USA > Illinois > LaSalle County > Biographical and genealogical record of La Salle County, Illinois. Volume I > Part 42
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Christian Steinmayer was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, January 6, 1854, a son of Christopher and Lena (Horwarth) Steinmayer, and is the last of his father's family, his only sister having died in Germany. In his native land he gained an education equivalent to a high-school education in America and learned the machinist's trade and worked at it there until 1874, when, at the age of twenty, he came to the United States and after living one year in Chicago, located at LaSalle, where he was employed as a machinist by Matthiessen & Hegeler Zinc Company until 1878, in which year he was made foreman of this concern's machine shop. This position Mr. Steinmayer held until 1887.
In April of the year last mentioned Mr. Steinmayer, with others, organ- ized the LaSalle Pressed Brick Company, which engaged in the manufacture
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of pressed brick from clay found in LaSalle township. Success has attended the enterprise, and the factory has been increased until it is now three times its original size. The business has witnessed a steady increase, until the products of the factory have reached an annual output of over four millions of brick. The company manufacture plain, moulded and ornamental pressed brick, standard and Roman sizes, in red, buff, brown, pink, and other colors and find ready sale for the output, shipping to many points in the northwest, including Chicago, Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth, and to more distant points in the Dakotas and other western states. Mr. Steinmayer, the president of the company, has been in charge of its interests from the day of its beginning, and the success it has achieved under his management reflects the greatest credit on his ability to organize and build up a big enterprise.
In 1876 Mr. Steinmayer married Catharine Feurer, who likewise was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, and who has borne him seven children, six of whom are living. He regards his success in life modestly, and does much quiet and effective work for the public good. He takes no active interest in politics, but has decided views on all public questions, and performs his duty as a citizen, unfailingly and conscientiously.
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WILLIAM ROE.
This is the age of the young man, and young men have come to the front in these last years of the nineteenth century who will give an impetus to commerce, to science, to education, to professional success and to moral, literary and religious progress which will make the twentieth century a land- mark in the world's history. In our mixed blood is the concentrated spirit of pioneers who loved liberty and were willing to risk their lives for the right and for the opportunity to earn comfort for their wives and their children, and the Scotch strain promises as much for the moral and intellec- tual future of our country as any other.
William Roe, attorney-at-law, LaSalle, Illinois, was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, August 13, 1868, a son of Thomas and Mary (Jamieson) Roe. His father was of Scotch, his mother of Irish nativity, but Mrs. Roe's father had some Scotch blood in his constitution and had a Scotch name. They came to the United States in November, 1884, and immediately thereafter settled at Oglesby, LaSalle county, Illinois, where Thomas Roe died, in November, 1891, at the age of fifty-eight. His widow is living at LaSalle, now in her sixty-fourth year. Mr. Roe was a coal-miner of many years
William Roe,
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experience, a man of reading and intelligence and a patriotic citizen who adapted himself to the American ways and did honor to American citizenship.
When the family came to this county William Roe was sixteen years old. He had left school, in his native land, at the early age of thirteen and began to work in the coal mines. After his arrival at Oglesby he resumed mining in the mines of that vicinity. He spent one year at Spring Valley, where the family lived for that time. In 1891, before he was twenty-three, he began the study of law, reading evenings and working in the mines during the long days. But while he worked he also studied and reasoned and acquired a habit of mind which has since been of much service to him. He was admitted to the bar in December, 1894, and entered upon the practice of his profession at LaSalle early in the succeeding year. His fellow-towns- men know that he has been successful, and they know, too, that he has won by methods honorable and legitimate, with due regard for the law, for the courts and for himself. He is an active citizen, who looks at public questions from the Republican point of view, and takes a helpful interest in every movement for the general good. He is identified with the First Congre- gational church of LaSalle and is helpfully interested in all its work, and is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. Much of his spare time he has devoted to literature, and he is the author of numerous poems of more than ordinary merit. One of these, William Roe's Farewell Address to his Sunday-school Class of the Oglesby Union Church, has had an exten- sive local circulation and is much admired.
ALBERT H. HATTON, M. D.
