USA > Illinois > Lee County > History of Lee County, together with biographical matter, statistics, etc. > Part 47
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J. MOSTOLLER, grain, stock and coal dealer, Eldena, was born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, in 1836, and came to this county in 1855 and engaged in farming till 1861. He entered the army in Capt. Cheney's battery, of Dixon, in which he remained for three years, having discharged his duties efficiently and having enjoyed the esteem of his comrades. He passed unscathed through thirteen battles. After leaving the army he returned to farming for two years, when he embarked in the dry-goods, lumber, coal and grain business, and now owns the only elevator in the village, from which he annually ships about 300,000 bushels. This elevator is capable of handling 5,000 bushels per day. In 1877 he married Miss Rachel Morris, of Lee county.
ISAAC SEITZ, farmer, Dixon, was born near Dayton, Ohio, Novem- ber 18, 1843. His parents were Isaac and Elizabeth (Flora) Seitz, the former born in Lancaster county, and the latter in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, and both removing to Ohio in an early day. During life the elder Mr. Seitz was a farmer and cooper, and died of apo- plexy about February 20, 1877, in Lee county, aged sixty-seven years, and Mrs. Seitz died about 1848, also in Lee county, in the same house that her husband died in. Mr. Seitz, jr., came to this county when about the age of two and a half years, and has resided here ever since.
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SOUTH DIXON TOWNSHIP.
His education was of a limited character, and his occupation through life has been that of a farmer, having under cultivation some eighty aeres in excellent condition, all amassed by hard labor. He was mar- ried to Miss Susan Landers December 2, 1869, in Sterling, Whitesides county, Illinois. She was born March 17, 1850, in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, her parents also being natives of the same state. They have five children : Cora A., born September 11, 1870; Irving O., December 17, 1874; Isaac H., March 10, 1876 ; William A., February 12, 1878 ; and Agnes May, March 27, 1880; Ollive Frances, born July 9, 1872, and died March 27, 1873, aged eight months.
FREDERICK GLESSNER, general merchant, Eldena, was born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, March 27, 1847. His parents were Jeremiah and Amy Ann (Laub) Glessner, both natives of Somerset county, Pennsylvania, the father still living, and the mother dying February 1868, in this township. Frederick, with his parents, came to this country in 1864, locating near Eldena. He received the usual winter schooling, and during the summer season he worked on the farm. In September, 1877, he opened a store in Eldena, carrying a general stock of merchandise, in which, by perseverance, industry and integrity he has built himself up a fine business. He was mar- ried to Miss Luphema Hill March 31, 1868, she having been born February 11, 1848, in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania. Her parents, both deceased, were natives of the same state. Mr. Glessner has a family of five children : Jeremiah, born January 28, 1869; Frank, October 1, 1871; Percy, February 9, 1874; Esther, March 30, 1876, and Arthur, Angust 26, 1880. Georgiana was born October 28, 1879, and died February 25, 1880.
JACOB SENNEFF, farmer, Eldena, was born in Fayette county, Penn- sylvania, July 11, 1836. His parents were William and Phœbe (Bar- nedt) Senneff, the former being born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, June 1795, and died in Carroll county, Illinois, in June 1875, in his eightieth year. The latter was born in the same county in 1797 and died in 1842, aged forty-five years. Mr. Senneff's father and grand- father were born in the same house, and he was born not a half mile distant. Our subject's great-grandfather was a general in the German army during the twenty-one years' war, but resigned and came to America, settling in Pennsylvania, his nearest neighbor being sixty miles distant. At the age of eighteen years Mr. Senneff moved to Dixon township (1854), and to Carroll county in 1859, returning in 1861 to Dixon. In the latter year he enlisted in the 34th Ill. Vol. Inf., Col. Edwin M. Kirk commanding. His first engagement was at Shiloh, followed by the battles of Stone River, Chattanooga, Mission Ridge, Chickamauga, the Atlanta campaign and Sherman's march to
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.
the sea, as well as the campaign of the Carolinas in 1865. He was wounded in both arms at Bentonville, North Carolina, March 19, 1865, having his right arm amputated above the elbow, his left being still in a crippled condition. He received his discharge July 24, 1865, and returned to his home, moving to Carroll county the same year and re- turned to Lee county in 1874, where he has since resided, following the occupation of a farmer. He was married to Miss Sarah Fritz November 15, 1855. Her parents were John and Eve (Mowry) Fritz. Mrs. Senneff was born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, December 8, 1831. They have four children living: Mary Ann (wife of E. M. June), Harvey M., Ellen A. and Susan V. Mr. Senneff has never been the recipient of any office, nor has he ever sought for one, having always been content with the position of "high private."
