Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Part 146

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913; Gale, W. Shelden
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1388

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Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Mrs. Gettemy's childhood was passed at home under the surveillance of her parents. There was scarcely a book at her command, and the day of daily newspapers had not dawned in Galesburg. Fox's Book of Martyrs was the only illustrated book which the home afforded, and the scenes there pictured were stamped indelibly upon her mind.

Her early advantages for education were the best the times afforded. She first attended a private school and afterwards entered the public schools. With this preparatory training she be- came a student in Knox Academy, and enjoyed the instruction of superior teachers. In Janu- ary, 1854, she entered Knox College and gradu- ated with distinction in 1857.

The first year after leaving college was spent in the study of music and French. In the Spring of 1858 she taught the children of the neighbor- hood, and in April, 1859, she went from home to teach in the schools of Henderson County. Af- terwards she became a teacher in Knox Acad- emy, and in the High Schools of Canton. Ke- wanee, and Freeport.

September 21, 1865, she was married to Robert Hood Gettemy. They lived in Monmouth, Illinois, until their removal to Chicago, In May, 1867, where Mr. Gettemy was engaged in the lumber business. In 1869 fire destroyed the ac- cumulation of years, blackening his prospects for the future. His health becoming impaired, they returned to Monmouth in November, 1873. In April, 1875, Mr. Gettemy returned to Chicago; but his physical condition gave no promise for permanent business pursuits, and Mrs. Gettemy again entered the schoolroom as a teacher, and took the principalship of the High School In Galesburg in place of Mrs. McCall, who was compelled to be absent on account of illness. In 1876 she was elected principal of Galesburg High

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School, resigning after nineteen years of earnest and successful labor to accept the position of assistant, which would bring less arduous duties and fewer responsibilities. To the cares of the schoolroom was added the care of an invalid hushand. After many years of ill health, Mr. Gettemy was at last compelled to give up en- tirely the active labors of life. He came to Galesburg in 1886, where, for five years, he was confined to his home, and for ten months, to his bed. After great suffering, he died August 6, 1891.

Mr. and Mrs. Gettemy had but one child, a son, Charles Ferris Gettemy. He graduated at Knox College in 1890, and at Harvard University in 1891. He took the degree of Master of Arts in 1893. He is now engaged as a political writer on the Boston Advertiser.

In childhood Mrs. Gettemy united with the Baptist Church, retaining that membership until 1865, when, with her husband, she joined the United Presbyterian Church in Monmouth, Illinois. On removing to Chicago in 1867, they united with the Third Presbyterian Church of that city. In 1882 she united with the Old First Church in Galesburg, now the Central Congrega- tional Church, of which she remains a member.

As a teacher Mrs. Gettemy has earned a praiseworthy reputation. She entered this field of work with good acquirements and a thorough appreciation of the task to be performed. Her manner is of that quiet kind that begets con- fidence in her pupils as well as in her associates. She is not forward in her opinions, but is ever ready to return an intelligent answer to her interrogator. In the community, she is highly esteemed, and her Alma Mater showed its ap- preciation of her work as a faithful instructor by conferring upon her, in 1897, the Degree of Master of Literature. Mrs. Gettemy still con- tinues her work in the Galesburg High School (1899).

JON WATSON GRUBB.

Jon Watson Grubb was born near Barry, Illinois, August 5, 1851. His father, Jon P. Grubb, was a Pennsylvania German. His mother, Harriet (Stevens) Grubb, was born in New York, hut was descended from the Stevens family of Massachusetts. In 1842 Jon P. Grubb and his brother-in-law established the Barry Woollen Mills and engaged in the manufacture of cloth. Some years after, Mr. Grubb added farming to his business, and Jon W., from the age of thirteen, was employed on the farm in summer, attending the district school in winter, till 1872, when he became a student in Lombard University. He left the University, and after three years spent in farm labor and in teaching, to procure the means for completing his college course, he returned to the University and graduated with a high standing in 1879. After teaching the following winter, he became secretary and treasurer of the Barry Woollen Mills Company, and held these positions for two years. In 1882 he was called to Lombard Uni- versity to take the place of the Professor of Mathematics during a temporary absence, and

since that time he has been connected with the University as a teacher. At first he was Adjunct Professor of Mathematics and Principal of the Preparatory Department, and more recently he has been Professor of Latin. He is a thorough and earnest teacher, and demands of students promptness and close application to duty.

