USA > Illinois > LaSalle County > Biographical and genealogical record of La Salle County, Illinois. Volume I > Part 4
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ticipated in the Carolina campaign and was near Durham, North Carolina, when General "Joe" Johnston surrendered. At Washington he participated in the grand review, the most brilliant military pageant ever seen on the west- ern hemisphere, and then returned to Springfield, where he was discharged, July 1, 1865. Throughout his service he was in the same company and regi- ment and was ever a loyal and faithful defender of the stars and stripes. Just after the siege of Vicksburg he was made corporal and was discharged with that rank. After three years of faithful service he returned home, and was not then twenty-one years of age. He had been four times wounded: first at Vicksburg; then at Dallas, on the Atlanta campaign; at Atlanta; and in the side at Bentonville, South Carolina. Mr. Robertson maintains pleasant relations with his old comrades in arms through his membership in Clayton Beardsley Post, No. 672, G. A. R., at Sheridan.
For the first five years after his return from the war he resided in Cass and Morgan counties, Illinois, and in 1870 came to Sheridan, where he has since continued to reside. He is a painter and paperhanger by trade, and diligently followed that business for many years, but for the past seven years has lived retired, having, through his well directed efforts, gained a com- fortable competence which now enables him to rest from active labor.
In 1867 Mr. Robertson married Miss Lucy Osborne, who died in 1878, leaving three children,-Clinton, now deceased, William H. and Frank. In 1880 Mr. Robertson was again married, his second union being with Eliza Widman, by whom he has a daughter, Genevieve. The family have many friends in the community, and the Robertson household is noted for its hospitality.
In his political connections Mr. Robertson is a Republican, and has been honored with several local offices of trust and responsibility. He served as a constable for eight years, was police magistrate for four years, and for five years was the efficient president of the village board of trustees. Socially he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His life has been characterized by diligence, by enterprise and by fidelity to every duty, and the record he has made is an honorable one.
REV. DOMINIC MEIER.
Saint Antonius' Catholic church. of Streator, has. as its pastor, the Rev. Father Meier, who has accomplished and is accomplishing a great work in this community. His executive and financial ability, as well as his zeal and helpful sympathy to every individual of his flock, render him worthy of admiration and respect by every one, whatsoever his creed.
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A son of Gerkene and Mary (Richter) Meier, the Father was born in Covington, Kentucky, in 1851. His parents were both natives of Germany, whence they removed to the United States in 1835. They made a perma- nent home in Covington, and there passed away some years ago.
In his youth the subject of this biography attended school in his native city, receiving excellent advantages in an educational way. After he had completed his preliminary preparation for the serious task to which he had early dedicated his life, the ministry, he went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he continued his collegiate studies, and was graduated in 1874. He then served for some time as an assistant priest, and in 1874 was ordained in Louisville, Kentucky, by Bishop McClosky. Then, going to Lafayette, Indiana, he was assistant to Father Beine for two years, after which he was assigned to Reynolds, same state. Subsequently he was the pastor of two or three different congregations in Indiana, and in 1879 was sent to Emporia, Kansas. There he had the responsible position at the head of the hospital and high school, and for six years he labored with most gratifying results in that important post of trust. In 1885 he was placed in charge of the church of St. George, in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he continued as pastor for two years.
Twelve years ago he came to Streator, and during this period the many departments of work connected with the church over which he presides have prospered wonderfully. His zeal has prompted his people to great undertakings, as may be plainly seen when it is stated that the splendid church edifice, erected at a cost of thirty thousand dollars, a substantial school building valued at ten thousand, and a home which cost nine thou- sand dollars have been built within a few years. Thus, altogether, the church property is very valuable, and a wide field of usefulness opens before the devoted congregation, which is now equipped fully for future work.
JOSEPH C. HATHEWAY, M. D.
In the medical profession of LaSalle county the subject of this article has long held a representative place, and for the past forty-three years he has been actively engaged in practice in Ottawa. Here he enjoys the esteem and confidence not only of his numerous patients but also of the citizens in general, and those of his own profession, by whom he is often called into consultation on difficult and complicated cases. His wide experience in his chosen calling is not alone the result of practical labors among the sick and suffering, but comes in part from his earnest study of the best medical works and current journals devoted to the interests of his profession.
