History of Henry County, Illinois, Volume II, Part 48

Author: Kiner, Henry L., 1851-
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago : The Pioneer Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1138

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Four children were born at the Groveland home: Abbie Dean R., who was born October 30, 1844, and died July 12, 1872; Francis Eugene and Maria Louisa, twins, born August 17, 1847; and Prudence Amelia, who was born March 27, 1850, and died March 31, 1853.

About this time, Mr. Richmond purchased land on the south side of Geneseo, securing about sixty acres and, in 1854, built a house, moving his family from Groveland in December to the home at the foot of State street, where his youngest child Helen Annette, was born, and who afterward married Mortimer Fleet and lives in Ashland, Oregon. Soon selling the first house, Mr. Richmond built and occupied the house one block east on Buffalo street, now called Oak- wood avenue, which continued to be the home until after the death of his wife in 1879. This part of Geneseo was called the Richmond addition.

Soon after coming to Geneseo, Mr. Richmond engaged in the nursery busi- ness, there being at the time but one other nursery in the county-the small one at Wethersfield. Having a natural aptitude for horticulture and kindred occupations, he developed the business till his nursery became the center of a large local trade, people coming long distances for trees and plants. There are many orchards in the vicinity which were planted from his nursery stock and some of them are the result of his making leases of land on which to grow young trees, it being stipulated that he leave an orchard on the land. In 1866, wishing to extend the business, he and his son Joseph bought of Mr. Merriman the site of the present nursery, the land being then covered with hazel bushes and scrub oaks, but considered superior to prairie soil for the propagation of nursery stock. Mr. Richmond soon after sold his interest to his sons Joseph and Edwin, who thereafter conducted the nursery business.

Mr. Richmond was a man of sterling worth and highly respected by all who knew him. He was a liberal giver toward all measures for the advancement of the town or community. He was a life-long member of the Congregational church and assisted largely in the building of the present church edifice. Visit- ing pastors and all who were interested in good work, were always cordially

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welcomed to his hospitable home. He was always a strong advocate of the temperance cause and was among the first to believe that prohibition was the only safe course. In politics he was a republican.

JEREMIAH FENNER RICHMOND.

At the Richmond homestead in Middleboro, Massachusetts, Jeremiah Fenner Richmond was born, November 19, 1834. He was the oldest son of Isaiah and Eliza A. (Fenner) Richmond. When about three years of age, he went with his parents to live at Scituate, Rhode Island, and was ten years old when the family came to Tremont, Illinois, in 1844, later to Groveland and finally to Geneseo in 1854. Here he learned the carpenter's trade of Harry McArthur and assisted in building the first home of the Richmonds in Geneseo, at the south end of State street. He married, March 31, 1856, Celia Manville, and for several years Geneseo was their home. They afterward lived in Chicago, Omaha and Marysville, California, where he died May 5, 1879. While living in Omaha, their son Ralph was born, who married and lived in Greene, New York, where his two children were born-Celia Manville and Ralph, Jr.

During the Civil war, Mr. Richmond enlisted as private in the Ninth Illi- nois Cavalry, but later was transferred to the commissary department. After the close of the war, he again engaged in carpentry and removing to Chicago he became an extensive and successful contractor. Here he met George Francis Train, who was interested in the development of Omaha and contracted with him for the erection of numerous buildings in that growing city.

During the extension of the Union Pacific Railroad, he contracted for the construction of stations and necessary buildings along the line of the railway, . in many places the work being guarded from the depredations of hostile Indians. He amassed quite a fortune for those days, but later lost heavily in contracting for the erection of a large hotel in Cheyenne.

After her husband's death in Marysville, California, May 5, 1879, Mrs. Richmond returned to Geneseo, where she remained for a time, later going to live with her sister, Mrs. Hattie (Manville) Calkins, in Galesburg, Illinois, and at whose home she died.

JOSEPH WARREN RICHMOND.

Joseph Warren Richmond is the owner of Prospect Hill Nursery farm sit- uated on section 29, Geneseo township, about a mile from the city of Geneseo, Illinois. It is an attractive and valuable property, lacking in none of the equip- ments and accessories of the model farm of the twentieth century and indi- cates in its well kept appearance the careful supervisions and progressive method of the owner.

