USA > Illinois > Henry County > History of Henry County, Illinois, Volume II > Part 93
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Unto Mr. and Mrs. Miller were born three children, namely: George Lewis, who died when but eleven months old; Emilie, the wife of W. S. Reed, a Metho- dist minister residing at Hampton, Illinois; and George William, who obtained a good education in Geneseo and then took up his abode in St. Joseph, Missouri, where he acted as auditor for three different railroads. He passed away there when forty-five years of age. His widow, who bore the maiden name of Lydia Goodwin, now makes her home in Rock Island.
Mr. Miller was a stanch republican in his political views and for some years capably served his fellow townsmen as a member of the city council, while for several years he also held the office of county supervisor. He was called to his final rest on the 22d of March, 1902, when eighty-six years of age, and thus the county was called upon to mourn the loss of one of its most respected and worthy pioneer settlers. He was a devoted and faithful member of the Congregational church, to which his widow also belongs. The latter, who was a little maiden of about nine years when she came with her parents to Henry county, Illinois, has since made her home within its borders and is now the only member of the original colony that settled Geneseo who is still living here. She is a gentle, kindly woman, charitable in her estimate of every one and her many excellent traits of heart and mind have won for her the esteem and admiration of a host of warm friends.
RALPH WALDO EMERSON HAYES.
No history of Galva would be complete without extended reference to the Hayes Pump & Planter Company and the men who are prominent in managing and controlling its affairs. In this connection special reference should be made of Ralph W. E. Hayes, the manager of the company and one of the foremost men of Henry county. He was born in Stark county, Illinois, February 19, 1872, and is the eldest of the five sons of Eugenio and Matilda (Dack) Hayes, of whom extended mention is made elsewhere in this volume, together with the ancestral history of the family in the paternal line. The maternal grandfather of
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our subject was John Dack, a native of Dublin, Ireland, and a shoemaker by trade. When four years of age he accompanied his parents on their voyage across the Atlantic to Canada, and when he came to the United States he set- tled in Stark county, Illinois, about 1834. Only two years before had the Black Hawk war occurred and the environments of pioneer life were his during his early residence in the Mississippi valley. After three years spent in Stark county he purchased land in Henry county lying at the southeast corner of Wethersfield township. There his remaining days were passed and with the early development and progress of the county he was closely associated, his labors constituting a factor in its reclamation for the purpose of civiliztion. He married Miss Jane Michaelson, who died at the age of eighty-two years. She was about three years old when she left Scotland, her native country, her birth having occurred in Edinburg. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Dack were born ten children, five sons and five daughters, eight of whom reached years of maturity: Sarah Ann, John E., Matilda J., Albert L., Thomas E., Frederick E., all of whom are now living; William E., who died at the age of twenty-two years; Charles H., who died in Andersonville prison during the Civil war, when he was twenty-one years of age; and two, who died in infancy.
Ralph W. E. Hayes has been a resident of Henry county from the age of three years. The family home was maintained on a farm about two and a half miles east of Kewanee until he was nine years of age, when his parents took up their abode in the city of Kewanee, coming thence to Galva, when he was four- teen years of age. He attended the public schools of Galva and Kewanee and was graduated from the Galva high school with the class of 1889. He after- ward spent two years as a student in the Northwestern University at Evanston and in the fall of 1891 he entered the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor where he practically completed three courses. He studied both mechanical and electrical engineering and was graduated with the class of 1895. He then re- turned to Galva and has since been associated with the Hayes Pump & Planter Company. He designs all their manufactured goods, his labors proving an im- portant factor in the success which the enterprise now enjoys. The business had been established in Kewanee in 1881 but in May, 1886, was removed to Galva and has remained one of the most important of the productive industries of the city since that time, employment being now furnished to between two hundred and two hundred and fifty people.