For eighteen years this well known physician and surgeon of Peru has been a resident of LaSalle county, actively identified with western interests. Among his professional brethren he ranks high and his ability has gained him prestige, and his devotion to his profession has given him a leading place in the ranks of the representatives of the medical fraternity. In tracing the genealogy of our subject we find that he is descended from a long line of sturdy, intelligent and honorable ancestors, and that in both the lineal and collateral branches the representatives have been prominent in the history of the nation in connection with civil and military affairs of the country.
The first of the name to seek a home in America was Thomas Hatton, who was born in England in 1600 and died in Maryland in 1655. He was descended from Sir Christopher Hatton, a lord chancellor in Queen Eliza- beth's reign. In 1648 he bade adieu to the land of his birth and sailed from London for the colonial possessions of England in America. He was the
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trusted friend of Lord Baltimore and shortly after his arrival was appointed secretary of the province and privy council. He was closely identified with the interests of Lord Baltimore in Maryland and died in battle during the engagement at the Severn. His descendants are still found in Maryland, Virginia, Ohio and other western states, and have filled many positions of public trust, including a cabinet office and places of high military rank, a representative of the family having been a brigadier general of volunteers.
Forsyth Hatton, the paternal grandfather of the Doctor, was a native of Virginia and by trade was a blacksmith. In 1836 he came to Illinois and forty years later died at his home in Marshall county, at the age of seventy- six years. One of his brothers was a soldier in the war of 1812, and was in action at the battle of New Orleans, and another served in the Mexican war, enlisting in 1847. The grandfather of Forsyth Hatton was a captain in the British army and was serving under General Wolfe when he fell at the battle of Quebec. The father of the Doctor was Andrew Hatton, a native of Rockbridge county, Virginia. He married Artemisia Moulton, who was born in Tazewell county, Illinois, and a daughter of Levi Moulton, who was a native of Kentucky and representative pioneer of Tazewell county. Levi Moulton married Mary Burns, a daughter of Garrett Burns, who was born at Rising Sun, Kentucky, in 1801. Her father was born near Edinburg, Scotland, and was an own cousin of Robert Burns, the well known Scot- tish bard. In 1786 Garrett Burns came to the United States with his parents, the family locating in eastern Maryland. He, however, started for the western frontier and crossing the Alleghany mountains he cast in his lot with the pioneer settlers in Kentucky, making his home on the Ohio river near Cincinnati. Those were dangerous and troublous times on the frontier and the pioneers were almost constantly warring with the Indians of the territory. During the fall that he arrived on the "dark and bloody ground" Mr. Burns joined the army and through the succeeding seven years was in almost constant service, taking part in many of the hardest-fought en- gagements with the Indians in the successive campaigns under Generals Harmar, St. Clair and Anthony Wayne. In a hand-to-hand fight with an Indian warrior at the time of St. Clair's defeat, his thumb was cut off by a tomahawk stroke which was aimed at his head, but which he parried with his rifle. Making good his escape he started with two wounded companions through the wild forests for the nearest pioneer settlements. They had no arms except hunting knives, no blankets and no means of making a fire. For three weeks they subsisted on acorns, black cherries and slippery-elm bark and traveled day after day through forests infested by wild animals and still wilder men till they safely arrived at a settlement on the Ohio river. In 1794 Mr. Burns was again under the command of General Wayne in battle
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near the Maumee river against the Indians under their famous war chief Little Turtle. This ended in the crushing defeat of the red men and delivered the territory from further depredations by the hostile tribes of Indians. Mr. Burns died in Tazewell county, Illinois, in 1859, at the advanced age of ninety years. Levi Moulton, the maternal grandfather of our subject, came to Tazewell county in 1824, at a time when that section of the state was little better than a veritable wilderness, infested by wolves and Indians. He was a farmer and a prominent man in his settlement and for many years served as justice of the peace. He burned the first brick laid at Fort Clark, now Peoria, Illinois. Being an Abolitionist, politically, he was active in the underground-railway scheme and did all in his power to promote anti-slavery principles. He had a personal acquaintance with Abra- ham Lincoln when he was an embryo attorney and unknown to fame, and with other prominent men of that day, and was himself regarded as one of the leading citizens in his section of the state. He reared a family of nine chil- dren and all four of his sons were soldiers in the Union army during the war of the Rebellion.
