USA > Illinois > LaSalle County > Biographical and genealogical record of La Salle County, Illinois. Volume I > Part 34
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of the peace, discharging his duties in a most creditable manner. He and his family attend the Methodist church and are people of the highest respecta- bility, who enjoy and merit the confidence and regard of their friends and neighbors.
JESSE GROVE.
Jesse Grove, a well-known and influential citizen of Rutland township, LaSalle county, Illinois, is a son of Joseph Grove, deceased, one of the early settlers of that township. Joseph Grove was born in Licking county, Ohio, December 28, 1806, a son of John and Barbara (Lineberger) Grove, the former a native of Virginia. The Linebergers were of German origin. In 1829, when a young man of twenty-three years, with a spirit for adventure and a desire to see something of the world, Joseph Grove made the journey on horseback from Ohio to Fort Dearborn (Chicago) and also visited other points in Illinois, and in 1835 he located on the farm in Rutland town- ship where our subject now lives. Here, on the 28th of June, 1838, he married Miss Elma N. Jackson, who was born January 23, 1815, a native of Pennsylvania and a daughter of Jesse Jackson, one of the pioneers of LaSalle county, locating here in 1836. With the passing years sons and daughters to the number of ten came to bless the home of Joseph and Elma .N. Grove. Of this number six are still living, as follows: Jesse, the direct subject of this sketch; Lucien J., of Miller township, LaSalle county; Elmira, wife of George Pitzer, of Rutland township, this county; Samantha, wife of Wakefield Apling, of Wichita, Kansas; Mary, wife of H. L. Loring, of Miller township; and Clara E., also of Miller township. The four children deceased were: Minerva, who died in childhood; Jeremiah, a Union soldier, who died during the civil war; David L., who died in South America; and John, who died in Nevada, Boone county, Iowa, leaving a widow and two children. Joseph Grove, the father, died December 28, 1858, at the age of fifty-two years. In the very prime of life his health was broken by exposure and the hardships incident to pioneering. The mother died January 21, 1873, at the age of fifty-eight years. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church from her girlhood till the time of her death and her life was of an exemplary Christian character.
Jesse Grove was born on his father's farm in LaSalle county, January 29, 1841. His boyhood was passed in attending the district school and the Ottawa high school, and his adult years have been devoted to agricultural pursuits. The farm on which he resides is located near Wedron Station, six miles northeast of Ottawa, and comprises a valuable tract of three hun-
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dred and sixty-eight acres, where he carries on general agriculture, consider- able attention being given to a high grade of Durham and Holstein cattle.
February 15, 1877, Mr. Grove was married to Miss Louise Parr, a native of Manlius township, LaSalle county. She was born May 6, 1850, a daughter of Samuel and Rebecca Parr, early settlers of the county, both now deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Grove were born two children: Joseph Roy, born May 27. 1878; and Everett, who died at the age of three months. The wife and mother died April 20, 1880, at the age of thirty years. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, was a most estimable woman in every respect, and her early death was a source of sorrow not only to her immediate family but also to a large circle of friends.
Politically Mr. Grove is a Democrat.
DAVID H. SLAGLE.
An honored veteran of the civil war and a faithful employe in the mail service of the nation, David Henry Slagle well deserves mention among the representative citizens of Marseilles. He was born at Delta, Fulton county, Ohio, March 23, 1843, the eldest son of Henry and Caroline Slagle, whose family numbered five children,-three sons and two daughters. The father was a native of Little York, Pennsylvania, and the mother, who bore the maiden name of Caroline Hobart, was born at Pulteney, Steuben county, New York. Their children were Mary, who died in infancy; Elizabeth E .. David H., Oscar and James. During the Mexican war Henry Slagle en- listed in the country's service, becoming a member of Company A, Fifth Regiment of Ohio Volunteers, commanded by Colonel Morgan. When the war was ended and the regiment was on the way home, he was taken ill and died in Cincinnati, Ohio, leaving a widow and four children.
