USA > Illinois > Henry County > History of Henry County, Illinois, Volume II > Part 61
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Mr. McHenry was united in marriage in 1892 to Miss Nora Darin, who was born in Phenix township, November 13, 1863, and was a daughter of John Jack- son and Eleanor (Clark) Darin, a sketch of whose lives appears in another part of this volume. Three children have been born to them: Bessie Helen, who is attending the Geneseo high school; Tella Ada, who has just finished the course in the district school; and Albert Burdette, who is still a pupil in the local schools.
Mr. McHenry is entirely self-made, for from his early manhood he was com- pelled to rely upon his own efforts. He has still some of the best years of his life before him, but even now he has attained to a position in which he may enjoy many of the comforts of life. This progress has been made possible through the habits of industry and economy, in which his wife has aided him greatly.
Mindful that one of his uncles on his father's side, William McHenry, was shot down in the ranks of the Union army during a severe battle, and that another uncle, on his mother's side, Stadden Anderson, was also in the Civil war, he has given his support in political matters to the republican party but not being a seeker for office has served the community only as a member of the school board.
WILLIAM O. ALLISON.
Oxford township takes justifiable pride in William O. Allison, who stands in the forefront among her estimable, substantial and representative citizens. He was born January 28, 1855, in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. His parents were Andrew and Susanna (Dible) Allison, the father being of Scotch ancestry and the mother of German, but both born in America. The father, who enlisted in the One Hundred and Eleventh Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, saw some of the hardest service of the Civil war. He was with Grant at Appo-
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mattox and witnessed the surrender of Lee at the close of the conflict. In his three years' service he escaped, either wound or prison, although participating in a number of hard fought battles and was present at the grand review in Wash- ington, D. C., at the close of the war. He was a farmer by vocation and his success therein reflected his intelligence. He died in August, 1907, but the mother of our subject is still living on the old homestead in Pennsylvania.
William O. Allison spent the first twenty-one years of his life amid the inter- esting surroundings of his father's estate in Pennsylvania and received his education in the district schools of Westmoreland county. In 1876, however, he decided to visit new scenes and came to Alpha in Oxford township, Henry county, Illinois, where he found employment with various farmers in the locality. Two years later he married and removed to the property of his wife's father, an un- usually valuable farm of two hundred acres adjoining the village of Alpha, where he has ever since resided. He is a very extensive landholder for he has one hun- dred and sixty acres additional on the Knox county border, and six hundred and forty acres in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada. The soil of the latter is particularly fitted for the raising of wheat and in fact, for every crop raised in Illinois with the exception of corn. It would be difficult to find anywhere a more enlightened agriculturist or one more alert to acquaint himself with every suc- cessful new experiment in his line. His prosperity is by no means an accident but the natural result of the application of good sense and brain power to the matter in hand. Mr. Allison was also one of the promoters of the Woods Broom Company, which for some years did a large and prosperous business in the manu- facture of brooms. He was president of the foregoing and has been active in the promotion of other industries and ever a valuable adjunct to the progress and development of the community. He is now retired from all active business af- fairs except the supervision of his real-estate interests.
The marriage of Mr. Allison and Miss Phylinda J. Patterson was celebrated December 17, 1878. Her parents were O. H. and Margaret (Taze) Patterson of Oxford township. The former came from New York state in the early days, and upon locating in Illinois, was first engaged in the manufacture of carpenter tools, but later turned his attention to farming. He was extremely fortunate in coming when he did for he bought land for one dollar and a quarter an acre that is now worth two hundred and twenty-five. The Taze family, of which the mother was a member, were originally of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, but came west in pioneer days. Both of these estimable people have now passed on to their re- ward, the mother dying in 1893 and the father two years later. They had but one child-Mrs. Allison. Five sons have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Alli- son. Ira D. is married and resides on the home farm; Harry O. is a professor in the State University at Urbana, Illinois; Fred G. is a biological chemist, also in the State University, both of these hold state appointments; Raymond A. is a graduate of the high school at Alpha and now a student in Knox College. The youngest, Merritt W., is in attendance at the Alpha high school. The three eldest sons all received their early education in the Alpha schools, and after a course at Knox College at Galesburg, entered the State University and graduated together in the class of 1906. Ira D. married Miss Edna Hoff, of Chicago Heights, a daugh- ter of Thomas Hoff. Also a graduate of the State University, she held a place in
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its faculty for two years as instructor in German and taught for a time in the schools of Chicago Heights. Their marriage was celebrated in June, 1906, and it is in the plan of these young people to live upon the home farm and devote their attention to scientific farming.