Andrew Hatton, the father of the Doctor, came to Illinois in 1836 and died here in 1852, when he was but twenty-five years of age, his death being the result of an accident. In 1849 he purchased a farm in Belle Plain town- ship, Marshall county, of a man who had pre-empted the property from the government. Mrs. Hatton survived her husband some twenty-four years, her death occurring in the year 1876, aged forty-six years. They had but one son and one daughter: the latter, Mary Elizabeth, is now the wife of C. A. Reed, of Davenport, Iowa. The parents were consistent members of the Christian church and possessed the love and high regard of all who knew them.
Born on the old farm in Marshall county, June 4, 1851, Albert Henry Hatton was by death bereft of a father's guidance; but his mother did much to direct the footsteps of the boy as he grew up. His youth was spent on the homestead and his time was divided between the farm work and chores and attendance at the country district schools. In the latter he soon developed an aptitude for study and a great fondness for books. Subse- quently he was a student in the Shattuck grammar school at Faribault, Minnesota, and later at Eureka College, at Eureka, Illinois. When he was just past seventeen he commenced teaching, and the following five years found him teaching and going to school alternately, at the end of which time he gave up pedagogy and took up medicine as a profession. After attending a course of lectures at the Eclectic Medical Institute in Cincinnati he returned to Marshall county and practiced at La Rose for about two years. Then he repaired to St. Louis, Missouri, for a final course of lectures, and on
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January 27, 1877, was graduated at the American Medical College, as vale- dictorian of his class. After graduation he resumed practice at La Rose.
A year later he removed to Peru, where he practiced for two years, and then moved to Henry county, this state, where he remained a year. Then lie accepted a call to the professorship of anatomy and physiology at his alma mater in St. Louis, and filled the place with credit to himself and satis- faction of the faculty; but at the end of a year he resigned the chair and in August, 1882, returned to Peru and soon had a large business, which he has held to the present time.
After he had been practicing the traditional, empirical method of dealing with disease for about a decade he became convinced that homeopathy was by far the most reasonable system in the field, and he gradually drifted into the same. In 1893 he was graduated at the Chicago Homeopathic Medical College, and has since engaged in practice as a homeopathist. He is now a member of the Fox River Institute of Homeopathy, the Illinois State Homeopathic Association and of the American Institute of Homeopathy. His accurate knowledge, his comprehensive reading and his close application to his duties have secured him a leading place among his professional breth- ren and gained him a reputation which is justly enviable.
On the 4th of March, 1874, Mr. Hatton married Miss Jennie Bangs, the youngest daughter of Samuel L. and Margaret (Howard) Bangs. Samuel L. Bangs was born in Massachusetts and is a lineal descendant of the Puritan Pilgrim Edward Bangs, who came to the Plymouth colony on the ship Anne in 1624. His father and his grandfather were soldiers in the war of the Revolution, on the colonial side. His wife Margret, nee Howard, was born in England and is of the family of Howards so noted in the history of England. Miss Jennie Bangs was born at Lamoille, Bureau county, Illinois, in July, 1851, and at the time of her marriage was a "school-ma'rm" of rare ability and a growing reputation. The Doctor and his wife have four children, named Edward Howard, Fred Hammond, Harry Loomis and Arthur Wilson.
Having taken all the degrees of the York rite, Dr. Hatton has advanced to a high station in Freemasonry. He was made a Mason in Varna Lodge, No. 720, at Varna, Illinois, on February 22, 1878. He is now a past master of St. John's Lodge, No. 13, A. F. & A. M., at Peru; a past eminent com- mander of St. John's Commandery, No. 26, K. T., stationed also at Peru; is also a member of Marshall Lodge, No. 63, I. O. O. F., at Henry, this state, and of De Soto Lodge, No. 53, K. of P., at LaSalle.
In his political attitude the Doctor is an uncompromising Republican; and in religion he is a member of the Christian church. However, as there is no organization of this body at Peru he has always attended the Con-
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gregational church, of which his wife is a member. Both himself and wife have many friends in the community where they reside. He is a man of high intellectuality, broad human sympathies and tolerance, and imbued with fine sensibilities and clearly defined principles. Honor and integrity are synonymous with his name, and he deserves the respect, confidence and high regard of the community.
