USA > Illinois > Montgomery County > History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois > Part 76
USA > Illinois > Bond County > History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois > Part 76
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of Norwich. Following this, he pursued his post graduate studies, in connection with school-teaching, for eight years. At High- land, Ill., he began the practice of his pro- fession, and for two years taught the schools of that place. He removed to Van Burens- burg, Montgomery County, in 1843. that place being then one of the best business points in the county; he practiced his profes- sion there, in conjunction with the drug and general merchandise business, until 1871, when he removed to Raymond, Ill., where he now lives. He was one of the first practi- tioners of this county; when he located here, he found Drs. Hillis and Herrick practicing in Hillsboro, and Dr. Lane at Fillmore; they were the only regular doctors here, he thinks, and there may have been a few irregular. In that early day, the country was rough and wild, the doctors being obliged to travel mostly on horseback, and, owing to the sparsely settled country, their rides were long and tiresome; he rode twenty miles, his prac- tice extending to near where Ramsey, Noko- mis and Irving are now located, and also into Fayette and Bond Counties; to-day, he is the only surviving physician who practiced in Montgomery County when he settled here. Joseph G. was married to Ann W. Hill, daughter of John and Sarah (Casey) Hill, who was born in this county in 1819. her parents being among the early emigrants here from Kentucky. From that marriage have been born nine children: three daugh- ters died in early infancy; the six re- maining are Joseph, a locomotive engineer, living in Mississippi; John H., subject; Scott S., druggist, of Raymond; Seth H .. now studying medicine with his father; Ruth E., wife of H. C. Coleman, commission merchant of St. Louis; and George A., who is drug clerk for his brother Scott. Dr. John H. Tilden, subject of this sketch, was born in
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Montgomery County, Ill., on January 21. 1851, and was educated in the public schools of Litchfield. He left home at the age of seventeen to labor for his own support and education. He began the study of medicine with his father, and, at the age of seventeen, had finished reading several works on medi- cine. In September, 1869, he entered the office of Dr. J. Fellows, of Nokomis. Ill., and read two years, when he entered the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati, Ohio, attend- ing lectures there two sessions, and graduat- ing on May. 21, 1872. He began practice in Nokomis, Ill., continuing eight years; in the meantime, during the spring of 1877, taking a post graduate course in the American Med- ical College at St. Louis, Mo. In August. 1879, he left Nokomis, and for two sessions was connected with the American Medical College as lecturer in anatomy and physiol- ogy, residing in St. Louis until June, 1881, when he came to Litchfield and formed a partnership with Dr. R. F. Bennett, with whom. under the firm name of Bennett & Til- den, he enjoys a large and lucrative practice; he is a member of the State and county med- ical societies, and was elected Adjunct Pro- fessor of Anatomy in the American Medical College in June, 1872. In September, 1873. he married Miss Rebecca Maddux, of Hills- boro, Ill., and by their union there are two children living, namely, Edna and Elsie.
EDWIN C. THORP, grocer, Litchfield, was born at Upper Alton, Ill., May 21, 1843. At the age of five years, he accompanied his parents to Springfield, and, after living there three years, moved to Woodburn, Ill., where he remained until 1862, and engaged in farm- ing. In August, 1862, he enlisted in Capt. Carr's company at Upper Alton, and served two years; he was ten months in the Eight- ieth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and assigned to the Army of the Cumberland; his regiment
passed through twenty-three hard fought en- gagements, besides skirmishes; he was in all the active engagements of his regiment, and was only off duty three days from sickness; he was taken prisoner on Sand Mounta'n in 1863. while on a raid in Georgia: Col. Streights' brigade were all captured, and were only in the hands of the enemy fourteen days, when they were paroled. Mr. Thorp was mustered out at the close of the war, and came to Litchfield in July, 1865; here he engaged in the fruit and grocery business on State street, continuing for a period of five months; after selling off his stock, he was successively an employe in the business houses of Smith & Tuttle, J. Levy. L. Levy and Val- entine Hoffman; Mr. Hoffman sold his inter- est to Ezra Tyler, and our subject continued for a time with the new firm; he afterward entered the employ of Mr. Stetson, continuing eighteen months, when he went into business for himself, buying out William Edwards in December, 1872, but in a few months sold his stock at auction. After spending five months as shipping clerk in a sash and blind factory in Chicago, Ill., he returned to Litch- field and engaged his services to Mr. Hoffman again; after continuing five years, he became the partner of Mr. Leach, and established a grocery and boot and shoe business on Jack- son street. near the Catholic Church; here they have built up a large and flourishing trade; in 1881, they enlarged and improved their store. Mr. Thorp was married, on May 23, 1867, to Miss Rachel L. Tyler, daughter of Ezra Tyler, of Litchfield; they have six children -- Addison C., William T., Frances, . Edwin, an infant child which died unnamed, and Bertha.
