Biographical review of Cass, Schuyler and Brown Counties, Illinois: Containing biographical sketches of pioneers and leading citizens, Part 47

Author: Illinois bibliography; Genealogy bibliography
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Review Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 648


USA > Illinois > Brown County > Biographical review of Cass, Schuyler and Brown Counties, Illinois: Containing biographical sketches of pioneers and leading citizens > Part 47
USA > Illinois > Cass County > Biographical review of Cass, Schuyler and Brown Counties, Illinois: Containing biographical sketches of pioneers and leading citizens > Part 47
USA > Illinois > Schuyler County > Biographical review of Cass, Schuyler and Brown Counties, Illinois: Containing biographical sketches of pioneers and leading citizens > Part 47


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Mr. and Mrs. Snyder have nine children living. They are: Joseph F., John B., Ida N., Cora G., Luella B., Angeline A., Charles H., Olive E. and Arthur L. Mr. and Mrs. Snyder are members of the Christian Church.


Mr. Snyder is a Republican in politics, and both he and his wife have hosts of friends by whom they are admired and respected. He was a Union soldier in the late war.


JOHN J. BROWNING was born in Woodstock township, Schuyler county, Illinois, July 4. 1857, a son of James H. and Sarah E. (Hall) Browning. The pa- ternal grandparents, Abner and Nancy Brown- ing, were natives of Virginia, but passed their last days in Hancock county, Illinois, dying at the ages of eighty-two and seventy- eight years. James H. was born in Vir- ginia, May 8, 1818, and was but four years of age when his parents moved to Kentucky; there he was reared to agricultural pursuits until he was sixteen years of age, when he came to Rushville, Schuyler county, Illinois. In 1834, he purchased a portion of the land on which John J. Browning now resides; there he lived until his death, which occur- red August 19, 1883. His wife, Sarah E. (Hall) Browning, was born September 28, 1831, in Wayne county, Kentucky, and died February 28, 1883; she was one of a family of ten children, and the father was one of eight. Politically lie adhered to the princi- ples of the Democratic party; for twenty years he was Justice of the Peace, and he held the office of Supervisor at the time of his deatlı. He was prominently connected with the political history of the county, and for many years was a preacher in the Chris- tian Church. He was married to the mother of our subject, September 7, 1856.


Mr. Browning was, himself, united in mar- riage December 25, 1884, to Miss Mary Sweeney, who was born in Jefferson county, Missouri, March 25, 1858 ; her parents, Michael


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and Margaret (Gavin) Sweeney, were natives of county Galway, Ireland, and emigrated to America, first settling in New York State; later they removed to Missouri, and there Mr. Sweeney was engaged in farming until 1861; in that year he camne to Schuyler county, where he now resides. Mr. and Mrs. Brown- ing are the parents of three children: Pearl B., born October 23, 1885; Alta M., born July 27, 1888; and Lizzie M., born February 27, 1891. Until 1884 Mr. Browning resided on the home farm; he then purchased a tract of land, which with the inheritance from his father covers 300 acres; the land is under excellent cultivation, and in all branches of husbandry he has been success- ful. Politically he supports the issnes of the Democratic party, but takes no active inter- est in the movements of that body.


BRAHAM LINCOLN MARSHALL, of Lee township, was born on his pres- ent farın in 1861. His father, James Marshall, was born in Tennessee in 1819, and his father, William Marshall, came to Illinois in 1832. He died in Cass county, at a great age. having reared fifteen children, of whom James was the youngest. All have passed away. James Marshall was a volunteer from Lee township in the One Hundred and Nineteenth Illinois Infantry, Company E. He enlisted in August, 1861, and died in the hospital at Memphis, Tennessee, of a fever, December, 1863. He left a widow and five children. His wife's name was Martha A. Horn, born in Alabama. Her father died when she was about two years old, and she was reared by her mother, her step- father., Elisha Brown, and her uncle, George Criswell, of Morgan county, Illinois. She


was married in Missouri, in 1844. They settled here in 1856, on sixty-two acres, to which he added until now the farm is more than 176 acres, of which thirty-five acres is good timber.


The Marshall brothers now own this fine home farin jointly, subject to the mother's life lease. They grow corn, wheat, hay and oats, have from fourteen to twenty horses, ten to twenty head of cattle and turn off from ten to forty hogs, annually. They believe in a rotation of crops and plenty of crops. They have as fine meadow land as there is in the State. An immense barn was built between 1871 and 1888, with ample room for every- thing. They have a snug farm honse, fin- ished and rebuilt in 1889.


