USA > Illinois > LaSalle County > Biographical and genealogical record of La Salle County, Illinois, Volume II > Part 21
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FRANK DALE.
Frank Dale, deceased, was born in Yorkshire, England, January 23, 1812. and was struck and killed by a train in Leland. Illinois, September 4, 1890.
When a small child, in 1819, Mr. Dale came with his father, David Dale, and family, to this country, their settlement being in Luzerne county, Penn- sylvania, where he was reared. In 1834 he went to Port Huron, Michigan, where he remained two years, thence coming to Illinois and first locating in De Kalb county, near Freeland, where he farmed and acquired consid- erable land. Disposing of his interests there, he removed to Somonauk, Illinois, in 1853, and established the first store in the town. In 1859 he came to Leland and engaged in the grain business, which he conducted for a period of ten years. He then moved to a farm in De Kalb county, five miles north of Leland, and for seven years carried on farming, after which he returned to Leland and lived retired up to the time of his death.
Mr. Dale was a man of local prominence. For several years he was the president of the De Kalb County Old Settlers' Association. Politically he was a Republican, and for a time served as the president of the board of village trustees. For many years he was actively identified with the Meth- odist Episcopal church, in which he was an ordained minister, and while he never had a regular charge he frequently preached, substituting his services for that of absent ministers. He was the youngest of a family of eight chil- dren and was the last to leave the scenes of this life.
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Of Mr. Dale's family, we record that he was twice married, and by his first wife had a large number of children. August 17, 1833, he wedded Maria Webster, a daughter of John Webster, and for nearly forty years their lives were happily blended together, her death terminating the union August 21, 1872. They were the parents of eleven children. The first two died in infancy, one died at the age of eight years, and eight are still living, namely: Clara, the wife of George Metcalf, of Oklahoma; Caroline, the wife of H. L. Bacon, of Chicago, Illinois: Mary E., the wife of M. L. Watson, of Andale, Kansas; Susan E., the wife of John Beckwith, of Wichita, Kansas; Arthur H., of whom mention is made further on in this sketch; John W., of Wichita, Kansas; J. Frank, ex-chief justice of Oklahoma; and David M .. a district judge residing in Sedgwick county, Kansas. December 7, 1873, Mr. Dale married Sarah E., the widow of Ira Kipp, who is now living with a daughter in Dawson, Minnesota.
Arthur H. Dale, referred to above, was born in Luzerne county, Penn- sylvania, February 2, 1846, while his parents were making a brief sojourn there, that being his father's boyhood home; and in his infancy Arthur H. was brought to Illinois. At Somonauk he was reared and received a com- mon-school education, and later he took a six-months commercial course in a Chicago business college. In 1861 he engaged in the grain business at Leland, with his father, their association continuing until the summer of 1864, when young Dale enlisted in Company E, Eighty-ninth Illinois Volun- teer Infantry, as a recruit, and was in the Fourth Army Corps, under Gen- eral Thomas, remaining in the service until the close of the war, when he was honorably discharged. He was a participant in the battles of Franklin and Nashville, Tennessee.
Returning to Leland, Illinois, after the war. Mr. Dale again engaged in business with his father: was with him until 1870, and afterward was for a time alone in business there. Then he went to Plattsburg, Missouri, where he spent two years and a half, engaged in the hardware business. From Missouri he went to California, and after spending a year in the Golden state, near Sacramento, he returned to Leland and engaged in the live-stock busi- ness, which he has since successfully conducted. owning a fine tract of land here. He was in the hardware trade for eight years in Leland, just after his return from Missouri.
Mr. Dale is a Republican, and has always shown a commendable interest in public affairs. He has served as road commissioner, having filled that office for some ten years; from 1893 to 1895 inclusive he was the assessor of Adams township, LaSalle county, and for the past twenty years has been a school director. Fraternally he is identified with the Masonic order. the Eastern Star, and the Knights of the Globe.
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He was married in December, 1874, to Louie H. Gedney, a daughter of Henry E. Gedney, of Ottawa, Illinois. Mr. Gedney was the founder of the Ottawa Constitution, now the Republican-Times.
GEORGE THOMAS FOREMAN.
