History of La Salle County, Illinois, Part 144

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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other six children of the family, they arrived in the United States in November, 1852. After mak- ing their home in Derby, Connecticut, about five years they removed to La Salle county, Illinois, in June, 1857, and continued to live in Grand Rap- ids township until 1882, when Mr. Taylor and his wife took up their abode in Dodge county, Ne- braska, where he spent his remaining days as a farmer. His political support was given to the republican party. Both he and his wife died in Nebraska, at the age of seventy-six years.

In their family were fifteen children, of whom Dr. Taylor was the ninth in order of birth. Ten of the number are still living, as follows: George; Mary Ann, the wife of Fitch Smith, residing in Council Bluffs, Iowa; Annie M., the wife of Mr. Milgrin; Charles R .; Emily, the wife of Ulman Fuller, residing in Oakland, Cali- fornia ; Alfred J., a successful farmer living near Fremont, Nebraska; Anson G., who is engaged in farming in Nebraska ; Frank, residing at Red- lands, California : Martha J., the widow of Hen- derson Braucht, who for two terms was a mem- ber of the Nebraska state legislature, and died in 1895 ; and Burdett G., a prominent farmer of Dodge county, Nebraska.

Dr. J. J. Taylor, a brother of our subject, was born in 1841, and died in August, 1903, at the age of sixty-three years. He was a graduate of Rush Medical College, at Chicago, in the class of 1867, and came to Streator in May, 1876, being one of the leading physicians of that city up to the time of his death. He was regarded as one of the best read men of his profession in the county and 'was prominent and influential in other ways. For four years he served as county com- missioner and also acted as alderman of the fourth ward of Streator. It was through his efforts that the Bell sewer system was established in Streator and his labors were of permanent value to the city along many lines of improve- ment. At the time of the Civil war he enlisted and served for one year in Company K, Twen- tieth Regiment of Illinois Volunteers and was then discharged on account of ill health. He had a commission as captain from Governor Richard Yates and as such commanded a com- pany in the Home Guards.

Dr. Taylor, whose name introduces this record, came from England to America with his mother when four years of age, and resided in Derby, Connecticut, until the removal of the family to La Salle county in 1857. He has continued to re- side in the county from 1869 and has made his home in Streator since April 2, 1877. He was educated in the public schools and in a semi- nary at Ottawa, which he attended for two years. He afterward taught school for one term of three

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PAST AND PRESENT OF LA SALLE COUNTY.

months and subsequently studied under a private preceptor. He took up the study of dentistry in the office of Dr. Herbert C. Reeder, of Burlingame, Kansas, and further prepared for his chosen profession by attending a course of lectures at the Missouri Dental College in 1873-4 and in Philadelphia Dental College, from which he was graduated as president of his class in the class of 1876. Since Dr. Taylor located in Streator a good support has been accorded him in recogni- tion of his splendid ability. He is a member of the Odontographic Society of Chicago; has been president of the Illinois State Dental Society and also of the La Salle County Dental Society. He was likewise the organizer and is a member of the Dental Fellowship Club, of Streator, and he organized the La Salle and Peru Fellowship Club, also the Ottawa and Marseilles and the Mendota and Earlville Dental Fellowship Clubs. He was a delegate to the International Dental Congress held at St. Louis from August 29th un- til September 3, 1904, was made a member of the committee on finance and read a very interesting paper on the Human Mouth and its Hygiene and gave a clinic in operative dentistry. At the present time he is a member of the Illinois State Board of Dental Examiners, having been ap- pointed by Governor Richard Yates on the 18th of March, 1904, for a term of five years without his seeking or knowing of the proposed appoint- ment through the accommodation of his profes- sional friends. He is accorded a position of prominence in the dental fraternity in this section of the state and he has few, if any, superiors in the line of his profession practicing in northern Illinois. He has always been a close and dis- criminating student and is continually increasing his knowledge of the science and art of dentistry and his efficiency in its practical application.