MAY TOWNSHIP.
This township derives its name from a military officer by that name, who fell in the battle of Palo Alto. It is known as T. 19, R. 10 of the 4th P.M. The first settler to cast his lot in this township was Joseph Bay, who located on Sec. 13, south of Palestine Grove. The next settler was Ira Axtle, who came in the same year, and located on Sec. 6.
In 1840 William Dolan settled on Sec. 14. Mr. Dolan is one of the most prominent citizens in the township, and has always since the organization of the township held some position of trust. He served twelve years as supervisor, was justice of the peace fourteen years, and also held the office of town clerk and commissioner of highways for a number of terms.
Martin McGowan, J. Moran and John Darcy also came in 1840, and took claims in Secs. 14 and 23. Of these early settlers, Dolan, McGowan and Darcy are the only ones who are at present residents of the township.
May and Sublette towns were once a part of what was known as Inlet voting precinct, and the voters were obliged to go to Inlet to cast their votes. Elections were for a number of years held at the residence of Joseph Sawyer at that place. The citizens of May were led to expect the Illinois Central railroad to run through the towu, but were disappointed.
A post-office was established in the town at the residence of Mr. Morrison, known as May Hill post-office. Through the efforts of some interested parties the stage route was changed and a post-office estab- lished at the residence of Daniel Beard, which office was known as Brookfield.
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MAY TOWNSHIP.
In 1850 William Dolan wrote to the Postmaster-General in regard to the removal of the office, and three months afterward the mail ronte was again changed and the office restored to its former location, and a Mr. Hubbard appointed postmaster, which position he held until the railroad had been completed, when the office was removed to Sublette.
In 1850 the township was organized by Joseph Crawford, Harry Morgan and Lorenzo Wason, county commissioners.
In early times a brotherly feeling existed among the settlers, and favors were exchanged in an open-hearted manner.
An organization existed known as the Palestine Grove minute men, which had been organized for the purpose of protecting the rights of the settlers in regard to their claims. In 1845 the land was surveyed and the market opened, after which the minute men were kept busy. The first elaim jumped and entered in the township was that of Hiram Anderson, which was deeded by a man named Bull, who drove stage between Peru and Dixon. This difficulty called the minute men together from all directions. They met in the barn of a Mr. Fessenden and passed resolutions which gave Mr. Bull some un- easiness. He afterward deeded the land back to its former owner, and gave him one year in which to pay the entrance fees.
The first school-house erected in the township was on Sec. 3, which was also used for a church by the Catholics in the vicinity.
In 1843 the township was made a voting precinet. In 1860 the township cast but 120 votes, yet furnished forty-seven men to aid in the suppression of the rebellion. Co. F, of the 75th Ill. Inf., was com- posed mostly of men from May.
Shortly after the war the German Catholics erected a church, which was named St. Mary's. The Irish Catholics also erected a church on the west side of the town, which surpassed any building of the kind in the vicinity. This building cost about $9,000.
Among the other institutions in the town of May the academy stands prominent. For this educational advantage the citizens are in- debted to Mr. Patrick Riley, who on his death bequeathed his property to his wife until her death, after which it was to be used for the pur- pose of establishing an academy in May township.
Mr. Riley emigrated from the city of Philadelphia in 1848, and settled on See. 23. By economy and hard labor he accumulated a con- siderable amount of the world's goods. In 1860 Mr. Riley's health began to fail him, and in spite of the efforts of the most skillful phy- sicians, grew rapidly worse, and in 1868 he passed through the dark valley, leaving his property to be used in the establishment of an insti- tution of learning accordingly. The property, consisting of 120 acres of land, was sold by the trustees, Martin McGowan and Patrick
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.
MeCann, and the work of constructing the academy was at once entered upon. It was decided to erect it on a piece of land belonging to the estate, on the Rocky Ford and La Moille road, eight miles south from Amboy. The main building is 30×48. The L is 16×18 feet, and the whole is twenty feet in height. The institution is divided into several different compartments. On the first floor are the school-rooms, music-room, parlor, sitting-room, dining-room and kitchen. On the second floor is the chapel, which is nicely finished and has a vaulted roof. The rest of the upper floor is divided into sleeping-rooms, oc- cupied by pupils who board at the academy. The building is sur- mounted by an observatory, from which a view of the surrounding country may be had. The seminary was dedicated early in September 1880, and is now occupied by six sisters of the order of Benedictine nuns, who are teaching, in addition to the common branches, German, French, music, and drawing. They receive none but young ladies as boarding scholars, but will admit boys as day pupils. The fact that the school is crowded, together with the universal satisfaction expressed by all whose children attend, is a sufficient guarantee of the success of the institution, and of the great benefit which will undoubtedly be derived from it in years to come.