On the 25th of February, 1896, Mr. Hayes was united in marriage to Miss Estella Mink, a daughter of William K. and Mrs. William K. (Fenton) Mink. She was born in New Marion, Indiana, and her parents were also natives of that state. They came to Henry county about 1885, settling in Galva where Mrs. Mink passed away. Mr. Mink continued to reside in Galva until 1908, when he removed to Galesburg, Illinois, where he is now living. Four daughters of the family still survive: Jennie, Estella, Nora and Nettie.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Hayes has been born a daughter, Charlotte Lucile. The parents are members of the Methodist church and Mr. Hayes belongs to Galva Lodge, No. 243, A. F. & A. M., of which he is now senior warden. He has taken the degrees of capitulary Masonry in Kewanee Chapter, No. 47, R. A. M. and of chivalric Masonry in Kewanee Commandery, No. 71, K. T. He like-
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wise belongs to Peoria Consistory, S. P. R. S., and to Peoria Temple of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, while both he and his wife are connected with the Eastern Star.
His political endorsement is given to the republican party and, taking an ac- tive interest in its local work, he does all in his power to promote its growth and insure its success. He is now serving for the second term as a member of the city council and exercises his official prerogatives in support of those measures and movements which are of value as factors in a progressive and municipal life.
GEORGE WASHBURN.
The student of history does not have to carry his investigations far into the records of Henry county to learn that the Washburn family has been long and prominently connected with the agricultural development of this part of the state, and George Washburn, whose name introduces this review, is now assidu- ously employed in the work of the farm, tilling the fields and raising, feeding and shipping stock. His home is now on the northeast quarter of section II, Western township, but his birth occurred in Colona township, his natal day be- ing October 20, 1863. His parents were Chauncey and Emily (Piatt) Wash- burn. The father was born near Springfield, Massachusetts, on the 17th of May, 1834, and was a son of Abisha and Isabella (Clapp) Washburn. He was only three years old when his parents came to Henry county, arriving in May, 1837. Only five years before had the Black Hawk war occurred and the work of civil- ization and improvement seemed scarcely begun in this part of the state. There were three families in the party that made the journey from Springfield, Massa- chusetts, to the Connecticut river. They took a boat there, proceeding down the river to Long Island sound and from that point made their way to the Erie canal and on to the Ohio river to its mouth and up the Mississippi to Hampton, being about three weeks on the way. On reaching their destination, Abisha Washburn rented a smoke house of Mr. Marshall and moved into it. It had no floor and was about ten feet square. At that time meat sold for twenty-five cents per pound. The next winter Mr. Washburn fattened a few hogs which he took to Stevenson, now Rock Island. He was paid a cent a pound for his meat and gave a dollar to cross Rock river and back on the ferry. He bought some "hard times" cloth for pants, for which he paid a dollar per yard but it could now be purchased at twenty-five cents per yard. The first wheat which the family raised was cut with the sickle or reap hook and threshed with a flail, and as there was no fanning mill they would take the grain by handsful and throw it against the wind and the best grain would drop farthest away. The nearest mill was sixty miles, and after making the journey with an ox team they would often have to wait a week for the grist. If the supply of flour and meal became exhausted they grated corn, which they made into mush. That summer Abisha Washburn built a house into which the family moved in October. At first it had no doors nor windows and the mother would hang up a quilt before the
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door. The wolves would come and sit on the doorstep or howl around the cabin at night. The next summer they raised corn and got a fair crop but after it was harvested they had to plow the land with a cast iron plow, which would be driven through the ground for about two rods and then would have to be cleaned off with a paddle. All day long they would work that way. The harrow was made out of a small forked tree and to plant the corn they marked off the ground with an eight inch bar plow, which was also of cast iron like the big plow and had to be cleaned as often. As there were no stoves in those days cooking was done over the fire place, the Washburn family having a much better fire place than some of their neighbors. Theirs was built of stone and had a crane on which to hang kettles. The bake oven consisted of a kettle about five inches deep, with a cast iron lid. This was placed on live coals drawn out on the hearth and then hot coals would be put on the lid. After a few years, however, Mr. Washburn purchased a cook stove, which was the first in the neighborhood and people would come six or eight miles to see it. As they looked on it they would exclaim "How do you cook on that. I cannot see any fire. Where do you put your fire?" In those days many of the houses were twelve or fourteen feet and the "large" houses were sixteen or eighteen