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HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY

Mr. Richmond was born in North Scituate, Rhode Island, February 20, 1840, and is the son of Isaiah and Eliza Angell (Fenner) Richmond. He was about four years of age when his father came with his family to Illinois, living one year at Tremont, Tazewell county, and about nine years at Groveland, near Peoria, when in the fall of 1854, they came to Geneseo, which has since been the family home.

Here the father established a nursery, the second in the county, there being a small nursery at Wethersfield. Mr. Richmond may be said to have grown up in the nursery business since he assisted his father during his youth and early manhood, thus gaining valuable experience concerning general agricultural methods and the care and propagation of nursery stock. In 1866 he and his father bought sixty acres of land on section 29, Geneseo township, and the business was transferred to its present location. Soon after this Mr. Richmond was joined by his brother Edwin and together they purchased their father's interest in the business. The brothers added to their acres and extended the business, being associated together for fifteen years, Edwin acting as manager of the nursery and local trade for ten years, while Joseph W. traveled with a force of salesmen in Illinois, Iowa, Indiana and Michigan.

Following the death of his brother Edwin, in December, 1880, Mr. Richmond remained at home, giving personal attention to local affairs and trusting the out- side trade entirely to agents. He was joined by his younger brother, Francis E. and together they purchased the interest left by the deceased brother and were associated in the business for two years, when Joseph W. became sole proprietor. They had previously purchased the homestead at the foot of Oakwood avenue, and in the division of the property, Francis E took that as his share, while Joseph W. kept the nursery.

It was during the one season spent in traveling through Michigan, that Mr. Richmond met in Saginaw, at her father's home, Clara Mclellan, to whom he was married May 25, 1881. She is a daughter of Benjamin and Emeline (Palmer) Mclellan and was born on the 26th of November, 1854, in Saginaw. She was educated in the Saginaw high school, was two years a student at the Michigan State Normal school at Ypsilanti and studied one year at Wellesley College, Massachusetts. While in the east, she visited the birthplace of her father in Thornton, Grafton county, New Hampshire. He was born October 18, 1813, the youngest son of John Mclellan (1742-1817), a native of Perth- shire, Scotland. On coming to America in 1774, John McLellan settled in Thorn- ton and continued a respected citizen of the old Granite state till his death. He married Dorothy Varnum, of Dracut, Massachusetts, a descendant of George and Sarah (Langton) Varnum, who came from England about 1635, and settled at Ipswich, (Agawam), Massachusetts, and whose descendants served with dis- tinction in the Revolutionary war. Dorothy Varnum's mother was Sarah Coburn, five of whose relatives participated in the siege of Boston. Mrs. Richmond's father, Benjamin Mclellan, went to Michigan in 1834, Saginaw then being but an Indian trading post, and he lived to see it develop by means of the lumber and. salt industries into the third city in the state, surrounded by a rich agri- cultural country. He married February 12, 1845, Emeline Palmer, of Livonia, New York, a descendant of the John Palmer, who received a grant of land in

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HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY

1667 at Greenwich, Connecticut, many of whose descendants served in the Revolutionary war and their sons likewise being patriots in the war of 1812.

After their marriage and a short visit at Niagara Falls and Watkins Glen, Mr. and Mrs. Richmond began housekeeping at Prospect Hill, which has ever since been their home. They have two children: Mildred Ella Richmond, born October 21, 1888, a graduate of the Geneseo high school of the class of 1907 and a student at the University of Michigan of the class of 1911; and Warren McLellan Richmond, born July 5, 1895, a member of the Geneseo high school of the class of 1913.

Mr. Richmond has always been interested in horticulture and is a local au- thority on matters pertaining to fruit and plant industry. He is a member of the National Association of Nurserymen. He has always been a republican, following in the political footsteps of his father, but has never been an office seeker. Like his father, he has also advocated the cause of temperance through- out his entire life, and in the nursery business has always taken the stand that he did not care for the trade that had to be bought with whisky or by treating. He is a member of Stewart Lodge, No. 92, A. F. & A. M. He has led a busy and useful life, has ever been found honorable, reliable and progressive in busi- ness and courteous and genial in his social relations, and he thus enjoys in large measure the confidence and regard of those with whom he has been brought in contact.

EDWIN ADELBERT RICHMOND.

Edwin Adelbert Richmond, for fifteen years a partner in the business at Prospect Hill Nursery and a respected citizen of Geneseo, was a son of Isaiah and Eliza A. (Fenner) Richmond and was born at Scituate, Rhode Island, Octo- ber 4, 1842. He came with his father's family to Illinois in 1844 and to Geneseo in 1854, which continued to be his home until his decease in December, 1880.

