USA > Illinois > Kane County > History of Kane County, Ill. Volume II > Part 66
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David A. Weich, the other member of the family, was a lad of ten years at the time of the removal of the parents from West Virginia to Kane county. He was reared in the usual manner of farm lads, assisting in the operation of the home place during the summer seasons, while in the winter months he attended the Stone district school, completing his education at the age of seventeen. This was during the period of the Civil war and, his patriotic spirit being aroused, he offered his services to the government, becoming a member of Company K, One Hundred and Forty-first Illinois Infantry, with which he served for one year. During this time he did mostly garrison duty under Colonel Brewster, holding the fort at Columbus, Kentucky. Upon the expiration of his term of service he was mustered out at Chicago, having made a creditable military record.
Upon his return from the war Mr. Welch made his way to Kane county, where he has been engaged in farming to the present time. He is now operat- ing a well improved tract, comprising sixty acres, and in addition to carrying on general agricultural pursuits he is also doing a dairy business, keeping a number of cows for this purpose. He is a man of good business ability and in his farming pursuits is meeting with excellent success.
Mr. Welch chose as a companion and helpmate on life's journey Miss Annie Taylor, who was born in Madison county, New York, November 29, 1849, and came to Kane county with her parents, who were farming people,
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when a little maiden of six years. This union has been blessed with a daughter and son: Pearl, the wife of E. W. Percy, a farmer residing at Burlington; and W. Ray, who is still under the parental roof.
Mr. Welch gives his political support to the men and measures of the republican party but has never been active as an office seeker. preferring to do his duty as a private citizen. He is a member of the Baptist church, while his wife is a member of the United Brethren church, though they now attend the Methodist Episcopal church. His life has been one of continuous activity, in which has been accorded due recognition of labor, and today he is num- bered among the substantial citizens of Kane county.
EDWIN ARTHUR POULEY.
Residing on a model farm of two hundred acres in Blackberry township, on which his father was born, and which his grandfather purchased of the government, and conducting in connection with his farming an extensive dairying business with fifty cows as the source of its supplies, Edwin Arthur Pouley occupies an enviable position and would seem to be almost beyond the reach of adverse fortune.
He is a native of Illinois, born at Wheaton, August 29, 1880, and the son of Samuel Edwin and Emma J. (Humphrey) Pouley, the former a native of Kane county, as has been noted, and the latter of the state of New York, whence she came to Illinois in her childhood. The father, who has departed this life and whose remains are buried in the Elburn cemetery, was an active member of the Baptist church and always voted the republican ticket. Being the son of a pioneer and growing from infancy to manhood in the early days of civilization in this part of the country, he suffered all the hardships and privations and enjoyed all the excitement and adventure incident to frontier life, and it must be said that in the strenuous life of that period he bore a man's part and assumed a man's responsibilities, even before he reached the age of maturity. The mother, who is now living retired in her beautiful home at Elburn, having turned the ancestral farm over to her son Edwin, who represents the third generation of the family to occupy it, also encountered the dangers, endured the sufferings and grew strong in the responsibilities of the pioneer days and proved herself equal to all the requirements of the period.
Mr. Pouley is one of a family of seven children, his sisters and brothers being: Edna, now the wife of Roy Merrick, a prosperous lawyer in Chicago; Avis, who teaches school in one of the country districts of Kane county ; May J., who is the principal of the Lily Lake public school, also in this county ; and Verna A., Vida, Edith and Marjorie, all of whom are living at Elburn with their mother.
Edwin A. Pouley attended the public schools and was graduated from the Elburn high school. He then worked as a clerk and salesman in a dry- goods store two years, after which he pursued a three years' course of instruc- tion at Wheaton College. But scholastic attainments and the pursuits which
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ordinarily grow out of them were not the prime attractions in life for him. He was essentially a son of the soil and it called to him with a voice of masterful persuasion, and from college he returned to his father's farm, on which he has ever since resided. The farm has prospered and grown to a high state of development and improvement under the master hands of his forefathers and himself, and it is now one of the best in the county. For his part he has added to its other industries and sources of profit an excellent and extensive dairy business, milking fifty cows and turning their yield into mar- ketable products for the enjoyment of the community and his own advantage.
