USA > Illinois > LaSalle County > Biographical and genealogical record of La Salle County, Illinois, Volume II > Part 36
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Mr. Hartenbower is interested in real estate in this locality, as well as in the west. For twelve years he has been the special agent of the Union Central Life Insurance Company, of Cincinnati, and also handles fire insur- ance. He is a director in the LaSalle State Bank, of LaSalle. For the past five years he has been a member of the Tonica public school board, and is now acting as its clerk. and was the clerk of the town for three years, township collector for two terms, and since 1887 has been a police magis- trate. Politically he is independent, though his vote is usually given to the Democratic party.
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In the fraternities our subject belongs to Tonica Lodge, No. 364, A. F. & A. M., of which he is a past master; Peru Chapter, No. 60, R. A. M .; St. John's Commandery, No. 26, K. T .; and Peoria Consistory, thirty-second degree, Scottish-Rite Masons. He also is identified with Tonica Lodge, No. 298, Odd Fellows; Kaiser Camp, No. 707, M. W. of A .; Marshall Lodge of the Knights of Pythias, at Wenona, Illinois, and with his wife, is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star. His marriage to Miss Jennie E., born May 13, 1864, a daughter of James A. Lambert, was solemnized November 28, 1886, and they have two children, Emily J., born July 20, 1888, and J. Delwin, born November 14, 1893.
Mr. Hartenbower is a natural musician, and is the leader of the Tonica Woodmen Brass and Reed Band, comprising twenty-two members. As may be inferred, he is one of the most popular men in this section of the county, few being in greater demand in all business, social or public enter- prises, and his name seems to be all that is needed to make a success of any local undertaking.
DAVID GRANT.
Forty-four years ago David Grant cast in his fortunes with the people of LaSalle county, and during all of this period he has dwelt in Eden township, where he stands high in the estimation of old time acquaintances and every one else in general who knows him. He is a self-made man, having amassed a competence by enterprise and persistent industry, and now, as the evening of his life draws near, he has abundant means to pass in comfort his remaining years.
As Marsby Grant, the father of our subject, died when the latter was but two years old, but little is known of the family history on the paternal side. Both he and his father before him were natives of Vermont, and the maternal grandfather of David Grant, a Mr. Kemp, was from the same state, and was a soldier in the war of the Revolution. He removed to New York state, where he died at about ninety years of age. He was a farmer by occupation and reared his six children to the same pursuit. Three sons were born to Marsby and - (Kemp) Grant, but only Edward and David survive.
The birth of David Grant took place in Saratoga county, New York, February 18, 1828. He spent his boyhood in that locality, receiving a good public school education. Believing that the west offered greater opportun- ities to a young man, he came to Illinois in March, 1855, and for three or four years rented land in Eden township. He then bought two acres of ground and erected thereon a one-story frame house. fourteen by twenty-
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four feet in dimensions, and a small straw-thatched stable. Having thus made a start, he worked early and late toward the accomplishment of more ambitious things, with the result that he was soon able to buy a quarter section of land. This place he sold at the end of two years, in 1864, and in the following spring he removed to his present homestead. This finely improved farm, situated on section 36, comprises one hundred and sixty acres, well adapted for a general line of crops grown in this region. In addi- tion to owning this place, he has a good dwelling house in Bloomington, Illi- nois. He takes a patriotic interest in the welfare of his community, and votes the Democratic ticket, but he has never been an aspirant to public office.
Just before coming to this state to found a new home and make a position for himself, Mr. Grant was married, on the 9th of February, 1855, to Miss Jane Humphries, who has been a faithful helpmate. They became the parents of three daughters and five sons, Robert, David H., Annie E., Mary E., Sarah J., James H. and Thomas I. (twins) and Charles W. The two last mentioned are unmarried, and David H. died when but ten months old. The others are married and are settled in homes of their own. Rob- ert chose Miss Jane Kent for his wife, and they have one daughter. Their home is in Chicago, where the father is engaged in the livery and feed stable business. Annie became the wife of Frank Miner, since deceased, and their two children are named Arthur and David H. Later she wedded a Mr. P. S. Crites, by whom she has one son, and their present home is in the vicinity of Las Animas, Colorado. Mrs. Mary E. Wright resides at Storm Lake, Iowa, and Sarah, Mrs. Samuel Jamison, the mother of two children, lives near Utica, LaSalle county. James married Miss Edna A. Fairchild, and their only child is Eddie Grant. Mrs. David Grant is a member of the Baptist church and is a most exemplary lady, loved by all. Both she and our subject are highly esteemed in this community, where they com- menced their happy married life together, and none of their old neighbors begrudge them the prosperity which now crowns their busy, industrious lives.