The soil of this township is rather below the average in productive- ness. The population is principally Irish.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
JOHN MCGINN, farmer, Amboy, was born in Ireland about 1811. He is the son of William and Bridget (McGuirk) McGinn, and second in a family of seven. About forty years ago he came to Canada and lived a few years. Returning to Ireland, he was married to Mary Jane Montague (deceased 1866), by whom he has had eleven children, eight of whom are living : James F., Marianne (Mrs Millard, widowed and living in New York city), Michael M., Patrick Henry, Joseph, Dilia, Catherine, Margaret. James and Michael McGinn, clergymen in the Catholic church, are living in Philadelphia. In 1860 Mr. McGinn came to the city of New York and engaged in mercantile business till 1876, when he removed to this township and bought the S.E. ¿ of Sec. 16, where he has since resided. All but two of his family were born in Ireland. In the old country Mr. McGinn owned forty acres in Ulster, county of Tyrone, besides other property in the same county. He was in a general dry-goods and grocery business in the town of Carrick More, near which his property was situated.
PETER LANNEN, farmer, Amboy, was born in the county of Louth, Leinster province, Ireland, March 1825. He came to New York in 1847, being the first of his family in America. Thence he went to
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MAY TOWNSHIP.
Berkshire county, Massachusetts, where he worked several years for a farmer. He next came to Prophetstown, Whitesides county, Illinois, and worked two years for a farmer. From there he went to Bureau county and staid five years, thence to May township. He first bought eighty acres in Sec. 19, where he is now living, and built upon it. He now owns the north half of this section. While in Massachusetts he mar- ried Mary Smith. Their issue are nine children : Thomas, Bernard, James, Mary Jane, Rose, Peter, Maggie (deceased), Theresa, and Lizzie. Bernard is married and living with his wife and three children in May township. The family belong to the Roman Catholic church. Mr. Lannen is an enterprising man and is devoting his large farm chiefly to dairying. In 1865 he built a good dwelling, at a cost of about $1,800. His father died when he was only about two years old. His mother was a hundred years old when she died, in 1879, having come to America with her son, Owen, a few years after Peter came. Two of his brothers died in Savannah, Georgia, of the yellow fever, about 1859, having gone there about five years previous.
JOIN DARCY, farmer, Amboy, was born in Cavan county, Ulster, Ireland, in the year 1818; son of Bernard and Mary (Lee) Darcy. His father was a farmer, and died when John was quite young. In 1837 Mr. Darcy came to Canada, landing in Quebec June 15. In the fall of 183S he started for Cincinnati, but wintered in Toledo, and went the next spring to Chicago. While here he was working most of the time on the canal. In the fall of 1840 he settled in May township, Lee county, and claimed the N.E. { Sec. 23. He built a house the same fall. There were then but two or three dwellings between his and La Moille, Bureau county, and none between his place and East Grove. About this time Mr. Darcy worked a few weeks on the old State rail- road, then being graded through May. Mr. Darcy, like many others, received nothing for his labor but some worthless paper issued by a certain A. H. Bongs, of La Salle, who had started a bank there. Mr. Darcy now owns a farm of 280 acres. He was married in 1850, to Margaret Curran, by whom he had two children : John, born in 1851, and Catherine born in 1853. He is now living with his second wife, by whom he has had five children. He is a Catholic; in politics a democrat. He is not ambitious for office, having been once elected justice of the peace and would not have the office.
PATRICK McCANN, farmer, La Moille, was born in the county of Tyrone, Ulster, Ireland, in February 1825. His parents, Arthur and Mary (Hackett) McCann, had four children, of whom he was the youngest, and the only one in the family that left the old country. In June, 1843, he landed in New York ; thence he went to Connecticut, working on a farm during the summer, and in the fall came to Peru,
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.