Mr. A. L. Marshall was married in Janu- ary, 1889, to Mary B. Williams, daughter of Thomas and Lucinda (Beam) Williams, he of Ohio and she of Vermont. Mrs. Marshall was born in Clayton, Adams connty, and there her mother died, in 1877, in the prime of life. Her father resides in Clayton, Illi- nois. Mr. and Mrs. Marshall have one little son, named Benjamin Harrison, and Mr. Marshall is a very loyal, ardent Republican.


ONRAD HERZBERGER, now deceased having died at his home in township 19, range 11, March 9, 1882, was born near Frankfort, Germany, November 9, 1831. He came of good and respectable Gerinan families, his parents having lived and died in Hesse-Darmstadt, and they had been re- spected members of the Lutheran Church. Conrad was the only member of his family to come to the United States. He came to America when twenty years old, via New


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York city; from there he went to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and worked for nine ycars in a tannery. He afterward made two trips back to his native country. He came to this county in 1860, began as a renter, afterward purchased his farm in section 32, and this remained his home during the rest of his active life. Before he died he owned 281 acres of well improved land. He was a good, hard-working man, a prominent citizen, a successful and practical farmer and one witlı a host of friends in the county. He was not a politician, but he was a Republican and a worthy member of the Lutheran Church. He had obtained a good education in Ger- many as a practical surveyor and book- keeper.


He was married in Morgan county, Illi- nois, to Caroline Dorr. She came to Amer- ica in 1852, and was the daughter of Lewis and Mary (Retiz) Dorr. These parents settled first at Jacksonville, Illinois, and there the father is still living, being seventy-three years of age. He has been a farmer all his life. His wife died at her home in Morgan county, at the age of fifty-six. They were both highly respected members of the Lu- theran Church. Mrs. Herzberger, widow of our subject, is the eldest of six children. Since the death of her husband she has man- aged the farin with wonderful success, re- ceiving assistance from her children. She is a smart and accomplislied lady, interested in everything of importance in the county. She and her children are all members of the Griggs chapel of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The children are as follows: Amelia, wife of Henry Doerr, a farmer of this town- slip; Tillie, wife of William Huppe, a farm- er of this county; Lewis, conducting his mother's farm, and has successfully managed her affairs although yet a young man; John


William assists his brother; Elva L. remains at home; and Clarence. The children all bid fair to continue a comfort to their wid- owed motlier and a credit to the memory of their honest father.


ERMAN H. KORSMEYER, a practi- cal farmer of section 19, township 17, range 12, has been a resident of this farm since 1851, making some very fine im- provements in the buildings and on the land. He first purchased 120 acres, the same being his homestead, and has since added to the original farm until he now owns about 600 acres and nearly one-third of that amount is under the plow. He has also engaged in raising stock of the best grades. He came to this county in 1848 and has since mnade Cass county his home, beginning here as a poor boy working by the month. He later rented land until he purchased his homestead.


Mr. Korsmeyer was born in the kingdom of Hanover, Germany, September 29, 1831. He is the eldest son and child of the family. His parents were John H. and Anna M. (Lovecamp) Korsmeyer, who were botlı born and reared in Hanover; coming of good Ger- man stock. Our subject, when yet a young man, set out for America alone, taking pas- sage in August, 1848, on the sailing vessel Agnes, which landed him in New Orleans after a sixty days' passage. He tlien came by steamer to St. Louis, and thence to Beards- town. In 1851 the parents, with their otlier two children, Fred and Anna, set sail from Germany also, and reached Beardstown that same year. They began farming some miles southwest of Beardstown, the father and his eldest son living together, where the father died in 1860. Our subject's mother


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died in the same place in 1870. She was born in the early part of the present century. She and her husband had always been uem- bers of the Lutheran Church.


Mr. Korsmeyer was married in this county, to Miss Anna M. E. Knipenberg. She was born in Hanover and was the daughter of Frederick and Maria Knipenberg, who came to the United States as a family in 1848, and settled on a farm in Cass county. Mr. Knip- enberg was a carpenter by trade. He and his wife continued to reside here until their death, whichi occurred when they were old people. They were consistent members of the Lutheran Church.


Mrs. Korsmeyer was young when she came to this country, and she lived with her par- ents until her marriage. She is a good, true woman, and is highly regarded all through her township. She and her husband are members of the German Lutheran Church, and he is a Republican in his political faith


He and his wife are the parents of seven children, all living: John H., remaining at home, assisting his father, married to Minnie Boes; Lonisa became the wife of Henry BuIs- cher, a farmer in Morgan county; William, a farnier in the same county, married Mary Rogge; Lena M., wife of Herman Rogge, a farmer of Cass county; Henry is a mechanic now at home with his father, but a graduate of Pearson Institute, of La Porte, Indiana; Anna W., at present with her sister, Mrs. Buscher, of Morgan county; and Sophia; at home.