JOHN WHITE.
Since the middle of the century John White has been identified with LaSalle county, Illinois, and since 1866 he has owned and occupied his present farm on section 14. Groveland township.
Mr. White is a native of the Old Dominion. He was born in Frederick county, Virginia, in the year 1814, a son of John and Elizabeth (Carper) White, both natives of Virginia. In the White family were eleven children,
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six daughters and five sons, and at this writing six of that number are living, namely: John, whose name initiates this review; Elizabeth, the widow of Thomas McCombs, of West Virginia; Jane, the widow of Ezekiel Caldwell, of Peoria county, Illinois; Ellen, the widow of David Lutz, of West Virginia; Amanda, the wife of Jerrie Null, of Marshall county, West Virginia; and Alfred, of Clyde, Kansas. The senior John White was a farmer and team- ster, and for many years drove a team from Baltimore to Pittsburg and Wheeling, making regular trips. The last two years of his life were spent in Peoria county, Illinois, where he died, at the age of seventy-three years. His wife's death occurred in West Virginia six years before his. They were Presbyterians in faith.
William White, the paternal grandfather of our subject, was a native of Virginia, who moved to Kentucky in the early history of that state. He had a small family. The maternal grandfather of our subject was William Carper. He was of Dutch descent, was the father of two sons and three daughters, and died in his native state, Virginia, when past middle life.
When John White, the direct subject of this review, was ten years old his parents removed with their family from the eastern part of Virginia, to what is now known as West Virginia, where he lived until 1850. That year he came to Illinois, making the journey by way of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and landing at Lacon. He first located nine miles east of Lacon, where he rented land for six years. The next four years he rented land in Osage township, LaSalle county, and following that was five years on a rented farm in Groveland township. In the spring of 1866 he bought his present home farm, one hundred and sixty acres in Groveland township, which he has since occupied, carrying on general farming operations.
In 1839 Mr. White married Miss Mary Ann Whetsel, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Darnell) Whetsel, whose life was happily blended with his from that time until 1883, when she died at the age of sixty-three years. She was a consistent member of the Christian church, as also is Mr. White. To them were born eleven children-three sons and eight daughters, all of whom reached adult age except two that died in infancy; and the grand- children of this worthy sire now number forty, and the great-grandchildren twenty. Of Mr. White's children we record that Rachel, the widow of Egbert Dresser, has six children, Chauncey, Orrie, Fred, Elmer, Charles and Corie; Margaretta, the wife of George Studyman, lives in Compton, New- ton county, Arkansas, and their six children are Sylvester, Sene, John, Lucinda, Ellis and Grant; Elizabeth, the wife of Henry Bane, of Eureka, Kansas, is the mother of six children, Ida, Alvin, Mary, Nellie, John and Frank; Jane, the wife of James Bane, of Dana, Illinois, has ten children, Austin, Annie, Arthur, Herbert, Charles, Gilbert, Loretta, Richard, Roy
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and Clinton; Mary Ann, the wife of Daniel Winans, of Dana, Illinois, has three children living, Cassie, Dial and Belle; Nellie, the wife of John Clegg, of Leeds, Illinois, has one child, Curtis; James, who married Carrie Austin, has one child, Henry; Richard, who married Julia Winans, has eight children -Ernest, Chloe, Ethel, Pearl, Harvey, and Lelah, Ida and Leo (triplets), and Frank, who married Dora Yohe, and has one child, Roy.
Politically Mr. White is a Democrat.
SENECA S. AUSTIN.
Nearly forty-five years ago this honored citizen came to Illinois, and for almost a quarter of a century he has dwelt in the town of Rutland, LaSalle county. His life has been an exceptionally active and useful one, and though actuated by a proper amount of ambition and desire for success, he has ever kept in view the higher aims which should animate mankind, and has nobly striven to fulfill what he believed was his chief mission. As he looks back along the pathway he has pursued for just eighty years, he can have but few regrets, for the majority of his mistakes have been errors of judgment, not of deliberate choice, and his heart has been filled with love and sympathy for his fellow men and a genuine desire to aid them by every means in his power.
