USA > Illinois > Madison County > Centennial history of Madison County, Illinois, and its people, 1812 to 1912, Volume II > Part 34
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HECTOR G. BASSETT. One of the prosperous farm owners of Madison county, Illinois, known throughout the district as a man of high integrity and substantial business inter- ests, is Hector G. Bassett, of Fosterburg. He was born on March 27, 1867, in Jackson county, Illinois, the son of Harlow and Mary ( Werts) Bassett. Harlow Bassett was a miner and farmer, a native of New York, who was brought to this state when a child of two months. His father soon afterward went west, leaving the child with a family named Mc- Cauley, and word came several years later of his having been killed in the state of Utah. Harlow Bassett, the father of the immediate subject of this brief personal review, was a Union soldier, whose name may be found on the roster as first lieutenant of a company in the Ninth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He enlisted at the very outbreak of the war, re- sponding to President Lincoln's first call. After the expiration of his three months' enlistment, he veteranized and enlisted in the service for a three years' term in the Army of the Cumberland. He was made first lieuten- ant in 1864. in which year he enlisted for the third time. He served until the close of the war. thus making his service of four years and seven months duration. His record is the record of a brave man, for he participated in some of the most trying campaigns of the re- bellion, under the commands of General Thomas and General Sherman. He was in- jured in the battles of Shiloh and Corinth, com- plete records of which engagements may be found on other pages of this history.
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After the war Harlow Bassett returned to Fosterburg and was an active farmer from 1867 to 1875 in Jackson county after which he returned to Fosterburg, only to move again, after two years, to the state of Kansas. In the latter commonwealth he continued to fol- low the same occupation, and kept his eighty acre farm there until 1886. The mother of the family passed away in 1881, and five years later the family broke up and scattered over the country. The eight children, raised by the father, were as follows. Ona (Bassett) Lowery now makes her home in the city of Chicago. Oscar Bassett resides at Auburn,
Nebraska. Annie Bassett became the wife of a Mr. Knisely and makes her home in Kansas City. Fred Bassett now lives in Uinta county, Wyoming. Mary, now Mrs. Clyde Beck, resides in New Castle, Pennsylvania. Henry Bassett passed away in Jackson county in 1871, and, Martha, at Fosterburg two years later. The father passed to his eternal reward on February 4, 19II, at the ripe old age of seventy-two.
In 1886 Hector Bassett returned to Foster- burg from Kansas, and, establishing himself in the live stock business and at farming, has since devoted his time to these pursuits. He owns thirty-two acres and farms sixty-five, and has a profitable five-acre apple orchard. For the past twelve years Mr. Bassett has made a specialty of horses, buying, selling and trading. He handles on the average through- out the year one hundred head of fine animals.
On the 6th of October, 1891, was solem- nized the marriage of Hector Bassett and Laura Williams, the daughter of Frank and Harriet Williams, both of whom now make their home with Mr. and Mrs. Bassett. Mr. Williams was born on the 21st of August, 1842, the son of Joseph and Sarah (Moore) Will- iams. Joseph Williams was a son of Samuel William, a famous Texas Indian fighter and early pioneer in the Lone Star state. Joseph Williams passed away in 1842, before the birth of his son Frank. Sarah Williams, the mother of Frank, was the daughter of Captain Abel Moore and the sister of the Moore chil- dren who were killed in the Indian massacre of 1814. Frank Williams became a farmer and teamster, and with the exception of his service in the Federal army has been engaged in those occupations his entire life. He was married, in 1868, to Miss Harriett C. Hunt, a native of Madison county, and a daughter of William Hunt, a native and pioneer settler of the state of Ohio. Frank Williams enlisted in Company
G, One Hundred and Fiftieth Illinois Volun- teer Infantry, after considerable time spent in teamning for the Union forces. He enlisted in 1864 in the Army of the Cumberland and was with the forces at Nashville and at At- lanta. He was mustered out at the latter city in 1865. While in the teamning service he saw much active fighting and was present at the battles of Springfield, New Madrid, Island No. 10 and Buzzard's Roost (Georgia) and was also on the famous expedition to Atlanta. He is now a member of the Fosterburg Post of the G. A. R.
Mr. Bassett is deputy coroner under C. N. Streeper, of Madison county. He is a stal- wart in the ranks of the Republican party. Mr. and Mrs. Bassett have been the parents of three children. Mary, born February 21, 1900, died in the first month of her infancy. Frank, born November 4, 1904, died in January of the following year. Clyde, born May 8, 1906, is the only child living.