It is sometimes said that a scholar who chooses the avocation of a teacher becomes un- fitted for business. This has not been the case with Professor Grubb. He has been successful in such business enterprises as he has under- taken. He platted and put on the market the lots in J. W. Grubb's Lombard University Addi- tion to Galesburg, and, making it for the inter- est of parties to buy lots and build houses, he profited by the enterprise, and caused an addi- tion to be made to the population of the east part of the City of Galesburg.

The business which he has done in settling estates has been satisfactory.

He holds the office of Registrar of Lombard University. He served one term as alderman for his ward. He is a Universalist in his reli- gious belief, and a democrat in politics.

He was married in 1885 to Mary J. Claycomb, who was for a considerable time a successful teacher in Lombard University and other schools. Mrs. Grubb is an efficient leader and earnest laborer in charitable enterprises and in work for her church, and her efforts in these directions are generously aided by her husband. They have no children, but they usually have three or four young persons in their family whom they assist in obtaining an education.

ROYAL HAMMOND.

New England was founded by men and women who had left for conscience sake all that men naturally hold dear. They were, in general, a well-to-do class, and could have lived in the mother country in peace and plenty, had they been willing to have no reli- gious convictions. But they were a strong and sturdy race, and when they had accepted the Bible as the word of God, and had seen how ritualism trampled alike on the teachings of that word and the rights of man, they re- sisted the authority of priest and King at cost of property, liberty, or life. The struggle which ensued ended in the planting of New England, and their ideas, after a contest of more than two hundred years, were nationalized at Ap- pomatox Court House.

Years have brought changes; but in large measure, the men and women of our Atlantic border still retain love for the Bible, faith in popular government, and the determination to follow conscience at whatever cost, which ani- mated their fathers. As the sons and daughters of the Puritans have moved westward through New York, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, and still on to the "bluffs which beetle over the blue Pacific," they have reproduced in the churches and towns which they have founded the same glorious characteristics which marked the com- munities on the rock-bound coast of New Eng- land.

Peter J @low

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Of this stock, in Fairlee, Orange County, Vermont, on April 13, 1809, was born Royal Hammond. His father, Calvin Hammond, was a farmer, and carried in his given name a re- minder of the stern and uplifting views of divine truth which his fathers and his descend- ants fed upon. His mother was Roxana (Field) Hammond. Of her, we known but lit- tle; but if we may judge the mother by the child, she must have been a woman of pure and devoted life. One thing we do know, that it was her hope that her son might be a minis- ter of the Gospel.

Six years after Deacon Hammond was born his father removed to the Western Reserve in Ohio. He settled at Bath, a town twenty-four miles south of Cleveland, in a region called New Connecticut. This section of that State is noted for the great men it has produced, and here, in the healthful labors of the farm and the prosecution of his studies, the boy grew to man- hood. People who would name their home-land New Connecticut, would be likely to have good schools, and Mr. Hammond studied in those which were located near his Ohio home. First, in the common schools, then in Talmage Acad- emy, he studied, and, as his health did not favor further study, he entered on his life task.

He was for a time a teacher in the public schools. White yet a young man he was super- intendent of the Sabbath school and deacon of the Congregational Church in Bath. The re- ligious element in his character, thus early evi- denced, was strong until the last. He always conducted family worship, was eager for re- vivals, and felt all departures from Christian faith like personal injuries.

In business life, he was noted for integrity, industry, and economy-a triad of virtues often associated. In Bath he was a merchant in com- pany with his cousin, Horatio Hammond. When he came to Illinois, with the intention of set- tling on a farm, he drove a flock of fifteen hundred sheep. All his movements exhibited energy and wisdom, and presaged for him a sue- cessful life.

Next to a man's home training, perhaps to even a greater extent than that, his marriage decides his destiny. In Chesterfield, Massachu- setts, lived, in the early forties, Mr. Rufus Rogers and wife, Evangelia (Booth) Rogers. Into this home came six sons and two daugh- ters, one of whom was Emeline, who afterward, for almost sixty-two years, was the comfort and inspiration of Mr. Hammond's life. Mr. Rogers was a carpenter and builder. In 1837 he moved to Bath, Ohio. By this circumstance these two lives were brought into contact.

