History of La Salle County, Illinois, Part 110

Author: Hoffman, U. J. (Urias John), b. 1855
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1286

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In 1887 was celebrated the marriage of Rev. Vigness and Miss Margaret Krogness in Larch- · wood, Lyon county, Iowa. The lady is a daugh- ter of the Rev. S. M. and Johanna ( Amandsen)

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Krogness, both now deceased. Four sons and a daughter have graced this marriage, namely : Joseph Alfred, Orrin Sylvanus, Lewis Martell, Paul Gerhard and Lydia Ruth. The family resi- dence is the center of a cultured society circle and the influence of this home is far-reaching and beneficial. Rev. Vigness is a most zealous and earnest educator and minister, constantly seeking out new ways to improve the school and promote its efficiency that the pupils may be better fitted for life's practical and responsible duties. He has the power to inspire his teachers and pupils with much of his own zeal and earnest- ness and the college is widely recognized as one of the strong educational centers of the state. In addition to his scholarly attainments and broad culture there is in Mr. Vigness a keen human sympathy that has gained for him the good will, confidence and respect of his fellowmen.

ISAAC F. MASON.

Isaac F. Mason, who is largely retired from farming but is extensively engaged in stock- raising and also gives much of his time to the supervision of a fine gravel pit, has acording to the consensus of public opinion, which is seldom at error in matters of public estimate, gained a prominent place in business circles. Readily discerning an opportunity and taking advantage of the same, he has constantly en- larged the scope of his activities with attendant results that are gratifying, placing him among the prosperous residents of his community.

His birth occurred on the 9th of May, 1857, three miles east of his present home and was only six months old when taken by his par- ents to what is known as the old Mason home- stead in Otter Creek township. He is now the only survivor of a family of five children born unto Joseph and Rosanna Mason. The father was born in Ohio in 1813 and there remained until he had attained his majority, when he came to Illinois. Here he was married to Mrs. Rosanna Pickens, a sister of Captain J. J. Mc- Kernan, a well known resident and early settler of this locality. She was born in Kentucky and came with her parents from that state to Illinois when a little maiden of six years, riding all the way on a two-year-old colt. She first became the wife of Henry Pickens, by whom she had two children, Maranda, deceased; and Celestia Jane, wife of H. B. White, of Nebraska. Mr. Pickens died six years prior to the marriage of his widow to Mr. Mason. During her girl-

hood days Mrs. Mason saw many wild deer, buffaloes and other game, for she was reared upon the frontier amid pioneer environments. The Indians went upon the war path and killed seventeen white people at one time, but her family went with others to Ottawa for safety, remaining in the city during the Indian raids at the time of the Black Hawk war. By her second marriage Mrs. Mason became the mother of five children : Isaac F. and James, who were twins; Justice, who died in childhood; Luella, also deceased; and Joseph F. Following the death of Mr. Mason his widow became the wife of Henry Slater.

At the usual age Isaac F. Mason entered the public schools, where he acquired a knowledge of those branches of learning that fit one to cope with business problems. In his youth he worked upon his father's farm and when eighteen years of age took charge of the old home place, which he conducted up to the time of his mother's death, when he was twenty-two years of age. He married and then bought the interests of the other heirs in the old home property. His life has been one of great activity and enterprise. He has carried on teaming and operated a hay-press for about nine months, when he was injured and never resumed labor in that connection. For a long period he carried on general agricultural pursuits, operating a farm of four hundred acres, which is well im- proved and equipped with modern conveniences to such a degree that it forms one of the most attractive features of the landscape. There is a commodious and pleasant residence with an extensive barn, furnishing ample shelter for stock and grain. Another feature seldom found on private grounds but none the less desirable is a large reservoir which is well stocked with fish. Mr. Mason has been extensively and suc- cessfully engaged in stock-raising and every two or three years has a stock sale. He is an excel- lent judge of horses and has had some fine ones in his day, having twenty-three head of horses on his place at the present time. In 1903 his home was swept away in a storm and in 1904 he built the fine residence which he now occupies. He had at times as many as one hundred and forty head of hogs upon his farm and for a period he conducted a dairy business with sixty cows. In 1903, however, he sold his dairy. At different times he has purchased and sold a number of farms and in all of his business inter- ests he is active, energetic and progressive. At the present writing he is largely retired from the active work of the fields but still has impor- tant business connections, giving his supervision to the operation of a fine gravel pit on his place

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and also to the sinking of a coal shaft in con- nection with Oscar Kime.

