USA > Illinois > LaSalle County > Biographical and genealogical record of La Salle County, Illinois, Volume II > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42
Mr. Zolper was married April 18, 1882, to Miss Mary Reck, daughter of Peter and Barbara (Kratz) Reck, natives of Germany and for many years farmers in Troy Grove township, LaSalle county, Illinois, their residence in this county dating from 1848. To Mr. and Mrs. Zolper were born three sons, Harry W., Joseph L. and Benedict J. Mrs. Zolper died in 1889. at the age of thirty-six years. She was a devout member of the Catholic
458
BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL RECORD.
church, as also is Mr. Zolper and as were his father and mother. Mr. Zolper maintains fraternal relations with the Catholic Foresters, M. W. A. and the A. O. U. W. Politically he is a Republican.
FRANK W. BEDARD.
Frank W. Bedard, of LaSalle, Illinois, is secretary and general man- ager of the Peru-LaSalle Gaslight and Power Company, and is one of the trustworthy, self-reliant men who figure largely in the prosperity and growth of the municipality in which they reside. He was ushered into this life in this city, January 27, 1857, his parents being John and Mary M. (Chapin) Bedard. The grandfather, John Napoleon Bedard, was a native of France and later a resident of Ottawa, Canada, where he died in his sixtieth year. John N. Bedard, the father, was one of six children who grew to mature years. While yet in his 'teens he made a visit to the Mississippi valley but returned to Canada, where he remained until 1853, when he took up his residence in LaSalle. He was in the railroad business and also bought grain, but later opened a grocery store which he conducted for several years. During the civil war he was on a gunboat on the Mississippi river. but was not enlisted, and remained but a short time. He was a tax collector here at one time. His death occurred in 1878, when he was but forty-five years old, and surviving him are his widow and six children. The children are: Frank W .; Belle, wife of John W. Dugan, of LaSalle: Adelaide, the wife of Charles Ward, of Chicago; Charles, of LaSalle; George, of Boulder, Colorado; and Edith, wife of B. N. Rhodes, of this city. Mrs. Mary M. Bedard is a resident of LaSalle. She is a member of the Presby- terian church and a lady of noble Christian character. Her father, F. C. Chapin, was a native of New York, where he followed the trade of printer. He came west about the year 1853 and located at Toulon, where he worked at painting a short time and then came to LaSalle, dying in his eighty- eighth year. He was of French and English stock and left seven children to perpetuate his memory.
F. W. Bedard has always lived in LaSalle, attended the public schools when a boy, and here gained his business education. When he was seven- teen he entered the gas works and may truly be said to have grown up with the plant. Becoming thoroughly conversant with every detail of the business he was placed in charge of the plant as superintendent about fourteen years ago. and so acceptably were the duties of the office discharged that he was still farther honored a year ago, by being assigned to the office of secretary and general manager. This plant employs from ten to twenty men, and its
459
BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL RECORD.
interests are carefully looked after by Mr. Bedard, who is very popular with those in his employ.
He was united in marriage, November 26, 1885. to Miss Margaret E. Lininger, daughter of Daniel and Emma (Slyder) Lininger, early settlers of Peru. Mr. Bedard is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and also of the Court of Honor. He has always given his support to the Republicans. During his forty-two years of life in LaSalle he has made a wide circle of acquaintances, all of whom hold him in the highest esteem.
ยท CHARLES HOSS.
Charles Hoss, the popular cashier of the First National Bank of Earl- ville, LaSalle county, is one of the native sons of this county, his birth having occurred in Troy Grove township, October 19, 1859. His ancestors were of sturdy German stock, and he possesses many of the qualities which have made the people of that nation great and honored.
The paternal grandfather of our subject lived and died in Prussia, attaining a ripe age. He reared several children, one of whom was William, father of Charles Hoss. He learned the trade of weaver in the Fatherland. but after his arrival in the United States, in 1846, he devoted his attention .
to agriculture. Locating in Troy Grove township, LaSalle county, he entered eighty acres of land, which he improved and continued to culti- vate until well along in years. He departed this life at the old home. where he had passed so many happy years, January 25, 1899, when within two months of the eighty-fourth anniversary of his birth. His wife, Eliza- beth, died many years previously, in April 1870, at the age of forty-two years. They were Catholics originally, but in their later years became liberal in matters pertaining to religion. The father of Mrs. Hoss was John Bellinghausen, who came to this country from Prussia, and after living in Peru. Illinois, for a number of years passed to the silent land, at the age of seventy-six years. He was a carpenter by trade, and provided well for his large family. Two of his sons, Charles and John, were soldiers in the war of the rebellion, enlisting in the ranks.
