History of Bureau County, Illinois, Part 84

Author: Bradsby, Henry C., [from old catalog] ed
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Chicago, World publishing company
Number of Pages: 776

USA > Illinois > Bureau County > History of Bureau County, Illinois > Part 84

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).

EZRA McINTIRE, Neponset, was born Feb- ruary 2, 1831, in Bloomfield, now called Skow. hegan, Somerset Co., Me. His father, Ezra McIntire, Sr., was born September 9, 1793, in the above place, where he died January 8, 1868. He was a shoe-maker in early life, and afterward a farmer, and for over forty years was a member of the Baptist Church. The grandfather of our subject, Phineas McIntire, was born in 1753 in Andover, Mass. He was a farmer and a Revolutionary soldier till 1779, serving out two enlistments. He was in the battles of Harlem Heights and Brandywine, and was also with the army during the memorable winter at Valley Forge. After the war he married Lydia Heywood, who was a daughter of Oliver Heywood, one of the first and largest pro- prietors of Skowhegan. She was born in 1779 in Westford, Mass., and survived her hus- band, who died March 4, 1837. Phineas McIntire removed to Skowhegan in 1783. He was the father of seven children, viz. : Lydia, Lucy, Joel, Ezra, Auzubia, Levi and Alvin. The great-grandfather of our sub- ject, Jacob McIntire, was of Scotch descent. He was a soldier in the French and Indian war. After an honorable discharge he re- turned to Andover, Mass., where he died in his forty-third year. He left a family of five children, viz. : Perley, Jacob Jr., Phin- eas, Sarah and Lucy. Of the above Perley and Phineas were soldiers in the Revolu.

tionary war; the former served as Quarter- master. The mother of our subject, Clarina P. Stinchfield, was born December 25, 1795, in New Gloucester, Me. She died June 20, 1880, in Skowhegan. She was a daughter of William Stinchfield, and was the mother of eleven children, of whom eight reached maturity, viz .: Mary, Lorenzo, Erastus, Clara, Susan, Albion, Ezra and Elizabeth. Our subject was educated in Somerset Conn- ty, Me., where he was a teacher by occupa- tion. In 1851 he went to California, via Panama, and worked in the gold mines near- ly two years, returning East in 1853. He visited Bureau County, Ill., in 1854; from here he went to Fond du Lac County, Wis., where he taught one term of school, and then returned East. He came to Neponset Town- ship, Bureau Co., Ill., April 12, 1856, and here bought 160 acres of land. At present he owns 120 acres of choice land. August 14, 1862, Mr. McIntire enlisted in Company H, of the Ninety-third Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served till the close of the war. He participated in the battles of Jackson, Champion Hill, Vicksburg, Mis- sion Ridge, Allatoona and the taking of Savannah. After the war he farmed. He was married here February 2, 1858, to Thankful C. Wells, who was born Septem- ber 17, 1834, in Clinton, Me. She is a daughter of Richard and Louisa (Cain) Wells, both natives of Maine. Mrs. McIntire is the mother of seven children, viz .: Ezra E., Nellie L., Mary E., Richard E., Merton P., Florence A., and Adelaide V. Mr. and Mrs. McIntire are members of the Baptist Church. He is also a member of the G. A. R., and a Republican in politics.

H. M. McKEE, Princeton. Among the young men of Princeton who have laid the foundation for a successful future in their life's work is the gentleman whose name heads this paragraph. He was born near Princeton, September 26, 1863, and his en- tire life has been spent here, and many of the friends mnade in youth have given him the preference when professional services were required. In 1879 he began the study of dentistry with Dr. J. S. Scott, with whom he remained till 1881, when he bought Dr. Scott's business, and has since been alone in

588

HISTORY OF BUREAU COUNTY.

the practice of his profession, and although a young man has built up a practice which few could have obtained after many years' struggle. Dr. McKee is the youngest son of Alfred and Hannah (Gibons) McKee, both natives of Lehigh County, Penn., where they were married. They came to Bureau Coun- ty, Ill., about 1851, and here Mrs. McKee died in 1866. She was the mother of the following named children: Charles J., Sallie F., Alfred, Mrs. Blanche Stevens and Herbert M. Alfred is a resident of Sheffield, Ill., and Herbert M. of Princeton, but the other members of the family reside in Nebraska. In 1882 the father returned to Pennsylvania, where he now resides. In politics Dr. Mc- Kee is identified with the Democratic party.