He is one of the five surviving children of Daniel and Betsy (Drigg) Austin, who were natives of New York state and Connecticut respectively. Four of their children have passed to the better land, and those who re- main are named as follows: Seneca S .; Harriet, the widow of Curtis Rog- ers, of Utica, Illinois; John, a citizen of Greene county, New York; Alphon- sine, the wife of Curtis Lacy, of Greene county, New York; and Louisa, who resides in the same county and is the wife of Isaac Smith. The father, Daniel Austin, was a successful farmer of that locality, where he died in 1875, at the age of nearly eighty-two years. His widow's death took place seven years later, when she was in her eighty-sixth year. Both were devoted mem- bers of the Christian church. Jeremiah, the father of Daniel Austin, was a native of the Empire state, a weaver by trade and a farmer to some extent. He had two sons and three daughters, and lived to an advanced age. The father of Mrs. Betsy Austin was John Drigg, a native of Connecticut. He was a brick and stone mason and a plasterer by trade. His children were six in number-two sons and four daughters.
The birth of Seneca S. Austin occurred on the parental homestead in Cairo township, Greene county, New York, August 4, 1819. He early mas- tered the details of agriculture and attended the old fashioned subscription
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schools of that early period. After he reached his majority he followed the usual custom of learning a trade, and at length was pronounced an excellent blacksmith, but he soon abandoned that pursuit and resumed farming, to which he gave his energy until 1875.
On the 15th of October, 1843, a momentous event occurred in the history of Mr. Austin, as on that day Miss Sally Lake was united to him in wedlock, and during the many years which have come and gone since then she has, indeed, been a faithful sharer of his joys and sorrows. Her parents were Godfrey M. and Permelia (Edwards) Lake, natives of the Empire state and farmers by vocation. The father was of Dutch descent, a son of William and Mary (Miller) Lake, of old New York families. The latter, Mrs. Mary M. Lake, reached the remarkable age of one hundred and ten years. Godfrey M. Lake died at his home in New York, February 3, 1887, when six months over eighty-two years of age, and his widow, who died in 1895, was then ninety-one years and four months old. Mrs. Sally Austin is one of their nine children, only three of whom have crossed to the other shore. Mary B., now of Grand Rapids, Michigan, first married Edmund Spring, and after his death she became the wife of Peter Day. Ann C. is the wife of Henry Risedorph, of Cairo, New York. George and William H. Lake reside in Greene county, New York, and Lydia R., the youngest, is the wife of Ezra Thorn, of Greenville, New York.
Three children-Daniel M., George L. and Chester Y .- blessed the union of S. S. Austin and wife. Daniel M., of Rutland, chose Jennie Cooper for a wife, and their children are named Addie, Clara and Clifford. George L. wedded Kate Duffield Shull and their four children are Leslie, Fern, Caro and Ruth. He is a general merchant at Rutland, and is represented elsewhere in this work. Chester Y. married Nora Briggs and their three children are Clem, Ollie and Bernice. Their home is in Streator, and he is employed as a distributing bill agent of the Santa Fe Railroad Company. Concerning Daniel M. Austin, we may add that he enlisted in the United States army when he was twenty-one years of age and was out on the frontier three years. He has a farm of eighty acres two miles east of Rut- land, but, his health failing about five years ago, he rented his land and has since lived in Rutland. Chester Y. Austin was formerly a telegraph operator at various points, and now he is employed in a different capacity by the Santa Fe Railroad Company.
In 1855 S. S. Austin came to Illinois with his wife and three children, locating on a farm in Stark county. He experienced the hardships of the pioneer on these western prairies, and was obliged to break the hitherto un- cultivated ground with the great plows and the yokes of oxen, according to custom. In 1858 he removed to Bureau county, and after two years
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more of western farming he returned to his native state, where the conditions were in many respects more favorable. He remained there for eight years, and then came back to his old farm in Bureau county. Four years later he located in Rutland, where he has since made his home. He bought property here and was engaged in the lumber business for two years. During the ensuing thirteen or fourteen years he, in partnership with his son George, was engaged in general merchandising. Then selling his interest to his son, he retired to enjoy the competence which he had justly earned.