JAMES THALLS, undertaker, Litchfield, was born in Preble County, Ohio, near Eaton, on June 27, 1825. and lived there until 1852. At the age of twenty years, he
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learned the carpenter's trade. which he fol- lowed, in connection with farming, in Ohio, and moved to this (Montgomery) county in the fall of 1852, settling on a farm of eighty acres, which now is included in the south- western part of the city of Litchfield. In 1853, he sold his farm, and until 1860 de- voted his attention to his trade, putting up many of the early buildings of this city, among others the Presbyterian Church, and also took several contracts in the county. In 1860, he bought another farm, west of the city, and conducted it, at the same time ply- ing his trade; this farm he owned twenty years. Mr. Thalls has been a contractor here for almost thirty years. In 1882, he engaged in the undertaking business on Barnes street, with Edward Greene. In 1848, he married Miss Hester D. Whitlock, in Eaton, Ohio: she died in 1868, leaving six children, all of whom are now living. In 1870, he married Mrs. Maria Shore, daughter of Ezra Tyler: he has one son by the last marriage. Mr. Thalls is a consistent mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church. .
D. A. TINKLEPAUGH. engineer. Litch- field, was born in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., in 1839, and came West in 1856 with his par- ents, who settled in Livingston County, Ill .. removing thenee to Iroquois County, where his father died in 1864. Five years after that event, ou subject went to Chicago, Ill., and there entered upon an apprenticeship in the machine shop of Mason & McArthur, serving three years. after which he worked for a short time as journeyman in that city. He soon began running an engine, and, at the close of the war, went to Milwaukee. Wis., where he acted as engineer for Hunter & Bros. in their large mills for a period of about four years. at the expiration of which he went to Minne- apolis, Minn., where for ten years he was chief engineer in the large lumber mills of
William H. Eldred; he went thence to Sauk Center, Minn., as engineer in the flouring- mills of Harmon Holmes & Co., continuing until February, 1882, on the 20th of which month he came to Litchfield and became chief engineer in the Planet Mills of D. L. Wing & Co .. which responsible position he holds . still. His parents were natives of Dutchess County, N. Y., and his father was a farmer.
MOTHER URSULA, Superior of Ursuline Community at Litchfield, was born in Elber- field, Prussia, where she lived until she was twelve years of age. when she came with her parents to the United States, in 1848. They located in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she eon- tinned her education with the Sisters of Notre Dame for a period of two years. They then removed to St. Louis, Mo., where she was further educated by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart, until 1852. Two years later, she en- tered the community of the Ursulines at St. Louis. Mo., and, in 1856, took the vows of that order. She was assigned to the work of teaching, and taught in St. Louis until 1859, when they established a community of Ursu- lines at Alton, Ill., and she was one of the seven sisters who took charge of the work of teaching there, continuing until 1880, in Sep- tember of which year she was sent to preside as Superior of the community of Ursulines at Litchfield, Ill .: she at present has charge of the academy.
COL. DELOS VAN DEUSEN. Litchfield, banker, was born in Jamestown, N. Y., in De- eember, 1823, and there received a good aca- demic education. He came West in 1846, and located in Dayton, Ohio. until 1857, being connected with the boot, shoe and leather business, and moved thence to Illinois, locat- ing in Litehfield in July, 1858. After the war broke out, he raised a company of vol- unteer infantry for three years, and was elected its Captain; this company was the first
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raised in this section of the country for three years, as the call for three-year volunteers had but recently been made; he raised this company at that time when Missouri was in danger of being taken by the Confederate sol- diers, and when even her Governor was fa- voring the rebellion; this made the demand for Union soldiers in Missouri greater than the supply, and our subject, with his com- pany, through a desire to enlist their services where there was greatest need, went imme- diately, June 16, 1862, and joined the Sixth Missouri Infantry in defense of the United States Arsenal at St. Louis; their company, with the regiment, served as guard to Pilot Knob and Iron Mountain, and in November, went to join Fremont in the march on Spring- field; returning, they went into camp at Ot- terville during the winter. In May, 1862, they joined Gen. Grant at Pittsburg Landing, becoming a part of the First Brigade, Sec- ond Division, Fifteenth Army Corps, under command of Gen. W. T. Sherman, and served with his army until the close of the war, par- ticipating in the siege of Vicksburg. Mission Ridge, the capture of Atlanta, the march to the sea, through Georgia and the Caroli- nas. Our subject commanded his company (H) in the Sixth Missouri Regiment until March, 1864, when, the regiment having re- enlisted, he succeeded to the command of the regiment, and advanced to the rank of Lieu- tenant Colonel, and commanded the Veteran Sixth Missouri Volunteer Infantry until the close of the war, being mustered out of serv- ice at St. Louis, with his regiment, in Sep- tember, 1865 After his return to Litchfield, the Colonel served four years as City Magis- trate, and, at the expiration of that period, be- came Cashier of the bank of Beach, Davis & Co, which position he still creditably fills; he is at present City Treasurer, which office he has held six years.
