USA > Illinois > LaSalle County > Biographical and genealogical record of La Salle County, Illinois, Volume II > Part 23
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The birth of the subject of this memoir occurred in county Meath, Ire- land, in 1843. His parents were John and Mary Kangley, both of whom died when their son John was a mere child. The father was a man of more than ordinary attainments and education, and was successfully engaged in teaching at the time of his death. At eleven years of age John Kangley, Jr., left his native land to seek a new home in America, the land of promise. He accompanied a friend and came direct to Illinois, locating at first in Grundy county. He attended school to some extent after coming here, and ob- tained employment in the coal mines when quite young. He was indus- trious and economical; earnestly watching every opportunity for advance- ment, and the result was that ere many years had passed he had become a coal operator upon his own account. In 1869 he came to Streator, where he continued to make his home until his death. When the Star Coal Com- pany was organized, in 1880, he was made general manager of what is better known as the Kangley & Carbon Hill Mine. Many years later he retired from the active management of the mines, but continued to be one of the largest stockholders in the concern. For several years prior to his death he devoted his time to dealing in railroad stocks in Chicago and New York city and met with marked success in his speculations.
In 1877 Mr. Kangley married Miss Mary Lunney, of Ottawa, and of the eight children born to this worthy couple seven survive, Zita having died August 13, 1898. Minnie is a student in a Chicago college, and J. Arthur, the elder son. at present is attending Philips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. Helen and Charles Vincent are in the Streator high school,
John Kangley
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and Louise, Gertrude and Lucy complete the family. Mrs. Kangley was born and reared in Ottawa, her parents, Thomas and Elizabeth Lunney, being early settlers of that place, their residence there dating from 1852.
In 1882 Mr. Kangley erected his commodious and comfortable brick residence in Streator. Fraternally he belonged to Streator Lodge, No. 607, F. & A. M .. and in political faith was a Republican. He enjoyed the sincere respect of those who had been associated with him in business or social relations, and his long and honorable commercial career justly entitled him to the love and admiration of our citizens. His death occurred June 8, 1899, resulting from an attack of pneumonia. His final illness was of short duration and the community mourned the loss of one who had occupied a prominent position in business and social life, and whose high character had gained for him unreserved regard, while to his immediate family the bereave- ment came as the greatest of all possible. for in his home his many sterling qualities and his true kindliness and nobility had ever cast their beneficent light with never varying power.
ANDREW W. MERS.
Deer Park township, LaSalle county, Illinois, includes among its intel- ligent, thrifty and progressive farmers the subject of this sketch, Andrew W. Mers, who has been identified with this place since 1853, having been drawn hither at that time, as he says, "in close pursuit of a young lady who soon afterward became his wife." After his arrival here he bought a small tract of land southeast of Vermillionville and began the work of developing a farm and making a home. The land was then almost in its wild state and only a shell of a house was here to indicate that man had ever made it his abiding place.
Mr. Mers came to Illinois direct from Kentucky, his native state. He was born in Fleming county, July 21, 1830, a son of Samuel Mers, a native of the same county, born in 1797. Samuel Mers spent his active life as a farmer, and died at Knightstown, Indiana, in 1862. He was a soldier of the United States in our second war with England, and inherited his mili- tary inclinations from his father, who was a patriot soldier of the American Revolution. The latter, also named Samuel, was born in Ireland, and was, it is thought, a recruit for Washington's army from the state of Virginia, and from that state entered Kentucky soon after the conclusion of his seven years of army service.
The younger Samuel Mers married Tenna Plank, whose father was of German birth. She died in 1889, at the age of eighty-eight years. The
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children of Samuel and Tenna Mers were as follows: Margaret, deceased, was the wife of Henry Rice; Frederick, of Pleasant Hill, Missouri; John, who still resides in the home county in Kentucky; Elizabeth, deceased, was the wife of Henry Keal; Mary, now Mrs. William Beckner, of Rush county, Indiana; Evaline, the wife of Alfred Beckner, of the same county; and Andrew WV., whose name introduces this review. There were other children, that died in infancy.
