USA > Illinois > Stark County > Documents and biography pertaining to the settlement and progress of Stark County, Illinois : containing an authentic summary of records, documents, historical works and newspapers > Part 47
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OF TOULON TOWNSHIP.
States government. After their payment. he with two neighbors. traveled over the entire state of Illinois on horseback and over Black Hawk's purchase, now lowa. At that time he selected this place for a future home, and bought a section of land before returning to Pennsylvania, which return was made all the way on horseback. When he came here he invested largely in land. but sold much of it before his death.
Orron Thomas was born at Norristown, Penn. December 12, 1515. and on arriving at manhood married Miss Sarah Pierce in the year 1844. and for nine years longer lived there, following his trade, that of a nail-entter. In the year of 1853, he with his family came to Stark county. and. with the exception of a very short time, has lived on the same place where his last moments were passed ever since. Of his ten children, five only are living. two danghters bere, Mrs. A. Gal- braith and Mrs. A. Wilkinson, two daughters, Anna and Mary, living in Missouri, and one son, Abraham, that lives near Oskaloosa, la. Ii 12. his companion was taken from him. On Saturday, November 6. 1886, he married Mrs. Sarah Lake, and bid her the last farewell November 20. 1886.
Mrs. Harriet Taylor, sister of Il. Shivvers, and mother of Mrs. Henry Harrington, died in Hooper county, Kan .. July 13, 1856, aged about sixty years.
Captain Bradford F. Thompson, son of Benjamin M., and Ann B. (Mclaughlin) Thompson, was born at Montville, Waldo county. Me. November 6, 1837. His parents were Scotch and Irish respectively. early settlers of Maine, and among that state's most industrious citi- zens. In 1856, the family, consisting of parents and four sons, moved to this county. Here the captain engaged as clerk in a store, but. after the lapse of a few years, entered Martin Shallenberger's office at Toulon as a law student. The rebellion broke over the land shortly after, and in August, 1862, he enlisted in Company B. One-hundred- and-twelfth Illinois Infantry, was promoted first sergeant on organiza- tion of company: second lieutenant April 10, 1863: first heutenant in December. 1863: adjutant of the regiment March 7, 1-64; and captain of Company B. May 9, 1565. On his return, he engaged in mer- chandising at Bradford. and continued in trade until 1874, when he resmed law studies, was admitted to the bar, and has been in practice since that time. In 1959. he was elected town collector of Osceola. served one term as supervisor, was town clerk. justice of the peace and assessor. In 1868. he was elected representative in state legislature. and in 1876, state's attorney. In the latter year he removed to Toulon, was reflected state's attorney in 1880, and served until 1854. ('aptain Thompson was married in 1860 to Miss Elizaebth A., dangh- ter of Zachariah and Lydia ( Bevier) Bevier, who settled here in 1sat. coming from New York. Their children are Miss Mary and Anna and Earl W. He is prominently connected with local and district military circles, is secretary of the One-hundred-and-twelfth Veteran club, a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. a mason since 1862. and now secretary of the "Old Settlers society" of Stark county. In every position he has aimed to do well what he undertook
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and succeeded. Ilis new work entitled " History of he One-hundred- and-twelfth Regiment," is exceptionally good, far above the average regimental history. In itsell, it points ont two characteristics of the man -a love of doing things well and fully, and a love of the old flag and its defenders.
Mrs. Harriet Tieknor, born in Peoria county in 1843, moved to Stark with parents in 1852, married Allen Tieknor in 1870, died De- cember 1, 1874.