Mr. Mason was married September 4, 1879, to Miss Rachel Jane Fair, who was born in Pennsylvania, June 13, 1862, her parents being John W. and Levina (Gochanour) Fair, who were likewise natives of the Keystone state. They went to Marshall county, Illinois, in 1870 and Mr. Fair followed farming in both Penn- sylvania and in this state. He was a member of the United Brethren church and in politics was a democrat. His death occurred when he was fifty-seven years of age and his wife passed away at the age of fifty-nine. In their family were nine children, of whom seven are now living: William W., Mary, the wife of George Robinson, living in South Haven, Michigan; Ellen, the widow of S. Williamson ; Mrs. Mason ; Emma; W. A., who is living at Winona, Min- nesota ; and Cora.

The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Mason has been blessed with six children : Arthur, F., born October 30, 1880; Bessie J., born in 1885; Isaac R., March 9, 1892; Letha, who died in infancy ; Rachel Zelma, born June 1, 1898; and Erma M., born September 22, 1901. Mr. Mason is a member of the Mystic Workers and Modern Woodmen camp, No. 1444. He is also identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and in his political views is a republican. His entire life has been spent in this section of Illi- nois and farming interests have always found in him a worthy representative, whose diligence and laudable ambition have been commendable traits in his character and have constituted the basis of a very gratifying success.

ISAAC TERHUNE VAN DOREN.

Seldom do men pass from this life leaving behind them a more creditable record of a useful and honorable career than did Isaac Terhune Van Doren, whose death occurred at Grand Ridge, on the 13th of November, 1905, when he had reached the venerable age of eighty-six years, six months and fifteen days. Nature en- dowed him with strong intellectual force and keen discrimination, and he used his mental pow- ers to see things in their due proportion and right relations, to form honest opinions and to enter- tain convictions which he did not fear to uphold.

A native of New York, he was born in Lysan- der, April 28, 1819, and spent his youth in the east and was married in October, 1837, to Miss Sarah Van Doren. The same year they removed westward to Indiana, where they resided until

coming to Illinois in 1842. For six years there- after they were residents of Farmington, this state, and subsequently spent four years in Chicago. Then they removed to the vicinity of Grand Ridge and Mr. Van Doren devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits for a time. He did not desire wealth and while he put forth industry and enterprise in order to provide for his family he made it rather the aim of his life to develop an upright character rather than to secure a large portion of this world's goods. In 1882 he was appointed postmaster of Grand Ridge, serving for a term of four years, and in December, 1889, he again received presidential appointment to that office, in which he continued until September, 1893. Upon the appointment of his daughter, Mary Van Doren, to the office of postmistress in 1901, he became deputy and so continued until his demise. He had previously served as supervisor of Farm Ridge township and was for many years town clerk and justice of the peace. He was notary public at the time of his death and his official duties were ever discharged with promptness and fidelity. No trust reposed in him was ever betrayed in the slightest degree and none ever questioned his integrity of purpose.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Van Doren were born twelve children but all have departed this life with the exception of Mary, who is acting as postmistress of Grand Ridge, and Mrs. McCor- mick. For the past four years the family has had charge of the mail and has conducted the affairs of the office in a very satisfactory way. She was a kind and dutiful daughter and com- panion to her father in his declining years, thus repaying him in filial devotion for the care which he bestowed upon her in her early childhood.

At a meeting held at the old Van Doren school- house at eleven o'clock on Tuesday, the 17th of June, 1855, a sermon was preached by the Rev. Johnston, while Rev. Marquis presided over the meeting and upon that occasion was organized what is now the First Presbyterian church at Grand Ridge. Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Van Doren were among the nine charter members. Mr. Van Doren was a very strong church man, inflexible in his allegiance to the teachings of his denomi- nation, and was many times a delegate to the presbytery and synod of his church and was once a commissioner to the general assembly when it met at Baltimore in 1874. His life was permeated by high and honorable principles and was guided by his Christian faith and belief. He took a most active part in church work throughout the long years of his indentification with the association at Grand Ridge and was a most stalwart, earnest Christian gentleman who

MR. AND MRS. ISAAC T. VAN DOREN.

