USA > Illinois > LaSalle County > Biographical and genealogical record of La Salle County, Illinois. Volume I > Part 41
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Henry K. Parr's childhood was at a time when playmates were scarce, and therefore he became intimate with the little Indian boys, while his school days were passed in the old-time log cabin, where he underwent about as great development from the pure air and hickory gad as he did from the open text-book before him on the primitive slab desk. When it is remen- bered that there was but one other white family on the north side of the Illinois river between Ottawa and Chicago, one can form some idea how much nature had to do with the early training of our subject.
Mr. Parr began life for himself in Rutland township of this county, where, September 8, 1853, he married Elsie, a daughter of J. S. Armstrong, being the first native-born LaSalle county people to be married here. His beginning in life was very modest. A log cabin, a stove and the plainest of home-made furniture, being the only ornaments his farm home possessed. He came to Serena in the excessively cold and snowy month of January, 1855, and located on what is now known as one of the ideal farms of the township. He owns a half-section farm, from which he retired in 1890.
Mrs. Parr died February 9, 1889. Her children were: Florence May, the wife of Walter D. Strawn, of Ottawa, Illinois; Ida D., the wife of James W. Hupp, of McCook, Nebraska; Cora D., the wife of W. B. Miller, of Chicago; Estella, the wife of Dr. Logan, of Aurora, Illinois; and John S., deceased, who married Laura Leonard. Our subject's second wife was Mrs. Mary Maar, a sister of John Louis Marshall, of Serena. They were married in 1891. Mrs. Parr's first husband was John Maar, who died leaving three daughters, viz., Mary, Rosie and Lizzie.
Be it said to his credit, Mr. Parr has ever done his share toward the public service of his town. He has filled the offices of town clerk, assessor, justice of the peace and commissioner. Politically he is a "naturally born" Democrat and as he remarked to one interviewing him, "I was chopped
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out of a basswood log and fed on Democratic nourishment and breathed the Democratic air." Indeed it is as natural for him to be a Democrat as it is for a duck to take to water. He is outspoken and plain; everybody knows his views, and where he stands, and he expresses himself in the vernacular- adjective, expletives and all-common to the time of his bringing up.
George Galloway, born in 1827; H. K. Parr, born in 1830, and H. H. Holdridge, born in 1831, were the first three white male children born in LaSalle county. They remained in it to be fifty years of age and had their pictures taken together in 1883!
HENRY BOWEN.
Henry Bowen, the supervisor of the town of Serena and one of the most thrifty and prominent tillers of LaSalle county soil, was born in Kane county, Illinois, December 16, 1834. His father was one of the truly pioneer band in this state, coming to its broad and fertile domain in 1833. He hailed from Washington county, New York, reaching Illinois before the govern- ment had yet sectionized the land. He took a claim and resided on the same until the year 1845, when he came to LaSalle county and settled on a farm in Mission township. He possessed moderate means when he left his native state and was considered a well-to-do man in Illinois. He devoted his time and tact to farming, and no political or other movement attracted him in the least. The nominees of the Whig party constituted his ticket, but he never suffered his name to be up for local office.
The Bowen family originally came from Wales. Samuel Bowen, our subject's grandfather, was born in the state of New York, of Welsh parentage. The exact advent to America is not known, but it is nearly cer- tain that it was prior to our Revolutionary conflict. Hiram Bowen, the father of our subject, was forty-nine years of age at the time of his death, in 1854. He married Olive Niles, of Bennington, Vermont, and she departed this life in 1883. Her children were Henry, John and Thomas. The last named served as a member of the Thirty-sixth Illinois Infantry in the army of the Tennessee, during the civil war. He participated in the heavy engage- ments at Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Lookout Mountain, etc., ex- posure during which injured his health so that he died early in life's career.
Mr. Bowen spent his youthful days upon his father's farm, and besides obtaining a good practical knowledge of the successful management of the same he acquired, at the common district school, a somewhat limited knowl- edge of the common branches of learning. As he briefly puts it, "Experience has been my best teacher." He located on his present fine farm about
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1850, and in its wild state began the long years of ceaseless toil, by which he has made it one of the best equipped farms in the town. He owns a four- hundred-acre tract here and a six-hundred-acre tract near Hastings, Nebraska.