Leven Edward Timmons, son of Ananias and Eleanor (Rotean) Timmons - natives of Maryland, was born in Ross county, O., March 13, 1830. His father led a seafaring life for many years, prior to the removal of the family to Ohio, where he engaged in agriculture. Leven E. left home in his youth, and began life on the farm. In 1847 he came to Stark county and worked for others until he had earned enough money to purchase 135 acres. This tract is known as the " Timmon's Homestead." and was cultivated by him for many years. In 1854 he married in Essex township, Mrs. Eliza Ann Lake, daughter of David Davis, a native of Orange county, N. Y., and a pioneer of Stark county, Ill., in 1836. Their children are named as follows : Matilda D .. who married Win. Leighton, deceased ; Lois D., who mar- ried Samuel Camp, deceased ; Eliza E., wife of Charles Eagleston. Theodore D .. foster-brother of Lois, and Mary G. Drummond. deceased. Mr. Timmons retired from agricultural life in 1873. For fourteen years he served Essex township as trustee, and in all relations has been an excellent citizen of the county for forty years.
E. Agers Trimmer, born at Hackettstown, N. Y., April 29, 1849. is the son of John and Catherine (Ayers) Trimmer, and grandson of Morris Trimmer, a name well-known among the patentees of lands in this and other western counties. In 1854 John Trimmer and family settled in West Jersey township. and carried on farming there until his death in 1872. Of his two sons and five daughters, Mary N. is the wife of Henry Ballantyne of Boone county, la. E. A. Trimmer is a resident of Wyoming; Sarah E., born in this county is the wife of Gideon Smith of Stafford. Kan., Augusta K., is Mrs. John Callahan of Boone county, la .. Eli is a farmer of West Jersey township, Belle. who married Peter Schaeffer of that township is deceased, and Alma .I. resides with the mother. E. Ayres Trimmer was educated in this county, and at the age of nineteen years entered on his own course in life. He was married here to Miss Anna, daughter of Henry Col- well of Essex township. and to them one son and three daughters were born. In 1881 he moved to Wyoming and established his present business here that year and built his large agriculturalimplement ware- house. A reference to the history of Wyoming will point out his ro- lation to the community since 1881.
W. A. Trude, son of David and Carolme ( Max) Truax, was born at Eaton, Prible county, O., April 5, 1841. In 1849 the family moved to Sangamon county, Ill., where his father carried on the livery busi- ness for a number of years. At the age of fifteen years he entered on the task of hewing ont his own road through life. He was engaged in farming and cattle-driving for some time, again carried on a large
OF TOULON TOWNSHIP.
livery business at Galesburg, next at Elmwood, and in August 1ST> established his large livery stable at Wyoming. In JJannary, 1879 he opened the Truax House, and this, in conjunction with his livery, he con- dueted down to September, 1886, when he sold the hotel, holding his interests in the stables. Mr. Truax is a stockholder in the Central Agricultural Society prominent in the 1. O. O. F circles, and as told in the municipal history, has been elected and re-elected a member of the town council. He was married at Decatur, III. to Miss Anna E. Michener, a native of Ohio. They are the parents of two children. Harvey and Mamie. Mr. Truax is the owner of eighty acres of rich land in Essex township, and 320 acres in Kingman county. Kansas. a supporter of beneficial projects and a shrewd, upright business man.
Benjamin Turner, son of Reuben and Sarah (Hays) Turner, the former of Kent county, and latter of Sussex county. Del., was born at Milford, Kent county, Del .. December 11, 1807. In November 1834. the family moved to what is now known as Ashland county, Ohio. In 1840 Benjamin Turner came west and settled just south of La Fayette village, moved to Toulon shortly after, was appointed postmaster by President Tyler, reappointed by Polk, reappointed by Taylor, reap- pointed by Fillmore and reappointed by Pierce, serving in the office sixteen years. From 1849 to 1853 he served as treasurer of Stark county. defeating the whig Samuel G. Butler, by twenty-five votes in a total poll of 413. From 1847 to 1549-two years- he was engaged in mercantile work. For many years he never missed a meeting of the school trustees of Toulon township. On the School Directors' Board he was equally attentive and superintended the erection of the high school building at Toulon. In 1860 he took a leading part in found- ing the first democratic journal in the county, and has for almost a quarter of a century been connected with every enterprise which prom- ised benefits to the town or county. He married Miss Elizabeth Me .- Williams, at Savannah, Ashland county, Ohio, the mother of Miss Sarah Turner. The lady died at Toulon in 1856. In later years he married Miss Ruth A. Mvers, the mother of Chester M. Turner. Mr. Turner is one of the old members of the Masonic lodge at Toulon, and both he and Mrs. Turner are members and earnest supporters of the Methodist Episcopal church here. Their son Chester M. is a graduate of Knox college, and now a law student in the office of Martin Shal- lenberger. He has the reputation of being a singularly close student and a young man of more than fair literary ability. A reference to the pages devoted to temperance work throughout the county and in the village. to the social and literary societies of Toulon, and to all those events where the women of the county loaned their moral and physical support, the name of Mrs. R. A. Turner will be found practi- cally identified with the success of every object for which the societies were brought into existence.
