Centennial history of Madison County, Illinois, and its people, 1812 to 1912, Volume II, Part 27

Author: Norton, Wilbur T., 1844- , ed; Flagg, Norman Gershom, 1867-, ed; Hoerner, John Simon, 1846- , ed
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago ; New York : The Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 868

USA > Illinois > Madison County > Centennial history of Madison County, Illinois, and its people, 1812 to 1912, Volume II > Part 27

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).

Elizabeth Schwarz became the wife of Henry Knebel, a real estate dealer and notary public of Guthrie, Oklahoma. They have two children, Viola and Helen.

In 1896 Mr. and Mrs. Schwarz retired from the active work of the farm and removed to Saline, where they purchased a fine residence. Here, surrounded by hosts of friends, they enjoy the fruits of their previous well-spent years. They are honored members of St. Gertrude's Catholic church, of Saline, of which Mr. Schwarz has been trustee for eighteen years. They are interested in every work for the promotion of the good of the people and they have reared their children in the faith of their fathers. Mr. Schwarz is a stanch Democrat. His unimpeachable business princi- ples have won for him the confidence of the public.

The Schwarz family is numbered among the representative and honorable ones of the sec- tion and the useful lives of the subject and his wife have secured for them the confidence and esteem of the entire community, so that none are more worthy to record in the Centennial

History of Madison county, Leef township taking all pride in their possession.

GEORGE ABNER MCKINNEY. Active, enter- prising and progressive, George Abner McKin- ney occupies a fine position among the leading real estate and insurance men of Alton and is held in high regard as a man and a citizen. A son of the late Dr. Abner Reed Mckinney, he was born in Alton, Illinois, January 5, 1875, coming on the paternal side of the house of pure Scotch stock and on the maternal side of honored German ancestry.

Abner Reed Mckinney was born at Reeds- ville, Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, where his father, who was born in Scotland, or in Penn- sylvania of Scotch parents, followed the tailor's trade for many years, living there until his death. Beginning life by himself as a lad of thirteen years, he made his way westward, locating in Illinois where he first found employ- ment on a farm. Ambitious to enter upon a professional career, agriculture having no charm for him, he spent his leisure minutes in study and while yet in his teens taught school in La Salle county, Illinois. He subsequently studied medicine with Dr. Byford, of Chicago, and was afterward graduated from Rush Medi- cal College, in that city, with the degree of M. D. Locating in Alton, Illinois, Dr. McKin- ney was here engaged in the practice of medicine for a few years, and then, with his father-in-law, Lewis Kellenberger, embarked in the insurance business, in which he was pros- perously employed until his death, in July, 1910, at the age of sixty-seven years.

Dr. Mckinney married Mary Elizabeth Kel- lenberger, who was born in Alton, a daughter of Lewis Kellenberger, a native of Virginia. She was of German descent, her great-grand- father Kellenberger having immigrated from Germany to the United States in colonial times. Lewis Kellenberger came from his Virginia home to Illinois in 1835, coming by way of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and settling in Alton, which was then a small village. There were no railways in Illinois for many years after that time, and the country roundabout was but thinly populated, the greater part of the land being in its primitive condition. En- tering the employ of John Doan & Company, Saint Louis merchants, 'Mr. Kellenberger traveled for that house for some time, making his rounds on horseback and carrying his sam- ples in saddle-bags. Resigning his position as commercial traveler at the end of a few years, he embarked in the real estate and insur-

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Leonard Schreifle

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY

ance business in company with his oldest son, George Kellenberger, and later admitting to partnership his son-in-law, Dr. Mckinney. About two years prior to his death Mr. Kel- lenberger gave up active business, and there- after lived retired, enjoying to the utmost the fruits of his earlier years of toil. He died at the age of seventy-four years, a respected and honored man.

Mr. Kellenberger was twice married. He married first Ann Jordan, by whom he had one son, George F. Kellenberger. He married for his second wife Sarah Paddleford, who was born in Taunton, Massachusetts, of early Eng- lish ancestry. She died at the age of fifty years, leaving six children, namely: Mary Elizabeth, who became the wife of Dr. Mc- Kinney; Charles; Emma; Edward; Arthur ; and Harry. Mrs. McKinney, wife of Dr. Mc- Kinney, passed to the life beyond in April, 1899. She reared three children, namely : Lewis R., Mary Gertrude and George Abner.