feet. Some of these were made of round logs, while in others the logs were hewed on both sides and thus a fine house was built. The floors were made of puncheons and often additional space was secured by placing some joists overhead and a loose floor laid on them, this loft serving as a bedroom. The pioneers made their own shingles which were about two and a half feet long. The roof of pioneer times served very well to keep out the rain if the wind did not blow too hard, but the snow sifted in and Chauncey Washburn told that on many occasions as he got out of bed in the morning the snow lay six inches or more deep on the floor. Their house had its spinning wheel and a pair of cards. His mother carded the wool, spun the yarn to make all the socks, besides yarn to make some of the clothing, but as the sheep became more plentiful they put up a carding mill at Camden, so that the women could have their wool carded there, which greatly lessened their labor. If the fire went out some one went to a neighbor's to borrow fire unless a tinder box and steel and flint were a part of the household equipment. The tinder box was made of tin about as big around as a quart cup but not as tall. It had two lids, one that shoved down to the bottom and one that fit on the top. The tinder was made of cotton cloth which was set afire and allowed to burn almost to a coal. Then it was dropped into the box and the loose lid shoved down on it and then they had their tinder. They made their own matches in those days, taking dry pine which was cut the right length and split the right size for matches, after which one end was dropped in melted sulphur. But they would not strike fire on the matches of the present day. It was necessary to take a flint and steel, striking them together until the sparks would fly into the tinder and set it afire, then the sulphur match was put against the tinder and the necessary light was secured. Such were some of the conditions which the pioneers faced during their early experiences in this county. Brought to Illinois when but three years of age, Chauncey Washburn aided in the arduous task of developing new land through the period of his boyhood and for many years carried on farming. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Emily Piatt, was born in Indiana, and on
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coming to Henry county had settled near Bishop Hill. After their marriage they began their domestic life on land in Colona township belonging to his father. Subsequently Chauncey Washburn purchased one hundred and sixty acres in Western township, improved it and lived thereon for a few years, after which he sold the place and bought another one hundred and sixty acres on sec- tion I, and spent the remainder of his days there. He also bought a quarter sec- tion of land in Colona township, adjoining some which he inherited from his father, so that his possessions in that township aggregated two hundred twelve and a half acres. He was practical and progressive in his farm work, accom- plishing excellent results by his earnest purpose and unfaltering diligence. In later years his friends, and especially the young people, delighted in hearing him relate incidents and stories of the pioneer days, for he had intimate knowledge of early events and keen recollection of the conditions of life which were here found in the period of his boyhood. His political allegiance was given to the democracy but he was never an office seeker. His death occurred in Western township, December 14, 1907, and his remains were interred in Western ceme- tery. He had for twelve years survived his wife, who passed away April 20, 1895. They were the parents of eight children: Ida, now the wife of Robert McLees, a farmer of Western township, by whom she has two children; Char- lotte, the wife of William Durmann, an agriculturist of Colona township, by whom she has two children; George of this review; Otis, formerly a teacher in the Northwestern Normal at Geneseo, but now a stenographer of Chicago, where he lives with his wife, formerly Miss Minnie Dice; Edward, who wedded Mary Grier and lives on a farm in Colona township; Jane, who makes her home in Colona township with her sister; Frank, who died at the age of three years; and Emma, the wife of Norris Keel, living in Western township.
As a boy George Washburn spent his days on his father's farm and benefited by such instruction as the district schools afforded. He afterward enjoyed the benefits of a course in the Northwestern Normal School at Geneseo, where he pursued his studies one winter. After attaining his majority he rented land of his father for one year and then went to Thomas county, Kansas, where he took up government land, spending almost two years in that district, after which he abandoned the place and returned to his native county. While in the west he also worked on the Rock Island Railroad. On his return to Henry county he again rented land from his father, continuing to cultivate it until 1893, when with the capital he had acquired through his industry and economy he was at length en- abled to purchase eighty acres of his present farm at fifty-five dollars per acre. In the spring of 1906 his dwelling was destroyed by fire, but with characteristic energy he rebuilt it in the same year. He now has modern improvements upon the place and the farm is a well developed property, giving evidence in its highly tilled fields of the care and labor which the owner bestows upon it.