Andrew W. Mers spent his youth on his father's farm and received his education in the private schools near his. home. attending only during the winter months. When about eighteen years of age he engaged regularly in farming for himself, and remained in his native state until lured away, as above recorded. Since he came into possession of his first tract of land Mr. Mers has increased the area of his farm to two hundred and six acres, all now nicely improved and well tilled, forming one of the few attractive places on the highway on which it is located.
Mr. Mers was married in 1855, to Miss Mary Newell, a daughter of George Newell. The Newell family came to this state from Brown county, Ohio, in the year 1851. Mr. Newell was a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1798. the son of an Irishman, and died in the town of Deer Park, in 1875. One of his children, .Jolin H. Newell, is a retired farmer of Deer Park, residing with his son, George A., who is a most highly esteemed and pros- perous farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Mers have two sons: Lawrence Webster and Charles D., both worthy citizens of their native town.
Mr. Mers is well known as a Democrat. He has held, at some time, all the offices of his town, except that of supervisor, and is now a justice of the peace. A quarter of a century ago, when the Farm Ridge & Deer Park Mutual Fire Insurance Company was organized, Mr. Mers was one of its charter members; and of the thirty-one men whose names were on the charter he is one of six survivors. He has been a director of the company all these years.
M. E. DOUGHERTY.
Prominent among the rising young men of LaSalle county stands M. E. Dougherty, one of the native-born sons of Ottawa, in which city he has passed his entire life. His father, Michael Dougherty, was for thirty-five years, or until his death, an honored citizen of this place. For a companion and helpmeet on the journey of life he chose Miss Catharine Feeney, and to this worthy couple six children were born, two daughters and four sons, one of whom, P. J. Dougherty, is a well known printer of Ottawa.
The birth of M. E. Dougherty occurred some thirty-one years ago, and
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in company with his brothers and sisters he attended the public schools when he reached a suitable age. He received a liberal education, and is thoroughly posted upon all of the current events and leading questions of the day. In the spring of 1898 he was honored by being elected to the responsible office of town collector of Ottawa by his political friends, and has ably dis- charged the duties resting upon him, giving entire satisfaction to all con- cerned. He is well liked, personally, and enjoys the friendship of all who are well acquainted with him.
MRS. CHARLOTTE L. WARREN.
The lady whose name graces this sketch represents, in her position as a citizen, two of the prominent pioneer families of the township of Serena, LaSalle county, Illinois. Her father, the late venerable John Wright, brought his family to LaSalle county some time in the '50s, and her husband, the late Ruden Warren, was a son of that worthy citizen and guardian of the frontier, Daniel Warren, who came to this county from New York.
John Wright, the father of Mrs. Warren, was a native of Suffolk county, England, his birth having occurred at Ipswich in the year 1807. In his youth he had limited advantages for obtaining an education, but made the best of his opportunities and by close observation and general reading ac- quired a good store of useful information and became a useful citizen. After his conversion to Christianity he put away "worldly sins" and became an active and influential member of the Methodist Episcopal church, taking a prominent part in Sunday-school work. It was in 1849 that he came to America. He landed in Canada, his wife sick of cholera, and from Canada he came over into the United States, selecting a location in Vermont, where he made his home until 1855, farming, after working for a time at his trade in a blacksmith shop. In 1855, coming west to Illinois, he took up his residence in LaSalle county. Here he also engaged in farming and succeeded in providing his large family with all the necessities and comforts of life, though he never succeeded in accumulating property. He died in LaSalle county, in July, 1890; and his wife, whose maiden name was Rebecca Os- born, died at the same place a few years later. Their children were: Hannah, wife of Thomas F. Farnsworth, of Silver City, New Mexico: Mary A., de- ceased wife of William Gillespie; Fannie, deceased; Lucy A., wife of John Townsend, of Ford county, Illinois: Maria, deceased wife of John Rogers; Charlotte L., whose name introduces this review; Fannie C. (2d), who mar- ried John Rogers, of southeastern Kansas; Eleanor, deceased wife of Brice Dick; and Silas M., who was born in Vermont October 5. 1855, and is a successful farmer of Serena.'