Mr. Allison gives unfaltering loyalty to the republican party and, although never an office seeker, is a man thoroughly posted on current events, whose opin- ion in public affairs is reverenced by his associates. That he is a firm believer in the best education possible is manifest from the training of his sons. It is consequently a matter for general congratulation that for years Mr. Allison has been willing to give his time and service as the president of the Alpha school board, which office he at present fills. He has been instrumental in securing for Alpha one of the best and most thoroughly equipped school buildings in the coun- try. The Allison family hold membership in the Baptist church, in which the head of the house has for twenty years or more held the office of deacon, while he acted as superintendent of the Sunday school for fifteen years The Baptist church, one of the finest edifices in the county, was built while Mr. Allison held the office of trustee, and it is to be seen that his Christianity is by no means of the passive sort. He is supremely fortunate in the possession of a life companion whose aims are akin to his own. Mrs. Allison is a woman of cultivation, devoted to home and family, but finding time for outside duty. She also has been for many years a valued Sunday-school worker.
In short Mr. Allison is a splendid exponent of progress, as for instance in his own employment of crop rotation and fertilization which has made his land as productive today as it was thirty years ago. His sons share in this spirit. The second, Harry O., is recognized as an expert judge of stock, his opinion being greatly sought. He was one of the three experts selected from the state of Illi- nois to judge stock at the St. Louis Exposition, and also at the International Stock Show in Chicago. The Allison farm is not only one of the best in the country as far as soil and productiveness are concerned, but it is also one of the most highly improved to be found in any locality whatsoever. It is well drained and well fenced, and the residence, barns and other farm buildings are all modern in ar- rangement and completeness, the handsome residence possessing all the modern conveniences. This is in truth a model farm with a place for everything and everything in its place, an ornament and object of pride in Oxford township.
PAUL LAWRENCE JOHNSON.
Paul Lawrence Johnson is one of the prominent men of Bishop Hill whose business methods in the conduct of a hardware store of which he is proprietor commend him to the confidence and support of the general public. Energetic and enterprising, he seeks success along well defined lines of trade and commerce. A native son of Bishop Hill, he was born June 22, 1861. His father, John B. John- son, long known as the giant of the colony, was born in Obgermanland, Sweden, in 1814, and came to this country with a band of Jansenists who established the
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Bishop Hill colony. While the colony existed in its original form he engaged in wagon making, but when village organization was adopted he turned his atten- tion to agricultural pursuits, continuing in the work of the fields until his death, which occurred in 1891, when he was seventy-seven years of age. His size and physical strength when he was in his prime won him large renown, for he was six feet four inches in height and it is chronicled that at one time he lifted a dead weight of thirteen hundred and sixty-five pounds. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Brita Johnson, was born in Bolnas, Helsingland, Sweden, in 1827. She crossed the Atlantic at the same time as did Mr. Johnson, becoming a member of the Bishop Hill colony, and died in this village in 1903 at the age of seventy- six years.
Paul L. Johnson was educated in the Bishop Hill schools and through private instruction in the higher branches, especially in mathematics. He worked upon the home farm until 1882, when he married and at the same time started in busi- ness life for himself. Taking up the occupation to which he had been reared, he at first rented a tract of land but later purchased a farm. For eight years he car- ried on general agricultural pursuits and in that time cultivated three hundred and twenty acres. In 1890, however, he sold his farm property and removed to Bishop Hill where he opened a blacksmith and general repair shop, for the success which he had previously enjoyed in conducting a repair shop while engaged in farming led him to the belief that he might win a still larger measure of prosperity if his entire attention were given to the work. A short time after his removal to the village he extended the scope of his business by adding a small line of tinware and gradually increased his stock to include hardware, stoves and kindred lines until today he has one of the best equipped stores of the kind in the county, carrying an extensive stock of farm implements, heavy hardware, tinware, clocks and silver- ware. Acting upon his motto "What you don't see, ask for," he has usually been able to supply the wants of his customers and the business, established upon a small scale, has gradually developed in the past two decades until his sales are estimated at fifteen thousand dollars a year.