At the outbreak of the Civil war, the spirit of patriotism inherited from Revolutionary ancestors asserted itself and he enlisted as a private in Company B, Ninth Illinois Cavalry, Ransom Harrington, captain, Colonel Brackett's regi- ment, his older brother, Jeremiah, being a member of the same company. He was afterward transferred to the commissary department.

After the close of the war, he married on the 28th of November, 1868, Juliett Pratt, a daughter of Jared Pratt, of North Middleboro, Massachusetts, bringing his bride to the home at Prospect Hill, where their three children were born: Mabel Pratt, born August 6, 1870, who married Adoniram Faunce, of Brockton, Massachusetts, and has one daughter, Ruth; Ray R., born December 19, 1873, who married Mabel Florence Gammons, of Brockton, Massachusetts, and has one son, Warren; Edwin, Jr., born in April, 1876, who married Sadie Church, and has one son, Stanford Church.

Mr. Richmond was associated with his brother Joseph in conducting and extending the business of Prospect Hill Nursery, he managing all local affairs till his death on the 13th of December, 1880. After her husband's decease, Mrs. Richmond returned with her little family to North Middleboro, her girlhood

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HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY

home, and there her children were educated. Mr. Richmond was a stirring, progressive, business man of strict integrity, and his genial nature made him a favorite among his fellow citizens. He was a member of Stewart Lodge, A. F. & A. M.

FRANCIS EUGENE RICHMOND.

Francis Eugene Richmond, the youngest son of Isaiah and Eliza Angell (Fenner) Richmond, of Geneseo, was born at Groveland, Illinois, August 17, 1847. He came to Geneseo with his father's family in December, 1855, and here pursued his education, continuing his course until he became a high school student. He afterward engaged in teaching school for several years in the vicinity of Geneseo and in December, 1880, on the death of his brother Edwin, became a partner in the nursery business with his brother Joseph. Two years later, however, he withdrew from the firm.

On the 29th of January, 1881, Francis E. Richmond was married to Miss Mary Amelia Hopkins, of Woodstock, Connecticut, who was born November 25, 1853. They lived for two years at the Prospect Hill nursery and then removed to the Richmond homestead on Oakwood avenue in Geneseo. They became the parents of four children, Winnefred Eliza, Abbie Louise, Leila May and Francis Eugene, Jr.

Mr. Richmond was a member of Stewart Lodge, No. 92, A. F. & A. M. He was highway commissioner for about ten years and at all times was interested in the welfare and progress of the community. He met death by accidental drowning, June 23, 1898.

THE UNION NATIONAL BANK.

The Union National Bank of Kewanee was organized December 29, 1880, and began business February 1, 1881. It was organized with a capital of fifty thousand dollars and a surplus of one thousand dollars. Its first directors were : Thomas P. Pierce, William H. Lyman, Stephen Bull, Rollie F. Wiley, Mi- chael C. Quinn, William W. Stevens and Andrew F. Bigelow; while from that number the following were chosen as the first officers: Thomas P. Pierce, presi- dent ; William H. Lyman, vice president ; Hosmer L. Kellogg, cashier; and Rollie F. Wiley, assistant cashier. In January, 1884, the capital stock was increased twenty-five thousand dollars with five thousand dollars surplus. The present directors are: Thomas P. Pierce, William H. Lyman, N. W. Tibbetts, Fred Gun- ther, John Bowen, Thomas F. Oliver and B. F. Baker. The present officers are : Thomas P. Pierce, president; William H. Lyman and N. W. Tibbetts, vice presi- dents; W. W. Calhoun, cashier; L. L. Priestman and W. T. Pierce, assistant cashiers.

The Union National Bank owns its business block at the corner of Tremont and Second streets. This is a two-story, brown-stone structure, twenty-one by

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HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY

seventy-five feet, with basement, and was erected in 1899. In connection with the commercial business they conduct a savings department on which interest is paid at the rate of three per cent. The report of the bank made September 15, 1909, showed :

LIABILITIES.

Capital Stock

$ 75,000.00

Surplus Undivided Profits

144,983.83

National Bank Notes Outstanding

50,000.00

Deposits

579,088.98

849,072.81

RESOURCES.

Loans-Bonds, etc.

