USA > Illinois > LaSalle County > Biographical and genealogical record of La Salle County, Illinois, Volume II > Part 24
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The birth of George D. Hiltabrand occurred on the parental homestead near Magnolia, Putnam county, September 10, 1872. At ten years of age he came to this county, and. after finishing his district and village school education, he took a commercial course at the Dixon (Illinois) Business College and for about a year pursued his studies in the Northern Illinois Normal School in the same town. Then, returning to his father's old home- stead, he continued the agricultural labors which have engrossed his time and attention, to a great extent, from his childhood. He is now engaged in the stock business, in partnership with his brother, Norman J., and they culti- vate a farm of three hundred and twenty acres. In 1893 our subject became assistant cashier of the Tonica Exchange Bank, and two years later he en- tered into partnership with John E. Hartenbower and Austin Hiltabrand. and for a year they were the proprietors of this now well known and suc- cessful banking institution. In 1896 Mr. Hiltabrand retired and the firm has since consisted of J. E. Hartenbower and George D. Hiltabrand. The latter owns considerable real estate and is interested in its sale and in the insurance business and other enterprises.
In the multiplicity of his private business affairs, Mr. Hiltabrand does not neglect his duties as a citizen, and at present he is serving as president of the board of trustees of Tonica. He is independent in politics, using his franchise for the nominees and principles which he deems worthy of sup-
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port regardless of party lines. Socially he belongs to Tonica Lodge, No. 364, F. & A. M., of which he is the present master; of Peru Chapter, No. 60, R. A. M .; Tonica Lodge, No. 298, I. O. O. F .; and of Kaiser Camp, Mod- ern Woodmen of America.
On the 12th of December, 1894, Mr Hiltabrand married Miss Lizzie, a daughter of Abraham and Sarah (Dixon) Phillips, and they have one child, Wendall K. Abraham Phillips is a native of Manchester, England, while his wife was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He came to this state about 1840 and was preceded here by his wife, who came west with her parents in 1838. Her mother dying when the little Sarah was but four years old, the latter was reared by a Mrs. Miriam Graves, who lived to the remarkable age of one hundred years. The paternal grandparents of Mrs. Phillips were James and Nancy Dixon, and her maternal grandparents were John and Mary Woolsoncroft. James Dixon, a native of England, located in the neighborhood of Magnolia, Illinois, about 1845, and he lived to be well along in years, while his wife was almost a century old at the time of her deatlı. John Woolsoncroft, also a native of England, did not come to Amer- ica until he was past the prime of life, and his last years were spent in Put- nam county, Illinois, where he died at an advanced age.
M. C. LANE.
Among the venerable and well known citizens of Allen township, La- Salle county, Illinois, is M. C. Lane, who has been identified with the county since 1856. A resume of his life is as follows:
M. C. Lane was born in Brown county, Ohio, February 9, 1819, and is descended from English and Irish ancestors. The Lanes were English peo- ple and were among the first settlers of the Old Dominion. Elias Lane, the grandfather of M. C .. was a Revolutionary soldier, born in 1755, and died in 1820. The father, Elias Lane, Jr., was born in 1786. Elias Lane was reared on the Kentucky frontier and was there married to Miss Jane Neeper, daughter of John and Tabitha Neeper, who were of Irish descent. Elias and Jane Lane were the parents of a large number of children, of whom William H. and Emily Dow, residents of Nebraska, and the subject of our sketch. are living. One son. Thomas, went. in 1852. to California. where he was supposed to have died. as nothing has been heard from him since 1853. Two of the sons, Frank and Alexander, were Union soldiers in the Civil war and lost their lives in the army, Alexander's death resulting from wounds received in battle, and Frank dying of disease. The father of this family lived to the ripe age of ninety-one years, and died in Allen township, La-
Ma , Co. Lane
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Salle county, Illinois, in October, 1877. The mother also died in Allen, her death having occurred in 1866, at the age of seventy years.
On his father's farm and in his native county M. C. Lane passed his boyhood days, receiving his education in the public schools and when not in school assisting in the farm work. At the age of twenty-two he married, and the young couple went to housekeeping on a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, the house on which contained only three rooms. He remained in Ohio until 1851, when he moved his family to Illinois and settled in Putnam county. Here he remained until 1856, when he moved to Allen township, LaSalle county, where he was for many years actively engaged in farming operations, and where he owns a fine farm of four hundred acres. carefully cultivated, and improved with first-class buildings, included among which is his two thousand eight hundred-dollar residence and his large barn. 40x60 feet, with twenty-four-foot posts.