In addition to his store and business property Mr. Johnson also owns other real estate including two dwellings in the village. His own home, in the midst of spacious grounds on the south side of the village, is frequently pointed out to vis- itors as being one of the handsomest in this part of the township. Mr. Johnson, displaying marked skill in cabinet-making, has designed and constructed many of the admirable and attractive pieces of furniture and the interior decorations which adorn his home. The dining room in particular is worthy of note, being entirely finished in black walnut which was taken from the pews and gallery of the old Colony church. The house is equipped with all modern conveniences, even to a private gas plant which Mr. Johnson installed, and its location is a most attrac- tive one.
Mr. Johnson is also well known because of the merit he has displayed along literary and musical lines. For a number of years he was the Bishop Hill cor- respondent for the Galva Standard, and his contributions to that paper, which are well remembered for their fearless, plain-spoken style, greatly increased its subscription list in his section of the county. Ever a lover of music, he plays sev- eral instruments, principally for his own amusement. For some years, however,
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he was organist of the Colony church and has been musical director of the Swe- dish Methodist Episcopal church, leading its choir on special occasions.
Mr. Johnson has been married twice. In 1882, at Bishop Hill, he wedded Miss Amanda Johnson, a daughter of Martin Johnson, who in his day was one of the leading residents here. Mrs. Johnson died in 1887, at the age of twenty-four years, leaving three sons, Roswell M., Clarence R. and Leroy F., who are now twenty- six, twenty-four and twenty-two years of age, respectively. In 1890 Mr. Johnson married Miss Emma A. Olson, a daughter of Olaf Olson, now deceased, who was a farmer of Henry county and one of the veterans of the Civil war. He was born in Alfta, Sweden, July 13, 1843, and died at his home south of Bishop Hill, April 19, 1904. He came to America with his parents in 1849, the journey from the old country taking four months. Mrs. Mary Olson, the mother of Mrs. Johnson, was born December 27, 1846, and was the first white child born at Bishop Hill. Both Mr. and Mrs. Olson were long members of the Bishop Hill colony. Mrs. Johnson was born May 19, 1868, and acquired her education in the common schools and in the Galva high school. She afterward engaged in teaching for several years prior to her marriage, being employed as primary teacher in the Bishop Hill school for three years.
Politically Mr. Johnson is allied with the democratic party, being strongly op- posed to the tariff. In 1888 he made a strong race for the position of county clerk. Henry county is normally republican by a majority of three thousand, but on the occasion of his candidacy he was defeated by a majority of only four hun- dred and fifty votes, his large support being an indication of the high regard in which he is held, even by those who differ from him in their political sympathies. He has held all of the village offices, including that of president of the board, and is now one of the trustees, having continuously served on the board, with the exception of two years, since becoming a resident of the town. He is also school treasurer of Weller township at the present time. In all the relations of life, business, political or social, he has maintained such a high standard of honor and integrity that he has won the respect, good will and confidence of those who, through daily intercourse with him, have come to know him well.
HON. CHARLES C. WILSON.
