History of Henry County, Illinois, Volume II, Part 74

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

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On February II, 1891, Mr. White married Edith M. Shelter, a daughter of John W. and Nancy J. (Knox) Shelter, prominent people of Clover township, where Mr. Shelter owns considerable property, although he and his wife now reside in Woodhull. Mr. and Mrs. White have one son, Harry L., who is a student of the Woodhull high school, class of 1911. He will be eighteen years old when he graduates and will then be given academic and collegiate courses.

For the nine years following his marriage, Mr. White resided in Ontario, Knox county, Illinois, where he owned a fine farm, but in the fall of 1899 he removed to the White homestead in Clover township, Henry county, where he has since resided. There he carries on general farming and stock raising, making a specialty of thoroughbred horses and hogs, he believing that only high bred stock pays. The White homestead comprises one hundred and sixty-six acres, while his Knox county farm consists of eighty acres.

The political affiliations of Mr. White are with the republican party and he has served it as a member of the county central committee and a number of times as delegate to conventions. While residing in Lynn township he was

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road commissioner for several years and held the same office for three years in Clover township prior to becoming assessor here and he has continued the + incumbent of that office for six continuous years. For nine years he has been a member of the board of education and has served it as clerk during this time. He and his family are members of the Presbyterian church, of which he has been an elder for a number of years. For some time he was superintendent of the Sunday school and Mrs. White is one of the teachers in it. She is also a mem- ber of the church missionary society and belongs to other organizations of the church. Both Mr. and Mrs. White are very much interested in the Farmers Institute, she serving as secretary of the domestic science department and previously as its president. They believe that the work of the institute is affecting a remarkable change among the farmers and their wives and they are contrib- uting both time and money to it. Mr. White is one of the most progressive citizens of Clover township and has always advocated good roads, bridges, schools and government. A supporter of the church, he believes that it is one of the most important factors in advancing the moral standard of any community and no call is made upon him in vain for furthering its work.

JOHN A. WIDNEY.

After almost half a century of active endeavor John A. Widney feels that he is justified in retiring from business, and, resting upon his laurels, he can enjoy the success which the years have brought him. He was for a long period one of the enterprising agriculturists of Oxford township and has not entirely relinquished all connection with his former life. He was born in Spring Run, Franklin county, Pennsylvania, March 27, 1840, and is a son of Alexander E. and Margaret (Ham- mond) Widney, also natives of Franklin county, where they were married and resided until 1855, when they came to Illinois. They located first at Mount Car- roll and in 1858 came to Oxford township, Henry county, where Mr. Widney engaged in agricultural pursuits, though before his advent here he had given his attention to mercantile business and farming remained his vocation during the remaining years of his life. While the Mexican war was in progress he recruited a regiment for service and was accorded the rank of lieutenant colonel of the Eleventh Pennsylvania Volunteers. He lived to see the Civil war brought to a successful close, although he took no part in that conflict, and he also witnessed the great change which transformed the character of this county from the early '50s, when he came here, to the end of the year 1884, when his death occurred. His widow lived until June, 1906, when she was laid by his side in the cemetery at Woodhull.

John A. Widney grew to manhood on the home farm and received a good education, first in a little log school in his native county, later the public schools of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and after his parents came to Illinois, in the schools of Mount Carroll. After coming to this state he engaged in teaching in Oxford township through the winters of 1860, 1861 and 1862, and in the spring of the last year. On the 9th of August, 1862, he and eight of his pupils enlisted in

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Company D, One Hundred and Twelfth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He served throughout the war, was advanced to the rank of corporal and was then detailed as a member of the regimental band. Later he was offered a lieutenancy but this he declined as he did not want to leave the band. On being discharged from the service he returned to the life of a farmer, which he followed for twenty-seven years in Oxford township, near the village of Woodhull. He was progressive in his ideas and met with unequivocal success. In 1891 he was active in the or- ganization of the State Bank of Alpha, the first institution of its kind established in the village, and for seven years was its cashier. In 1898 he retired from partici- pation in the banking business, having witnessed the enterprise assume gratifying proportions, and has since enjoyed a well deserved rest in his comfortable home in Alpha.

