USA > Illinois > Macon County > Decatur > City of Decatur and Macon County, Illinois : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, volume II > Part 34
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In 1889 Mr. Lebo was married, the lady of his choice being Miss Ida Keagy, a daughter of Stamen and Emily (Glasgow) Keagy, natives respectively of Pennsylvania and Illinois. They were the parents of five children: Ophrah, living at home; Orpha, who died in childhood; Dama, at home; Ida, who was born April 22, 1866, and is now Mrs. Lebo; and Ira, who married Mary Johnston, of Macon county, and is living at Hot Springs, Arkansas. Mr. and Mrs. Lebo have one child, Chester O., born July 23, 1891.
Mr. Lebo is socially identified with South Macon Lodge, No. 467, A. F. & A. M., and Beacon Lodge, No. 434, K. P. He and his wife also hold member- ship in Lodge No. 344, Order of the Eastern Star. He has been for a number of years an active working member of the republican party and was elected county treasurer in the fall of 1910. He has held several offices of responsibil- ity, serving as supervisor of his township for two terms and acting as chairman of the board during the last year. He was collector of the township one term and has been a member of the school board for fourteen years. He is an earnest believer in holy writ and is a member of the Christian church. He is known as a sincere, straight-forward man, whose word is inviolate and who never forgets a kindly act or deserts a friend.
FRED KIPP.
Fred Kipp is well known in commercial circles in Decatur and his standing among business men is indicated by the fact that he has been honored with the presidency of the Decatur Grocers Association, which position he is filling at this writing, in 1910. He was born in the town of Bunde, near Bielefeld, West- phalia, Germany, May 18, 1862, a son of August and Elizabeth (Hoecke) Kipp. The father, who was a horseshoer and wagon manufacturer, died in the year 1878 at the age of fifty-two years, while his wife, long surviving him, passed away in 1895 when sixty-seven years of age. He was a successful business man and the business which he established is still conducted by his sons in Germany.
Fred Kipp, who was the youngest of the family, was a pupil in the public and high schools of his native country, and after putting aside his text-books entered business circles as clerk in a grocery store, thus receiving his prelim- inary training alone mercantile lines. The favorable reports which he heard concerning America and its business opportunities led him to seek a home in the new world, and in 1881 he became a resident of Cincinnati, where he remained for one year. In 1882 he arrived in Decatur, where he secured employment in a grocery store, acting as clerk until 1886, when the capital which he had saved from his earnings enabled him to embark in business on his own
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account with Mr. Moran as a partner. This relation was discontinued after eight years, Mr. Kipp purchasing his partner's interest. Later he formed a partnership with George W. Hamer, but since 1906 has carried on business alone. He has always been located in the 600 block on East Eldorado street, where he carries a complete line of staple and fancy groceries, vegetables, etc., catering to the best trade of the city. He has been liberally patronized from the beginning and now has an extensive business that makes his enterprise one of the profitable concerns of the city.
On the 20th of March, 1888, Mr. Kipp was united in marriage to Miss Minnie Meyer, of Decatur, a daughter of Fred and Minnie Meyer, who were early settlers and well known residents of this city but were natives of Han- over, Germany. They came across the ocean in a sailing ship which was nine or ten weeks in making the trip. The father died in 1890 at the age of sixty- five years, and the mother still makes her home in Decatur at the age of eighty- four years.
Mr. Kipp has been active and prominent in public interests of the community aside from business. For ten years he served as a member of the board of supervisors from Decatur township, and since becoming a naturalized American citizen has always given his support to the republican party. He belongs to St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran church and does all in his power to promote its growth and extend its influence. As president of the Decatur Retail Grocers Association he is putting forth earnest effort to promote trade interests. His own prosperity is indicated by the fact that he has become the owner of con- siderable real estate in the city. He has never had occasion to regret his deter- mination to seek a home in America for here he has found the opportunities which he sought and in their improvement has worked his way steadily upward to success.
HENRY OWEN ACOM.