David H. Slagle, the subject of this review, after his father's death, was adopted by George Gallaher, a man of strict Presbyterian faith, living near Delta, Ohio. In May, 1851, with Mr. Gallaher he came to Illinois, locating in the vicinity of Marseilles, in Manlius township .. He entered school in 1852, pursuing his education in the old log school-house south of the Christian church, on section 3, Manlius township. Among his fellow students at that time was Dwight M. Sabin, afterward United States senator from Minnesota. Mr. Slagle was eighteen years of age at the time of the inauguration of the civil war, and was clerking in the store of William W. Richey, of Marseilles. When the secessionists of the south attempted to drag the flag of the Union in the dust and rend in twain the nation, and men came from work-shop, factory, the counting-room and the office to do battle for the starry banner and the cause it represented, Mr. Slagle also offered his service. With five
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David H. Slagle.
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or six of his friends, young men, he was the first from the village to enlist in the three-months service, becoming a member of Captain Charles Hough- taling's battery of light artillery, which was organized at Ottawa, Illinois, April 19, 1861. His name was carried on the roll as Henry Slagle.
On the same day the battery left for the war, arriving at Cairo, Illinois, April 22. This organization became Company F, Tenth Illinois Infantry, and during its term of enlistment did service at Cairo. While Mr. Slagle was in the three-months service, Hon. B. C. Cook, a representative in congress, assured Captain Houghtaling that any young man of his company that he would recommend from his battery would be named to the secretary of war for appointment as a cadet at the West Point Military Academy. Mr. Slagle was recommended and strongly urged to accept the appointment, but declined, and a few weeks later, on the 27th of August, 1861, re-entered the service as a member of Company K, Thirty-ninth Regiment, Yates Phalanx, Illinois Volunteer Infantry. The company was recruited at Mar- seilles to serve for three years or during the war and was under command of Captain Joseph Woodruff. Mr. Slagle was promoted to the rank of sergeant at Benton Barracks, Missouri, October 19, 1861, and served for three years, after which he re-enlisted at Hilton Head, South Carolina. His was no temporary loyalty, and throughout the entire struggle he remained at the front, faithfully defending the cause he loved on the battlefields of the south.
In 1862, while the regiment was at Harrison's Landing, Virginia, Mr. Slagle was one of ten detailed from the regiment to return to Illinois on recruiting service. After performing that duty he rejoined his command at Newbern, North Carolina, and soon entered upon the year's cam- paign in South Carolina. He participated in the battles in front of Charleston, and the regiment then returned to the front of Richmond, where he took part in the many engagements that occurred in that vicinity in the summer of 1864. On the 13th of October of that year the First Brigade, First Division, Tenth Army Corps, made an advance on the works in front of Richmond and executed a notable charge on a line of works at Darby- town Cross Roads. In that charge, while climbing the abattis of the works, Sergeant Slagle was wounded and taken prisoner, and in the same engage- ment his brother James was wounded, but not captured. His regiment with two hundred and fifty men in line lost seventy. While a prisoner our subject was confined in Castle Thunder prison, just across the street from Libby prison, but being wounded he was held only for a few days, after which he was paroled and sent down the James river to Annapolis, Maryland, to the St. John's College Hospital. In January, 1865, with one hundred and fifty other wounded soldiers, he was placed on board a steamer to be trans-
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ferred to the hospital at Baltimore. A steamer usually made the run up the Chesapeake bay in two hours and consequently carried no provisions and but few men to care for the wounded; but on this trip the boat became lodged in the ice in the middle of the bay and was forced to remain there for two days and two nights in the bitter cold of winter. The Eleventh Indiana Infantry, at Baltimore, twenty-seven miles distant, volunteered to rescue the imperiled men, and every soldier on skates and drawing a hand sled made of board went to the steamer, whence they transferred the wounded, on a terribly cold night, to the shore, four miles distant. From Baltimore our subject was sent to Wilmington, Delaware, and on to Philadelphia, where he was discharged from the United States service when orderly sergeant, on account of a severe wound in the joint of the right ankle. This necessitated his use of crutches for nearly a year after his return home, where he arrived in June, 1865.
During the following fall Mr. Slagle attended Bryant & Stratton's Com- mercial College, at Chicago. On the 6th of March, 1866, he was appointed postmaster at Marseilles, Illinois, the salary being then twenty dollars per month for service, office, fuel and lights. On the 10th of December, 1872, the office became presidential in the character of appointment, and Mr. Slagle was commissioned postmaster by President Grant; January 21, 1878, by President Hayes; and January 30, 1882, by President Arthur, serving until April 1, 1886, when E. Barber became his successor, by an appoint- ment made by President Cleveland. For one year he served as deputy under Mr. Barber, making a continuous service in the office of twenty-one years.
