in Ogden Township, and their children are Jimmie, Hazel and Blanche. Nellie married R. L. Davis, a farmer in St. Joseph Township, and their five children are Beulah, Glen, Pearl, Bernice and Mabel. The son Carlos is a farmer in St. Joseph Township and married Etta Wilson. Pearl married Elmer Bantz, and she died fifteen years ago.
Mr. and Mrs. Yeats have performed a noble part by these children, instilling in them principles of integrity and usefulness, and have the satis- faction of seeing them all well established in life.
Mr. and Mrs. Yeats are regular members of the Methodist Episcopal Church of St. Joseph. In politics he is a Democrat. Through the many years of his active work in Champaign County Mr. Yeats has had the counsel and assistance of a noble wife who has stood by his side, and it is now just half a century since they were married. Six years ago Mr. and Mrs. Yeats left their farm and located in the village of St. Joseph, where he bought a good home on Warren Street, just far enough out to combine the advantages of town and country.
Mr. Yeats has been a witness to the wonderful transformation which has recreated Champaign County from the days of the wilderness. As a boy he frequently saw deer in droves of fifty, and many other wild animals, including catamounts and an occasional panther, which struck terror to an entire neighborhood. Prairie wolves often wandered about the Yeats home and the boy J. K. P. frequently took refuge under a bed when these animals were prowling around the cabin home. As was the case with most of the homes, the Yeats house had its roof secured by weight poles. Not infrequently a heavy wind would blow part of the roof off and the beds underneath would be drenched with rain. Mr. Yeats' memory goes back to the days when matches were very scarce and cost 10 cents for a box of a dozen. Comparatively few homes had them at all and the com- non resource for starting a fire was to load a gun with powder and cotton, discharge it, thus igniting the cotton and gradually nurse the fire into a blaze. Iron and steel were exceedingly scarce, and nails were seldom used in building houses or for any other purpose. Thus Mr. Yeats has been one of those who bore the heat and burden of the day in the pioneer devel- opment of Champaign County and great honor is due him and to all others who were sharers in this great work.
PETER JOHN WAGNER has been for many years identified with the farm- ing enterprise of Ogden Township, and still lives in a home and on a farm that are evidence of his hard work and intelligent care. This attractive rural home is in section 18 of Ogden Township, conveniently situated by the interurban road.
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Mr. Wagner was born at Brownhelm in Lorain County, Ohio, a son of Berkhardt and Catherine (Hahn) Wagner. His parents were both natives of Germany. Berkhardt came to this country when twenty-seven years of agc. His wife was a year and a half old when her parents crossed the ocean and found a home in America. Peter J. Wagner was one of three sons, the oldest being Charles H. and the youngest Henry Charles. The Wagner family lived in a splendid German community of Lorain County, and had many close and intimate friends there. The Wagners honored some of these good friends in naming their children, but Peter John was named for the two great apostles. The Wagners were active members of the Gerinan Reformed Church.
Peter John Wagner received his education in a district school, and at the age of twenty-two he married Anna Caroline Loeffler. She was born in Illinois, a daughter of George B. Loeffler. After his marriage Mrs. Wagner's father sent for the young couple, inviting them to come to Illinois and settle in Ogden Township. Many attractive opportunities were described, but at first the young people became very homesick and it was some time before they accommodated themselves to the comparatively new country among strangers. They began as housekeepers for Uncle Chris Loeffler and rented forty acres of land. The next year Mr. Wagner paid $25 an acre for eighty acres and lived on that place a number of years.
Three children were born to his marriage, Minnie, Clara and Albert, the last dying in infancy. The mother was taken away by death, and Mr. Wagner was left with his little children, but with the aid of his mother and sister who came on from Ohio he reared them and kept the household together. Later he married a sister of his first wife, Elizabeth Loeffler, who came into the home as a Christian mother for his children. Three children were born to the second marriage, Edith, Charles and John. John died in childhood.
In the meantime Mr. Wagner bought forty acres of land in section 18 and later made the improvements which have resulted in his permanent home. He set out many trees and gradually accumulated other land until his estate consists of 160 acres. He also owns another farm of nincty-seven and a half acres, where he built a fine modern home, and it is now occupied by his son Charles. Charles married Grace Currie and has three children, Ralph, Peter and Merle.
Mr. Wagner also lost his second wife by death, and the daughter Minnie died at the age of nineteen, a lovable young woman who had gained a large circle of friends. Mr. Wagner's daughter Clara married John Firebaugh, and they live on a farm at Kell, Illinois. They have five young sons, true types of American boys, named Oral, Carrol, Clinton, Dale and Amel. The daughter Edith married Siegel Yeazle, a farmer, and their three children are Nellie, Glen and Helen.
