USA > Illinois > Madison County > Centennial history of Madison County, Illinois, and its people, 1812 to 1912, Volume II > Part 78
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In the year 1907 was recorded the mar- riage of Dr. Kaeser to Miss Jane Latzer, who was born at Highland, Illinois, and who is a daughter of Louis Latzer, of Highland. Mrs. Kaeser was graduated in the University of Illinois, where she was an instructor in bacte- riology for a time prior to her marriage. Dr. and Mrs. Kaeser have no children. They are prominent factors in connection with the best social affairs of Highland, where their beautiful home is renowned as a center of re- finement and gracious hospitality.
EDGAR EUGENE DE FOREST. The progres- sive agriculturist of modern days is no longer satisfied, as were his ancestors, with the suc- cessful cultivation of the soil, but understands
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and takes equal interest in the developing of fine stock and in carrying on other industries dependent, more or less, on the condition of his land. Among the men of the above type who belong to Madison county, Illinois, al- though well and favorably known through his various activities in other sections, is Ed- gar Eugene De Forest, whose finely improved estate of one hundred and twenty acres lies southeast of Highland, Illinois. He was born at Unadilla, Otsego county, New York, in 1846, and is a son of George and Louisa (Sperring) De Forest.
The father of Mr. De Forest was born in New York, but the mother was of English birth and was three years old when her par- ents brought her to America and settled in New York. They were of the Wesleyan faith and had been privileged to see the great reformer, John Wesley, as a guest in the home of the Sperring family, where he spent large portions of his time for years, as he main- tained his library and probably composed many of his religious theses in their home. In 1856 George De Forest moved to Illinois and from there to Gentry county, Missouri, where his death occurred. His family con- sisted of one son and two daughters: Edgar Eugene, Florence and Stella. Florence mar- ried Captain Bond, who was commissioned an officer in the United States Navy by President Lincoln, while Stella became Mrs. Conway.
Edgar Eugene De Forest attended school at Binghampton, New York. When sixteen years of age he came to Illinois with an uncle, John Quinby, who had been making a visit in New York and who had been a soldier in the Mexican war. After reaching Illinois, Edgar Eugene found no difficulty in securing employment as a farm hand, being strong, willing and efficient in whatever he undertook, and easily recalls his triumphs as a boy in the great western harvest fields, such as he had never seen in his native state. In the follow- ing year, 1863, when but seventeen years old, he decided to enter the government service, there being an urgent demand just at that time for capable railroad men and teamsters, and he was sworn in at St. Louis, Missouri, under Government Agent Diamond. For fifteen months afterward he served as fireman on the Little Rock & Memphis Railroad and also as teamster, and during this time was a witness of many thrilling scenes. He was with General Steele's command, near Red River, at the time of General Banks' defeat, when the Federal army lost two hundred pro- Vol. II-26
vision wagons, which entailed much privation, the soldiers suffering without accustomed ra- tions for five days. He remained in the serv- ice, enduring the necessary hardships of a soldier's life, until his system was so weak- ened from malaria that he was no longer use- ful when he secured his honorable discharge, returned to Illinois, and in the course of time regained his accustomed good health.
After marriage Mr. De Forest leased forty acres of timbered land situated southeast of Highland, Illinois, on which the only improve- ment was a two-room log house. Later he purchased this tract and still later bought eighty adjoining acres and now has one hundred and twenty acres of some of the finest land in Madison county, every acre of which returns income. His farm- ing operations are carried on according to modern, scientific methods and these undertakings are entirely satisfactory. He has given much attention to specializing in Holstein cattle and owns one of the finest herds in the county, in which he is one of the largest shippers of milk. He has productive orchards and each year his trees yield gen- erously. In still another line Mr. De Forest has been more than usually successful and that is in bee culture and he estimates that his hives yield more than five hundred pounds of honey a season. To all these things he gives the personal attention that marks the intelli- gent, wide awake and consequently success- ful agriculturist.