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PAST AND PRESENT OF LA SALLE COUNTY.

passed to his reward full of years and honors, leaving a memory which remains as a blessed ben- ediction to all who knew him.

TIMOTHY FLAHERTY.

Timothy Flaherty, to whom has been vouch- safed an honorable retirement from active busi- ness life, is now living on section 16, Dimmick township. He was born in County Kerry, Ire- land, and was a young man of twenty-one years when he came to La Salle county. His parents were Timothy and Mary (Daly) Flaherty, both of whom were also natives of Ireland. The father died in that country, and the mother after- ward came to the United States with her seven children. Bridget, the eldest, died in Iowa. Mar- garet is married and lives in Joliet, Illinois. Mary is the wife of Timothy Leehy, a resident of Peru, Illinois, and their daughter is now the wife of Representative J. J. McClusky. Eliza- beth is deceased. Catherine is the wife of John Fitzgerald, a prominent farmer residing in Boone county, Iowa. Morgan was killed on the railroad in Iowa. Timothy is the youngest of the family.

In the schools of his native country Timothy Flaherty acquired his education and was reared to manhood. He pursued a high-school course and was for a time a teacher in a school at Dingley, Ireland. After crossing the Atlantic to the United States he was for four years over- seer of a large farm near La Salle, known as the Cahill estate, and by the careful husbanding of his resources he was enabled, in 1877, to pur- chase eighty acres of land on section 16, Dimmick township, on which the family residence now stands. To this he has added from time to time until he now has three hundred and two acres in this and Bureau counties, constituting a very valuable and richly improved farm. It is devoted to general agricultural pursuits and stock-raising and in addition to this place the family usually operate from two to three hundred acres of rented land. For many years Mr. Flaherty continued actively in business, managing his property and carefully conducting his labors until his efforts were crowned with a high and gratifying measure of success. He is now re- tired from active farm work and spends his time wholly in supervising his agriculturai interests, which are among the most extensive in La Salle county.

Mr. Flaherty was married to Miss Johanna Fenton, a daughter of Michael and Ellen (Man- ning) Fenton, and a representative of one of the early Irish famillies of this locality. Unto them

were born nine children : Mary, the wife of Wil- liam Murphy; Michael, who operates a large farm in Bureau county ; Anna, who makes her home in Bureau county ; Margaret and Timothy, at home; Lizzie, who is a teacher in the schools of Dimmick township; Frank Daly, who is a graduate of the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso, Indiana, and also of Brown's Business College, at Ottawa, and is now filling a position with the Marquette Cement Company, at Chicago; and Hannah and John W., at home.

In his political views Mr. Flaherty has always been a democrat but is not strictly partisan and has occasionally voted for the candidates of the opposition. For ten years he has filled the po- sition to township clerk, was collector for nine years and school director for fifteen years. In his religious faith he is a Catholic, he and his family being communicants of the Sacred Heart church in Dimmick township. The cause of edu- cation finds in him a warm friend and his chil- dren have been provided with excellent advan- tages in this direction, nearly all being graduates of the high school at La Salle. His father was a merchant in Ireland and owned several large farms, which were confiscated by the government, leaving the family almost penniless. Soon after the father died the family came to America, so that Timothy Flaherty was in limited financial circumstances when he arrived in the new world. He saw the opportunities that might here be en- joyed, made the most of his advantages, and as the years went by so placed his investments and conducted his business affairs that his labors were crowned with gratifying success, and he is now one of the substantial residents of the county with a business of considerable importance and of landed interests which annually return him a very desirable income. He is now leaving the active work of the farm to others and is living in the enjoyment of well earned rest.

