USA > Illinois > Hancock County > Biographical review of Hancock County, Illinois : containing biographical and genealogical sketches of many of the prominent citizens of to-day and also of the past > Part 49
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HANCOCK COUNTY, ILLINOIS
water power. This pioneer couple con- tinued to make their home in Hancock county throughout their remaining days, the mother passing away August 20. 1842, while the father survived for many years, his death occurring September o. 1875.
Following his marriage Smith F. Bryan removed to a farm near La Harpe. which he rented for several years, and then made purchase of the farm formerly owned by his father-in-law. Mr. Painter. At the outbreak of the Civil war. how - ever. Mr. Bryan put aside all business and personal considerations, and enlisted as a member of Company G. One Hundred and Eighteenth Illinois Volunteer Infan- try, joining the company at Terre Haute. Illinois, on the 14th of August. 1862. They were assigned to duty with the Thirteenth Army Corps under General Me. Clernard. General Osterhause acting as brigadier commander. Mr. Bryan participated in many of the important and hard-fought battles, including the siege of Vicksburg and Grand Gulf. the siege at Jackson, and many other places. Dur- ing his service he was injured in the left hip by the explosion of a shell, after which he was sent to a hospital in Keokuk in April. 1865. He had many very narrow escapes while at the front. He received an honorable discharge June 3, 1865. after which he returned to his home, and re- sumed his farming operations, and has here continued to make his home to the present time, being now one of the valued factors in the agricultural life of Hancock county. Mrs. Bryan also had two broth- ers who served their country in the Civil war. Charles T., born February 18,
1831, enlisted in the same company In which her husband did duty, and bic was promoted to the rank of first heutenuit His death occurred in Terre Haute M. 30. 1892. The other brother, Arion, win was born January 25, 1812. became a member of Company B. Twenty eighth Ilinois Volunteer Infantry, and died dur ing the service, in the Marie Hosped at Cincinnati. April 20, 1802,
Unto our subject and his wife were born five sons and three daughters. namely : Emma V., who was born De- cember 6, 1859, and is now the wife of James T. Brown, a resident of La Harpe ; Ida May, who was born July 28, 1801. and died October 25. 1865: Joseph I'. who was born December 9. 1802, and died August 10, 1801: John F., who was born July 25. 1865. and now resides in La Harpe township: William E ... Inmg on the home farm, born September 1. 1807: James R., who was born Septem ber 15, 1800, and is a resident of Belfast, lowa: Mary A. born June 13. 18;2, who is the widow of Elmer Spiker, and re- sides at Waterloo, lowa; and Charles ( . who was born March 14, 1876, and is a barber residing at Terre Haute, Illinois
Politically Mr. Bryan has always given stanch support to the Republican party and served as assessor of his township for one term. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Christian ( Piech at La llarpe, and his life is guided In high principles and good deeds IIs military record is one of which he los every reason to be proud for during the service of his country he isused to faltering loyalty on the battle cellsat the with. As a pioneer of the property of
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the state he has seen many wonderful changes as the work of transformation and development has been carried on along all lines of agricultural. industrial and commercial activity, and in the ad- vancement of the agricultural life of the county no man has taken a more active and helpful part than he whose name in- troduces this review. Having spent the greater part of his life here he has a wide and favorable acquaintance and both he and his estimable wife enjoy the high esteem of all with whom they are brought in contact.
DAVID ALLEN ROBINSON.
David Allen Robinson, one of the ven- erable citizens of Wythe township, has passed the eightieth milestone on life's journey, his birth having occurred in Muskingum county, Ohio, on the 2d of April. 1826. His paternal grandfather. Israel Robinson, married a Miss Hedge. and their son Silas, father of our sub- ject. was born in Virginia, and wedded Polly Warne, a native of Pennsylvania. and a daughter of Abram and Sarah ( Pierce ) Warne.