Jesse T. Turner, a former resident of Wyoming, died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Eneinda Simmonds, at Marietta, Fulton county. Ill., April 28, 1886. He was born in Maryland in 1811, was ordained a Baptist minister in 1839, came to Wyoming in 1865.
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BIOGRAPHY AND REMINISCENCES
Andrew F. Stickney, son of James M. and Cynthia K. Gill, was born in Penn township, December 13, 1847. The history of the Bap- tist church in this county is ahnost a history of this excellent old couple. For twenty-four years he resided in Penn township, attending school or laboring on his father's farm. In 1871 72 he accepted a position as agent and telegraph operator on the Davenport & St. Paul R. R., at Hopkinton, where he remained five years. On December 11. 1877, he was appointed agent of the R. I. & P. R. R., at Wyoming. which position he resigned three years after to accept that of cashier of the Farmers' Banking Co., of Wyoming, and subsequently of the First National Banking Co., there. On January 1, 1884, he took charge of the R. I. & P. R. R. Co.'s business at Toulon. He was married here in 1871, to Miss Mary L. daughter of the pioneer of Toulon, Minott Silliman, to whom three children were born : Eddie C., James M., and Bessie M. Like the venerable Elder JJames M., his father, Mr. Stick- ney has always been a member of the Baptist church. In politics he is Republican, but outside his business he seldom meddles with public affairs, except in church and temperance matters."
J. (. Starr, an employe of the Bethuel Parish for many years, later in the employ of Marsh Mahany, was kicked to death by a span of mules in March, 1885.
Daniel D. Stone, born in Litchfield county, Conn., in 1513, came to Stark county with his Family in 1856, and resided here until his death, February 7, 1883.
Rer. David G. Stouffer, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church. Wyoming, was born at Harrisburg, Pa., April 26, 1841. Ilis parents were John Stouffer, born in Lancaster county, Pa., a pioneer carpenter and builder of Harrisburg, and Elizabeth Markley, of Lancaster county. Rev. Mr. Stouffer obtained a good common school education at Harrisburg. In 1862 he enlisted in Company B., One-hundred-and- twenty-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and followed the Fortunes of that command For some time. In the spring of 1865 his father died, and the same year Mr. Stouffer came to Peoria, Ill., with his mother, who died in February, 1866. Ile was the first photo- graphic colorist at Peoria. In Harrisburg, Pa., in September, 1857, he became a member of the Methodist church, and in 1866, in Peoria, Ill., was licensed as local preacher. In 1873 he tilled his first charge at Wyoming ; in 1574 received the West Jersey appointment, which he held for three years. The subsequent three years he was pastor of the church at Atkinson, Ill., and again for three years of the church at Touton. He then served as supernumerary and evangelist preacher for two years. In the fall of ISS5 he was appointed to the Wyoming charge - all his labors being attended with remarkable success. lle was married in Peoria, Ill .. September 26, 1866, to Miss Jennie E .. daughter of George C. Babcock, Sr., a native of Marietta, Ohio. This lady has contributed a number of poems, some of sterling worth, to the press. Mr. Stouffer's talent for painting was manifested in early life. For some years he had charge of decorative painting in car-shops. again colorist at Peoria, and in later days has produced some elegant studies in oil and water color work.