When residing in Bureau county, Mr. Austin was one of the school trustees, and has served in the same capacity since coming to Rutland. He also served as township clerk when he dwelt in Stark county, and at all times has taken a commendable interest in the community wherein his lot was cast. He and his estimable wife are members of the Christian church, and have hosts of sincere friends in various parts of the country.
CHAUNCEY JONES.
During the forty-five years of Chauncey Jones' residence in Illinois he has been a witness of remarkable changes, as the wild prairie yielded to the cultivation of the hardy pioneers, and fertile farms and thriving villages sprang into existence, and the "prairie schooners," conveying little parties of home-seekers, gave place to the swift-moving trains, with their thousands of passengers, carried to and fro. He has been no idle on-looker, but has faithfully contributed his share toward the prosperity which this state and its inhabitants now enjoy, and as his footsteps lead toward the declining sun of life he may look back, without regrets, feeling that he has performed his en- tire duty and efficiently filled his place in his generation.
Ezra Jones, the paternal grandfather of our subject, was a native of New Hampshire and of Welsh descent. He was a miller by trade, and died when in the prime of life, leaving six or seven children. The maternal grand- father was William Dodge, also a native of New Hampshire, and a cabinet- maker and owner of a sawmill. He reared a large family and lived to attain an advanced age.
John, the father of Chauncey Jones, was born and grew to maturity in New Hampshire. There he mastered the trade of cabinet-making, and in 1837 he settled in Ohio, his home being in the town of Woodstock, Cham- paign county, for the ensuing eighteen years. In 1855 he came to Illinois. and thenceforth lived in Long Point township, Livingston county. He was summoned to the better land in 1869, surviving his wife about one year. Both were members of the Free-Will Baptist church, and were highly es-
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teemed members of society. Mr. Jones was a Democrat until the time when the disturbed condition of the country led to the organization of the Re- publican party, when, espousing its noble doctrines, he ever afterward was affiliated with it. Mrs. Jones was born in New Hampshire, and in her girl- hood bore the name of Polly Dodge. She became the mother of six chil- dren, five of whom were sons. Only three survive, namely: Chauncey, David C., of Mahaska county, Iowa, and Enoch P., a citizen of Minonk, Illinois.
The birth of Chauncey Jones occurred in Wilmot, New Hampshire, October 29, 1830. He was seven years of age when his father removed to Ohio, and prior to reaching his majority he lived on farms and in the town by turns. He received a common-school education. and in 1854 started out in- dependently, entering eighty acres of land at Long Point, Illinois. He im- proved that property, which he still owns, and in addition to that he owns two other tracts of eighty acres each, in the same locality, and a farm of similar size in Lee county. He continued to carry on his agricultural pur- suits in Livingston county until 1891, when he retired, and coming to Dana bought a house, which he remodeled and beautified, making his home here ever since.
His marriage to Miss Sarah A. Bane was solemnized July 23, 1851, and, after more than two-score years of joys and sorrows shared together she was summoned to the silent land by the angel of death, December 27, 1893. She was a daughter of Absalom and Sarah (Downey) Bane. Mr. and Mrs. Jones had the following named five children: Polly L., the eldest daughter, first married William Tullis and after his death became the wife of John Stanley, of Lee county. By her first union six children were born, namely: Susan, Boyd, William, Annie, Rena and Charles. Sarah Etta, the second child of Mr. Jones, died at the age of one year. Annetta, the third born, is the wife of Ezekiel Marshall, of Groveland township, and has two sons-Orville and Howard. George B., the older son, died at the age of thirty-four years, unmarried; and William H., the younger son, married Inez Kelly and had two children-Elsie and Curtis. His wife died and after- ward he wedded Miss Mary Knox, and their twin boys are named respec- tively John K. and Chauncey. The home of this family is in Long Point township, Livingston county.
On the Ist of November, 1894. Chauncey Jones was united in marriage with Miss Sophia Cartwell. They are members of the Christian church and have many sincere friends in Dana and elsewhere.
Politically Mr. Jones is a true-blue Republican. He has served as a police magistrate for three years, and for nine years acted in the capacity of road commissioner. He is conscientious in discharging every obligation
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of citizenship, and merits the favorable regard which is generously accorded him. Education of the young is a subject which he deems well worthy of his serious attention, and for one term he served as a school director.