David Allen Robinson pursued his ed- ucation in the common schools of Ohio, and when a young man of twenty-two years left home in 1848, and with a com- rade traveled by stage to Colorado and thence on one of the old-time railroads to Cincinnati, Ohio, where they took passage on a steamer, the E. W. Ste- vens, that proceeded down the Ohio and
Mississippi rivers to St. Louis. At St. Louis they boarded the Edward Bates, which was blown up a short time after- ward. Upon the latter vessel they pro- . ceeded to Warsaw. Illinois, and Mr. Rob- inson soon secured employment as a book agent. After a month or two, however. he began chopping wood and continued at that work during the winter for about five years, while in the summer seasons he engaged in breaking prairie. Thus he made his start upon the frontier. Sub- sequently he worked as a farm hand un- til he and his brother Barzillai were able to purchase one hundred and sixty acres of land, constituting the northeast quar- ter of section 8. Wythe township. This was a tract of wild prairie, on which not a furrow had been turned nor an improve- ment made. They built a rail fence and broke the land and also erected thereon a frame house. When arrangements had been thus far completed for the develop- ment of their home they were joined by their father, mother and another brother. Abram Robinson, who came from Ohio. Soon after the marriage of David A. Robinson the land was divided among the members of the family, his tract compris- ing four hundred and eighty acres in all. The first one hundred and sixty acres which had been purchased fell to the share of his brother Barzillai, while Mr. Robinson took as his share one hundred and sixty acres just south. The third brother, Abram, secured the southwest quarter of the same section, and thus the three brothers continued to reside in the same neighborhood and were prominent and active forces in the development of this part of the county. Upon the land
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which David A. Robinson secured there was an old house, while forty acres had been broken, but there were no fences. Hle at once began fencing the place and he broke the remainder of the land. He also made additions and improvements to the house from time to time and as the years passed transformed his property into a valuable and well improved farm. bringing the fields under a high state of cultivation and adding many modern im- provements.
On the 8th of January. 1856. Mr. Robinson won as a companion and help- mate for life's journey Miss Laura D. Chandler, who was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, a daughter of Sammuel and Lorinda (Bliss) Chandler, who came to Hancock county by canal through Ohio. and thence by the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to Warsaw. They settled in Wil- cox township among its earliest residents and shared in the hardships and priva- tions of pioneer life while assisting in the work of establishing a home upon the frontier. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Robinson was blessed with seven chil- dren: Nira, at home: Harriet, who is the widow of Fred Wood and resides with her parents: Grace, the wife of Ed- ward Albers, of Warsaw: Florence, at home: Laura, the wife of C. A. Melet- ters, of Bolton, Missouri: Chandler, who is living in southern Minnesota : and Al- len, who deals in horses and mules at Hamilton.
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Subsequent to his marriage Mr. Kol- inson added eighty acres to his place and later purchased one hundred and twenty acres more in this county. He also be came the owner of four hundred and
forty acres in Gentry county Mis el and two hundred and forty acres it Ser man county, Nebraska, thus making ju dicions and extensive investiment 11| tel estate as his financial resources have per mitted. Ile has also carried on general farming and stock raising. At two chi ferent times he has lived in Warsaw ing two years each time, but has remamed for the most part upon his farm, and has transformed it into one of the best im proved farm properties in the county. In 1885 he erected a fine residence, contam ing ten rooms, and he has planted all of the shade and fruit trees upon the place. having an orchard of three acres. He also has a large barn eighty by forty feet, with twenty-four-foot posts, afford ing ample shelter for grain and stock. In 1887 he sank an artesian well to the depth of eight hundred and twenty -siv feet. When the drilling was completed it spouted twenty feet in the air, but the stream has been gradually receding un til now it is eighteen feet below the sur- face. He has the water piped about at half mile for the benefit of the stock upon his place. All of the improvements are in keeping with ideas of progress along agricultural lines and his extensive hold ings are the visible evidence of a life of enterprise and thrift. Now in the even- ing of his day's he has a fine property. from which he derives a good inc me. supplying him with all of the comforts and many of the luxuries of lic a fitting reward for his earnest auml m lei digable toil in former years. In bis polooeil views he is a republican and reng is faith a Presbyterian He has ever Sen so as to command the respect and soul
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will of his fellowmen, his life exemplify- change, however, and lived at various ing most honorable principles.
PHILLIP DALLAM.
