USA > Illinois > LaSalle County > Biographical and genealogical record of La Salle County, Illinois, Volume II > Part 39
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At the outbreak of civil war he raised a company in a few days and was elected its captain, and, leaving one hundred and fifty acres of grain in the shock, he went with his men to the front. In four weeks from the date of his enlistment he was facing General Bragg in Kentucky. He was in the service a little over a year, after which, on account of failing health, he resigned and returned home. He was in the battles of Hartsville, Tennessee; the Tullahoma campaign, and in many skirmishes.
Captain Howe has been twice married. In Vermont, in 1845, he mar- ried Miss Eliza Howard, who bore him two children-Eleanor and Elwin. The latter died at the age of two and a half years. Eleanor married Collins Gunn, who is now deceased, and she lives in Granville, Putnam county. She has six children-Mabel, Ada, Charles, Maud, Edna and Blanche. Mrs. Eliza Howe died in 1851, as above recorded. February 15, 1854, Mr. Howe married Miss Arminda H. Holdridge, a daughter of Asa and Polly (Warren) Holdridge, early settlers of LaSalle county. The fruits of this union have been six children-four sons and two daughters-Viola Irene, George Ellis and Norman, and three that died in infancy. Viola Irene married Lyle .Patton, of Vermilion township, and they have two children-Vera and Roy. George E. married Miss Ida Utech. They live on the home place.
Captain Howe has long been identified with the Masonic order. He received the blue lodge degrees in St. John's Lodge, F. & A. M., in Peru, Illinois, and is one of the charter members of Tonica Lodge, No. 264. Also he is a member of Peru Chapter, No. 63. R. A. M .; and St. John's Commandery, No. 26. K. T., of Peru, in all of which he has served officially. He was the first Senior Warden of Tonica Lodge and is a Past Master of the same. Also he is a member of Randolph Post. No. 93. G. A. R., of which
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he is a Past Commander. He has affiliated with the Republican party since its organization and has served officially in several local offices. He has been a justice of the peace for fifteen years and is still serving in that office; was a township assessor one term and school director two or three terms.
WILLIAM NICHOLSON.
William Nicholson is one of the sterling citizens which England has furnished to the United States, and Lowell, LaSalle county, boasts of no better, worthier inhabitant. He is a brother of John and son of John and Elizabethi (Moffatt) Nicholson, whose history appears elsewhere in this work. They were all natives of England, and the birth of William Nicholson took place in Westmoreland. November 10, 1833.
In his native land, he obtained a fair education and for several years after leaving school lie was employed at various occupations. His elder brother, John, having come to America and reported favorably of the pros- pects for a young man of enterprise and ability, he concluded that he also would seek his fortune here. Accordingly, in the spring of 1856 he sailed across the ocean and upon reaching the shores of the western continent, he proceeded direct to. Lowell, which, with the exception of two years spent on a farm in Lee county, Illinois, he has looked upon as his home ever since. For about two years after he came to this country he worked in the coal mines, and then, for several years, he found employment with his brother in the mill. Having accumulated a little capital by economy, he invested it in eighty acres of land in Lee county. This property he later sold, and in partnership with his brother bought several tracts of land, which they did not divide until about ten years ago. Our subject now owns three hundred acres in Vermilion township, and one hundred and sixty acres near Iowa Falls, in Hardin county, Iowa. A little more than a decade ago he retired from the active cares of agricultural life and has since made his abode in Lowell, where he owns and occupies a pleasant house.
In 1861, the year that witnessed the outbreak of the civil war, Mr .. Nicholson and Miss Sarah Ann Chester were united in wedlock. She is a daughter of David and Ann (Gray) Chester, who were natives of Carlisle, and Durham, England, respectively. They came to the United States in 1853, and for two years resided in Zanesville, Ohio. Then, removing to Deer Park, LaSalle county, the father was employed in a sawmill for several years, and also worked in the coal mines. Of the thirteen children of Mr. and Mrs. Chester only four are now living: Mrs. Nicholson, George W .. David and Margaret Ellen, wife of Isaac Farris. The father departed this
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life in May, 1873, aged sixty-four years. The mother survives, and now, at four-score years of age, is tenderly cared for by her daughter, Margaret E., at their home in LaSalle.