On his retirement he accepted the position of bookkeeper for the firm of Bruce & Barron, bridge contractors, with whom he remained for two years. In February, 1889, he took the United States civil service examina- tion, and on the 5th of June, of that year, received an appointment as railway postal clerk on the Chicago, Dunbar & Dubuque Railway post-office, run- ning between Chicago and Dubuque, Iowa. In February, 1890, he was transferred to the Chicago & West Liberty Railway post-office, running between Chicago and West Liberty, Iowa.
Socially Mr. Slagle has long been a Mason, having become a member of Marseilles Lodge, No. 417, F. & A. M., in 1868. He has been very promi- nent in the work of the order and has served as treasurer, secretary, warden and master of the lodge. On the 21st of February, 1873, he was exalted to the august degree of Royal Arch Mason in Shabbona Chapter, No. 37; and on the 20th of November,. 1873, he received the orders of knighthood in Ottawa Commandery, No. 10, Knights Templar. He was again con- nected with the military service of the state, when on the 30th of March, 1876, he was commissioned by Governor John L. Beveridge second lieuten-
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ant in the Marseilles Light Guards, Third Regiment Illinois National Guards, in which capacity he served until September 21, 1877, when he resigned.
At the organization of Joseph Woodruff Post, No. 281, G. A. R., on the 13th of February, 1874, he was elected officer of the day; in 1887 was elected adjutant; and on the 7th of April, 1895, was elected commander.
In politics he is a stanch Republican, and in June, 1874, he served as a delegate from LaSalle county to the state convention at Springfield. On the 13th of August, 1879, he was a delegate from LaSalle county to the con- gressional convention at Morris, Illinois. In 1866 he was made clerk of the corporation of the village of Marseilles, in 1867 was clerk of the town of Manlius, and in all these different positions, social, civil, military and political, he has ever been most faithful to the trust and confidence reposed in him.
Mr. Slagle was married October 20, 1864, to Miss Hattie Juckett, of Coldwater, Michigan, who died August 8, 1875, on which date their infant son also passed away. On the 21st of December, 1876, Mr. Slagle was joined in wedlock to Mrs. Lucy M. Fleming, of Marseilles. Their only child. Bessie D., died November 21, 1880, at the age of three years, one month and four days; and the mother's death occurred April 7, 1895. On the 21st of April, 1897, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Slagle and Miss Lillie L. Conkling, the wedding ceremony being performed by the Rev. A. H. Laing, at Joliet, Illinois. The lady is a native of Delphos, Ohio, and a daughter of Dr. Samuel F. Conkling. On the 7th of April, 1898, a son was born to them, David Henry, Jr.
Such in brief is the life history of one of Marseilles' most prominent and esteemed citizens. His life has been an honorable and upright one, and he is to-day as true to his duties of citizenship as when he followed the starry banner upon the battle-fields of the south.
EMANUEL DAVIS.
Numbered among the enterprising, public-spirited citizens of Streator for many years, Mr. Davis has aided many industries which have proved of benefit to the place, and has upheld all movements of progress. Recognized as a man of unusual ability and genius, he has been called upon to occupy various official positions of responsibility and importance, and has ably and conscientiously discharged the duties pertaining to these offices.
Born in the city of Birmingham, England, March 2, 1863, our subject is a son of Joseph and Mary A. (Fellows) Davis, likewise natives of that country, where they have always dwelt. When he was eighteen years of
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age, Emanuel Davis began making plans to come to the United States, and took up the trade of mason. In 1882 he arrived in New York city, whence he proceeded to Chicago, where he found plenty of employment. For about one year he worked at the gas-tube foundry, and in 1883 came to Streator. Here he has been busily engaged in contracting and building, undertaking all kinds of brick work and plastering: and many of the dwellings, churches and stores of this place stand as evidences of his skill and handiwork. For several years he was associated with D. L. Thomas as a member of the firm of Davis & Thomas, but this connection was dissolved by mutual consent, and Mr. Davis has carried on the business alone. For six years he was a director of the German Building & Loan Association, after which he was elected president of the Ninth Branch of the Illinois Bureau of the Brick- layers and Masons' International Union, and at present is serving as financial secretary of the organization.