Phillip Dallam, editor and proprietor of the Warsaw Bulletin, was born in St. Louis, May 22, 1853. His father, Fran- cis A. Dallam, was a native of Butler, Kentucky, born in November, 1824. His education was acquired in St. Louis. where he went when a young boy, and when still but a lad he became connected with newspaper work and subsequently was owner and editor of various journals at Potosi, Missouri, Quincy, Illinois, Oquawka, Illinois, and finally at Warsaw. Illinois. At the time of the Civil war he took the first com- pany from Henderson county, Illinois, this being known as Company E of the Tenth Illinois Infantry, and after serving for some time as captain he was promoted to the rank of major, and still later to ad- jutant general on the staff of General L. F. Ross. After about eighteen months' active service he was forced to leave the army on account of ill health and went to Nevada and California to recuperate. While in Nevada he was on the editorial staff of the Virginia City Enterprise, and during that time he served as a member of the constitutional convention, which made Nevada a state. He continued his residence in the west for about two and a half years, after which. he returned to Oquawka. Illinois. lle was fond of
places, coming in May, 1867, to Warsaw, where he died in March, 1868. He mar- ried Miss Anna M. McKee, whose parents were early residents of St. Louis. In their family were nine children: Frank M., now of Loomis, Washington; William H., deceased ; Philip ; Guy M. and Thomas A., who have passed away ; Nellie B., the deceased wife of Truman Plantz, who is attorney general of the Modern Woodmen of America, and is represented elsewhere in this volume: Richard, who is in the printing business in St. Louis; Anna, the wife of John P. Hill, of Minnesota; and John E., who is an Episcopal clergyman and is now chaplain in the regular army, having resigned his charge in Minnesota and enlisted for service in the Philippines. The mother still survives and makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Hill, of Minnesota.
Philip Dallam largely acquired his edu- cation in the public schools of Oquawka, Quincy and Warsaw, becoming a resident of the last named place when a youth of fourteen years. Soon afterward he took up the newspaper work, entering the office of the Warsaw Bulletin on the ist of Jan- uary. 1868. He has since been continu- ously connected with this paper save for the period of his service in the Spanish- American war, when he served as pay- master under appointment of President Mckinley for nearly a year. The Bulle- tin, formerly the Record. was established in August. 1865. by Henry Lick, who conducted it until May, 1867, with two partners, Messrs. Blyth and Schiffger. In 1867 F. A. Dallam became proprietor and conducted the paper for ten months. and
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HANCOCK COUNTY, ILLINOIS
he was succeeded by his son. Frank M. Dallam, who took charge in March, 1868. and remained as editor and proprietor un- til May 1, 1875, when he was succeeded by his brother, Philip Dallam, who is the oldest editor in consecutive service in the county, having published the Bulletin as proprietor for thirty-one years, while his connection therewith covers a period of almost thirty-nine years. In 1801 he erected the present building in which the paper is published and enlarged the plant. The paper today has a much greater cir- culation than it had when Mr. Dallam took charge, and is gradually increasing.
Mr. Dallam has never aspired to polit- ical honors. He has been a member of the library board for more than twenty years and has been president of the Young Men's Homestead and Loan Association since its organization in 1883.
On the 17th of March, 1880. Philip Dallam was married to Miss Eugenia . A. Hunt, a daughter of Milton T. and 1 Felen 31. ( Baldwin) Hunt. Their family has numbered six children: Philip IL .. now in the state auditor's office at Springfield. Illinois : Edith E., who is a graduate of the New England Musical College, at Boston, and also of Oberlin College, of Ohio, and is now a teacher of music in Howard College. Gallatin. Tennessee : Clara H .. a teacher in the public schools of Warsaw: Milton H .. who died at the age of five months: Anna Therese, a stu- dent in the public schools of Warsaw : and Frances Paca, who died October 20, 1900. at the age of six years. The mother passed away on the 25th of April of the succeed ing year at the age of forty-two. com- paratively a young woman.
LINU'S CRUISE
Linus Cruise, attorney-at-law of the Carthage bar, was born in Connersville. Indiana. April 5. 1850. a son of John and Margaret ( Moore) Cruise. The ta ther was born in Pennsylvania in 1820. while the mother's birth occurred in Morgan county, Ohio, in 1825. Ile re- moved from the Keystone state to Ohio and afterward to Connersville, Indiana. where he engaged in merchandising un til the outbreak of the Civil war. In 1861 he enlisted in response to the country's call for troops as a member of an Indiana regiment and participated in several bat- tles. At the battle of Chickamauga he lost his life and was buried upon the field. there being about thirteen thousand U'nion men killed in that engagement. It was the day the Union line was extended and the rebels took advantage of the same. In his political views Mr. Cruise was a democrat but without aspiration for office. His wife survived him for many years, passing away on the 13th of February. 1890. In 1865 she removed with her seven children to Adams collu ty. Illinois, where she located upon a farm, there residing until her children reached adult age, while later she took up her abode in Hancock county. settling near Burnside. The following is the record of the family : K Bir Ming in Bumside. Isabella became the wild of John J. Walker, why chied one vous prior to the death of his wife, who passed away in 1881, leaving one child. 11 who is now the wife of Falk Idea resident of Adams comm. I. V and Mrs Wilkes have four children. Men-
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lin. Wesley, Maude and Olive. George W. Cruise, the third member of the fam- ily, now living in Dallas, Texas, mar- ried Francis Lanier, who is deceased. In their family were nine children: Elsie, who is married and has two children ; Alva. Eddie. Estey (deceased ), Claude. Palmer, Ruth. Francis and Sidney. Fan- nie Cruise is acting as housekeeper for her two brothers at Burnside, Illinois. John is living in Burnside. Linus is the next of the family. Margaret is the wife of F. M. Hammerick, of Burnside, and has two sons. Harold and Aubrey, aged respectively twelve and six years.