DANIEL P WOODMAN, lumber-dealer, Litchfield, was born in Newbury, Essex Co., Mass., September 11, 1834, and at the age of seventeen. went to St. Louis and became a clerk in a wholesale fancy dry goods house on Main street; here he remained four years, when he removed to Louisville, Ky., there pursuing the same vocation for another period of four years. In July, 1861, he came to Litchfield, where, with his uncle, he was engaged for over a year in the cattle business. In June, 1863, he became a part- ner in the firm Perley & Woodman, at Alton and at Litchfield, the business being lumber- dealing, in which he engaged until the death of Mr. Perley, in 1879, since which time Mr. Woodman has conducted the business in his own name, being recognized by all as a prompt and efficient business man. Mr. Woodman was married, at Bunker Hill, Ill., to Miss Knowlton, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (Woodward) Knowlton, both na- tives of Connecticut. Mr. Woodman had one child who died August 17, 1872, and has one living, Mary Perley, born December 6, 1879.
JOHN WIEGERS, grocer, Litchfield, son of Bernard and Elizabeth (Konnig) Wiegers, was born in town of Lugde. Prussia, on An- gust 10, 1831. He left school at the age of fourteen years and entered upon an appren- ticeship to the blacksmith's trade in the town of Pirmont, continuing three years, after which he worked three and a half years in Hanover. He came to the United States in 1853, leaving the seaport of Bracke, Wurtem- berg, on May 27, and sailing seven weeks, landing at New York, stopping three days in the city; on his arrival, he had $600. Leav- ing New York City, he came direct to Chica- go, Ill., remaining two days; thence to St. Louis, Mo., remaining four days, going thence to Edwardsville, III., where he worked at his trade a year, his remuneration being $14 per
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month; after this, he went to Alton, where he stayed four months, during which time he acted as waiter in the Franklin Honse. He next moved to Manchester, Mo., where he worked nine months at blacksmithing, going thence to Iowa, where he worked four months at farming; here he met with an ac- cident with a threshing machine, resulting in a broken leg, which disabled him for thirty- three weeks, at the end of which time he was in debt for $37. As soon as he was able to do so, he commenced as waiter in a hotel, continuing eight months, and then returned to Edwardsville, Ill., where he drove a mill team two months, and subsequently, in his twenty- seventh year, entered a cooper-shop there for the purpose of learning the trade; he served eight months' apprenticeship, during which time he gained the ability to do good work and receive full wages. He next removed to Staunton. Ill., and pursued the practice of this trade for fourteen months. In the spring of 1560, he came to Walshville, Montgomery County, with a capital of $240, which enabled him to open the first cooper-shop for himself. which he conducted about a year. when he returned to Staunton, being in the cooper business for himself until March, 1864, when he came to Litchfield, Ill., on the 27th day of the month, having accumulated a capital of $900. On coming to this city, he pur- chased, for $400, a barn, of Perley & Co., which he turned into a cooper-shop on the site of his present store and residence; the first year he employed fourteen men, and afterward as many as twenty-six men; from the first, he had the confidence of all, and his credit was always good. He continued with good success until 1873, when his shop and stock burned, with a loss of $4,000; the prop- erty was insured for $1,600, but $1,000 being paid. He immediately began to rebuild the shops, and continued in the cooper business
until 1881, when he gave his entire attention, instead, to mercantile pursuits. In the spring of 1879. he changed into storerooms his two- story brick building, which had been used as his cooper-shop, and, with Mr. Joseph Bart man, under the firm name of Wiegers & Co., he engaged in the grocery and liquor busi- ness, at which he still continues, with good success. Mr. Wiegers was married, in Staunton, Ill., on August 28, 1862, to Miss Spovleder, of that place; they have five chil- dren living, namely, John, Frederick, Lisse, Christ and Anna.