Mr. Korsmeyer and his wife are highly respected citizens of this county.


ENRY W. HEATON, a well-known farmer of Oakland township, has been prominently identified with the agri- cultural interests of this section of Illinois


for the past thirty-seven years. He was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, March 9, 1830. His father, Jeffrey Heaton, was a na- tive of England, born in 1807, but at the age of eight years was brought across the sea to America; he was one of a family of four sons and four daughters. He learned the weaver's trade, of which his father was a master, and followed this vocation several years; he fi- nally abandoned it, however, to take np farm- ing in Ohio, whither he had removed in 1836; he rented land in Jefferson county until 1849, and then went to Fulton county, Illinois, making the trip via the Ohio and Illinois rivers. In 1850 he purchased eighty acres, on which he located and therc passed the remainder of his days; he died in Jan- uary, 1858; he left a widow and ten children, of whom our subject is the eldest; the mother still survives, at the age of eighty-four years; she is living in Oakland township with her son, Thomas. One son, Simnon, was killed in battle in the war of the Rebellion; he was twenty-nine years of age, and left a wife, one son and a daughter. Henry W. Heaton was was a youth of fifteen years when his father began farming in Ohio; at the age of twenty- one he began the search for his own fortune.


Four years later he was united in marriage to Miss Rebecca B. Patterson, of this county and township, a daughter of Hugh and Ellen Patterson, natives of Ohio and Pennsylvania respectively. Mr. and Mrs. Heaton lived in Astoria township, Fulton county, where they rented land until 1862; in that year they bought a farm on which they lived until 1866, when they sold the place and came to Schuyler county. They bought the old homestead, a tract of 140 acres, on which they have since lived. They buried one daughter, at the age of two years, named Ellen; they now have eight sons and three


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daughters; the eldest is thirty-three and the youngest i's eleven years of age. Their names are as follows: William H .; Franklin H .; Sanford W .; Andrew J .; James; Lewis E .; Cornelius, Albert, Florence R., wife of Syl- vester France; Sarah Ann, wife of George Beghtol; and Rosa.


In politics Mr. Heaton votes for the man best suited, in his estimation, for the office in question, but favors the principles of the Democratic party. He carries on a general farming business, raising grain and live- stock. He began life without capital, except that with which nature had endowed him, and by industry and wise inanagement has accumulated a competence for coming age.


The parents of Mrs. Heaton are both de- ceased, the father at the age of seventy, and the mother at seventy-two years of age.


DOLPH KALLASCH, a prominent farmer of Elkhorn township in Brown county, is a native of Germany, having been born in that country, February 16, 1840. He is the son of Frederick and Fred- rica (Kuntz) Kallasclı, natives of the same country, who, in 1852 came to America in a sailing vessel, making the voyage in six weeks and landing in Quebec, where they remained but a short time, coming from there to Chicago, by the lakes and railroad. From that great city they came to this coun- ty and settled near where the subject now lives, buying ninety acres of land, partly im- proved, on which had been erected a little log cabin. This cabin they replaced later by a frame house and here died both the father and the mother, when about seventy-six and fifty-six, respectively. They were the par-


ents of seven children, two yet living. The The father was a carpenter by trade and a stanch Democrat in political faith. Botlı he and his good wife were earnest Christians, both in life and teachings.


Under the guidance of these good parents our subject remained until 1862, when his country called him from the peaceful occu- pation of a farmer and he enlisted in Com- pany B, Ninety-nintli Illinois Infantry, Cap- tain Fee in command, in which he remained all through the war, being mustered out at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and discharged at Springfield. From there he returned home.


After his return home he was inarried, about Christmas, to Miss Mary Lipkaman, born in Pike county, Illinois, daughter of , rederick and Barbara Lipkaman, who came to this country from Germany at a very early day, renting in Pike county, in the '30s. The father died when about seven- ty-six, but his wife still lives, on the old farm. The family principally carried on farming, but a few were mechanics. Mr. and Mrs. Kallasch have had seven children, five yet living, namely; Henry, married Minnie Wood, has one boy; Louis, at home running the old farm for his father; Harvey, is also at home; Emma, married Andrew Kelinlein, and they have one child; and Anna, at home.