Mr. Bassett is a member of Modern Wood- men of America, No. 3328, of Fosterburg, and has filled all chairs in the lodge. He is also a member of Lodge No. 466, of the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows, at Upper Alton, and also of Encampment No. I, the oldest in the state of Illinois.
JOHN H. GROSENHEIDER, the prosperous farmer and stockman of Leef township, is proprietor of a farm of one hundred and sixty acres five miles northeast of Alhambra. The home stands on a pleasant eminence afford- ing a fine view of the surrounding country. An orchard of two hundred and fifty fruit trees increases the attractiveness and value of the place. Besides apples, peaches and pears, he has the largest quince orchard in this part of the country. As a stockman he raises highgrade Holstein and Durham cattle. The Grosenheider farm is one of the note- worthy country estates of Madison county, and its improvements are the result of the thrift and industry of Mr. and Mrs. Grosenheider.
He was born in Montgomery county, Illi- nois, in 1870, a son of Henry and Sophia (Mueller) Grosenheider. Both parents were natives of Germany, and the father was nine- teen and the mother eighteen when they ar- rived in this country. They were married in the German Lutheran church at Staunton. Purchasing thirty-two and a half acres in Montgomery county, they began their life of industry and good farm and business manage- ment enabled them to increase their property from time to time until they owned five hun-
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dlred and forty acres, improved with excellent buildings, fruit and shade trees which they themselves had planted, in many respects a model farm. These worthy people became the parents of five children: Henry, Anna, Fred, Sophia and John H. They attended the Brocaw schools and also the German Luth- eran parochial school, and have since settled in the following manner: llenry, who died in 1892, was a farmer at Litchfield, and mar- ried Minnie Schloman, and had three children, Emil, Robert and Josephine. His widow and daughter are since deceased, and his sons Emil and Robert are now married and farmers in Iowa. Anna Grosenheider married Henry Monke, a farmer of Macoupin county, and they have six sons, John, Frank, Theodore, Louis, Adolph and Emil. Fred Grosenheider, a farmer of Montgomery county, married, first, Anna Sathof, who was the mother of three children, Henry, Otto and Adella, and mar- ried, second, Emma Ernst. Sophia Grosen- heider married Charles Keune, and they reside on the old home estate. They have two chil- dren, Erna and Amos. The father of this family, Henry Grosenheider, passed away in 1898.
John H. Grosenheider remained at home assisting his father until he laid the foundation of his own home by his marriage, in 1896, to Miss Katherine Keiser. She was born in Ma- coupin county in 1877, a daughter of John J. and Charlotte (Monke) Keiser, who were natives of Germany but were married in this country at the Lutheran church in Mt. Olive. Mrs. Grosenheider's parents have been hard- working thrifty people and accumulated a homestead of five hundred and eighty acres. They have recently retired to Mt. Olive to spend their remaining days. Their children are Minnie, Johnnie, deceased, Emma, William, Henry, Frank, George, Mary, Louis, and Kath- erine.
After their marriage Mr. Grosenheider and wife began on a farm southwest of Carlin- ville, where they lived nine years, and then moved to Madison county, living for two years on a farm two miles north of New Douglas owned by her father. They then purchased their present homestead, where prosperity has come to them and where they are rearing their chil- (ren, whose names are : Clarence, Lydia, Wal- ter. Sarah, Ernest and Emerine. The Gehrig district school is affording the younger ones educational advantages, and Clarence is a stu- dent in the Mt. Olive German Lutheran school. The parents are members of the Lutheran
church at New Douglas. In politics he is a strong Republican. Since coming to Madison county they have identified themselves with best welfare of their community, and there are no better citizens of Leef township than Mr. and Mrs. Grosenheider. He has taken an active interest in local affairs and in 1911 was a member of the grand jury which held its sessions in the old city hall of Alton.
T. FRED LENNE. A well-known native resi- cent of Alton, Madison county, T. Fred Lehne has been intimately associated with the advancement of the mercantile prosperity of the city since beginning his active career, and is now successfully conducting a substantial business that was established by his father, the late llenry F. Lehne, more than a quarter of a century ago.
His paternal grandfather, Henry Lehne, whose family name was originally "Von de Lehne," was born in the province of Ostfree- land, Germany, and there spent the major part of his life. Learning the tailor's trade when young, he became proficient in the art, and had the honor of serving as tailor for the Royal family. When well advanced in age he came to America to spend his last days with his children, and died in Alton, Illinois, at the age of three score and ten years. He mar- ried a Miss Van de Bun, and they reared five children, as follows: George, who served in the Union Army during the Civil war, lost his life in the service; Theodore, deceased ; Henry F., father of T. Fred; Gretchen, wife of J. W. Miller, of Edwardsville, Illinois; and Elizabeth, deceased.