*Vide sketch of James M Stickney in history of Baptist church.
OF TOULON TOWNSHIP.
William Sturm, son of Henry and Catherine (Dalrymple) Sturm, was born in Shelby county, Ohio. November 13. 1522. Ilis father was born in Kentucky January 29, 1791, and mother in South Caro- lina. February 5, 1796, the ancestors of the former being of German and of the latter of Scotch origin. Henry Sturm moved to Ohio prior to the war of 1812, and served throughout that war. They were the parents of eleven children. Peter, of Henry county : Rebecca. who died August 9. 1886: George, a farmer of Kansas; William. of this township : Isaac. of Osceola township : Elizabeth, of Elnna township ; AAbner J .. of Bradford; Catherine, deceased ; Nancy. residing in Kan- sas : Margaret, also of Kansas, and Rachel. residing in Wisconsin. The father of this large family was a blacksmith and farmer. In 1835 he and family settled at Osceola Grove, and resided there until the death of himself and wife as noted in the history of the pioneers and of the cemeteries. William Sturm passed his younger years on the farm and learned his father's trade, working in his father's shop during the winters. Ile was one of the pupils who attended the " Log Cabin School" at Osceola Grove. In December, 1543. he married Miss Mary Ann. daughter of John and Margaret (Lane) Swiger. This John Swiger, son of Daniel, a native of Germany, was born in Pennsylvania. and his wife, daughter of Elisha Lane, was born in Maryland. In 1845 Mr. Sturm purchased forty acres for $45, which he sold for 875, and purchased eighty acres in this township, which he held for three years, when he moved to Peoria county, where he was engaged in agriculture for twenty-two years. In 1572 he returned, and purchasing 135 acres. with 53 acres in Elmira, established his present grain and stock farm. Mr. and Mrs. Sturm were the parents of twelve children, ten of whom are living. Margaret A .. died in infancy : Mrs. Charlotte Harolson resides in Osceola : Mrs. Cyrena Sarver in Kansas; William II., mar- ried Miss Woodward. resides in Osceola ; James, who married Miss Mary Slater, resides in Elmira : and Wallace, who married Miss Jose- phine Gerard. resides in Kansas : Charles O, deceased : Sarah L .. married, residing at home : Leonora, wife of Sammel Rodgers, resides at Belvidere, Ill .: Brayton, who married Miss Leonora Mendenhall, resides in Elmira : Albert and Lorin reside at home. Politically, Mr. Sturm. like his father, has always been a Democrat. and supports the Metho- dist church, of which his wife is a member. The name and family are so well known that this plain record is at once their history and testi- monial.
Daniel Tyrrell, M. D., son of Captain Elijah and Clarissa ( Meeker) Tyrrell, was born at Tyrrell's corners in Fowler township, Trumbull county. O .. April 3. 1815. His father was a soklier of the war of Is12 -15, andhis grandfather, Asahel Tyrrell. of Connecticut. a soldier of the Revolution, who fell in battle just before the surrender of Burgoyne and his British troops. His grandmother, of Connecticut, was Hannah Hoyt. The doctor spent his boyhood years in Trumbull county. ( .. where the Tyrrells settled in 1806; there received a good common school education and in later years was a student in the academy at Warren, O. Subsequently he engaged in teaching school, and thus secured means to " push through " a course of medical studies. Again
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BIOGRAPHY AND REMINISCENOKS