WILLIAM B. DAVISON.
An energetic, capable business man of Utica is the gentleman of whom this sketch is penned. Public-spirited and deeply interested in whatever affects the general welfare, he is an ideal citizen, prompt in the performance of his duties as such and setting an example worthy of emulation.
The father of our subject, Thomas Davison, was a native of England, where he was reared to manhood. Soon after his marriage to Margaret Blyth he came to the United States and took up his abode in Bradford county, Pennsylvania. In 1857 he removed to LaSalle, Illinois, where for thirty years he was numbered among its representative citizens. In 1887 he went to Chicago to live, but death soon claimed him. His widow is still a resident of that city.
The birth of William B. Davison occurred August 30, 1853, in Canton, Bradford county, Pennsylvania, but nearly all of his life has been passed in this county. In the excellent public schools of LaSalle he acquired a good education, and soon after arriving at his majority he turned his attention to the same line of business which has occupied his time until the present day. Having mastered the details of brick-manufacturing, he carried on a plant of his own for several years in LaSalle. In 1882 he sold out and coming to Utica entered the employ of the Utica Fire Brick Company, with which concern he is yet connected. Gradually he worked his way upward in the business until he was made superintendent of the company's works, large responsibilities resting upon his shoulders. In 1893 the factory was de- stroyed by fire, but was rebuilt in a better style than formerly and reopened in June, 1899, and with increased accommodations and facilities a finer grade of brick is turned out than ever before. The works were established by A. T. Griffin, in 1882, and for years this has been regarded as one of the important local industries, employment being afforded to a number of men.
On the 2d of February, 1881, Mr. Davison married Miss Ella F. Griffin, the eldest daughter of A. T. Griffin and wife, Mary H., whose parents were Edward and Eva Holland. The children blessing the union
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of our subject and wife are Blanche, Mary, Blythe and William T. Mrs. Davison died September 3, 1899.
The cause of education is one near to the heart of Mr. Davison, as it should be to every patriotic American. He has served as the president of the Utica school board for two terms and at present occupies this responsible position. Politically he is an ardent Republican, and fraternally he is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and of the Mystic Workers. He has served one term as the mayor of Utica and two terms as an alderman.
FRANK J. BLISS, D. V. S.
For more than a score of years Dr. Frank J. Bliss has been successfully engaged in practice as a veterinary surgeon, and since 1872 has been a resi- dent of Earlville, LaSalle county, where he is well and favorably known. He possesses an excellent education and is thoroughly experienced in his chosen field of labor.
John Bliss, the paternal grandfather of the Doctor, was a farmer and noted for the fine horses which he raised. He was in the service during the second war with England, and died at Royalton, Vermont, when over ninety years of age. He was the father of twelve children, to each of whom he gave good advantages for that period. His father, John Bliss, Sr., was a native of England, and was a pioneer farmer in Vermont. During the struggle of the colonies with the mother country he joined the army of Washington, and aided in establishing the independence of the United States. He married Rebecca Hutchinson and lived to extreme old age, dying when in his ninety- ninth year. He was the father of seventeen sons and daughters, and from him are descended many bearing the name of Bliss. The maternal grand- father of our subject, David Nichols, married Abigail Winslow, of the celebrated family who were passengers on the Mayflower, and eleven chil- dren were born of their union. David Nichols was a soldier in the war of 1812, and his brother William was an aide on the staff of General Gates at the time of Burgoyne's surrender. By occupation David Nichols was a farmer, and at the time of his death he had reached the venerable age of ninety-one years, while his wife was in her eighty-ninth year when she was called to the silent land. His father, Abraham Nichols, also lived to extreme old age, dying when almost a centenarian. His home was in Rehoboth, Rhode Island, and his numerous sons and daughters and their posterity went to various localities in this country. A worthy example was set by him as a patriot and citizen, and his loyal services in the war of the Revolution are gratefully remembered.