In 1877, Mr. De Forest was married to Miss Martha Hicklin, born at Evanston, Illi- nois, a daughter of George Hicklin, and they have the following children: Edgar, Estella, Orville, Arthur, Robert, Florence, Ethel, Mary and Alice. All have been afforded excellent educational advantages and have been pre- pared to creditably take any social position. Estella, Florence and Ethel attended the High School at Highland, where the two latter were graduated. Florence is a teacher in the I. X. L. school, Madison county, and Ethel, after attendance at Oberlin College, accepted a po- sition as teacher in a school at Buffalo, New York. Estella married a Mr. Rutherford and they reside in Illinois.
Perhaps there is no more attractive resi- dence in all Madison county than the one Mr. De Forest built some years ago. He selected a beautiful location on his farm and after ex- cellent designs built a handsome one and one half story house, and added commodious barn and all necessary farm buildings, setting out
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shade trees on the surrounding lawn and making a background of orchards. Good taste and thrift are evident in every direction. Mr. De Forest is not active as a politician but continues to give political support to the Dem- ocratic party, in which faith he was reared. He is a generous-hearted, broad-minded man, one who through his own experiences has learned many vital lessons and is disposed to look leniently on those whose will and self- control have not been strong like his own. He is widely known and has friends all over the state in which he lives.
SAMUEL TESSLER. Glen Carbon has among its citizens many successful business men, but there are none who have made such rapid strides as Samuel Tessler. During the last ten years he has risen from one who owned nothing to be a man of considerable means. This condition has been brought about entirely through his own efforts and without any one's assistance. In the old country a man cannot begin poorly and work his way
up to the top, but here in the United States people consider the man alone and they feel that a man who can do well out of nothing must have a great deal more in him than the man who can succeed after he has had a good start from other people.
Samuel Tessler was born in Russia, May 2, 1879. He came to the United States De- cember 14, 1900, landing at New Orleans. Thence he came up the Mississippi river to St. Louis, Missouri. He was almost penniless when he reached that city, but he managed to procure a few articles, which he peddled from house to house. He sold these and bought a larger stock, repeating the process until he had enough money to open a little business of his own. In 1905 he left St. Louis and came to Glen Carbon, where he conducts a general store. He now owns his building and stock of goods and is worth about six thousand, five hundred dollars, having ac- complished all of this in ten years.
In May, 1904, while he was living in St. Louis, Mr. Tessler married Sarah Katler, who was born in the old country in 1880 and had come to the United States to make a living of a better nature than she could get in her own country. Mr. and Mrs. Tessler have one daughter, born December 24, 1905. Her name is Esther.
Mr. Tessler is a member of the Jewish church at St. Louis, Missouri. In politics he is a Republican and is greatly interested in the welfare of his adopted country and of Mad-
ison county in particular. The next ten years may bring Mr. Tessler much more prosperity, as he has not yet reached the limits of his possibilities. He has built up a fine trade in Glen Carbon and has gained the good will of all who know him.
FRED SIEGRIST. The career of Fred Sieg- rist is a splendid example of what may be accomplished by young manhood that is con- secrated to ambition and high purposes. He is a prominent banker and business man at Highland, in Madison county, Illinois, and in- asmuch as his splendid success in life is the direct result of his own well applied endeav- ors it is the more gratifying to contemplate. He is a self made man in the most significant sense of the word and is recognized through- out this community for his high order of ability and his conscientious dealings with his fellow citizens. He met with many obstacles while plodding toward the goal of success but instead of discouraging him they spurred him onward, giving him a momentum and force which have resulted since the period of his first struggles in steady progress and success and have brought him the esteem of all with whom he has come in contact. He is ex- mayor of Highland, president of the State and Trust Bank, and president of the Kuhnen- Siegrist Hardware Company.