Mrs. Rogers was a member of the Congrega- tional Church in Massachusetts. Her husband united with this church in Bath. In 1837 the Rogers family moved from Massachusetts to Ohio, and on May 24, 1838, Mr. and Mrs. Ham- mond were married. Six years later they moved to Illinois, settling on a farm in Ontario Town- ship, Knox County, where they lived for six or seven years, when they moved to Galesburg, which was thereafter their home. In Galesburg

Mr. Hammond clerked for Levi Sanderson one year. In 1851 he engaged in business for him- self, carrying on the first exclusive grocery store in Galesburg. When about sixty-five years old he retired from active life and occupied himself with the care of his property and the religious Interests of the community until his death, at nearly ninety years of age.

Mr. and Mrs. Hammond were always identi- fied with the Congregational Church. At Bath, Ontario, and Galesburg, they were earnest and devoted adherents of this communion. But, though loyal church people, they never substi- tuted that loyalty for fidelity to Christ, and Mr. Hammond's later years yere saddened by the inroads of worldliness in the Church he loved and served so long.

In early life, Mr. Hammond was a whig; this led him naturally to the republican party, and in this he found his political home, until the abolition of slavery. He then wished that party to free itself from the lodge and saloon, and when it appeared hopeless to obtain such re- sults in the party of Sumner and Lincoln, he united with the American party, and during his latter years, voted with that and the prohibition party. It was because of his interest in these two causes, opposition to lodges and saloons, that he had so deep an affection for Wheaton College, to which he left generous gifts in his will.

There was a personal element in this regard for Wheaton College also, Mr. and Mrs. Ham- mond were life long friends of President and Mrs. Jonathan Blanchard, and the ties of Chris- tian love which were so strong during life have not been loosened by the departure of one and another, but still remained firm and unyielding to the last.

During the later years of his life, Mr. Ham- mond with his wife traveled quite extensively. They spent one winter in California, one in Florida, and a summer in Wyoming. Several times, they made journeys to Ohio and New England. The present never lost its interest to them as is the case with some elderly people; but they kept in touch with the social, religious and political world. They gave to the local churches where they worshiped, to the Sab- bath school work, to the Mission Boards and to Wheaton College.

During the winter of '98 and '99, Mr. Ham- mond remained quietly at home In Galesburg. The writer saw him only a few weeks before his death. He seemed very well; but ninety years is a long march and he was weary. The prevailing disease, LaGrippe, attacked him and he had not sufficient strength left to ward it off. Very quietly and gently he passed away, while his life companion sat with aching heart and could not accompany him. Mr. and Mrs. Hammond will be tenderly remembered by all who have enjoyed their friendship.

GUSTAF HAWKINSON.

Gustaf Hawkinson, son of Hakan Bengtson and Marta Pherson, was born in Harlunda Smaland, Sweden, January 9, 1841. His father

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was a farmer and lived in a rural district in Sweden. Gustaf had no very marked educa- tional advantages in his youth. He attended school in his native place until he was thirteen years old, making commendable progress in the various branches taught. He then spent five years in learning the baker's trade, which was completed in 1860. He next received employment from the government, building bridges. He worked in its service for ten years. Then he came to America, reaching Galesburg June 23, 1869. He first worked for a year on the rail- road here; then was engaged for a short time in a tannery; and lastly on a railroad in the East. In 1873, he returned to Galesburg and embarked in the bakery business. He continued in this occupation until 1892, when he sold out, and lived a life of retirement and ease. In July, 1898, he embarked again in the bakery business, in which he is now engaged.

Mr. Hawkinson has lived a busy life, and in business, has been uniformly successful. His first venture in the bakery extended through more than twenty years, and he built up one of the largest and most flourishing establishments in the city. He has always striven to make his enterprise worthy of praise. He is a thor- oughgoing man in everything to which he turns his hand. He is intelligent, a great reader, and entertains clear and decisive views on questions of government, religion, and philosophy. He is temperate and calm in his judgments, and is not easily driven from his positions when once taken. He is honest in his dealings with men, and upright in his daily walk and conversa- tion.

Mr. Hawkinson has never held or sought of- fice. He is a director in the Commercial Union Grocery, and is now a director in the Cottage City Hospital. To the latter, he has given a great deal of interest and much valuable time. His charity and benevolence are shown in the fact that he is one of the largest donors to this most important and necessary institution. He has also aided other worthy causes.

In political affiliations, he is a republican, but his partisanship is never offensive. He belongs to the party, because he believes in its princi- ples.

Mr. Hawkinson was never married.

OLOF HAWKINSON.

Olof Hawkinson was born in Skona, Sweden, May 7, 1837. His parents were Hawkin Ander- son and Hannah Hawkinson. His father was a farmer, and as a boy Olof was employed in assisting him upon the farm. His education he received in the common schools.