Zealous in the Republican party, Mr. Davis is a political factor of con- siderable influence in Streator and vicinity, and has been elected twice to the responsible post of alderman, representing the sixth ward in the city council. Fraternally he is a member of the Odd Fellows. Knights of Pythias, Modern Woodmen and Foresters of America. In August, 1888, Mr. Davis married Rosalia Aaron, a daughter of James Aaron, of Cornell, Illinois, and two promising sons bless their union, namely: Lincoln Earl and Orville Erwin. They have a pleasant home and many sincere friends here and elsewhere.
JOHN A. HANNA.
A worthy representative of a sterling pioneer family of Grand Rapids township, LaSalle county, John A. Hanna was born in Putnam county, this state, January 16. 1856. His father, Joseph M. Hanna, long one of the prominent citizens of this county, was a native of Washington county, Pennsylvania, born in 1826, a son of Alexander Hanna, of the same state. During the gold excitement in 1849 he. then an ambitious young man, started on the long and dangerous journey across the plains to California, going by way of the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers to St. Joseph, where the five-months trip overland was begun. Arriving at his destination, he engaged in gold-mining for two years, with fair success, and then returned home by way of the Isthmus of Panama.
An important step in the life of J. M. Hanna was his marriage to Miss Permelia, daughter of John Thompson, of Pennsylvania. She was a devoted helpmate, sharing his joys and sorrows, and now, the most arduous labors of her life completed, she is passing her declining years at her pleasant home
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in South Ottawa. Mr. and Mrs. Hanna removed to this state in 1853, and, after living in Putnam county for a few years, permanently located in this township. Here he improved a farm, developing wild land into a fertile, well cultivated homestead, and at the time of his death he was the owner of five hundred and sixty acres. He was the president of the Grand Rapids, Brookfield & Fall River Home Insurance Company, a director of the First National Bank of Marseilles, a member of the board of supervisors, and township school treasurer for eighteen years. Industry, patience and in- domitable energy were among his chief characteristics, and justice in word and deed marked all of his transactions. He died November 4, 1890, in Colorado, whither he had gone in the hope of benefiting his failing health, and was buried in the cemetery at South Ottawa. His only daughter, Flor- ence, wife of Elwood Peddicord, is deceased, and his second son, Elmer Ellsworth, died in childhood. Irwin I., the youngest, is a successful attorney at law in Ottawa.
In his early years John A. Hanna mastered the details of farming, and was of great assistance to his father in the improvement of the old home- stead. After finishing his district school education, he attended the National Normal at Lebanon, Ohio, and then took up the study of law, being admitted to the bar in 1887, at Ottawa, Kansas. For the next two or three years he diligently pursued the practice of his chosen profession, but the death of his father made it necessary for him to return and attend to the settling of the estate and the subsequent management of the farm. He owns three hun- dred and twenty acres of land here, equipped with excellent residence and barns and all of the modern appliances used in carrying on a well ordered farm. He also owns eight hundred and sixty acres of improved land in eastern Kansas. This land is well stocked with high-grade cattle. He is intelligent and progressive in his ideas on agriculture, as in everything else, and is making a success of his undertakings.
The marriage of J. A. Hanna and Miss Hattie A. Richards was cele- brated in this county in 1885. She is a native of Berkshire, Massachusetts, and is a daughter of Alexander and Sophronia A. (Dow) Richards, who came to this county with their family in 1870. Mrs. Hanna was educated in the Ottawa public schools and is a lady of many amiable qualities. Three sons were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hanna, but only one, Roland R., a lad of ten years, survives. Warren R. died when in his second year, and E. Ells- worth in babyhood.
Since he attained the right of franchise Mr. Hanna has given his allegiance to the Republican party. He is an earnest member of the Meth- odist Episcopal church, and all religious, educational and charitable enter- prises receive his loyal support. His career has been marked by sincerity
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and uprightness, and his legal training has given him a keenness of mental grasp and a power of dealing with difficulties which cause him to be looked to as an authority in his section of the county.
THEODORE ROCKENFELLER.
