USA > Illinois > Lee County > History of Lee County, Illinois, Volume II > Part 6
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At the usual age Dr. Werren entered the public schools and therein continued his studies until he had completed the course. He afterward became a student in the Normal School at Winches- ter Tennessee, and at a later date attended the Lake Forest Acad- emy. His professional course was pursued in the Bennett Medical College of Chicago, from which he was graduated with the class of 1900. He then located for practice at Orland, Illinois, where he remained for a year, and next went to Grand Detour, Illinois, where he continued until 1909. That year witnessed his arrival in Dixon, where he has since engaged in general practice. He is a member of the Lee County Medical Society, the Illinois State Medical Society and the American Medical Association.
In October, 1900, Dr. Werren was united in marriage to Miss Cora E. Schumaker, of Chicago. He is a republican in politics and manifests a citizen's interest in the questions of the day but has had neither time nor inclination for public office. He is well known in
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fraternal circles, being a Royal Arch Mason and a member of the Elks and the Moose. He has not yet attained the prime of life but already has made for himself a gratifying place in professional ranks and will undoubtedly advance still farther in the future.
ROBERT POGUE.
Commercial activities in Paw Paw and Lee county are well rep- resented by Robert Pogue, one of the foremost lumber and coal dealers in this district and in that connection a member of Pogue Brothers Lumber Company, who own coal and lumber yards not only at Paw Paw but also at Hinckley and Waterman, Illinois. Mr. Pogue has been a resident of Pawpaw since 1894 and has not only become one of the foremost business men of the town but has actively participated in the promotion of her public interests and now serves as president of the board of trustees. A native of Illi- nois, he was born in Oswego, Kendall county, January 9, 1862. His parents were M. J. and Sarah E. (Gibson) Pogue. The father was a pioneer farmer of Kendall county, going thither from Ohio by making his way across the prairies in a wagon. Discontinuing his farming operations, he subsequently established himself in the lumber business, being successful along that line for thirty years. He at first established a lumber and coal yard in Oswego and as his resources increased acquired one at Hinckley, Illinois, and subsequently bought another at Waterman and in 1894 the one which is now conducted by the firm at Paw Paw. The original name of the concern was M. J. Pogue & Sons, but in 1900 this style was changed to that of the Pogue Brothers Lumber Company. They still own coal and lumber yards at the various above men- tioned cities with the exception of that at Oswego, of which they have disposed. Mr. Pogue has done much toward promoting and extending the business and his executive ability and progressive methods have resulted in a most gratifying measure of success.
The marriage of Robert Pogue to Miss E. Maud Hunt was celebrated at Oswego, Illinois, on October 22, 1890. She is a daugh- ter of J. B. and Frances (Porter) Hunt, the former a retired business man. Mr. and Mrs. Pogue have one son, Kenneth H. Mr. Pogue is a devout member of the Presbyterian church, serving as an elder, and fraternally is a blue lodge Mason. He has always taken an active interest in promoting the growth of Paw Paw and
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as president of the board of trustees of the town has done much toward advancement. His policies are modern and progressive and he brings as vigorous an interest to his public duties as he exhibits in the pursuit of his private business affairs. He enjoys in full measure the confidence of the general public, which is evi- dent from the position of trust to which he has been elected, and well merits that confidence on account of the considerate treat- ment which he gives to all matters coming before him in his public capacity.
ISAAC BRYAN COUNTRYMAN.