In 1856, Olof Hawkinson emigrated to Amer- ica. He landed at Boston and thence came di- rect to Galesburg. For seven years he labored steadily, at the end of which time he found himself, by his industry and thrift, the pos- sessor of one thousand dollars. But his for- tunes soon experienced a serious reverse; for the bank in which his money had been de- posited suddenly collapsed, and the young man was left penniless. However, he was not to be

daunted even by so severe a blow; he set him- self more earnestly at work and gradually came to be recognized as a substantial and success- ful business man.

At various times Mr. Hawkinson was as- sociated with the following firms: W. L. Rose- boom and Company, broom corn, Chicago; Hawkinson and Willsie, livery; and Olof Haw- kinson and Company, lumber. He was one of the organizers of the Bank of Galesburg, and conducted an extensive stock-raising business in Nebraska.

In 1883, he was elected Supervisor; served as Alderman of the City of Galesburg, having been elected on the liberal ticket, and was a mem- ber of the District Fair Association. He was a member of the Order of Knights of Pythias, and was a prominent member of the Swedish- American Old Settlers' Association.

Mr. Hawkinson always responded freely to the demands of public enterprise. At the build- ing of the Santa Fe Railroad, he contributed liberally and assisted in raising funds. His donations in private charity have been gen- erous, and he gave material aid to the Nebraska sufferers at critical times.

In religious belief Mr. Hawkinson was a Lutheran; in politics, he was a republican.

March 22, 1862, Olof Hawkinson was married to Lousia Ericson. Six children were born to them: Emma, William, Minnie O., Henry W., Fred A., and Elmer E.

Mr. Hawkinson died March 28, 1896.

OSCAR C. HOUSEL.

Oscar C. Housel was born at Akron, Summit County, Ohio, September 10, 1855. His parents were Martin and Margaret (Viers) Housel. When a very young lad, he was dependent upon his own resources. His father died when he was three weeks old, and he was made an orphan by the death of his mother when he had reached his ninth year. He received his educa- tion in the public schools, after which he found employment in a match factory at Akron for two years. He then ran an engine for a year and a half and later worked as a millwright. Although too young to participate in the Civil War, his family was well represented at the front, three brothers and two brothers-in-law serving in the Union Army.

In 1877, Mr. Housel removed from Akron to Galesburg, where he lived until 1880, when he went to Peoria. In 1887-88 he lived in Altona, Knox County, Illinois, where he managed a farm, and in 1889, he returned to Galesburg, and entered upon his successful career as con- tractor and builder. Mr. Housel has built many of the finest residences and most conspicuous public buildings in Galesburg. Among the lat- ter may be mentioned the Marquette Build- ing, the Dick Block, the Craig and Johnson buildings on Main street, the Central Congrega- tional Church, the Universalist Church, the Knox Street Congregational Church, and the remodelling of the First Methodist Episcopal Church. Nor have Mr. Housel's labors heen confined to the demands upon his skill in the

Isaac A. Parker.

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KNOX COUNTY.

town where he resides. He was the builder of the annex to the County Alms House at Knox- ville, and of the annex to the State Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb at Jacksonville. At present he is engaged in the erection of a Pres- byterian Church at Davenport, Iowa.

Mr. Housel belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America, and is one of the Knights of Pythias. In 1878, he became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics, he is a republican.

June 1, 1880, Mr. Housel was married to Lenora Cummings. Her father, L. B. Cum- mings, was a veteran of the Mexican War, and one of the gold hunters of 1849. Upon his re- turn from California, in 1852, he settled on a farm near Altona.

Mr. and Mrs. Housel have three children: Ralph B., Alice Maree, and John Frederic.

REUBEN WILLIAM HUNT.

Reuben William Hunt, School Director, Alder- man, member of Library Board, member of Knox County Agricultural Board, City Treas- urer, Supervisor, member of Executive Commit- tee of Knox County, President of Republican League, was born in Brooklyn, New York, June 14, 1827. He was the son of Jeremiah North and Elizabeth (Manley) Hunt.

His father, the fourth child in a family of thirteen, was born in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1803. Considering the condition of the schools in that early day, he obtained a good practical education, and was well fitted to enter upon the active duties of life. At different times, he be- came a grocer, school teacher, farmer, and nurs- eryman. He engaged in business in Brooklyn and other places in the vicinity of New York City, and about this time, married Elizabeth Manley, daughter of Robert Manley, a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church. In 1833, unat- tended, he came West and opened a store in Chicago. The next year he settled in Naper- ville, Illinois, and sent for his family.