Dr. Taylor is a man of resourceful ability and aside from his profession he has business inter- ests, being a stockholder and director of the Streator Metal Stamping Company. His inter- ests have extended also to many measures relat- ing closely to the public welfare. He was presi- dent of the school board of Streator for five years and was alderman of the third ward for two years, while at the present writing he is chairman of the board of park commissioners and takes great interest in beautifying the city. He is a stockholder and member of the Streator Chau- tauqua Association and is a graduate of the Na - tional Chautauqua Association, having taken a four years' course, as did his wife. He is like- wise a member of the Streator Club and other township clubs. He belongs to the Good Will church and is president of its trustees and super- intendent of the Sunday-school, which latter po-

sition he has held since the church was organized with the exception of a period of one year. He is a member of the Business Men's Association and belongs to Streator lodge, No. 607, A. F. & A. M. He has likewise attained the Royal Arch degree in Masonry and is connected with the Mystic Workers of the World and the Modern Woodmen of America. His political allegiance is given to the republican party but he is with- out aspiration for office.

On the 20th of March, 1879, at Sandwich, Illi- nois, Dr. Taylor was united in marriage to Miss Jennie E. Phelps, who was born in Elgin, Illinois, and is a daughter of Joseph E. and Harriet W. (Stiles) Phelps. Her parents were married at Coldwater, Michigan. Her father was born in the state of New York, October 16, 1824, and. died in Illinois when seventy-seven years of age. Dr. and Mrs. Taylor have a daughter, Vera, who was born in Streator, and was graduated from the high school in June, 1902. In September of that year she became a student in Wellesley College in Massachusetts, from which she grad- tated on the 26th of June, 1906.

Dr. Taylor when not occupied with the duties of his profession devotes his energies to move- ments that work for the moral and intellectual growth of the town and has lent a helping hand to its more material activities. As president of the school board he participated in a movement that revolutionized school matters, greatly to the benefit of public-school instruction here. He recognizes that there is no such thing as stand- ing still and intends to keep in touch with the trend of modern thought and progress and his labors have been of direct and permanent good in the upbuilding of his city.

CHRISTIAN STEINMAYER.

Christian Steinmayer has since 1898 been president and manager of the La Salle Pressed Brick Company and his intense and well directed activity constitutes an important force in its suc- cessful conduct. He was born in Reutlingen, Germany, in 1854, a son of Christopher and Lena (Horwarth) Steinmayer, who never came to America. He was the only child of this marriage and in fact is his father's only surviv- ing child, although Christopher Steinmayer was three times married. In his native country he acquired his education and learned the machin- ist's trade. In 1874, when a young man of twenty years, he crossed the Atlantic to the United States. He located first in Chicago, Illinois, where for a year he followed his trade and in

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PAST AND PRESENT OF LA SALLE COUNTY.

1875 he came to La Salle, where he secured em- ployment and later became foreman for the Mathiessen & Hegeler Zinc Works in the machine shop. He filled the position until 1887, when he became manager of the La Salle Pressed Brick Company, which was organized in that year with a capital stock of thirty thousand dollars. This has since been increased, however, to sixty thou- sand dollars. In 1898 Mr. Steinmayer was elected president and manager and is thus exec- utive head of the enterprise, which is one of the important productive industries of the city, em- ploying on an average of forty workmen. Their product is pressed brick for building purposes, fire brick and brick mantels. They now have an extensive business and a well equipped plant supplied with all modern appliances. Mr. Stein- mayer is a careful and painstaking manager, avoiding useless expenditure, yet hesitating not to invest in the latest improved appliances which will facilitate the work and improve the product.

In 1876, in La Salle, Mr. Steinmayer was joined in wedlock to Miss Katherine Feurer and they have six living children. Lena, the eldest, is the wife of Dr. Frederick F. Kolm, a prac- ticing dentist of La Salle. Otto is assistant chem- ist for the Santa Fe Railroad Company. Her- man married Eliza Ruth Trevillian. Agnes, Reinhart and Alwin are all at home and all were born in La Salle.

In politics Mr. Steinmayer is an independent republican, who keeps well informed on the questions and issues of the day but does not con- sider himself bound by party ties. He is a Ma- son, a Mystic Worker and has been president of the Turnverein for several years. He is much esteemed as a progressive and energetic busi- ness man and public-spirited citizen, whose worth is widely acknowledged and whose labors have been of value to the city. He stands today among those whose business advancement and success have come as the legitimate outcome of persistent labor and enterprise and his life rec- ord is alike creditable to the land of his birth and the land of his adoption.

JACOB GEIGER.

