USA > Illinois > Henry County > History of Henry County, Illinois, Volume II > Part 67
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Mr. Fred U. White was reared in the place of his nativity and obtained his preliminary education in the public schools, being graduated from the Geneseo
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high school in 1875. During the following three years he was engaged in teach- ing and subsequently entered the University of Illinois, while later he spent one term in the School of Languages at Burlington, Vermont. Afterward he again took up the profession of teaching as an instructor in the public schools and was thus engaged until 1882, when he took up his abode in Galva. Here he taught in the grammar room for two years and then became principal of the high school, continuing in that position for three years. During the following two years he acted as principal of the Cambridge schools and in 1889 entered upon the duties of his present position as superintendent of the schools of Galva. Mr. White also was teacher of history at the Illinois State Normal University during the sum- mer terms of 1907 and 1909. The progress made by the schools has been of a substantial and practical character, bringing results that are manifest in the effi- ciency of those who leave the schools to enter upon the active work of life.
On the 5th of August, 1891, Mr. White was united in marriage to Miss Eliza R. Curtiss, a native of Galva and a daughter of Flavius J. and Alvena ( Minor) Curtiss, both of whom were born in New York. Her paternal grandparents were Amasa Sawyer and Rebecca (Gilson) Curtiss, the former a Baptist minister. When Flavius J. Curtiss was only a year old the family removed to Hastings, New York, where he lived until he was thirteen years of age. He then worked at South Butler for two years at a salary of five dollars per month. He next went to work for J. W. Arnold, of Fulton, New York, a carpenter, with whom he remained for three years during which time he learned the trade. His first im- portant work was building the Presbyterian church in conjunction with a Mr. Sage, at Watertown, New York. He afterward worked for one year at his trade in Ogdensburg, New York, and then removed to Cleveland, Ohio, where he attended business college. The following year he became bookkeeper for a mill- ing firm at Birmingham, Ohio. At the age of twenty-five he acted as brakeman and soon afterward as freight conductor from La Porte, Indiana, to Toledo, Ohio. After two years' experience as clerk in dry-goods and grocery lines Mr. Curtiss went west to Rock Island, Illinois, and engaged as salesman for Hoyt & Avery, of Milan. On January 30, 1854, he married Alvena Eliza Minor and in the following March they removed to Galva, where he has since resided. To them were born eight children : Byron Fay and Cyrus Yale, who died in infancy; Ella Josephine; Eliza Rebecca, now Mrs. F. U. White; Frankie Adalade, now Mrs. Lee G. Kratz; Byron Minor; Lora Bell, who married J. W. Wood, now deceased; and Leon Homer, who died July 10, 1900, at the age of twenty-seven years. At Galva Mr. Curtiss engaged in the furniture and undertaking business which he continued until 1882, passing through the ordeal of being burned out, an experience common to many of the early business men of Galva. He was Galva's first village clerk, which office he filled continuously with the exception of one year for the period of sixteen years. His faithfulness and strict integrity may be known from the fact that it was during the Civil war period and the issue of the American Railway bonds, when the office was one of especial responsibil- ity. His wife passed away in 1895 at the age of sixty-four years and nine months. Mr. Curtiss maintains his interest in public affairs, though advanced years now prevent active participation therein. He still resides in Galva and has
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an extensve circle of warm friends throughout the community in which he has now lived for more than half a century.
In his political views Mr. White is a stanch republican, being convinced that the principles of that party are most conducive to good government. He is now serving as president of the Galva library board and is also the chief executive officer of the Henry County Historical Association.
ERIC WESTERLUND.
