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 67
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Simeon F. Busey has always had his home in Sidney Township and his practical life has been spent in agriculture and its related activities. He is a Democrat and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. On January 16, 1879, he married Fannie B. Wilson, who was born in Ohio. They had only two children, Clyde L. and Ruth. The daughter was born April 6, 1887, and died June 9, 1908, at the age of twenty-one.
Clyde L. Busey was born on his father's farm in Sidney Township, March 4, 1880, and besides the rural schools he attended the high school at Sidney. His early experiences were as a farmer with his father and for two years he was in the wholesale grocery business at Danville, Illinois. Since then he has been at home and is now working 160 acres as a general farming and stock raising proposition.
On January 5, 1909, he married Leah Fisher. Mrs. Busey was born at Sidney, daughter of Luther and Eunice (Gard) Fisher, her father a native of Champaign County and her mother of Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Busey had one child, a daughter, who died in infancy.
Mr. Busey is a Republican, a member of the Masonic order and the Knights of Pythias, and with his wife attends the Methodist Episcopal Church.
EDWARD C. BAKER. Born on a farm in Champaign County, Edward C. Baker has never deviated to any extent from the vocations to which he was reared, and increasingly fruitful results have flowed from his efforts. He now has the handling and management of one of the finest stock and grain farms of Champaign Township, located on Rural Route No. 5 out of the City of Champaign.
Mr. Baker was born in Rantoul Township February 26, 1872, and is a son of Henry and Mary (Gehmrote) Baker. His parents were both born in Germany. Henry Baker came to America in 1837, and in the same year located at Champaign. For a short while he was a railroad work- man, afterward did teaming in Champaign, and then removed to Rantoul Township, where he bought a farm. He was successfully identified with the management of that place until his death in February, 1896. His wife died there in 1880. Their children were nine in number: William, of Arcola, Illinois; Anna, wife of Adolph Langhoff, of Urbana; Lucy, wife of Charles Miers, of Thomasboro, Illinois; Henry, of Rantoul; Minnie, who lives at Thomasboro, widow of Jacob Miers; Edward C .; George, of Hensley Township; Albert, of Somers Township; and Louis, deceased.
The environment of the average farm boy encompassed Edward C. Baker while he was growing to manhood, and his early education came from the local schools. At the age of eighteen he began farm work at monthly wages. After two years he rented a place of forty acres, and then leased and had under his direct management for three years 120 acres of the home farm. When the homestead was sold and divided he acquired forty acres of it, but soon took up farming on the renting plan, which on the whole he has found eminently satisfactory, especially when the high prices of land are considered. He rented eighty acres, which he farmed two years, and in 1900 he rented the 290 acres of the Burnham estate in section 2 of Champaign Township. This is a model estate, and Mr. Baker has proved himself a competent man to handle it. He is a general farmer, but also has a large dairy of Jersey cows.
On April 22, 1896, Mr. Baker married Miss Charlotte Demicn, a native of Champaign County. They have two children: Joseph Louie, born October 9, 1899, and Olive Esther, who was born August 25, 1903, and died September 1, 1904. Mr. Baker is a Republican, a member of the Lutheran Church, and has been a member of the local school board.
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Mrs. Baker is a daughter of John and Caroline (Peters) Demien, both natives of Germany. Her father came to America about 1858 and was one of the pioneers at Champaign, Illinois. He assisted in building tlie Mark Carley home, the first house in Champaign, and he also helped set out the trees in the city park there. He was an employe of the Illinois Central Railway until injured, and then took up farming on eighty acres in Hensley Township. That was the stage of his active efforts and enter- prise for seventeen years, after which he sold and bought 160 acres east of Thomasboro. He farmed that land for twenty-two years, and then retired and removed to Gifford, where his wife died March 19, 1911, and he . himself passed away March 7, 1914. Mr. and Mrs. Demien had the following children : Otelia, deceased; Caroline, wife of Adam Heardt, of Burt, Iowa; Fred, of Pomeroy, Iowa; Martha, wife of Richard Altman, of Penfield, Illinois ; Matilda, twin sister of Martha, wife of R. L. Washer, of Urbana; Charlotte, wife of Mr. Edward C. Baker; Verona, wife of C. F. Manke, of Thomasboro; Renatha, twin sister of Verona and living in Chicago; Lucy, wife of Henry Langhoff, of Somers Township; and Louie, of Rantoul Township.