On the 26th of October, 1865, after his return from the army, Mr. Widney wedded Miss Sarah A. Gillette, a daughter of David and Mary (Dixon) Gillette. The family came to Illinois in 1852 from Sullivan county, New York, in fact Mrs. Gillette was a cousin of Governor Dix, the famous war governor of that state. They located first in Stark county but the next year came to Henry county, settling on the land now occupied by the village of Galva, which at the time was not even laid out and in which the Gillette home was almost the first one to be built. Shortly after the outbreak of the Civil war Mr. Gillette enlisted in the Seven- teenth Regiment of Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and after the close of hostilities returned to his Galva home, where he engaged in business as a carpenter con- tractor. Indeed many of the houses of the village were constructed by him. He died in December, 1862, while his wife survived until January, 1899.

Mr. and Mrs. Widney are the parents of six children, three sons and three daughters: Stella B., the wife of George H. Robinson, of St. Louis, Missouri; Burton G., who has married and is the cashier of the North Henderson Bank; Grace E., who is the wife of Dr. W. E. Mabee, of Galesburg ; Leo E., of St. Louis, Missouri; Stanley W., of Chicago; and Alice, who is the wife of Professor E. B. Conant, a member of the law faculty of the University of Nebraska, in which in- stitution Mrs. Conant is a teacher of voice culture. In fact both Mrs. Mabee and Mrs. Conant have received fine musical educations, being graduates of the Knox Conservatory of Music, of Galesburg, and as vocalists of no ordinary ability are prominent in the musical circles of their respective localities. All of the children completed the course of study prescribed by the high school of Woodhull and were given the advantages of higher education.

Politically Mr. Widney is a democrat and has always been intelligently inter- ested and active in public matters and prominent in the councils of his party. During Cleveland's first administration, from 1885 to 1889, he was postmaster of Woodhull and has held other positions, for he has served as school treasurer of Oxford township for twenty years and still holds that position, and has been a member of the village board of Alpha and its president for one term. Perhaps the most convincing evidence of his popularity, however, was that displayed in the election of 1890. He was nominated by his party for sheriff of Henry county and received the largest vote ever cast on a straight democratic ticket, reducing the majority of the republican candidate, which normally amounted to about two thousand, to a bare seven hundred. While the Grand Army retained a post in

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Woodhull he was active in its ranks as he still is in the Methodist Episcopal church to which he and his family belong, for he has been trustee and steward for a num- ber of years and treasurer of the Sunday school. Mrs. Widney is also prominent in church work, having been superintendent of the Sunday school for the past eighteen years and a delegate to the national general conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, from central Illinois, which met in Los Angeles, California, in 1908. The Widney home has always been a popular social center and prominent in the life of the village, for a refined and cultured atmosphere pervades it and there a genuine hospitality is extended to friend and worthy stranger alike.

GEORGE H. FESLER.

George H. Fesler, a retired agriculturist residing in Burns township, was born in Mason county, Illinois, on the 2d of June, 1844. His paternal grand- father, John Fesler, a native of Germany, established his home in the United States a short time prior to the Revolutionary war and aided the colonists in their struggle for independence. His demise occurred in Mason county, Illinois, in 1841, when he had attained the remarkable age of nearly one hundred years. Our subject still has in his possession the powder horn and rifle barrel which was carried by his grandfather in the Revolutionary war and also has a clock with wooden works, which was owned by him.

Adam Fesler, the father of our subject, was born in Pennsylvania and came to Peoria, Illinois, in 1836. He was a miller by trade but on arriving in this state could only secure employment by the day. Soon afterward he entered forty acres of land in Mason county and devoted his attention to its cultivation for a few years, when he disposed of the property and entered another tract of eighty acres in the same county. On the latter farm he erected a house and all necessary outbuildings and there carried on his agricultural interests for a period of three years. In 1854 he came to Henry county, taking up his abode on a farm of one hundred and twenty acres which he purchased on section 7, Burns township. Here he made his home continuously until 1863, when he put aside the active work of the fields and removed to Geneseo, where his remaining days were spent. He passed away when sixty-seven years of age and his demise was the occasion of deep and widespread regret, for he had gained an extensive circle of friends during the long period of his residence here. His wife bore the maiden name of Susan Everett and her parents came from Holland. She died in Geneseo in 1873 at the age of eighty-four years. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Adam Fesler were born the following children: two who died in infancy; Mary, the wife of William Tell, of Geneseo; Sarah, who is the wife of J. J. Murphy, an agricul- turist living in Nebraska; George H., of this review; Maria, the wife of J. A. Rishel, of Cambridge; and Irene, who gave her hand in marriage to Lawrence Cherry, of Geneseo.