Eric Westerlund is now living retired at his country home in Osco township, Henry county, Illinois, where for many years he was closely identified with agri- cultural pursuits, still owning two hundred acres situated on sections 33 and 28, and ninety acres in Andover township. As the name indicates he is a native of Sweden, having been born June 16, 1836, in Hassala, near Berge Byb Nora, Helsingland, a son of Eric A. and Elizabeth Westerlund, who with six of their children started for America about 1850. The mother and the youngest child, who was three years old, never reached their destination, having died en route and were buried at sea. On the same vessel a brother of our subject's father brought his wife and three children to the new world. They were eleven weeks and three days crossing the Atlantic and landed in New York. Although they had intended to make their home in Pennsylvania, through the influence of a Swedish minister who had a brother in Knox county, Illinois, they were persuaded to continue their journey westward. They traveled as far as Andover township, Henry county, where their possessions were unloaded, for the father's financial resources were exhausted and he was compelled to seek immediate employment, which he secured by renting a farm. In the family were the following children. Andrew, the eldest son, remained in Sweden and his descendants are now living in that country. Margaret married William Stolt, by whom she has seven chil- dren, their home being at Odebolt, Iowa. Jonas resides in Lynn township, Henry county, Illinois, and has four children. Eric is the next in order of birth. Peter lives in Orion, Illinois. Hans became a soldier of the Civil war, during which time his health became impaired and he died near Woodhull, leaving three chil- dren. The father married a second time and before his death had become the owner of eighty acres. He passed away about 1867 or 1868 and his remains were interred in Andover cemetery.
Eric Westerlund of this review, having been born and reared on his father's farm in Sweden, received the advantages of a common school education in his native land, continuing his studies there until he was fourteen years of age, at which time he accompanied his parents on their emigration to the United States. Later, however, he had the privilege of attending school in Henry county for two winter terms. Having been reared to the occupation of farming, he worked out for one year, after which his services were required on the home farm. Thus he remained in his father's employ, his persevering efforts proving effectual in the further cultivation and development of the property, until he became of age.
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On the 7th of February, 1858, occurred the marriage of Mr. Westerlund and Miss Christine Anderson, of Andover township, a daughter of Jonas and Chris- tine (Anderson) Anderson, both of whom were natives of Sweden. Mrs. West- erlund was born on a farm near Hille Socken, Obygeby, Sweden, January 30, 1843, and when she was about six years of age came with her father and mother to the United States, they having been induced to take up their abode in Andover township, this county, on their arrival in New York. She was the third in a family that numbered five children. Andrew, her eldest brother, was taken ill with cholera and was left in a hospital in Chicago, where he died. In the spring of 1850 Mr. Anderson journeyed overland to California, where he met with fair success, but in the following year he returned by the ocean route to Illinois, hav- ing decided in favor of the Prairie state.
In 1863 Mr. Westerlund bought eighty acres of his present farm, paying ten dollars an acre for land that is now worth two hundred. Unto him and his wife have been born six children, namely: Sarah E., the wife of A. E. Anderson, of Andover township, Henry county, by whom she has thirteen children; Emma C., who became the wife of Charles Peterson and died leaving six children; Sophia Josephine, who wedded Ferdinand Lonner, living near Shields, Kansas, their family now numbering eight children; John O., residing at Elliott, Iowa, who is married and has five children; Annie M., now Mrs. Haggland, who re- sides at Essex, Iowa, and in whose family are five children ; and Julius N., whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume.
Mr. Westerlund has been a republican in politics since age conferred upon him the right of franchise and he cast his first presidential ballot for Abraham Lincoln in 1860. He was elected on the republican ticket and served as road commissioner for a number of years. However, he is not a politician in the sense of office seeking, having refused to run for supervisor on the democratic ticket, though urged to do so by his fellow citizens. A school director for many years, his cooperation and substantial aid can always be counted upon to further any movement for the benefit of public school instruction and the cause of edu- cation finds in him a warm friend. Aside from his farms in this county, his landed interests also include property in North Dakota and Colorado, and he is numbered among the prominent and successful agriculturists, whose labors have not only contributed to their individual prosperity but have also been active factors in the development of the state. Mr. Westerlund is accounted one of the esteemed and honored pioneer settlers of Henry county. Both he and his wife are members of the Lutheran church.
GUY ELMER SMITH.