Charles Hoss is one of the six children born to his parents, the others being Theodore, Adolph. William. John and Minnie. With them he passed his early years on the homestead in Troy Grove township, a portion of his time being devoted to the acquisition of an education in the district schools. When in his thirteenth year he went to Peru, where he commenced clerk -. ing in a dry-goods store. and for ten years was thus employed. By this means he gained an excellent idea of business methods, and his stability
460
BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL RECORD.
and general trustworthiness were the foundations of his later success. When he was in his twenty-fifth year he was offered a position as a bookkeeper in the First National Bank of Peru, in which capacity he acted for about a year. Desiring to see something of the west, he went to various points in that great territory, but eventually returned and for six months was em- ployed in the Peru Plow Works. In 1885 he came to Earlville, and for nearly fifteen years he has been the cashier of the First National Bank of this city.
In addition to this, Mr. Hoss has been interested in various local enter- prises, and is a truly patriotic citizen, in the best sense of the word. He has been the local agent for several fire-insurance companies, and is a notary public, as well. During the past four years he has been the city treasurer, and for one term he served as a member of the school board. In his po- litical views he is an ardent Republican.
The marriage of Mr. Hoss and Miss M. Bella Stilson, daughter of Samuel T. and Sarah T. (Lukens) Stilson, was celebrated October 25, 1888. They have two children, Carl S. and Herman H. The family occupy a pleasant modern house, which was erected on Ottawa street by Mr. Hoss the year of his marriage. It stands upon land which was a part of the original homestead of Samuel T. Stilson, one of the worthy pioneers of this place. Mrs. Hoss is a member of the Methodist church, and, like her husband, is interested in everything which tends to elevate society and benefit humanity.
WILLIAM H. FRASER, M. D.
William Halliday Fraser, M. D., one of the leading physicians of La- Salle for more than a quarter of a century, was born in the town of Perth, in the county of Lanark, Canada, March 26, 1839, and is a son of Archibald and Mary (Halliday) Fraser. The paternal grandfather, James Fraser, was a house builder by occupation, and was a native of Inverness, Scotland. The family sprung from Norman-French antecedents and came to Scotland with William the Conqueror. The Frasers took a prominent part in the Scottish struggle for liberty. James Fraser died in Canada, leaving an only child, Archibald, the father of our subject. Archibald was a lad of ten years when his father moved from Scotland to Canada. Here he grew to man- hood, and tilled the soil until the age of thirty-nine years, when his career was cut short by accidental death. Surviving him are the wife. four sons and four daughters. The maiden name of his wife was Mary Halliday. She also was a native of Scotland, and was five years of age when her parents established their home in Canada. Her father was chosen by the Colonists
Art. Frader, M.D.
461
BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL RECORD.
and employed and paid by the British government to teach the Colonists in Canada. He was the only teacher in Canada paid by that government. He was sent out in 1815, with three ship loads of colonists, who were sent to counteract the influence of the French in Canada. While they were en route the battle of Waterloo was fought, and from that time French power was on the wane, making it unnecessary to send more colonists. Grand- father Halliday passed his ninety-second year, and at his death left eight sons, four daughters and one hundred grandchildren, all living. Mrs. Fraser, the mother of our subject, is now in her ninetieth year and is still a resident of Canada.
William Halliday Fraser was one of the younger members of the family. He passed his boyhood and youth on his father's farm and attended the country schools, his Grandfather Halliday being his first teacher. At the age of seventeen he went to Toronto to attend the Provincial Normal School, from which he graduated. When eighteen he received a class A normal- school provincial diploma. After spending four years in teaching he en- tered McGill university, Montreal, graduating in 1867 and going at once to Edinburgh, Scotland, to continue his medical studies. In the summer of that year he received his diploma from the Royal College of Surgeons, being the first from the Dominion of Canada to graduate from the institu- tion. Returning he located in Nova Scotia, opening an office in Liverpool, where he practiced two years, and then moved to Chicago, where he re- mained until after that city was swept by the great fire of 1871. The follow- ing summer was spent in the northern part of Canada, and then he again took up his residence in Illinois. In 1873 he came to LaSalle, where he has practiced since, and he enjoys an extended patronage, which embraces a large territory and has been most lucrative. He is painstaking and care- ful in diagnosis, skillful and efficient in practice, and brings a sympathetic heart to soothe the sufferer.