The subject of this sketch is one of the successful farmers of Adams township, LaSalle county, Sheridan his postoffice address. It was in Kent county. England, April 13. 1856, that he was born, a son of George and Emily (Nettlingham) Foreman. The Foreman family emigrated to this country in 1858. Coming west at once to Illinois, they settled on the Lyman farm, near the line between Serena and Freedom townships, LaSalle county, where they resided for a number of years. The parents and one daughter are now residents of Iroquois county, Illinois, and the father is now seventy years of age. Of their children we record that George Thomas, the subject of this sketch, is the eldest; Alfred married Annie King and resides in Iro- quois county; Ellen R., the wife of Anson Taylor, lives in Dodge county, Nebraska; Maggie, the wife of Melvin Sturdevant, resides in Birmingham, Alabama; Henry, who married Mary Sturdevant, is in Iroquois county; William E., who married Phoebe Carlock, is a resident of Minnesota; Albert R., also of Iroquois county, married Lavina Brandenburg: Walter, of Chi- cago; Lewis J., who married Mrs. Celia (Van Vleet) Elgin, and resides in Iroquois county; and Fannie S. resides in Watseka, Illinois, with her par- ents.
George T. was reared in LaSalle county and received a limited education in the local schools. He remained with his parents and aided in the support of the home until he was twenty years of age. He then secured employ- ment as a farm hand in Adams township, and was thus occupied two or three years. Carefully saving his earnings, he acquired an interest in a threshing machine, of which he became manager, and while running the thresher made some money. In 1888 he went to work in the bridge de- partment of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, where he was em- ployed for two years. In 1890 he came to the old Cottew homestead, his father-in-law's home, and has since resided here. A man of energy and good management, he is meeting with justly deserved success in his farming operations.
Mr. Foreman was married March 13, 1883, to Miss Caroline, daughter of James and Harriet Cottew, early settlers of Adams township. Mr. Cot- tew died in 1894, at the age of seventy-seven years. He was a soldier in the civil war, a member of the First Illinois Regiment of Light Artillery,
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and was discharged from service on account of disability. Mr. and Mrs. Foreman have two children-Pearl S. and Allen R .- aged respectively four- teen and six years.
Fraternally Mr. Foreman is identified with the Modern Woodmen of America, having his membership in Baker Camp, No. 4434. He is a Re- publican in his political affiliations.
EDWARD A. NATTINGER.
Probably one of the best known men in journalistic circles of northern Illinois is Edward A. Nattinger, of Ottawa, now connected with the Republi- can-Times of that flourishing city. He has occupied numerous important public positions of trust and honor and stands high in political and frater- nal organizations. His ability and direction of affairs entrusted to him, and his worth and integrity, have won for him the friendship of all who have been associated with him in any manner.
Born June 20, 1846, a son of J. G. Nattinger, who for many years was a leading merchant of Ottawa, the subject of this sketch claims this as his native town. In his boyhood he obtained a liberal education in the public and private schools of the place: but the excitement occasioned by the open- ing years of the great civil war interrupted his studies, and in the fall of 1862 he ran away and enlisted as a bugler at Peoria, Illinois. Ere long he was promoted to the ranks and he served faithfully and gallantly until the close of the great conflict, being but nineteen years of age when he was granted an honorable discharge. August 5, 1865. The boy soldier's record is one weil worthy of many who were twice his years in age: and, summed up in the briefest form, it may be stated thus: Participated in twelve battles of the war; was in numberless skirmishes; went on the long and exciting chase after John Morgan, who was at last captured near the Ohio-Penn- sylvania line; went on the several daring cavalry raids in Virginia, Ten- nessee, North Carolina and finally was made a prisoner on the Stoneman raid in Georgia, and suffered the horrors of the rebel prisons of Anderson- ville and Macon, Georgia, and Charleston and Florence, South Carolina.
Resuming the paths of peace, young Nattinger went to Chicago and pursued a course in Bryant & Stratton's Business College and for some time was employed as a clerk in the Ottawa postoffice and in dry-goods and grocery houses. Then he began to learn the printer's trade, in the office of the Ottawa Republican, finishing in the Lyons (Iowa) Mirror office. By degrees he worked up, taking various positions, including those of re- porter and advertising solicitor, and started three Illinois journals-the Buda
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Enterprise, the Bradford Chronicle and the Wyoming Blade-running the whole number for three months himself. For six years he was the city editor of the Joliet Republican, Sun and Record; and in June, 1877, in partnership with Mr. Fletcher, he started the Ottawa Daily Times, the first daily established in this county of the ten now published. A few months later Mr. Fletcher retired from the business, and at the end of another year the weekly edition of the paper was established also. In 1890 the Times and the Republican were consolidated, F. M. Sapp, the editor of the Times, becoming the senior partner of the new organization. Needless to say, the Republican-Times is recognized as one of the representative papers not only of this county but also of the great state of Illinois, and the high standard which it always has maintained is steadily winning for itself friends among the most intelligent citizens.