O. W. MCKENZIE, Fairfield, was born March 8, 1825, in Essex County, N. Y. His great-grandfather came from Scotland, and settled in eastern New York. He reared a family of seven children, viz .: Alexander, Robert, Crosby, Ethel, John, Sally M. and Thomas McKenzie. All of the boys were soldiers in the war of 1812. John McKen- zie, the father of our subject, participated in the battle of Plattsburg. He was born August 6, 1794, and died here July 3, 1857. He was married February 23, 1815, to Betsy Havens, and reared a family of nine chil- dren, viz .: Hiram, Eliza, John M., Oliver W., De Lafayette, Lyman W., Lomira C., Robert and Chancy D. Mckenzie. Mrs. Betsy Mckenzie was born February 9, 1796; she died March 5, 1854. Mr. and Mrs. John Mckenzie and children came to Bureau County in the spring of 1846. The first summer they rented a farm, and that fall the family built a log-house, with a board roof, on Section 7, where a claim was made, and the first year hauled the water used in the house in barrels from Woodward Bluff, in Whiteside County, a distance of six miles. Such were the privations our Bureau County pioneers had to undergo to prepare the way for posterity. Two years after the log house was built John McKenzie hauled lumber from Chicago, then their grain market, although a mere village, and built a frame house, in which he and his wife died. O. W. Mcken- zie came here with his parents, and made a claim on Section 7 of 160 acres, of which he

afterward entered one-half, his brother John entering the other half. They broke the first prairie where Yorktown now stands, hiring a two-yoke ox team of Joseph Arnett, at 15 cents per day. Oliver Mckenzie afterward bought the oxeu at $10 per head. He im- proved his eighty acres, and moved a pole- house onto it, which he bought for $5. He was married March 20, 1850, in Princeton, to Emily Dow, eldest daughter of Whitcher and Eunice (Bump) Dow, former residents of Cayuga County, N. Y., who came to this county in 1847, and settled on Section 6. She was a nurse, and an excellent woman, known and loved by all. She was born De- cember 17, 1806, in Mount Holly, Rutland Co., Vt. She died here November 30, 1877. She was married January 27, 1828, and lived nearly fifty years with her husband, who was born October 13, 1804, in Danville, Vt. He died May 30, 1882. They were the parents of eight children, viz .: Mrs. Emily McKen- zie, Mrs. Emeline Mckenzie, Benjamin F., Thomas, Edward W., Henry H., Mrs. Albina A. Greenman and Clay Q. Dow. Of the above Mrs. Emily Mckenzie was born March 5, 1829, in Cataraugus County, N. Y. She is the mother of the following children: Eliza E., Julia A., Raymond H., Willie E., Oliver W. and an infant son. Of these only Eliza E. and Raymond H. are yet living. The former was born February 3, 1851. She married Mortimer W. Brooks, and is the mother of three children, viz .: Clinton, Glen E. and Blanche M. Brooks. The latter, Ray- mond H., was born November 30, 1854, and is married to Lovina West. Our subject has been a successful farmer and stock-raiser, and has a farm of 580 acres. He was the first blacksmith and storekeeper in Yorktown, and some of his patronage came from a dis- tance of ten miles. He was the first Con- stable and Assessor in Fairfield Township, holding the former office thirteen years. Mr. and Mrs. Mckenzie have both been hard working people, and earned their financial success in life.