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Mrs. Warren was born April 28, 1846, and August 13, 1862, was mar- ried to Ruden Warren, a native of Serena township, LaSalle county, Illinois, born December 31. 1840. They spent their married life on the farm where she still resides, and here their family was reared. Mr. Warren's youth was passed on his father's farm, and before he reached the age of twenty-two years he enlisted in the service of his country as a member of Battery C, First Illinois Light Artillery, for a term of three years. His battery was in the department of the Tennessee and participated in some of the hard- fought battles of the civil war. When the battery was captured at Stone River Mr. Warren succeeded in making his escape. In the campaign around Chattanooga Mr. Warren was in poor health and was assigned to hospital guard duty. He was honorably discharged at Nashville at the close of the war, and returned home, shattered in health. Chronic disease contracted during the war was the cause of much suffering to him and no doubt shortened his days. He died in 1890. His life was spent as a farmer. He was progressive and successful and was ranked with the leading farm- ers of his locality. Politically he was an ardent Republican.
Mr. Warren's parents, Daniel and Lucy (Skeels) Warren, were the parents of the following named children: Elizabeth, widow of Anthony Horr; Ardilla, deceased, was the wife of Henry Horr: Luther, deceased: Huron, of Lincoln, Nebraska: Ruden; and Lewis, a prominent farmer and worthy citizen of Serena township.
The children of Ruden Warren and wife are: Herman W., born April II, 1867; Myra E., October 8, 1876; and Silas H., September 28, 1882.
Mrs. Warren and her children are active members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
WILLIS A. MARTIN.
Willis Allen Martin, the popular merchant of Harding, is a son of Rich- ard Martin, the carpenter and builder. He was born in Freedom, January 21. 1862, on a farm one mile east of the village of Harding, on what is known as the Sampson place. He was sparingly educated in the village school and learned the carpenter's trade of his father, beginning at the age of thir- teen years, following it about six years. If the brand of Dick Martin & Son was on all the buildings for which they are partly responsible, being con- nected with their construction, the improvement of the township could be more nearly judged. Having an opportunity to engage in a business not physically as hard, he accepted a position in the employ of S. U. Lawry, then the leading merchant of Harding, from whom he took his first lessons in commercial transactions. Although Mr. Martin was only a boy in his ex-
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perience, his employer said of him, "He was never a boy but always a man." Again he remarked, "He was as straight as a string and I would trust him with anything I possessed." About seven years after he entered this store as a clerk, his employer proposed a partnership to him, which was accepted and entered into, the same existing until some time in 1893, when he pur- chased his senior's interest in the concern and thus became the sole pro- prietor of the only store in the village of Harding. He was appointed the postmaster of the Freedom office, and has held the position through all the administrations since. He is a "gold Democrat," but that has been no legal or other barrier to his holding the office during a Republican administration of the nation. The best recommendation one can have for an appointment to the public service is honesty, capacity and adaptability for doing the work. and all these Mr. Martin possessed. The popularity of Harding, as a trading point, is due to the manner in which business is conducted in Martin's store, and to the further fact that it carries about everything that a well- regulated country home ever needs. Everybody is "Will" Martin's friend and all rejoice in his prosperity and aid him toward success.
Our subject's father, Richard Martin, came to LaSalle county in 1856. He was born in Vermont, in 1830, and is still active at his trade. He mar- ried Minerva Allen, the daughter of Ethan Z. Allen, of New York state. The Allens claim to be descended from the Aldens, who were passengers on the historic Mayflower; but the name was afterward changed to "Allen." The genealogy of the family reveals this fact, and it was compiled some years ago, after many years of patient labor.
Richard Martin's children were: Ethan Allen, a railway mail clerk: Ir- win L., a printer, of Grand Ridge; and Willis A., the last named being the first born. He was married in November, 1891, to Frankie, a daughter of James R. Walters, of Freedom. They have no children.
Mr. Martin is that type of manhood, of whom the world has none too many. He is a good business man; a good citizen ever seeking to do the right for the right's sake. His general rule of life is to practice the golden rule.
HENRY J. DAVIS.