Mr. Cruise of this review was educated in the district schools of Adams county, in the Camp Point high school and in the State Normal University at Normal, Illinois. He pursued his law course in Drake University at Des Moines, Iowa, from which he was graduated in 1897. In the fall of that same year he opened a law office in Carthage and is a gen- eral practitioner in this city and county. From the beginning he has enjoyed a good clientage and his business has con- stantly increased along safe and gratify- ing lines and he has in more recent years been connected with much of the im- portant litigation tried in the courts of his district and is regarded as a safe coun- selor and strong advocate.
In 1800 Mr. Cruise was married to Miss Anna H. Gentry, who was born in Bloomington. Monroe county, Indiana. January 26, 1863, a daughter of John T. and Harriet J. ( Shreves ) Gentry. Her mother was born in Indiana and her fa- ther was a native of North Carolina. Mr. Gentry was a farmer by occupation
and when Mrs. Cruise was two months of age he removed to Pilot Grove town- ship. Illinois, where he carried on gen- eral agricultural pursuits. His political allegiance was given to the Republican party, of which he was a stanch advocate. He died January 14, 1873. while his wife passed away January 9, 1903. the for- mer being laid to rest in Pilot Grove cemetery and the latter in Ross Ridge cemetery in Carthage. They were mem- bers of the Baptist church and were peo- ple of the highest respectability. In their family were six children. William -R. Gentry, the eldest, died in Hancock coun- ty, Illinois, in 1881, leaving a widow. who in her maidenhood was Malinda J. Scott, and two children, William M. and Lillian. The former married Grace Dag- gert, resides in Denver, Colorado, and has one child, Vivian Mildred, now five. years of age. Joshua N. Gentry, now residing near McMinnville, Oregon, mar- ried Miss Mary A. Brechtel, who died in Norton, Kansas, in 1902, leaving two children. Orin C .. who married Miss Helen Burnett, of Norton, Kansas; and Mabel, the wife of August Ford, resid- ing at McMinnville, Oregon. Mary died in infancy. John M. Gentry, the third member of the family, now living at Hy- annis, Nebraska, married Miss Fannie Monnahan and has three children: Car- ver, aged fifteen : John, who died in in- fancy: and Raymond, aged six years. Mrs. Cruise is the next of the family. Fannie J. Gentry became the wife of Thomas J. McFarland and they reside in Carthage.
Mrs. Cruise began her education in the district schools of Pilot Grove township
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of a case shows great strength of his earnest study, Ins analyt0 | 100 and his logical deductions.