Six sons and two daughters blessed the union of our subject and wife, namely: John, Thomas, Robert, Margaret, George, Mary, William and one who died in infancy. John, who is managing the old homestead in Vermilion township, belonging to his father, married Lillie Richey and has two children, Gladys Viola and Ruth Marie. Thomas married Jennie Gard- ner, by whom he has one child, Guy William, and their home is in Hardin county, Iowa. Robert married the widow of the late Mercer Richey. Mar- garet is the wife of John Gardner, of Franklin county, Iowa, and her children are John William, Zola Ann and Sarah Fern. George died at the age of two years and four months. Mary and William, Jr., are unmarried and living at home.
The cause of education finds in Mr. Nicholson a sincere friend, and for several years he served as a school director. He is a stanch Republican, and in religion is an Episcopalian, while his wife is identified with the Methodist denomination. They are widely known, owing to their long residence in this county, and have hosts of friends.
WILLIAM F. ROCHELEAU.
Professor William F. Rocheleau, superintendent of public instruction in Streator, is one of the most prominent and successful educators in this part of the state. He was born in Danville, Vermont, forty-seven years ago, his parents being Alexander and Clarissa (Batchelder) Rocheleau, the father of French descent. His vocation was that of agriculture, to which he de- voted the greater part of his life.
Professor Rocheleau passed his early years upon his father's farm and was an attendant of the public schools. Later he entered the academy and finished with a course in Montpelier Seminary, at which he graduated. The following two years he was employed in teaching school, and his record clearly shows his special adaptation for the work. For the next seven years he was employed in the State Normal School at Randolph, Vermont, whence he went to Sauk Center, Minnesota, and for three years was the superin- tendent of schools there. He then accepted a position as instructor in the State Normal School at Moorhead, Minnesota, and remained in that position for five years. leaving it to take the chair of psychology in the State Normal at Carbondale, this state. After remaining in that position for three years, where he showed wonderful efficacy in his methods of work, he came to
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Streator, in 1896, where his teaching has been successful to a remarkable degree. He is a shrewd observer of human nature, precise and logical in his reasoning, and does not hesitate to introduce new ideas in his work when he thinks it advisable to do so. He is also a good disciplinarian. and man- ages the different elements in the school with an ease that redounds to his credit. He is devoted to his work and spares no pains to perfect himself in each branch and keep fully abreast of the times. The citizens of Streator are proud of their educational advantages and at no time have the schools appeared to better advantage or attained such prominence among the edu- cational institutions of the state as they have under the management of Professor Rocheleau. The ten school buildings of the city are in charge of a corps of fifty teachers, with an enrollment of two thousand and four hundred pupils, and the whole guided by Professor Rocheleau.
In 1877 he was joined in marriage to Miss Mattie Sinney, a daughter of Rev. James Sinney, and in the family of the professor there is now one child, named George A. Professor Rocheleau and his wife are prominent in the social life of the city and are held in high esteem.
THOMAS DRACKLEY.
Thomas Drackley, of LaSalle county, Illinois, is an Englishman by birth and early training, but has been a resident of America since he reached his majority and has at heart the best interests of his adopted country. Mr. Drackley was born in Leicestershire, England, September 17, 1830, a son of Thomas and Charlotte (Dowell) Drackley, he being the third of their five children, the others being as follows: Richard, Charlotte, Manlius and Sarah. Charlotte is deceased. Manlius and Sarah are residents of Rutland township, LaSalle county, the latter being the wife of Philander Butterfield. In 1846 the family emigrated from their native land to the United States and established their home in New York state, near Utica. Both parents lived to a ripe old age, the father dying at the age of eighty-five; the mother, at eighty. They were members of the Episcopal church, or what is known as the Church of England.
Thomas and William Drackley preceded their parents and other mem- bers of the family to Illinois, their landing here being in 1852, shortly after Thomas reached his majority, and they came at once to LaSalle county, Illinois. Thomas engaged in farm work, by the month, for Mr. William Pitzer, in whose employ he remained some time. In 1867 he married and that same year he and his bride settled on their present farm, a fine tract of one hundred and sixty acres, which under Mr. Drackley's more than thirty years of cultivation and improvement has been developed into a
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valuable farm. Among its improvements are a modern residence, large barns and a fine orchard.