Illinois, and worked for a farmer till December 1844, when he entered the regular army at $7 per month. He was first sent to Fort Jessup to join his regiment, the 3d Inf. In about three months he was sent to Corpus Christi, where he remained till he was sent to Fort Brown, which he helped to build. He was in Co. F, Capt. Bainbridge, Don Carlos Buell being his first lieutenant. He was with Gen. Taylor in the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma May 8 and 9, 1846. After the latter he was made a sergeant in Co. C, of the same regiment. He was in the battle of Monterey in the following Septem- ber, after which, with the best of Taylor's forces, he was sent to aug- ment Scott's army, then about to begin its march to the city of Mexico. He was at the taking of Vera Cruz, in the fierce fighting at Cerro Gordo, and in all the engagements till the fall of the city of Mexico. He was at El Paso, New Mexico, when his term of five years expired, December 2, 1849. From here he came back to Philadelphia via San Antonio, New Orleans, Wheeling and Baltimore, and went to work on Petty's Island in the Delaware river, between Camden and Philadel- phia. In 1852 Mr. McCann came to Illinois to near Bloomington, and began work on the Chicago & Alton railroad, having been married in 1850 to Mary Burns. In the summer of 1853 he worked on the Illinois Central, north and south of Sublette. After this he went to farming; bought the E. ¿ of N.W. 4 Sec. 35, and built a small frame house. He also owns forty acres in Sec. 26, and half a section in Shelby county, Iowa. Mr. McCann has a family of seven living : James, who is mar- ried and living in Iowa; Arthur, also in Iowa; Peter F., at school at Niagara, New York; Felix, Mary, Rose Ann, and Kate (one deceased, aged nine months). Mr. McCann and his family are Catholics, and a pleasanter man it has never been our fortune to meet.
ANDREW KESSLER, farmer, Van Orin, Bureau county, was born in Saxe Coburg, Germany, April 1815. He is the second child of John and Dorothea Kessler, whose family consisted of two sons and six daughters. In 1850 Mr. Kessler, with his wife and four children, came to Lee county and settled on Sec. 13, in May township. He owns 120 on the S.E. ¿ and 70 acres in Bureau county, nearly opposite. It is all highly valuable land. In 1870 Mr. Kessler put up a fine dwell- ing at a cost of more than $2,000. He has an interesting and intelli- gent family : Kasper, the eldest, is living with his family in Bureau county ; Nicholas, Edward with his wife and two children, and Con- rad, are all in Nebraska; George is in Bureau county, and John and Sarah are living at home. Margaret, second in the family, died in 1872 or 1873, having about a year before become the wife of Jacob Betz. Julia died in 1870, aged twenty-one years. Besides these, one son died aged eleven years. Mr. Kessler, with his family, belongs to the church
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MAY TOWNSHIP.
of the Evangelical Association of North America. He is a happy and contented man, and votes the republican ticket.
JOSEPH G. HALL, farmer, Amboy, was born near Birmingham, England, March 1843. His parents were Joseph and Eliza (Haden) Hall. His father, a tanner, came to Philadelphia in 1844, the rest of the family in 1846. The family came in 1857 to May township and settled where "Squire " James Fitzpatrick is now living. In 1862 they moved to Clinton, Illinois, and lived there thirteen years, going from there to Nebraska, where Mr. Hall, sr., died in 1876. He was twice married ; he had six children by his first wife and two by the second. Joseph G. Hall enlisted November, 1861, in the 57th Ill. Vols., Co. A. The regiment was mustered at Camp Douglas, and in February, 1862, went to Cairo, Illinois, and from there to Fort Henry, arriving two hours after its surrender. They were at Fort Donelson, at the battle of Shiloh, and the siege of Corinth ; at Inka and around Corinth till the fall of 1863. Mr. Hall was also in the battles of La Grange and Pound Creek, and wintered at Linnville in the winter of 1863-4. From here he went with his regiment to Athens, Alabama, and thence to Chattanooga, and subsequently with Sherman to the sea. He was mustered out at Savannah in December 1864, having been engaged in many heavy battles and weary marches. He was married in October 1867, to Mary E. Ash, only daughter of Geo. Ash. Their issue are Maria Elizabeth, Georgeanna, and Joseph. Since his marriage Mr. Hall has lived on the old Roger Place (also known by other names), in Sec 3, having previously rented in Bureau county.
