USA > Illinois > Henry County > History of Henry County, Illinois, Volume II > Part 2
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JOHN H. PIERCE.
John H. Pierce occupied a central place on the stage of public activities. He is regarded as having been one of the most prominent industrial characters of the middle west during his day and generation, and Kewanee acknowledges her in- debtedness to him as one of her foremost builders. He lived his life to noble purposes and it was crowned with successful activities and characterized by the development of high ideals.
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HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY
Mr. Pierce was a native son of Illinois, his birth having occurred a few miles west of Aurora on the IIth of January, 1843. He was a son of Thomas and Ruth (Powell) Pierce. The father was a native of Wales and in his youthful days came to America, settling first in the state of New York, where he made his home from 1817 to 1835 and where he learned the carpenter's and joiner's trade, following contracting and building until 1835. He then came to Illinois and established his home near Aurora in Kane county, turning his attention to general farming until 1854, when he removed to Aurora and lived retired until his death in 1872. His wife passed away twenty years later, dying in 1892. At his death John H. Pierce was survived by two members of his father's family- Thomas P. Pierce, a resident of Kewanee, and Mrs. Howard, of Aurora.
In the county of his nativity John H. Pierce spent the days of his boyhood and youth and his education was acquired in the schools of Ottawa county. His first position was in the postoffice at Aurora, and in early manhood he crossed the plains in a prairie schooner to California, attracted by the gold discoveries on the Pacific coast. While he did not accumulate a princely fortune in his west- ward venture, he returned with several thousand dollars, thus gaining the capital to enable him to make a substantial start in business life. While in the west he worked as a freighter for a considerable time, driving a six-horse team over the steep passes of the Sierras. Arriving in Kewanee in the '6os, he continued his residence here during the greater part of the time until his demise, and was one of the most important factors in the upbuilding and progress of the city, not only through the development of a splendid business enterprise but also through ac- tive participation in measures which were direct factors in the material improve- ment of Kewanee. At his arrival here he found a village which his efforts were largely instrumental in developing into a city of considerable industrial impor- tance. With his brother, T. P. Pierce, he engaged in the hardware business, and before this time and even while he was engaged therein, he traveled throughout this section of the state, calling upon farmers and others, buying produce and scrap iron. Many of his most cherished friendships dated back to those days when he came into intimate association with the people of the farming sections. At length he concentrated his energies solely upon the hardware business and at length withdrew from that line to give his attention to manufacturing when he entered the services of the old Anderson Steam Heating Company, from which ultimately developed the Haxtun Steam Heating Company and then the Western Tube Company. He was connected with the Western Tube Company and its operations from 1870, at which time there were only ten or twelve men employed, while one building sheltered the whole plant. The growth of the
dustry is indicated in the fact that today the factory and mill buildings cover almost thirty acres, and the entire equipment of the plant is of a most modern character. Under the guidance of Mr. Pierce the business developed along substantial lines until employment was furnished to more than four thousand workmen. He continued in charge of the Kewanee business until 1890, when, fol- lowing the amalgamation of interests of this character in America he went to Pittsburg to become manager of the Tube Rolling Mills of the National Tube Com- pany, but after a few years returned to this city to continue the development of the business of the Western Tube Company. The great plant at this place
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HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY
is a monument to his enterprise, business ability and commercial integrity. The character of his relations to his employes is indicated in the fact that there was never a strike in the plant during all the years in which he continued in its con- trol. He appreciated good service on the part of his employes and manifested that appreciation in promotions as opportunity offered, thus giving substantial token of his trust in and regard for those who represented him in a business way. He was always keenly interested in his employes and before the factory became so large that he could not personally oversee the work of all departments, he knew almost every man by name and with many he was on familiar terms. They regarded him as a friend and he was ever deeply interested in their welfare. He was not only fair and just in his treatment but often manifested the higher at- tribute of mercy, and gave substantial token of his friendly regard when assis- tance was needed. In recent years he gave most of his attention to the affairs of the Big Creek Coal Company, of which he was one of the organizers and a member of its board of directors. He was also a representative of the directorate of the Union National Bank of Kewanee, and his sound business judgment proved a potent force in the successful management of the various interests with which he was closely associated. His opinions upon any vital business proposition were seldom if ever at fault and his keen and discriminating sagacity was manifested in the successful outcome which followed the adoption of his ideas. His position in business circles was indicated in his election to the presidency of the Illinois Manufacturers' Association.