Hon. Charles C. Wilson has for fifty years been a member of the bar and at one time was chief justice of Utah. He became identified with the Kewanee bar in 1860 and has been continuously a resident of the city since that time. He is the dean of the legal profession in Henry county, and still engages actively in the practice of law, his clear judgment enabling him to give sage advice to younger members of the profession. Mr. Wilson is a native of Massachusetts, born on the 18th of September, 1827. His parents were Enoch and Abigail (Richardson) Wil- son, the former a native of Wrentham, Massachusetts, and the latter of Portland, Maine. Judge Wilson was reared to manhood in the state of his nativity and in its schools acquired his early education. He came to Illinois in 1850 and purchased land in Stark county, after which he took up the occupation of farming, devoting
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his attention to agricultural pursuits until 1854, when he abandoned the plow and began preparation for the bar. He continued the study of law until 1859 and was then admitted to practice, after which he located in Bureau county, Illinois. In a few months, however, he removed to Kewanee, then a small village, and has since regarded it as his home, although for a brief period he was in the west. In 1864 he was elected district attorney for the fifth judcial district and served for four years. He was then appointed chief justice of the supreme court of Utah and sat upon the bench there until the latter part of 1870, when he resigned and returned to Kewanee. Judge Wilson has great respect for the dignity of judicial place and power and no man ever presided in a court with more regard for his en- vironments. As a result of that personal characteristic the proceedings were al- ways orderly upon the part of every one-audience, bar, and the officers from the highest to the lowest. His opinions are fine specimens of judicial thought, always clear, logical, and as brief as the character of the case will permit. He never en- larged beyond the necessity of the legal thought in order to indulge in the drapery of literature. His mind during the entire period of his course at the bar and on the bench has been directed in the line of his profession and his duty.
In 1850, just prior to his removal to Illinois, Judge Wilson was married to Miss Maria N. Benham, a native of Vermont and a daughter of Judge Benham, of Chittenden county, that state. The marriage was celebrated in Massachusetts and was blessed with seven children: Jennie M., Abbie, Laura M., Charles E., Cora, George and Edward.
On the organization of the republican party Judge Wilson became a stanch champion of the cause and has since been loyal thereto. He has always been in- terested in municipal affairs, giving his aid and cooperation to every movement for the general good and for one term he served as mayor of Kewanee. He was one of the organizers and the first to give financial backing to what has since become the Kewanee Boiler Company and branch of the National Tube Company in Ke- wanee. He was also one of the organizers of the Boss Manufacturing Company in this city. Throughout the long period of his residence in this city he has ever enjoyed in the fullest degree the respect and confidence of his fellowmen and his worth as a man and citizen are widely acknowledged.
JAMES P. MCLAUGHLIN.
The home farm of one hundred and twenty acres on section 6, Annawan town- ship, makes constant demands upon the time of James P. Mclaughlin, and the neat, attractive appearance of the place is patent evidence of the skillful and thor- ough methods of farming pursued by him. He was born south of where he now lives, on the same section, June 20, 1872, a son of Patrick and Bridget (Hayes) Mclaughlin. The former was a native of Ireland and was about nineteen years of age when he came to this country. For a few years he worked in New York and there was married to Miss Bridget Hayes, who had come from Ireland as a young woman, in company with her brother Cornelius Hayes. The latter is now a resident of Rock Island, Illinois, but formerly made his home in Geneseo. In
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1866, just after the Civil war, Patrick McLaughlin and his wife came to Illinois. He was a poor man at the time but was able to make the first payment upon eighty acres of land in Annawan township, and from his first wheat harvest obtained enough to complete the purchase. Later he became the owner of two hundred and forty acres on section 6, the same township, and subsequently bought five hundred and twenty acres in Cerro Gordo county, Iowa. He was a man of great industry, enterprise and perseverance, and was endowed with rare good judgment, which played an important part in his success. He was also an exemplary citizen, and when, on the 27th of January, 1907, his life was brought to a close, he was deeply mourned by a large circle of friends. His wife had preceded him to the grave by several years, for she died January 21, 1903. They were the parents of six children. John, who is now about fifty years of age, was engaged in railroad- ing in Rock Island for a time but is now a resident of Chicago. He wedded Miss Agnes McLaughlin, who is not related to him, although having the same name, and they have eight children. Alice died at the age of twenty-five. Mary became the wife of Frank Goodell and they live upon her father's land in Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, where they are rearing their four children. William lives near Ivanhoe, Minnesota. He married first Miss Anna Stowers, by whom he had one child, and there are three children by a second marriage. James P., is the subject of this sketch. Lawrence died at the age of fifteen. Mr. and Mrs. Patrick McLaughlin were devout members of the Catholic church.