Brought up in Ostfreeland, Germany, Henry F. Lehne acquired a good education in his youthful days, and afterwards learned the trade of a tailor. Having completed his ap- prenticeship, he joined the German Army, and while a soldier made clothing for the higher officers. In 1854, having been honorably dis- charged from the army, he immigrated to this country, and after .living for a brief time in Saint Louis located at Alton, Illinois, where he followed his chosen trade for awhile. Se- curing a position then as a dry goods clerk, he became familiar with the details of mercantile pursuits, and, in 1885, established the business now managed by his son, T. Fred. He was much past middle age when he opened his store, but he had an able assistant in the per- son of his daughter Emma, then a young lady, possessing excellent ability. Successful from the start, he continued his mercantile opera- tions until his death, in 1905. He married
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
Lücke Jannsen, who was born in Germany, and as a girl came with her father, and three brothers, Jacob, George and John, and a sister, to America. Eight children were born of their union, but George, John, William and Nellie died in infancy ; Emma died at the age of forty- two years; Henry married Lydia Butikofer and they have three children, Leonora, Lucille and Emma; Louise died when twenty-two years old.
Completing the course of study in the Alton schools when comparatively young, T. Fred Lehne, who had previously assisted in his father's store evenings and Saturdays, became a clerk in the establishment, and continued in that position until the death of his father. Since that time he has had entire control of the business, and in its management is meet- ing with marked success, his patronage being large and lucrative.
Mr. Lehne married, in August, 1899, Eliza- beth Gollmer, who was born in Alton, a daugh- ter of Charles and Elizabeth Gollmer, both of whom were born in Alton, of German parent- age. Mr. and Mrs. Lehne have three children, Mildred, Harold and Richard.
DAVID G. LIVINGSTON. The village of Liv- ingston in Olive township is a little community of which the family of that name has been the nucleus, and the enterprise of its members has made it a center of trade in the township. The founder of the family in this county was a Scotchman, John Livingston, who in early life immigrated to America, first locating in Canada, and about 1858 settled in Olive town- ship of this county. Soon after his arrival here he married Mary J. Brown, of Venice. They had a family of eleven children, and eight are still living : Martha J. is the wife of J. R. Hoxey ; Robert W. is postmaster of New Douglas, Illinois; Rebecca E. is a teacher ; Mary E. is the wife of C. S. Frame, of St. Louis; Margaret A. is engaged in teaching at Venice ; Jessie A. is the assistant postmaster at Livingston ; David G. is mentioned below ; and Luella M. It is a family of worthy, in- telligent and industrious people.
David G. Livingston, who is now postmaster at the village and an active business man, was born in Olive township, January 29, 1873, and has always lived on the farm where he was reared and part of which is the site of the vil- lage. He was actively engaged in farming until 1906. A short time before, in 1904, he had established a lumber business here and has since conducted it. He was appointed to the position of postmaster of Livingston
December 23, 1904, and has been the only incumbent of that office. He also served as president of the village organization for six years. He is one of the influential Republi- cans of this part of the county, and for eight years served as deputy sheriff, first under Sheriff David Jones from 1902 to 1906, and then under Sheriff G. F. Crow from 1906 to 1910. Fraternally he is affiliated with the lodges of the Eagles and Foresters, and also with the Staunton Masonic lodge. His sisters, Rebecca, Margaret, Jessie and Luella, are all members of the Eastern Star Chapter, No. 616, at Staunton. Miss Jessie, his assistant in the postoffice, is an efficient business woman, and is one of the most popular members of this social community.
FRED C. LUEKER is one of the go-ahead farmers and stockmen of Hamel township. His fellow citizens feel that they have a pro- prietary interest in him, as he was born in the township and has spent his entire life here. While following the same occupation as his father, he has not been content to live on the reputation that Mr. Lueker, Sr., made but the son has shown his own individuality, has made a name for himself and won the esteem and re- spect of the members of the community in which he lives.
