USA > Illinois > Macon County > Decatur > City of Decatur and Macon County, Illinois : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, volume II > Part 16
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He has also been connected with various lines of business. In 1881 he be- came cashier of the Decatur National Bank and continued in that office for ten years, with the exception of the period from 1884 to 1885, when he was identified with the Haworth Manufacturing Company. In 1891 he was elected president of the bank of which he had been serving as cashier and filled the office of president with marked ability until 1904, when he retired on account of ill health. Since that time he has not been actively engaged in business af- fairs, but he continues as director and stockholder in the bank.
On the Ist of December, 1863, Mr. Roby was united in marriage to Miss Annie Haworth, a native of Clinton county, Ohio, and a daughter of Mahlon
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Haworth, whose biography appears on another page of this volume .. Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Roby, six of whom are now living. Frank C., born on the 21st of May, 1865, was married in Chicago, Sep- tember 1, 1893, to Miss Ida M. Gordon, and they have three children: Helen E., born in June, 1894; Kilburn in October, 1898; and Frank C. in November, 1900. Mary Lois, born July 29, 1867, was married to Frederick A. Brown, of Decatur, in January, 1890, and to this union the following children were born: Marcus, who was born in Tacoma, Washington, and died there in 1893; Kilburn R., born in 1894; and Mary Lois, born in 1897. Mr. Brown, the father of these children, is now practicing law in Chicago. Edna A., the third child of Mr. and Mrs. Roby, was born March 14, 1869, and died in July, 1870. Kil- burn H., born in 1871, married Miss Clara G. Greene, of Decatur, in 1900, and three children have been born to them: Oliver G., who was born September, 1903, and died in 1906; Thomas G., born in 1906; and Richard, March, 1908. The family live in Decatur. Luther E., born February 10, 1874, was married in Chicago to Isabelle Scott, in November, 1908, and one child has blessed this union, William Scott. The father is manager and treasurer of the Peoria Drill & Seeder Company. Sarah J., born January 14, 1876, was married May 21, 1903, to Captain Charles E. Hay, Jr., of the United States army. One child, John Leonard, born June 9, 1905, has resulted from this union. Annie Ha- worth, born April 10, 1878, was married at Decatur October I, 1904, to Donald Vincent, of Fort Dodge, Iowa, and they have two daughters, Catherine, born December, 1907, and a baby, born October 30, 1910.
Mr. Roby has been identified with the republican party since 1860, his first vote having been cast for Abraham Lincoln as president of the United States. He has never sought political honors, but served for two years in the early part of his career as clerk and city attorney of Decatur. Possessing a logical mind and also a clear judgment in business affairs, he has been highly success- ful, both as a lawyer and as a man of business. His life has been an extremely active one, and his prosperity is the legitimate result of wisely directed effort. He has never been unmindful of his duties to the community, and his kindly interest in others has made for him a host of warm friends, who will ever regard him as a model citizen.
ORAN ARMSTRONG COOK.
Oran Armstrong Cook, who has been successfully engaged in business as a carpenter and contractor of Macon for more than three decades, was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, on the 18th of September, 1851, his parents being James A. and Charlotte Ann (Hogentogler) Cook. The maternal grand- parents, John and Mary Hogentogler, were natives of Pennsylvania and New York respectively. The paternal great-grandfather was a native of Germany and in the year 1777 three of his sons, one of whom was the grandfather of our subject, came to the United States in order to avoid military service. They
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settled in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and the grandfather of our subject was one of eight men who built the fifth rolling mill in the United States.
James A. Cook, the father of Oran A. Cook, was the eldest child and only son in a family of six children and was but fourteen years of age when he became engineer in his father's rolling mill. Eventually he entered the service of the Pennsylvania Central Railroad, acting as passenger engineer for five years. In 1856 he came to Illinois and for several years ran an engine on the Wabash Railroad out of Decatur. Returning to Pennsylvania, he remained in that state for a year and then once more came to Illinois, locating at Macon in 1860. Here he embarked in the carpentering and undertaking business, being the first undertaker in the town. He was continuously and successfully engaged in those lines of activity until called to his final rest in 1901 when in the seventy- fifth year of his age. At the time of the Mexican war he formed and was made captain of a company of infantry in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, but hostilities had ceased when the little band of soldiers reached Pittsburg. In 1846 he wedded Miss Charlotte Ann Hogentogler, a young lady of Scotch and German decent and the eldest in a family of twelve children. In association with seven others she formed and organized the first Methodist church in Macon and its first congregation assembled in the house in which our subject now resides. She passed away in 1875, when in the forty-ninth year of her age.