The birth of Dr. J. C. Hatheway took place in the town of Assonet,
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Bristol county, Massachusetts, in 1833. He comes from one of the old families of that state, his parents being Elnathan and Salome Hatheway. Having mastered the various branches of an English education, the Doctor concluded that he would enter the medical profession, and accordingly matriculated in Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia. There he was graduated in the class of 1856, and at once established an office in Ottawa. He is one of the oldest members of the LaSalle County Medical Society, and has acted as president of the same, and also has been connected with the State Medical Society for years. At one time he held the position of county physician and surgeon, and has been an efficient member of the United States board of pension examiners. In the multiplicity of his other duties the Doctor has not neglected those which devolve upon every good citizen. The cause of education has ever found an active and sincere friend in him, and he was one of the first trustees of the Ottawa high school. The high school was organized and the present building was erected while he was a member of the board, and the town is greatly indebted to him for the wisdom and influence which he exercised in the matter. In political affairs the Doctor is independent of party ties.
In 1857 Dr. J. C. Hatheway married Miss Annie Crane, of Assonet, Bristol county, Massachusetts. Their son, E. P. Hatheway, M. D., seems to have an inherited talent for medicine, and is now associated with the father in practice. He is a young man of much promise and is rapidly building up an enviable reputation as a practitioner. He is a graduate of the well- known Rush Medical College of Chicago, and possesses undoubted ability and fitness for his favorite field of action.
BARNET L. BONAR, M. D.
The medical profession in LaSalle county is represented in the various thriving towns by men who have achieved distinction and well won laurels. Doctor Bonar, of Streator, is one of its most successful practitioners, and is very popular with his medical brethren, as well as with the citizens in general.
A native of Pennsylvania, he was born at Coon Island, Washington county, July 31, 1852. His father, Samuel Bonar, was likewise a native of the county mentioned. born July 9, 1822, and was a son of Barnet Bonar, who was born January 14. 1778. on the same farm, where he lived until his death. February 1. 1870. The latter was a son of William Bonar, who was born in Scotland July 9. 1740, and whose father, Barnet Bonar, was born in 1695, near Edinburgh, and emigrated to America in 1740, coming to
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Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1774, thus becoming one of the earliest settlers of that county. The Doctor's father was a farmer by occupation, and every one who had dealings with him respected and admired him for his sterling integrity and uprightness of character. He married Miss Elizabeth Andrews, a daughter of William and Elizabeth (McConnell) Andrews, all of Richland county, Ohio. Mr. Andrews was a carpenter by trade and was successfully engaged in contracting and building for many years.
The boyhood and youth of Dr. Barnet L. Bonar passed happily and all too swiftly in his native county, and after completing the common-school course he entered Washington and Jefferson College, where he graduated in 1877. He then took up the study of medicine, reading under the instruc- tion of Dr. Thomas McKennan, of Washington. Subsequently he was a student in the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania at Phil- adelphia, and was graduated there in 1880. Going to Bucyrus, Ohio, he established an office and was occupied in practice at that point for about one year. In 1881 he came to Streator, where he soon obtained a foothold and gained a desirable reputation for skill and excellence in his chosen field of labor. In order to keep in the spirit of progress and thoroughly conver- sant with new methods, he is connected with several medical societies, among them being those of the county and state and that of north central Illinois.
In his political belief Dr. Bonar favors the platform and nominees of the Republican party. Socially he is a member of Streator Lodge, No. 607, F. & A. M .; Streator Chapter, No. 168, R. A. M., and Ottawa Commandery, No. 10, K. T. In 1888 the marriage of the Doctor and Miss Sarah Modes, a daughter of William Modes, of Streator, was solemnized. They have two children, Jessie and Barnet E., whose presence lends brightness and added happiness to their pleasant home.
REV. LAURITZ A. VIGNESS.