LOUIS DENHART. If true success consists in a steady betterment of one's material circumstances, a growing enlargement of views and increasing influence as a member of the community, the life of Louis Denhart has been exceptionally successful by all the standards that might be applied to it.
Mr. Denhart, who though looking after the cultivation of a large amount of farming land, resides in the town of St. Joseph, was born in . Harrison County, Indiana. His parents were John and Elizabeth Zim- merman Denhart, both natives of Germany. They came to America when still single, and were married in this country and located on a farm in Indiana. They had eleven children, Louis being the sixth. All these chil- dren grew up and received their education in district schools of Indiana.
Louis Denhart came when a youth to visit his brother George in Cham- paign County, and after being here four years was so favorably impressed with the country that he determined to make it his own home. The part of Indiana where he grew up was a rough and rocky region and he liked the contrast afforded by the fertile and level lands of old Champaign. Mr. Denhart has been a resident of Champaign County since 1884.
In 1888 he married Miss Sophia Keehn. She is also a native of Indiana, a daughter of Henry and Emma Keehn, and she grew up there and received her education in the public schools. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Denhart located on a forty-acre tract of land southeast of Mayview in St. Joseph Township. From the thrifty saving and accumula- tion of his work as a wage earner he bought this land on time, at a contract price of $40 an acre. Forty acres was hardly enough for his individual enterprise as a farmer and he rented the adjoining sixty acres, and with his team began the task of acquiring a substantial position in the com- munity. There were trials and vicissitudes, setbacks as well as advances, and some years there was a partial crop failure, then again the market for grain went down to the bottom, and countless other discouragements had to be met. But he and his wife possessed courage and energy, and were willing to toil early and late in order to get the objects upon which their ambition centered. During the working season Mr. Denhart would spend practically the entire day, from sun up to sun down, away from home, while his young wife remained diligently at work in the home. They possessed few of the facilities for enjoying life. There were few buggies, and the old wagon answered the purposes of a Ford car in those strenuous
Louis Denhart Sophia Denhart
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times. But the sequel of this period of hard work is a pleasing story. In course of time Mr. and Mrs. Denhart had accumulated an estate of 620 acres and in many ways improved and beautified their farm. They set up a modern residence, planted fruit and shade trees, and all of it now stands as a· monument to their persevering toil. Mr. Denhart has done a great deal in the line of fruit growing, and long ago made it a rule to set out each year some fruit trees either as an extension to his orchard or to fill in vacancies.
Into their home were born successively eight children: Clarence, Cora, Frank, Ollie, Floyd, Lawrence, Howard and Wilma. These children attended the high school at St. Joseph, and Clarence and Frank attended Brown's Business College at Champaign and also specialized in the study of agriculture. While four of the children still remain at home, the others have married and are successful people of the younger generation.
Clarence, who lives on one of his father's farms, married Luella Bridge- water and has two children, Beryl and Dorothy. . The daughter Cora mar- ried Walter Manges and they live on her father's farm west of St. Joseph. Their three children are Louis, Freda and Robert. Frank Denhart, a successful farmer in St. Joseph Township, cultivating some of his father's broad acres, married, Grace Stiner of Mayview. Ollie Denhart is the wife of William Hartman, and they have one small daughter, Helen Verdena.
Mr. Denhart through many years has been an extensive stock and grain raiser and has sold an immense volume of agricultural produce to the local traders and shippers. He is one of the most progressive farmers of the county. His business judgment has brought him to the attention of his fellow citizens, who have entrusted him with public responsibilities. For twelve years he has served as a member of the town council at St. Joseph. He and his wife are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in that village, and their children attend Sunday school. Fraternally Mr. Denhart is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America and in politics he is a Democrat.
For the past eighteen years his home has been in St. Joseph and during that time he has actively supervised the cultivation of a fine tract of 330 acres of farm land adjoining the town. . His home at the end of Sherman Street is an attractive one. The grounds are amply shaded, and the home has a restful and comfortable atmosphere that is of itself a token of the substantial character of its occupants.