REV. M. WEIS, priest, Litchfield, was born in Bavaria, in Franconia, on June 8, 1838, and came to the United States in 1852, at the age of fourteen years, with his parents, who settled in Montgomery County, N. Y., in the vicinity of Amsterdam, and remained there five years. He came to Illinois in 1857, settling in Effingham County, in Teu- topolis (called German City), and two years later began teaching in a primary school, con- tinning one year, when he came to Edwards- ville, Ill., and there for two years taught a parochial school. During that time he studied, preparatory to entering St. Joseph's College at Tentopolis, which he did in the fall of 1862. He studied there three years, completing classics and philosophy, and in the summer of 1865, he started for Montreal, Canada, where he entered upon the study of theology, in the Grand Seminary there, in charge of the Sulpician Fathers, where he received holy orders. He was ordained to priesthood at the Alton, Ill., Cathedral, by the late Bishop Younger, in the spring of 1868. He began his pastoral work by taking charge of the Catholic Church at Vandalia, IlI , having also missions at Ramsey, Oconee, Sandoval and at Vandalia. After a year and a half he was transferred to Marine, Madison Co., Ill., where he remained two years. In L
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September, 1871, he was removed to Effing- ham, and was pastor there five years, during which time he built a large church, costing over $36,000, and a hospital for the Sisters of St. Francis. Being broken down in health, he started in the spring of 1876 for California, and returned to Minnesota in June, where he took charge of two congregations in the dio- cese of St. Paul, called respectively Hoka and La Crescent, near La Crosse, continning three months. He was then recalled to the diocese of Alton and appointed Secretary and Chancellor to the Bishop, which important and laborsome position he held nntil 1880. He was sent thence to Saline, Madison Co., Ill., where he enlarged and finished a church and built a schoolhouse, filling that pastorate until he came to Litchfield in October, 1881, when he was transferred to the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, at Litchfield, Ill.
EDWARD WHITMER, tile manufacturer, Litchfield. Henry M. Whitmer was born in Juniata County, Penn, in 1833, and was raised among the Alleghany Mountains, on a farm. He came to Peoria, Ill., just before the war, and there engaged in the carpenter trade for a year, then removed to Decatur, Ill., where he became a large contractor and builder. For the past eighteen years he has been a large manufacturer of brick, and of late years has manufactured tile. He mar- ried in Snyder County, Penn., Miss Anna A. App, by whom he has five children living. He started in life with limited means, and by hard work has gained for himself a hand- some competency. He established the Litch- field Tile Works in May, 1881, for which pur- pose he purchased eight acres at the eastern limits of Litchfield, on the Indianopolis & St. Louis Railroad, choosing that locality because of the superior quality of the clay which stands every test necessary to make drain
tiling. He erected two dry sheds 200x20 feet, with two round, down-draft kilns, and a Tiffany improved auger machine, with an average capacity of 5,000 feet per day of ten hours. The tile works employ about twelve bands, the products of the works (consisting of tile of all the various sizes), supplying a large local d'emand, and there are shipments made by railroad to other points in the State. Edward Whitmer, the oldest son of H. M. Whitmer, and the subject of these lines, is Su- perintendent and Manager. They have on the same premises a yard for the manufacture of brick, which was established the same year of the tile works. The yard employs about fifteen hands.
DANIEL WALLWORK (deceased), was born in Newtown, Lancashire, England, Jan- uary 9, 1829. At the early age of eight years, he went into the mines of Pendlebury, in Lancashire, and worked there as a miner until 1856, when he came to the United States, where, for a period of about eight months, he worked in the mines of Pennsylvania. In 1857, he came to Alton, Ill., thence to Brighton, and thence to Moro, where he was Superintendent of the mines, and in the latter part of 1869 he came to Litch- field and here became Superintendent of the mines of the Litchfield Coal Company, a position which he held until his death, which occurred on February 14, 1881. He was a man of great industry, a successful miner, and was loved by his employes. He was a practical engineer and surveyor, and drew all the maps of the mines, etc. In May, 1847, he married Miss Sarah Greenhalgh, and ten children were born to them, but two of whom are living-John Wallwork, now Superintendent of the mines, and a daughter. John Wallwork was born in Newtown, En- gland, in 1847, and came to the United States with his parents in 1856. His first mining
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was done at Alton, Ill., when he was twelve years of age. He was Assistant Superintend- ent of the mines of Litchfield under his father, and still holds that position under Mr. Amsden. On April 4, 1882, he married Miss Violet Tinnell, of Litchfield.