Honored and respected by all, there is no man who occupies a more enviable position in commercial and financial circles in Lee county than Isaac Bryan Countryman, whose business has ever balanced up with the principles of truth and honor. The extent and importance of his interests have made him a strong center in the community in which he moves. He figured for many years as the active head of Dixon's leading mercantile establishment and at the present writing stands at the head of one of its strongest financial institutions, the Union State Bank, of which he has been president since its organization. He was born in Herkimer county, New York, a son of John I. and Nancy (Failing) Countryman, who were farming people of the Empire state and were of German descent, representing one of the old Dutch families of the Mohawk valley. The son, Isaac B. Countryman, acquired his early educa- tion in the public schools and afterward attended the Fairfield Seminary. In early manhood he sought the opportunities of the middle west, making his way to Rochelle, Illinois, where he engaged in clerking for two years. He came to Dixon in 1868 and engaged in clerking in a general store, his experience in that con- nection giving him training that proved very valuable when he started in business on his own account. In 1871 he became a part- ner in the firm of W. G. Stevens & Company and eventually pur- chased the entire business. He was thus closely identified with mercantile interests of Dixon from 1868 until 1910, or for a period of forty-two years. After he became sole proprietor the store was conducted under the name of I. B. Countryman, and in 1896 was incorporated, at which time he admitted his nephew, E. J. Country- man to a partnership. At that time Isaac B. Countryman retired
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from the management of the business and has since devoted his attention to outside financial interests. Whatever he has under- taken throughout his entire career, he has carried forward to suc- cessful completion, brooking no obstacles that could be overcome by persistent, earnest and untiring effort. In 1902 he became asso- ciated with others in the organization of the Union State Bank, of which he was chosen president.
He still remains at the head of that institution, which has become one of the strong financial concerns of this part of the state. Mr. Countryman opened a subdivision of sixty acres, now a part of the town of Oelwein, Iowa, and he has large holdings of farm lands in Lee county, Illinois, and in southern Minnesota. His investments have been most judiciously made and indicate his keen insight and sagacity.
In 1898 Mr. Countryman was united in marriage to Miss Eliza- beth Becker of Dixon, a native of Schoharie county, New York. They are members of the Universalist church and Mr Countryman belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and to the Masonic fraternity, being now a Knight Templar Mason. All through the years of his residence in Dixon his labors have been of a character that contribute to general prosperity as well as to individual success. He has never allowed personal interests or ambition to dwarf his public spirit or activities. His is the record of a strenuous life-the record of strong individuality, sure of itself; stable in purpose, quick in perception; swift in decision, energetic and persistent in action. His views have ever found expression in prompt action rather than in theory and his life work, therefore, has been fruitful of good results.
CLARENCE D. SANDERS.
Clarence D. Sanders, one of the most extensive landowners and prosperous and progressive agriculturists of Lee county, was born in Bradford township, September 16, 1883. He is a son of J. F. and Martha (George) Sanders, natives of Lee county, where the mother passed away in early life. The father afterward mar- ried again and moved to Texas, where he purchased a farm, upon which his death occurred a few months later. To his first union were born three children: N. H., a farmer in Bradford township; Clarence D., of this review; and Grace M., deceased.
CLARENCE D. SANDERS
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Clarence D. Sanders accompanied his father to Texas after acquiring his education in the public schools in Bradford town- ship. In 1905 he returned to Lee county, Illinois, and for about one year worked in the employ of his brother N. H. Sanders. In 1912 he acquired two hundred acres of land in Bradford township and upon this property has since resided, making it by his intelli- gent management and progressive methods one of the finest agri- cultural properties in his locality. He has other valuable and important property holdings, owning one hundred and sixty acres in Pocahontas county, Iowa, a thirty acre fruit farm in Idaho and thirty acres of excellent land in Texas.
In Lee county, in 1907 Mr. Sanders was united in marriage to Miss Carrie L. Dewey, who was born in Ida county, Iowa, a daugh- ter of Charles L. and Emma Dewey. Mr. and Mrs. Sanders have three children: Hazel M., who was born May 20, 1908; Kenneth R., born August 18, 1909; and C. L., born April 12, 1913. The par- ents are members of the Presbyterian church and Mr. Sanders gives his political allegiance to the republican party. His at- tention is, however, largely concentrated upon the conduct of his business interests and, being progressive, intelligent and enter- prising, he has gained a success which has been worthily won and is always well used.
HARRY L. FORDHAM.