we find him a student at the Meadville academy, Pa., and next complet- ing an eight months' course at Allegheny college there. Meantime he studied under Dr. Johnson, of Vienna, O., and later engaged in prac- tice with his old preceptor. Returning to the farm he found himself still practicing medicine, being so often called upon. After a term of three years thus engaged. he purchased a farm, and at once entered upon agriculture, school-teaching and medicine, studying agriculture and horticulture as well as medical journals and books. continuing in this business, and that very actively, for many years. In 1853 he went to Hancock county, TH .. and was there engaged in practice with his brother for six months, when, being sent for to attend on his wife, he returned to Ohio. After the death of Mrs. Tyrrell, nie Minerva Alder- man, September 27, 1854, from consumption, of which she had twice been relieved years before, he moved to Ilinois in 1855, and engaged in practice with his brother, Dr. Abijah Tyrrell, then at St. Mary's. HIis four sons by this marriage are Edwin IL .. (born March 18, 1838). of Toulon ; Sylvanus M., of Chicago a. machinist and natural mechanic; Gilbert R., of La Porte. Indiana. first president of the N. W. Indiana Bee-keepers' Association, master mechanic, and Calvin (., born Febru- ary 24, 1850, a carpenter. painter, and a farmer of llancock county, 11. In December, 1857. the Doctor moved to Claremont. N. Il .. where he married (Dec. 27. 1857.) Miss Frances Augusta Hunt, a graduate of a medical college and a lady of extraordinary good literary and social attainments, who had a large practice among women and children. They practiced medicine there until 1861 when they removed to La Porte, Ind., where in the fall she had an ovarian tumor, weighing over thirty pounds, taken out by Prof. A. Curtis. M. D .. of Cincinnati. ( .. assisted by her husband. Dr. Tyrrell. The eighteenth day after the oper- ation she rode ont and visited patients. Their only daughter, weigh- ing only three pounds, was born the next May S. 1862, now Mrs. Hattie II. Berger, of Salinas, Cal.
The doctor's son, Sylvanus, (born Nov. 1. 1843), enlisted in the 5th N. H. regiment in the summer of 1861, after writing in New Hamp- shire to La Porte, Ind., for his father's consent, which was freely given after telling his son of the hardships, exposures, and privations of a sol- cher, and that he thought there would be more danger in the hospitals than of Rebel bullets. Sylvanus was in every battle and skirmish that his regiment was in for three years, and was hit but twice by Rebel bullets. He was Orderly Sergeant Gilbert, born Nov. 1, 1846, in Ohio, enlisted in La Porte, Ind., in the 35th Indiana Regiment. and was wounded in battle near Kennesaw Mountain, July 20, 1864, and sent back to Nashville. Tenn. He gets a small pension and lives in a nice large residence, of his own construction, on Indiana avenue, in La Porte. Ind. The doctor himself served as surgeon in the army in 1864-5. In the hospitals in Rome. Ga., he was frequently called to visit other surgeons' patients after it was known that such cases as were dying day and night under " Old School" treatment were getting well under his Botanic treatment. Ile was with the Fifth-third Ilinois regiment on the march through Georgia, and was surgeon-in-charge of the officers' hospital and a rebel hospital, in Savannah, Ga., in the winter.
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OF TOULON TOWNSHIP.
In March 1865 he was surgeon-in-charge of the small-pox hospital at Blair's Landing, in South Carolina ; and at other times and places was in other hospitals, fields, and convalescent camps, and was called "The Soldiers' Friend." He was an officer on the medical staff at Gen. Sherman's grand review in Washington, D. C., and surgeon of the Thirty-second Ohio regiment on Georgetown Heights, D. C., and of at hospital on Washington Heights. Being in Washington frequently. he visited all of the government buildings, inside and out, from the White House and Capitol to the magnificent hospitals. The tents whitened the country as far as he could see from the dome of the Cap- itol. In July. 1865. he was surgeon of the Pioneer Corps, near Louis- ville, Ky.