Henry Owen Acom is a retired farmer living on section 4, Niantic town- ship, where his father located in 1851 and obtained six hundred and eighty acres of land, a part of which he secured through a Mexican land warrant that called for one hundred and sixty acres. He also entered a portion of his farm from the government. The father, Thomas Acom, was born in Yorkshire, Eng- land, on the Ist of November, 1819, and was a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Raines) Acom. His youthful days were spent upon a farm in his native country and there he acquired a fair common school education, after which he learned and followed the carpenter's trade. In 1840, however, he determined to try his fortune on the west side of the Atlantic and came to the new world, making his way to St. Louis, where he had a brother living. There he secured employment at the carpenter's trade and he and his brother were engaged for a time to have charge of the stage stables which sent the stage coaches into Illinois. Thus he made his start in life, giving proof of his industry and ability and therefore gradually working his way upward.
THOMAS ACOM
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On the 31st of March, 1844, Thomas Acom was married in Morgan county, Illinois, where he had been residing for a year, to Miss Juliana Munson, who was a native of Emmitsburg, Maryland, and was a daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (McDonald) Munson. Mrs. Acom had removed to Morgan county, Illinois, when she was a young lady of about twenty years, making her way to her brother's home in 1838. After a year or more spent in Morgan county following their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Acom removed to Sangamon county, Illinois, where he rented land, and during the period of their residence there three children were born. In March, 1850, the family arrived in Macon county and in 1851 took up their abode on what has since been known as the homestead farm. It was there that Thomas Acom spent his remaining days, diligently de- voting his time and attention to general agricultural pursuits and at the same time faithfully performing every duty of citizenship that devolved upon him. He was ever mindful of his obligations toward his fellowmen and to the com- munity at large and no trust reposed in him was ever betrayed in the slightest degree. In politics he was an earnest republican and for many years served as supervisor of Niantic township, discharging his duties with promptness and fidelity. The cause of education found in him a warm friend and he aceptably filled the office of school director for many years. He was always foremost in all good things for the benefit of the community and was a strong temperance man. On one ocasion he and a friend bought out a saloon and then poured the whiskey in the ditch that no one might be the victim of its power of inebriation. He had the moral courage of his convictions in every respect and stood fear- lessly in support of what he believed to be right. He was reared in the faith of the Church of England and while he was never identified through member- ship with any church here, he assisted efficiently in raising money to pay off the indebtedness of the Methodist Episcopal church in Niantic. He believed in progress along agricultural as well as other lines, was an active member of the Grange and of the Farmers Club and was the first man to tile land in Niantic township.
The death of Thomas Acom occurred on the 20th of September, 1899, about eighteen months after the demise of his wife, who passed away March 28, 1898.
In the family of this worthy couple were eight children. Sarah Elizabeth, who was born in Sangamon county, Illinois, is still living. Sophia became the wife of Silas Grosh and for a time they made their home in Macon county but afterward removed to Chicago. At her death Mrs. Grosh left three children: Mary Laura, John Thomas and Frank Milton. The last named is married and has one child, Frances, living in Chicago. Henry Acom married Belle Harns- barger. John W., born in this county, wedded Miss Mary J. Coble and lives in Moultrie county, Illinois. He has four children : Thomas Herman, Owen Huber, William Henry and Hazel Mildred. Martha Jane Acom became the wife of George Jacobson and died leaving one child who passed away soon afterward. Mary Ellen is the wife of Charles Bruce, living in Niantic. Robert Allen died at the age of six years. Laura A. died at the age of nineteen months. The only members of the family now living are Sarah Elizabeth, John W., Henry Owen Acom and Mrs. Bruce. To the son Henry O., we are indebted for the history
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of the family. He is following in his father's business footsteps and is now a representative and progressive agriculturist of the community, owning and con- ducting an extensive and valuable tract of land which readily responds to the care and labor which he bestowes upon it.
LEWIS BRUCE.