One of the best known firms of Henry county engaged in the breeding of high grade stock is that of Henninger Brothers & Smith, and of it Guy Elmer Smith, of Phenix township, is the junior member. He is a native of that township, born January 24, 1888, and like his partners is still a young man but he brings to the business and its details an enthusiasm that helps to make the results successful.
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He is a son of Allen E. and Tillie (Henninger) Smith. His father was born near Green river in Henry county, April 21, 1861, being a son of Darius and Margaret (Englehof) Smith. Darius Smith was a soldier during the Civil war and dur- ing his service contracted rheumatism, from which he died when only thirty-five years of age. Allen E. Smith died when his son, our subject, was only sixteen years of age, leaving a widow and this one child.
Guy Elmer Smith attended the common schools of his district, but about a year after his father's death he began living on section 30, Phenix township, with his maternal grandfather. His mother is still living. He was taken into partner- ship with his uncles, and the three young men have built up a good business. Mr. Smith takes charge of the exhibits at the various states fairs. In 1908 he took forty head of stock to the South Dakota state fair and had full charge of them.
In politics he is a republican, but like his partner, C. Arthur Henninger, does not take any active part in public affairs, for business makes too heavy claims upon his time and attention. All three young men are sturdy and reliable, and they have not only profited themselves by their operations, but they have taught stockmen what can be accomplished along the lines they are pursuing.
JAMES SADLER.
James Sadler, whose demise occurred on the Ioth of January, 1907, was for many years a prominent representative of the farming and stock-raising interests of Henry county and at his death left an estate comprising three hundred and sixty acres of valuable and productive land on section 18, Wethersfield town- ship. He was born in Yorkshire county, England, on the 14th of April, 1830, his parents being William and Hannah Sadler, who came to this county in 1853 and remained residents of Wethersfield township until called to their final rest. They reared a family of fourteen children, of whom four sons and two daughters yet survive.
James Sadler, who was the seventh in order of birth in his father's family, obtained his education in the schools of his native land. When nineteen years of age he crossed the Atlantic to the United States and, coming direct to Henry county, Illinois, here worked as a farm hand for three years. Subsequently he devoted his attention to the operation of rented land for a few years or until he came into possession of a farm of his own by purchasing a tract of one hundred acres on section 18, Wethersfield township. As time passed and his financial re- sources increased, owing to his well directed energy and capable management, he gradually extended the boundaries of the place by additional purchase until at his death his landed holdings embraced three hundred and sixty acres, which estate is still intact. On this property he erected a handsome residence, and in addition to cultivating the various cereals best adapted to soil and climate he was also engaged in the raising of stock on an extensive scale. He was a large breeder of thoroughbred horses and cattle and made extensive shipments, this branch of his business proving a gratifying source of income to him. Alert, enterprising and energetic, he carried forward to successful completion what-
JAMES SADLER
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ever he undertook and gained an enviable reputation among the leading and respected citizens of the community. He was financially interested in the Ke- wanee Street Railway Company.
On the 13th of November, 1861, in Jefferson county, New York, Mr. Sadler was joined in wedlock to Miss Margaret E. Cassidy, whose birth occurred on board ship enroute from Galway, Ireland, to the United States. Her parents, Michael and Susan Cassidy, took up their abode at Alexandria Bay, Jefferson county, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Sadler became the parents of twelve chil- dren, six sons and six daughters, as follows : Hattie L., the wife of Isaac Morgan, of Kewanee; Myron E., who is engaged in the bottling business at Peoria; Ar- thur C., an electrician residing in Earlville, Illinois ; Anna I., the wife of Freeman May, of Chicago; George E., a real-estate agent of Peoria; Walter T., who is superintendent for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway Company at Galesburg, Illinois; Emory C., who passed away on the 13th of May, 1905; Mary E., who is the wife of Fred Christman and makes her home in Minneapolis, Minnesota ; Nellie J., the wife of Walter B. Crawford, of Galva, Illinois ; William J., a fireman on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway, who lives in Aurora; Eva, the wife of G. A. Sassadeck, of Chicago; and Florence M., at home.