Mr. Lane was married August 7, 1840, to Miss Amanda Evans, born December 23. 1820, a daughter of Benjamin Evans, and, like himself, a native of Brown county, Ohio. Their union was blessed in the birth of ten children, namely: Marcus J., a soldier in the civil war, a member of Company D, One Hundred and Fourth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Captain William H. Collins; Mary Hawk, of Doniphan, Nebraska: George, of Oklahoma, who also was in the civil war, a member of the Sixty-third Illinois Infantry: Eliza: Thomas, of Allen township; Eldoras, of Doniphan, Nebraska; Albert, of Aurora, Nebraska: Lincoln, at home: Joanna, wife of Oscar Folk of Rolfe, Iowa; and Ida, at home. Two, Amanda and Fremont, died in infancy. The mother died December 8, 1895, at the age of seventy-five years.
Mr. Lane is politically a Republican, and throughout his long and useful life has always taken a laudable interest in public affairs: and while he has never sought official honors he has frequently been called upon to fill local offices and in several capacities has served the township, faithfully and well.
HELIA ARENTSEN.
This citizen of the town of Freedom, LaSalle county, was the son of the late pioneer Thorbjorn Arentsen, who was born among the pine-clad hills of that most picturesque of all northern European countries-Norway-in Bergen, March 21, 1812. To better his condition he emigrated to America. in 1836, just after his marriage, and worked at day labor in his new home in New York. He had led the life of a sailor in Norway, but came here to lay the foundation for something more to his liking, and to gain a freedom
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not once to be thought of in his native land. In his search for a spot to suit his fancy, he left the state of New York and by water came to Mus- kegon, Michigan, and from that point he wended his way overland to La- Salle county, Illinois, by ox team. He found himself twelve dollars in debt, but by day labor he supported his family and repaid this sacred debt. How our subject came into possession of his first piece of American land may be of interest in this connection. There were two young Norwegians in this locality who wanted to become preachers. One of their chief qualifications was the possession of the proper garb of a broadcloth suit and a plug hat. This mantle neither of them had, but one of them owned twenty acres of wild land: and Mr. Arentsen had in his possession, left over from his days of greater prosperity and when his thoughts ran more to style, a broad- cloth suit and the coveted "tile:" and when it was proposed by the germinat- ing reverend to swap the land for the clothes he lost no time in agreeing to do so, and the head of the Arentsen house became a freeholder of Free- dom township. He pursued his new occupation with renewed diligence and industry and made a success of it. His accumulations came somewhat slowly, but as they did come he found them in the form of additional area to his homestead, and when he died he was the owner of a large farm.
Thorbjorn Arentsen was just the type of man that made life valuable in that early day. He was not endowed with selfishness; on the contrary, he had an unselfish interest in all his neighbors and was especially awake to the needs of those who were in distress. During the cholera scourge he aided in nursing the sick and buried the dead. thus unavoidably exposing him- self to the attacks of that deadly plague, with no thought of its possible conse- quences to him. Wherever there was needed a word of encouragement to the stricken, or bit of comfort to the afflicted. he always had it ready, and his pres- ence did as much good as the old doctor's remedies. He was a Christian gentleman and prominent in the Lutheran church. He passed on to his re- ward September 14. 1889. His devoted wife, Caroline, died January 13, 1888. Their children were: Cecelia, wife of Christ Olson. of Ottawa; Helia; Henry, who died in the army, during the civil war; he was in Company D, Second Artillery, and died April 26, 1863; Caroline, wife of Ole Thorson, of Freedom; David and Daniel Arentsen.
Our subject, Helia Arentsen, was born in Perry, Wyoming county, New York, April 26, 1839, and was not favored with an excellent schooling, but had to be content with what he could obtain in the little "log seminary," as it was styled. However, he got sufficient book knowledge to enable him to teach a district school one winter, but after that he became a farmer and held to that without interruption, except as to the period he served his country during the Rebellion. He came to Illinois with his parents in
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1844. August 25, 1861, he enlisted in Company D. Second Illinois Artillery, as a private. His regiment was a part of the Fifteenth Army Corps, and he served in the western army under General Logan, receiving his discharge September 24, 1864, at Nashville, Tennessee.