His was a beautiful home life, for unfaltering devotion to his family was one of his marked characteristics. In early manhood he married Miss Sarah Ingalls, and unto them were born three children: Charles I. Pierce, now presi- dent of the Big Creek Coal Company; Frank E. Pierce, a practicing physician of Chicago; and Mrs. Lillian Rice, the wife of Robert Rice, one of the superin- tendents of the Burlington railroad in Missouri.
In Masonry Mr. Pierce was deeply interested, taking various degrees in the order, and in Kewanee was a member of the Masonic building association which constructed the Masonic Temple here. His religious faith was indicated in his attendance on the services of the Congregational church and he belonged to the Union League Club and other Chicago organizations.
Aside from business Mr. Pierce was probably best known to the public in his political relations. He was one of Illinois' most prominent republicans in his advocacy and support of party principles and yet he was by no means what is popularly termed a politician. He advocated an issue or political position be- cause of a firm belief in the justice and the value of the cause, and it was because of this that he was called by popular suffrage to the office of state senator, repre- senting his district, composed of Rock Island and Henry counties, in the upper house of the state legislature for two sessions, or in the thirty-fifth and thirty- sixth general assemblies. His position upon any vital question was never an equivocal one. He stood firmly for what he believed to be right, and exhibited those qualities of strength which have been so conspicuous throughout his busi- ness career-ability, unswerving sagacity and continuity of purpose. His asso- ciates in the senate, spoke of him in terms of praise and kindliness and he won many strong friendships during his legislative career. His services in the senate
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HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY
familiarized him with legislative methods and procedure and when Governor Tanner was elected in 1896 he urged Mr. Pierce to accept the position of state penitentiary commissioner. At length he agreed to become chairman of the board of trustees of Joliet Penitentiary if he could be assured that business prin- ciples and not political methods should hold sway under the new regime. To se- cure this he announced that Major McClaughry should be appointed warden and this was done with the result that the affairs of the great penal institution were placed upon a business basis. Mr. Pierce did not seek public office and frequently declined positions of prominence and honor. Each succeeding year, however, found him occupying a higher position in the estimation of the people of his home place and of this part of the state, and there was a strong desire that the state should recognize the great ability of Mr. Pierce by making him its governor. He received the strongest endorsement of various counties in his part of Illinois. He was made a member of the Illinois Commission to the Louisiana Purchase Ex- position and at different times other honors were conferred upon him. In his home city he was loved and honored as few men are loved. He always main- tained the deepest interest in this city and its welfare and did everything in his power to promote the interests of the community. He passed away after an operation in Mercy Hospital in Chicago, July 22, 1908, and was laid to rest in the Kewanee cemetery by his brethren of the Masonic fraternity.
In the funeral sermon Dr. Nelson said: "I speak as one who has enjoyed knowing the rare qualities of him who was a true friend. The greatest gifts are not always material riches. God's greatest gift is noble, true manhood ; hon- est men of integrity who have not the base element of duplicity; who have a sterling ring ; who believe in the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. In the gift of Mr. Pierce God conferred on Kewanee and the state of Illinois such a man. In building the great plant of the Western Tube Company, which grew from an insignificant institution employing but a few men, to the present great factory, largely through Mr. Pierce's successful management and hard work, he has left a monument which will endure. I have talked with the toilers and men of other stations in life of Mr. Pierce and have yet to hear from a single one any disparaging remarks concerning him. He was an approachable, kind- hearted man, and his friendship was true. Whatever tributes are paid this day and succeeding days to John H. Pierce will be inadequate to those who knew him best and who were familiar with the work in behalf of Kewanee which is to his credit. The spoken word and the written word will fail to convey the strength of that intangible hold which Mr. Pierce's life had upon the affection and upon the respect of his associates. The deepest and the most sincere emotions will remain unexpressed. Mr. Pierce was a creator; a constructor ; one who, undis- mayed and undaunted by obstacles and by handicaps, forged successfully the links of success. There are many John Smiths in this world-men who go their routine way not animated by ideals or by ambitions, who leave their community no greater at the end than at the beginning of their career. There are, unfor- tunately, few John Pierces, men with initiative and with strength of purpose, who find in difficulties and in embarrassments only inspirations to greater effort. Kewanee has been fortunate in having as one of her citizens a man of this type.