Every true American citizen has his political party choice, and in the case of our subject he affiliates with the Republican party. About 1883 he was elected the supervisor of his town and has served ever since. He was a member of the board of supervisors during the time the county buildings were being constructed,-the court house, jail, and county asylum,-and his suggestions were then and are now a valuable aid in the proper conduct of the business of the public. He is the capable secretary of the Farmers' Insurance Company, capitalized at one million dollars, and it is doing a good business in LaSalle county.
The death angel visited the home of our subject in 1871, claiming Mrs. Bowen, to whom he was united in marriage in 1869. Mrs. Martha Bowen was the daughter of Jesse Davidson, who came to Illinois from Ohio. By her death she left a daughter, Harriet, now the wife of Thomas Duffy, of Serena.
CHARLES H. HOAG.
Charles H. Hoag, of Serena, was born in Delaware county, New York, May 18, 1821, was reared and obtained his education in his native state and learned to farm from his father. His father, Amos Hoag, was born on Quaker Hill, on the line between Connecticut and New York. He mar- ried Elizabeth Haynes. In his politics he was originally a Whig but later a Republican; and he died in 1856. Mr. and Mrs. Amos Hoag were the parents of the following children: Albert, who died in LaSalle county, in 1851; George, who died in Serena, in 1869; Mark, who died in 1884; Charles H .; Henry, who died in 1856; Cynthia, deceased: Cyrus, of Dela- ware county, New York; and Jane, deceased. Our subject's paternal grand- father, Timothy Hoag, was a farmer, of the good old Quaker faith, and died in Columbia county, New York. His wife was a Miss Weed, and one of their children, Gilbert, came west and died in LaSalle county, Illinois.
Charles H. Hoag came to Illinois when twenty-eight years of age, hoping to find a broader field with better opportunities for gaining a compe- tency than the overcrowded east then afforded. Illinois was already known as the "garden spot of the west." But before permanently locating he spent four years in Michigan, going to that state in 1845, stopping in St. Joseph county, where he was married, in 1847, to Hellen Robinson; and they came to LaSalle county, Illinois, in 1849, by wagon, and settled on a rented farm
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in Dayton township and began life in earnest. After four years of steady toil he purchased the farm he still owns, adjoining the town plat of Serena. Here forty-six years of his life have been spent. Being public-spirited he has ever done his share toward the upbuilding of his home town. In politics he of whom we write was first a Whig and later entered the Republican ranks. He has held many local offices of trust, including town and school offices.
Mr. Hoag's first wife died in 1856, being the mother of three children- Mary, wife of Leonidas Fread; Clara, who married Albert Fread, deceased; and William, deceased. Mr. Hoag's second wife was Mary Wells, who died in 1891. Their children were: Lincoln, of Boston, Massachusetts; George, who died in Texas; Lillie, the wife of Walter Carter, of Serena; Cyrus, who died in Kansas, in 1889; Franklin, of Serena; Alvin, of Serena; Adam, who married Josephine Beckwith and lives in Serena; and Maud, the wife of C. B. Stockholm, also of Serena.
In the settlement of every new country there are a large number of the early pioneers who do not remain long, but move on in search of greener pastures and not unfrequently make the mistake of their lives. Not so with Mr. Hoag; for he has remained through the long years until almost a half century has slipped by. He has been afflicted by the cruel hand of death, bereaving him of many of his loved ones, yet he has taken the manly view of life's realities and is now enjoying the fruit of his long years of toil and frugal management. It is such men as Mr. Hoag who contribute much toward the advancement of this great west to its present high state of development.
JOHN S. CLAYTON.
The gentleman whose name appears at the head of this article is a repre- sentative of one of the oldest and best known families in Deer Park town- ship, LaSalle county, Illinois, and was born on the farm on which he now resides, June 18, 1837. His father being a well-to-do farmer, John S. in his youth was given good educational advantages. He has all his life given his attention to agricultural pursuits. Now he is carrying on both general farming and a live-stock business, buying, feeding, and shipping stock to the Chicago market.