In financial and political circles of Lee county the name of Harry L. Fordham is well known. For an extended period he was actively connected with banking interests and at the same time he found opportunity to discharge the duties of citizenship and to study those questions which are a vital force in promoting the welfare and progress of city, state and nation. He was born in Green Ridge, Pennsylvania, January 6, 1869, and is a son of Albert P. and Eliza (Litts) Fordham, who in the year 1874 left the Key- stone state and removed to Compton, Illinois.
Spending his boyhood days there under the parental roof, Harry L. Fordham attended the public schools and in early manhood was called to public office, being clerk of the village, in which capacity he served for three years. His fidelity and capability in that con- nection led to his selection for other offices. He was assessor for five years, was township clerk for three years and for five years was
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president of the village board. Even before age conferred upon him the right of franchise he was an interested student of political problems and for six years he was chairman of the democratic central committee, while for three years he was its secretary. His position has never been an equivocal one. He has ever fearlessly and frankly announced his opinions upon questions affecting the commonwealth and in 1912, upon the organization of the progres- sive party, being in sympathy with its purposes and its principles, he joined its ranks and was made a member of the executive com- mittee of Illinois and chosen treasurer of that committee. In all his public life he has made personal aggrandizement subservient to the general good. While undoubtedly he is not without that honorable ambition which is so powerful and useful as an incentive to activity in public affairs, he regards the pursuits of private life as being in themselves abundantly worthy of his best efforts and the energy, perseverance and keen sagacity which have character- ized his conduct of business affairs have given him prominence in financial circles. His initial step, however, was made in connec- tion with the profession of teaching, which he followed for seven or eight years, and later he devoted two years to merchandising in West Brooklyn. In 1898 he organized the Farmers & Traders Bank, of which he was the first cashier, remaining in that connec- tion until he came to Dixon in 1911. The bank has since been con- verted into the First National Bank of Compton. At the time of his removal to Dixon he also resigned his position as supervisor of Brooklyn township, which office he filled for five years, being chairman of the board at the time he presented his resignation. Seeking a broader field of activity, he took up his abode in Dixon and has since been connected with the Union State Bank as its cashier. He has been a close and discriminating student of the involved and complex problems of banking and few men are better informed concerning questions of finance.
Mr. Fordham was married on the 29th of March, 1893, to Miss Addie B. Cole, a native of Compton and a daughter of Frank and Margaret Cole. Mr. and Mrs. Fordham now have two children; Frank A., who is associated with his father in the bank; and Harry L., at home. The religious faith of the family is that of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which they are loyal adherents. They are generous in its support and take an active part in its work. In fact Mr. Fordham has ever manifested due recognition of all the duties and obligations of life. The subjective and object- ive forces of life are in him well balanced. To make his native
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talents subserve the demands which the conditions of society impose at the present time is his purpose and by reason of the mature judgment which characterizes his efforts he stands today as a splendid representative of the prominent financiers to whom business is but one phase of life and does not exclude active partici- pation in and support of the other vital interests which go to make up human existence.
F. M. YOCUM.
A history of the business development of Lee county during the past thirty years would be incomplete without mention of the activities of F. M. Yocum, who beginning with the installation of one telephone line among his neighbors has evolved a large system, known as the Yocum Telephone Lines, thus contributing in an exceptionally useful way to general progress and advancement in this section of the state. Moreover, he has been for many years connected with agricultural interests as the proprietor of a fine farm of four hundred acres near the city limits of West Brook- lyn and by practical methods in its cultivation has made this one of the most valuable properties in the locality. He was born in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, March 5, 1851, and is a son of Thomas D. and Rachel (Stedman) Yocum, pioneers in Lee county. The father settled with his family south of Amboy on the Colonel Wyman farm, in 1855 and after four years and a half bought a farm on the same section whereon his son is now residing. He be- came one of the prominent men of this locality and his death, which occurred in 1907, when he was eighty-five years of age, was widely and deeply regretted. He had long survived his wife, who passed away in 1878, at the age of fifty-eight. Both are buried in West Brooklyn.