In 1905 he was united in marriage with Miss Minnie Sharp, who was born and reared in Kane county. They have one child, Ross Edwin, who is living at home with his parents. Mr. Pouley is an active and serviceable mem- ber of the Congregational church, giving it his earnest and intelligent support in all its laudable undertakings, and exemplifying in an eminent degree the virtues of elevated Christian citizenship. In political faith he is a republican, and while not a seeker of public office for himself, always takes a leading and helpful part in the campaigns of his party as a matter of duty to his fellow- men. Representing an honored name and a family highly esteemed in this county, he has upheld the former and done credit to the latter in a manner worthy of his lineage and is now regarded as one of the most useful, upright and representative men in the county, meeting all the claims of duty with manly independence and self reliance, and giving an exalted and forceful example to all around him.
JOHN HETTINGER.
After fighting for years the strenuous battle of life, in which he has been engaged from his youth, and fighting it always with courage and forti- tude, John Hettinger is now enjoying the fruits of his industry on his ten thousand dollar farm in Aurora township, with abundant means of comfort around him and the gratification of knowing that all he possesses is the result of his and his late wife's own industry, frugality and business capacity.
Mr. Hettinger was born on a farm two miles and a half northeast of Aurora, October 20, 1863. His parents, Peter and Anna (Kirsch) Het- tinger, were natives of what is now the German Empire, the former born in the duchy of Luxemburg, March 4, 1837, and the latter in the kingdom of Prussia, in 1829. The father came to America with his parents, Christian and Katharine Hettinger, in 1854. The grandfather was a mason and worked at his trade several years in the state of New York. Learning of the great opportunities for thrift and enterprise in the golden west, he moved his family to Kane county, and here he was successful in his undertaking's but lived a retired life for many years, dying in 1888. His son Peter farmed about seven years near Aurora, then bought a farm in the vicinity of North Aurora and on the east bank of the Fox river, on which he has ever since resided. Since the death of his wife in 1877 he has made his home with his children and his youngest son. Peter J., now manages the farm.
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The brothers and sisters of our subject are: Anna, the wife of Mathias Kramer, of North Aurora; Katharine, the wife of Bernard Rausch, of Aurora township: Emma Katharine, who lives in Chicago; Peter J., who operates the home farm; and Annie, the wife of Michael Siren, of Batavia township in this county.
John Hettinger acquired a good education and after reaching the age of twenty-one years he was employed in the smelting works at North Aurora for two years. He then rented land for thirteen years in Batavia township. In 1900 he sold his farming equipment and went to Rochester, New York. But liking neither the shop work nor the farming methods of that section of the country, he returned to Kane county and in 1901 bought the farm on which he now lives. It comprises fifty acres of as good land as can be found in this part of the world, or anywhere else, and is highly improved and energetically cultivated.
Mr. Hettinger was married January 24, 1893. uniting with Miss Eliza- beth Kinnen, the marriage ceremony being performed in Rochester, New York. Mrs. Hettinger was born on May 5, 1861, and is a daughter of Paul and Mary Ann ( Gerstner) Kinnen, natives of Germany, who came to America about 1854 and settled in Rochester, New York, where they still live. Mr. and Mrs. Hettinger have had one child, Herbert, who was born on March 26, 1895, and died on April 29, 1899.
They are members of St. Nicholas church in Aurora. and in politics Mr. Hettinger is a democrat. But he is a patriot more than a partisan and a good and useful citizen without regard to political or other considerations. He has not only improved his own property and brought it to a very high state of advancement, but he has helped to develop and foster every public interest of the township and augment all its moral, mental and material forces, giving time and attention freely to whatever seemed good to him, and allowing no commendable movement to languish for want of the stimulus he could apply to it. His friends know and appreciate his value and esteem him highly.