Fred C. Lueker's birth occurred in Hamel township on the 17th day of August, 1857. He is the son of Louis H. and Marie ( Blase) Lueker, of German birth and education, and in that fine old Fatherland their marriage was solemnized. Mr. Lueker, Sr., was a farmer in his native land, and he found it difficult to do more than make a bare living for himself and gradually increasing family. After the birth of his third child he determined to seek a new sphere for his agricultural operations, and the United States seemed to him to offer alluring possibilities. He therefore bade fare- well to the home of his youth and manhood, and with his wife and three children took pas- sage for New Orleans. On arriving in that cosmopolitan city he forthwith resolved on going to St. Louis, where so many of his com- patriots had settled; he went up the Missis- sippi river to St. Louis, but did not find the lo- cation exactly what he wanted. While he was looking for a suitable farm, where he might become permanently settled, Henry, the baby, was taken sick and died. The following spring the Lueker family moved to Hamel township, where the father purchased seventy acres of land. He was industrious and had a thorough knowledge of farming, so that he
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
prospered in his agricultural efforts and was able to give his family the advantages of a good, general education. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Lueker after they came to America, and thus they were the parents of nine children in all, as follows,-Louise, Caroline, Henry (deceased), Henry (de- ceased ), Louis, Herman, John ( deceased), So- phia and Fred C. In 1878 Mrs. Lueker breathed her last and she was mourned by a large circle of friends who had come to re- gard her as a good, kind neighbor. She was a loving, devoted wife and mother and both she and her husband were honored members of the German Lutheran church. Later Mr. Lue- ker married Miss Louise Baker, and the one child, John, who was born to this union died May 22, 1911. Mr. Lueker, Sr., departed this life on the 12th day of May. 1896.
After Fred C. Lueker had completed his educational training, he assisted his father with the work on the farm. In the year 1896. at which time he was thirty-nine years of age. he started out on his own responsibilities, be- ing the heir of the old farm in Hamel town- ship, which is now three hundred and twenty- five acres of fine Illinois land, sixty acres of which were purchased after his father's death.
In the year 1882 Mr. Lueker married Miss Bertha Heinemann, a daughter of the Rev. William and Caroline Heinemann. Two chil- dren were born to the young couple,-Adolph and Paul. The former married Minnie Kroe- ger, a resident of Hamel township, and is the father of three children-Carl, Bertha and Wilbert. In 1886 Mrs. Bertha Lueker died, and later Fred C. Lueker was married to Miss Mary Uhe, born in Germany July 30, 1866, a daughter of Christopher and Gesche Che, life-long residents of Germany, where they reared their family of six children,-Mary, Lena, Christ, Henry, Anna and Charles. Seven children have been born to Mr. Lueker and his second wife,-Laura, Alma, Amanda, Beata, Renata, Alwine and Esther, all edu- cated at the Worden German school.
The entire Lueker family are members of the Lutheran Evangelical church. Mr. Lueker is a stanch Republican, ever active in behalf of the interests of his party. He enjoys the es- teem and confidence of Republican and Demo- crat alike, and his tenure of public offices has been satisfactory to both political bodies. He has served his party and his township at the same time as school director-an office he has
held for nine consecutive years; and for six years he has been school trustee.
GEORGE D. SHAFFER was born on a farm near Edwardsville, July 29, 1843, and has given the active years of his life to agriculture. With the substantial rewards of his industry and management he retired in 1904 and has since lived in a comfortable home on St. Louis avenue in Edwardsville.
He was reared on the home farm and at- tended public school until he was seventeen. In August, 1862, at the age of nineteen, he offered his services to his country, enlisting in Company B of the Eightieth Illinois Infantry, his older brother being a member of the same company. Colonel A. F. Rodgers, of Upper Alton, commanded the regiment. For nearly three years he was with this command through many battles and campaigns, and was finally mustered out in June, 1865. when he returned home and began farming. Mr. Shaffer through his efforts as a farmer acquired a homestead of two hundred and forty acres. one of the best farms in the county.
Mr. Shaffer is a son of Joseph and Lucy (Randle) Shaffer, both sides of the family having been identified with Madison county throughout most of its history. Joseph Shaffer, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1806 and died in this county in 1873, was for many years a prosperous farmer and stock raiser in Edwardsville township, having begun in very modest circumstances and in the end being considered one of the well-to-do resi- dents of the county. Lucy Randle, his first wife, was a grand-daughter of the Methodist pioneer of Edwardsville, Richard Randle. and the Randle family has been prominent in the county for more than a century. Of the eleven children by his first wife, six are living : William H .; George D .; Joseph D .; Lucy Ann, wife of William Kerr ; Mary E., wife of John D. Wallace ; and Hannah Jane, wife of James Ransdell. Sarah C. married J. W. Robinson. His second wife was Polly Moore. who had three children : Mary, deceased, and Charles E. and Sophia B.