W. JAY GARARD, M. D.

Dr. W. Jay Garard, engaged in the practice of medicine in Rutland, is a native of Mendota, Illinois, born on the 15th of October, 1875. His parents were Seaman and Mary Elizabeth (Showman) Garard, natives of Virginia and Pennsylvania respectively. The father, a car- penter and millwright by occupation, became a resident of Livingston county, Illinois, a short time prior to the Civil war and continued work at his trade until after the inauguration of hos- tilities. He enlisted three times, which took

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him throughout the entire period of the war. Since an early epoch in American history the Garard family has been represented in each of the wars of the country and the family was a prominent one in Virginia in early colonial days. The father of Seaman Garard was the owner of large landed interests where the city of St. Louis now stands. Following the close of the Civil war Seaman Garard returned to Livingston county, Illinois, and subsequently took up his abode in Mendota, where he continued work at his trade up to the time of his death, which occurred January 18, 1905, when he was seventy- four years of age. His widow still survives and is yet living in Mendota. Seaman Garard was one of a family of eight children and himself became the father of eight children, of whom Dr. Garard is the fifth in order of birth. The children are: Cartha O., now in Oklahoma; Carrie, the wife of George Elmslie, of Chicago, Illinois ; Maud E., who is living in Sterling, Illinois ; S. Otto, at Forreston, Illinois; W. J., of this review ; R. Roy, who is living in Mendota ; Ethel, in Chicago; and Earl S., also of Mendota.

Dr. Garard acquired his literary education in the public schools of Mendota and pursued his preparation for his profession as a student in the Chicago Homeopathic Medical College and the Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago, being graduated from the latter institution as a mem- ber of the class of 1903. He at once located for practice in Rutland, where he has since remained and has now a good patronage. He is a mem- ber of the county and state medical societies and the American Medical Association and thus keeps in touch with the trend of modern thought bearing upon his chosen field of labor. He is identified with various fraternal organizations, including the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of America, Royal Neigh- bors, the Yeoman of America, and the Sons of Veterans. Dr. Garard is yet a young man but has attained in his profession a position of promi- nence and success that many an older practitioner might well envy.

T. F. HESSELBERTH.

T. F. Hesselberth, interested in general agri- cultural pursuits in Groveland township, having two hundred and forty acres of valuable farming land under a high state of cultivation, was born April 18, 1867, on a farm on section 12 of the same township, his parents being Charles and Sophia (Reiss) Hesselberth, natives of Germany. The father was born July 3, 1829, in Saxe-

Weimar, Germany, a son of Christoph and Lenora (Senf) Hesselberth, the grandfather a miller by trade. Charles Hesselberth was ap- prenticed to a gunsmith in early life. In 1852 he came to America and for two years worked at the McCormick reaper works in Chicago and two years in Bloomington. He then became a farm hand in Woodford county, Illinois. On the 27th of September, 1858, he was married to Sophia Reiss, who was born in Mecklenburg, Germany, February 7. 1840, a daughter of John and Maria (Jenkel) Reiss. Following his mar- riage, Mr. Hesselberth lived on rented land in Woodford county for four years and later paid fifteen dollars per acre to the railroad company for eighty acres on section 12, Groveland town- ship. After paying three hundred dollars for improvements he had three hundred dollars in cash beside a good team. When he had occupied the little cabin home for four years he replaced it by a good farm residence. In 1865 he bought forty acres on section I and and in 1874 pur- chased his homestead, comprising one hundred and sixty acres on section 15, where he lived up to the time of his death. In 1878 he bought eighty acres on section 12, adjoining his first eighty, and in 1881 added another eighty acres on section 15, so that the homestead now com- prises two hundred and forty acres. He pros- pered in his undertakings, becoming one of the substantial agriculturists of the community. It was in 1875 that the family removed to the farm of one hundred and sixty acres which is still occupied by his widow. There were six children: Charles, now living on section 12, Groveland township; F. W., a resident of Minonk, Illinois ; Alice L .; T. F., of this review ; Albert G., who is living on the old homestead farm ; and Minnie M., who is with her mother.

T. F. Hesselberth was educated in the district schools and was reared to farm life, earl becom- ing familiar with all the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculturist. For some time after his father's death, which occurred in 1891, he conducted the old homestead farm and is now living on an eighty-acre tract of land, formerly a part of his father's estate, on section 22, Groveland township. Later he bought forty acres on section 15 from the estate, together with forty acres in the same section purchased in 1905, a half mile distant from his present home. These different purchases have made his total holdings aggregate two hundred and forty acres and all of his land is under a very high state of cultivation, so that he annually harvests good crops, and is well known as one of the leading farmers of the community.

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PAST AND PRESENT OF LA SALLE COUNTY.