A native of Switzerland, Fred Siegrist was born on the 7th of July, 1858, and he is a son of Melchior and Elizabeth Siegrist, both of whom were likewise born in Switzerland. The father was engaged in the business of agriculture in his native land and he met the summons to the life eternal in 1865, when Fred Siegrist was a child of seven years of age. After obtaining a fair education in his native place, Fred Siegrist, in company with his mother, came to the United States in 1873. They resided in New York City for the en- suing three years and in 1877 came to Mad- ison county, Illinois, locating at Highland, where he secured work as fireman in Her- man's new mill. Subsequently, on the 22d of September, 1879, he began to work as a clerk in the hardware store of Charles F. Kuhnen, at Highland, continuing to devote his atten- tion to that line of enterprise until 1888, when, in partnership with F. C. Kuhnen, he pur- chased the Charles F. Kuhnen's hardware store. In 1892 the concern was incorporated under the laws of the state of Illinois as the Kuhnen and Siegrist Hardware Company, with a capital stock of $1,500. The following officers are serving at the present time: Fred
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Siegrist, president ; F. M. Mueller, vice-pres- ident ; and L. O. Kuhnen, secretary and treas- urer. A splendid business is controlled by the Kuhnen-Siegrist Hardware Company and the same is recognized as one of the finest con- cerns of its kind in this section of the state. In 1903 Mr. Siegrist became a stockholder in the State and Trust Bank, of which substan- tial institution he was elected president on the Ist of January, 1909. This financial concern is in a most flourishing condition.
On the 25th of October, 1881, was solem- nized the marriage of Mr. Siegrist to Miss Mary Moser, who was born and reared in Highland and who is a daughter of John Moser, long a representative citizen of this place. Six children ---- all boys, have been born to this union. The following brief data con- cerning them is here incorporated,-Alfred and William are now employed in the hard- ware store of their father; Irvin is a sales- man for the St. Louis Hardware Company ; Carl is a tinner at his father's tin shop; and Waldo and Louis are attending school at Highland.
In politics Mr. Siegrist is a staunch sup- porter of the principles and policies for which the Democratic party stands sponsor and, while he has never manifested a great deal of desire for political preferment, he consented in 1906 to become a candidate for the office of mayor of Highland. He served with the utmost efficiency as mayor for one term and his administration of the municipal affairs of the city was characterized by a straightfor- ward policy for progress and improvement. In his religious faith he is a member of the German Evangelical church. In a social way he is a member of the Singers Society, of which he has been president since 1887. The distinctive prestige gained by Mr. Siegrist as citizen and business man of note at Highland is a fine illustration of what can be accom- plished by persistency and a determination to forge ahead. All Mr. Siegrist's dealings have · been characterized by fair and honorable methods and he is everywhere accorded the unqualified confidence and esteem of his fel- lowmen.
DR. LOUIS H. KRAFT is one of the leading dentists in Collinsville, Illinois. He was born on the 2nd of November, 1879, in St. Louis, Missouri. He was the son of L. P. and Ma- tilda Kraft, both residents of St. Louis, of German parentage. They had five children, of whom Louis is the third.
When he was a small child he came to Col-
linsville with his parents. He attended the public school of Collinsville and graduated from the high school. He then entered the dental department of the Washington Univer- sity of St. Louis, Missouri, and after a full course he graduated with the degree of Doc- tor of Dental Surgery in 1900. He located in Collinsville, and has been in practice here ever since.
In 1904 he married Miss Gretta Powell, in Collinsville. Mr. and Mrs. Kraft have two sons, Louis, aged six, and Robert, aged two years. Mrs. Kraft is a member of the Epis- copal church of Collinsville. The Doctor is a member of the Collinsville Blue Lodge, No. 712, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons ; of Unity Chapter, No. 182; and of Tancred Commandery, No. 50. Politically Dr. Kraft affiliates with the Republican party.
PETER STREIF. Of thrifty, sturdy and en- terprising Swiss ancestry, whose good qual- ities have been perpetuated in him, Peter Streif is one of the progressive and repre- sentative farmer-citizens of Madison county, where his farm of one hundred and nineteen acres in Helvetia township is one of the best developed tracts in this section. Long years of residence here have made him well known in this community, and he is recognized as an agriculturist of ability and a citizen who has discharged the duties of a number of town- ship positions in an entirely satisfactory and able manner. Mr. Streif was born on the old homestead in Helvetia township, situated three miles south of Highland, in Madison county, in 1859, son of Michael and Elizabeth (Heisley) Streif.
