USA > Illinois > LaSalle County > Biographical and genealogical record of La Salle County, Illinois, Volume II > Part 41
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Omun Simonson was reared to farming and in his native land received a common-school education. He learned to speak, read and write English after coming to America. It was in 1857 that he came to this country, as a member of a party of fifty from his native country. June 12, the same year, he reached Ottawa, Illinois, and went direct to Freedom township, where he hired himself out to farm work during the summer seasons of 1857-8-9.
In August of the latter year he came to Leland, having spent the preceding winter in Deerfield, Wisconsin, learning the shoemaker's trade. Here he opened a shoe-shop, in partnership with George Gunderson. A little less than a year later this partnership was dissolved and Mr. Simon- son opened a shop of his own and with it a shoe store also, where he sold ready-made goods. He employed about four manufacturers, until 1865. In 1861 he built a store, where J. C. Jacobson's store now stands; but that building he sold in 1863. (Later it was burned.) During the war he had a fine business, made many boots and shoes for the soldiers, realizing a handsome profit. He erected his present store in 1866 and moved into it, engaging in the general merchandise business, which he has continued to the present, with signal success, for he is a man of enterprise and reliability. In this position he at first had Peter H. Peterson for a partner, who died about 1873. and Mr. Simonson has since conducted the business alone. In 1879 he built his residence in Leland, which is a good home.
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In 1862, in Leland, he married Ragnild Olson, a native of Norway, and their children are Anna, Mary, Amos, Esther, Lyda, Ruth, Bernard. The first born, Simon by name, died at the age of eighteen months. Mr. Simonson and his family are members of the Norwegian Evangelical Lit- theran church, of which he is a deacon. In politics he has always been a Republican. For several years he was a member of the village board of trustees, of which for one year he was president; and for the last twenty or more years he has been a member of the school board. In all his public offices he was scrupulously faithful, giving satisfaction to every reasonable citizen.
Mr. Simonson began his career a poor man and as a farm laborer, earning his first dollar in America. His example has surely been one of industry and economy, and his success has been marked. On his arrival in America he was in debt to the extent of seventy-five dollars, and this ยท he paid the very next day, beginning to work on a farm for thirteen dollars a month.
GEORGE A. HARTSHORN.
George A. Hartshorn, the supervisor of the township of Waltham, LaSalle county, is a native of this county and dates his birth in LaSalle in October, 1857. The Hartshorns have been residents of America for many generations. They are New England stock, their history reaching back to Colonial days, and they have been represented in the various wars of this country. Oliver Hartshorn, the first of the family in America of whom we have record, was a Revolutionary soldier. He was born November 1, 1760, and his wife, whose maiden name was Pettengill, was born May 2, 1759. They were farmers, and reared sons and daughters, named Oliver, Royal, Ira, Asa, Clarissa, Miranda, Sophronia and Eliza. Clarissa married a Mr. Armstrong, and Sophronia became the wife of John White. Ira Hartshorn was born June 13, 1793, and died September 17, 1859. He served a short time in the war of 1812, in his native state, Connecticut. A man of general affairs, he sold goods, kept hotel and had a stage route. In 1836, thinking to better his condition by a location on the frontier, he left Lisbon, Connecticut, and came to Illinois, making the trip by water. Hc stopped first at Joliet, where he secured employment in a sawmill. In 1837 he took claim to a tract of government land in LaSalle county, which he developed into a good farm and on which he made his home for more than two decades. This farm is now owned by his son Albert I. Politically Ira Hartshorn was a Democrat while in New England, but after coming to Illinois became a Free-soiler. He married Joanna Burnham, a daughter
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of Benjamin Burnham, of Lisbon, Connecticut. Her death occurred Feb- ruary 14, 1875. Of the children of Ira and Joanna Hartshorn, we record that Joshua P. was born in 1818 and is now a resident of Cass county, Iowa; Erasmus D., born in 1821, resides in California; Alfred I. was born in June, 1823; Pliny, August 26, 1825; Calvert, born July 25, 1827, resides in Onarga, Illinois; Mary, born in 1830, is the widow of Eli Strawn and resides in Chicago; Lucy, born in 1832, is a resident of Lincoln, Nebraska, and is the wife of N. Niles; Lydia, born in 1834, is the wife of R. Downing, of Nebraska; Charles B., born in 1838, died at Shiloh, Tennessee, during the civil war.