On the 15th of September, 1896, occurred the marriage of T. F. Hesselberth and Miss Clara B. Lincoln, who was born June 18, 1870, a daughter of E. C. and Mary Elizabeth (Deal) Lincoln, of Peoria county, Illinois. Her father, Ethelbert C. Lincoln, a native of Vermont, was engaged for many years in the insurance busi- ness and died in 1894, when about fifty-five years of age, his birth having occurred in 1839. His wife passed away in September, 1894, at the age of fifty-one years. In their family were ten children. Those still living are as follows : Etta; Melvin R., of Colorado; Effie May, the wife of John Bennett, of Galesburg, Illinois ; and Pearl, who is living in Colorado. Those who have passed away are: William, who died in 1894, at the age of thirty years; Della C., who became the wife of Wilbur Hill and died October 31, 1902, at the age of thirty-three, while her husband passed away December 25, 1902, when thirty-three years of age, leaving three children, Paul, Clark and Howard, the youngest now being reared by our subject ; Ernest E., who died in March, 1904, at the age of twenty-two years; and two who died in infancy.

Mr. and Mrs. Hesselberth have but one child, Charles E., but are now rearing a nephew, How- ard Hill. Mr. Hesselberth has always been identified with agricultural pursuits and is today accounted one of the progressive, enterprising and prosperous agriculturists of the community, owning and operating valuable land, which re- turns to him golden harvests that find ready sale on the market.

W. W. BEAN.

W. W. Bean, editor of the Monitor of Streator, was born at Lisbon in St. Lawrence county, New York, April 13, 1844. In his child- hood he removed to Ogdenburg, that state, where he attended school at "old No. I" and the academy at the corner of State and Knox streets. He was the son of Frank and Christina Bean, . both deceased. He worked at the printing busi- ness in the office of the Ogdenburg Sentinel, Boys Journal and Ogdenburg Democrat. When the war broke out and Abraham Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand volunteers he ran away from home and enlisted in Company A in April, 1861, at Ogdenburg, New York, and in order to avoid his father was compelled to hide under mail sacks in the baggage car of the Northern road until the train pulled out of the depot for Albany, New York, where the Sixteenth Regi-

ment was mustered into the United States service.

After the expiration of his term of enlistment Mr. Bean was employed in the United States government printing office at Washington, D. C., then in charge of John Defrees, of Indiana, securing the position through the recommenda- tion of United States Senator Preston King, of Ogdenburg, New York. He held the position of assistant quartermaster in the United States military railroad service with headquarters at Alexandria, Virginia, and later at Harper's Ferry and Stevenson's Station, Virginia. He was in Washington when President Lincoln was assassinated. He rode in President Lincoln's car on its first trip from the Alexandria shops to Washington, D. C. Thic car, which was lined with boiler iron and was bullet proof, after- ward conveyed the remains of the lamented president to Springfield, Illinois. It was the most expensive car built up to that date and was sold to an eastern road when the govern- ment went out of the railroad business. While in the army Mr. Bean participated in all of the engagements with his company from the first battle of Bull Run until the engagement at St. Mary's Heights on the right of Fredericks- burg.

At the close of the war he returned home and attended school until April, 1866, when he went to Chicago, arriving on the Ioth of May of that year. He spent three months in that city, after which he worked on the Peoria Transcript until 1868. The following year he purchased a half interest in the El Paso Journal and selling out his interest in El Paso he went to Streator in 1870, where he took charge of the Monitor office for F. D. Dalton. He continued in that position until 1873, when he started a job office. Sometime afterward he became interested in the Free Press and a year later purchased the weekly Monitor, which he changed to a daily in 1882, since which time he has been conducting it as a republican paper.

Mr. Bean was married, September 28, 1868, at Aledo, Illinois, to Miss Martha J. Ross, a daughter of John N. Ross, of Lacon, Illinois. Four children have been born of this union, of whom two are living: Warren Ross, who was born May 10, 1870; and Minnie Lulu, born June 17, 1873. Those deceased are Dwight and Frederick. Mr. Bean is a zealous republican, who has been frequently called to office, serving as township clerk for fourteen years, as mayor of the city of Streator for four years, as a member of the county board of equalization and as supervisor for two terms. He is an Odd Fellow and a member of the Grand Army of

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History of La Salle County, Illinois, Part 110

Author: Hoffman, U. J. (Urias John), b. 1855 Publication date: 1906 Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1286

Author: Hoffman, U. J. (Urias John), b. 1855
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1286