The youngest child of the parental household, George Abner Mckinney, received his prelimi- nary education in the Alton schools, and was graduated from the St. Louis Manual Train- ing School with the class of 1893. Beginning his career as a clerk in his father's office, he was later made assistant secretary of the Mil- ler Mutual Fire Assurance Association, and at his father's death he succeeded him as secre- tary of the association. Mr. McKinney has since devoted his time and energies to the in- surance and real estate business, and is meet- ing with well deserved success, having built up a large and remunerative patronage.

In 1903 Mr. Mckinney was united in mar- riage with Elizabeth Johnston Watson, who was born in Alton, a daughter of Henry and Janet Watson, of whom a further account may be found elsewhere in this work. Mr. and Mrs. McKinney have one child, Suzanne Eliza- beth. Fraternally Mr. Mckinney belongs to Piasa Lodge, No. 27, A. F. & A. M.

LEONARD SCHREIFELS, M. D. There is per- haps no profession which affords a wider field for the exercise of those admirable qualities of honor and usefulness than the medical pro- fession, and among those who ably represent it here Dr. Leonard Schreifels is eminent. For years his interests in life have been identified with those of Granite City and he enjoys not only an honored place in the ranks of the country's medical profession, but the confi- dence of his fellow men and the gratitude of the many who have benefited by his skill and by the kindliness of which his whole life savors. He is a native German and possesses that

thoroughness and never-abating thirst for knowledge which characterizes his country- men. The date of his birth was July 20, 1866, and Peffingen its scene, and his parents were Nicholaus and Mary Katherine (Thielen) Schreifels. He was one of a large family of children, four of whom died in infancy, and an enumeration of the others is as follows : Elizabeth (who died at the age of fifteen), Katerina, Mary, Margaret, Anna, Nicholaus, Wilhelm, Johann B., Leonard and Johann.

Young Leonard, like his brothers and sisters, obtained his preliminary education in the Ger- man schools, and pursued his more advanced studies in the high school. When he was eighteen years old his father died and, as the family was in modest circumstances and its needs many, he determined to go to America, where he believed wider opportunities awaited him. He persisted in this determination, lured by the hope that he might be enabled to com- plete his professional preparation, and at the age of twenty-one years landed in New York, full of hope and ambition. He went thence to St. Cloud, Minnesota, where he obtained em- ployment, working in the mines and as a host- ler, and eventually securing more profitable employment. By the exercise of the most un- ceasing diligence and thrift he found himself at the end of six years the possessor of the tidy sum of four thousand dollars. He then returned to Germany, where he spent a year with his mother and brothers and sisters. He then returned and entered St. Francis Semi- nary, where he made a study of the languages, and following that he went to Valparaiso, In- diana, where he entered the normal school and there remained for three years. At Valparaiso he took a course in both pharmacy and medi- cine under Dr. Lorey and Professor Eckley, of Chicago, and then went to St. Louis, where he entered the famous College of Physicians and Surgeons. He completed his preparation there in 1899, receiving his well-earned degree, and began his practice in St. Louis. He re- mained there, however, but one year and ar- rived in Granite City on April 5, 1900; this having ever since been the scene of his en- lightened services, with the exception of the period beginning with 1904, when he returned to the Fatherland and entered the University of Berlin, where he was enrolled two years, and subsequently studying for six months at the University at Bonn, on the Rhine, the school attended by the present emperor him- self. Thus he came into contact with the greatest medical geniuses in the world. Now thoroughly equipped for the best possible

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work, and desiring to make America the scene of his future career, he returned in 1907, but not alone, for he was accompanied by his mother, a sister and three brothers. His mar- ried brothers located in Canada, where they are now engaged in agriculture.

For his own home Dr. Schreifels paid Gran- ite City the highest compliment within his power by choosing to reestablish himself here, and with him he brought his mother and his brother Johann and sister Katerina. Thus in the pleasant evening of life the mother's in- terests are well looked after, and her widowed heart has been comforted by the devotion of her son, whose kindly ministrations have antic- ipated her every wish.