Albert I. Hartshorn began life as a farmer and some years later turned his attention to the coal business. He shipped the first car-load of coal that went north over the Illinois Central Railroad. He did a prosperous and extensive coal business for a number of years. Recently, however, he has de- voted his time and attention to farming and to speculating in real estate. He married Amelia Dean, a daughter of Alfred Dean; and George A., whose name introduces this sketch, was their first child. Their other chil- dren are Fred P., and Teresa, the wife of Charles Diesterweg.
George A. Hartshorn received a high-school education in LaSalle and then took a commercial course in Bryant & Stratton's Business College in Chicago, and on reaching his majority engaged in farming at the Harts- horn homestead farm in Waltham township, where he has since resided. He was married June 5, 1885, to Miss Minnie Mitchell, a daughter of William Mitchell, and they have four children-Amelia, Ira, Floyd and Walter.
Politically the subject of our sketch is a Democrat, and has a number of times been honored with local positions of trust and responsibility. His first township office was that of school trustee, which he held for fifteen years. He has served as a justice of the peace and town collector, and in the spring of 1896 was elected to his present position, that of supervisor, to succeed the Hon. John Wylie. Also he is a member of the County Asylum committee and is its chairman.
WALTER A. PANNECK.
Walter A. Panneck, a prominent and popular young lawyer of LaSalle, is of Polish birth and ancestry. He was born in Posen, Germany, August I, 1866, and is the eldest child and only son in the family of three children of Joseph and Antonia Panneck.
In 1875, when he was nine years old, his parents removed with their
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family to America and took up their abode in Peru, Illinois, and here he was reared and commenced the struggle of life. He attended the public schools until he was twelve years old, when he left school in order to go to work and help support the family, and from that time on he had to hustle for himself and at times provide for the family also. His father died June 6, 1887, at the age of fifty-five years; his mother, July 25, 1893, at the age of fifty-two years.
Young Panneck's first employment was in a coal mine, and for seven or eight years he was engaged in mining. Then he spent about three years as clerk in a store in Peru. In the meantime he took up the study of law and privately pursued his legal studies for three years, beginning while yet a miner, and was admitted to the bar January 21, 1892. Immediately there- after he entered upon the practice of his profession, and has been engaged in the practice ever since, since 1894 associated with Thomas N. Haskins. The present firm style is Haskins, Panneck & Haskins. Recognizing his- ability and popularity, Mr. Panneck's fellow citizens in May, 1895, elected him to the office of city attorney of LaSalle, which position he filled effi- ciently and to which he was re-elected in April, 1897.
Politically Mr. Panneck is a Democrat, and fraternally he is identified with the Modern Woodmen of America, the Foresters and the Royal Ar- canum. He was reared in the Roman Catholic faith and is a consistent mem- ber of that church.
Mr. Panneck was married in 1892 to Miss Carrie Seepe, of Peru, Illinois, who presides over his pleasant home.
EDWARD KEATING.
The popular alderman, Edward Keating, representing the Fourth ward of Ottawa in the city council, was elected to this office in the spring of 1897, his majority being eighty-six votes. For the past eighteen years, or ever since he arrived at man's estate, he has taken a leading part in campaigns, and has been an ardent supporter of the platform and nominees of the Democratic party.
One of the native sons of Ottawa, Mr. Keating has naturally felt great interest in her development and improvement along all lines of progress. His birth took place in 1857, and here, with his three brothers and sisters, he attended the public schools. His parents were Michael and Kate (Lucas). Keating. Upon entering into the business world Mr. Keating found em- ployment with the Miller Brewing Company and continued with that con- cern for a period of eight years. He then was offered a situation with the
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LaSalle Brewing Company, and has been with this firm for the past ten years. His fidelity to the best interests of his employers has led them to recognize his merits in a substantial way by promoting him and raising his salary from time to time.
On the 5th of September, 1880, the marriage of Edward Keating and Miss Margaret Driscoll was solemnized. Mrs. Keating's parents are Dow and Bridget Driscoll, of Ottawa, and in this place her girlhood was passed. She received good educational advantages and was graduated in the business college of this town. Mr. Keating built a cozy, comfortable home, which is furnished in good taste and it is the abode of a happy, harmonious family. Five children were born to our subject and his estimable wife, but the eldest, Michael, and another child, died in infancy. A son and two daughters re- main, namely, Ellen, Edward and Margaret.