Mr. Drackley was married February 27, 1867, to Miss Adelaide Pierce, the ceremony being performed by the Rev. Mr. Coleman, of Ottawa, Illi- nois. Mrs. Drackley is one of the family of two children of Charles Pierce and wife, Clarinda Pierce, nee Browning, natives of Massachusetts. Her- brother, Edwin L., died in Maysville, Missouri, in 1898. Mrs. Drackley previous to her marriage was engaged in teaching school. With the passing years, sons and daughters to the number of six have come to brighten the- home of Mr. and Mrs. Drackley. Their third born, Herbert T., died at the age of eight months. The others are living and are as follows: Eliza- beth, the wife of Charles Howe, of Brookfield township, LaSalle county, has two children-Jessie L. and Murial; Clara J., a successful teacher ;. Lottie E., formerly a teacher, is now the wife of I. G. Osgood, of Brookfield, LaSalle county, and has one child, Lenore; and Charles W. and Thomas. P. at home.
Mr. Drackley and his family are actively identified with the Methodist church, and he gives his support, politically, to the Republican party.
FRANK MASSATTE.
The prominent farmer and stock-dealer whose name heads this sketch -Frank Massatte, of Adams township, LaSalle county-is a Frenchman by birth and early association, but for nearly three decades has been an American citizen, residing at his present location since 1872.
Mr. Massatte was born in France April 24, 1841, and was reared in his. native land, remaining there until 1871, when, thinking to better his condi- tion, he emigrated to the United States. The following year he came to. Adams township, LaSalle county, landing here a poor man with only forty cents in his pocket, but with a brave heart, a strong arm and a willingness. to work. The next year, 1873, he took to himself a wife and settled down to farming. His present success as a farmer and stock-raiser goes to show that he has been a "hustler" in the true sense of that word; also that success. can be attained and property acquired here without capital to begin with. Mr. Massatte now has two hundred and eighty acres of land, one of the finest and best improved farms in his locality. For more than fifteen years he has given especial attention to the stock business, raising, buying and selling, and there is probably not another man in the vicinity better posted on stock than he.
Mr. Massatte on coming to this country gave his support to the Re-
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publican party and has since continued to affiliate with it, taking an intelli- gent interest in all public affairs.
He was married in 1873 to Miss Sophia Morel, a native of Alsace- Lorraine, France, who has shared with him the toils and successes of life for over twenty-five years. They are the parents of six children, namely: Mary, Adaline, Emma, Frank, George and William.
W. W. TAYLOR.
Upon both the paternal and maternal sides of the family, W. W. Taylor, proprietor of the Clifton Hotel, in Ottawa, may justly lay claim to be of pioneer Illinois stock. His father, E. D. Taylor, was born in 1832, at Fort Dearborn, where the great metropolis, Chicago, now stands. He in turn was a son of William Taylor, a native of Fairfax county, Virginia, and a representative of an old and influential Revolutionary family of that section. After he had grown to manhood. E. D. Taylor was for many years the receiver of public moneys at Fort Dearborn, and was more or less identified with the early history of the wonderful city then in its infancy. He was married, in Springfield, Illinois, to Mary, a daughter of Giles Taylor, who had emigrated to this state while it was yet a territory and had participated gallantly in the Black Hawk and other Indian wars of that early period. Thus it may be seen that the ancestors of our subject were among those who founded and gave stability to this state, which has now risen to the proud distinction of being one of the wealthiest and most progressive in the Union.
The birthplace of W. W. Taylor was at the corner of Michigan avenue and Congress street, the site of the massive and beautiful Auditorium Hotel and Opera house of to-day. He was born October 31. 1853. and received much of his education in the University of Notre Dame, in Indiana. In 1870 he came to this county and for several years was interested in the coal business. In 1878 he began the study of law in the office of Duncan O'Conner, and two years later he was appointed clerk of the courts, at Ottawa. He has made his home here for a number of years, and no more progressive, patriotic citizen can be found. At length he became the owner of the Clifton Hotel, one of the leading and popular hotels of the town. Centrally situated, well appointed in every particular, and under able man- agement. it commands a large patronage, and is a paying investment to the wide-awake, methodical proprietor, who has made a genuine success of the enterprise.
In 1875 Mr. Taylor was united in marriage with Miss Jennie Mills, a . daughter of James Mills, now deceased, and at one time the mayor of
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LaSalle, Illinois. Mrs. Taylor is a lady of excellent qualities and attain- ments, her higher education having been obtained at a seminary near Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Bertha, the eldest child of Mr. and Mrs. Taylor, is the wife of Abraham C. Godfrey, a successful merchant of Ottawa. Louise . M., the next daughter, is a teacher in the grammar schools of this place; and Annie M., is a high school student.