Fraternally Dr. Schreifels is a member of Ben Hur lodge, of the Modern Woodmen of America, the Mutual Protective League and is a social member of the Royal Neighbors. In all these organizations he holds the office of medical examiner. He belongs to professional organizations, namely : the East Side Medical Association, the Madison County Medical As- sociation, the Illinois State Medical Associa- tion, the St. Louis Medical Association, the German Medical Association of St. Louis, and he is also a member of the American Medical Association. In the matter of religious faith he was reared a Catholic and his mother is an honored member of that communion. He be- lieves that a man's chief religious tenet should be "Honesty." Politically he is equally broad and believes in supporting the men who will do all in their power to secure the best welfare of the people. His own remarkable success is the logical outcome of his energy and well- directed industry and a courage which brooked no obstacles. It is also due to the fine con- scientious thoroughness in everything under- taken which has won the universal confidence. He is indeed a man among men, his name be- ing synonymous with an admirable integrity of character. The very lines of his counte- nance denote strength of character and noble manhood, which is not only a veritable inspira- tion in the sick room, but to all men a "kindly light." He is essentially public-spirited and gives heartiest cooperation to every movement likely to prove conducive to the public welfare. Madison county may well be proud to claim him among its citizenship, and find it matter for self-congratulation that he adopted Amer- ica as his nation and Granite City as his abid- ing-place.

EDWARD A. LANTERMAN. An agriculturist and stock-raiser of note in Ft. Russell town-

ship, Madison county, Illinois, is Edward A. Lanterman, who through his own well directed endeavors has made of success not an acci- (lent, but a logical result. He is the owner of some two hundred acres of most arable land in this township, where he has resided during practically his entire life thus far. He is a citizen of prominence and influence and one who has ever done all in his power to advance the progress and development of this section of the state.

Edward A. Lanterman was born in Ft. Rus- sell township, Madison county, on the 8th of June, 1860, and he is a son of William A. and Eliza (Luman) Lanterman, the former of German extraction.

William Lanterman was born in Fleming county, Kentucky, on the 26th of November, 1815, and he was a son of Daniel A. Lanter- man, a native of the state of Pennsylvania. Daniel A. Lanterman removed from the old Keystone state of the Union to Kentucky in the early pioneer days, removing thence to Illi- nois about the year 1818. He was an exceed- ingly well educated man, and for a time after his arrival in Illinois he was engaged in teach- ing school in Ft. Russell township, this county. During the summer seasons he was identified with farming operations and he was eminently successful as a pioneer agriculturist in Madi- son county, where he continued to reside until his death, in 1865. His first wife was Sarah Luman, who was summoned to the life eternal in 1849, being survived by two sons, William A., father of him whose name forms the cap- tion for this review; and Peter. For his sec- ond wife Daniel A. Lanterman wedded Miss Elizabeth Irwin, whose death occurred on the 4th of October, 1874, and who was survived by one daughter, Elizabeth. William A. Lan- terman was a child of but four years of age at the time of his parents' removal to Illinois, where he attended school and worked on the old home farm until he had attained to the age of twenty-three vears. He purchased a tract of forty acres of land in section 16. Ft. Rus- sell township, Madison county, adding to that tract little by little until he became one of the most extensive farmers in the county. On the 3d of January, 1839, was solemnized his mar- riage to Miss Eliza Luman, a native of Lewis county. Kentucky, and a daughter of John and Polly Luman, who established their home in Illinois in the year 1838. Mr. and Mrs. Will- iam A. Lanterman became the parents of ten children, of whom five are living in 1911 and of whom Edward A., of this notice, was the

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ninth in order of birth. In their religious faith the Lanterman family have always been consistent members of the Presbyterian church and Mr. Lanterman was a Republican in his political proclivities. Mr. Lanterman died on the 5th of May, 1884, and his cher- ished and devoted wife passed away in 1904.

Edward A. Lanterman, the immediate sub- ject of this review, passed his boyhood and youth on the old homestead farm in this county, and when old enough he began to at- tend the public schools. At the age of seven- teen years he entered the high school at Beth- alto, being graduated in that institution, and subsequently he pursued a commercial course in a business college at Valparaiso, Indiana. Thereafter he was identified with farming on the home estate until he had reached his twenty-third year, at which time he was mar- ried. He then rented his father's farm, which he worked and managed for the ensuing ten years, at the expiration of which he purchased the J. R. Newman farm of one hundred acres, the same being located in Ft. Russell township. He began operations on this place in April, 1894, and has here resided during the long in- tervening years to the present time. In addi- tion to this farm he is the owner of one hun- dred acres of the old homestead. He is en- gaged in diversified agriculture and stock-rais- ing and his farm is widely renowned as one of the best improved and most up-to-date es- tates in the entire county.