Dr. Fraser was married in 1869 to Miss Lydia M. Watterman, of Mil- ton, Nova Scotia, whose ancestors came over in the Mayflower. Nine chil- dren, five sons and four daughters, have been born to them, and have been reared in accordance with the teachings of the Congregational church, of which the Doctor and his wife are members. These children are Halliday Mary, wife of B. F. Pay, of Mankato, Minnesota; Caroline E., wife of Daniel W. Cole, of Melrose, Massachusetts; Millera L., wife of W. S. Mason, of LaSalle, Illinois; W. A. Gordon Fraser, master mechanic at the Michigamme mines of the Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company; Henry P. Fraser, United States Express messenger on the Rock Island road; and Edward S .. Anna- bell, Malcolm and Kenneth, who are students.
In politics the Doctor affiliates with the Republican party, but has given
462
BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL RECORD.
little time to politics, his attention being centered in his profession. He was made a Master Mason in 1894, and became a member of the Scottish Clan in 1891,-Clan Fraser. of LaSalle, being named in his honor. In 1893 he was made physician-in-chief of that order in the United States and Can- ada, an office which .he has held ever since. He is a prominent member of the State and County Medical Associations, and of the Eastern Illinois Val- ley Medical Association. He comes from a family of remarkable longevity. and has the promise of many added years of usefulness in this community. where he has won the respect and esteem of every one.
JACOB F. SCHWEICKERT.
Among those who have literally, as well as figuratively, assisted in the building of Peru, the Schweickerts, father and sons, have played a very important part. Their work is noted for thoroughness, reliability and durability, and throughout all this section of LaSalle county examples of their handiwork may be seen.
The subject of this sketch is a native of Peru, his birth having occurred April 3, 1866. The history of his parents, Vincent and Maria Schweickert, esteemed citizens of this place, appears elsewhere in this volume. The boy- hood days of our subject passed uneventfully. his time being divided between attending the public or parochial schools and the accustomed recreations in which lads delight. When he was in his fifteenth year he entered the employ of a farmer, and continued to give his attention to agriculture for four or five years.
Having no special taste for farming, young Schweickert next began learning the stone-mason's trade. which his father had followed before him, and within a short period he became regularly engaged in business with his brothers Charles and Henry and his father. At present he is associated with Charles A .. Henry E., Francis Xavier, and Bertram Schweickert. and his brother-in-law. Frank Ellerbrock, under the firm name of Schweickert Brothers & Company. They execute contracts for founda- tions for buildings and bridges, stone and brick work in general, plastering and for other work in similar lines.
In the various fraternities, our subject is identified with the Inter- national Bricklayers & Masons' Union, of America, and with the Coal Miners' Union; is a member of the Catholic Order of Foresters and St. Joseph's Benevolent Society. In his political belief he adheres to the principles of the Democratic party.
September 24. 1889. in Springfield. Illinois, Mr. Schweickert married
463
BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL RECORD.
Miss Mary Magdalene, daughter of Peter and Christina (Schmidt) Mor- hauser, all natives of Germany, but since 1883 residents of the United States. For some years past the parents have owned and carried on a farm in the vicinity of Springfield. Of the five children born to our subject and his amiable wife, one, the youngest, Jacob, died when but eight months old, and those who survive are named respectively Magdalene, Bertram, Frank and Margaret. The family reside in a pretty, modern brick house, built by Mr. Schweickert the year of his marriage. It is situated in one of the best residence sections of the city, at the corner of Pike and Ninth streets. In their religious creed, both our subject and wife are Catholics, as were their fathers before them.
CHARLES CARTER.
One of the pioneer farmers of LaSalle county, Charles Carter has been a witness of its marvelous development, and from his boyhood has per- formed his full share of the work involved in its progress from a wild state to a condition of fruitfulness and prosperity in all lines. Honorable, true and just in all his dealings, he is respected and admired by all who are acquainted with him, and without exception the confidence of his neighbors is accorded him.