Mr. Arentsen was married at Ottawa, Illinois, by Justice of the Peace Arthur Lockwood, to Julia Thompson, a sister of Andrew Thompson, of Leland, Illinois. After his marriage he began life with a team and wagon and the money he had saved from his salary as a soldier. He went to housekeeping on the spot where the handsome residence now stands and where he was the possessor of sixty acres of land. His prosperity was at- tested by his final ownership of one hundred and twenty acres, which he had made one of the most beautiful farms in all his township. He claimed to be nothing, if not a farmer. He filled a small town office or two, but he never permitted his friends to lead him off for political crumbs, when he knew his success lay in the soil. He was, however, a director on the school board for eighteen years. He was a stanch Republican. He died January 20, 1900, a great loss to the community.
Of his family it may be added that his children are: Henry T., who is a prominent young Republican and a member of the advisory committee of the party for the town of Freedom: Joseph E .; Clara R .; William T., with Reed & Co., of Ottawa; Annie C., a successful teacher of the county schools; Emma S., a pupil at Dixon (Illinois) University ; and Herbert L.
SEYMOUR POTTER.
The Potter family, which is worthily represented in LaSalle county by the subject of this article, is one of the oldest and most highly respected in the United States. having been founded here by Nathanial Potter, a native of England, who emigrated to the New World in 1638. He located at Portsmouth, Rhode Island, where his son and grandson, named in his honor, were born.
In tracing the ancestry of Seymour Potter it is found that he is a son of Darius and Susan (Bower) Potter, the former one of the ten children of Esec and Lucena (Curtis) Potter. Esec Potter, in turn, was a son of Job and Desire (Irish) Potter, and grandson of Nathaniel and Mary (Carr) Pot- ter. Nathaniel was a son of John and Mary Potter, grandson of Nathaniel and Elizabeth (Stokes) Potter, great-grandson of Nathaniel and Dorothy Potter, and great-great-grandson of the Nathaniel Potter who founded the family in New England. John Potter, his son Nathaniel and grandson Job, above mentioned, in the direct line of descent, were born and dwelt in the
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town of Dartmouth, Massachusetts, where they were highly esteemed citi- zens. Our subject's parents were both natives of New York state, the father born in Cayuga county and the mother in Tompkins county. Esec Potter had emigrated into the wilds of Cayuga county, cleared a small farm, and at first lived in a rude cabin, which he built of logs cut by himself in the surrounding forest. He cleared the timber and farmed days, and at night worked at blacksmithing. In time he developed a good farm, and there the rest of his useful life was passed. The maternal grandfather of our subject, on the other hand, was Adam Bower, who with his wife was a native of Pennsylvania, and was of German extraction. He settled in the Empire state at an early period, and was a neighbor of the Potter family there.
In 1841 Darius and Susan Potter removed to the west to found a new home, and, locating on section 26 in Northville township where our subject now resides, proceeded to improve a farm. The father did not live to carry out many of his plans, as he died in 1849, at the age of forty-five years, and his devoted and sorrowing wife did not long survive, as she, too, entered the silent land during the following year, her age at death being about forty-six years. They were the parents of a number of children, among whom were: Orange, Fannie, Annice, Theron, Seneca, Seymour, Jane, Sarah, Lydia Ann and Ellen.
Seymour Potter was born July 20, 1834, in Tompkins county, New York. and was a child of seven years when he came to this county. Here he acquired a common-school education and laid the foundations of his future success. He has always resided on the old homestead where his parents set- tled in 1841, buying the property of the other heirs, after the death of the mother. He has carried out the work of improvement inaugurated by his father, and possesses a very desirable homestead, as the result of his well directed labors.
In 1866 Mr. Potter married Mary Elizabeth Pearson, who was born in the city of New Orleans. Her father died when she was an infant, and her mother came to live with her after her marriage. and died in the home of our subject. Mrs. Potter was summoned to the silent land in 1887, and left four children to mourn her loss, namely: Mary T., Sarah A., Arthur S. and Eliza J.
Mr. Potter is a public-spirited citizen, always ready to do all within his power to promote the welfare of the community. He has persistently declined official distinction and responsibility, preferring the quiet life of a private citizen, yet has neglected none of his duties toward the public. He uses his franchise in favor of Republican nominees, and takes a deep interest in the success of his party.