One of the notable educational institutions for which the pretty little city of Ottawa is justly famed is the Pleasant View Luther College, which though young in years has advanced to the front ranks in an incredibly short period. The building is new and modern in every respect, is heated by steam and lighted by gas, and affords every comfort to the fortunate student who is enrolled as a pupil. The gentleman whose name appears at the com- mencement of this sketch is the president of the college, and is working indefatigably for the good of the same. His heart and soul are in the enter- prise and the genuine interest which he takes in every student must make a favorable impression upon the scholar throughout his life.
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In tracing the life history of the worthy president it is found that he comes from the sturdy, manly old Viking stock of Norway. His father, Ole L. Vigness, was born in Finnoe, Norway, and, following the accustomed occupations of the people among whom his youth was passed, he was a fisherman until he was twenty-three years of age. Then the desire to see something of the world and to enter some other field of labor led him to set sail for America. Arriving here in 1856, he went to Rock county, Wisconsin, and found employment in the vicinity of Janesville. In 1859 he took up a homestead of government land in Fillmore county, Minnesota, and at the end of three years, when he had made improvements and had a comfortable home, he married Miss Anna Hallum, likewise a native of Nor- way. The mother died in 1884, leaving three sons and three daughters to mourn her loss. Carl L., the second son, is now a professor in a college; Mary is the wife of J. Stennes, of Milan, Minnesota; Inga, who resides in the same town, is the wife of J. Johnson; and Emma and Edward are the younger members of the family.
Until he was fifteen years of age Lauritz A. Vigness attended the public schools of his native county, and early evinced unusual aptitude for books. His youthful ambition to enjoy the advantages of a collegiate education finally received fulfillment, and, after passing two years in Marshall (Wiscon- sin) Academy, he pursued a thorough four-years course of study in a college at Canton, South Dakota. Not satisfied as yet, he then took a classical course at Dixon College, at Dixon, Illinois, graduating in 1885, and was a student at Augustana Theological Seminary at Beloit, Iowa, for one year. In 1887 he became a member of the faculty of the Highland Park University at Des Moines, Iowa, having charge of the classical department, and for four years his labors in that well-known institution met with gratifying suc- cess. The presidency of the Jewell Lutheran College, at Jewell, Webster county, Iowa, was then tendered him, and he accepted the responsible charge. The authorities and managers of Pleasant View Luther College at length obtained Mr. Vigness' consent to become president of the institution, and from that time had no doubt as to its future prosperity. As an educator he has few superiors in this or any other state, and systematic methods are noticeable in everything which he undertakes.
In 1887 the marriage of Mr. Vigness and Miss Margaret Krogness was solemnized in Larchwood, Lyon county, Iowa. Mrs. Vigness is a daughter of Rev. S. M. and Johanna (Ammandsen) Krogness, both of whom have passed to their reward. To our subject and wife four sons and a daughter were born, their names being as follows: Joseph Alfred, Orrin Sylvanus, Lewis Martell, Paul Gerhard and Lydia Ruth.
The Pleasant View Luther College has several distinct departments of
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study, including scientific, literary, commercial, musical, parochial and clas- sical. A competent instructor, a specialist as far as possible, is in charge of each department. The rooms of the students are homelike, and in the board- ing hall they are provided with an abundance of well-prepared, nourishing food. Chapel exercises are a part of the daily routine, and here the students are admonished, brought to a keener sense of their responsibility toward God and man, and are trained in the fundamental principles of noble citizen- ship. The college is wonderfully prospering, and its present capacity is now well taxed.
M. A. BRONSON.
M. A. Bronson, chairman of the LaSalle county board of supervisors and a respected resident of Streator, is recognized as an influential factor in local politics. He is well informed upon the great questions of the day, possesses an excellent education and abundant talent and general ability.