HORACE D. HICKOK.
Probably few residents of LaSalle county are better posted in its history or have been more deeply interested in its development than has Horace D. Hickok, now making his home in the village of Troy Grove. He is a gentleman of wide information on general topics of public importance, and is an especial friend to education, having done all within his power for years to further the cause. He is a self-made man, having no one to thank for the competence which he and his family now enjoy save himself; and though his pathway in life has not been an easy one in many respects he has borne his burdens manfully and is thoroughly deserving of the high regard in which he is held by all of his acquaintances.
In the conduct of his paternal grandfather, Oliver Otis Hickok, he had an example of the true patriot, for that worthy man offered himself to his country in the war of 1812 and lost his life while bravely fighting at the battle of Plattsburg. He was a native of Vermont and was of English and French descent, his forefathers having come to this country from England at an early day. He was a farmer and had made many ambitious plans for the future, when the cruel war put an end to all of them, and. in the prime of early manhood, death came to him. He left a widow and three daughters and a son to mourn his loss. The son, William A., be- came the father of our subject. He was born in Grand Isle county, Vermont, and learned the business of manufacturing carriages. In 1833 he came to the west and for a short time lived at Union Grove, Putnam county, Illinois. He then settled at Bailey's Point, LaSalle county; thence removed to Gran- ville, Putnam county, and in 1836 started the first store in the town of Troy
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Grove. After the panic of 1837 he was occupied in farming until his death in 1852, when he was fifty-two years of age. His widow, whose maiden name was Polly B. Butler, survived him, dying in 1876, when in her seventy-third year. Both were originally Presbyterians, but later united with the Methi- odist denomination. Mr. Hickok was a man of excellent attainments, being a graduate of the Middlebury (Vermont) College, and for years he acted as a school trusteee and director. He also served as a town clerk and was a justice of the peace for several terms, acquitting himself honor- ably in these varied offices. His wife was likewise a native of Grand Isle county, Vermont, and her father, James Butler, was a son of the Green Mountain state, whence his parents, who were of Irish extraction, had re- moved in the latter part of last century from Massachusetts. He died when about fifty years of age and left eight children. The marriage of William A. and Polly B. Hickok was blessed with six children, namely: Lorenzo B., of Troy Grove; Horace D .: Selinda D., wife of J. E. Smith, of this place: Lydia M., the widow of James Barnes; Oliver C., who died in Cali- fornia, in 1898; and James B., who was known in many portions of the west as "Wild Bill" and is now deceased.
The birth of Horace D. Hickok took place at Bailey's Point, this county, October 5. 1834, and his entire life has been spent in Troy Grove township. He was reared on a farm and remained on the old homestead, assisting in rearing the younger children after his father's death, and doing even more than his duty by the family. Neither his educational advantages nor his financial opportunities were of the best in his young manhood, and it was not until he was in his thirty-second year that he felt free to enter upon an independent career. Beginning with one hundred and fifty dollars, he soon purchased an eighty-acre farm on section 27, Troy Grove township, and this property he still owns. He industriously set about its improve- ment and after cultivating the place for about thirty years he removed to the town, in order to afford his children better educational privileges.
In all of his labors, joys and sorrows for the past thirty-four years, Mr. Hickok has found a faithful helpmate in his wife, formerly Martha Edwards, a daughter of Robert and Ann Edwards. They were married February 5, 1865, and the following named children blessed their union, namely: William J., who married Myrtle Fahler, and is now managing the home farm ; Horace, who is a student at Dixon, Illinois; and Howard and three daughters, who are attending the school at Troy Grove.
Since the organization of the Republican party Mr. Hickok has been one of, its stanchest supporters. He has served his fellow citizens in many positions of local responsibility, was the township assessor for seven years; was a school trustee for sixteen years, served as a school director for three
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years, and uninterruptedly since 1862 has been a justice of the peace. He. has faithfully performed his duties as a citizen, neighbor, husband and father, and will leave to his children the record of a blameless life.
PAUL TEISSEDRE.