While the Doctor was in the army Mrs. Tyrrell went to Emporia, Kansas, to visit her mother and sister, and was soon engaged in a good practice, and they persuaded him to move to Emporia. On the way there he came to Tonlon, on account of the " land sharks" taking pos- session of 160 acres of land near Toulon, after the Doctor had a war- ranty deed and had paid the taxes eleven years. Ile has an eighty acre farm of it yet. On arriving at Fort Leavenworth. Kan., he first heard of his wife's death, which took place at her mother's Oct. 12. 1865. The next fall he came to Toulon, just within the old settlers period of this county. On Nov. 27, 1867, he married Louisa (Stoddard) Goodheart, formerly of New York state, then the mother of five children. His present wife's children are Calvin (. Goodheart, of Wymore, Neb .; Mrs. Alice Rice, of Colville, Washington Territory ; and Samuel H. Goodheart. of Toulon township: Mrs. Mary Addis, of West Jersey township, and Joseph O. Goodheart, of Albion, Harper county, Kan. Mrs. Tyrrell, with her family, are members of the Chris- tian church, are (the Doctor and wife) the owners of a beautiful home at Toulon, of a rich farm of 160 acres, with large residence, in Han- cock county, Ill .. 160 acres two miles east of Nelson, Neb., and of two lots at Hastings, Neb., besides the eighty acre farm and a few lots and extra houses at Toulon, for rent. The Doctor has received three med- ical diplomas. After receiving the second he attended lectures in five other medical colleges, and clinical lectures in the hospital. and engaged in practice with Prof. A. Curtis, in the Infirmary and city of Cincinnati, O. and Covington and Newport, Ky. He has frequent calls vet from different states, from New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indi- ana to California, Oregon and Wyoming Territory, for prescriptions and advice. Ile advocates temperance in all things, and is opposed to all strong drinks and tobacco. Having studied all systems of medicine. he holds fast to the botanic and hygienic (physio-medical. using nature's remedies. He had four sisters and three brothers. The first four were born in Fairfield, Conn., the others were born at Tyrrell's Corners, Trumbull. O. His father and brothers appeared to be natu- ral mechanics. The oldest brother, when a small boy in his father's blacksmith shop, made jewsharps, pocket knives, etc., then different kinds of bits, augurs, and all kinds of joiner and carpenter tools; then built barns, houses and sawmills, and later, steam engines for mills and factories. His brother, Capt. Abijah Tyrrell, M. D., was called out,
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BIOGRAPHY AND REMINISCENCES
with his company, by the governor. at the time of the Mormon war at Nauvoo, In
Mrs. Gertrude Wagner, a native of Germany, born in 1818, came with her husband and family to the United States about 1834, and ul- timately settled at Toulon, where she died June 5, 1884.
2
David .J. Walker. clerk of Stark county, was born at Philadelphia. December 19, 1840. His parents, Samuel and Elizabeth (Charlton) Walker. were natives of Ireland, who. on coming to the United States, engaged in agriculture. They removed west with their children in 1×49, locating in Henry county. In 1868 or 1869 Samuel Walker died. Ilis widow resides in Hardin county, Iowa, where her sons. William and James, are farmers. Their daughters, six in number, are all married, and residents of the western states. David J. Walker spent Ins earlier years on the farm, alternating hard work with school pleasures, thus seenring a practical, liberal education. In 1861 he returned from lowa to Illinois, and entered the office of M. A. Fuller, as deputy county elerk. He served in that position until 1866, when he accepted a clerkship in the banking house of Dewey & Burge. Here he had the peculiar experiences of witnessing the victory of this financial in- stitution over the panic of 1873, and of the anxiety of many depositors. some of whom would call daily to borrow a newspaper, or hear the news of collapse after collapse read to them. In 1873 he was elected county clerk on the Republican ticket by 128 majority over J. Armstrong on the A. M. R. ticket. He has been reflected since that time, and men of all parties believe that the office is his so long as the same executive ability and genial consideration for the people winch marked the last thirteen years of his official life continue. In 1866 he married Miss Stella D., daughter of N. W. Rhodes. They are the parents of two sons and four daugters, namely, George S., Harry W .. Ada. Pauline, Lois, and an infant. Both Mr. Walker and wife are members of the Congregational church. Their social and literary affiliations are noticed in the history of the town of Toulon.
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