George H. Fesler was a lad of ten years when he came to Henry county with his parents and has since continued to reside within its borders. He gave his father the benefit of his services in the work of the home farm until the time of the

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latter's retirement in 1863, when he took charge of the place. Following the father's death he purchased the interests of the other heirs in the old homestead and since the property has been in his possession he has placed many new improve- ments thereon, so that it is now lacking in none of the equipments and accessories of a model farm of the twentieth century. In addition to his farming interests he also dealt extensively in live stock, making a specialty of thoroughbred white faced cattle, polled Angus and Black Mull cattle, Poland China hogs and Norman horses. Aside from the homestead farm of one hundred and twenty acres on section 7, Burns township, he likewise owns forty acres of land in Cambridge township and another tract of forty acres on section 18, Burns township. At the present time, however, he is largely living retired, having won a handsome competence through the careful conduct of his agricultural interests in former years. He is the president of the Mutual Telephone Company of Henry county and has long been numbered among the prosperous and prominent citizens of the community.

On the 6th of October, 1867, in Cambridge, Mr. Fesler was united in mar- riage to Miss Fannie Green, a daughter of Robert and Sally (Crittenall) Green, who were natives of Steuben county, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Fesler were the parents of six children, namely : Susan, who died at the age of eight years; Ray, who passed away when five years of age; Albert, who is married and operates the home farm; Sadie, the wife of W. A. Fell, an agriculturist of Burns township; Edith, the wife of J. F. Johnson, who follows farming in Cambridge township; and Roland, who is married but still lives at home and is also engaged in the operation of his father's farm.

Mr. Fesler exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and meas- ures of the democracy and is an active worker in the local ranks of the party. The cause of education has ever found in him a stalwart champion and he has served as a school director for twenty-five years. Coming to this county as a lad of ten, he has lived here continuously throughout the intervening fifty-five years and that his life has at all times been upright and honorable is indicated by the fact that the associates of his youth and early manhood are still numbered among his stanch friends and admirers.

JOHN H. LADD.

John H. Ladd, who is now operating the farm his father bought upon coming to this part of the country and which he now owns, is one of the progressive farm- ers of Kewanee township. He was born in New Canada, New Hampshire, Sep- tember 2, 1850, and is a son of John T. and Lydia Ladd. The father was a stone-cutter in New Hampshire, but after coming to Illinois he devoted himself to farming. His advent into this state occurred in 1853, when he located in Bureau county, but four years later removed to Kewanee. A year later he bought four hundred and forty acres of land one mile east of Kewanee and spent the re- mainder of his life upon it, with the exception of the last three years, which were passed in the city of Kewanee. His death occurred June 9, 1880, and he

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was mourned by a large circle of friends, who appreciated his many excellent traits of character.

John H. Ladd received a good common-school education and was trained in farm work by his father. When the latter removed to Kewanee, the young man rented the homestead, of which he took charge, eventually buying it. He has brought it to a high state of cultivation, and his neat premises, good buildings, and well tilled fields testify to his executive ability and knowledge of farming.

In April, 1874, Mr Ladd married Carrie Laird, a native of Stark county, Illi- nois, but a resident of Kewanee. They have five living children, as follows : Daisy May, who is at home; Frank P., who is in the marble business at Kewanee; Myrtle, who married Frank Gordon, of Zanesville, Ohio; Bertha, who married Arthur Palmer, of San Diego, California; and Harry, who is a teacher residing in Kewanee. A sixth child died in infancy. Mr. Ladd is a democrat, but his inclinations have not led him to desire public office, so he contents himself in do- ing his duty as a private citizen and in bringing up his children to be good men and women.

WILLIAM H. COSNER.