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HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY
The city today owes more of its material prosperity of the last quarter century to this man, whose passing is recorded today, than to any other. Mr. Pierce was too well known in Kewanee to call for comment on those qualities that marked his life. He was a man who mingled with the people and his personality was not kept in a secret closet. He passed to and fro among us and all knew him well. There will be as much sorrow in the humble cottage of many a man who labored in the shops under Mr. Pierce's direction as there will be in the home of the wealthy neighbors, who were his social companions. Mr. Pierce had engaging qualities that attracted men; he knew how to appeal to them and how to win them; he was a man of infinite tact, of surpassing judgment of men and of clear- est vision. These things not less than his acknowledged executive and business ability drew men to him."
CHARLES FRANCIS INGALS.
When central Illinois was largely one great unsettled prairie, covered with its native grasses, crossed and recrossed by sloughs which made traveling difficult, when its streams were unbridged and along their banks grew the timber Charles Francis Ingals became a resident of Lee county. In later life he lived for a number of years at Kewanee and was well known in this part of the state. He was born January 18, 1817, in the town of Abington, Windham county, Connecticut. The ancestry is traced back to Edmond Ingals, who settled at Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1628. He was killed by falling through a bridge while going from Boston to Lynn, his death occurring at Andover, Massachusetts, February 8, 1718. His son James, born September 24, 1669, married Hannah Abbott, April 16, 1695, and died June 27, 1735. Their son James, born August 9, 1695, was married No- vember 5, 1719, to Mary Stevens and they had seven children : James, born August 30, 1720; Deborah, born April 29, 1722; Ephraim, born November 26, 1725; Mary, who was born September 27, 1727, and was married December 7, 1777, to Eben Abbott; Jebediah, born November 3, 1729; a daughter born October 18, 1731; and Simeon, born January 12, 1737. The father of C. F. Ingals was Ephraim Ingals, who was born September 6, 1764, and died February 12, 1831. He married Lucy Goodell, April 26, 1801. She was the daughter of Amasa Goodell and died April 2, 1829. Their children were: Mary S., who was born May 7, 1802; Henry Laurens, born June 9, 1804; Lucy, who was born August II, 1807, and died at Dedham, Massachusetts, January 22, 1887; Lydia, born June 20, 1809; and Deborah, born December 3, 1811; Edmond, who was born April 14, 1814, and died March 19, 1835; Charles Francis; George Addison, who was born February 1, 1820, and died at Oak Park, Illinois, February 14, 1884; and Ephraim, who was born May 26, 1823, and died December 18, 1900, in Chicago.