An influential factor in the Republican party of this section, Mr. Nat- tinger has been the secretary of the Young Men's Republican Club of Joliet, and has occupied like positions in the Will county and LaSalle county cen- tral committees of his party, and has been the president of the Young Men's Republican Club of Ottawa, and chairman of the town committee. From 1890 to 1894 he was the postmaster of this place, serving under President Harrison's administration.
Mr. Nattinger is a past commander of Seth C. Earl Post, No. 156, G. A. R .: is the chief of the staff of the department of Illinois, and aide-de-camp to the commander-in-chief; is the president of the Fourteenth Illinois Cavalry Regimental Association; a member of the committees having in charge the Illinois Soldiers' Home, the Illinois Soldiers' Orphans' Home and the Illinois Soldiers' Widows' Home. In the Masonic order he is identified with Occi- dental Lodge, No. 40, A. F. & A. M., and Shabbona Chapter, No. 37, R. A. M .: and of Mary E. Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star; and he is also associated with the Modern Woodmen of America, the Knights of Honor and the Ottawa Boat Club.
HIRAM E. BAKER.
Hiramı Emmit Baker, of Dayton township, LaSalle county, is a promi- nent farmer and stock dealer and is entitled to more than a passing notice on the pages of this work, devoted as it is to a portrayal of the lives of the representative men and women of LaSalle county.
Mr. Baker may well be termed a self-made man. He began life a poor boy, he toiled and saved, and his industry and good management have brought him the success he now enjoys. He was born in Clinton county,
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New York, February 4, 1848, the son of a farmer, and was reared and schooled in Plattsburg. His father, Daniel Baker, was born at Chazy, New York, and died in LaSalle county, Illinois, in 1884. He and his wife, whose maiden name was Laura Card, were the parents of the following named children: James, of Allegan, Michigan; Martha, wife of Henry Miller, of Oakland, California; H. E .; George, of Iowa; Oscar, of Dayton township, LaSalle county; Charles, of Des Moines, Iowa; Susan, who mar- ried Gideon Ruger; and Nelson, a traveling salesman in Kentucky.
H. E. Baker, on leaving school, entered the employ of a Mr. Benedict, a milkman, with whom he remained two years, beginning at a salary of ten dollars per month, and five years with I. S. Thorn. At the end of the seven years he had assisted his father to the extent of one hundred and thirty dollars and had six hundred dollars in the bank. He then married and rented his father-in-law's farm, which he ran four years, after which he was pre- vailed upon by Gabe Ruger, his wife's uncle, to emigrate to Illinois. Com- ing here in 1874, he was employed as the foreman on Mr. Ruger's farm, in which capacity he served two years, receiving four hundred dollars the first year and five hundred dollars the second. The third year he purchased eighty acres of land in Dayton township, the price being four thousand dollars. Half of this amount he paid down. The other half and five hun- dred dollars worth of stock he went in debt for, paying ten per cent interest on the money, and at the end of five years he had the farm paid for. Then, with the hope of bettering himself, he went to Greene county, Iowa, but returned to his former residence in Dayton township, after an absence of one year. He bought one hundred acres on the bluff, near Ottawa, at sixty-five dollars an acre, on five years' time; built a modern house and barn, and when the five years had elapsed his obligations had all been met. Still another tract of eighty acres he contracted for, at five thousand five hun- dred dollars, four thousand dollars of which consideration he received four years' time on with the usual results, prompt payment of principal and interest. The last addition he made to his property was the stock yards west of Ottawa, which he purchased from the Phelps estate. These yards he himself used for a time, while he was engaged in buying and shipping stock, but now has them leased. Such rapid accumulation of wealth among the farming classes where the products of the soil are depended upon solely to meet such investment expenses is remarkable, even wonderful; and the instances are rare where such good fortune attends so regularly and so persistently as in this one.