ROBERT MCKENZIE, Fairfield, was born December 4, 1835, in Orleans County, N. Y. He is a son of John and Betsy Mckenzie. (See preceding sketch.) Mr. Mckenzie came to this county with his parents, and was

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

married here January 7, 1857, in Princeton, to Miss Julia A. Wroten, born November 26, 1837, in Ross County, Ohio, daughter of Thomas and Margaret (Adams) Wroton, who came here about forty-three years ago, and settled on Greenriver Prairie. Mr. and Mrs. Mckenzie are the parents of five children, viz .: Estella M., born April 21, 1859, wife of Alvin L. Pierce, and the mother of one child-Mack Pierce; Robert E., born August 8, 1861; Clara E., born April 26, 1863; Nellie B., born July 24, 1868, and Maude, born June 1, 1870. Mr. Mckenzie is a Republican, and has been Assessor and Col- lector. He has a farm of 130 acres in Sec- tion 7, Fairfield Township, and is a member of the A. F. & A. M. fraternity.

CHARLES McKUNE, Manlius, was born in Oakland, Susquehanna Co., Penn., July 10, 1817. His early life was spent in farm- ing and lumbering. When about twenty- one years old he went on to the Susquehanna River, and floated lumber down the river during the freshets. The next spring he became a pilot, and continued for thirteen years, being successful in conducting the rafts down the river, without loss. He was also engaged in the lumber business for him- self, but lost everything he had during a freshet, the lumber being carried away and lost. Two years later he had managed to save $500, and with that started West, reach- ing Bureau County in 1846. In the fall of the same year he came to Manlius Township, being one of the first settlers. He built the first fence in the township. He now owns 450 acres of land, part of which he entered from the Government. He has always given his attention to farming, in which he has been very successful. Mr. McKune was married in his native county at the age of twenty-eight years to Elizabeth Bachelor, who died in this county. She was the mother of six children, viz. : Frances A., now of Indian Territory, and for several years a teacher in the schools there; Lovina, wife of David Barber, of Iowa; Josephine, wife of Dr. S. B. Waldin, of Michigan; Sarah, wife of Walter Lyons, of New Mexico; Ella, wife of Arthur Walker, of Wyanet. Marion, on the home farm, married to Ada Bastian. Mr. McKune was again married to Miranda

Chapman, of Henry County, Ill. She has one child-Joseph, born September, 1874. In politics Mr. McKune votes with the Re- publican party. He is a member of the Free Methodist Church.

GEORGE S. McLEAN, Princeton, was born in Drakestown, Morris Co., N. J., Oc- tober 16, 1842. He is the son of Nicholas and Elizabeth (Walk) McLean. The father was born September 25, 1797, and died March 25, 1864. His trade was that of a wheelwright. The mother was born Decem- ber 4, 1805, and is yet living. She is the mother of ten children, eight of whom are now living. The subject of this sketch re- mained at home till December 4, 1859, when he began a three years' apprenticeship to a carriage-maker in Hackettstown, N. J. Dur- ing the summer of 1864 he worked at his trade in New York City, and in the spring of 1865 came to Illinois, but worked on a farm for one year near Canton, Fulton County. In 1866 he worked for a stockman near Bushnell, but the Ist of January, 1867, he returned to his native State, and again began working at carriage-making, continued for different parties till 1870, when he went into the employ of the carriage manufactur- ing firm of McLean & Co., and remained in the employ of that firm till March, 1873. A month later he came to Princeton, Ill., where he opened a carriage repository, and has continued to sell carriages till the present time. His main business, however, is that of an undertaker, in which he engaged in the spring of 1878. In October, 1880, he also added a livery stable to his other busi- ness. In 1875 he first invested in property here, and has since erected his buildings -the house in 1877, and barns later. In Hackettstown, N. J., January 14, 1874, he was married to Miss Alice S. Grimes. She was born December 4, 1853, in Hackettstown. Her mother died when she was small, and Mrs. McLean was reared in the family of Casper Jones. Her father, Richard Grimes, is of English descent, and yet survives. To Mr. and Mrs. McLean the following named children have been born: Myrtle May, Charles Raymond, Mary Minnette, George LeRoy and Nellie Elizabeth. In 1870 Mr. McLean became a member of the I. O. O. F.,

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HISTORY OF BUREAU COUNTY.

Musconnetcong Lodge, No. 81, of Hacketts. town, N. J.