Mr. Taylor is a great worker in the ranks of the Democratic party, in whose principles he heartily believes. In 1895 his fellow-citizens honored him by electing him as an alderman from the second ward, and at present he is serving the people in the capacity of town supervisor. His record as a business man and politician is above question, and his friends and admirers . are legion.
WILLIAM F. BOGGS.
William Foster Boggs is numbered among the prosperous and pro- gressive men whose business acumen and well-directed efforts have tended to strengthen and build up the city of Streator, LaSalle county. His success has resulted from his own efforts, which have been discerningly directed along well-defined lines of labor, and he is now a well-known mer- chant of Streator, who is carrying on a very extensive and profitable hard- ware trade.
Mr. Boggs was born in Callensburg, Clarion county, Pennsylvania, July 10, 1854, and is a son of Robert M. and Isabella May (Baumgardner) Boggs. Both parents were of German lineage, although the grandparents of our subject were natives of Pennsylvania. The father was a son of John H. and Catherine (Hoover) Boggs, and the mother was the daughter of Emmanuel and Polly (Ebbs) Baumgardner. In 1857 Robert M. Boggs . and his family removed to LaSalle county, Illinois, and in 1882 he and his wife went to Pierce county, Nebraska, where they have since made their home. In their family were eight children-five sons and three daughters.
The subject of this review was only three years of age when brought by his parents to LaSalle county. He was educated in the public schools of Illinois until 1873, when he entered the high school at Boonesboro, Iowa, where he pursued his studies for two years. Subsequently he entered upon his business career as a salesman in the hardware store and was thus em- ployed for some time. In 1889 he entered into partnership with S. McFeely, of Streator, establishing a hardware store under the firm name of W. F. Boggs & Company. This connection has since been continued and success . has attended their enterprise, their trade steadily and constantly increasing. They carry a large and well selected stock of hardware, tinware, stoves,.
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paints and mining tools, and their reliability in all matters of trade has won to them the public confidence and in consequence the public regard.
On the 3Ist of July, 1884, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Boggs and Miss Emma May Roberts, of Boone, Iowa, in which city the wedding took place. The lady is the youngest daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth Roberts, of Boone county, Iowa, in which locality her father was a thrifty farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Boggs now have one son, Sidney R., who was born January 30, 1895.
For five years Mr. Boggs served as a member of the state militia of Illinois. He gives his political support to the Republican party and is a stanch advocate of the organization which favors the gold standard and advocates the protection of American industries, and also believes in the policy of expansion. He is in sympathy with the party on all those questions and is well informed on the issues of the day, but has never been an aspirant for office. Socially Mr. Boggs is connected with several organ- izations. He joined the Odd Fellows society in 1880, the Modern Woodmen of America in 1888, and the Knights of the Globe in 1900. In 1896 he was elected a member of the board of education of Streator and is yet acting in that capacity, the public schools finding in him a warm friend. In 1884 he became a member of the Methodist church of Streator and in 1889 joined the Young Men's Christian Association, of which he has since been the treasurer. His life has ever been useful and honorable, commending him to the esteem and respect of all those with whom he has been brought in contact.
PETER M. M'ARTHUR. :
Peter M. McArthur, a successful attorney-at-law, of Marseilles, is of Scotch extraction, and possesses the clear, logical mind, the keenness and foresight and the ability to read human nature which are among the marked characteristics of the Celtic race. By the exercise of his undoubted talent he has risen within a few years, to a place of prominence and influence in his profession and in this community, and a short history of his career will be of interest to his numerous friends, here and elsewhere.
The parents of Peter M. McArthur, Alexander and Mary (Ralston) McArthur, were natives, respectively, of Greenock and Aryshire, Scotland. Peter M. was born in the town of Pictou, Nova Scotia, June 21, 1855, and received his elementary education in his native town. Later he at- tended the high school at Halifax, in the same province, and in 1872 he came to Marseilles, where he was a student in the high school for some time. He was then given a position as a clerk in the postoffice here and
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continued to serve as such for about four years. The legal profession had always been the goal of his ambition, and he now took up the study of law with diligence and was admitted to the bar in 1889. Opening an office he proceeded to devote himself assiduously to his practice, which has steadily increased in volume and importance during the past decade.