Lewis Bruce, deceased, who had by thrift and energy established himself on a farm in section 19, Harristown township, was born in the city of Kiel, Schles- wig, Germany, May 15, 1845. He was educated in the public schools of his native city but was early put to work and learned the miller's trade, living at home and assisting in the support of the family, as his father had died. His mother had a sister in America, the wife of George Vree, who was living in this county, and as the family was having a hard contest to keep the wolf from the door, Mr. Vree kindly supplied the money with which the mother and children were able to meet the expense of the journey to Macon county. The subject of this review was then twenty-seven years of age and after working for wages until he became acquainted with the customs and manners of the new world, he began renting land in connection with his brother, their mother keep- ing house for them. He prospered and in 1880 bought one hundred and seventy- two acres of land in Harristown township, for which he paid forty-eight or fifty dollars per acre. He also acquired twenty acres of timber land and, enter- ing upon his labors with renewed vigor, he became quite successful. He was a very industrious man and, being endowed with unusual energy and strong determination, he soon became recognized as one of the most progressive and in that church the son was baptized and confirmed. He is in sympathy with farmers in the township.
On March 5, 1884, Mr. Bruce was united in marriage to Miss Anna Jensen, who was born in Schleswig, May 29, 1850, a daughter of H. and Dora (Jacob- son) Jensen. She had been acquainted with Mr. Bruce in the fatherland previous to his departure for America and at his solicitation she came upon the long journey of many thousand miles and joined him in Niantic, where the marriage ceremony took place soon after her arrival. The beloved husband was called from earthly scenes March 27, 1889, and his death in the height of his use- fulness was deeply deplored by the entire neighborhood, as he was greatly re- spected on account of his many worthy qualities. There was one son, Burchard Jensen, born December 29, 1886, and three months after the death of her husband Mrs. Bruce returned to her old home in Germany, where her son was educated. He graduated from the high school in 1903 and in the summer following returned with his mother to America, coming to this county. In 1908 a new and com- modious residence was erected and in 1910 the son built a new barn from timber which was cut on the land which his father bought many years before.
Both Mr. Bruce and his wife were reared in the German Lutheran faith and in that church the son was baptized and confirmed . He is in sympathy with
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the principles of the republican party and cast his first presidential ballot for Mr. Taft in 1908. Socially he is connected with the Modern Woodmen of America and the esteem in which he is held by his brethren is evidenced by the fact that he is at present worthy adviser of the lodge. Mrs. Bruce is a woman of fine instincts, possessing many of the noblest characteristics of the Teutonic race, is steadfast, patient and true in anything she undertakes, a self-sacrificing mother to her son and a generous given to any cause that aims to assist those less fortunate in wordly possessions than herself.
HENRY SHLAUDEMAN.
Various business enterprises have profited by the intelligently directed effort, keen insight and careful management of Henry Shlaudeman, who is numbered among the most prominent of the sons of Germany who have made Decatur their home. He was born in the town of Wildehausen in the province of Oldenburg on the 13th of January, 1834, a son of John and Elizabeth Shlaudeman, who remained residents of the fatherland until 1846 and then sailed for the United States with their family to enjoy the broader opportunities of the new world. They established their home in Cincinnati and Henry Shlaude- man, who at that time was a youth of twelve summers, learned the trade of a tinner and coppersmith. He served an apprenticeship of six months in Cin- cinnati and three years and six months in Hamilton, Ohio, and subsequently devoted two years to the trade as a journeyman in Logansport, Indiana. All through this period he was actuated by a desire to one day engage in business on his own acount and to this end carefully saved his earnings until his economi- cal expenditure and industry had made him the possessor of a capital sufficient to enable him to engage in the tobacco business for himself in Logansport. He afterwards worked at his trade, however, in Terre Haute, Indiana, for one year.