Among the worthy citizens that Wales has furnished to this country is the subject of this sketch, Henry Jenkins Davis, of Freedom, Illinois, who was born in Cardiganshire, Wales, March 18, 1830, a son of Samuel Davis. The latter brought his family of sons and daughters to the United States in 1841, making the voyage from Liverpool England, to Castle Garden, New York, in the sailing vessel Batsford, which required four weeks to
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make the trip. From New York they went up the Hudson river to Albany, thence by canal to Buffalo, and to Newark, Ohio. Their first location was on a farm in Licking county, Ohio, nine miles west of the city of Newark, where they lived five years. Thomas Jenkins, one of the older sons, born in 1818, left the parental roof in 1843, seeking a location on the fertile, frontier prairies of Illinois, whither David, his brother, had preceded him. He reached Chicago by boat and from there came on foot to Millington. In Green's mill, at Dayton, Illinois, he secured employment, and for nine years remained in Mr. Green's service. His acquaintance with the conditions and environ- ments of LaSalle county led him to advise the remainder of the family to come further west, and they arrived in Freedom in 1846.
Samuel Davis, the father, was in limited circumstances, and as cheap as land was at that date he was unable to pay for more than a small tract. His farm was in section 5, Freedom township, and on it he spent the rest of his life, devoting his energies to its cultivation and improvement. He was twice married, his first wife being a Miss Jones; his second wife, her sister, Miss Eleanor Jones, who died in 1848. His children were as follows: Jen- kins Davis, who died in Iowa many years ago; Maria, the wife of Elias Jones, died in Ohio; John J., deceased; Thomas J., of the town of Ophir, Illinois; David J., deceased; Rachel, deceased, was the wife of William Williams; Henry J., whose name initiates this review; Evan J., of Iowa: Fred J., of Ottawa, Illinois; Mary, who first married George L. Kinney; he died in 1870, and she is now the wife of John Hoadley, and resides at Earlville, Illinois; with her lives her only daughter, Miss Georgie L. Kinney, at present em- ployed as bookkeeper; and Jane, wife of Plinn Bears, Chicago, Illinois. The father of these children died in 1859, at the age of seventy-seven years.
Henry J. Davis received his education in the district schools of Licking county, Ohio, and LaSalle county, Illinois, and in the broad school of experi- ence. At nineteen he left home and became a wage-worker on farms, at the rate of fifty cents per day, among his employers being Mr. Hosford and John Henderson, prominent farmers. With what he had saved from his earnings in four years he purchased a forty-acre tract of land. But he had no team and had to hire the soil broken. This cost him one dollar and fifty cents per acre, and it was not until the second year after the purchase that he obtained a crop. He continued to work and save and invest in land, and in a few years he found himself with a quarter and then a half section of land. While he was buying he was also improving, and at this writing there is perhaps not a farm in LaSalle county that will excel his own in the cost of improve- ments and the care and expense with which they are preserved.
June 15, 1854, Mr. Davis married Miss Sarah Jane Crumpton, a daugh- ter of William Crumpton, who came from Maine to Illinois in an early day
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and became one of the pioneer settlers of LaSalle county. Mrs. Davis has a brother, Samuel Crumpton, who resides in Superior, Wisconsin. Of her sisters we record that Mrs. Ann Bangs resides in Chatsworth, Illinois; and Mrs. Charlotte Davis, wife of Thomas J. Davis, is a resident of Ophir town- ship, LaSalle county. Mr. and Mrs. Henry J. Davis began housekeeping in a primitive way, in keeping with their circumstances, and for a period of forty-five years their lives have been happily blended together.
Mr. Davis is a Republican, but has never sought, nor would he accept, official position, his own private affairs requiring the whole of his attention. He believes in expansion, protection and all other doctrines that have made the United States prosperous and powerful. Both he and his wife are noted for their genial hospitality and are invariably referred to in the most gen- erous and complimentary terms.
BARTO THOMPSON.
Barto Thompson, of Freedom township, is a living example of that remarkable and wonderful prosperity that follows some of the sons of semi- illiterate, but industrious pioneers of a new country. He was born July 27. 1836, in Christiansand stift, on a place called Mosey, in Norway. His parents were Knute Thompson Mosey and Sarah Thompson. At the age of eight years he emigrated with his parents to this country. His father had been induced to take the southern route, with the intention of locating in Texas. but, on reaching New Orleans and learning of the advantages to be had in the north, changed his course and started up the Mississippi river. This trip was an experience of bitterness and suffering; their boat stuck on an island and they came near starving and freezing to death before they could be rescued! Then one of their companions, a generous fellow from the old country, fell overboard and was lost, and this threw a damper over the whole company. When they were released from the ice gorge the company hired another boat and arrived at Alton, Illinois, after a long voyage. The family came up the Illinois to Ottawa, and reached the town of Freedom nearly one year after their embarking in Norway.