In 1882 Mr. McArthur married Miss Mary D. Pancoast, a daughter of Enoch and Mary (Dunn) Pancoast, of Marseilles. They have a pleasant home, which is brightened by the presence of their little son and daughter -Alexander Wheaton and Jessie P.
In his political affiliations Mr. McArthur is an uncompromising Demo- crat. In 1894 he was honored with the appointment to the position of postmaster of Marseilles, by President Cleveland, and served to the entire satisfaction of the public and citizens in general until his successor assumed the duties of the office. Fraternally he is identified with the Knights of Pythias.
OLE T. EASTEGORD.
Ole T. Eastegord, one of the successful farmers of Freedom, is a native of Norway, born near Stavanger, February 10, 1844. His father, Thomas Eastegord, was a farmer who died in his native land. Ole came to America with his uncle, Peter Jacobs, in 1867. In a short time his mother and brother followed him to the New World, and they established for them- selves a modest home. Mr. Eastegord became a farm hand, working by the month. He received twenty-six dollars per month and in the eight years he so labored that he accumulated sufficient money to purchase a team and farming tools, with which he engaged in farming. He rented land for four years and then bought eighty acres of land, at sixty dollars per acre. By carefully tilling this land, he made enough money to buy another tract of the same size, at the same time maintain his family and educate his child in a fair manner.
Regarding his domestic relations let it be said that he was married February 9, 1874, to Sarah, a daughter of Lewis Jacobson, but her own name was Sarah Lewison. Our subject and his wife have one child, Harvey, who is twenty-one years of age at this writing.
In township matters Mr. Eastegord is active, having filled the office of commissioner for Freedom township, which position he resigned before his time expired. He has twice been elected a school trustee.
He for whom this record was written embarked from Stavanger on the steamship Iowa, of the White Star line of American steamers, and was fifteen
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days out from Glasgow to New York. His brother Peter, who followed him to this country, died without heirs, and the good mother passed away in 1872.
FREDERICK W. SMITH.
Frederick W. Smith, one of the successful farmers of Deer Park town- ship, LaSalle county, looks back to New England as the place of his birth and home of his early childhood. He was born in Litchfield county, Con- necticut, January 30, 1840, and is descended from a line of tillers of the soil who for years made their home in Connecticut. His father was William R. Smith and his grandfather Gilbert Smith. The latter was born in Massa- chusetts, ran away from home when a boy and went to Connecticut, where he lived the greater part of his life. He died in LaSalle county, Illinois, at the advanced age of ninety-four years. He was for a short time a sol- dier in the war of 1812. William R. Smith, his son, was born in 1812; married Elizabeth Wooster; in 1853 came to Illinois and settled in LaSalle county. Here, after renting land for some time, he bought a farm, but subsequently sold out and then spent a few years in Indiana, acquiring property there. Disposing of his Indiana land, he went to Nebraska and took up a claim in Holt county, where he passed the rest of his life and where he died in 1890. His children are: Mary, of Litchfield county, Connecticut, who is the wife of Lorenzo Warner; Henry, of Deer Park, LaSalle county, Illinois; Emma, deceased; Frederick W., whose name introduces this sketch; Sarah, of Streator, who is the wife of Jerome Hornbeck; Frank A., of Elkhart, Indiana; Esther, of Holt county, Nebraska, the wife of George Wheatland; Amelia, deceased, who was the wife of George Bernhart; and Augusta, the wife of James Herrington, of Arkansas.
Frederick W. Smith was just entering his teens when he came to LaSalle county, and his time from then until he reached his majority was partly given to getting an education that would answer in waging life's battle. When the civil war came on he was not slow to "show his colors." He enlisted in Company G, Fifty-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, under Captain Joseph Clay and Colonel Stewart. His regiment formed a part of the First Brigade, Second Division of the Fifteenth Army Corps, Gen- eral Sherman being Brigade Commander. After a brief and unimportant service in southeastern Missouri, the war opened up in real earnest with them at the battle of Shiloh. The Fifty-fifth was a participant in all the engagements of the Army of the Tennessee, the chief of which after Shiloh being as follows: Russell House, siege of Corinth, Chickasaw Bayou, Arkansas Post, Champion Hills, siege of Vicksburg. Tuscumbia in Ala-
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