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In December, 1899, Mr. Potter visited his birthplace and his parents' early homestead in New York, and renewed many old acquaintances, and learned much from the early pioneers there of his own family. Among those with whom he renewed acquaintance was Roswell Beardsley, of North Lan- sing, Tompkins county, New York, who was a neighbor of Mr. Potter's grandparents, both paternal and maternal, and which gentleman has been postmaster of North Lansing for the last seventy-two years, a remarkable and unequaled continuance in office as a postmaster.
C. D. WILHELM.
No more loyal American citizen can be found in Ottawa than this son of the German Fatherland: for though his affections cling tenderly to his birthplace he realizes the greater blessings and advantages which he now enjoys under this flourishing republic, and has instilled into the hearts of his children the same patriotism and love for the Union which he feels.
Born in Hesse Cassel, Germany, in 1837, C. D. Wilhelm is one of the four children of George and Dora Wilhelm. His sister Dorothea is the wife of Lawrence Romer, of Ottawa, and his sister Elizabeth married A. Carver, while the youngest of the family, Gertrude, is unmarried. In his youth our subject was employed first in farming; then, for three years he served in the German army, in compliance with the law compelling able-bodied young men of that nation to give a certain period of time to the support of the military system.
In 1868 young Wilhelm took one of the most important steps of his career, for he decided to come to the United States. Sailing from Bremen, he landed in Baltimore, and thence proceeded to Chicago. where he spent some time. In 1868 he came to Ottawa, with whose business interests he has since been connected. He is now the proprietor of one of the largest and best equipped meat markets in the place, and, owing to the neatness of the shop, the courtesy and desire to please manifested by himself and his em- ployes, and on account of the strictly first-class meats which are to be found here at all times, he enjoys a large and representative patronage.
The marriage of Mr. Wilhelm and Miss Julia Saulman was solemnized August 24, 1875, in this town. They have two sons, of whom they have reason to be proud-Walter W. and Fred C .- both of whom are now serv- ing as members of Company C, Third Regiment of Illinois Volunteer In- fantry, being under command of Colonel Bennett. When their country called for men in the late war with Spain, they immediately responded and accompanied their regiment to Camp Chickamauga, where they were drilled
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and prepared for active duty in the field should their services be required; but, greatly to their regret. they were not sent to Cuba, but were sent to Porto Rico, returning to Ottawa in November, 1898; but they suffered the numerous discomforts and hardships of camp life, just the same. Besides these sons, Mr. and Mrs. Wilhelm have two daughters, Gertrude and Doro- thea.
In his political relations Mr. Wilhelm is a stalwart Republican, and never fails in discharging his duty as a voter. He favors schools and churches, and all worthy public institutions and enterprises, and has a good word and helpful sympathy for the poor and unfortunate.
MICHAEL DUFFY.
Now over three-score and ten years of age. Michael Duffy is passing the evening of his life in quiet and contentment at his pleasant home in the northern part of Ottawa. For more than half a century he has dwelt in this immediate locality and has been a witness of wonderful changes, as the wild prairie blossomed into usefulness and beauty under the labor of man, as thriving villages sprang into existence, and the county was covered with a network of railroads, which afford easy transportation facilities to the farmer who desires to dispose of the products of his land in the adja- cent towns and cities.
A son of James and Mary (Kennedy) Duffy, our subject was born in county West Meath, Ireland, in 1827. His parents spent their entire lives in the Emerald Isle. their attention being given to agriculture. At an early age. Michael Duffy had to take up the burdens of life, and until recently he kept busily at work, adding to his capital and steadily making improve- ments upon his farm. It was in 1844 that he concluded to come to the United States. and after a three-weeks voyage in a sailing vessel he landed in New York city, whence he proceeded direct to Ottawa. A brother, Bernard, had come to this locality about two or more years previously. and made a purchase of land in their joint names. This property, three hun- dred acres, was not divided, but together the brothers carried on the home- stead harmoniously until the death of Bernard in 1895. fifty-one years from the time that they had first started to run the farm. Bernard was the only brother of our subject, and, as he remained unmarried, he made his home chiefly with Michael Duffy. The latter succeeded to the sole ownership of the homestead at the death of his brother, and now leases the place to responsible tenants. A substantial brick house, good barns and other farm buildings are to be found on the place, which is kept in a neat and thrifty
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manner. The farm is finely situated, being on the well kept graveled road leading from Ottawa to Utica.