Jacob Geiger, practically living retired after many years' close connection with business inter- ests in Streator, was born at Steper, Germany, September 22, 1835, and his education was ac- quired in the schools of that country and in Pennsylvania. His parents were Simon and Eliza- beth (Fox) Geiger, both natives of Germany. The father was born in 1801, and the mother

in 1808. He came to the United States in 1856, crossing the Atlantic on a sailing vessel which dropped anchor in the harbor of New York. Later he arrived in La Salle county, settling in the city of La Salle in 1859. He was a member of the German Lutheran church and died in Washington, Illinois, at the venerable age of eighty-eight years, while his wife passed away there when sixty-nine years of age. In their family were seven children: Elizabeth, the wife of N. Ginder, who owns eight sections of land in Nebraska and lives at Holstein, that state ; Jacob, of this review; Frederica, the wife of William Eiter, of Streator ; William, who is liv- ing in Denison, Texas; Charles, who died at the age of sixty-five years; Adam, who died at the age of thirty-five years ; and Simon, who is living in Peru, Illinois.

Jacob Geiger spent the first thirteen years of his life in the fatherland and came to America in 1848 on a sailing vessel bound for the United States. He afterward went to Harrisburg, Penn- sylvania, where he worked as a cook and later was steward on river boats for eleven years, sailing on the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers. At the outbreak of the Civil war he left New Orleans and made his way northward to La Salle, where he conducted a barber shop, and his parents, then living in New York, also went to La Salle. At a later date Mr. Geiger of this review spent a year in Minonk, after which he came to Streator, where he opened a barber shop. Subsequently he was in the hotel business from 1872 until 1882, and in 1875 he built a fine busi- ness block, where the new postoffice is now standing, selling this to the government for fif- teen thousand dollars. In 1872 he bought two frame residences but has since sold one of them. He has at different times owned valuable farm lands but now has only one farm. In 1901 he built a fine home in Streator, where he now re- sides at No. III Seventh street. At different times he has owned valuable property and he still has a sufficient amount to bring him a good income. He is not active in business life but gives his supervision to his invested interests.

On the 15th of August, 1861, Mr. Geiger was married in La Salle to Miss Mina Keehner, who was born in Germany, January 17, 1841, and was a daughter of Jacob and Frederica (Utez) Keeh- ner, both of whom were natives of Germany. Her father was born in 1797 and departed this life in 1865, while his wife, who was born May 18. 1806, survived until April 9, 1886, passing away when almost eighty years of age. They were married in Germany and came to this coun- try in 1855 as passengers on a sailing vessel bound for New York. From the Atlantic coast

PAST AND PRESENT OF LA SALLE COUNTY. 1109

they made their way into the interior of the identified with the Odd Fellows lodge. In poli- country, settling at Peru, where Mr. Keehner . tics he was an ardent republican and for nine- turned his attention to farming and there spent his remaining days. Both he and his wife were members of the German Lutheran church. In their family was a son, Carl, who died in Peru, at the age of sixty-five years, after devoting his life to farming in that locality. The only daugh- ter, Mrs. Geiger, has by her marriage become the mother of five children, four daughters and a son, namely : Emma; Louise, the wife of Aus- tin Bell, a resident of Waukesha, Wisconsin ; Frederica; Jacob, Jr., who is in the wool busi- ness at Quincy, Illinois; and Nellie, the wife of Fleming Hupp, living in Streator. teen years was assessor of Hope township, while for three or four terms he served as township supervisor. In his farming operations he was practical and successful, was a good business man, of keen discernment and ready energy and therefore prospered as the years went by. He wisely placed his money in real estate and at the time of his death was the possessor of three hundred and fifty acres of very rich land. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Catherine Ann Boshell, was born in Putnam county, June 12, 1842, and died on the 3Ist of March, 1876. She was a daughter of Richard and Georgiana Boshell, who came from England in the '30S and settled in Putnam county, being pioneer resi- dents of that locality, whence they afterward re- moved to La Salle county. In England the fa- ther had followed weaving, but after coming to the new world devoted his energies to general agricultural pursuits. He held membership in the Methodist Episcopal church. In the family were four children: Hannah M., who became the wife of J. D. McShane and died March 28, 1888, in her twenty-seventh year, leaving three children : James E., who is living on the old homestead ; R. William; and Arthur L., de- ceased.