After buying one hundred and sixty acres of land from the government. the hardships can better be imagined than told. It would require a small volume to relate all that took place to bar the settlement and progress of civilization and to add to the discomfiture of the white settlers in the west- First, their efforts to reach their intended location; then their troubles while getting a cabin ready to shelter them from the beating storms. In this case their first house was a dug-out; and this filled with water when it rained;
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in winter snow obstructed its entrance; in hot weather its walls were filled with living reptiles; and there scarcely could have been a time when the family felt secure and happy. Through all this the family survived and lived with the will of their Maker in mind until the summer of 1849, when that terrible plague, the Asiatic cholera, called four of the family-father, mother and two sisters. Our subject and a brother, Thomas T. Mosey, now of Le- land, Illinois, were the only members of the family who survived.
Being left an orphan at the age of thirteen, he had to make the best he could of the schools in winter and working in summer until he reached the age of twenty-one, when he commenced life for himself. At the age of twenty-three he married Tarbar Baker, a daughter of Halver Baker, who came to Freedom from Thelemarken, Norway, in 1854. They were blessed with four children. Charles M., who died March 30, 1895; Hattie J., the wife of Fred Mathieson, who is farming in Dayton township; Joseph E., also a farmer, in Freedom; and Sarah E., the wife of Professor L. H. Chally, of Red Wing, Minnesota.
Mr. Thompson's success as a farmer has been all that could be desired, and as he acquired the means he added to his domains until he now owns two as good farms as lie in LaSalle county-one in Freedom and one in Dayton township.
GEORGE D. HILTABRAND.
Though comparatively a young man, George D. Hiltabrand has already evinced that he possesses exceptional business and financial ability, and dur- ing the six years of his residence in Tonica, LaSalle county, he has been an untiring worker in the interests of the place-a fact thoroughly appre- ciated by its citizens. The standing of a town or community in the public opinion is a matter that should be of great concern to every inhabitant of the place, for true patriotism, like charity, should begin, though not end. at home.
The grandfathers of our subject were numbered among the early pioneers of Illinois, and his relatives have borne an important part in the development of its resources. George Hiltabrand, his paternal grandfather, was a native of North Carolina, and lived in Tennessee prior to his removal to Magnolia township, Putnam county, Illinois, in 1827. His farm was lo- cated at a place known as Ox Bow, and there he resided until his death, which event occurred when he was nearly three-score and ten years of age. During the Black Hawk war he enlisted and served as a sergeant of his company. Jeremiah Hartenbower, the maternal grandfather, was born in Germany, came to America in the '20s, and about 1830 located in Putnam county,
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Illinois, taking up some government land. Later he settled in Hennepin township, and in 1876 he departed this life at his home in the village of the same name. He had nine or more children and George Hiltabrand had eleven children, and their descendants are numerous and influential, both in this and in other states of the Union.
Benjamin F. Hiltabrand, father of George D., was born in Putnam county, where he was a successful farmer and stock-raiser for many years after arriving at manhood. In 1882 he came to LaSalle county, and during the next thirteen years he dwelt about a mile and a half west of the village of Lostant. He owns six tracts of eighty acres each in that locality, another farm of one hundred and twenty acres in that district, and about five hun- dred and seventy acres in Iowa, besides twenty acres in Putnam county. Since 1895 he has lived retired in Bloomington, Illinois. For some time he was the supervisor of Magnolia township, Putnam county; and in Hope township, this county, he served in the same capacity. Po- litically he is a Democrat, and religiously both he and his estimable wife are members of the Baptist church. In her girlhood she bore the name of Minerva Hartenbower, and, like her husband, she was born in Putnam county. They had six children, four of whom survive, namely: George D .. Norman J., Vera L., and Benjamin Franklin.
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