In the district schools of Henry county, James P. Mclaughlin received a fair education, which was supplemented by practical training on the farm, for he was reared at home and there lived until he was about eighteen years of age. He then undertook to provide for his own support, working for others and traveling until 1892, when he secured employment as brakeman on a railroad. In 1894 he mar- ried and worked on a farm in Annawan township until 1896 when he removed to Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, where he again worked by the month. Later he went to Cameron, Iowa, where for a year and a half he found employment in an elevator, and then engaged in draying in Rockwell, Iowa. In 1899 he returned to Henry county, Illinois, and after working for his father for a time, located in Kewanee, where he was employed as a switchman on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad for the next year. The next twelve months he spent in the employ of the Fuhe Company, after which he removed to Geneseo, living there until the spring of 1908, when he located on the farm where he now resides. It is a tract of one hundred and twenty acres, which was willed to him by his father, is well improved and maintained under a high state of cultivation, so that excellent results are obtained from tilling the soil. Mr. Mc- Laughlin has been energetic, industrious and persevering, and in consequence has obtained a gratifying success, not only from growing cereals but also from raising stock, a phase of his business activities to which he is giving more and more time.
On the 15th of May, 1894, in Atkinson, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. McLaughlin and Miss Alberta Heath, of the village of Annawan. She was born there May 22, 1872, and is a daughter of James Darsie Heath. The former is a retired painter and decorator of Annawan and was born in Fayette county, Penn- sylvania, June 8, 1844, his parents being Edward and Margaret (Snively) Heath.
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Edward Heath was probably a native of the same county, but he died when his son was about five years of age. His wife was born in Allegheny county, Penn- sylvania, received a good education in English and German and later taught school, being so engaged when she became acquainted with Mr. Heath. To them were born two children, but the other, Christopher, died in childhood. James Darsie Heath continued to live with his mother in Pennsylvania until he was fifteen, when, his mother having married Samuel Galley, he came to Illinois with her and his stepfather, locating in Stark county, which was Mr. Galley's home. There he lived until July 24, 1862, when he enlisted in Company A, Seventy-second Illinois Volunteer Infantry. The company was sent to camp at Cottage Grove, Chicago, and as the regiment was recruited largely from the Board of Trade of that city, it was commonly called the First Board of Trade throughout the service. From camp it was sent to Cairo, Illinois, thence to Paducah, Kentucky, which it reached September 6, 1862. There Mr. Heath was taken ill and was confined to the hos- pital there and also in Columbus, Kentucky, whither the regiment had been sent. When he was recovering he was transferred to the convalescent camp at La Grange, Tennessee, which he left December II, 1862, to join his company at Holly Springs, for he believed he was ready for duty, although in reality he was not. After his return to the scene of activity he was in Grant's command and did guard duty for a provision train, participated in some skirmishes, guarded train into Memphis and part of the way back and then watched the railway a few miles east of Memphis. He was in the battles of Raymond, Mississippi, Champion's Hill, Big Black, took part in the expedition along the Yazoo Pass and was in the siege of Vicksburg. He then went to Natchez, Mississippi, and back to Vicksburg, where he remained until October 29, 1864, when he was sent to Nashville, Ten- nessee. The regiment at one time was ordered to join Sherman on his march to the sea, but the troops were unable to connect with him because they met Hood at Columbia, Tennessee, and then went to Nashville, which they left on the second day of the fight in order to follow Hood to the Tennessee river. Then they took ship to Eastport, Mississippi, thence went to Mobile, Alabama, participated in the siege of Spanish Fort, in the battle of Fort Blakeley, and were sent to Montgomery, Alabama, and later to Union Springs. In August they returned to Vicksburg and later went to Chicago, where Mr. Heath received his honorable discharge with the rank of corporal. When he left the army he took up his residence in Stark county, Illinois, where he began to serve an apprenticeship as a painter and dec- orator. A year and a half later he was able to take contracts, and in 1870 he came to Henry county, locating in the village of Annawan, where he has since resided and where he is well known, for he was police magistrate for about twenty-two years and in 1880 took the census of the township. He is also a notary public.
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