In his political views Mr. Sadler was a stanch republican and, being very fond of reading, always kept well informed on the questions and issues of the day. He served as a school director for several terms and also acted in the capac- ity of road commissioner, discharging his official duties in a prompt and capable manner. In religious faith he was an Episcopalian. His loss was deeply and sincerely mourned by an extensive circle of friends and came as a great blow to his immediate family, for he had ever been a most devoted and loving husband and father. Since his demise Mrs. Sadler has leased the old home farm but still resides on the place with her youngest daughter, Florence. She is well known and highly esteemed throughout the community, her many good traits of heart and mind having won her the regard and friendship of those with whom she has come in contact.
REV. DONAT LOWERY CROWE.
Few members of a community have a larger opportunity of exercising a wider influence for good than have those ordained ministers of the church whose lives are 'devoted unselfishly to the alleviation of the sorrows of others, with physical means or through the solace of the divine word. Among those of Kewanee. whose beneficent work has spread to the representatives of many nationalities here and whose energies have been instrumental in promoting some of the insti- tutions which make for a kindlier care and feeling of man for man is Rev. Donat Lowery Crowe, the pastor of the Visitation parish. He was born in West Troy, New York, June 2, 1862, a son of Donat and Ellen (Burns) Crowe. The father was a native of County Clare, Ireland, and was a civil and topographical engineer by profession, holding the position of superintendent of the Watervliet Arsenal, in Albany county, New York, at the time of the birth of his son, the subject of
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this sketch. His wife was a daughter of William and Ellen (Riordan) Burns, originally from County Cork, Ireland, but highly regarded among the old and wealthy settlers of Oswego county, New York. There Mrs. Crowe's birth occurred April 14, 1832. Among the several children born to her five have devoted themselves to the religious life. Of the sons, besides Father Crowe, Very Rev. Dean J. W. Crowe, M. A., is in Jacksonville, Illinois ; and Rev. J. B. Crowe is associated with St. Stephan's, Chicago. One daughter, Mary, is known as Sister Camilla, of the Order of St. Joseph and resides in St. Louis. The other, Alice, was called Sister Alice Theresa, as a member of the Carmelite order. She died in St. Louis, Missouri, July 16, 1905.
Father Crowe received his early education in the public schools of Oswego, New York, after which he entered upon the long and thorough training that pre- pared him for the priesthood : first at De La Salle Institute, at Toronto, Canada, then St. Joseph College, Teutopolis, Illinois, from which he went to St. Mein- rad's College, Indiana, and finally to Grand Seminary, at Montreal, Canada, at which he was ordained a priest of the Catholic church, May 30, 1885. He was assigned to the diocese of Peoria, of which Bishop Spalding was then in charge, reaching his post of duty, July 16, 1885. He was then sent temporarily to Brimfield, Illinois, where he remained six weeks, after which he was appointed assistant priest to the church of the Immaculate Conception at Streator, Illinois. After having spent eighteen months there he was transferred to Chatsworth, Illinois, and in 1888 was appointed pastor of Piper City and Cullom. At both of those places his was the arduous and difficult task of gathering his congregations together and building churches. But in the two years or so that he had charge of those parishes he accomplished more than that, for he erected a parochial resi- dence at Piper City, and started his parishioners well along upon an independent life. On the 16th of July, 1890, Father Crowe was made pastor of Utica, Illinois, where he remained seven years, in that period building a parochial school and greatly improving the church property. It was on the 16th of September, 1897, that he came to Kewanee, which has since been his charge.
At his advent the church of the Visitation was heavily laden with debt. This he has been able to pay, was instrumental in building St. Francis' Hospital and has maintained a parochial school under the charge of the Dominican sisters, with now an enrollment of four hundred pupils. This undertaking is one of which he may well feel a pardonable pride, for it has attained to a standard of scholarship comparing favorably with that of the public schools, affording the children who attend it thorough instruction in the rudimentary English branches and also training in the fundamental truths of their religion. Partly through donation and partly through wise purchase, Father Crowe has added consider- ably to the church property, thus making the congregation one of the financially stable bodies of the city. His endeavors, however, have not been confined to this English speaking community, for he it was who suggested the wisdom of estab- lishing new parishes for the Belgians and the Poles, and he has been instrumental in procuring the property for the erection of a Catholic church for the benefit of the Lithuanians. Assistants have of course aided him in his work, Rev. M. S. Gildea holding that position at present, and Revs. Pooster, Egan, Fremcken, Heideman, Lyons and Conrads having been his aids in previous years.