A. W. LOOMIS.
A. W. Loomis, a prominent and well known farmer and stockraiser of Elgin township, was born at Plato Center, Kane county, December 25, 1865. his parents being Amasa A. and Julia A. (Morgan) Loomis. In 1845 the father removed from Oneida county, New York. to Lake county. Illinois, and took up a claim but returned to the Empire state in 1849. There he worked until 1850. when he went to California and engaged in mining. In 1853 he returned to Illinois, sold his farm in Lake county and bought two hundred and forty acres in Cook county, where he lived for ten years. In 1864 he sold out and went to Plato township, Kane county, where he purchased one hundred and twenty acres, on which he lived until 1882, when he sold and came to Elgin township, where he purchased one hundred and ninety acres in section 29. In 1893 the improvements on this farm-house, barns and in
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fact everything except a few horses and some household goods-were destroyed by fire. Mr. Loomis remained on the place until his death, which occurred in 1901, when he had attained the age of eighty-two years. His wife, who passed away June 23. 1908, was a daughter of Judge Joshua Morgan, a native of Ohio, who came to this state in a very early day. He served as county judge of Tazewell county for many years. Prior to her marriage to Mr. Loomis on the 18th of October, 1859, Mrs. Loomis was joined in wedlock to William Jones, and of the four children born to this union but one survives, James F .. of Port Huron, Michigan, superintendent of the terminal of the Grand Trunk Railroad. By her second marriage she had six children, four of whom died in infancy. the others being: A. W., of 1 this review; and Benjamin F., of Huntington. Indiana.
A. W. Loomis was educated in the public schools of his native county and grew to manhood on his father's farm, early becoming familiar with the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculturist. He has always followed the pursuit to which he was reared and has gained a creditable and gratifying measure of success in his farming and stock-raising interests by reason of his excellent business ability and well directed energy.
On the 20th of January, 1891, Mr. Loomis was united in marriage to Miss Rose Emery, of St. Louis, Missouri, a daughter of Joseph H. and Nettie Emery. both now deceased. They removed to St. Louis from Kentucky, and the record of their children is as follows: Amanda, the deceased wife of John Fray, of Kentucky; Eliza, the wife of Hiram Holomon; Sarah, the wife of J. F. Jones, of Port Huron; Susan, the widow of G. W. Murrell, of St. Louis, Missouri; Hannah, the widow of Chores Knight; Jennie, the deceased wife of George Abshir; Mrs. Loomis; Dennis and William, both of whom have passed away; and Stephen, of Kansas City, Missouri. Unto Mr and Mrs. Loomis have been born two children, Edna B. and Lillian J.
Having spent his entire life in this county, Mr. Loomis is widely and favorably known here and has gained the warm esteem and regard of all with whom he has come in contact by reason of his upright and honorable career.
WILLIAM F. GRAHAM.
The son of sturdy Scotch and German parents, and inured from his childhood to self-denial and earnest, exacting industry, William F. Graham, who owns and operates one of the best farms in Sugar Grove township, has developed force of character and independence through his discipline and made excellent use of the traits he inherited from his father and mother. He was born in Naperville, DuPage county, Illinois, October 13. 1865, and two years later was brought with the rest of the family to the township in Kane county, in which he now lives.
His parents were William and Catherine (Schmidt) Graham, both of whom were born in Europe and came to this country with their parents in childhood. The father was a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, born in 1812,
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and was brought to this continent when he was eleven years old, the family locating in Canada. A few years later they moved to Illinois and found a home in DuPage county, living there until about 1834. In that year William Graham took up a piece of government land near Naperville, and on this land his son. William F. Graham, was born. The mother. Catherine Schmidt, was born in Baden Baden, Germany, and left her native land in company with her parents when she was thirteen. They made the trip in a sailing vessel and had a stormy voyage, consuming six weeks between the two shores. The future Mrs. Graham lived a few years at York. Pennsylvania, then came west and took up her residence at Naperville. In 1863 she was married to Mr. Graham. They began farming at once and eighteen months after their marriage moved to the farm on which their son now resides. This comprises one hundred and twenty-three acres and is conceded to be one of the best of its size in the county. The buildings and other improvements are modern, the land is well cultivated and very productive, and everything about the place furnishes convincing evidence that the proprietor is a thrifty man, an excellent farmer and enterprising, well-to-do citizen, with pride in his home and an abiding interest in the welfare and good name of his township.