The parents of Mr. Streif were natives of the Canton of Glarus, Switzerland, and left that country for the United States with their one child, an infant. On the journey the little one succumbed to the hardships of ocean travel and was buried at sea, and the heart- broken parents eventually landed at New Or- leans. Coming up the Mississippi river, they settled in Missouri, where Michael Streif started to make a home for himself and wife in the land of golden opportunities, and started to clear a tract of land, his only as- sistance being the labor of one horse. Subse- quently, after enduring the trials incidental to the pioneer in a new country to whom soil and climate are alike strange, he managed to accumulate enough to remove his family and belongings to Madison county, Illinois, and there secured a tract of eighty acres of land, which furnished the nucleus for the present
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magnificent Streif home. Mr. and Mrs. Streif had seven children born to them in this country : Katie, Emma, Michael, Henry, Fred, Emil and Peter.
Peter Streif attended the Buckeye public school, at Highland, in which his brothers and sisters were also educated, and grew up on the home farm, assisting his father until he was twenty-three years of age, at which time he commenced farming on rented land. After three years spent thus he was married in 1885 to Miss Sophia Heinrich, an estimable young lady of Madison county, who was born in 1861, daughter of Gottlieb and Christina (Ruhroyer) Heinrich, natives of Switzerland, who immigrated to America at an early day. They were young people when they left their native land for this country, were fellow trav- elers on the voyage, and were married in Mad- ison county. Their children, all of whom re- ceived good educational advantages were : Gottlieb, Christof, William, Jacob, Mary, Bertha and Sophia. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Streif began life on a rented farm near the old Streif homestead, and there with the characteristic energy and industry of their ancestors began to make a home. Mr. Streif proved himself a hard and willing worker, and his wife showed herself no less willing and able, and as the years went on they pros- pered and were able to purchase the old home- stead. To this more land has been added from time to time, the original eighty acres having grown to one hundred and nineteen, and improvements of all kinds have been made. The buildings include a fine country home, a large granary, substantial barns and sheds, and well-built outbuildings; the land is well tilled, graded and drained; and the whole appearance of the property testifies to . the presence of good management. Mr. Streif purchased a residence in Highland in 1912. and it is his intention to retire before a long time and spend the evening of his life in the enjoyment of the fruits of his early years of labor. He has served as school director for seven years, as well as school clerk, and his political affiliations have always been with the Republican party. With his wife he attends the German Evangelical church of Highland, and their children are being brought up in that faith.
Mr. and Mrs. Streif have had six children, namely : Leo, Fremont, Nelson, Teckla, Freda and Elise. They have been educated in Eng- lish in the Buckeye school of Highland, and in the German language at the German Evan-
gelical School. Leo, who married Mary Gruenderer. and has one son, Leo, is a suc- cessful young agriculturist of Helvetia town- ship, and has been remarkably successful in stock raising, his yearling colt taking first prize at the Highland Breeders Fair in 1911, and a number of his calves also securing blue ribbons. Fremont has given up farming for employment in the Highland Embroidery Factory. Teckla married Otto Hanselmann, a farmer of St. Clair county, Illinois, and has one son, Otto. The other children reside at home. The home life of this family has been such as to be worthy of emulation. With the love of home and family that forms such a large part of the Swiss character, Mr. Streif has given his spare time to them rather than to outside matters, and has not cared to ac- tively enter the field of politics nor engage in fraternal work. A good and upright citizen, the success that has come to him is but the reward of long years of faithful endeavor, and as a man who has been the architect of his own fortunes has the respect and esteem of all who know him, and the personal ad- miration of a wide circle of friends.
HERMAN C. PETERS. Like so many of Madison county's representative citizens, Her- man Peters is of that sturdy Teutonic ances- try whose stock has never failed to give vigor to the countries in which its people settled since the days when the wild Saxons took the Island of England and originated the great Anglo-Saxon race, which from its little island has gone forth to set its mark upon the world.
It was in 1844 that Frank Peters, a young Hanoverian, landed at New Orleans and made his way to St. Louis. Here he secured em- ployment as teamster of a saw mill, and it was while working for that company that he passed through the experiences of the St. Louis flood of 1844. One day while hauling logs in the bottom lands the water came up without warning. Mr. Peters and his com- panion could only turn the oxen loose and climb into trees for safety. For two days and nights they were marooned in the tree tops and then a rescue party came after them in a boat. By the time aid arrived the young men were all but dead from exposure and lack of food.