ISAAC LOCK.
Vermilion township, LaSalle county, Illinois, counts among its esteemed citizens and respected farmers the gentleman whose name initiates this sketch-Isaac Lock.
Mr. Lock is a native of Ohio. He was born in Preble county, October 15, 1822, a son of Philip and Elizabeth (Wolf) Lock, natives of Maryland, and he is the only one now living of their family of eight children, four sons and four daughters. Philip Lock was by trade a shoemaker, but was for a number of years engaged in farming. He was one of the pioneers of Preble county, Ohio, where he cleared and improved a farm, and where he died, at the age of fifty years. His widow survived him a number of years and came west with her youngest son to LaSalle county, Illinois, where she died at the age of seventy-two years. Both Philip Lock and his wife were members of the Lutheran church.
The Locks are of German origin. Henry Lock, the grandfather of our subject, was a native of Maryland and lived and died in that state. He was a farmer. Of the maternal grandfather of Isaac Lock, whose name was John Wolf, we record that he was a native of Maryland, and at the time of his death was eighty years old. He was the father of nine children .
Isaac Lock was reared on his father's farm in Harrison township, Preble county, Ohio, and received his education in the district school near his home. After his marriage, which occurred in 1844, when he was twenty- two years of age, he settled down in Ohio and carried on farming there for six years. He then moved over into the neighboring state of Indiana and located on a farm eight miles from Winchester, where he lived two years. In 1846 he came to Illinois. His first location here was on a farm in Ridge township, LaSalle county, where he lived four years. At the end of that time he rented his present farm, one hundred and sixty acres, on section 34, Vermilion township, which three years later he purchased and on which he has since lived, devoting his energies to its cultivation and improvement, with the result that he has one of the most desirable farms in his locality.
Mr. Isaac Lock was married October 9, 1844, to Miss Susan Hapner, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Ellis) Hapner, and the fruits of their union were four children, namely: Milton, Minerva, Amanda and Isaac E. The three first died in early life. Isaac E. married Miss Mary Hauenstein, a
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daughter of Philip and Maggie (Klag) Hauenstein, and they have two children-Ira Allen and Courtland. Mrs. Susan Lock shared the joys and sorrows of life with her husband for more than half a century, and at the ripe age of eighty years and ten months passed away, February 2, 1899.
Adhering to the religious faith in which he was reared. Mr. Lock is a Lutheran. Politically he affiliates with the Republican party. By honest industry and careful management he has secured a competency for old age, and now that the evening of life has come he is in the enjoyment of comfort and plenty.
J. E. PORTER.
J. E. Porter stands at the head of one of the leading industrial concerns of Ottawa. Everywhere in our land are found men who have worked their own way from humble and lowly beginnings to places of leadership in the commerce, the great productive industries and the management of the veins and arteries of the traffic and exchanges of the country. To this class belongs Mr. Porter, and to-day he stands among the representative busi- ness men of LaSalle county, enjoying not only the fruits of his toil, but also the respect and esteem of his fellow men, for his reputation is unassailable.
The Porter family is of Irish lineage, the great-grandfather of our subject, in company with two brothers, having sailed from the Emerald Isle in the early part of the seventeenth century to become members of a Massachusetts colony near Boston, where two of the three brothers reared their families. John Porter, the grandfather of our subject, was the eldest child of his father's family and was born January 7. 1756. He emigrated westward, locating in Washington county, Pennsylvania, where he married a Miss Hossack, a lady of Scotch parentage who was born November 17, 1758. They had six sons and three daughters, the youngest child being Joseph, the father of J. E. Porter. He was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1798, and during the war of 1812 assisted in taking care of the wounded and other unfortunate soldiers, although only a lad of fourteen summers at the time. On attaining his majority he sought a home in the west, becoming a resident of Adams county, Ohio, in 1822. There he formed the acquaintance of Miss Eliza Moore, and on the Ist of April, 1824, they were married. She was born February 27, 1805, near Lexington, Virginia, and died June 22, 1840. Her father, David Moore, was born May 10, 1773, and was a son of Captain John Moore, one of the noted families of Moores that furnished so many valiant soldiers to Virginia regiments during the Revolution. His wife. Ann Ewing, was born June 18, 1782, and was a member of the Ewing family that also took an active part
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