$621,001.67

U. S. Bonds

50,000.00

Banking House and Real Estate

25,150.00

Due from Banks

104,989.38

Cash on hand

45,431.76

5% Fund at Washington

2,500.00

$849,072.81

OLAF ALLGREN.

Olaf Allgren successfully follows farming on eighty acres of land, which he owns in Weller township. As the name indicates, he is a native of Sweden, his birth having occurred in Helsingland, August 25, 1847. His parents, Lars and Christine (Olson) Allgren, the latter a daughter of Eric Olson, spent their en- tire lives in that country. The father, who followed farming as a life work, died when seventy-two years of age, and the mother passed away some twenty years ago.

Olaf Allgren was reared on the home farm and attended school in his native land. About the time he attained his majority in the spring of 1868, he set sail for America, believing that he might enjoy better advantages in the new world. than could be had in Sweden. He worked at farm labor in Henry county until 1882, and during these years prospered, so that he was then enabled to purchase eighty acres in Weller township, located two miles southeast of Bishop Hill. He has placed his fields in a good state of cultivation and annually gathers rich crops while in 1894 he erected a nice country home and he has built substantial barns and other outbuildings on his place so that it is one of the best improved tracts in this section of the county.

Mr. Allgren was married in Bishop Hill on the 8th of August, 1874, to Miss Mary Bloom, a daughter of Peter N. Bloom, who came here in 1847 with a colony of his countrymen There are one son and three daughters of this mar- riage: Lillie E., the wife of Fred Spiegel, a farmer of Cambridge township; Elnora O., the wife of John Spiegel, also farming in that township; Gilbert E.,

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HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY

who assists his father on the home farm; and Lulu M., a young lady, also under the parental roof.

Mr Allgren is a stanch democrat, believeing firmly in the principles of that party and taking an active interest in all public affairs. While not accepting some of the dogmas of religious bodies and uniting with no church, he nevertheless lives an upright life, basing his actions and conduct upon the principles of the Golden Rule.

OTIS W. HOIT.

Otis W. Hoit needs no introduction to the readers of this volume, for as the president of the First National Bank of Geneseo and also as a representative far- mer of the county, he is well known. Through the long years of his residence here he has been active in cooperating in many movements for the public good and his business affairs have largely been of a character that have contributed to general development and improvement.

Mr. Hoit was born on section 24, Edford township, Henry county, May 24, 1857, the only child of Levi Wilson and Sarah E. (French) Hoit, and was reared in his father's home. He has spent his entire life in Henry county and the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculutrist early became familiar to him. His preliminary knowledge of books was acquired in the district schools and he afterward attended the Geneseo high school, from which he was graduated in the class of 1875. In the fall of the same year he entered the University of Illinois, where he pursued a four years' course and was graduated in 1879. Thus well equipped by liberal education for life's practical and responsible duties he began farming in partnership with his father and the association was main- tained for a year. His father then removed to Geneseo, and Otis W. Hoit contin- ued to operate the home farm. He is still actively engaged in the development and further improvement of a valuable property of four hundred acres, which in its neat and thrifty appearance indicates his careful supervision and practical methods. He also owns other land in this county, together with farm land in Iowa. For the past seven years he has made his home in Geneseo, but yet super- vises his agricultural interests, although he is now acting as president of the First National Bank.

On the IIth of September, 1879, Mr. Hoit, was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Elizabeth Stewart, a daughter of John P. Stewart, of Champaign county, Illinois. Their only child died in infancy and Mrs. Hoit passed away May 19, 1885. On the IIth of October, 1888, Mr. Hoit was again married, his second union being with Miss Henrietta M. P. Schroeder, a daughter of Henry Schroeder. There is one son of the second marriage, Maurice, who was born June 23, 1893. Mrs. Hoit was born in Edford township, Henry county, but her parents were natives of Germany. They became early settlers of Rock Island county, Illi- nois, and also established their home in Henry county when there were but comparatively few residents within its borders. They now live in Geneseo.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Hoit hold membership in the Congregational church. He is earnest in his advocacy of the principles of the republican party and has

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HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY

served as chairman of the county central committee. He was mayor of Gene- seo for one term, and was township supervisor for eight or ten years. Over the record of his official career there falls no shadow of wrong or suspicion of evil. His course has been characterized by unfaltering fidelity to duty, and his sense of commercial honor is equally strict and exacting.

HIRAM TOWSLEY LAY.