The parents of our subject, George and Adaline (German) Bronson, were natives of Litchfield, Connecticut, and New York state, respectively. The father was a son of Henry Bronson, of the former state, and his ances- tors, as well as those of our subject's mother, were English. The only exception to this, along the various lines, is seen in the case of the mother of Mrs. Adaline Bronson, for she was a Miss Secor prior to her marriage, and came of sturdy French Huguenot stock. Her husband, Daniel German, a son of Reuben German, was a soldier in the war of 1812, and lived to the advanced age of eighty-six years. Our subject's mother, who was born April 24, 1827, is living with her son, Walter F. Bronson, in Macon county. Missouri. The father, who had devoted his energy to agriculture during his active years, died in 1895, when in his seventy-eighth year, at his home near Deer Park, Illinois, where he had dwelt since 1852.
M. A. Bronson was born in Wayne county, Michigan, not far from Detroit, August 13. 1850. Reared on the parental homestead, he received but a district-school education in his boyhood, but he was studious and ambitious, and these qualities obtained for him vastly better advantages than fell to the lot of the majority of his carly playmates. When a mere boy he was sent to Galesburg (Illinois) Academy, and later he attended school also- at Aurora. Illinois. For four winters after leaving school he was occupied in teaching, and for a short time was thus employed in Streator. Then for ten years he was in the United States mail service, running between St. Louis and Chicago, and Streator, Illinois, and Knox, Indiana. In 1892 he resigned that position in order to accept the one he now holds, that of agent for the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association. He looks after the sales and
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general interests of the company which he represents, not only in Streator but also in the adjacent territory, and has made himself very valuable to his employers.
In 1875 Mr. Bronson married Miss Agnes Mackey, the eldest daughter of Samuel and Sarah Mackey.
In his political creed Mr. Bronson is a stanch Democrat, and for the past four years has been a member of the county central committee of that party. He takes a great interest in local and state politics, and does effective service for the party. For two years he has served as assistant supervisor, and in 1898 was honored with the position of supervisor from Streator, since which time he has acted in the capacity of chairman of the board. Fraternally he belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America and Streator Lodge, No. 607, A. F. & A. M.
DYSON MILLER.
No resident of Mission township has longer resided within its borders than Dyson Miller. This honored pioneer came with his parents to this county in 1832, when only two and a half years old, and has witnessed the entire growth and development of this section of the state. Indians were far more numerous than the white settlers at the time of his arrival. and wild game abounded in the forest and furnished many a meal to the early settlers. The land was in its primitive condition and there was little promise that this section would one day be situated in the midst of the richest farming section of the Union and would be the place of abode for a contented, thrifty and prosperous people. Mr. Miller has always borne his part in the work of development and advancement, has been a prominent factor in agricultural interests, and now, at the age of seventy years, is living a retired life, enjoy- ing the rest which he has so richly carned and truly deserves.
Mr. Miller was born in Marion county, Ohio, December 23, 1829. and is of German lineage, his grandfather, Peter Miller, having been born in Germany, whence he came to America during the Revolutionary war. He aided in the struggle for independence and after the war took up his abode in Ohio. Peter Miller, Jr., the father of our subject, was born in Ross county, Ohio, September 5, 1802, and spending his youth in his native county he attended the district schools through the winter season and worked on the home farm through the summer months. He was married in Ohio to Harriet Holderman, a daughter of Abraham Holderman, a pio- neer of Kendall, then a part of LaSalle county. In the spring of 1832 Mr. Miller, with his wife and their little son Dyson, then two and a half years
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old, came to Illinois in a prairie schooner. They were six weeks in crossing the states of Indiana and Illinois to LaSalle county, where they arrived during the progress of the Black Hawk war. Hearing of the hostilities, Mr. Miller hid his wagon and goods in a thicket and, with his wife and child, proceeded on horseback to Ottawa. The militia afterward obtained this wagon for him. When the Indian troubles had abated Mr. Miller settled just south of Sheridan, where he secured a claim in 1833. His business interests were diligently conducted and managed with ability, and he pros- pered in his undertakings, becoming an extensive land-owner. In 1870 he decided to put away business cares, and accordingly removed to Sheridan, where he lived retired until his death, which occurred in 1889. His wife passed away in 1888. They were faithful members of the Protestant Epis- copal church, and were honored pioneer people.