After his marriage our subject bought seventy acres just across from his father's farm, later adding eighty more acres, 108 acres of which he sold to his son Henry. He first lived in an old log cabin, but now has as fine a house as there is in the county.


This gentleman is a stanch Republican, casting his first vote for General Grant. He and liis estimable wife are members of the Lutheran Church, attending at Perry post office, Pike county, where they are regarded


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as highly respected members of that body. They have always been church members since reaching years of maturity and lcad good, earnest lives. Mr. Kallasch has al- ways carried on general farming, at which he has been very successful and can be said to be one of the leading influential men of the township.


ARCELLUS M. CLEEK, resident of Camden, dating from September, 1836, he was born in Boone county, Kentucky, August 27, 1829. His father, Benjamin Cleek, was also born in Kentucky in 1800, and his father John Cleek was a na- tive of Germany, where he married, and came to America, settling at Big Boone Springs, Boone county, Kentucky, where he was one of the pioneers. He engaged in the manufact- ure of salt and there passed his remaining days, dying at the age of eighty years. He had eight children: John, Benjamin, Jacob, Esau, Sarah, Margaret, Eliza and one other. Benjamin Cleek was the second child and he was raised a farmer, marrying in 1826 Mar- tha Harris of Lexington, Kentucky, daughter of Richard Harris of the same State, who was killed in the Black Hawk war. In 1812 the father with his wife and four children came by boat to Frederick, Illinois, and from there to Rushville, settling on section 7, Camden township, where he purchased 160 acres of land and also entered about as much more. In 1844 the season was very wet and the following year there was so much sick- ness that he became dissatisfied with the country and so returned to his native State, although he did not sell his land. He re- mained in Kentucky seven years and then re- turned to Illinois, settling on his land where


he died in 1867. His wife died in 1873. They had eleven children: John, deceased; Marcellus; M. M .; Samuel, deceased; Ben- jamin, farmer on part of the old home farm; Jacob of Caniden; Richard, also on part of the old farin; Mary, deceased, wife of J. J. Yocum; Elizabetli, wife of Henry Price of Huntsville; Lovina, wife of J. J. Yocuin of Chariton county, Missouri; Ann, wife of J. H. Hendricks of Camden township; and Mar- tha, wife of Levi Welty, also of Camden township.


Marcellus lived with his parents and on the return from Kentucky pursued the trade of carpenter, which he had learned in Ken- tucky. He did not return to Illinois until 1854. He continued his trade for four years, when he engaged in farming, purchasing 160 acres, whichi lie farmed until 1861, when he resuined his trade, but also carried on his farın.


In 1884 he removed to Kansas and located in Kiowa county; where he pre-empted 160 acres of land and also purchased 160 inore. He worked his farms for two years and then returned to Camden. He owns 185 acres of land in Camden township and 160 acres in Kansas, also valuable property in Camden, all of which he and his wife accumulated.


He was married in 1863, to Lydia A. Welly, daughter of Jacob and Mary Welly, born in Highland county, Ohio, in 1814. Mr .. and Mrs. Cleek have eight children, six of whom are still living: Manora, deceased; James, on his father's farm; William, on sec- tion 6; Charles, in Camden; Emma, married Presley Price of Huntsville, Schuyler county, Illinois; Alma married G. Alters of Hunts- ville township: Sadie, deceased; and Clara, at home.


Mr. Cleek is a Democrat in politics. He has been Supervisor and during his term the


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courthouse was built. He has held nearly all the minor offices in the township. He is a member of the Christian Church and is one of the first members in Camden.


ERMAN H. ROGGE, a successful farmer of section 19, township 17, range 11, was born in Hanover, Ger- many; September 30, 1843. He is the young- est son of the family, one sister of which yet lives in Germany. The other members are four brothers now living in this country. The father, Fred, was a native of Hanover, Germany, and there died an old man, eighty- five years of age. He was a farmer and a butcher. His wife, whose maiden name was Anna Strube, died after her husband, but at a younger age. She and her husband passed their entire lives in Hanover and were members of the Lutheran Church.


Herman was a butcher by trade, and he en- gaged in that business until he came to Amer- ica in the spring of 1867 from Bremen to New York city. He went to Pcoria, Illinois, and thence down the Illinois river to Beards- town, where four brothers had preceded him, and he was the last to leave for this country. They are all living and are prosperous citi- zens. He began here as a day laborer and worked in this way for a year, then started for himself, and in 1877 located on his present farm. He has improved it in a wonderful degree and owns 160 acres. It is now a fine farm.