Oran A. Cook, who was the third in order of birth in a family of seven children, obtained his early education in the public schools of Illinois and subse- quently entered the Northwestern University of Indiana at Indianapolis, from which institution he was graduated in 1875. That was the time of the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia and he went to the Quaker city in charge of the exhibit of the Chandler & Taylor Company of Indianapolis. During the re- mainder of the year he traveled for that concern, selling their machinery. Following his marriage in 1878 he took up carpentering and contracting and has since been engaged in contracting and building on an extensive and profitable scale, erecting elevators, etc.
In August, 1878, Mr. Cook was united in marriage to Miss Flora C. Aumock, whose birth occurred on the 31st of August, 1857, her parents being James and Caroline J. (Butt) Aumock, natives of Ohio. Mrs. Cook, who was the second in order of birth in a family of four children, has likewise become the mother of four children, namely: Fay, who was born April 30, 1881 and died on the 6th of August, 1883; Cecil Floyd, whose natal day was March 10, 1883, and who is still at home; Fleda Dee, born January 30, 1887, who gave her hand in marriage to Harry Herbert, of Macon, and now resides in Decatur; and Harry Harold, who first opened his eyes to the light of day on the 8th of November, 1888, and is still under the parental roof.
Politically Mr. Cook is a stanch advocate and supporter of the prohibition party, believing that the liquor traffic is the worst evil with which our country has to contend. He has been a member of the Modern Woodmen of America for the past twenty-four years and has occupied all of the chairs except one. At the present time he is acting as clerk of Macon Camp, No. 362. He is also identified with the Royal Neighbors, belonging to Fernleaf Camp at Macon, of which he has been a manager since its installation six years ago. He is likewise
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a member of the Royal Templars of New York, the Good Templars and the degree lodge of Good Templars. His wife belongs to the Royal Neighbors and the Order of the Eastern Star. She is a devoted and consistent member of the Methodist church and Mr. Cook likewise attends its services. In his business career he has always faithfully executed the terms of a contract and met the obligations devolving upon him. He has thus established a reputation for un- doubted integrity and his name is an honored one wherever he is known.
WILLIAM F. HURTT.
Among the citizens of Macon county who are actively identified with farming interests is William F. Hurtt, of Hickory Point township, a general farmer who by his industry and progressive spirit has gained the respect of his neighbors and the confidence of many of the responsible men in the community. He is a native of Ohio, born in Ross county in 1856, and is the son of John W. and Elizabeth (Ross) Hurtt, both natives of Ohio, the former born in 1825 and the latter in 1827. The mother was member of one of the early pioneer families of Ohio and died in 1862. The father continued upon the old home farm during the remainder of his life and was called away in April, 1895. Six children were born to them: Nelson, Roderick and John W., deceased; Evans, of Piqua, Ohio; William F., our subject ; Margaret, now Mrs. Milton Junk, of Greeley, Colorado.
William F. Hurtt was educated in the public schools of Ross county and assisted his father upon the farm until 1872 when, at sixteen years of age, he came with his eldest brother to Piatt county, this state. He began farming upon his own account by renting eighty acres of land and later two hundred and forty acres, engaging in general farming in Piatt county until 1908, when he took up his residence in Macon county, where he rented a farm upon which he has since lived. By the application of sound principles he has been successful in his work and is the owner of a tract of one hundred and sixty acres of good land in Alberta, Canada. He also retains an interest in the old home place of one hundred and fifty-six acres in Ohio.
In 1878 Mr. Hurtt was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Robinson, of this state, a daughter of John L. and Louise (Huff) Robinson, who came from Coshocton county, Ohio, to Illinois in 1864 and settled in Piatt county. The father departed this life August 24, 1909, and the mother was called away in 1885. They were the parents of four children: William and Elmer, residing in Decatur; Elizabeth, now Mrs. Hurtt; and Beulah, deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Hurtt the following children have been born: Florence M., born in 1881, who married Charles Ball and died in July, 1905; Jennetta, who was born in 1884 and died in 1889; William Linley, born in 1896, who is living at home; and John Erwin, born in 1899, also at home.