BERT LEROY CHAPMAN. Aggressive methods, keen insight into com- mercial conditions, a thorough and far-reaching appreciation of the needs of the trade, are characteristics which develop a man into a successful factor in the business life of any community and result in the founding and development of concerns that give that community prestige. Condi- tions today are so complex, competition is so keen, and the needs of the world are increasing so rapidly that every branch of commercial and indus- trial life feels the impetus of the times. The day of slow and sure business policies is gone; the business enterprises of today are conducted along entirely different lines than those of our forefathers, and the men who attain success are those who are possessed of power of initiative, resource and aggression. One of the most enterprising of the merchants of Fisher is Bert Leroy Chapman, senior member of the hardware firm of Chapman & Wade. This young business man has achieved success and reputation at a time when many men are merely starting upon their careers, and the characteristics above noted have been important concomitants in the working out of his career.
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Bert Leroy Chapman was born in Vermilion County, Indiana, Septem- ber 18, 1878, the third in a family of three sons born to Nelson and Rosanna (Sims) Chapman. He has one brother living, Pearl Albert Chapman, who was educated in the common schools and is now editor and manager of the Bellflower News at Bellflower, McLean County, Illinois. He mar- ried Miss Laura McGowan, and has four children. Nelson Chapman was born in Indiana of English ancestry, and spent his career as an agricul- turist. He did not live to see his ambitions for success realized, as his death occurred when his son Bert was three years old, in 1882. His polit- ical belief was that of the Republican party. The mother of Bert L. Chapman was also born in Indiana, where she received a public school education, and after the death of her first husband she married a Mr. Bay- singer, who is also deceased. For her third husband she married George Browne, an agriculturist, and they now reside on a valuable property in Champaign County.
The educational training of Bert L. Chapman was secured in the public schools, and when he was still a lad he gained experience in the line of self- support, working long hours in a tile factory at a wage of 50 cents per day. This discipline, while hard, was to prove valuable to him in after years and to make him place a just value upon the worth of money. When he left that vocation he began work as a wage earner on a farm, being thus occupied for ten years, at the end of which time he had accumulated suffi- cient capital to set himself up as a renter of land in Champaign County. His tastes, however, as well as his abilities, seemed to lie along mercantile lines, and after seven years of struggle with the soil he gave up agricul- tural operations and came to Fisher, where he established himself in business as the proprietor of a cafe. Less than one year of experience in this direction sufficed to show him that he had not yet found his proper groove, and he disposed of his cafe to embark, in a modest way, in the hardware business. Like all enterprises that grow to be anything worth while, the first several years were lean and hard ones, but Mr. Chapman was possessed of the necessary business acumen, had the courage of his con- victions, and was determined to succeed, and through aggressive tactics and progressive and persistent methods won his way through, and the venture that started in a small and inconspicuous way has grown to be one of the foremost business establishments of the town of Fisher. On March 7, 1916, Mr. Chapman entered into partnership with Luther Wade, and at the present time the house of Chapman & Wade carries a full and up-to-date line of shelf and heavy hardware and furniture, and in addition conduct an undertaking department. The volume of the yearly trade is now from $25,000 to $30,000, this having been built up through honest policies, fair representation and honorable methods of procedure. Mr. Chapman is the owner of a handsome residence and is accounted one of the substantial residents of the community.
On January 14, 1903. Mr. Chapman was married to Miss Elizabeth R. Wade, and of the four children born to this union three are living: Mabel R., who is attending school as a member of the fourth grade; and Lucille and Russell L., who are at home. Mrs. Chapman was born in Adams County, Ohio, July 31, 1878, and was educated in the public schools. She is a daughter of Edmund and Susannah (Potts) Wade, her father being a native of Adams County, Ohio. Mr. Wade has been engaged in agricultural pursuits all his life, and at the present time is the owner of 160 acres of land in Brown Township, Champaign County. He is a Prohibitionist and is a member of the United Brethren Church, as was also Mrs. Wade. Mr. Wade has always been a friend of public improve- ments, one of the public-spirited men who have supported movements
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making for the general welfare, and a believer in education who has served as a member of the board of school directors. Mrs. Wade, who was born in Ohio, died in Champaign County, January 23, 1897.