M. C. WHIPPLE, druggist, Litchfield, was born in Canton, Stark Co., Ohio, in 1833. At the age of seventeen years, he entered a drug store at Massillon, Ohio, and learned the business. He afterward clerked in a drug store at Wooster, Ohio. In 1856, he engaged in the wholesale grocery business at Massil- lon, Ohio, continuing three years. In April, 1861, at the first call for volunteers, he en- listed in the Thirteenth Ohio Volunteer In- fantry, and served until December, under Gen. Rosecrans, in West Virginia, and after that in the Army of the Ohio and Army of the Cumberland, under Gens. Buell, Rosecrans and Thomas. He was mostly on detached duty in the medical department of the army. His time having expired, he was mustered out June 26, 1864. After the war, he went to Tennessee, where he engaged in various pursuits, among which were the drug busi- ness and real estate, until 1873, when he came here and opened a drug store, and is yet in the same business, and also manages a farm near the city. In March, 1881, he formed a partnership with Joseph Buerger, his former elerk for eight years. Mr. Whip- ple was married in October, 1873, to Miss Julia I., second daughter of the Hon. Thomas Cummings, one of the pioneers of Jersey County, Ill.
WILLIAM WIEGREFFE, lumber dealer, Litchfield, was born in Hanover, Germany, on February 13, 1828. His father was a mil- ler, and taught him the trade when a boy. This he followed until he came to the United States, in 1850. He landed in New Orleans in the spring of 1851, and worked four years
on a farm in Jersey County, Ill. He then came to Montgomery County, and bought a . farm of 160 acres of raw prairie land near Zanesville. He still owns it, and lived on the place until 1868, when he came to Litch- field, Ill., and started in the lumber business. The same year he built a planing-mill, which he ran until 1877. Until 1872, he was as- soeiated with Mr. A. Perley, the firm name being Perley, Wiegreffe & Co., and after- ward with his brother; but since 1877, Mr. Wiegreffe has condueted the business in his own name. He came to this country without capital, and has gained all he possesses through the merits of his own efforts. In 1861, he married Miss Eva Sen, at Carlin- ville, Ill. They have six children. From 1874 to 1876, he was Alderman from the Second Ward. His business includes lum- ber and building material, sash, doors, etc. He employs from two to five hands.
FREDERICK WEBER, manufacturer of soda and mineral waters, Litchfield, was born in Bavaria, Germany, near the River Rhine, in that portion called Pfalz, in the town of Zeiskam, on January 1, 1838. Until fourteen years old, he attended school, and then spent two years' apprenticeship in a bakery in his native town. In 1856, he came to the United States, and located first in St. Louis, where he worked at his trade until the breaking-out of the war, when he enlisted, becoming a member of the Convalescent Corps, acting as pastry cook. He served eighteen months in the Good Samaritan Hospital, at St. Louis, and, being then discharged, he joined the Forty-seventh Indiana Infantry, being pastry cook for them for six months, at Helena, Ark. July 9, 1863, he married Miss Elizabeth Enders, in St. Louis, a native of Germany, and located in Cairo, Ill., where he conducted a bakery one year. He then returned to St. Louis, Mo., and in November, 1861, visited
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the old country. returning in April of the : able " famine year." Our subject lived with following year, after which he farmed for a short time near St. Genevieve, Mo., and in the fall of 1865, discontinued it in order to establish a bakery in St. Louis. This he did, but at the end of one year sold his bakery and moved to Litchfield, Ill., where he worked for Mr. William Roth, in a bakery, for eight months. In June, 1867, he started a factory for the manufacture of soda and seltzer waters, to which he still devotes his atten- tion. In 1881, he manufactured during the season an average of one hundred dozen of bottles per day, and these were shipped to various points in the State. These waters have become very popular as a healthful bev- erage, and, in consequence, the demand has | steadily increased from year to year. For the past two years, Mr. Weber has run a steam cider press with good success. During the busy season, his business requires the services of eight active men. The following children have been born to Mr. Weber: Lizzie, Louise, Anne, Rosa, Kate, Mary and Fred- erick William.
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