On the 13th of September, 1883, was re- corded the marriage of Mr. Lanterman to Miss Lizzie N. Belk, who was born at Liberty Prairie, Illinois, on the 9th of September, 1860, and who is a daughter of C. M. and Julia A. (Sheckels) Belk. C. M. Belk was born three months after his parents landed in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, whither they had immigrated from England. He was a son of Charles H. and Francis (Walton) Belk, who eventually settled in Madison county, Illi- nois, here passing the residue of their lives. C. M. Belk, after he had reached manhood, married Miss Julia Sheckels, a native of West Virginia, but a resident of Alton, Illinois, at the time of her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Belk were the parents of ten children, six of whom are living at the present time. Mr. Belk was called to eternal rest in July, 1910, and his widow, who still survives him, is now living at Alton, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Lanterman have five children,-Julian E., who was graduated in the public schools of Ft. Russell township and who is now in the United States navy on

the battleship California; Eva A., is the wife of John Marks, of Wrights, Illinois; and Clyde, Leslie Clara and William H., all re- main at the parental home, the two younger children being still in school.

In politics, Mr. Lanterman, of this review, endorses the cause of the Republican party, believing that the principles set forth by that organization stand for the best possible gov- ernment. He has never been an office seeker but has served with the utmost efficiency as a member of the local school board, and was postmaster at Liberty Prairie for eight years. In a fraternal way he is affiliated with Beth- alto Lodge, No. 735, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he is a past grand and in which he is also a member of the Grand Lodge, having been treasurer thereof for the past twenty years. He is also a valued and appreciative member of the local lodge of the Modern Woodmen of America. In their re- ligious faith Mr. and Mrs. Lanterman are members of the Presbyterian church, to whose benevolences they are liberal contributors.

W. A. HASKELL, M. D. It seldom occurs in American families that the name is promi- nently associated with one profession for suc- cessive generations. Dr. Haskell, however, represents the fourth generation in medicine, and his great grandfather began practice just one hundred years before the great-grandson took his first case. The first Abraham Haskell practiced medicine in New England before the war of the Revolution. His son, also named Abraham, was likewise a physician, and repre- sented the best attainments of the profession during the first half century of the American republic. His wife was Hannah Cotton, a de- scendant of the noted Rev. John Cotton and Rev. Cotton Mather.

The fifth son of the latter was Dr. Abraham S. Haskell, father of W. A. Haskell. Born in Middlesex county, Massachusetts, March 19, 1817, he studied medicine with his father and in 1839 graduated from the medical depart- ment of Dartmouth College. He practiced in Deerfield, Massachusetts, until 1843, when, on account of ill health, he removed to the west and settled in Montgomery county, Illinois, In 1864 he came to Alton, where he and Dr. H. Williams were partners in practice. As a scholarly, kindly type of the old-school physi- cian, he was one of the best in the state. He was also a citizen of varied interests and activi- ties. He was a Unitarian in belief and a Re- publican in politics. For many years he re- sided in Middletown, at Twelfth and Henry

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streets, where his death occurred. He mar- ried, April 9, 1844, Miss Helen E. Parkhurst, daughter of Dr. William Parkhurst, of Wor- cester county, Massachusetts. They were the parents of two children: Dr. W. A. and Helen P.

Dr. W. A. Haskell was born at Ilillsboro, Illinois, June 22, 1845, just one hundred years after the birth of his great-grandfather. His early education was obtained in the Hillsboro Academy and the Franklin Military School in Boston, and he graduated in the classical course from Harvard in 1866. His profes- sional studies were begun under his father, and in 1869 he graduated as an M. D. from the medical department of Harvard Univer- sity. lle began practice in Edwardsville, but the following year located in Alton, where he was active in his profession for thirty years.

For a number of years he held active mem- bership in the State Medical Society, the American Medical Association, the Madison County Medical Society, the American Public Health Association, and the Alton Medical So- ciety, and of the latter he was its first presi- dent. In 1881 he was appointed a member of the Illinois state board of health, was re-ap- pointed in 1888, and served as president of the board from 1887 to 1892 when he resigned. For many years Dr. Haskell was surgeon in charge of St. Joseph's Hospital at Alton, hav- ing first been appointed to that post in 1872. In addition to his practice he has been a fre- quent contributor to medical literature, and his experience and study gave the weight of au- thority to these articles.

Since giving up active work in the profes- sion Dr. Haskell has devoted his time to travel and the pleasures of literature. His scholarly interest in many departments of knowledge has been defined and broadened by travels in the principal countries of the world.