Mr. Chapman is a Republican. He cast his first presidential vote for William H. Taft, but has not been active in political affairs. However, he lias always been ready to serve his community, and as an official is a member of the school board and of the town council. His fraternal connection is with Sangamon Lodge No. 801, A. F. & A. M., at Fisher, and the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, which has a strong lodge at this place. Mr. and Mrs. Chapman are members of the United Brethren Church at Fisher, and Mr. Chapman serves as superintendent of the Sunday school, which has an attendance every Sunday of about fifty. A further fraternal connection of Mr. Chapman is with Camp No. 2534 of the Modern Woodmen of America, of which he has been clerk four years and of which he is at present banker.
Mr. and Mrs. Chapman are young people who enjoy life and who are cager to help others enjoy it also. While they are greatly attached to their home, they are also enthusiastic about other parts of the great central agricultural country of Illinois, which they frequently visit on sight-seeing trips in their automobile.
JAMES BARBER. Of the fine homesteads scattered about Champaign County one that betrays to the casual observer every evidence of thrifty and careful management and successful operation is that of James Barber, located in Champaign Township, on Rural Route No. 1 out of the city of Champaign.
Mr. Barber has been a practical farmer in Champaign County since early youth, is a young man, vigorous and far sighted and keen in handling every detail of agricultural management. He was born in Colfax Town- ship of Champaign County April 1, 1886, a son of Alfred C. and Louisa (Peters) Barber. His father was born in England and his mother in Kentucky. Alfred C. Barber came to the United States in 1856 with his parents, who located in Champaign County on a farm. Alfred Barber lived a long and productive life, and at his death his estate comprised 320 acres. He died in Champaign in February, 1909, and his widow is still living in that city. They were the parents of fourteen children : Mollie, Cora and Laura, all deceased; Oscar, of Hamilton County, Illinois ; Josie, wife of Layton Snyder, of Lebanon, Indiana; Benjamin, of Scott Township, Champaign County; Emma, wife of Cerrola Foster, of Scott Township; Nellie, wife of John Leach, of Champaign; James and John, twins; Bertha, deceased; Fannie, who lives in Champaign with her mother ; Ethel, also in Champaign; and William, deceased.
Mr. James Barber has lived on his present farm since he was two years of age. He grew up here, acquired an education in the local schools, and at the age of twenty he and his brother John rented two hundred acres of the old homestead and they have jointly managed its affairs ever since. Their business is general farming, growing the staple crops of the fields and handling sufficient live stock to convert the raw materials and to keep up and preserve the fertility of the soil. Mr. Barber is a Republican in politics and is a member of the Methodist Church.
He was married December 12, 1906, to Nellie May Miller, a native of Mahomet, Illinois. Her father was George Miller. Mr. and Mrs. Barber have one daughter, Oleta May, born July 12, 1912.
Mr. John Barber married Mary Colc in September, 1909, and they also have a daughter, Julia Bernice, born March 16, 1912.
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HOWARD F. LOVE. One of the best managed farms in Sidney Town- ship is that of the Love family in section 19. The active managers of this estate are Howard F. Love and his brother, Clifford S. Howard F. Love gave up his course in agriculture at the University of Illinois to take active charge of the business following the death of his father.
His parents were John and Mary E. (Adams) Love, both natives of Ohio. John 'Love came to Champaign County in 1852 and at that time located in section 19 of Sidney Township, where he took land in the raw state and developed its many possibilities as a farm. He was a member of the Masonic order, of the Presbyterian Church and in politics a Repub- lican. His death occurred June 2, 1910. There were five children, the oldest, a son, dying in infancy. The second is Clara, still at home; Mil- dred, the third child, was born in 1887; Howard F., the older son now living, was born January 25, 1889, on the home farm; and Clifford, the youngest, entered the University of Illinois in 1911 and graduated in the scientific agricultural course in 1916. He is also at home.
Howard F. Love has put in practice a combination of thorough experi- ence with a liberal education. He attended the Champaign High School, of which he is a graduate, and spent two years in the agricultural course at the university. Since then he has had active charge of the home place and is now working 317 acres. He is specializing in live stock and has som'e fine registered Duroc Jersey hogs and is also a fancier of a pedigreed strain of Plymouth Rock fowls. Politically he is a Republican and is a member of the Presbyterian Church.