William H. Cosner, who has lived retired since 1903, was successfully iden- tified with farming interests in Burns township throughout his active business career and has spent his entire life in Henry county. His birth occurred in Kewanee township on the 5th of January, 1842. His father, Jacob Cosner, who was born in Coshocton county, Ohio, on the IIth of September, 1809, there con- tinued to reside until the year 1838, when he came to this state and took up his abode among the earliest settlers of Henry county, locating in Wethersfield town- ship. At the end of about three years he was married and began the operation of a rented farm in Kewanee township, where his oldest son, William, was born. About 1843, he rented one hundred and sixty acres of land on section 14, Burns township, and was actively engaged in its cultivation until 1851, when he purchased a tract of eighty acres on section II, Burns township. Subsequently he bought an adjoining tract of fifty-five acres, thus extending the boundaries of his farm to include one hundred and thirty-five acres, and devoted his at- tention to its further cultivation and improvement until 1874. In that year, in association with his son William, he purchased a farm of two hundred and forty acres on section 14, Burns township, and continued to reside thereon until he passed away on the 3d of January, 1897, when eighty-eight years of age. He and his son erected an entire set of new buildings, put up fences and made many other substantial improvements. He was widely and favorably known throughout the county in which he made his home for almost six decades, and when he was called to his final rest the community mourned the loss of one of its most respected and worthy pioneer settlers, whose labors had contributed in substantial measure to its agricultural development. In early manhood he had wedded Miss Sarah Leonard, whose birth occurred in Pennsylvania on the 6th of January, 1820, and who was still but a child when she came to Henry

MR. AND MRS. W. II. COSNER

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county with her parents, who took up their abode among the pioneer settlers of Burns township and there spent the remainder of their lives. The death of Mrs. Sarah Cosner occurred on the Ist of July, 1896. She was the mother of ten children, as follows: William H., of this review; Sylvester R., who passed away in 1845; Abraham S., whose demise occurred in Cornwall township, when he had attained the age of fifty-six years; Benton B., who died in 1849; Sarah S., who was called to her final rest in 1855; Mathew P., who passed away Sep- tember 12, 1857; Ruea Rosilia, who died September 30, 1858; Cynthia M., who passed away in young womanhood on the 6th of January, 1873; Francis M., whose demise occurred October 20, 1890; and Manda B., the wife of L. E. Wilhelm, of Kewanee.

In the acquirement of an education William H. Cosner attended the dis- trict schools of Burns township and when not busy with his text-books assisted his father in the work of the home farm, thus early becoming familiar with the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculurist. He remained under the parental roof until twenty-two years of age, when he was married and be- gan farming for himself on a tract of eighty acres on section 2, Burns town- ship. After residing thereon for eleven years he disposed of the property and removed to his present farm on section 14, Burns township, where he has made his home continuously since. He erected all new buildings with the exception of the residence, which he remodeled from time to time, put up fences and has also planted an orchard. In 1906 he built the handsome modern dwell- ing in which he now resides, while the original home is occpuied by one of his sons. About 1903 he retired from active life and has since enjoyed well earned rest, leaving the work of the farm to his sons. He now owns altogether one hundred and seventy-two and a half acres of rich and productive land, and the prosperity which has crowned his labors is but the merited reward of his well directed and untiring industry in former years. He is the vice president of the Henry County Telephone Company.

On the Ist of January, 1864, in Burns township, Mr. Cosner was united in marriage to Miss Adelaide A. Wedge, a daughter of Chester O. and Paulina (Ellenwood) Wedge, who were natives of Connecticut and Ohio respectively and traced their ancestry to England. Rev. Abijah Wedge, the paternal grand- father of Mrs. Cosner, was a Methodist clergyman and a soldier of distinguished rank, serving in a Connecticut regiment during the war of 1812. On the 5th of Jan- uary, 1809, he had wedded Miss Lucinda Halloway, who was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, on the 30th of July, 1787. They made their way to Marietta, Ohio, in 1817 and in 1851 came to Illinois, while the year 1855 witnessed their arrival in Henry county. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Cosner were born two sons. Wil- liam O., a farmer of Burns township, lives just across the road from his father's place. Ceria C., who resides with his father, has operated the home farm since the latter's retirement.