Dyson Miller was reared to manhood on his father's farm in LaSalle county, and to the common-school system he is indebted for the educational privileges he has received. He has always resided in Mission township, and for many years was connected with its agricultural interests. In 1851 he married Miss Harriet Amelia Beardsley, a native of Massachusetts and a daughter of William Beardsley, a pioneer settler of Serena township, LaSalle county. He then began farming on his own account, and his well-tilled fields and excellent improvements on his place well indicated the careful supervision and unabating energy of the owner. When he was only eighteen years of age he drove hogs to Chicago for his father-a distance of seventy miles-and at that time not more than two stock-buyers were doing business in the now flourishing metropolis. He has seen the great changes which have taken place in methods of farming, has watched the introduction of new machinery which has revolutionized agriculture, and while actively con- nected with that line of work he was accounted one of the most progressive farmers of LaSalle county. He became interested in the grain business in Sheridan about 1874, and a few years later removed his family to the village, where he has since made his home. After being connected with that business for ten years he sold out, and for several years thereafter was in the stock business as a buyer and shipper, but is now living retired.
In 1894 Mr. Miller was made to mourn the loss of his wife, who was called to her eternal rest. The children born of their marriage were William B., now a resident of Chicago; Mrs. Jane Ann Moore, of Michigan; John H., a resident of Minnesota; Mrs. Mary R. Spradling, of Kansas; Mrs. Hattie R. Spurr, of Aurora, Illinois; Robert R., a stock-buyer of Sheridan; Peter H., of Ottawa; and Harry, who died in infancy.
In his political views Mr. Miller is a Republican and has held a number of local offices, including that of supervisor of Mission township. Socially.
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he is a Master Mason, and in religious belief he is a Methodist. He has now reached the Psalmist's span of three-score years and ten, and his life record is one unclouded by shadow of wrong. He has always been true to his duty to his neighbor, to his country and to himself, and has ever merited the warm regard so uniformly given him.
WALTER REEVES.
Walter Reeves, a prominent attorney of Streator, and one of the law- makers of the nation, is now for the third time representing his district in congress. He was born near Brownsville, Pennsylvania, on the 25th of September, 1848, and is a son of Harrison and Maria (Leonard) Reeves, the former of Scotch-English descent and the latter of Welsh-German lineage. The father was a farmer by occupation and was also a native of the Keystone state.
When eight years of age he accompanied his parents on their removal to Illinois, the family locating on a farm in LaSalle county, where he was reared to manhood. He acquired his education in the public schools and private study, and in early manhood became a teacher. During that time he also read law, and at the June term of the supreme court, in 1875, he was admitted to the bar. He at once began the practice of law in Streator and soon attained prominence at the LaSalle county bar. In 1884 he was admitted to practice in the United States supreme court, and has since been identified with much important litigation. He is the senior member of the firm of Reeves & Boys.
In politics Mr. Reeves has always been a pronounced Republican and protectionist. In 1894 he was nominated by the Republican party for repre- sentative in congress from the eleventh congressional district of Illinois, and was elected by a plurality of four thousand nine hundred and eighty-two votes. In 1896 he was re-elected by a plurality of six thousand two hundred and fifty-one votes; and on the 4th of March, 1899, took his seat for the third time in the house of representatives. Upon entering congress in 1895 he recognized the fact that he could best serve his constituents by devoting his energies to the work of internal improvements in the country. He was appointed a member of the committee on rivers and harbors, and in the river and harbor bill passed by the fifty-fourth congress he obtained from the general government for improvements in the state of Illinois between eight and nine million dollars. His position was that in the midst of exceed- ingly hard times the laboring people should be helped by providing work to be done in these internal improvements, and that in turn farmers and
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business men would be benefited by the influence on freight rates resulting therefrom. Thus he accomplished more for the internal improvement of the state by the general government than had been accomplished for a score of years. He has prepared and introduced a bill in congress to control the patent system of the United States, and a leading labor paper of New York said that if passed it would accomplish more for the laboring people of the United States than any other bill ever introduced. His course in congress has ever been one favoring advancement and progress; and that he has been three times elected to represent his district is unmistakable evidence of the confi- dence reposed in him by his fellow citizens.
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