The fall after his mother's death C. F. Ingals, then a lad of twelve years, was sent to Cavendish, Vermont, where he lived with his brother-in-law Addi- son Fletcher for five years, or until he came to Illinois with his brothers and sisters, Henry, Edmond, Lydia and Deborah. On the death of their father in 1831 it was decided to sell the old farm and all of the children with the exception
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HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY
of Mary and Lucy removed to what was then the far west. The farm com- prised two hundred acres and had been in the family through four generations. It was in 1832 that Henry and George A. Ingals, just after the Black Hawk war, journeyed westward and settled on the Sangamon river bottoms in Illinois. Later with two sisters and a brother Charles F. Ingals made the journey, travel- ing westward after the primitive manner of the time, sometimes riding and sometimes walking in order to make their journey in the most comfortable and economical manner. They passed through Chicago when it contained less than fifteen hundred inhabitants. On reaching the home of steamboat navigation they proceeded down the Illinois river to Beardstown and on to their destination. That year C. F. Ingals was employed to bind wheat at a dollar per day. Later he rode to Springfield and entered forty acres of land. The claim was made by squatting upon it in June, 1836. It was then only surveyed into townships. He and his brothers cut considerable fencing timber from that place. During the fall months of 1834 he went north with Captain Storrs and located an excellent claim ten miles south of Kewanee in Henry county. Edmond Ingals died and C. F. Ingals felt inadequate to the ask of developing and improving his new claim so he took up teaching at Beardstown and for eleven terms had charge of the school there held in a little brick building. In the meantime he made a trip with his uncle to a point near Buffalo Rock, on the Illinois river, and soon afterward located a claim ten miles south of there, on which he lived for a half century. He located eighty acres of timber land and bought a half section of prairie and then chopped timber for a few days to show that the land was occupied. He then returned to the Sangamon bottoms, where he made arrangements and secured equipments to cultivate his land. His brother Addison joined him in this task and after two weeks they had a rough log cabin ready for occupancy. Thirteen men and boys assisted in raising it and his family occupied that primitive home for twelve years. It was fourteen by sixteen feet, one of the typical cabin homes of the time. His sister Deborah came to act as his housekeeper and with char- acteristic energy he devoted his attention to breaking the prairie and cultivating the fields. Among their first crops were fifty bushels of potatoes. These with a beef which they dressed and an occasional venison steak constituted their food supplies through the first winter. It seemed impossible to Mr. Ingals at that time that the country ever would be settled, so boundless seemed the prai- ries. In the summer of 1837 this pioneer home was visited by an old Vermont acquaintance, Dr. R. F. Adams, who claimed the hand of Deborah Ingals in marriage some time afterward.
During the season of 1838 C. F. Ingals left the farm and returned to the east, where he won a companion and helpmate for life's journey in his marriage to Miss Sarah Hawkins. She was born March 15, 1819, in Reading, Vermont, a daughter of John Sullivan Hawkins, the fourth son of Captain William A. Hawkins, a Revolutionary soldier. John S. Hawkins was born in Milton, New Hampshire, January 30, 1785. The family afterwards removed to a farm in the town of Reading, Windsor county, Vermont. He was married in Cavendish, Vermont, June 11, 1818, to Mary, daughter of Ezekiel and Hannah (Ames) Morrison. Mrs. Hawkins was born in Peterboro, New Hampshire, and was one of eight children. For some time John S. Hawkins engaged in merchan-
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HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY
dising as a member of the firm of Farwell & Hawkins, of Reading. His daughter Mrs. Ingals was instructed in all of the duties of the household in her girlhood days and acquired a good education, largely attendng select schools in different parts of New England. At length she went to Brooklyn, New York, to live with an uncle there, and remained in that city until her marriage. She returned to her father's home to prepare for the wedding, which was celebrated by the Rev. Joseph Freemen on the 6th of September, 1838. On that afternoon the young couple started on their long journey to their western home, traveling in a one- horse wagon, their baggage consisting of three trunks and a hand basket. By easy stages they proceeded to Buffalo and thence by lake to Detroit. From that point they traveled to Laport, Indiana, and after a week pleasantly passed with relatives they arrived at their home on the 12th of October. Their house was a little cabin, twelve by fifteen feet inside, the roof covered with shakes. There was also a shed kitchen used in summer. The furniture consisted of two chairs, two benches, a cook stove and a bed in the lower room, while in the loft above there were three beds, one of these being curtained off for the use of guests. The family met with all of the experiences of pioneer life, with its hardships, privations and difficulties, its pleasures and its hospitality. In 1839 Mr. and Mrs. Ingals with his sister Deborah and her prospective husband, Dr. Adams, started with Mr. Woodworth to his home in Ottawa, where the Doctor and Deborah were to be married. Mr. Woodworth was the possessor of a buggy and the others rode in a wagon. On the way Mrs. Ingals rode for a while with Mr. Woodworth and, thinking to make time, they drove on ahead of the party but became lost in a dense fog and not until daylight came could they proceed on their way to their destination. For fifty years the family lived upon the old home- stead farm. Sorrow at times entered the household by the death of relatives but joy also took up her abode there and altogether the life on the old home farm for parents and children was a most happy one. The original pioneer home was replaced by a frame dwelling, nineteen by thirty feet. As the years passed the country became more thickly settled and neighbors were not so widely scattered. Churches and schools were organized and the advantages of the older east were here introduced.