Mr. Graham has two sisters and one brother: Mary, the wife of Harry Reynolds, of North Aurora; Lizzie L., the wife of Arthur Barrows, of Sand- wich, DeKalb county; and James A. Graham, who is a successful farmer in Aurora township, Kane county. It will be seen that they all live within easy reach of him, and the family circle, which so long dignified and adorned the parental home. although broken can readily be renewed on convenient occasions.
On the 2d of October. 1889, Mr. Graham was united in marriage to Miss Agnes M. Favreau, who was born in Naperville, Illinois, January 31. 1869, of French ancestry, her parents being John Baptiste and Philemon La Clair Favreau, who were married November 23, 1856. In early life her father followed farming near Montreal, Canada, but the year of his mar- riage removed to Illinois, where he continued to engage in agricultural pur- suits. He died June 14. 1903, and his widow now makes her home with Mr. and Mrs. Graham, at the age of sixty-eight years. They were the parents of five children: Alfred J., who died in 1902, leaving a widow and one child; Carrie A., the wife of J. Hughes; Edward Jefferson, who died in 1900; Agnes M., the wife of our subject ; and Alexander, who is now superintendent of the Third Rail Railroad at Wheaton, Illinois.
Mrs. Graham is a graduate of Jennings Seminary and for ten years was a school teacher in DuPage and Kane counties. She and her husband are the parents of three children: Leroy William, aged fifteen years; Ray Favreau, aged eight ; and Paul Gerald, aged four. The oldest son is a student at the West Aurora high school. He drives to and from the school every day, ten miles distant from his home. and during three years in which he has attended has never missed a day or once been late.
When he was eleven years old Mr. Graham lost his father by death, the latter passing away on September 2, 1876. He was a man of intelligence and breadth of view, but quiet and retiring in disposition. He was, however,
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well known and highly esteemed throughout the county. Although thus deprived of paternal advice and guidance at an early age, Mr. Graham has never lagged in the race of human endeavor, or been untrue to his duty toward his country or his fellowmen. He has given the people of the township good service as collector and township trustee, and in respect to all matters of public progress and improvement has borne his full share of the burden and sup- plied his due portion of the motive power. He has served as school director and trustee for twenty-two years. In politics he is a republican and in religious affiliation he and his wife are members of the Galena Street Methodist Epis- copal church in Aurora. He was for seven years president of the West Aurora Farmers Club, is a charter member of the local camp of Modern Woodmen and a zealous Mason, holding membership in Lodge, No. 254, A. F. & A. M., in Aurora. Earnestly interested in the cause of education and feeling the lack of it in himself, it is his settled purpose to give each of his children the benefit of the best school advantages he can command for them. He is knowing, energetic and progressive, and steadily maintains his well merited rank as a good, useful and thoroughly representative citizen of the county.
FREDERICK W. MIDDLETON.
Born, reared, educated and well established on the farm of three hundred acres in Burlington township which he has helped to cultivate from his boy- hood, Frederick W. Middleton is wholly a product of the locality in which his present activities are employed and his prosperity is expanding. He was born in Burlington township on September 3, 1868, and is a son of John and Eleanor (Varty) Middleton, an account of whose lives will be found in the sketch of his brother, Robert E. Middleton, which appears in this volume. His scholastic training was obtained in one of the district schools of his native township known as "Brush School," which he attended, with many inter- ruptions, until he was twenty years old, the work on the farm requiring his aid much of the time.
At the age of twenty-one, in association with his brother Ernest, he assumed the management of the home farm, the brothers working it on shares. The partnership continued fifteen years and at the end of that time was dissolved by the marriage of the brother, who then left and took another farm for himself. Since then Frederick has managed it alone and has kept up the skillful and judicious cultivation of it which he and his brother had carried on together.
On August 24, 1904, Mr. Middleton was married to Miss Stella M. Baker. They have two children : their daughter, Gladys May, who was born on November 12, 1906, and their son, Earl Laurence, who was born March 5. 1908. The farm on which the family resides is well located on the Elgin and Sycamore road, about twenty rods distant from the neighboring school- house, and with all the surroundings commanding attention because of their
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value as conveniences or their attractiveness as picturesque features of the landscape. Mr. Middleton's mother makes her home with him.