JOHN MCNALLY, Westfield, was born November 23, 1829, in Bradford County, Penn. His parents, James and Margaret (Dolan) McNally, natives of County Meath, Ireland, came to America in 1820, and settled in Penn- sylvania. In 1836 they came to LaSalle County, Ill., and both died in Peru. They were the parents of eight children, of whom only our subject and his sister Mrs. Mary Tracy, of Harrison County, Iowa, survive. John McNally was reared and educated in LaSalle County, where he was also married, September 31, 1854, in Ottawa, to Miss Alice Dobbins, born August 15, 1835, daughter to Patrick and Margaret (O'Donnell) Dobbins, natives of Tipperary County, Ireland. The former died in St. Louis, and the latter in Ottawa, Ill. Mr. and Mrs. McNally are the parents of eight children, viz. : Mrs. Bridget Minehan, a resident of Linn County, Iowa. James J., Mary A. , Margaret A., Alice, Joseph- ine, Mark and Martha. The McNally family is religiously connected with the Catholic Church. Politically Mr. McNally is a Dem- ocrat. He owns a farm of 160 acres in Har- rison County, Iowa, and another 160 acres in Westfield Township, Bureau Co., III., where he now resides.

JOHN F. MEIER, Clarion, was born Oc- tober 25, 1819, in Hille, Westphalia, Ger- many. He was a son of Johann F. and Ma- ria L. (Burmeister) Meier, who died in Ger- many. They were the parents of four chil- dren, viz .: Caroline, Mary, Henry and John F., our subject, who came to the United States in November, 1844. He landed at Charleston, S. C., where he worked till July, 1847, when he became dissatisfied with the state of affairs existing there on account of slavery, and immigrated to Lamoille, Ill., where he worked three years for Martin Hopps, and then moved onto his farm of for. ty acres, which he had bought in September, 1849. This he improved and added to from time to time, the land now belonging to his children. Mr. Meier was married, Au- gnst 18, 1850, to Eva B. Genther, who was born June 26, 1824, in Germany. She died here June 24, 1866. She was the mother of seven children, viz .: John C., Henry H.,

Frederick and William (twins, the former de- ceased), Harman, Bertha (deceased), and Jus. tina, wife of Henry Grothen (they have two children, viz .: Mary and Diederich). Mr. Meier is one of the oldest German settlers in Clarion. He has always been a hard worker and had long contemplated a trip to Europe to visit his old friends and relatives, of which he found but few. He started June 15, 1SS4, and returned September 7, the same year. He traveled around considerably while in the old country, but found no place so good as old " Bureau." Religiously Mr. Meier is a member of the Lutheran Church.

JOHN MEISENHEIMER. Bureau, was born on the banks of the River Rhine, in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, June 7, 1823. He is the son of Christopher and Mary Meisenheimer, who lived and died in their native country. They were the parents of eleven children, of whom four are living, three in this country: John, Christopher, of Galesburg, Ill., and Mary, of Creston, Iowa. John Meisenheimer was reared in his native land, and in 1852 came to America and directly to Bureau County. He worked in the brickyard at Princeton for nearly a year and then began farming for J. Al- brecht for half. His first farm he purchased of Col. J. F. Thompson in 1854, paying $5 per acre. In 1861 he sold his farm and returned to his native land, where he re- mained nearly three years, and then again came to Bureau County. In 1865 he moved onto his present farm of 400 acres, where he has since resided. He has given his atten- tion chiefly to the growing of hogs and corn, raising about 150 acres of corn per year, and rotating so that he plants on new ground the most of the time, and has been very success- ful in his farming. He was married in his native place, January, 1863, to Elizabeth Anspach, who was born February 18, 1836, in the village adjoining her husband's birthplace. They are the parents of ten chil- dren, of whom four sons and four daughters are living, viz. : Mary, Jacob, Minnie, Martha, John, Frederick, Henry and Lottie. Mr. Meisenheimer is independent in poli- tics, in which he takes but little part. He is a member of A. F. & A. M., No. 627, of Walnut, and of the German Lodge, No. 428,