GEORGE C. GORDON. From farm renter George C. Gordon has pro- gressed on the road of prosperity until he now owns one of the best farms in Urbana Township, located in section 13. He has a model country home and has all the facilities and conveniences of country life in Cham- paign County, including the daily delivery of mail over Rural Route No. 12.
Mr. Gordon was born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, January 3, 1872, a son of Clinton and Mary. (Henneberger) Gordon. His parents were both born in Pennsylvania and are still living there, his father being retired from active business, and during the Civil War he was a Union soldier. They had seven children: Addie, wife of Jacob Stine, of Pennsyl- vania; Celia, deceased; Ross, of Pennsylvania; Isaac H., who lives in St. Joseph Township of Champaign County; George C .; Susan Virginia, wife of George P. Gray, of Berkeley, California; and Charles Clinton, of Urbana Township.
George C. Gordon spent his early youth in Pennsylvania, attending the common schools, and finished his education in the Central Normal College at Danville, Indiana. He came to Champaign County in 1892, at the age of twenty, and for several years rented farm lands in St. Joseph Township. In 1896 he was able to buy his first land, sixty-three acres in section 24 of Urbana Township. 'He subsequently bought the fine farm he now lives on in section 13, comprising 132 acres. Here he has built a modern two-story home and has surrounded himself with many comforts such as his industry has well justified.
Mr. Gordon married Clara McClain, a native of Champaign County. Her parents, James H. and Nancy (Truman) McClain, were early settlers in this county, both being now deceased. There were five children in the McClain family, two of whom died early. Those still living are: Hattie, wife of William Albertson, of Warsaw, Indiana; Martha, wife of Alfred Frankenberg, of St. Joseph, Illinois; and Mrs. Gordon.
To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Gordon were born four children :
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Glenn H., Mary Fannie, Herbert McClain and Hilda Lavone. Mr. Gordon is a member of the school board of his district and for years was a director of the Champaign County Fair Association. He is a Republican, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
DAVID H. LLOYDE is one of Champaign's oldest and most widely known business men. In fact, his business is practically as old as the University of Illinois, which, as is generally known, is one of the greatest educational institutions of its kind in the entire world. The Lloyde business was originally established for and has always been distinctively supported by the student body of the state university. Mr. Lloyde is also president of the recently organized First University Bank, located at 606 East Green Street, in the very heart of the student district. The chief business with which his many years of industrial activity have been identified are two extensive music, book and stationery stores, one at 7 Main Street and the other at 606 East Green Street, in the same brick structure which houses the Lloyde bank.
As a merchant he has for forty-three years supplied the needs of the students and others in the way of books and supplies, music, stationery, toys, photographic supplies, drawing instruments, pianos, organs, violins and small musical instruments, sewing machines, typewriters, talking machines and sporting goods, and is headquarters for novelties for holiday and other season's events. Mr. Lloyde has been a continuous resident of Champaign since 1874. His name and his stores are landmarks, institu- tions familiar to every resident of Champaign County, the Twin Cities, and those formerly here as students. His success has not only been the means of his own prosperity but has also contributed to the prosperity and substantial upbuilding of the entire community.
David H. Lloyde was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, June 11, 1835, but has lived in Illinois nearly all his life, enjoying his experiences from the period of the wild prairies to these days of live modern conditions. His father, Captain David Lloyde, also a native of Springfield, Massachusetts, was a mechanic, and at twenty-two years of age, after completing his three years' term of service required as a mechanic, received a gold medal as a reward, and for his temperance principles during the learning of his trade,. . given by the Hamden Mechanical Association of Springfield, Massachusetts, with the inscription, "Omnia Laboribus Sustinenda," but he afterward took up contracting and building. He married Eliza Seaver of Somerset, Massa- chusetts. They were the parents of five children: David H .; Mrs. Jennie Lees of Attica, Kansas; James H., who as a Union soldier participated among other engagements in the battle of Shiloh, and subsequently became a merchant and station agent at Milo, Missouri, where he died; Lucy, who married Frank Herrick, is living at Princeton, Illinois, where her husband is city editor of the Bureau County Republican and an ex-soldier of the Civil War; and George O., who was in the Civil War, is a contractor and builder at Bloomington, Illinois.
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