Mr. Cosner exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and meas- ures of the democracy and has always been an active worker in the local ranks of the party. His fellow townsmen, recognizing his worth and ability, have called him to various positions of public trust, and he has ever discharged his official duties in a prompt and capable manner. He has been school director for

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many years, has also acted in the capacity of road commissioner and has held the office of township assessor for two terms, while for eight years he served as justice of the peace and for six years as constable. He has been a stockholder and a director in the Kewanee Fair Association since its organization. The different members of his family attend the Ebenezer Methodist Episcopal church near Cosner's Corners and are highly esteemed throughout the community as people of genuine personal worth. A man of strong integrity and purpose, Mr. Cosner ranks high in the regard of his fellowmen, not only because of the grati- fying degree of prosperity which he has attained but also by reason of excel- lent traits of character and his honorable and upright manhood.

HERMAN G. HOOS.

The commercial interests of Geneseo find a worthy representative in Herman G. Hoos, a dealer in agricultural implements who is seeking success in the legitimate lines of trade, utilizing the advantages of judicious advertising and attractive display of goods to increase his yearly sales which are now of consid- erable proportions. He was born in Cambridge township, this county, November 12, 1875, being one of ten children whose parents were Horace and Sarah A. (Byers) Hoos, natives of Pennsylvania and Ohio, respectively. The paternal grandparents were likewise natives of Pennsylvania and, removing westward, became residents of Henry county, Illinois, in pioneer times, settling in Munson township, where the grandfather engaged in farming. There he continued to live and labor, year by year, until called to his final rest when more than seventy years of age. His widow, Phebe ( Castoline) Hoos, still survives and is now about ninety-seven years of age. They were the parents of two sons and a daughter : Horace, Orland and Lillie, the wife of Irving Cramer. The maternal grandfather of Herman G. Hoos, was James Byers, a native of Ohio, who took up his abode in Woodhull, Henry county, Illinois, during the formative period in the history of this locality. He, too, carried on general farming as a life work and both he and his wife, Mrs. Sarah A. (McQuillen) Byers, lived to advanced years. Their family included: Washington, Levi, Mary, Jane, Clarence and Sarah A. Byers.

Horace Hoos was reared to the occupation of farming and made that pursuit his life work. He came to Illinois about fifty years ago, settling in Munson town- ship, Henry county, where he secured a tract of land which he promptly brought under a high state of cultivation. He largely reared his family in Munson and Cambridge townships and, although he is now living retired, he is still the owner of forty acres of good farming land in this county. In 1908 he was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife who passed away on the 7th of June of that year at the age of sixty-five. She was ever a loyal member of the Methodist church, with which Mr. Hoos also holds membership. Their family numbered seven sons and three daughters; Jacob, who died in infancy ; Demaris, the widow of R. R. Smith; Dennis S., who is now a resident of Peoria, Illinois; Elnora, the wife of Lincoln Lilly, also of Peoria; George, who died when four-

MR. AND MRS. JACOB COSNER

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teen years of age; Herman G., the subject of this review; Peter, of St. Louis, Missouri ; Lois May, the wife of Fred Scovil, of Munson township; Cleveland, also living in Munson township; and Robert Nathan, who died at the age of eight years.

Herman G. Hoos, whose name introduces this record, spent his youthful days in the usual manner of farm lads who divide their time between the work of the fields, the duties of the schoolroom and the pleasures of the playground. He was reared in Cambridge township and remained at home until he obtained his majority but at the age of sixteen years began earning his own livelihood by working by the month as a farm hand. When he had reached adult age he began farming on his own account by cultivating rented land and during that period carefully saved his earnings until his capital was sufficient to enable him to make purchase of two hundred and fifty-six acres in Loraine township. He lived upon that farm for three years and then sold it, after which he bought one hundred and sixty-six acres in Geneseo township. Year after year he tilled his fields there, practicing the rotation of crops and cultivating his farm after the most approved methods of modern agriculture. He won success in this way and lived upon that property until 1905 when he sold out and bought a half section of land in Sargent county, North Dakota. When he disposed of that tract he bought six hundred and forty acres in the same county which he still owns.

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History of Henry County, Illinois, Volume II, Part 74

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