Mr. Clayton has in his veins a mixture of English and German blood and counts among his ancestors men of sterling worth. His father, William Clayton, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1806, of English parents, and spent the early years of his life in Brooke county, Virginia, now West Virginia, coming from there in 1834 to Illinois. Here he bought several hundred acres of land, including the famous "Deer Park." and although
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he owned much other land he made this his home until his death, in 1885. When the town was organized he was made its first supervisor. He owned a large tract of land in Iroquois county, Illinois, and in his later life he built a town upon it and called it Claytonville. He retired from business at an advanced age and during the closing years of his life made his home with his son John S. In early life he was a Free-soil Democrat, but became a Republican when that party was organized. He was a strong Abolitionist at the time when that question was a vital one. In stature he was about five feet and eight inches; his weight, one hundred and sixty pounds. His wife, nee Elizabeth Puntney, died in 1873. She was of German and English descent, and lived a life of good deeds. Like her husband, she inclined toward Universalism, but really never got very far away from true Methodism. Her children were: James W., who was robbed and murdered near Denver in 1874; Sarah E., deceased, who was the wife of David Dick; Unity A., deceased; Carrie, now Mrs. J. C. Reynolds; William R .; John S .; George W., who was murdered near Fredericksburg, Texas, in 1871; Ellen C., the wife of Captain S: A. Lodge, of Monticello, Illinois; and Manning U., deceased.
In December, 1861, John S. Clayton was married to Julia A. Surdam, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. L. L. Surdam, who came to Illinois from Con- necticut. Mr. and Mrs. Clayton's three children are Grant F., D. O., a graduate of the American School of Osteopathy at Kirksville, Missouri; he is now successfully practicing his profession in Chadron, Nebraska; Charles S., now a student in the Pacific School of Osteopathy and Infirmary at Los Angeles, California; and Glennie A., who married Charles G. Piercy, and both are living with her parents in Deer Park township.
Mr. Clayton has affiliated with the Republican party since attaining his majority, and has been one of the promoters of its interest and welfare as a private citizen.
MRS. JANE S. LIBBEY.
Mrs. Jane S. Libbey, one of the pioneers of LaSalle county and well known in Ottawa and vicinity, is the widow of Francis Libbey, who during his last years was numbered among the most progressive agriculturists of this section. He was born near Portland. Maine, in 1815, and in his early manhood came to the west, where he believed that greater opportunities for advancement awaited him.
After residing for some time in Alton, Illinois, Mr. Libbey came to Ottawa, and here his destiny was united with that of Miss Jane S. Brown, their marriage taking place in 1849. Mrs. Libbey is a daughter of the Hon.
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Charles Brown, who was one of the earliest settlers of this county. He located on a claim just south of Ottawa in 1830, and during the Black Hawk war served in a company of home guards. The old homestead, now owned and managed by Mrs. Libbey, comprises four hundred and sixty-six acres of the most valuable and productive land around Ottawa.
To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Libbey five children were born,-three daughters and two sons. Elnora married William C. Griffith, who died in Indianapolis, Indiana, and their four children are Frank, Harry, Howard and William. Lucy, the second daughter, became the wife of W. C. Riale, an Ottawa business man, and they have one child, named Florence. Joseph- ine is the wife of Frank A. Kendall, of Cherokee. Iowa, and has five chil- dren .- Fanny, Grace, Edith, Josephine and Burton. Wallace, whose home is at Farm Ridge, LaSalle county, chose Miss Ida Watts, of Alton, Illinois, for his wife, and their children are Bessie J .. Esther and Ellen. Howard married Miss Florence Smith. of Fall River, LaSalle county, their home is at LaPlata, Missouri, and their two sons are Harrold and Donald. Mr. and Mrs. Libbey gave their children good educational advantages, and equipped them for the battle of life as far as was in their power. Mr. Libbey used his franchise in favor of the Democratic party, but was not a politician in any sense of the word. Death called him from his labors when he was still in his prime, being but forty-nine years of age. He left an honored name, and a record of which his children and posterity may justly be proud.
WILLIAM D. GRUBER.
There is a saying that "a prophet is not without honor except in his own country." Soldiers, however, as such always have honor in their own country; and everywhere in this country the man who risked his life in defense of the Union is held in honor, and when a veteran dies the whole community is moved by one common feeling of sorrow. LaSalle county has its proportion of these old heroes, who have fought for their country as young men and have given the best years of their subsequent lives to its development, and none of them is more highly regarded than William D. Gruber, who is not only a veteran of our civil war, but also an early settler and prominent citizen of Farm Ridge township.