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The parents of the Doctor were Carlton P. and Maria (Nichols) Bliss, both natives of Vermont. The father, a gentleman of superior education and attainments, was a graduate of the Middlebury (Vermont) College, and was an expert civil engineer. In his early manhood he went to the south and for a number of years divided his time between Savannah, Georgia; St. Augustine, Florida, and a place called Double Branches, in Georgia, his winters being passed at the two first mentioned points. Later he was in the employ of the government as a superintendent of harbor and drainage construction and improvements. His last years were passed in his native state, where he carried on a farm in the vicinity of Randolph, Orange county. There he died, in 1883. when in his seventy-ninth year, and his devoted wife did not long survive him, as she was laid to rest in the quiet cemetery within a month after his death, she being sixty-three years of age. Both were consistent members of the Congregational church, and for many years he acted in the office of deacon. In his home township he was called upon to hold nearly all of the local offices, and for a score of years he was a selectman, transacting the general business of the district. For a period he occupied the chair of mathematics in Dartmouth College, and the cause of education was ever dear to his heart. Thus it may be seen that he was a leader both by nature and training, a power for good in his community. To himself and wife three children were born, Frank J. being the only son. Mary J. is the widow of Mason J. Howland, and is now a resident of Box Butte, Nebraska, as is also the younger sister, Emma Adelia, wife of Henry Gilberts.
The birth of Dr. F. J. Bliss occurred in Savannah, Georgia, October I, 1852, and until his tenth year he lived in the south. His elementary educa- tion was obtained of a private tutor, an old Presbyterian minister, and after he returned with his parents to New England he received excellent training in the public schools, and in 1874 was graduated in the Vermont State University. Desiring to enter the medical profession, the young man then pursued a course of study in the Burlington Medical College, and afterward
attended a series of lectures in the old New York Veterinary College. Being convinced that the west is a better field for a young practitioner, he located in Milwaukee, where for two years he was engaged in veterinary work. In 1872 he removed to Earlville, where he soon built up an excellent practice, and has remained. He belongs to the State Veterinary Society of Illinois, and keeps thoroughly abreast of all progress in his particular line of work. He has made good investments in real estate, and at the present time is the owner of an entire block of Earlville property and three paying farms,- one in Nebraska, one in Missouri, and one in Kansas, aggregating seven hundred and sixty acres. Politically he is a Republican, and fraternally an Odd Fellow.
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The marriage of Dr. Bliss and Miss Isabel Rubdew was celebrated June 28, 1876. She is a daughter of Alexander and Julia (Pelca) Rubdew, who were early settlers of Earl township, LaSalle county, coming here from their former home in Vermont. The Doctor and wife have one child, named Gertrude Frances.
J. J. CARTER.
J. J. Carter, a successful farmer of Farm Ridge township, LaSalle county, was born in Wayne county, New York, February 10, 1841. He is of Scotch descent, his first ancestor in this country having been one of four unmarried brothers who came to America about 1650, one locating in Vir- ginia, one in Philadelphia, and two in the Empire state. Some of their descendants were soldiers in the war for independence, while others bearing the name were actively engaged in the war of 1812.
Asa, father of J. J. Carter, was born in New York state, the son of a hero of the second war with England. He married Hannah Braymer, of the same state, daughter of a thrifty Pennsylvania German. In 1844 they removed to Will county, Illinois, and four years later came to this township, where the parents continued to dwell until called to their reward, the father dying at the age of sixty-five years, and the mother at sixty-seven years. Both were devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal church. They had seven children, of whom one daughter, Fannie, is deceased. The others are: Edwin, of Iowa; Charles, of this township; J. J .; Mrs. Almira Gillespie, of Nebraska: Mrs. Janet Singer, of Ottawa; and Allen, of Nebraska.
From his earliest recollections, J. J. Carter has been familiar with farm- ing, in its various branches. His energetic efforts to acquire a competence met with due reward, and for many years he has been one of the well-to-do farmers of this township. He owns a quarter section of finely improved land, part of the old homestead. This place is a very desirable one, as it has good barns, a comfortable residence, orchard, fine pastures and fertile fields, all in excellent condition. In addition to this farm he owns another, at Red Lake, Minnesota.
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