One of the strongest and most active workers in the local Democratic party of Ottawa is the gentleman whose name stands at the head of this brief tribute to him as a citizen and business man. In the spring of 1892 he was first elected to the office of alderman of this place, a position which he is now ably filling for the second time. In 1894 he was a candidate for the office but in the general defeat of his party he suffered the same fate. In 1898, however, he was re-elected and received a flattering majority. The people of Ottawa have committed to him and to his associates in the coun- cil responsible trusts, and feel certain that they are justified in so doing, and that he will prove faithful to the public good in the future as in the past.
As might be judged by his surname. Paul Teissedre is French in lineage, and in fact, he is a native of France. He is one of the two sons of August Teissedre who in 1857 determined to try their fortunes in the United States, and with his family he crossed the Atlantic. The father departed this life in 1886. The brother of our subject, Jules Teissedre, is now a resident of Kankakee, Illinois. Both received a good education in the public schools and have long since gained responsible places in the business world.
After leaving the school-room Paul Teissedre obtained a clerkship in the employ of H. J. Gillen, late of Ottawa and then a prominent and well- known business man of this town. The firm with which our subject is now connected is that of A. Lynch & Company, general merchants. In com- mercial affairs, as in everything else to which he gives his attention, he is thorough, reliable and trustworthy. As long ago as 1874 he joined the Masonic order and is now a valued member of Occidental Lodge, No. 40; of Shabbona Chapter, No. 37, Royal Arch; and Mount Olivet Commandery, Knights Templar. From time to time he has been honored by being chosen to occupy official positions in these lodges, and has been sent as a delegate to the grand conclaves at Saint Louis; Denver, Colorado; and Boston, Massachusetts. The kindliness and courtesy of manner, and the genial, pleasing affability for which his countrymen are noted the world over, are marked characteristics of his, and win him many friends.
Upon reaching his majority Mr. Teissedre was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Egan, a daughter of Richard Egan. Mrs. Teissedre is a lady of refinement and education, and was reared to womanhood in Ottawa,
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where the greater part of her life has been spent. August C., Eliza, Paul and Carrie are the four children of our subject and his estimable wife. August C. is now in the employ of the Ottawa Traction Company, as a motorman, and Carrie is the wife of F. Hurley, of Alton, Illinois.
P. CONERTON.
P. Conerton, one of the foremost citizens of Utica, LaSalle county, was born in the town of LaSalle, January 9, 1842, and is a son of John and Hannah (Brannon) Conerton, both of whom were born in 1805, in the Emerald Isle, though their marriage was celebrated in this country. In 1851, after residing in LaSalle for some time, the worthy couple located upon a farm in Dimmick township, where the remainder of their industrious, happy lives was passed. The father, who cast in his lot with the early settlers of this county in 1838, was summoned to the silent land, November 28, 1855. His widow survived him many years, her death occurring in Utica in 1896.
The subject of this narrative was reared to the life of an agriculturist, and received a district-school education. When in his thirteenth year, he went to Missouri, where he pursued a course of study in Perryville College, for two years. Then, returning to the old home, he industriously attended to its cultivation and management until the year 1891, when he removed to Utica. Here he embarked in the business of selling farm machinery and implements, and for five years devoted all his time to this enterprise. Soon after the organization of the Utica Exchange Bank, he was offered the responsible position of cashier, and has since held that office, to the satis- faction of everyone interested in the success of the bank. He owns and rents at present a finely improved homestead of one hundred and sixty acres of land in Utica township. In 1893, he was honored by being elected super- visor of that township, and has acted in that capacity for three terms-some six years. In his political convictions he is a Democrat, and in the fra- ternities, he is associated with the Modern Woodmen of America, and is a member of the Home Forum, a local organization for improvement and self-culture.
In October, 1870, Mr. Conerton married Miss Julia Coleman, who was born in Troy Grove. Her parents, John and Catherine Coleman, of Dimmick township, were pioneers of this county, and were prominently iden- tified with its development. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Conerton has been blessed by the birth of two children, namely, Genevieve M. and Edmond
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P. The family is much respected in this community, and the upright, straightforward career of Mr. Conerton has resulted in placing his name high in the regard of LaSalle county's representative men.
JAMES W. TRANSEAU.