Mr. Gruber was born in Preble county, Ohio, March 21. 1837, a son of Rev. Jacob Gruber, who was for forty years, until his death, one of the most influential and most highly respected citizens of Farm Ridge township, LaSalle county. Mr. Gruber's ancestors came from France to Pennsylvania in 1670, on account of the cruel persecutions to which the Huguenot Chris-
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tians were subjected after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Christian Gruber, father of Rev. Jacob Gruber, was born in Berks county, Pennsyl- vania, August 3, 1767. He married Catharine Metzsger, a native of Union county, Pennsylvania. They were the parents of fifteen children,-eight boys and seven girls: John, born March 8, 1800; Jacob, November 10, 1801; Henry, December 22, 1803: Philip, June 5, 1806; Elizabeth, May 26, 1808; Mary, June 23, 1810; Joseph, December 31, 1812; Catharine, April 29, 1815; George, September 17, 1817; Susanna, March 9, 1819; Sarah, October 27, 1820; Christena, October 25, 1822; Christian, December 29, 1824; Daniel, April 12, 1827; and Samuel, April 12, 1829. George, Samuel and Daniel were soldiers in the Mexican war, George being killed at the storming of the city of Mexico. Samuel was wounded in the same battle, and died before he reached home. Daniel is the only survivor.
I11 1804 Mr. and Mrs. Gruber removed to Pickaway county, Ohio. (He served in the war of 1812.) Jacob Gruber having been born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, November 10, 1801, was at that time three years old. He lived in Pickaway county, Ohio, until 1856, when he came to LaSalle county, Illinois, and settled on a farm of two hundred and sixty- two acres, much of which he improved and placed under profitable cultiva- tion: and that he retains most of it will be apparent when it is considered that this same farm is the one upon which he spent his declining years, containing two hundred and ten acres of land. He married Susan Emrick, a native of Montgomery county, Ohio, March 4, 1830. Mrs. Gruber died April 17, 1878, leaving seven children: Amanda M., Melusena E., William D., Sarah Victoria, Milton L., Joseph L., and Samuel H. Mr. Gruber was married a second time July 15. 1879, to Elizabeth Runbarger, who was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, January 9, 1826. He was ordained a minister of the Evangelical Lutheran church in 1828. He was a Democrat and a Freemason and a man of much public spirit. His death occurred in Grand Ridge, January 19, 1895.
William D. Gruber, the eldest son of the Rev. Jacob and Susan (Emrick) Gruber, received a good education and has been a student and a diligent reader all his life, as well as a close observer of men and events. He has much artistic and mechanical talent and acquired knowledge of, and for some years devoted himself to, the marble-cutter's trade. In 1862 he enlisted in the Eighty-eighth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, for service against the south in the civil war, and participated in the battles of Perry- ville and Stone River and in other engagements and skirmishes of less note and in the siege of Vicksburg. He lost the sense of sight in one eye and the sense of hearing in one ear and for a time was detailed to duty as a clerk at headquarters, for which his education and experiences fitted him. When,
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September 7, 1864, he was mustered out of the service, he had taken part in twenty-six engagements, some of them among the most notable of the war, and had an excellent record as a soldier.
Mr. Gruber interested himself in education, and was for some time one of the most popular teachers in his part of the country. Since he left the school-room his interest in public education has not diminished, and he has been a life-long advocate of and worker for improvements in the schools of his township and county. His home is one of the most inviting in its vicinity and he and his family have always dispensed a most generous hos- pitality. His farm abounds in fruits and vegetables in great variety, includ- ing many varieties of strawberries. The lawn surrounding his large resi- dence is shaded by many ornamental trees and beautified with shrubs and flowering plants of various kinds, including forty kinds of roses alone.
Mr. Gruber was married in 1867 to Miss Caroline A. Von Forell, who was born at Buffalo, New York, October 26, 1848, a daughter of Captain Adolph Von Forell, a German military officer and a member of one of the noblest families of Desseldorf, who married Augusta Schmeiding, a lady of good family and thorough education, and soon afterward came to Amer- ica and took up his residence in Buffalo. Later he removed with his family to Illinois and still later to Nebraska, where he died aged sixty-nine. His wife, now seventy-three, lives in Thayer county, Nebraska. They were life- long members of the Lutheran church. Of their nine children eight are living: Adolph, Fredrick, Henry, Ernest, Mrs. Gruber, August, Charles and Julius. Bertha is dead. Mr. and Mrs. William D. Gruber have nine children: Oscar, who married Miss Louisa Schurer (now deceased), lives near Fort Dodge, Iowa; Augusta, wife of C. I. Woodward, a well known farmer of Farm Ridge township; Charles, who lives at Iowa Falls, Iowa; Milton, not married, who is living in Farm Ridge township; Florence, of Grand Ridge; Arthur, at home; and Susan, Sarah and Mary, at their parental home.