Mr. Ingals gave his attention in undivided manner to the work of the farm until after the discovery of gold in California. In the spring of 1850 he joined a party that proceeded by wagon train across the country, starting about the 26th of March. Supplies were purchased at St. Louis and the wagon train was four months in reaching its destination. Mr. Ingals at the time of his departure expected to be gone not more than two years. He left to his wife the care of three children: Charles, four years of age; Fletcher, two years of age; and a little daughter, Sarah, three weeks old. When he had been absent three years he wrote for his wife to meet him in New York, but, changing his mind, re- mained another year so that four years elapsed ere he returned to his home. Mrs. Ingals had made preparations for the trip to New York ere she heard of her husband's changed plans and concluded to make a visit in the east among relatives, which she did. When Mr. Ingals planned his return for the following year he met his wife at Laporte, Indiana, and then both went to the east and visited among relatives and friends there whom they had not seen from the
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HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY
time of their marriage. After their return they resumed possession of the home farm and father and mother bent their energies to the cultivation of the fields and the management of the household. In the fall of 1856 they erected an addition to their house, all this indicating that they were prospering as the years passed. About that time the Illinois Central Railroad was completed and a station located three and a half miles from their farm called Sublette.
As the years passed on five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Ingals: Charles Hawkins, whose birth occurred at Lee Center, Illinois, March 11, 1846; Ephraim Fletcher, born at Lee Center, September 29, 1848; Sarah Deborah, born March 6, 1850; Arianna Morrison, born March 3, 1857; and Mary Stevens, born December 28, 1862. Always ambitious to give their children the best op- portunities possible they were sent to the district schools until they had mas- tered the branches of learning therein taught and after which they were sent away to school. The daughter Sarah attended school in Kewanee, Illinois, and afterward the seminary at Mount Carroll for two years. The sons were sent to the normal at Bloomington and were there at the time of the outbreak of the Civil war. Charles was accepted as a soldier on the second attempt to enlist and did active duty at the front, returning to his home at the close of the war. For a time he engaged in the hardware business at Rock Falls and later took charge of the home farm, which he operated on shares. Subsequently he began the cultivation of a farm which his father gave him in Sublette. He was married March 1, 1871, to Mary I. Morse. Ephraim Fletcher Ingals, after leaving the normal, spent two years as a student in Mount Morris, Illinois, and after teaching one term entered Bryant & Stratton Commercial College. His proficiency was such that he was soon recommended for the position of bookkeeper in a whole- sale wooden ware store. He filled the position until ill health forced him to return home and later he rented the home farm for a year. He then took up the study of medicine in Rush Medical College and, completing the course in two years, he then accepted a hospital position, which he filled for eighteen months. He then went abroad for the benefit of his eyesight and on his return to Chicago began the practice of medicine in that city and also acted for many years as one of the lecturers in Rush Medical College. He was married Septem- ber 5, 1876, to Lucy S. Ingals. Sarah Ingals was married September 6, 1869, to John H. Pierce. Arianna M. became the wife of William H. Morgan on the 6th of September, 1878, and on the 8th of December, 1886, Mary S. Ingals be- came the wife of Charles C. Jacobs, of Amboy. These two daughters were students in Mount Carroll Seminary.
In 1873 Mr. Ingals erected a fine residence upon his farm and in the ensuing years it was the delight of the parents to entertain their children and grand- children there. At length they decided to sell the old home place and this was done in March, 1885. The two succeeding years Mr. and Mrs. Ingals largely passed in Kewanee and Chicago and spent the winter of 1887 in California. The following winter they were in Glenwood, Florida, and in the winter of 1889 went again to California. In the years 1890 and 1891 they lived in Kewanee and Chicago and in the succeeding four winters were again in Florida. They then established their home at No. 507 West Adams street, where they continued to
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