Following his arrival in Decatur in 1858, Mr. Shlaudeman became a member of the firm of Joseph Michl & Company, engaged in the cigar and tobacco trade, being associated with that house for four years. In 1862 he became half owner of a brewing business that had been established in 1855 by John Koeler and Adam Keck, his partner being Edward Harpstrite and the firm style of Harps- trite & Shlaudeman was assumed. After the first year Mr. Shlaudeman devoted his time to the manufacturing interests of the business, the essen- tial details of which he speedily mastered. This partnership was con- tinued until Mr. Harpstrite retired on the Ist of October, 1884. He also extended the scope of the enterprise by establishing a bottling department in 1878. During his early life as a brewer he devised and constructed a beer cooler very similar to the Baudelot, now in common use; later a hot air pitching machine; and finally took out patents on a safety valve for bunging chip casks, which devise was in use for many years. This patent is now the property of the Rochester Bunging Apparatus Company. Four years after the retirement of Mr. Harpstrite, Mr. Shlaudeman reorganized the business as a corporation
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under the name of the Decatur Brewing Company, of which he became presi- dent, while his two sons, Frank and Harry, entered the company as officials, the former as vice president and the latter as secretary and treasurer. In that year the Pfaudler vacuum system was introduced and in 1899 the first fermen- tation modification of the system was added. In the winter of 1881-2 the first refrigerating machine in the brewery was installed. It proved a failure but a sucessful Boyle machine was put in during the following winter and in 1894 a twenty ton Westinghouse machine was added to the refrigerating plant and a fifty ton De La Vergne machine in the spring of 1907. The brewery has been thus from time to time equipped with the latest improved appliances, the pro- gressive spirit of father and sons being manifest in the continual changes and improvements that have been made. Henry Shlaudeman continued as president of the company until January, 1903, when he retired and was succeeded by his son, Frank Shlaudeman, who is now at the head of the concern.
While remaining actively in business Henry Shlaudeman was identified with various other interests beside the manufacture of beer. In 1889 he erected an ice factory, which afterwards was absorbed by the Decatur Brewing Company and in 1906 became the property of the Decatur Ice Company, of which Frank Shlaudeman is now the president. Henry Shlaudeman became financially and officially connected with other concerns, holding a large amount of stock in the Decatur Coal Company, the Niantic Coal Company, the Hatfield Milling Com- pany, the Decatur Gas & Electric Company, the Citizens Electric Railway Com- pany, the National Bank of Decatur and the Citizens National Bank. Of all of these he has served or is serving as a director.
He was elected in 1882 to represent his ward in the city council, serving as chairman of the finance committee. During the same year he was appointed by the mayor to serve on the library board and reappointed to this same position in 1885, serving six years altogether. In 1898 he became one of the heavy stockholders of the Citizens National Bank and for one year was its president but resigned the office in the winter of 1900 on account of ill health. He has since passed the winter months in California, purchasing a home in Pasadena, while the summer months are usually spent in Decatur. He regards this as the real place of his residence because of his long association here and the fact that the great majority of Decatur's citizens are numbered among his friends.
ALVA CURTIS FOSTER, M. D.
Dr. Alva Curtis Foster, a successful medical practitioner of Decatur, was so named in honor of Dr. Alva Curtis, of the Philadelphia Medical College, of which Robert Foster, father of Dr. A. C. Foster, was a graduate physician. Robert Foster not only devoted his life to the practice of medicine but was also one of the early ministers of the Christian church. A native of Kentucky, he was born in 1812 and died in 1875 at the age of sixty-three years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary A. Burnett, was born in Spencer county, Kentucky, and died in Niantic, Macon county, Illinois, in March, 1900, at the
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age of seventy-six years. For about thirty years Dr. Foster devoted his time and energies to relieving the sick and to preaching the truths of the gospel. He was a physician of the old school and his work was an effective element in the restoration of health according to the methods then in vogue. He also became a preacher of the Christian church in Decatur in the early days when this city was a small town. He was also well known in Macoupin county, Illinois, especially in the town of Carlinville, where he ministered to the physical as well as the spiritual needs of the people. One of his warm friends of that period was the young attorney, John M. Palmer, who subsequently became governor of Illinois. These two were associated in the organization of the first Masonic lodge in Macoupin county, Dr. Robert Foster being a well known and exemplary representative of the Masonic fraternity. He was practicing medicine in Carlin- ville at the time of the birth of his son, Dr. Alva Curtis Foster, on the 27th of August, 1847. The latter was the only living son in a family of four children,
From early youth he lived upon a farm in Hancock county, Illinois, his education being largely acquired in the rural schools, while later he was for one year a student in the high school at Virden, Illinois, in his native county. Sub- sequently he attended the University of Kentucky where he pursued his more specifically literary education from 1869 until 1873. He then engaged in teach- ing school for three years, after which he devoted his life to preaching until 1882, when he gave up the active work of the ministry and became a student in the Physicians and Surgeons College at St. Louis. He located for practice in Niantic, Macon county, where he remained for four years, and then removed to Blue Mound, where he continued as an active representative of his profession for fourteen years. For over two years he remained at Columbia, Missouri, in practice, removing to that city in order to give his son the educational advantages that could be there secured, and on the expiration of that period he returned to central Illinois and settled in Decatur, where since December, 1902, he has been actively engaged in practice, firmly establishing himself in the public regard as an able, capable physician of wide personal knowledge and marked skill. He belongs to the Decatur Medical Society. Not only has Dr. Foster ministered to the needs of the body but also to the spiritual life as well. For many years he has engaged in preaching, although not accepting regular pastorates. He has officiated at many funerals and now does supernumerary work. His efforts have been untiring for the moral development of the localities in which he has lived and his own life has been an inspiration to others.