In political matters Mr. Duffy is a stanch friend of the Democratic party. He and all of his family are members of St. Patrick's Catholic church, of Ottawa. Thirty years ago he married Mary Vork, of Ottawa township, and three children blessed their union, namely: James, who resides on the farm owned by the father; John, who is engaged in farming; and Mary, who, since the death of the devoted wife and mother, in 1896, has been her father's housekeeper.
GEORGE WASHINGTON TOWNSEND.
The family of the Townsends is an ancient and honored one. It is very old in England and was early established in America by James Townsend and his two brothers, who came over together, James locating in Massa- chusetts, one in New York and one in Vermont.
It was in the Vermont line of the family that the ancestors of George Washington Townsend descended. Mr. Townsend's grandfather was Aaron Townsend. His son, Almond Townsend, father of George Washington Townsend, was born in Windsor county, Vermont, January 26, 1803, and was a prosperous farmer and an extensive breeder of Merino sheep. He married Elvira Butler, also a native of Windsor county, Vermont, a daughter of that well known man, Charles Butler, who was drowned in the Connecticut river. Mrs. Townsend was born in 1811, and died April 15, 1880. Mr. Townsend died April 16, 1885. Almond and Elvira (Butler) Townsend had seven children: Charles G., born April 30. 1834 (deceased); Eugene B., born June 13, 1836, died April 26, 1883; James A., born Febru- ary 8. 1838; Henry H., born May 5, 1841; Carrie E., born April 12, 1843 (deceased): George Washington, and one other whose name is not at hand.
George Washington Townsend was born in Windsor county, Vermont, at the birthplace of his father and mother, April 10, 1847. He passed the first sixteen years of his life in Vermont, where he was sent to the district school and later to the Green Mountain Institute at South Woodstock. He supplemented the education thus obtained by a commercial course at East- man's Business College, at Poughkeepsie, New York. In 1865 he came west to LaSalle county, Illinois, and went from there to Grundy county and tar- ried a year at Morris. He then made a short visit to his native town. On his return he stopped at Morris for a short time and then went to Grinnell, Iowa, and thence to Monmouth, Illinois, where he located in 1861. For a time he did a thriving business in wooden eave-spouts. He abandoned
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this business to learn the tinners' trade. He remained at Monmouth and in Stark county, Illinois, until 1877, when he removed to Ottawa and en- gaged in the dairy business on an eighty-acre farm which he purchased in Ottawa township, two miles and a half north of the city. This place, known as the Wade farm, he improved and stocked with thirty or forty cows and sold the milk they produced to a fine trade in Ottawa. He maintained this business on an extensive scale until 1897. and still keeps a few cows, more to have something to look after than for the profit there may be in so small a trade.
Mr. Townsend was married, December 19, 1892. to Miss Julia P. Judd, a native and resident of Wayne, Stark county. Illinois. He is a stanch Republican and has held the responsible position of treasurer of Ottawa high school for the past nine years. He has a fine residence, heated through- out by a modern hot-water system and provided with other up-to-date conveniences and luxuries. A library of fine and useful books attracts the attention of the visitor, but the presence of these is not necessary to suggest to any one who meets Mr. Townsend that he is a man of high intelligence and a wide range of general information.
CARLISLE M. POOL.
Carlisle M. Pool is a member of that large and popular family of Pools that settled in Freedom township, LaSalle county, at a very early day in the history of this section and have been prominently identified with it ever since.
The Pools are of English origin. Joseph Pool and William, his son, grandfather and father of Carlisle M., were both born in Yorkshire, England, the former in 1798; the latter June 16, 1823. In 1830 Joseph Pool emi- grated with his family to the United States, locating first in Clinton county, New York. In 1846 he came west to Illinois, making the journey by canal and lake route, and selecting a location in Serena township, LaSalle county, where he bought a farm and soon took rank with the leading and success- ful farmers of the county. Here he lived and labored until his death, which occurred in 1874. Politically he was a Democrat, active and influential in local affairs. He and his wife were the parents of the following named children: Thomas, Mathew, William, Mary E. (who married Gilbert Dom- iny), Joseph, George and Ann Eliza (who married Augustin Dominy).
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