On the 24th of September, 1890, Mr. Washburn was united in marriage in Geneseo to Miss Lizzie Kerwin, of Colona township. Mr. and Mrs. Washburn now have three children. Grace, born in Western township, spent three years in the high school at Geneseo and is now a student in Brown's Business College at Davenport, Iowa. Thomas, who was born in Western township, has com- pleted the district school course and has also spent some time in Brown's Busi-
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ness College. Marie, born in Western township, is now a ninth grade pupil in the country school.
Mr. Washburn gives his political allegiance to the democratic party and keeps well informed on the questions and issues of the day but has never been an office seeker. He belongs to the Modern Woodmen Camp at Orion and is interested in progressive public measures but finds it necessary to devote the greater part of his time and attention to his business interests. He is now num- bered among the leading farmers of the community and, moreover, is known as an honored representative of one of the oldest and most prominent pioneer families of the county.
JOHN ROBERT HANNA.
John Robert Hanna, who is overseer of the ten miles of the Illinois and Mis- sissippi canal, from forty-three to fifty-three, and whose home is one and a half miles north of Geneseo, was born in the township of that name, February 10, 1854. His parents, Peter and Mary J. (Cherry) Hanna, were residents of the city of Geneseo where the father carried on a large trade in horses. There our subject grew to manhood, receiving a fair education in the public schools. At the age of sixteen he began work on a farm in Geneseo township and then went to Iowa, where he spent two years, as he had an interest in a threshing outfit which was operated there. Disposing of his property in that state he returned to Geneseo and engaged with his father in the horse business, but the risks attached to the work discouraged his pursuit of it and in 1883 he joined the police force of Geneseo, on which he served for seventeen years, or until in 1901, when he be- came foreman, in the employ of the United States government, on the canal that was then being constructed. He was given the supervision of some of the buildings and of some of the culverts and locks and of the excavation for miles along the route of the waterway and then when the actual construction was com- pleted, in recognition of the value of his services, he was made overseer of the ten miles before mentioned.
In Geneseo, May 10, 1873, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Hanna and Miss Sarah E. Morrow, who was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and was but two years of age when her father, Isaac Morrow, came to Illinois. He was one of seven brothers who came to Henry county among the early pioneers and swelled the number of her valiant sons who joined the Union army during the Civil war. Two of his brothers died in the service, but Mr. Morrow was spared to his family. His wife was Miss Jane J. McCracken in her maiden- hood. Mr. and Mrs. Hanna have had nine children. John Otis, who lives in Freeport, Illinois, married Miss Lydia Rose and they have four children. How- ard died in childhood. Daisy Pearl is the wife of Lenas Odstrom, a photo- grapher of Geneseo, and they have one child. Maude E. married Albert W. Krueger, who is a lock tender under Mr. Hanna. Bud H. is assisant locktender under his father. Robert Ray died in childhood. Emory C. is at home with his
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parents. The two youngest children, Fred R. and Hobart Garrett, are also at home.
Mr. Hanna has always given his support unswervingly to the republican party for whose candidate in 1876, Rutherford B. Hayes, he cast his first presi- dential ballot. With his wife he is a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal church, while fraternally he is a thirty-second-degree Mason and a member of the Knights of Pythias. In the former organization he has become a Noble of the Mystic Shrine and has filled various offices. A man who gives his whole attention to fulfilling his duties, he has won the confidence of his employers and of the citizens to whom indirectly he owes his time and efforts.
WILLIAM DANIEL HOHMANN, PH. G., M. D.