On the 7th of March, 1878, in Concord, Illinois, Dr. Foster was married to Miss Anna Harris, a daughter of Dr. John and Elizabeth (Browning) Harris. Her father also was a pioneer preacher of the Christian church as well as a practitioner of medicine for over forty years. Mrs. Foster was born in Wash- ington county, Indiana, August 16, 1857, and her life history closed in Decatur on the 22d of March, 1910. She was a devout Christian woman and a zealous worker in the Central Church of Christ. She took a most helpful part in the missionary work of the church and in other fields of religious activity and her life was filled with the countless little ministries that make the world better, brighter and happier. She found her greatest joy in aiding others and in devoting her life to her husband and children. Her influence can never die
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while upon other lives is left the impress of her noble soul. Unto Dr. and Mrs. Foster were born four children: Guy Kennith; Mrs. Ina Harris Lee, of Minneapolis; Olive; and Edythe. The son, now thirty-one years of age, was for three years a student in Eureka (Ill.) College and for one year in Butler College of Indiana, after which he entered Missouri University at Columbia, Missouri, and was there graduated with the class of 1902 with the degrees of A. B. and B. P. E. He afterward engaged in teaching in the high school of Trenton, Missouri, for four years, and is now professor of chemistry in the State University of Colorado. He was married in Trenton, August 5, 1904, to Miss Mary Campbell, and they have one daughter, Dorothy.
Dr. Foster owns a nice residence at No. 961 North Union street. The house in which he was born stood on the present site of the million dollar courthouse of Carlinville, Illinois, the south steps of the building occupying the spot where once stood the old homestead. Dr. Foster's aim in life has been to give all of his children a good education and fitly prepare them for life's responsibilities and obligations. Reared in a Christian home, they are a credit to their parents. Dr. Foster has ever realized, as Abraham Lincoln has expressed it, that "There is something better than making a living-making a life." He has therefore endeavored to fill his years with good deeds and honorable purposes, and because of his ministry to the sick in body and in soul, and because of his ability to point out in each case the path of restoration and benefit, his life has indeed been of worth and value to his fellowmen.
DANIEL W. MOORE.
For forty years a resident of Macon county, Daniel W. Moore has wit- nessed many changes in his adopted county and has assisted in forwarding many improvements which were only dimly outlined when he first came to this region. Living now on a beautiful farm in section 36, Niantic township, the head of a promising family, he is known as one of the most prosperous citizens in the county. He was born on a farm in County Antrim, Ireland, March 17, 1849, and is a son of Robert and Mary (Murphy) Moore. The father came to America with his family about 1864, making the trip across the ocean in five weeks in a sailing vessel and landing at New York city. Several relatives had preceded him and were located in Montgomery county, Illinois. Accordingly, he came to that county, where he continued upon a farm for several years. In 1869 he and his sons selected a home in Niantic township, Macon county, and removed to that location the year following, having purchased three hundred and twenty acres of land at eighteen dollars an acre. This was wild prairie land, which required a great deal of labor before it was brought to a fair state of cultiva- tion. Here the homestead was established and the father continued until his death, which occurred in 1887. The beloved mother is still living at Niantic at the advanced age of ninety years. Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Moore, six sons and three daughters: Robert, of Niantic; Thomas, of Hol- drege, Nebraska ; Jane who married Samuel Erwin and is now deceased; Daniel
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