Since 1869 this gentleman has been a resident of LaSalle county, and is now proprietor of a drug store in Ransom. He was born in Monroe county, Pennsylvania, on the 8th of June, 1851, and is a representative of one of the old families connected with the events of the Revolutionary war. His grandfather, Isaac Transeau, loyally served with the colonists in the struggle for independence, and then took up his abode at Stansbury Park, Pennsylvania, in a residence which is still standing-one of the landmarks of colonial days. William Transeau, the father of our subject, was a native of Pennsylvania and was married in the Keystone state to Miss Sarah, a daughter of Charles Posten, and a granddaughter of Jacob Posten, who also was a valiant soldier in the Revolutionary war. Mr. and Mrs. Transeau had ten children, of whom four are yet living, namely: James W., whose name introduces this review; Anne, wife of A. Matson, a resident of Ne- braska; Elizabeth, of Monroe county, Pennsylvania; and Francis. The father of these children gave his political support to the Republican party, and both he and his wife were members of the Methodist church. He died at the age of seventy-four years, and Mrs. Transeau was sixty-three years of age at the time of her death.
James W. Transeau, whose name introduces this review, is indebted to the public-school system for the educational privileges he received in early life. For some time he successfully engaged in teaching school and further perfected his own education by studying under the direction of Dr. Amos Jockin. In 1872 he became a registered pharmacist under the Illinois state law, and as proprietor of a drug store became connected with the business interests of Ransom. He now has a well appointed store, supplied with everything found in a first-class establishment of the time, and is en- joying a liberal patronage; for the public, recognizing his honorable busi- ness methods and earnest desire to please his patrons, has given to him a fair support.
On the 29th of November, 1876, Mr. Transeau was united in marriage to Miss Bridget Murphy, a native of Marseilles, Illinois, and a daughter of John and Mary Murphy, both of whom are now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Transeau have five, children, namely: Sada, a talented and success-
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ful music teacher; Rosetta, who is teaching in the public schools of Ran- som; William, James Arthur and George, at home.
In his political affiliations Mr. Transeau is a Republican and ardently advocates the principles of his party, laboring earnestly to secure their adop- tion through the medium of the ballot. He has acceptably filled several township offices. For three years he was the supervisor and is now serving on the school board, and has ever discharged his public duties with prompt- ness and fidelity. His frank and pleasing manner and his many excellent traits of character combine to make him popular not only as a business man but also in the political and social circles in which he mingles.
HENRY M. KELLY.
Henry M. Kelly, a rising young attorney of Ottawa, was born in this city, May 22, 1865, and is a son of Martin and Ellen (Maher) Kelly. His grandparents, James and Margaret (Redmond) Kelly, came from the pic- turesque but unhappy island of Ireland in 1830 to seek the land of free- dom and plenty so graphically described by those who had previously braved an ocean voyage and settled on the sun-kissed shores of America. Arriving in New York city, they traveled west to Buffalo, where they made their home for a few years, and then moved to LaSalle county, Illinois, locating in Ottawa in 1837. James Kelly was a stone mason and found plenty of work in Ottawa and vicinity putting up buildings and laying cellar walls and foundations for dwellings, stores, churches and other structures. He was a hard-working, honest man, who did his work conscientiously and well. He moved to a farm upon which he died in the year 1855. His wife, who sur- vived him until 1893, was the mother of six children who grew to mature years. They are John W .; Martin; Maria, now Mrs. John Bailey, of Chi- cago; James, of Ottawa; Catherine, Mrs. Michael J. Fire, of Chicago; and Margaret, Mrs. De Forest, also a resident of Chicago.
Martin Kelly was born in this city when it was but little more than a village, fifty-nine years ago. He attended school here until he was sixteen years of age, when his parents moved upon a farm and he accompanied them, finding life in the country a pleasure. He remained at home until he was twenty-one and then purchased a farm in Manlius township, this county, where he was engaged in agriculture until his removal to this city, where he still lives. He was united in marriage to Miss Ellen Maher, a daughter of Michael and Catherine (Peters) Maher, in 1861. They have had six children, viz .: Margaret, the wife of Richard Halligan; George J .; Henry M., our subject; Catherine, Mrs. Hackett, of Chicago; Mary, the wife of
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