Mr. Geiger has been assistant supervisor for three terms and was the first alderman of the third ward in the city of Streator. His official prerogatives have ever been exercised in support of measures that have for their basic element the practical and substantial development of the city. He belongs to the Odd Fellows lodge at Streator and his political support has always been given to the republican party. He has now passed the seventieth milestone on life's journey and during the long years of his residence in America he has worked his way upward from a very humble financial position to one of affluence, his life record therefore standing in evidence of the fact that the rewards of labor are sure in a country where effort is not hampered by caste or class.

R. WILLIAM PHILLIPS.

R. William Phillips, who is engaged in a flour and feed business in Lostant, was born, in Hope township, this county, April 23, 1866. His father, Thomas Phillips, was born in Manches- ter, England, and came to the United States in the fall of 1841, locating in Hope township. He was one of its early settlers and engaged in busi- ness as a stonemason and brickmaker, manu- facturing brick at Magnolia for some time. He and his brother George manufactured the brick and built the third house in Magnolia and also a brick barn in 1843, which is standing at the present time and has long been known as one of the ancient landmarks of Hope township. He bought a farm in Hope township and remained there until 1893, at which time he took up his abode in Lostant, living retired until his death, which occurred July 15, 1898, when he had reached the advo di age of eighty-two years. He was a menton, of the Methodist Episcopal church, in the work of which he took an active and helpful part, and he was also at one time

Mr. Phillips of this review was reared to farm life and attended the country schools, while later he spent two terms in Dixon University. In 1890 he engaged in the hardware and implement business at Lostant, conducting the trade until 1893, when he sold out and since that time has given his attention to the flour and feed business. He has built up a good trade in this line and his patronage is continually increasing.

On the 9th of February, 1892, Mr. Phillips was united in marriage to Miss Grace B. Hilta- brand, who was born in Hope township Decem- ber 3, 1871, and is a daughter of Josephus and Mary E. Hiltabrand, pioneer residents of Hopc township. Three children grace this marriage : Marie L., born February 22, 1893; Bernice I .. born January 11, 1895 ; and Leonard J., February 21. 1900.

The parents are members of the Baptist church and take an active interest in its work and growth. Mr. Phillips is serving as treas- urer of the church and contributes generously of his means to its support. He belongs to Lost- ant lodge, No. 870, A. F. & A. M., is also con- nected with the Odd Fellows, the Modern Wood- men of America, the Mystic Workers of the World and the Eastern Star. His political alle- giance is given to the republican party and his fellow townsmen, recognizing his worth and abil-

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PAST AND PRESENT OF LA SALLE COUNTY.

ity, frequently called him to positions of public trust. For the past six years he has been super- visor of Hope township and for seven years was town clerk. He was also village clerk for four years, school treasurer six years and has served for four years as a director of the Lostant school. He is interested in all that pertains to local progress and his co-operation has been a valued factor in advancing general good. Hav- ing spent his entire life in this county, his resi- dence here covers a period of forty years, during which time many changes have occurred.

HON. LUCIEN B. CROOKER.

The subject of this sketch was born in Wind- sor county, Vermont, November 12, 1840, the eldest son of Orasmus and Salana Crooker. He is descended from Scotch and English ancestry, who came to America in colonial times and sent its representatives into all the wars consequent upon the upbuilding and preservation of this nation. Mr. Crooker came west with his par- ents in 1847 and settled on Rock river in Ogle county. He passed through the usual experi- ences of poor boys in those pioneer days, hav- ing little schooling but plenty of hard work, such as cutting cord wood, burning charcoal and driv- ing oxen. In the spring of 1855 the family re- moved to a new prairie farm about four miles south of Paw Paw Grove, where he aided in breaking prairie, binding wheat and other such bucolic exercises, associated with little rest and less schooling. "Working out" for adjoining farmers, running a threshing machine and such occupation furnished unending exercise. He at- tended an academy two terms at Paw Paw Grove and for one term at Mendota, working in each case for his board and thus acquiring the rudi- ments of an education. In the winter of 1859 he taught school south of Paw Paw Grove, and the following winter in what was known as the Weddle district, receiving as pay fifteen dollars per month-in Illinois "stump tail" currency, one-half of which was lost by its fluctuations. It is needless to add that Mr. Crooker has been an ardent advocate of sound money since that sad day, which destroyed half his fortune! In both cases the teacher "boarded" around," built his own fires and did other work after the man- ner of country pedagogues of that time.