The birth of Charles Carter occurred in Wayne county. New York. December 23. 1837, and he was seven years old when brought by his parents, Asa and Hannah Carter, to Will county, Illinois, whence three years later they removed to LaSalle county. Locating on the homestead, in Farm Ridge township, which is now owned by our subject. he grew to manhood here, assisting in reducing the land to a proper state for cultiva- tion. In the days of his boyhood the old-fashioned plow was used, and scythes and cradles were employed in the place of the improved farm ma- chinery of to-day, which on every farm does away with the labor of several men in harvest time. Such education as he received was that which the district schools afforded. Now Mr. Carter owns three hundred and twenty acres of rich land, valued at eighty dollars an acre, and rendered much more desirable by the excellent house, barns and other buildings which stand upon the place. Everything is kept in a neat manner, improvements are made whenever needed, and all bespeak the constant attention of the practical owner.
In 1863 Mr. Carter married Miss Caroline Helin, who was born in Brown county, Ohio, and reared in the Lutheran faith of her pious an- cestors. This marriage was blessed with one child, namely, Nettie, now
464
BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL RECORD.
the wife of F. A. Bangs, of Mobile, Alabama. But Mrs. Carter passed to her reward on high in 1865, and in 1866 Mr. Carter married Mary Lizzie Tole, and by this marriage there were six children, five of whom are living, as follows: Lillian, the wife of J. H. Rambler, of Calhoun county, Iowa; Clara B., the deceased wife of Robert Heath, of this township; Charles E., a resident of this locality; Earl, of Calhoun county, Iowa; and Woodford Royal and Rose Ethel, at their parental home. The mother of these chil- dren passed to her reward on high January 14. 1884, and subsequently Mr. Carter married Annie M. Albert, of Preble county, Ohio, and by this mar- riage there was one child, who was named Lewis Wilber and who died May 1, 1894.
Fraternally Mr. Carter is identified with Victor Lodge, No. 578, I. O. O. F., of Grand Ridge. He contributes toward the support of schools and churches, and upholds all worthy public enterprises which he deems of benefit to the people. Frank and jovial in disposition, he is very popular and is heartily welcomed wherever he goes. His right of franchise is used in favor of the nominees and principles of the Democratic party.
GEORGE JUST.
Every employer of men and every observant person in general has noticed that there are two totally different kinds of workers: those who perform, more or less grudgingly, the duties assigned as their share, think- ing most longingly of the time when freedom shall be theirs again; and that much rarer class, those whose work is a pleasure to them and who find their chief interest in figuring out some mechanical or financial prob- lem, and in their busy zeal find the hours of labor all too quickly slipping away. To the latter class belongs George Just, who for long years has been a faithful and trusted employe of the Matthiessen & Hegeler Zinc Com- pany, of LaSalle.
A son of Adolph and Julia (Michaelis) Just, our subject was born in Ostrowo, province of Posen, Germany, December 7. 1843. The father, who was a surveyor in the employ of the government, died in his native land when seventy-eight years of age, and the mother departed this life at the ripe age of eighty-one years. They had six children, three sons and three daughter's, and George was next to the youngest of the family.
In his boyhood George Just attended the public schools and gym- nasium for six years, gaining a fair education. When sixteen and a half years of age he went to Breslau, where, as a clerk in a grocery, he served a hard apprenticeship of four years. He received no wages during this
BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL RECORD. 465
period, and his only hours of freedom were from two to six o'clock of every fourth Sunday afternoon! He remained another year, receiving one hun- dred and fifty dollars and his board that year, and was allowed from two to ten o'clock in the afternoon and evening of alternate Sundays. Then he went to Berlin, where he learned the drug business, and spent a por- tion of his time in the mixing and compounding of paints. Here he was given two hundred dollars a year and his board, and had his evenings after seven o'clock at night; but he was not content and finally persuaded his father to allow him to come to America.