In addition to his extensive farming operations Mr. Middleton is also extensively engaged in raising live-stock for the market, shipping on an aver- age of two carloads of cattle and two of hogs every year. Now in the prime of life, with all his faculties in full vigor and energetic action, with his business flourishing and expanding, with employments entirely suited to his tastes and furnishing requirements for the exercise of both mind and body and standing well in the regard and good will of his fellowmen, it is easy to predict for him a future of prominence and influence in the community.
EUGENE TANNER.
With two hundred and forty-eight acres of as good farming land as can be found anywhere, which he owns and cultivates, with a fine dwelling on it, which is completely and elaborately furnished, and with a harmonious and agreeable domestic circle around his hearthstone, Eugene Tanner is not only comfortably situated in life, but would seem to be above the reach of adverse fortune.
Mr. Tanner was born in Aurora township, in which he now lives, May 9, 1841. Here he grew to manhood, received his education and made his choice of a companion for life. He has passed all his days in the township so far and has no inclination to leave it hereafter while his life lasts. He is therefore essentially one of its people and his own history and activity have been closely interwoven with its record and progress.
His father, William A. Tanner, was a native of Jefferson county. New York, and became a resident of Illinois in 1835, making his home for a time in Chicago, where he taught school, clerked in stores, helped to make surveys, and performed other useful and important duties. He and his wife were the parents of nine children : Eugene ; Henry R .. a resident of Aurora ; Florence, the wife of James Patterson, of Chicago; Amy, the wife of John Johnson, of Naperville, Illinois; Imogene, who lives in Aurora: Marion, who became the wife of Frank Simpson and died in 1905. leaving a family of four children ; Martha, the wife of Rev. Charles Thornton, of Park Ridge, Illinois; Mary, the wife of Clark H. Hopkins, of Kansas City, Kansas; and George, who has his home in Sugar Grove.
Eugene Tanner obtained his early education in the district school near his home and supplemented the training he received there with a course of higher instruction at Jennings Seminary in Aurora. When he was fifteen years of age his parents moved to Aurora and he resided there with them for a number of years. On February 5. 1867. he married Miss Elizabeth Stilwell, a native of Jefferson county, New York, and ever since his marriage he has lived on the home farm on section 6, Aurora township, except during the first six years of his wedded life, when he occupied the old Jones farm one mile north of Aurora. He and his wife have had four children : Henry
MRS. EUGENE TANNER
ENGENE TANNER
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Eugene, who died in infancy ; Anna M., who is still a member of the household ; Clarence G., an enterprising business man of Batavia in this state; and Edna, who died at the age of eighteen. The last named was a very lovable young lady and an accomplished musician. The father of Mrs. Tanner was William Stilwell, a native of New York city but during the greater part of his life a resident and farmer in New York state. A few months before his death in 1888 he came to Kane county and passed the remainder of his days at the home of his son John at North Aurora.
In politics Mr. Tanner trains with the republican party. He is not in any sense a narrow partisan but his faith in the principles and policies of his party is strong and he gives it his earnest and effective support. Although not desirous of public life or the honors or emoluments of office, he at times consented to fill local positions of importance for the benefit of the township and the good of its people, particularly the office of road commissioner, which he filled with great credit and acceptability. He and his wife are members of the Galena Street Baptist church in Aurora, and also of the West Aurora Farmers' Club, and Mrs. Tanner is in addition an active member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, the Woman's Domestic Science Club and the Woman's Relief Corps, and an ardent worker in all.
The Tanner farm is at the junction of three townships, Aurora, Black- berry and Sugar Grove. The location is a choice one for many reasons and the high state of development to which the farm has been raised through the judicious and energetic management of its owner, together with its substantial, attractive and comfortable improvements, makes it an ideal rural home. It is widely known for its generous hospitality and its genial social atmosphere, and is therefore a popular resort for the hosts of friends of the family. The country around it and the whole county present to the eye and observation of the visitor a very different scene from that to which Mr. Tanner was accus- tomed in his boyhood, when night was made hideous and alarming by the howling of the prairie wolves on many occasions, which frequently became so annoying that the elder Tanner was obliged to mount his horse and drive them back into the woods.
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