Mr. Baker was married in 1870, at Plattsburg, New York, to Annie Ruger, a daughter of Gideon Ruger. The Ruger family is one of prominence in the townships of Serena and Dayton, where they are classed among the
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most industrious and progressive people of their respective localities. Mr. and Mrs. Baker have six children, namely: Sadie, Julius, Anna, Florence, Hiram E., Jr., and Glen.
Mr. Baker affiliates with the Republican party and takes an active in- terest in local affairs. He has served as a member of the board of road commissioners, of which he was the treasurer.
OSMAN MATTHIAS DANIELSON.
The Danielson family has been prominent in the settlement and devel- opment of LaSalle county, coming here in pioneer days. Hard-working, up- right and just in all their dealings, they have merited the respect and confi- dence which have been liberally accorded them by neighbors and acquaint- ances.
The father of our subject is Christopher Danielson, who was born in Vadla, Norway, January 4, 1834, and when one year old was brought to this country by his father, who settled in the vicinity of Norway, LaSalle county, and carried on a farm there until 1849, when he and his wife and all his children save Christopher fell victims to the cholera. When twenty-one, Christopher Danielson married Ann, daughter of Osman Thompson, a well known farmer owning property near Big Indian, LaSalle county. She came with her father to the United States in 1835, when she was two years old. During his active life, Mr. Danielson carried on a fine farm near Leland, and became prosperous. In 1897 he retired and went to Lamoni, Iowa, where his sons, Daniel C. and Joseph, reside. His eldest son, Martin, has charge of the Old Folks' Home at Lamoni, an institution supported by the church of the Latter Day Saints. Another son, Edwin, born in 1869, is engaged in business with our subject, and David N. is a grain merchant, of Thompson, Illinois. The daughters are Bertha, wife of Lorenzo Hayer, of LaSalle county; Ida, Mrs. Charles Hayer; and Mary, Mrs. Andrew Gaard, of Sheridan, Illinois.
O. M. Danielson was born in this county, November 15, 1863. After having completed his liberal public-school education he came to Leland and for a year was engaged in the grocery business. From his boyhood he had evinced great aptitude in the use of all kinds of tools, and he concluded to embark in the manufacture of wagons and carriages in Leland. Soon afterward, he commenced handling foreign-made vehicles, and added a stock of implements of various kinds. Success attended him from the first, and his excellent business methods won for him increasing popularity. In 1895 the firm of Danielson Brothers was organized, and a general hard-
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ware business was started, as well. For a few years the brothers operated the Leland electric-light plant, which our subject constructed for the town, but the expense attending the operation of this enterprise proved too great for the citizens and it was abandoned.
On the 28th of February, 1885, the marriage of Mr. Danielson and Carrie, daughter of William Larson, was celebrated. They have had two children, but only Willis, who was born in 1887, is living. Mrs. Danielson's father was a successful farmer and an early settler in the vicinity of Wenona, Illinois.
Our subject is a member of the church of Latter Day Saints. In his political faith Mr. Danielson is a Republican. He takes a patriotic interest in public affairs, and is highly esteemed by his customers and acquaintances in general. Now in the prime of manhood he has already achieved more than many men years his senior, and judging his future by his past he will be some day a wealthy man.
HENRY GATISS.
Henry Gatiss, a prominent and popular grocer of LaSalle, was born in the county of Durham, England, March 21, 1839, and is a son of Henry and Sarah (Hunt) Gatiss. His grandfather, John Gatiss, died in England, his native home, at an advanced age, leaving a large family. His maternal grandfather also lived and died in that country. Henry Gatiss was the father of eight children, six sons and two daughters, as follows: John H., of Eagle River, Michigan; William, of Thetford, Ontario; Robert B., of Black Hawk county, Iowa; Thomas W., of Dimmick township, this county; Henry, our subject; Mary Ann, wife of William Dinsmore, of Earlville, this state; Richard E., of National City, California; and Sarah Jane, wife of Joseph Elliott, of Manitoba. The father was married a second time, Miss Jane Pickering becoming his wife, and to them were born nine children, of whom four are living. Those living are Joseph P., of Earlville, Illinois; Samuel R., of Manitoba; Sophia R., of Earlville, Illinois; and Walter, of the same place. The father of these children in early life was a shaft-sinker in his native land. In 1842 he came to the United States, landing in New York on July 4 of that year. He immediately went to Bradford county, Penn- sylvania, where he remained until 1856, engaged in mining for an English syndicate. He explored and opened up about twenty thousand acres of land for them, which he afterward sold. He then moved to LaSalle, Illinois, and was the superintendent of the coal shaft for some time, when he pur- chased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, some four and a half miles north
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of this city. He then spent his time in tilling the soil until his death, which occurred in 1877, at the age of seventy-two years and ten months. He served as a road commissioner for a number of terms. He was twice mar- ried; his first wife, the mother of our subject, died in 1850, when about forty-five years of age.