Dr. Haskell was married, July 17, 1877, to Miss Florence Ellen Hayner, daughter of the late John E. Hayner, whose career is sketched elsewhere in this work. The three children born to Mr. and Mrs. Haskell were: John A., born November 28, 1878; Lucy J., born in 1880 and died in 1889; and Florence H., born in February, 1894, and died in October of the same vear.

LEWIS FIELDS. Madison county boasts, and with reason, of its agricultural resources, and that it has become such a successful farming country is attributable to the fact that men of acknowledged ability have identified them- selves with the cultivation of the soil. Mr.

Fields, a farmer by nature, by inheritance and from choice, stands prominent in the county which he has helped to make famous. Mr. Fields is, however, exceedingly modest in re- gard to his own achievements and position, de- lighting rather to hear eulogies of his wife, and for that reason the following sketch con- tains many facts in regard to Mrs. Fields.

Lewis Fields was born on the 15th day of September, 1857, and is the son of James and Mary (King) Fields. Mr. and Mrs. Fields, Sr., were both natives of Indiana and the par- ents of children whose names are as follows : Amanda, Marshall, Mary, Sarah J., Ella, David, Marion and Lewis. Soon after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. James Fields removed to Wayne county, Illinois, and there reared their children to adult age; all attended the Wayne City school, where Marion fitted him- self for the teaching profession and became a prominent educator in Wayne county and other parts of Illinois.

After Lewis Fields had completed his edu- cational training he began to farm-the occu- pation in which his father had been engaged all of his life. Mr. Fields proved to be a suc- cessful farmer and stock raiser, and is re- garded as one of the prosperous agricultural- ists of Hamel township.

In 1879 Mr. Fields married Mrs. Eliza (Newman) Sloan, who was born two days before Christmas, 1846, and is the daughter of William and Martha (Harrison) Newman. The father was a native of Illinois, while the mother (a distant relative of President Harri- son) hailed from Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Newman were carly settlers of Fort Russell township, there being very few houses in the country prior to their arrival; the Indians were the occasional visitors of the members of the community. The couple were indus- trious and enterprising and successfully evolved cultivated fields from the wild prairies. They reared a family of six children-two sons and four daughters-Charles, Henry, Eliza, Mary, Ida and Martha. Charles was a soldier in the Civil war-a member of the One Hundred and Seventeenth Regiment of Illi- nois Volunteers during his three years of army life. He participated in many active engage- ments and at the close of the war was honor- ably discharged, with a record for bravery and heroism. He was ever loyal to his comrades at arms and held the position of commander in the Grand Army post at Judsonia, Arkansas, the office he was holding when death seized him (1910), during a visit to his daughter in

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Texas. He was for many years a successful school teacher, being known in the states of Kansas, Arkansas and Illinois.

Mrs. Field's grandfather, Zacock Newman, was a native of Missouri, a stanch Union man, possessed of considerable property, which was seized by the Rebels. He was broken-hearted at losing his all, pined away and died.

When a young girl, Eliza Newman (now Mrs. Lewis Fields) married John Sloan, a na- tive of the historic city of Glasgow, Scotland. After the marriage of Mr. Sloan and his wife the couple settled on a large farm of one hun- dred and fifty-one acres in Hamel township, and there they lived a life of industry, improv- ing the place, building a commodious house and excellent outbuildings, and planting shade trees until they made the home one of the fin- est, most attractive residences in that part of Hamel township. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Sloan,-William, Samuel, Mar- tha, Jeanette (deceased) and Charles. The three Sloan brothers married three sisters, daughters of Andrew and Jeanette Patterson, of Scotch descent. William's wife was Jean- ette, and they are now the parents of two daughters, Elsie and Jeanette, and they reside in Fort Russell township. Samuel married Agnes and they also have two daughters, Clara and Ethel; their son Elmer died at the age of fourteen. Charles became the husband of the third sister, Sarah, and is the father of two children, --- Hazel and Ralph. Martha Sloan, now the wife of Alexander West and the mother of two sons, Clyde and Harold, resides in Hamel township.

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Centennial history of Madison County, Illinois, and its people, 1812 to 1912, Volume II, Part 27

Author: Norton, Wilbur T., 1844- , ed; Flagg, Norman Gershom, 1867-, ed; Hoerner, John Simon, 1846- , ed Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Chicago ; New York : The Lewis Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 868

Author: Norton, Wilbur T., 1844- , ed; Flagg, Norman Gershom, 1867-, ed; Hoerner, John Simon, 1846- , ed
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago ; New York : The Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 868