On the 17th of June, 1868, George Just embarked for New York city, where he spent three days and then continued his westward journey. Land- ing in Chicago, he searched for work for some ten days in vain, and was then advised to go to Mineral Point, Wisconsin. There he was unable to obtain employment, and, bethinking himself of an acquaintance who was at Peru, Illinois, he wrote to him and was urged to come to this county. His father had given him two hundred dollars, but it had melted away for necessary expenses until he had but seventeen dollars left at the time that he applied to the firm of Matthiessen & Hegeler for a position as book- keeper. He had reached Peru and for a short time had worked at house and fence painting, but he wisely decided that it would be better for him to seek for steady employment in the service of a well established, pros- perous business concern. At first he was given a place as a shipping clerk, and at the end of eighteen months he was promoted to the more responsible post of night foreman in the rolling-mill. On the 5th of May, 1871. he was made general foreman of the rolling-mill department, and from that time until the present he has faithfully, punctually and creditably performed every duty devolving upon him, and no more trusted employe is on the pay-roll of the company. The habits of steadiness, sobriety and upright- ness in word and deed which were formed by him during his long and severe apprenticeship in Germany have been the habits of his entire life. During the thirty-one years of his connection with the zinc-works company he has taken not more than three weeks altogether for his own pleasure and recreation, and by frugality and wise use of his earnings has acquired a competence.
In 1873 Mr. Just married Mrs. Bertha Fleischer, a widow with one child, Otto. Mrs. Just came to LaSalle in 1866. Her parents were Peter and Bertha (Rose). Remmong. She was born in Stelle. Rhine, Germany, May 30. 1847, was left motherless at ten years of age, and when fourteen came to America with a family the head of which, Mr. Pagenstecher. came to LaSalle to build the rolling mills for the Matthiessen & Hegeler Zinc Company. He was here five years, in completing the work. Mrs.
1
466
BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL RECORD.
Just, came with the family as a maid in their service. In 1868 she was first married, by which union she had a son, now residing in Chicago, named Otto Fleischer. Mr. and Mrs. Just's daughter Harriet is the wife of Harry Eickoff, of Peru; and their other children are Julia and George. Their pleasant home is the abode of peace, content and happiness.
WILLIAM J. SIEGLER.
William J. Siegler, a rising young attorney of LaSalle, Illinois, is a man of push and energy whose untiring effort and perseverance have opened for him the doors of success at an age when the majority of young men are in college. He was born in this city, October 4, 1874, and is not yet twenty-six years old, although he has been practicing his profession for almost two years and is accounted shrewd, logical and clear-sighted. His parents are Bartholomew and Helen (Heltenberg) Siegler, both natives of Germany. In former years the father, a tinner by trade, was engaged in the hardware business in LaSalle, and subsequently served in the employ of the Matthiessen & Hegeler Zinc Company, for over twenty years, in the capacity of tinner. For the last several years he has lived a retired life.
William J. Siegler was reared and educated in this city, attending the public schools. He then paid his own way through the St. Bede College, located near Peru, at which he graduated in 1894. He then turned to the study of law and entered the office of O'Conor, Duncan & Haskins, where he applied himself diligently to the task in hand and made rapid advancement. In the meantime, from March until December, 1896, he served as deputy circuit clerk under Daniel A. Maher, of Ottawa. The following June he was admitted to the bar and two months later opened an office in LaSalle, where he has since prosecuted the practice of his pro- fession, steadily winning his way to the front ranks. In the spring of 1899 Mr. Siegler was elected to the office of city attorney for LaSalle, an office he now holds, his services meeting with public approval. He is a member of the LaSalle Bar Association, and is an active partisan in the cause of Democracy. In religion he is a Roman Catholic.
CHARLES A. FRANK.
The business interests of Earlville. Illinois, have an important factor in the person of Charles A. Frank, proprietor of a bakery, restaurant and confectionery.
Mr. Frank was born in Earl township. LaSalle county, Illinois, April
467
BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL RECORD.
28, 1872, son of August H. and Ann (Cook) Frank, the former a native of Germany and the latter of Ireland. The Frank family is composed of three sons and five daughters, namely: Harriet, wife of Levi H. Norton, of Zearing, Iowa; Amanda, wife of John Norton, of the same place; Laura, of Chicago; Isadora, wife of E. Schwanz, of Somonauk, Illinois; Frederick W., of Paw Paw, Illinois; James D., of Earlville; Charles A., whose name introduces this sketch; and Mayme, of Earl township. August H. Frank, the father, was six years old when brought by his parents to America. For a number of years he lived in New York. By trade he is a carriage painter, at which he worked in the east, but on coming to Illinois he turned his attention to farming, first working on his father's farm at Somonauk. In 1871 he came to LaSalle county and settled on a farm in Earl township, one mile north of Earlville, where he made his home a few years. For the past twenty-two years he has lived in Earlville.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.