Henry Gatiss, our subject, was but three years of age when his parents took up their residence in America. He attended the Pennsylvania schools and worked for his father until he was twenty-six years old. When he was seventeen they moved to LaSalle, where he has since lived with the exception of two years spent in Canada. Before making this trip he en- gaged in farming, but found the work unsuited to his liking. He then en- tered a grocery as clerk and met with such success in this line that in 1877, in partnership with his brother Richard, he purchased the stock of his em- ployer, the store being conducted conjointly by them until 1891, when Richard retired from the business, leaving Henry Gatiss the sole proprietor. In his twenty-two years' work as a grocer he has built up a large trade. his patronage extending many miles into the country. His strict honesty and integrity have won their confidence and made him warm friends through- out the entire county.
Mr. Gatiss was united in the holy bonds of matrimony on the 25th of December, 1874, to Miss Margaret Nixon, a daughter of Hugh and Mary Ann (Robson) Nixon. Three children have blessed this union: Henry Milton; Stella May, who died at the age of two years and two months; and Mary. Both the children living are with their parents. Mrs. Gatiss and her daughter are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which they are zealous workers. Their residence is on Fifth street, where they have a pleasant, comfortable home and a house which they rent. Mr. Gatiss has been a resident of LaSalle for forty-three years. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and in politics a Republican.
DAVID SNELLING.
This well known citizen and respected farmer of Adams township, La- Salle county. Illinois, is a native of Rutland township, this county, born June 26, 1848, and is a representative of one of the pioneer families of this locality. His parents were John and Rebecca Jane (Shaver) Snelling, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Ohio. John Snelling, when quite small, was taken by his parents to Ohio, where he grew to manhood. When a young man, previous to his marriage, he came west to Illinois, then called the frontier, and located in LaSalle county. That was some time in the '30s.
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Here he subsequently married Rebecca Shaver, a daughter of David Shaver, one of the first settlers of Rutland township, this county. Mrs. Snelling was born in 1821, was ten years old when brought by her parents to Illinois, and is still a resident of LaSalle county, her home being in Serena town- ship, where her husband settled on a farm a number of years ago. He died there in 1884, at the age of seventy-four years. They were the parents of seven children, viz .: Nancy, Elizabeth (deceased), James, Olive (deceased), David, Annis and George.
David Snelling received his early education in the country schools of his native county and then for two years was a student in Lombard Uni- versity, Galesburg, Illinois. On his return home from college he was for a short time engaged in teaching school. Farming, however, has been his life pursuit. After his marriage, which event occurred in 1879, he settled on his present farm, two hundred and sixty-seven acres, a part of which lies in the southwest corner of Adams township and the rest across the line in Serena township. In his farming operations he has been very successful, and is well known as one of the leading farmers of his locality.
Mr. Snelling was married in 1879 to Miss Evaline Umphrey, and they have two children: Claudia, the wife of William Hoadley; and Maud. Mrs. Snelling's parents were Samuel and Sophia (Snelling) Umphrey, both natives of Ohio, who came to LaSalle county, Illinois, some thirty years ago and settled in Serena township; they are now residents of Earl township. Mrs. Snelling was born in Ohio and is the oldest of four children, namely: Mrs. Snelling, Anna (deceased), Charles, and Hattie.
MILTON POPE.
The ancestral history of Mr. Pope can be traced back to representa- tives of the Revolutionary period, including John Pope, who joined the colonial forces and fought for the independence of the nation. He was captured by the Tories and died while on his way home from the war, in 1781. His wife bore the maiden name of Sarah Atheran and was born on Martha's Vineyard, in 1725. Her parents were Solomon and Sarah (Skiff) Atheran, and her grandparents were Simon and Mary (Butler) Atheran. The next in the line of descent is Benjamin Pope, a son of John and Sarah Pope. He was born November 23, 1769, and in 1797 married Sarah Purcell, who was born on Martha's Vineyard, August 28, 1777. He died October 18, 1838, and his wife passed away January 12, 1848.
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