and was graduated from the State Nor- mal School at Terre Haute, Indiana, in the class of 1884. She succesfully taught school for several years in Han- cock county. By her marriage she has become the mother of one son, Orville Gentry Cruise, who was born December 17. 1800, in Pilot Grove township and died January 17, 1801. Mr. and Mrs. HENRY G. LINNENBURGER Cruise are devoted members of the Chris- tian church, in which he has served as Henry G. Linnenburger possesses much mechanical genius and is one of the en terprising agriculturist- of Walker town- ship, where he now has a splendidly im proved property. his farm with all of its tine equipment- being the visible evidence of his life of thrift, enterprise and capal ]- ity, and he justly merits the success that he has achieved and is well worthy of the esteem and admiration which are tendered him by his friends and neighbors for what he has accomplished. Mr. Linnenburger is a native of Walker township, having been born here in 1862. His parents. Charles and Mary (Susick) Linnenbur ger, were natives of Germany, born in the year 1820. They came to America in early life, crossing the Atlantic on one of the old-time sailing vessels, which re- quired weeks to make a voyage that is now accomplished in about the same 1 111 ber of days, making their way to HI. n cook county, settling in Walker township Viter several years residence bere of a farm he was married He has since -le voted his attention to the gerend sprich tural pursuits in this part of the damn and both he and his wife are set hing Walker township. His political support is given to the Republican party. Im Le deacon and for two years has been one of its elders. His wife belongs to the Society of Willing Workers and the Missionary Society, while Mr. Cruise has been assistant superintendent of the Sun- day-school. They both take a very ac tive and helpful part in the work of the church and Sunday-school and their la- hors have been effective and far-reach- ing. Mrs. Cruise read law at home with her husband while he was pursuing his law course in Des Moines and is an able assistant to him in his profession. They reside ou Madison street, north of the public square, where Mr. Cruise pur- chased a home several years ago. In a profession where advancement depends entirely upon individual merit he has worked his way steadily upward and to- day occupies a prominent position in pro- fessional circles in Carthage. In his 1x)- litical views he is a democrat, but has never been an aspirant for office, serving on the school board for several years but in no other official positions. He has preferred to give his undivided time and attention to his practice and his devotion to his clients' interests is proverbial. He has a comprehensive knowledge of law. is correct in its adaptation and in the trial has never been an office suche In the
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BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW'
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family are six children : Minnie, who be- came the wife of Henry Altheide, and died in 1888; Henry, of this review ; Elizabeth, the wife of Gotlieb Haner, liv- ing in Walker township; Mary, the widow of Joseph Altheide, also a resident of Walker township: Matilda, the wife of William Wallbrink, of Wythe township; and Annie, the wife of Edward Wall- brink, of Rocky Run township.
Henry Linnenburger had somewhat limited educational privileges, although he attended school to some extent in Rocky Run township. He engaged in farming on his own account to some ex- tent before he attained his majority, hav- ing been reared to the ,occupation and trained to habits of industry, economy and perseverance. In 1883 he was united in marriage to Miss Anna Eliza Whitledge, who was born in Kentucky in 1862, a daughter of Overall K. and Frances ( Wheeler) Whitledge, also natives of the Blue Grass state. The father died during the early girlhood of his daughter, Mrs. Linnenburger, and the mother afterward came to Hancock county in 1872, settling in Walker township. At a later date, however, she returned to Kentucky, where she now resides. She was the mother of five children but only two are now living. Robert Whitledge. of Warsaw, and Mrs. Linnenburger.
For a year after his marriage Mr. Lin- nenburger resided in Rocky Run township, and then purchased one hundred and thir- ty-five acres of land, of which sixty acres is on section 6. and seventy-five acres on section 7. Walker township. In 1885 he erected here a cottage and he has made all of the other substantial improvements
upon the place. He has forty acres of tim- ber land on section 27, Walker township. in addition to his home property and he is regarded as a successful farmer and stock-raiser. He possesses much more than ordinary mechanical ingenuity. In fact, his ability is such as may well entitle him to be called a genius. His large, mod- ern granary, tool house, blacksmith shop and summer house are substantial and at- tractive buildings which are an ornament to his farm and a monument to his own labor, for he built them all with his own hands. Beside thorough understanding of the carpenter's trade he is equally pro- ficient as a blacksmith and does all of his own horse shoeing and other blacksmith- ing work. He also has one or two pri- vate telephone lines, putting in his own switchboard and doing all of this work himself.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Linnenburger have been born three children : Lelia, the wife of Charles Ewing, of Walker town- ship, by whom she has one son, Truman ; Charles, who was born in 188S. and is at home ; and Winnard, twelve years of age. also at home. Mr. and Mrs. Linnenburger have also reared an adopted son. John Homer, who married Lina Hastings, by whom he has one child. John Henry. He and his family now reside in Walker township. Mr. and Mrs. Linnenburger also received into their home in 1906 a little girl. Ethiel Climer, ten years of age. Thus out of the kindness of their hearts they have given homes to two children, a fact for which they deserve much credit. They are both members of the Christian church. and those who know them and know aught of their kindly purposes and
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their many good deeds as well as their fidelity to high principles, know them to be most consistent Christian people. Mr. Linnenburger is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America at War- saw and for six years he has served as a school director. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party. It is rarely that one finds a more chivalrous man, and it is needless to say that his is a happy home. With few advantages in his youth and with little material assist- ance during his business life he has stead- ily worked his way upward and is today one of the substantial farmers of the county with a splendid property as proof of his well directed labors and capable management.
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