In the spring of 1861 Mr. Crooker came to Mendota, intending to study law with an uncle. Just at that time Fort Sumter was fired upon and with many others he enlisted, serving as a

private during the three months' term in Com- pany H, Twelfth Illinois Infantry. He re-en- listed August 26, 1861, for three years in Com- pany I, Fifty-fifth Illinois Infantry, then organ- izing in Camp Douglas, and served as first ser- geant of this company until March 6, 1862, when he was promoted to first lieutenant. His regi- ment suffered severely at Shiloh, its first battle, losing two hundred and forty-nine in killed and wounded out of five hundred and twelve that entered the engagement. In this battle the young lieutenant was shot through both legs, the right knee being severely shattered, and in getting away was again wounded across the left shoul- der, which shot instantly killed Sergeant Bagly, who was assisting him. At Chickasaw Bayou Mr. Crooker was transferred to Company F of the same regiment and commissioned its captain to take the place of Captain Schleich, a gallant soldier who had just been killed. He passed through the various battles consequent upon the Vicksburg campaign until the first assault made by the Second Division, Fifteenth Army Corps, on May 19, 1863, when his left arm was broken in front of the "graveyard" fort. He was that fall discharged "for disability from wounds re- ceived in battle" and indeed wounds and illness had seriously disabled this muscular young farmer boy, who weighed only one hundred and twenty-two pounds upon his arrival home. He was appointed major in a colored regiment and received from the secretary of war an ap- pointment as captain in the invalid corps. Both these honors were declined, as was a subse- quent offer of a lieutenancy in the regular army- ill health and disability from wounds rendering acceptance inadmissible.

Mr. Crooker was admitted to the bar in 1865, having in the meantime attended law school at the Michigan University at Ann Arbor. He re- calls that upon his admission the present Chief Justice Fuller and the late Judge Leland were of the committee who examined him. He en- tered upon the successful practice of his pro- fession at Mendota and retired from business in 1886. During that period Mr. Crooker served as police magistrate, supervisor, mayor, city at- torney, library trustee, school trustee, etc., re- signing from some and refusing re-election to others. He served as a member of the Illinois legislature from 1876 to 1880. Those were times of struggle for the re-election of General Logan to the United States senate and Mr. Crooker was a warm partisan of that soldier and states- man; was appointed revenue collector for the second district of Illinois, ar caiserved as such for six years and until removed 1or political rea- sons by President Cleveland.

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PAST AND PRESENT OF LA SALLE COUNTY.

Mr. Crooker was married in 1866 to Miss Annette E. Wirick, of Paw Paw Grove, whose father was a farmer. Youth, poverty and the war extended this courtship over a long period before it culminated in happy wedlock, inter- rupted by the death of the wife in 1890. Two children were born of this marriage: Jesse D., now special agent for the Hartford Fire Insur- ance Company for North Dakota and western Minnesota; and Maude E., who lives with her father in Mendota.

Mr. Crooker possesses a very extensive library, much the largest in that region, and has been a close and persistent student of the incidents of the Civil war. On that topic he has the largest collection of books in private hands in the north- west and has written a history of his regiment and many military papers. He is a member of the Grand Army, the Loyal Legion and the Ma- sonic fraternity.

The subject of this sketch utterly refused to allow any elaboration or eulogistic remark upon the events of his life and we are therefore con- fined to this outline so typical of a poor boy in the pioneer days of Illinois and during the war. He seems to be passing his declining years in his large garden and among his books, serenely awaiting the last roll call.

W. A. QUINN, M. D.

Dr. W. A. Quinn, who in the practice of his profession has made a specialty of dermatology, and has since 1898 been a lecturer in Rush Medical College on skin diseases and a con- tributor to various medical journals, makes his home at No. 1333 Jackson boulevard, Chicago, while his office is located at No. 100 State street. A native son of Ottawa, his birth occurred Au- gust 29, 1869. His father, James Quinn, was born in Ireland and wedded Mary Nevin. They became residents of Ottawa in 1845, casting in their lot with the early settlers who promoted the pioneer development and progress of the city. Mr. Quinn continued to reside in Ottawa throughout his remaining days and both he and his wife have been laid to rest in the cemetery there. In their family were four children: W. A., of this review; Mrs. McMahan, who is liv- ing in Freeport, Illinois ; Thomas F., a druggist of Ottawa; and Anna, who is in Chicago with her brother, Dr. Quinn.

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History of La Salle County, Illinois, Part 144

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