- -

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

I. O. O. F., of Princeton, and carries an in- surance in this order.

JACOB A. MELICK, Milo, was born January 5, 1843, in Hunterdon County, N. J. The grandfather of our subject, Nicho- las E. Melick, was a native of New Jersey, where he died. He was of German descent, and was married to Miss Backer, who was the mother of nine children. One of these, John W. Melick, married Ann E. Apgar, who was also a native of New Jersey. She is the mother of the following children yet living: Jacob A. (our subject), Mrs. Mary Bennett, Mrs. Frances Barnford, Peter, William, Ida and Senaca T. Melick. John W. Melick re- moved to this county in 1854. He farmed here till the fall of 1867, when he removed to Washington County, Iowa, where he died, but where his widow yet resides. Our sub- ject was educated principally in Henry, Mar- shall Co., Ill. He has made farming and stock-raising his occupation, and on his farm of 217 acres makes raising sheep and Norman horses a specialty. In August, 1861, Mr. Melick enlisted in the Forty-seventh Regiment of Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Company D, serving three years and two months. He was promoted to Sergeant, and participated in twenty-one engagements, among others that of Island No. 10, Farm- ington, siege and battle of Corinth, Iuca, Vicksburg, Red River expedition, battle of Pleasant Hill, etc. After he came home he resumed farming, and was married in Prince- ton, September 22, 1867, to Ella E. Clark, who was born September 22, 1847, in La- Salle County, Ill. She is a daughter of John N. and Rachel Clark, who were natives of New England. Mrs. Melick is the mother of two children, viz .: Elmer, born September 5, ' 1868, and Annie, born March 11, 1874. Mr. Melick is one of Milo's most wide-awake and successful farmers, and politically is identi- fied with the Republican party.

E. K. MERCER, Princeton, was born on the farm of his grandfather, Ellis Mercer, in Cen- ter Grove, Wyanet Township, in Bureau Coun- ty, Ill., on the 27th of November, 1844. He was the first-born of William B. Mercer and his wife, whose maiden name was Rebecca Frankeberger. His father, William B., came to Illinois with his parents from Belmont

County, Ohio, iu 1835, and died in Prince- ton, Ill., in 1850, at the age of twenty-nine years. His mother also came to Illinois with her parents from Ohio, and at an early day, 1835 or 1836. Her father was William Frankeberger, who died at Wyanet in the spring of 1884 in the eighty-fifth year of his age. Mr. Mercer resided with his grand- parents from childhood; accompanied them to Webster County, Iowa, in 1855; returned to Illinois in the spring of 1861, and in the following spring, at the age of seventeen, en- listed in Capt. Lash's company of sixty-day men to guard prisoners at Camp Douglas, and on the next morning after his arrival at the camp re enlisted for three years in Bat- tery M, First Illinois Light Artillery. He accompanied his battery to Louisville in October, 1862, and being stricken with ty- phoid fever a week after his arrival there lay unconscious upon a sand knoll back of Louis- ville, while his company was chasing John Morgan over Kentucky. He joined his com- pany in the advance on Nashville in the spring of 1863, participated in the Shelby - ville campaign, and in the succeeding Chat- tanooga campaign, closing with the battle of Chickamauga, where he received a wound which disabled him until the next spring. He rejoined his battery a few days before the beginning of the Atlanta campaign, into which he was initiated by being hauled with his gun-squad and gun between midnight and daylight of the 5th of May, 1861, up the precipitous side of Rocky-faced Ridge to try the effect of his ten-pound rifled Rodman on the famous "Buzzards' Roost." He con- tinued in this campaign, which ended with the fall of Atlanta, and participated in all of its great battles and its continuous fight- ing-continuous, because from the 5th of May until the close of the campaign at Love- joy's Station on the 15th of the following October, he and his battery were engaged with the enemy, some time during the day or night of every day but five. After the close of the Atlanta campaign, by a general order of Maj .- Gen. George H. Thomas, command- ing the Army of the Cumberland, Battery M, First Illinois Light Artillery was relieved from all further active duty during the re- maining termof its enlistment (six months)

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HISTORY OF BUREAU COUNTY.