Young Reuben Hunt did not have the advan- tages of a college education, but he drank deeply at the Pierian fountains of knowledge. He availed himself of the instruction of public and private schools, and became, through untiring energy and perseverance, a well educated man. Both he and his brother were well versed in the Latin grammar before they studied the English. Notwithstanding his fondness for Latin, he was a thoughtful reader and was well posted on the current events of the day.

In youth, he was sedate and studious, shy and retiring. He was fond of music and nat- ural scenery-a lover of flowers and the song of birds. Replying to one who spoke of his strength and activity, he said, "When I was young in years, I was old, and now, when I am old in years, I am young."

Mr. Hunt came to Illinois when only seven years of age. In the Spring of 1857, he moved from Naperville to Galesburg and established a nursery and greenhouse.

In May of the following year, a severe wind and hail storm destroyed his entire nursery

stock and swept away his greenhouse, leaving him much in debt. Not despairing or discour- aged, both he and his faithful wife took hold with renewed energy, and finally their labors were crowned with success.

Mr. Hunt was a member of the Masonic fra- ternity, Vesper Lodge, A. F. and A. M., which he joined about 1876. He was a member of the Galesburg Horticultural Society and the State Society, adding much to their life and interest by his discussions and the papers that he pre- sented and read on his practical experiments in horticulture.

Mr. Hunt was naturally a religious man. He united with the Baptist Church at Naperville in 1843. On his removal to Galesburg, both he and his wife connected themselves with the Bap- tists, but when the old church was divided they did not join the present organization.

Politically, he was a whig until the organiza- tion of the republican party. From that time until his death, he was an earnest republican, never opposing party measures or party meth- ods.

He was united in marriage, November 18, 1856, to Mary (Wolcott) Hunt, his brother Rob- ert's widow, daughter of Asa and Elizabeth (Stanton) Wolcott, who was born at Coburg, Canada, October 2, 1825. To them were born three daughters and one son, Mary Elizabeth, Julia (Rogers), Lillie, and Reuben W., Jr.

Mr. Hunt possessed many Christian graces. He was always generous and kind, aiding those around him by his counsel, and bestowing his sympathies upon the unfortunate and despair- ing. He was charitable and hospitable, true to his friends and ever ready to serve them. He was fond of his home and home joys, uniformly sweet-tempered and loving in his family, and thoughtful of their welfare and comfort. He was always cheerful and always had a pleasant word for every one.

He was fond of both prose and poetry and conld express his thoughts clearly in either. His writings were of the incisive and laconic style, as the following extract will show: "Faith reaches, prayer opens, but purity of heart alone enters the portals of Heaven."

Mr. Hunt had two marked characteristics: honesty of purpose and purity of action. He lived the life of a Christian and died universally lamented.

ALBERT HURD.

Albert Hurd, A. M., Ph. D., son of Tyrus and Charlotte (Heck) Hurd, was born in Kempt- ville, Ontario, November 6, 1823. His father's ancestors came from England to Connecticut. His great-grandfather moved to Arlington, Ver- mont, in 1764, and about 1812, his grandfather, Phineas Hurd, moved from Vermont to Canada West, now Ontario.

His mother's ancestors were among the 6,000 Protestants, who, near the close of the seven- teenth century, fled from the Rhine Palatinate to England in consequence of the religious per- secutions of Louis XIV. A number of these Palatine Teutons finally formed a settlement in Ireland, where her grandmother was born in

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1734. In 1758, John Wesley visited the settle- ment, and many of them became Methodists; her grandmother, Barbara Ruckle, and her grandfather. Paul Heck, were among the num- ber. They, with many other "Irish Palatines," emigrated to America, landing in New York, August 10, 1760. There, Barbara Heck began the organization of the first Methodist service and the first Methodist church in the New World. Her name is first on the list, and to her is given, by the entire Methodist Church of America, the exalted honor of being their spirit- ual mother and founder. "Wesley Chapel," the first church structure of the denomination in the Western Hemisphere, came from the heart and head of this devoted woman. It stood on the present site of the John Street Methodist Church, New York. The family afterwards moved to the neighborhood of Troy, New York, and finally to Canada.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Part 146

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913; Gale, W. Shelden Publication date: 1899 Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1388

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913; Gale, W. Shelden
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1388