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Father Crowe is an accomplished gentleman as well as a noble and efficient pastor, for he speaks the French and German languages as fluently as he does the English, while he is a fine Greek and Latin scholar. Like a true follower in the footsteps of his Master he is devoted to the poor and laboring classes, although he is fitted for and endeavors to minister to all. Essentially a churchman, he works without ceasing to spread the faith and practice of the Catholic church in Kewanee, and not alone his parishoners but the citizens at large have felt his beneficent influence and been the better for it.
WILLIAM M. STEWART.
The name of Stewart is well known in connection with the financial interests of Geneseo and he, of whom we write, is a worthy representative of banking, occupying the position of cashier in the Farmers National. He is one of the native sons of Geneseo, born April 25, 1872. His father was John P. Stewart, for many years one of the most prominent and representative citizens of Henry county. He was born in Rensselaer county, near Albany, New York, November 3, 1835, and he remained a resident of the Empire state until 1856, when, at the age of twenty-one years, he sought the opportunities, freedom and appreciation of the new and growing west, becoming a resident of Geneseo. For several years he was closely and helpfully associated with the educational interests of the county as a teacher in the public schools. He afterward became bookkeeper in the First National Bank when it was located on Main street and when the Farmers National Bank was organized in 1876 he was chosen its first cashier and filled that position of responsibility until his death. He became recognized as one of the most promient representatives of financial interests in the county, was thor- oughly conversant with the banking business in every detail and his uniform courtesy to the patrons of the institution made him one of the most popular cashiers of this part of the state. The only interruption to his business career came through his military service as a Union soldier in the Civil war. He belonged to Company B, Ninth Illinois Cavalry, with which he served from the fall of 1861 until February, 1863, when he was honorably discharged on account of physical disability. He had held the rank of corporal and was most loyal in his allegiance to the cause which he espoused. He was widely recognized as a man of superior culture and refinement, being especially talented in music and taking an active part in promoting the musical organizations in Geneseo for a num- ber of years. He was also prominent as one of the leading vocalists of the city and was a valued member of the Congregational choir for a long period. In other ways he was also accounted one of the most promient citizens of Geneseo, where for forty years he was closely identified with the commercial and material affairs of the city. He was a man of great strength of character and nobility of purpose and his career was one of the strictest honor and integrity. His example constituted an inspiration for those about him and in his death Geneseo lost one of its most highly respected and honored citizens. In various positions of public trust he proved his loyalty to the community, serving as a member of the school
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board, also as township and city treasurer for a number of years. He died December 8, 1906, lacking but a month of being seventy-one years of age. Mrs. Stewart still survives and is well known in the social circles of the city. She attends the Congregational church and like her husband shares in the high regard of all who know her. By her marriage she became the mother of three children, the daughter being Anna Louise, the wife of J. A. Bradley, while the younger son is John P. Stewart, Jr. The father of Mrs. Stewart, Steward Morton, a pioneer merchant, lived for many years in Geneseo. He married Miss Alvira Pomeroy and they became the parents of two daughters and a son, who are still living- Charles M., William A. and Helen L.
In taking up the personal history of William M. Stewart we present to our readers the life record of one who is widely and favorably known in Geneseo, where his youthful days were passed and his early education was acquired. After attending high school he pursued a business course in the Northwestern Normal and later entered the Farmers National Bank as assistant bookkeeper. There his ability and close application won him recognition in successive promotions and at his father's death he became his successor in the office of cashier, in which he has since continued. His understanding of modern banking methods and his dili- gence and progressive spirit constitute him a valued factor in the successful con- trol and promotion of this enterprise.
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