For his third wife Mr. Wagner married Minnie Gregor. who was born at Urbana, daughter of Joseph and Mary (Rambo) Gregor. There were also three children' of this marriage, Roy, Elmer and John. Roy died at the age of seventeen. He was a tall, muscular youth, a fine specimen of manhood, but in spite of everything that could be done for him he became a victim of the grim reaper. Mr. Wagner's last wife died of cancer, April 30, 1915. His son Elmer is still living at home.
All the children were given good advantages. Charles graduated from the high school at Ogden and was a successful teacher in the Clark School, and he also took special studies in the University of Illinois. He ranked first in the county in high school examination. The son Elmer attended the Urbana High School.
Mr. Wagner and family are active members of the German Reformed
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Church, a splendid old church that has stood as a beacon light for many years in that community. Mr. Wagner served six years as school director and for a number of years was ditch commissioner and school trustee. He is one of the men who has been most active in promoting a drainage system in Champaign County. A number of years ago drainage was looked upon as an extravagance, but the people have been gradually educated until they now feel that money invested in this way brings more returns than any other. It is said that Mr. Wagner has done as much in the building of drains in Ogden as any other individual. He is a man of high principles, of absolute integrity of character, and has enjoyed the friendship and esteem of a large circle of friends. Politically he is a Democrat, though his broad views have frequently led him to support the man rather than the party. It is well known in that section of the county that his word is as good as a bond, and higher praise for his commercial integrity could not be uttered. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Masonic order, Knights of Pythias, with the Eastern. Star and Pythian Sisters.
DAVID HARVEY LESTER. For almost a half century has David Harvey Lester been a resident of Champaign County and it has been his privilege to witness and bear a part in its remarkable development. He is a native of Indiana and was born in Switzerland County, October 18, 1848. His parents. were David A. and Eliza A. (Gerard) Lester, who were the parents of eight children, the survivors being: Martha, who is the widow of Robert T. Graham, has five children and lives at Vevay, Indiana ; David Harvey; Margaret, who is a resident of Saint Joseph, Champaign County; Mary, who is the wife of Eugene Abbott, a farmer in Wabash County, Indiana; Armenia, who is the wife of John More, a fruit dealer and grocer living in California; Clara, who is the wife of A. T. Clark and they live in Indiana; and John, who is an agriculturist and resides near Cromwell in Noble County, Indiana.
David A. Lester and his wife were born in Switzerland County, Indiana, where he died at the early age of thirty-five years. After the death of her husband the mother of the above family remained in Indiana until 1889, when she came to Champaign County, Illinois, where she yet resides. She has reached the unusual age of ninety years and, what is more remarkable, has retained her faculties unimpaired and enjoys gen- eral good health. She is tenderly cared for and resides with her daughter Margaret, and there loves to have her descendants gather about her.
David Harvey Lester is an example of the self made man. He had but few educational advantages in boyhood, a short time only in the sub- scription schools covering his entire opportunity, but general reading and years of association with men and affairs have made Mr. Lester one of the well informed men of his county. He was twenty years old when he started out on his own responsibility and he remembers the first 50 cents he earned by covering corn. When he came to Champaign' County he had a cash capital of $20, but has lived to see the day when his name at the bottom of a legal paper is accepted in any bank in the state for any amount repre- sented.
For three years after becoming a resident of this county, Mr. Lester worked as a farm hand, his wages being $18 a month, which he surely earned, considering how little farm machinery was then employed to assist in agricultural industries at that time. After his marriage in 1871 he decided to become a pioneer in Nebraska, glowing accounts of which territory being then circulated through the more closely settled states, and located on land in Otoe County, near Nebraska City, two years later mov- ing to near Beaver City and lived one year on a homestead of 160 acres.
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There were many hardships to be endured and by 1874 Mr. Lester deter- mined to return to Champaign County, even if he had to begin once more at the bottom of the ladder. For eight years after coming back to Illinois he rented farm land and then felt justified in buying the first forty acres of his present ample estate and had it paid for in a comparatively short time. Through his own hard work and the judicious frugality of his estimable wife he made further progress and at the present time owns seventy-two acres of finely developed land and his wife had an equally valu- able tract of thirty-two acres.
Mr. Lester was married November 17, 1871, to Miss Phoebe Brodrick, who was born in Champaign County, Illinois, January 8, 1855, and passed away in her home in Newcomb Township, November 8, 1915. She was a noble woman both within and without her family circle and there were many outside the domestic circle who felt bereaved, for she had been known for twenty years as a kind and faithful Sunday school teacher in her neighborhood prior to her marriage, and at the time of death was president of the Ladies' Aid Society of the Shiloh Methodist Episcopal Church. She was the beloved mother of four sons and two daughters, the four survivors of her children being: Effie, who married H. S. Wright, a prominent farmer in this township and they have six children; Bert, who was educated in the public schools, the Mahomet High School and the State University at Champaign, for two years has been superintendent of schools at Piper City, Ford County, Illinois, mar- ried Grace Addison and they have three children, Howard, Eloise and John, and he is identified fraternally with the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Royal Neighbors; Oran, who is a graduate of the high school at Mahomet and a successful teacher, lives with his father on' the homestead; Daisy was a. student in the State Normal University at Normal, Illinois, after being graduated from the Mahomet High School, and she married Elmer Rohlfing and they have two children, Elizabeth and Lucile.