GEORGE ASH, farmer, Amboy, was born in Devonshire, England, June 1814. He received but little schooling, and this in a night school, though most of his father's large family were quite well educated. His father died on the day of the coronation of Victoria, queen of England. In 1844 he was married to Maria Elliott, of Devonshire, and in 1847 came with his wife and one child to Pennsylvania; worked several years in Phoenixville, Chester county, as an iron-puddler; came to Lee county in 1857, and settled on Sec. 10 of this town, buying fifty acres from Henry Keeling, of Amboy. He has since bought eighty acres in Sec. 9. Mr. Ash has had three children, only one of whom is living. George, the eldest, enlisted in the 46th Ill. Vols., Co. D, Captain Wilder. He was in the battle of Donelson and in the first volley of the first day's fight at Shiloh. In this battle he was killed, not then nineteen years old. William H. died in Pennsylvania, aged eight years ; Mary Elizabeth (now Mrs. Hall) was born in 1852. One of Mr. Ash's brothers came to this country two or three years before him, and after living in the State of New York moved to Canada, where he died. Another died in Sublette about the time George Ash came west. He has one brother living in California and a sister in New York.
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.
SILAS W. AVERY, farmer, Amboy, was born in Orleans county, New York, March 1827. He was the eldest child of William and Rachel (Bishop) Avery. He had one brother and two sisters. The former, with his parents, is dead. His sisters are living in New York. When thirteen years of age Mr. Avery began work on the Erie canal at $10 a month. He continued; in this business till he was twenty- three years old, having learned the whole business and received wages ranging from $10 to $130 per month. While at this work he saved money enough to buy a home for his parents. This was thirty acres of land in Niagara county, New York, purchased from Governor Hunt. When he had got a deed of this property and settled his parents upon it he spent a considerable time in traveling. He went the entire length of the Ohio and twice down the Mississippi to New Orleans. While coming up the river from that city the second time he was taken sick and went to Cincinnati for treatment. Upon his recovery he started with a companion afoot to Peoria, Illinois. While hunting and fishing along the Illinois river he was taken with the ague and went back to New York, where he spent the winter of 1851. In the follow- ing spring he came with Mr. Acker in a carriage, by way of Cleveland and Dayton, Ohio, to Fayette county, Indiana, where in February, 1856, he was married to Caroline Acker, by whom he has a family of nine, living: Adella, born September 1857; Frank, October 1858; Ella V. (wife of Wmn. Boyd), March 1860; Mary Jane, July 1862 (de- ceased June 1880); Sarah, May 1865; Willie F., September 1867; Alice, March 1872; Clara and Carrie (twins), August 1874. In 1857 Mr. Avery came to Maytown and bought the N.E. ¿ of Sec. 7 from John Dement. He since bought 200 acres from Ambrose Andrews, on the S. ¿ of Sec. 5, forty acres of which he has sold. He and his family belong to the Methodist Episcopal church of Amboy. For many years Mr. Avery has been prominently identified with Sunday- school work. He is in his second term as justice of the peace. In polities he is a greenback republican. He has been twice married, the first time in the State of New York. By this marriage he had one child, Theodore, born June 14, 1848. This son early evinced a desire to enter the military service, and having obtained the consent of his father, in 1864 he enlisted in the 7th Ill. Cav. as a recruit. He died of the measles the same fall at Springfield, Illinois, while his regiment were still encamped there.
THOMAS BOYD, farmer, Amboy, was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, about 1813. His father's name was Robert, and his mother died when he was young. There were four in the family, he being the eldest. He received a limited education, chiefly in night schools, and worked hard during his boyhood in factories, serving an apprenticeship of five
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years to learn the weaver's trade, which he followed for a short time. In 1842 he was married to Mary Stuart. About that time he came to New York city and worked for several years there and in Brooklyn at the molding business, which he had followed but little before. From the east he came to Ogle county and worked about ten years in the Grand Detour plow factory. In 1863 he moved to May township, Lee county, and bought 130 acres in Sec. 8, a part of it from the Illinois Central Railroad Company. Mr. Boyd has had a family of nine children : Robert, John, Mary, Elizabeth (deceased, aged nine years), George (deceased infant), Thomas, Joseph G., William, and Ellen. John enlisted in the 34th Ill. Vols. in the fall of 1862, and was with his regiment till March 1864, when he was taken sick near Rome, Georgia. After being in the hospital for a time he died at home of consumption in the fall of 1864. Robert enlisted in the same regi- ment when it was organized, and after serving three years came home and spent the winter of 1864-5. He reenlisted in the spring of 1865, and was mnstered out at the elose of the war. Mary, wife of Hugh Roy, is living in Ogle county ; Thomas is living in Wyoming terri- tory, and Joseph in Kansas. Both are married. Mr. Boyd and his family are Methodists, and in politics he is a republican. His father, Robert Boyd, came to New York in 1845. After living there two years he came to Ogle county and bought a farm near Grand Detour, and here he died. He married his second wife about four years before he left the old country.
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