Dr. William Daniel Hohmann, president of the Kewanee board of health, who is at present at the head of the medical staff of St. Francis Hospital of this city, where he has been successfully engaged in the active practice of medicine since the fall of 1891, was born in Cassel, Germany, September 18, 1867. He is a son of William M. and Sophia (Volkmar) Hohmann, also natives of Germany, where they spent their entire lives. Most of his ancestors engaged in manu- facturing or mercantile pursuits in the fatherland, although John Hohmann, his paternal grandfather, served in the German army during the Napoleonic wars and, during the latter part of his military career, was superintendent of the mil- itary prison at Cassel, Germany, where his death occurred in 1868. William M. Hohmann, the father of the Doctor, was a machinist by occupation, having fol- lowed that vocation throughout his entire life, his services for a greater part of that time having been for the government. During the Franco-Prussian war he had charge of the government round-house at Fulda, Germany, where his death occurred in 1872, while his wife passed away at Cassel, August 9, 1894.
William D. Hohmann acquired his education for the most part in his native land, having obtained an excellent knowledge of the English language in Hers- feld, Germany, prior to his emigration to the United States. Wishing to try his fortune in America, he crossed the Atlantic alone when he was sixteen years of age. He took up his residence in the east, having secured a position in a drug store in Baltimore, Maryland, working in that city for five years or until 1887. In September, 1885, however, he entered the Maryland College of Pharmacy, at the same time continuing his connection with the drug store, and was graduated from that institution in 1887. In the fall of the same year he entered the Balti- more Medical College and received the degree of M. D. on the 15th of April, 1890, having spent the last eight months in the Maryland General Hospital, as resident physician and student. He then engaged in the practice of medicine in Baltimore until the fall of 1891, when he came to Illinois, opening an office in Kewanee, since which time he has been successfully practicing in this city with the exception of the' time he has spent in further study in New York and Ger- many. In 1895 Dr. Hohmann spent some time in his native land, taking a post- graduate course in hospital work in Berlin under most eminent physicians of
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that place, and later, in 1904, he took up post-graduate work along the same line in New York city.
In June, 1899, Dr. Hohmann was united in marriage to Miss Anna Freder- ickson, of Kewanee, and they have become the parents of two children, William Daniel, Jr., and Phillip Frederick.
Dr. Hohmann is a member of the Masonic fraternity, the Knights of Pythias and the Kewanee Club, while in professional lines, his membership relations ex- tend to the Kewanee Physicians Club, in which he has held the office of secre- tary ; the Galva District Medical Society; the Henry County Medical Society, of which he is now the president; the Illinois State Medical Society; and the American Medical Association. He is now serving on the Kewanee milk and dairy commission and is president of the board of health. Dr. Hohmann is an ambitious student, keeping in touch with the advancement and progress made in his profession, not only through his membership in the different medical socie- ties, but also through extensive reading and investigation into the best scientific methods in use by the physicians of the present day.
WILLIAM L. PAINTER.
William L. Painter, who owns a large farm in Phenix township, is descended from one of the first nine settlers of Henry county. His father, William Painter, was born in Pennsylvania in 1820 and when a young man went to Ohio, and after a time came to Illinois, making the whole journey in a covered wagon. Here he took up a government claim and established his home and family, his house having been one of the first built in this county. He lived to see the sparsely settled district teem with people and blossom with farms, and he aided in its development, for he entered into the spirit of the little colony, participated in their government, and held all of the township offices. When the republican party was organized in this state he gave to it his political allegiance and took part in the interesting discussions that were carried on in this county preceding the Civil war. He died in 1900 and was buried in Oakwood cemetery, where his second wife was also laid to rest, when on July 27, 1909, her life was brought to its close. She bore the maiden name of Jennie Ickers and was born in Ohio in 1845. William L. is the only child of that union. For his first wife, the father married Eliza Reicherd, also a native of Ohio, and to them were born four children who are still living, namely: Anna, who became the wife of Wel- lington March and lives in Vandalia, Illinois; Henrietta married John Scanlan and lives in Phenix township, north of her brother William L .; Louisa is the wife of Frank Cherry, and lives in Geneseo; and G. L. lives in Horton, Kansas.
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