Mr. Hurtt is politically in sympathy with the republican party, whose principles he accepts as those best adapted for the perpetuation of this govern- ment. Socially he is identfied with Lodge No. 344, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; Lodge No. 2252, Modern Woodmen of America, and Lodge No. 652.
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Court of Honor, all of Bement, Illinois. He is a consistent member of the Methodist church and takes an active part in its work, and by his wide sympathies and willing cooperation in all laudable undertakings for the benefit of others less fortunate than himself he has made many friends in the region with which he is closely identified. The country is in need of men like Mr. Hurtt and the happiness and permanent welfare of society depend in a large measure upon new accessions to their ranks and the cultivation of those principles of brother- hood that form the basis of all good government.
ANDREW J. TRIMMER.
Andrew J. Trimmer, a native of the Keystone state, who has for more than half a century made his home in Macon county, was born on the 27th of Sep- tember, 1839. He is a son of Joseph F. and Catherine (Fetrow) Trimmer, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania, the former being born in 1814 and the latter in 1820. They were married in their native state and emigrated to Illinois in 1853, settling in Macon county. The father was a farmer and was the owner in Pennsylvania of two hundred acres of land, but after arriving in this state he rented land for eleven years, at the end of which time he bought the Mound farm, where he had been living, which consisted of one hundred and sixty acres. Later he acquired a farm lying one mile eastward of one hundred and sixty acres. He was one of the successful agriculturists of the county and a man who was highly respected for many good qualities. Politically he was an adherent of the republican party, believing that its principles were those most essential for the prosperity and perpetuity of our government. He departed this life in 1886 and twenty years later his faithful companion was called away. They were the par- ents of nine children: Andrew J., our subject; William, who died in 1864; Abram, now living in Ohio; Joseph, of Macon county; Mary, who married Isaiah Henry, her husband being deceased; Daniel, of Indiana; Henry, deceased; John, of Decatur, and George, deceased.
The subject of our review was fourteen years of age when he came to this state. He received his education in the district schools and after laying his books aside assisted his father for six years upon the farm. At twenty-one years of age he began renting land for himself and so continued in this county for twenty-four years, at the end of which time his wife inherited the farm of one hundred and twenty acres, six acres of which are occupied by the railroad, and here the family has since made its home and the farm has been brought to a high degree of cultivation under the experienced management of our subject.
In 1862 Mr. Trimmer was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Rife, a daugh- ter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Garver) Rife, natives of Pennsylvania, who came to Illinois in 1840 and settled in this county. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Rife: Jacob and Joseph, both deceased; and Elizabeth, herein mentioned. Ten children have blessed the household of Mr. and Mrs. Trimmer : Mary, now Mrs. Daniel Flickinger; Grant, who lives upon the homestead with his father; Libby, now Mrs. J. Weldy, of Decatur; William, of Decatur; Ida, now Mrs.
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Workman; Louisa, who became the wife of Domer Westhaver, of Sinton, Texas; Grace; Stella, now Mrs. Danzusen of Decatur; Irvin, and Charles, of Bearsdale, Macon county.
Mr. Trimmer demonstrated his loyalty to the government under which he was born by enlisting in the One Hundred and Forty-fifth Illinois Infantry, in 1864. He served faithfully for six months and no man rejoices more heartily over the result of the great conflict than he. He is identified with Dunham Post, No. 141, G. A. R., of Decatur, and since casting his first ballot has been an earn- est adherent of the principles of the republican party. He is a stanch friend of education and for forty years past has shown his interest in the training of the young for the important duties of life, acting as member of the board of directors of his school district. Mr. and Mrs. Trimmer have always assisted in any worthy enterprise of their neighborhood and as intelligent and progressive members of the community have made many friends.
Mr. Trimmer was a good soldier and he has in private life maintained the reputation of a worthy citizen, who as the head of a large and interesting family has had many responsibilities, which he has discharged with courage and fidelity. He is known as a worthy representative of the agricultural interests of Macon county.
JACOB LUTHER WALDEN.