This experience did not dampen the ardor of Frank Peters. He stayed with his first employers for two years and was made a foreman. In 1849 he caught the gold fever and went to California to cure it. It was there that he got his start and in
John Willi
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1852 he came back to St. Louis and traded cattle for a time. He decided that he would buy a stock-farm, and accordingly walked to Worden from St. Louis to carry out his intention. He bought the farm and spent the rest of his life on it ; having walked a good distance, he stayed a good while. He married Johanna Hoffmann, and they had a family of eight children, of whom three are now living. These are William, Mrs. Martin Esenbroth, (nee Emma Peters) and Herman C. The father died in 1890, nine years before the mother.
Herman was born on June 15, 1866, on the home place in Omphghent township. He grew up here, attending the public schools until he was seventeen. He has devoted all his life to farming, assisting his father first, and after his death taking charge of the place and car- ing for his mother. His marriage took place two years after his father's death, November 24, 1892, when he was united to Miss Lena Kohlenberg, daughter of William Kohlenberg, residing near Prairie-town, Illinois. A fam- ily of four children have been born of this union, Herbert, Bertha, Elsie and Clara.
Mr. Peters and his family are members of the German Lutheran church of Worden and are liberal supporters of all its enterprises. The fraternal affiliations of Mr. Peters in- clude the Modern Woodmen and the Odd Fel- lows lodges of Worden. Politically he is a Republican and has been school director ever since he was twenty-one, except for three years. He has also been · school clerk and tax collector. Mr. Peters is one of the best known citizens of the county, as well as one of its most progressive farmers. He owns two hundred and fifty-two acres of land in the township and he keeps up to the times in agricultural methods. He is admirably adapted to carry on the name and work of his honored father.
JOHN WILDI. The substantial prosperity and commercial activity which is enjoyed in noteworthy measure by the city of Highland is traceable to distinct individuals, whose pres- ence and efforts in the community have re- dounded to its credit in every way. One man in particular, through his activity in promot- ing those industries and measures which are the life of a city, won for himself the highest of standing among his fellow men, and when he was called away from the scene of his earthly labors left an honorable name which will long live in the memories of Highland people. That man was John Wildi, founder
of the original plant at Highland of the Hel- vetia Milk Condensing Company, and founder also of the John Wildi Evaporated Milk Com- pany of Marysville, Ohio, the largest and fin- est equipped plant of its kind in the world.
John Wildi was one of the members of the famous stock which made the achievements of the Swiss republic a theme of song and story. He was born in canton Aargau, Switz- erland, on February 17, 1853, and was a son of John and Eliza (Briner) Wildi, whose other children were Rudolph, Jacob, Emil, Frederick, Joseph, Alfred, Eliza, Anna, Mary and Bertha. His father, coming to America in 1870, located at Highland, and the rest of the family followed in the next year. They selected Highland for their home because it had found favor with many of their country- men from the land of William Tell, so many in fact that in recognition of their preponder- ance the township in which the city is located has been named Helvetia. In this locality may be found unimpaired and unchanged many of the characteristics of the Swiss na- tionality, and in the entire region there may be found no more sincerely honored name than that of the late John Wildi.
Mr. Wildi was but nineteen years of age when he came to the United States. He had been carefully educated in the schools of his native country, being the master of three lan- guages, and he soon established himself in the mercantile business at Highland. He was for a time in the establishment of C. Kinne & Company. Later he was with John J. Spind- ler and in 1875 he became associated with Jo- seph C. Ammann, the firm name being Am- mann & Wildi.
It was not in the mercantile business, how- ever, that Mr. Wildi found play for the ex- ecutive ability that even at an early age he showed to a marked degree. He had latent in his nature a strong vein of creative genius and it was as a manufacturer that he found an avenue for the employment of his virile energy. That this was the case is a boon to the people of the present day and will so con- tinue throughout countless generations to come, for John Wildi gave to the world many of the important discoveries in the present process of evaporating milk, and perfected the system that is now used whereby the native of the most torrid region along the equator or the trapper of the farthest north may en- joy the same blessing, that great necessity of the human race-pure, wholesome milk.
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