as a reward for meritorious service in the

field. The remaining term of his service was spent in garrison duty, and he was mustered out with his company at Chicago in August,

1865. After his discharge he spent a term or two at school; followed book keeping, school teaching, grain buying and insurance, and then became a commercial traveler, which business he quit July 1, 1872, to take a one- half interest in the Bureau County Tribune, of which he is now editor and owner. On the 31st of December, 1873, he was married to Miss Juliet Sapp, daughter of Solomon Sapp

(see sketch), and who was born in Bureau County, August 19, 1850. Mr. and Mrs. Mercer are the parents of three children: Fred, born January 25, 1875; Blanche, Sep- tember 11, 1876, and Nellie, May 28, 1881.

G. W. MERCER, Lamoille, was born November 1, 1844, in Bureau County. His grandparents, John and Rachel (Matson) Mercer, were natives of Virginia and died in Ohio. Their children were: Matson, of Ohio; William; Mrs. Elizabeth Mercer, of Red Oak,

Iowa; Mrs. Mary Riston, of Missouri; Mrs.

Sarah J. Clark, and another daughter who died in Ohio. Of the above William Mercer married Mary Fletcher, a native of Ohio and a daughter of Townsend and Susan (Ready) Fletcher, natives of Virginia, who came to Burean County in an early day. All of their ten children at one time lived in Bureau County, where Mrs. Susan Fletcher is yet living with her daughter, Mrs. Fannie Kin- nick. William Mercer and wife came to Bu- reau County in the spring of 1844, where the latter died. She was the mother of five children: Mrs. Rachel Kinnick, Susan (de- ceased), John W., George W. (our subject), and Mrs. Mary E. Thompson. William Mer- cer removed to Nebraska in the spring of 1878. Our subject, George W. Mercer, was educated at Lombard University. He taught school two years and is now engaged in the live-stock business in Lamoille. He was married here to Miss Sarah A. Little, born May 15, 1847. She is a daughter of Elijah and Elizabeth (Smith) Little, natives of New Jersey and now residents of Arling- ton. To Mr. and Mrs. Mercer the following children were born: Clara E. (deceased), Warren L., Mary E. (deceased), Victor

S., Grace D. and S. Ida Mercer. Politi-

nected with the Methodist Episcopal Church. ciples, and religiously he and wife are con- cally Mr. Mercer favors the Prohibition prin-

DR. JOSEPH MERCER, deceased. For

who came here in 1834. Dr. Mercer received son of Aaron and Jane (Dickerson) Mercer, 1828, in Harrison County, Ohio. He was a name. Dr. J. Mercer was born January 11, words of esteem heard at the mention of his its most active members, and many are the ton claimed the subject of this sketch among many years the medical fraternity of Prince-

at the Physopathic Medical College of Ohio, his medical education in Cincinnati, Ohio,

where he graduated in the spring of 1851,

after which he returned to Princeton, where

he was born in 1805 and died in February, farmer by occupation, and came here in 1851; tives of New Jersey. The former was a H. and Elizabeth (Anthony) Welch, both na- Newark, N. J., and a daughter of Charles 1, 1853, to Miss Mary A. Welch, a native of tive practice. Here he was married March September, 1852, and soon built up a lucra- he commenced the practice of medicine in

1873. The latter was born in 1803, and died

December 20, 1881. She was the mother of ten children, of whom six are now living:

Mrs. Almeda Phelps, James Welch, C. Wes-

Welch and Mrs. Mary A. Mercer. Of the four ley Welch, Mrs. Nancy Kinney, William L.

other children only Mrs. Jennie Moler reached maturity. Dr. Joseph Mercer possessed an enlightened public spirit, and soon enjoyed

from his fellowmen. He was connected with an unusual degree of respect and confidence

Church. Everything was bright in the life were members of the Methodist Episcopal the Masonic fraternity, and he and his wife

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History of Bureau County, Illinois, Part 84

Author: Bradsby, Henry C., [from old catalog] ed Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Chicago, World publishing company Number of Pages: 776

Author: Bradsby, Henry C., [from old catalog] ed
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Chicago, World publishing company
Number of Pages: 776