Jacob Luther Walden, attorney at law of Decatur, was born in Shelby county, Illinois, on the 5th of June, 1879, being one of the four children of Jacob and Sarah (Harsh) Walden, the former a native of Illinois and the latter of Indiana. His youthful days were spent upon the home farm with the usual experiences that fall to the lot of the farm boy. He attended the district schools and after- ward pursued a course in the Austin Normal at Effingham, Illinois. He then turned his attention to teaching, which profession he followed in the district schools and afterward spent a year as a principal of the schools of Findlay, Shelby county. Later he was for three years principal of the schools of Dalton City in Moultrie county but, while he proved a capable and successful educator, his ambition tended in another direction and he began preparation for the bar. While teaching Shelby county he read law under Judge Thornton of the firm of Thornton & Ragen and following the death of the judge he continued his reading under W. H. Ragen. His mastery of the principles of jurisprudence secured his admission to the bar in Illinois on the 16th of October, 1905, in which year he began practice in Shelby county, where he continued until September, 1908, when he sought a still broader and more favorable field in Decatur and has since been a member of the bar of this city. In the intervening period of a little more than two years he has given ample proof of his ability, so that a liberal clientage is now accorded him and his name figures in connection with the trial of many important litigated interests. In 1910 he was admitted to practice in the federal courts.
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In 1905 Mr. Walden was married in Newton, Illinois, to Miss Fannie Kellogg, of Ohio, and unto them have been born two children : Ruth Evangeline, four and a half years of age; and George Luther, who is a year old. Mr. Walden holds membeship with the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Windsor, Illinois, and belongs to the First Methodist Episcopal church-associations which indicate much of the nature of his interests and the principles that govern his conduct.
EDWARD W. NULL.
Edward W. Null, postmaster of Niantic, is a striking instance of the effect of self reliance and fortitude when adopted as principles of action early in life. At nine years of age he was deprived by death of his beloved mother and two years later his father was called away, leaving the son alone to fight the battle with the world. How he succeeded is told in the story of his life. He is a native of Missouri and was born at Middletown, Mongomery county, September 17, 1870, a son of Isaiah and Sarah (Lindsay) Null. The father was born near Taney- town, Maryland, and the mother in Ohio. They met at Middletown and there they were married. Mr. Null was a soldier for the Union at the time of the Civil war and served as sergeant in Company C, of Fagg's Fifth Regiment, Missouri State Militia.
As an orphan boy of eleven years the subject of this review went to Taneytown, Maryland, where he took up his home with a cousin, Samuel Null, a farmer of Maryland, and there continued for seven years, during which time he assisted upon the farm and gained a common-school education. After arriving at eighteen years of age he began to work for himself as a carpenter, showing an aptitude for the trade which indicated him to be a natural mechanic. Later he went to Philadelphia and worked at the tinner's trade and also had some experience in a sawmill in Carroll county, Maryland. Having a desire to see more of the world and also to take advantage of larger opportunities, he came to Macon county about 1891 and for one season worked on a farm near Niantic. After this he engaged in carpenter work for two years and was then employed as a clerk by J. A. Cussins in Niantic. Going to St. Louis, he spent one winter in that city, but returned to Macon county and soon entered the em- ploy of Pritchett Brothers, hardware dealers of Niantic, doing the tin work of the firm and also clerking in the store. On January 24, 1907, he was appointed postmaster of Niantic and has since conducted the office to the entire satisfac- tion of the government officials at Washington and of the people of Niantic and vicinity.
In 1900 Mr. Null was happily united in marriage to Miss Katy Corbett, of Niantic, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Ryan) Corbett. Mr. Null cast his first presidential ballot for William Henry Harrison in 1892 and has ever since been a stanch adherent to the republican party. He and his wife are both identified with the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is an official mem-
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ber, serving as trustee. He holds membership in Niantic Camp, No 329, Modern Woodmen of American, and served as venerable consul of the camp for one year. He is also connected with Lodge No. 104, Yeomen of America, and has acted as secretary and treasurer of the local lodge since the time of its organiza- tion. Mr. Null is conscientious and capable in the performance of his duties and thus merits the esteem in which he is held by the community. Inheriting worthy traits from sturdy parentage, he has always attempted to do his work well, so that now he enjoys a comfortable income and is on the highroad to a permanent prosperity.
CHARLES W. BATTLES.