The keynote of success is pluck and persistence in a well-planned course of action, and in reviewing the record of Theodore Rockenfeller, a repre- sentative citizen of Streator, it is to be seen that this rule holds good. He stands for progress, for good government, for the best possible educational facilities for the young, for all that tends to uplift and benefit humanity, and thus no eulogy is required in setting forth his history, but the mere presentation of facts.
Though he is a native of Germany, his birth having occurred at Cob- lentz on the Rhine, in 1852, our subject has no recollection of that land, as he was but three years of age when he was brought to America by his par- ents. That worthy couple. John M. and Catherine Rockenfeller, had learned much in favor of this country, and wisely decided that they would found a home here, where they might rear their children under the beneficent institutions of the republic. The family landed in New York city after a tedious voyage of seven weeks on a sailing vessel, and continued their west- ward journey to Peoria, Illinois. At the end of a year they located near Washington, Tazewell county, where their home was made until 1864, and the following eleven years they were residents of Woodford county, Illinois. In 1875 they came to Streator, and here the father is yet living, but the mother died four years ago. They had four children, the older son being killed while employed by the Santa Fe Railroad Company, ten years ago; Hannah is at home, and Elizabeth is the wife of Robert Genseke.
Theodore Rockenfeller received a liberal education in the common and select schools of this state, and for four years was a student in the Northwestern College at Naperville, Illinois. From 1876 to 1884 he was successfully engaged in the mercantile business in Streator, and in the year mentioned was appointed agent for the sale of railroad lands in southern Minnesota along the line of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway. After he had disposed of a large amount of this property he was made the general agent and manager for the company's lands in that section of the country, succeeding in establishing thousands of families along the line of that road. For ten years he was the immigrant agent for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad. In September, 1898, he was elected to the position of vice-president of the Farmers' Colonization Company, of Chi- cago, which controls many thousands of acres of desirable farm land in vari-
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ous parts of the west. During the fifteen years which Mr. Rockenfeller has devoted to this line of enterprise he has been remarkably fortunate, as he has disposed of over five hundred and seventy-five thousand acres of land, sit- uated chiefly in Illinois, Iowa and southern Minnesota. The incalculable good thus accomplished is not limited to the financial side of the question, but, considered in a broader light, means the opening up of vast territories and fields of usefulness and prosperity in the west, and the placing of thou- sands of families, many from overcrowded cities of the east, in comfortable homes, where their labor receives its due reward, and poverty and priva- tion become things of the past. In addition to his other interests, Mr. Rockenfeller has extensive investments in mining property. He is presi- dent of the Streator & Cripple Creek Gold Mining Company, and the presi- dent of the Security Mining & Milling Company, of Omaha, Nebraska.
In affairs affecting the welfare of this state and community our sub- ject takes a patriotic interest. For a period of ten years he served as a member of the Streator board of education, and assisted in the organization of the local Young Men's Christian Association. He is a strong Repub- lican, and socially is identified with the Modern Woodmen of America, belonging to Camp No. 4. In 1891 he married Miss Louise Holbine, and they have one son, Vernen W. They are members of the First Presbyterian church. Mr. Rockenfeller being one of its trustees.
JOHN COOPER.
Like many other prominent and influential citizens of LaSalle county, Illinois, John Cooper, of Otter Creek township, is a native of Ireland. His parents were Edward and Jane (Coughlin) Cooper, and he was born April 9, 1841, near Belfast. When he was a lad of eight years the family came to America and settled first at Salmon Falls, New Hampshire, where they lived for some time. The father died at the age of forty-five years, leaving the mother with a family of eight children. She still survives him and is now eighty-five years of age. Of their children, John, the subject of this sketch, is the eldest; Mrs. Maria Roberts is a resident of Alden, Indiana; Mrs. Sarah Berry is a resident of Rock Rapids, Iowa; William resides in Otter Creek township, LaSalle county, Illinois; Richard was a soldier in the Fifty- third Illinois Regiment during the civil war and died at Vicksburg. Missis- sippi; Edward is a veteran of the civil war and lives in Streator, Illinois; Mrs. Jane Litts lives in Stuart, Iowa; and Mrs. Lizzie Jones is a resident of Otter Creek township.
John Cooper was reared to farm life, attending the public schools in
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