George D. Shaffer is a member of the G. A. R. post, of Edwardsville Lodge, No. 99. A. F. & A. M .. , and of the Methodist church. He was married in 1871 to Miss Margaret Barns- back. They have four sons: Z. W., a farmer ; J. F., a farmer ; Jacob H. ; and George B.
WILLIAM J. ABBOTT. Numbered among the esteemed and respected citizens of Pier- ron in William J. Abbott, a man of sterling
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
integrity and worth, and eminently deserving of representation in a work of this character. A native of Madison county, he was born at Edwardsville, November 13, 1869, coming on both sides of the house of excellent Irish stock.
Michael Abbott, his father, was born and reared in Ireland. Leaving the Emerald Isle at the age of twenty-two years, he came with his young wife to the United States, and im- mediately located at Naperville, Illinois, where he worked on a farm for a year or more. Then, after spending a short time in St. Louis, Missouri, he took up his residence in Edwardsville, Illinois. From Edwards- ville he moved to Marine, thence to Alham- bra and then moved to a farm north of Pier- ron, where he died January 25, 1897. He married, at Saint Patrick's church, in Dublin, Ireland, Rosa Ann Dunn, who survived him several years, passing away in 1904. Of the thirteen children born of their marriage, ten grew to years of maturity, as follows : Thomas; Mary, wife of George Schwehr; Rosetta, wife of Henry Kelly; Josephine, de- ceased; Michael; William J .; Philip; James ; Elmer; and Edward.
Obtaining a practical education while at- tending the schools of Marine, Alhambra and Pierron, William J. Abbott began earning his own living at the age of eighteen years, for about two years driving a dairy wagon. Go- ing then to St. Jacob, Illinois, he studied teleg- raphy in the office of the Vandalia Railroad Company. Becoming an expert telegrapher, Mr. Abbott has since been employed at vari- ous places along the line, during the last twenty years having been stationed at Pierron, where he has acted as station agent for nine years.
Mr. Abbott married, October 15, 1900, Emma Wiwi, a daughter of Philip Wiwi, who represented Montrose, Illinois, in the state legislature two terms. Three sons have brightened the union of Mr. and Mrs. Abbott, namely : Alfred, Cyril and Timothy. Polit- ically Mr. Abbott is an earnest supporter of the principles of the Democratic party. Fra- ternally he is a member of the Knights of Columbus. Religiously he is a member and a trustee of the Catholic church at Pierron, to which his family also belongs.
PAUL REINHOLD DOUGLAS is one of the most respected residents of the township which bears his name-New Douglas, in Madison county, Illinois. It is through the presence of such men as Mr. Douglas that Madison county Vol. II-12
has obtained the position of importance it now occupies in the state of Illinois. For the com- mercial prosperity of a community, it is neces -. sary that men of acknowledged business abili- ties should identify themselves with its various enterprises, but when there are united to these capabilities the Christian characteristics which are typical of Mr. Douglas, the combination cannot fail to elevate the standing of the lo- cality which he graces by his presence.
The birth of Mr. Douglas occurred in the city of Bobersburg, province of Brandenburg, in Prussia, on the 30th day of August, 1848. He is a son of Karl Frederick. and Mary E. (Schulz) Douglas, both natives of the same German fatherland. The father is descended
from the Scotch clan headed by Douglas ; one branch of the family took up their residence in England and during the Thirty years' war they came to Germany, where some of the de- scendants still reside. Father Douglas and his wife spent their entire lives in their Prussian home and surrendered three of their sons to fight for their country in the Franco-Prussian war; one of these valiant heroes was killed be- fore Paris, while the other two returned to their homes.
Paul Reinhold Douglas was brought up in his native place, and was there educated in the public schools. He was in Bremen during the war to which his brothers marched with feel- ings of enthusiasm, and he would have liked to accompany them, but was disqualified on account of a disability of his right arm and hand. He learned the harness making trade and when he was twenty-three years old he de- termined to come to America and make a ca- reer for himself in the land where a young man is not hampered by the bonds of preju- dice and custom which hinder his progress in the European lands. He embarked on a ves- sel bound for New York, and on arriving in that metropolis, he took passage for St. Louis, where he arrived on the fourth of July, 1872. From that time until the following April he plied his trade in St. Louis; he then came to New Douglas where he gained employment in the harness shops, and amongst others, worked for Rodo Latowsky. In the spring of the year 1876 Mr. Latowsky, recognizing the skill and the business ability of his assistant, took him into partnership and the firm continued to prosper under the control of these two men until 1883. At that time Mr. Latowsky with- drew and engaged in the general store busi- ness, while Mr. Douglas remained the proprie-
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