Charles W. Battles, of Decatur, for many years a carpenter, railroad man and builder and now devoting his attention to his investments, was born at Mount Vernon, Hillsboro county, New Hampshire, August 18, 1843. He is a son of Thomas W. and Lucy M. (Stevens) Battles and comes of a long-lived family. The grandfather, Samuel Battles, who was born at Plymouth, Massa- chusetts, became a sea captain and owned the vessel in which he sailed for sev- enteen years. After acquiring a fortune he purchased three farms in New Hampshire, upon which he settled his sons. Captain Battles was one of the active and progressive men of his time and had he lived in the twentieth cen- tury would have been known as a captain of industry. He died at the advanced age of ninety-three years and nine months. The father of our subject spent the greater part of his life in New Hampshire but came to Decatur in 1889 and died in this city at the age of ninety-three years and three months.
The boyhood days of Charles W. Battles were spent on a farm and he re- ceived a common-school education, later attending Appleton Academy. At nineteen years of age he began to serve an apprenticeship as carpenter and re- ceived two dollars a day from the time of starting, as he showed great aptitude for the trade, having inherited this talent from his father. For about ten years he continued as a carpenter in New Hampshire and then, seeking for a new field, he came west, reaching Decatur, January 5, 1869. Here he entered the employ of the Wabash Railway as a carpenter but was advanced to the position of road master and maintained headquarters at Litchfield and later at Decatur. He continued with the railway for fifteen years and then began business for himself, buying tracts of land adjoining the city and platting the same. He also built many residences and in his operations was very successful. C. W. Battles' subdivision on Union and Church streets, Decatur, is named after our subject and is one of the handsome residence portions of the city. For ten or twelve years past he has devoted his attention mainly to looking after his investments.
On August 18, 1869, Mr. Battles was united in marriage to Miss Emma L. Spring, the ceremony being performed at the Sherman House, Chicago, by the Rev. W. H. Rider. Mrs. Battles was born at Wilton, New Hampshire, May 31, 1845, and is a daughter of John Clark and Lorena J. (Jaquith) Spring.
MR. AND MRS. CHARLES W. BATTLES
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Her father died when she was about eight years of age and her mother soon afterward removed to Salmon Falls, Strafford county, New Hampshire, where the daughter attended school for several years, and then the mother located in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, giving her daughter opportunity for training in the normal school as a teacher. She began teaching as a supply in Allegheny and later in the country at Dorseyville, coming to Chicago with her brother, John L. Spring, an attorney of Lebanon, New Hampshire, who also served as a member of the New Hampshire legislature. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Battles: Flora, now the wife of C. W. Lewman, postal clerk of Decatur, and the mother of three children, Ruth, Doris and Elsie Battles; and Ella, who is the wife of Frank L. Suffern, of Decatur, and the mother of five children, Howard L., Charles W., Frank L., Edna Battles and Paul R.
Mr. Battles cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln as president of the United States in 1864 and has ever since closely adhered to the republican party. He has never aspired to public office but devoted his attention principally to his own affairs and now in the evening of life he is able to enjoy a rest and relaxa- tion as the direct result of many years of well directed labor. He has no reason to regret that he selected Illinois as his adopted state, as here many of his dreams have been realized. Here, where he has spent nearly forty years, he has by honorable methods built up a fortune. It is hardly necessary to add that he and his estimable wife have many friends in this community.
I. NEWTON BRICKER.
I. Newton Bricker is now practically living retired although he engages to some extent in loaning money and thus encourages industry and enterprise in the county. For a long period he was closely identified with farming interests, owning and operating a tract of land of eighty acres in Friends Creek township. During more than half a century he has lived in Illinois, residing for a brief period in Piatt county, ere his removal to Macon county in 1865. He was then a young man of about eighteen years. His birth occurred in Coshocton county Ohio, June 19, 1847, and there he resided to the age of ten years, when he accompanied his parents on their removal to Piatt county, Illinois. His father, Aaron Bricker, was a native of Pennsylvania and in that state spent the first seventeen years of his life, after which he went to Ohio where he met and married Miss Louisa Darling. He followed farming and stock-raising in the Buckeye state, continuing his residence there until 1858, when he removed westward to Illinois, taking up his abode upon a farm in Piatt county. There he resided for seven years and in 1865 came to Macon county.
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