He was married in Cass county, to Mary Schnelle, born in Beardstown, Illinois, Sep- tember 26, 1854. She has since lived in this county and is an intelligent wife and mother. She is the daughter of Charles and Mary (Gæstereng) Schnelle, natives of Prussia,


where they were reared and married, coming to the United States in the '40s, and their father, who was a carpenter died in 1862, aged forty-one years. He is a good, prosper- ous German. His wife, who yet lives, resides with her daughter, Mrs. Rogge, and she is now seventy-onc years old. She has been a mein- ber of the Lutheran Church all her life and the same was true of her husband. Mrs. Rogge is the elder of three daughters born to her parents.


Mr. and Mrs. Rogge are the parents of seven children: John H., Charles G., Henry F., Louis W., Lena M., Aurelia T. and Theo. H; and they are all at home. Mr. Rogge and his wife are Lutherans and Mr. Rogge is a Democrat, has been School Trustee for fif- teen years and Road Commissioner for five years. He is a public-spirited man and a good citizen.


APTAIN WILLIAM N. MUMFORD of Mound Station, Illinois, was born in Nova Scotia, January 24, 1824. His father, William, was a farmer of that country who lived and died there, having reared nine children. The mother of these was Jane McHattie, of Scotch parentage. The grand- father of the subject was George Mumford of Rhode Island, who died at an advanced age in Nova Scotia.


The Captain grew up a farmer boy with only the common schooling of the period. In his twenty-third year he left home and came to New York city, and from there went on to Alpine depot on the Baltimore & Ohio in Morgan county, West Virginia, where he taught in the public schools. He had experience in his own neighborhood and after that as assistant in a grammar school


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at Halifax. After closing his three months' term in Morgan county he engaged in a general store as salesinan. He brought lit- tle money with him, hoping to improve liis financial condition. He remained two years in the store, then went to St. Louis and on to Mount Pleasant, Illinois, where he en- gaged as clerk for S. C. Raymond. While here he was married to Mary Jane Davis, daughter of John and Charlotte (Sears) Davis, both natives of Illinois. In 1861 they moved to Mound Station, then just started, the railroad being just completed. He clerked here until August, 1862, when he enlisted in Company E, One Hundred and Ninteenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, being unanimously chosen Captain. In September liis regiment was organized, Colonel Kinney commanding. The Captain remained on duty for two years, when he was discharged for physical disability at Memphis, Tennes- see, and came home to his wife and two little boys at this place. He and his family went on a visit to his Nova Scotia home, but be- fore he reached there his father had died, aged eighty-two years. A striking coinci- dence in this family is that six of his fa- ther's brothers and sisters, including himself, died at the age of eighty-two years. The mother died at the age of eighty-four years. They have three children, Augustus, now practicing physician at Kendall, Minnesota; William, a lawyer at Pittsfield, Illinois, and Charlotte, a wife of J. W. Moore, now resid- ing in Chicago, conducting a stock and commission business. The Captain was Post- master here under Presidents Arthur and Harrison, but as he is in failing health his step-daughter, Mrs. Deering, acts for him. He buried his first wife June 16, 1868, and was married April 4, 1869, to Mrs. Rebecca Poe, the widow of T. J. Poe and the daugh-


ter of the Rev. Granville Bond, a Methodist preacher, well and favorably known in this county. Mrs. Mumford was the widow of T. J. Poe. The Captain is an Episcopalian, but both his wives attended the Methodist Episcopal Church of which the present wife has been an active member for fifty years. Mrs. Mumford has three children of lier own and all the family relations are most harmo- nious and affectionate. A better citizen, neighbor, father or husband could not be found.


INTSON ANDERSON of section 13, Huntsville township, came here in 1835. He was born in Clermont county, Ohio, in 1833. His father, William Anderson, was born in Mason county, May 14, 1800. He was a son of Andrew Ander- son, who was born in Virginia and was of Irislı descent. The family has resided in America for several generations. William Anderson was reared a farmer, and inarried in Kentucky in 1824, a Miss Prudence Wal- lansford, born in Kentucky, August 15, 1806. They migrated to Ohio in 1832, and resided there at Cincinnati, and in Clermont county, for three years and then came to Illinois and located in Schuyler county. In the spring of 1836 Mr. Anderson purchased a claim on section 13, in which is now Huntsville, and here he passed the remaining years of his life. He entered land and purchased more, until his real estate possessions amounted to 600 acres. He was a cautious man and never went into debt. He was a hard-working man, and in those days when the sickle was used to cut grain, lie was an expert in the use of the same, and still continued to use the hook after the cradle came into use. He died




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