Fifty-five years ago Hiram T. Lay became connected with the mercantile in- terests of Kewanee and almost continuously throughout the intervening period he has been identified with the business interests of the city. His record is such as any man might be proud to possess, for he has never made engagements that he has not fulfilled nor incurred obligations that he has not met. In the legitimate channels of trade he has sought his success, placing his dependence upon the substantial qualities of industry, perseverance and the wise utilization of oppor- tunities.

Mr. Lay was born in Southport, now Kenosha, Wisconsin, on the 16th of January, 1839, his parents being Nelson and Maryette Lay. At the usual age he entered the common schools of his native city, which has the right to boast of having the first free schools organized west of the New England states. In the fall of 1854 he came to Kewanee, being then a young man of sixteen years, and entered the mercantile establishment of his father as clerk. Since that time he has been active in commercial lines. His clerical experience was with his father, who conducted a dry-goods store at the corner of Main and Second streets. He was afterward with the firms of Lay & Tenny; Howard & Tenny; Tenny, Hardy & Company ; Little, Perkins & Company; and R. A. Tenny, the assignee of C. N. Cutter; Lay & McIntyre; and of Parker, Galloway & Company. In the winter of 1858-59 he pursued a business course in the well known Bryant & Stratton Business College.

After a brief experience in connection with mining interests in Colorado in 1860, Mr. Lay returned to Kewanee and joined his father in the grain business, and in the spring of 1864 entered the service of the United States as first lieuten- ant of Company H, One Hundred and Thirty-fourth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, with which he served until the expiration of his term. On his return from the army he entered the employ of H. C. Parker, and in January, 1865, accepted a clerkship in J. R. Payson's general insurance agency, in Chicago, there remaining for a short time. In February, 1865, he entered the employ of Elias Lyman and in March, 1867, was admitted to a partnership in the business, the firm name be- coming Lyman & Lay. W. H. Lyman was taken into the firm known as Lyman, Lay & Lyman in 1874. The name was changed to Lay & Lyman in 1883 when the senior partner retired. This business is the outgrowth of the pioneer dry-goods house of Willard & Morse, who were succeeded by Parrish & Faulkner, while later the business was owned by Willard & Lyman, then by Lyman & Trask, and afterward by Elias Lyman. Mr. Lay disposed of his interests in the mercantile firm now Lyman-Lay Company in January, 1905, to his two sons, Frank M. and

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Henry H. The various real estate interests of Lay & Lyman remain intact, to which Mr. Lay gives his personal attention. The business of the present is now of an extensive and important character, a large and well selected line of goods being carried, while the business methods of the house have secured to them an extensive patronage. Mr. Lay was one of the organizers of the First National Bank and was also one of its directors for two years. He also assisted in the organization of the Union National Bank and his initiative spirit has been a valu- able element in the business development of the community.

In November, 1861, Mr. Lay was united in marriage to Miss Martha Morrill, of Danville, Vermont, the wedding being celebrated at Malden, Bureau county, Illinois, and unto them have been born the following named : Corliss W., Maryette, the wife of R. C. Morse; Frank M., who is manager of the Boss Manufacturing Company ; Louise, the wife of Xenophon Caverno; and Henry H., all residents of Kewanee.

For many years Mr. Lay has been an active worker in the Congregational church, his energy as well as his money having been given liberally for the pro- motion of its interests. He is justly accorded a place among the prominent and representative men of Kewanee, for he belongs to that class of men whose enter- prising spirit is used not alone for their own benefit. He also advances the general good and promotes public prosperity by his ably managed individual interests. He has excellent ability as an organizer, forms his plans readily and is determined in their execution. This enables him to conquer obstacles which deter many a man and it has been one of the salient features in his success.

CARL EDWARD SWANSON.

Numbered among the younger citizens of Munson township who are seek- ing their fortunes in agricultural lines is Carl Edward Swanson who, since his father's retirement in 1908, has been operating the homestead farm, his efforts in this line of activity being crowned with most gratifying success. Born in Atkinson township, Henry county, Illinois, on the 17th of August, 1881, he is the son of Andrew and Christina (Swanson) Swanson, both natives of Sweden who are now living retired in Geneseo. Further mention is made of them on another page of this volume.

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History of Henry County, Illinois, Volume II, Part 48

Author: Kiner, Henry L., 1851- Publication date: 1910 Publisher: Chicago : The Pioneer Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1138

Author: Kiner, Henry L., 1851-
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago : The Pioneer Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1138