F. M. Yocum acquired his education in the district schools of Brooklyn township and also attended the academy at East Paw Paw for a few winters. He laid aside his books at the age of twenty-one, but continued on his father's farm until 1877, when he bought a drug store at Lamoille, operating this for one year. In 1878 he returned to the farm and soon afterward installed a telegraph line from his home to the town of West Brooklyn. Later he ran telephone wires between his neighbors' houses and his own, extending these by degrees until gradually the large sys-
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tem known as the Yocum Telephone Lines was established. This has grown with great rapidity, exchanges being now operated in West Brooklyn and Compton and the lines covering seventy square miles of territory.
In West Brooklyn, October 16, 1878, Mr. Yocum married Miss Martha Cooper, a daughter of William and Hannah Cooper, both of whom have passed away. Mr. and Mrs. Yocum have one son, Floyd, a telephone manager at Ventura, California. Mr. Yocum is independent in his political views and, while not an office seeker, is interested in the development of the community in which he so long resided. To its progress he has made many substantial contributions in the course of years, winning for himself a place among men of marked ability and substantial worth.
GROVER W. GEHANT.
The student of history cannot carry his investigations far into the records of Lee county without learning how long and promi- nently the Gehant family have been connected with the material development and substantial upbuilding of this section.
Modest Salastine Gehant, grandfather of Grover W. Gehant, arrived here from France, at an early epoch in the development of the county and his descendants have since been very active in fur- thering the work of public progress through identification with agricultural, commercial and professional interests.
Grover W. Gehant was born in Brooklyn township, Lee county, Illinois, on August 28, 1885, being the eldest of six children of Xavier F. and Lena M. (Gallisath) Gehant, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work. His early educational opportun- ities were supplemented by a course in North Dixon high school followed by a complete commercial and stenographic course in Coppins' Commercial College, this city. He then entered the Northern Illinois College of Law at Dixon for a full three years' law course from which institution he graduated with the class of 1911. Shortly after graduation he was admitted to practice and opened a law office in Dixon from which time he has been actively engaged in the practice of the law.
In the spring of 1913 Mr. Gehant was elected justice of the peace and has also acted as deputy clerk to the circuit court of Lee county. He is also a notary public. On July 30, 1913, he
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was elected secretary of the Northern Illinois College of Law Alumni Association. He became a member of the Dixon Marine Band at the time of its organization in 1905, and remained with same for about seven years. Recently Mr. Gehant became a mem- ber of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Dixon Lodge No. 779, and is now serving a term as trustee of the People's church. His interests are varied, indicating a broad-minded man, and his social qualities render him popular so that the circle of his friends is constantly growing. He is well known in this county, where the greater part of his life has been passed, and his own record bids fair to rival in usefulness and the attainment of promi- nence the records already made by those in the legal profession of this county.
JAMES GARRETT.
Although thirty-nine years have elapsed since James Garrett passed away there are yet many who remember his integrity of character and personal characteristics as well as the enterprise and industry which made him one of the valued and respected citizens of Lee county, where for many years he was successfully connected with agricultural interests. He was a pioneer of this county, his residence here dating from 1865, and he was numbered among those who contributed in substantial measure to the coun- ty's growth and advancement. He was a native of County Down, Ireland, born October 4, 1827, a son of James and Rebina (Pat- terson) Garrett, of Scotch Presbyterian stock from the north of Ireland.
James Garrett of this review came to America in 1854 after serving an apprenticeship in a linen draper's establishment in Bel- fast, Ireland, and located first in Rockdale, Delaware county, Pennsylvania, where he remained for about three years in the employ of William Brown, a dry goods merchant there. At the end of that time he moved to Illinois, settling on a farm in Ogle county about the year 1857. After a time he went to Rochelle and there turned his attention to the mercantile business, operat- ing a store for three years. In 1865 he removed to Lee county and purchased a farm where the town of Ashton now stands. For a number of years thereafter he remained active in agricultural and
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business pursuits in this vicinity, managing his farm ably and suc- cessfully until his death, which occurred November 26, 1874.