William B. Brodrick, father of Mrs. Lester, was born in Ohio, moved from there to Indiana and from there came to Champaign County and acquired 160 acres of land in Newcomb Township. He became one of the . leading men, was prominent in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and for many years was a school trustee and also was township clerk. His death occurred in 1895. He married Phoebe Keelor, who was born in Indiana and is now deceased, and they had seven children born to them, four sons, two of whom served in the Civil War, and three daughters. Two sons survive : Charles, who is a resident of Santa Cruz, California, and Allen, who is a retired farmer of Newcomb Township.
Mr. Lester is a Republican and he cast his first presidential vote for Ulysses S. Grant and ever since has loyally supported the great men of his party who have been candidates, and frequently he has served as a delegate to the county conventions. He has conscientiously done his part at all times as a good citizen and his fellow men have shown their con- fidence by many times electing him to local offices. For twenty years he served as a school director, for one year was a school trustee, for ten years was highway commissioner of the township, and for two terms was assessor of his township, the duties of every office being performed honestly and efficiently. For many years he has been a member of the order of Knights of Pythias, attending the lodge at Fisher, Illinois. Mr. Lester has been one of the pillars of the Shiloh Methodist Episcopal Church. When this congregation resolved to erect a new house of worship a building committee was appointed that was made up of the prominent and sub- stantial men of business experience and good judgment, and Mr. Lester
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was one of these. The beautiful building was dedicated May 13, 1917, and was erected at a cost of $9,000. This edifice is a credit to Champaign County and to the progressive church organization whereby it was made a possibility. Mr. Lester is still a member of the financial committee. He is in every way recognized as one of the dependable and trustworthy men of his township and his name is justly included in a history of the worthy men of Champaign County.
PHILLIP MOHR arrived in Champaign County in 1874. He was then a young man, only a few years over from Germany, possessed a fair cduca- tion, knew how to work, but was without friends of influence and without a personal fortune. Hard work and good judgment have been the route which he has followed on the road to success. He is widely known over the county, is a progressive and up-to-date farmer, and has earned all the competence which he and his family now enjoy.
Mr. Mohr is a native of Germany and represents that sturdy class of old country people who perhaps to a greater degree than any other nationality have proved successful and enterprising farmers in America. Like most of his fellow citizens, Mr. Mohr came to this country without money, but he availed himself of the wonderful opportunities of the new land and has been a factor in the progress of Champaign County for over forty years.
He was born in the village of Kultsee, not far from Stettin, in the province of Pomerania, on January 3, 1851. He was the youngest of six children, five sons and one daughter. His parents were Karl and Mary (Rosenthal) Mohr. His father was a native of the same province and cultivated a small tract of land there, where he lived and died. His death occurred about 1884. His wife was also born and spent her years in the same country. Both were active members of the German Lutheran Church.
Phillip Mohr grew up on his father's farm, was educated in the German language, and when about twenty .he said goodbye to his friends and family and started for America. This was in 1871. The vessel that brought him from Hamburg was seventy-two days in crossing the Atlantic and he did not land in New York City until the month of December. He then paid his fare to Chicago, and arrived in that city with only $2.50 left. Here he found himself in a strange land, among a strange people, and unable to speak the English tongue. He bravely adapted himself to circumstances and sought every opportunity to earn an honest dollar. During the first winter he worked at putting up ice at $1.75 a day and afterwards found employment in lumber and brick yards. He remained in Chicago until 1874, in which year he came to Champaign City, which was then a small town with unpaved streets and with few of the buildings or other improvements that have since been made.
Here he did his first work as a farm hand at $16 a month. In this way he continued for eight years and put away nearly all his earnings with a view to the future. His next experience was as a renter in Mahomet Township, and he farmed land owned by others for six years. In the meantime he married, and the aid and counsel of his good and capable wife were no small factor in his success.
Finally he made a purchase of 100 acres, going in debt $2,200, and since then he has bought and sold and improved several farms. He finally traded his first tract and then bought 207 acres in Stanton Township, and there again assumed an indebtedness of $7,000. This he also sold after a time and moved to Somer Township, where he acquired 125 acres and kept it four years before selling. In 1898 Mr. Mohr came to Mahomet Township and bought 185 acres. To this he added eighty acres and now
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lias a total of 265 acres. in addition to 118 acres in Scott Township. His home farm is almost a model in management and improvement. In 1908 he built a beautiful home, modern in every detail, and one of the best residences in that section of the country.
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