ISAAC F. MASON.
Among the representative farmers of LaSalle county, Illinois, certainly one of the most progressive and popular is the gentleman whose history it is our privilege and pleasure to present on this page. He was born May 9, 1857, on the old Mason homestead in this county, and has grown to man's estate among the friends who have known and loved him from boyhood. His father, Joseph Mason, was born in the state of Ohio, and there remained until he had reached mature years, when he came to Illinois and here was married to Mrs. Rosanna Pickens, a sister of Captain J. J. McKernan, who
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was a well known resident and an early settler of this locality. She had first married Henry Pickens and become the mother of two children,- Maranda, now deceased, and Celestia Jane. Mr. Pickens died six years previous to the marriage of his widow to Mr. Mason. By the latter mar- riage there were five children, namely: Isaac F., our subject, and James, · twins; Justice, who died in childhood; Luella, also deceased; and Joseph F. When Isaac was about seven years of age his father died, and his widow took for her third husband Mr. Henry Slater.
Isaac F. Mason received his educational training in the public schools and early learned habits of industry and thrift which have been character- istic of his entire life. His attention has been given to farming and his farm of four hundred acres is so well improved and cared for that it is sure of attracting attention, even from the most casual observer. The residence is a large, pleasant one, and the barn, the main part of which is thirty-two by thirty-two, has an L of almost equal size, thirty-two by thirty, furnishing ample room for stock and grain. Another feature, seldom found on private grounds, but none the less desirable. is a large reservoir, which is well stocked with fish, from which a mess of the finny tribe can be transferred to the owner's table on short notice.
He was married September 4, 1879, to Miss Jennie Fair, a native of Pennsylvania and a daughter of John Fair. Her father died in his fifty- eighth year and her mother when one year younger. Mrs. Mason was one of nine children, eight of whom are living, viz .: Samuel C., Wesley, Mary Robinson, Ella Williamson, Jennie Mason, William, Emma, and Cora. Mr. and Mrs. Mason are the parents of five children, namely: Arthur F., a young man of nineteen; Bessie J., a school-girl of fourteen; Isaac R., who is in his eighth year; Zelma, a child of two summers; and Letha, an infant that died at the age of eleven months. Mr. Mason is a Republican in his political proclivities. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and one of the most highly esteemed residents of this county.
A. H. SMITH. ·
A. H. Smith, editor of the leader, Earlville, Illinois, dates his birth in the town in which he now lives, December 9, 1868, and is a son of Charles M. and Mary C. Smith. Charles M. Smith was a man well known through- out this locality and was recognized as an authority on horses. He was a breeder of trotting horses, took great delight in the turf, and acted as judge at many a race.
A. H. Smith was early taught the value of a dollar and that it required
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work to get it, and when a mere boy he began saving a part of his earnings. The small amount thus saved and put out at interest later gave him a start in business. He received a common-school education in Earlville, which he followed with a commercial course in the Gem City Business College at Quincy, Illinois. In 1886 he entered the employ of the Earlville Leader, with which he was connected at that time for two years. He then went to Chicago and secured a position as job printer in a large concern, where he obtained a valued experience in all kinds of job printing and where he remained two years. Returning to Earlville at the end of that time, he and his brother, Charles M. Smith, Jr., purchased the Earlville Leader, which they successfully conducted together until 1893, when the subject of this sketch bought out his brother's interest in the paper. Since that date he has been the sole proprietor. The Leader has always been conducted on independent principles, and under the efficient management of Mr. Smith has prospered and largely increased in circulation.
While in Chicago, December 18, 1889, Mr. Smith married Miss Fannie Dumond, of Earlville, and they have two children, Marjory and Bryce.
CHRISTIAN STEINMAYER.
The German character is in all communities influential for good upon business prosperity because its conspicuous qualities are thrift, industry, per- severance and integrity, the four corner-stones of all stable financial and industrial structures. LaSalle, Illinois, has its German contingent and is duly appreciative of it and of what it has done for the town, and there are few, if any, of this worthy class of citizens who are more highly regarded in business and social circles than the man whose name forms the caption of this article.
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