On the 1st of October, 1860, Mr. Garrett was united in mar- riage to Miss Louise C. Hatch, who was born near Sublette, in Lee county, a daughter of Sherman L. and Lucy (Brown) Hatch, natives of Vermont and pioneers in Illinois. They came to Buf- falo by stage in 1837 and thence by way of the Great Lakes to Chi- cago, where they obtained wagons in which they conveyed their household goods to Lee county. Sherman L. Hatch took up a homestead claim in this locality and for many years thereafter was connected with farming interests here. He was one of the early settlers in this part of the state and his first home had a dirt floor in the general living room, and a floor in the chamber made of split rails covered with cornstalks. His door was at first a blanket nailed up to keep out the chill night air and all of the tables and chairs in the house were home-made. The crude log cabin was subsequently destroyed by fire and in 1846 Mr. Hatch built a sixteen by twenty frame house which he replaced in 1852 by a brick residence. For a number of years he courageously faced the hardships and privations of pioneer existence, becom- ing in the course of time one of the prominent farmers and highly esteemed citizens of Lee county. His death occurred at the home of his daughter, Mrs. James Garrett, in Ashton, February 7, 1903. He and his wife became the parents of four children: Mrs. Har- riet L. Gardner, of Sublette, Illinois; Mrs. Garrett, widow of the subject of this review; Mrs. Julia A. Latta, deceased, and Charles L., who lives on the old homestead. Mr. and Mrs. Garrett became the parents of four children. The eldest, James H., was gradu- ated from the Illinois State University in 1886. He married Miss Eliza Jennings Scott and they became the parents of two children, the elder being a daughter, who was also graduated from the State University, receiving her degree June 9, 1913. Mr. and Mrs. Gar- rett's second son, Frank S., has passed away. William B., a resi- dent of Wyoming, married Miss L. Perkins, of St. Louis, Missouri. George B., who completes the family, was born May 2, 1875, and now makes his home with his mother. He married Miss Bertha B. Wingert, a native of Lee county, Illinois, and a daughter of J. W. and Hannah (Hittle) Wingert, the former of whom died June 8, 1913, and the latter August 23, 1911. George B. Garrett is at present engaged in the fire insurance business in Ashton.
James Garrett passed away November 26, 1874, and was laid to rest in the Ashton cemetery. He had become very widely
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known in this locality and his sterling qualities gained him the good-will and confidence of all with whom he was associated in business or social relations. He left to his family the priceless heritage of an untarnished name and an example that is well worthy of emulation. Mrs. Garrett still owns two farms of one hundred acres each in Lee county and a fine residence in Ashton, where she makes her home. She is well and favorably known in the village and has a circle of friends almost coextensive with the circle of her acquaintances.
E. J. COUNTRYMAN.
E. J. Countryman is prominent as a man whose constantly expanding powers have taken him from humble surroundings to the field of large enterprises and continually broadening opportuni- ties. He has brought to bear upon business situations a clear understanding that readily solves complex problems and unites into a harmonious whole unrelated and even diverse elements. He is today the controlling factor in the largest mercantile enterprise of Dixon, being president of the E. J. Countryman Company, deal- ers in general merchandise, including dry goods, shoes, meats and groceries.
Mr. Countryman was born in Ogle county, Illinois, in 1870 and acquired a public-school education which brought him eventually to graduation from the high school of Rochelle, Illinois. Early in his business career he entered the Rochelle (Ill.) National Bank, where he spent three years before coming to Dixon in 1893. On his arrival in this city he entered the employ of his uncle, I. B. Coun- tryman, who had been identified with the commercial interests in Dixon from 1868. After three years' experience, during which time he had largely acquainted himself with various phases of the business, his uncle withdrew from active management, following the incorporation under the name of I. B. Countryman Company. This is perhaps the oldest established general mercantile house of the city. It was originally the property of W. G. Stevens & Com- pany, of which firm I. B. Countryman became a member in 1871. A little later he purchased the store, which he conducted under his own name until 1896. From that time forward the business was carried on under the style of I. B. Countryman Company until 1910, when a reorganization was effected under the name of E. J.
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