History of Lee County, together with biographical matter, statistics, etc., Part 73

Author: Hill, H.H. (Chicago) pbl
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, H.H. Hill
Number of Pages: 910

USA > Illinois > Lee County > History of Lee County, together with biographical matter, statistics, etc. > Part 73

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A. C. RADLEY, farmer and town clerk, Paw Paw Grove, was born January 14, 1827, at Florida, Montgomery county, New York. His father was the late John J. Radley, who died at Earlville in the sum- mer of 1881. Anderson, the subject of our sketch, was the eldest son, and his father was an invalid for many years. For these reasons the son's schooling was quite limited. Not till he was twenty-four years of age did he surrender the care of the old homestead. After working a rented farm in his native state some four years, and another in Batavia, Illinois, for two years, in the spring of 1858 he came to Wyo- ming township, and purchased the eighty acres of wild prairie which he lias since transformed into the Eden Home, where he still resides. On December 14, 1862, he was married to Miss Mary B. Hayden, of Jackson county, Michigan ; but she was taken away October 7, 1865, leaving a son about two years of age. On May 9, 1866, he was mar- ried to Martha, daughter of Frederick and Mary McBride of this town- ship. Mr. Radley was one of those who organized the Paw Paw Presbyterian church, and has been a ruling elder and trustee from that time to date. An Odd-Fellow for more than a quarter of a cen-

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tury, he instituted Anchor Lodge at Paw Paw, and has served four times as representative to the Grand Lodge. In 1881 he was elected town clerk, and in July spent one whole day signing the new railroad bonds.

NELSON LANE, deceased, was born in Ulster county, New York, January 29, 1810, and in 1830 came to Luzerne county, Pennsylvania. In 1831 he married Sally Ann Tripp, daughter of Job Tripp, from Providence, Rhode Island. Lumbering was his main dependence while in the Keystone State. In the fall of 1853 he emigrated to Illi- nois, arriving at Paw Paw October 14. Hard work and good man- agement soon began to tell. Renting a farm near Crompton, and purchasing another near Brooklyn, the crop from the former put a good house on the latter, and that 80 acres costing then $2.50 per acre was sold in 1875 at $60 per acre. Mr. Lane died August 27, 1874. Of four children three are still living : the daughter, Julia, is now Mrs. Edwin R. Case, of Paw Paw. The two sons, Job T. and Nelson F., were both in the service of their country ; the former was a member of Co. I, 15th Ill. Inf., and the latter of Co. C, 13th reg. Mrs. Lane now resides at Paw Paw.

FERNANDO H. CHAFFE, farmer and stock raiser, Paw Paw Grove, is a man of marked business ability, and one of Wyoming's heaviest capitalists. He was a son of Eber and Annie (Davis) Chaffe, and born in Windham county, Vermont, November 21, 1827. In his twelfth year the family emigrated to Compton, Kane county, Illinois. In the spring of his twenty-fifth year he went to California, where in mining and milling for four years and six months he acquired a suffi- cient sum to give him a good start in business. His health being quite poor when he returned to Compton in the fall of 1856, he remained there for about two years recruiting and loaning money. Meanwhile, on July 15, 1858, he was married to Delia Barber, daughter of Lahira and Annis Barber, of Compton. Some years before this he had deed- ed from the government a tract of 240 acres in Lee county, four miles south of Paw Paw; coming onto this he began breaking the prairie and making himself a home. Since then he lias bought 200 acres adjoining, and sold 40. His present farm of 400 acres, with first- class buildings, and other improvements to correspond, is delightfully located on the brow of a hill, with a fine prospect, and is reputed to be one of the finest farms in Wyoming township. Mr. Chaffe puts about 300 acres each year in grains and clover. They have had eleven children, and buried three; Abbie F. is now Mrs. William Tabor, Edmund W. is a fine musician, now taking lessons under Matthews, in Chicago ; Elmer S., Wilbur T., Ella N., Minnie A. and Jolin F. are at home. An infant, "angel of the household," is not yet named. 43

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Marcia M. and Ernest died in infancy, and Carrie B. died in the fall of 1880.

LESTER POTTER, deceased, was a man remarkable for his untiring energy and enterprise; oldest of six children of William and Mary (Pease) Potter. He was born August 5, 1824, in Middletown, Connect- icut, acquired as good schooling as he could till he was sixteen, then for sixteen years was managing a Pennsylvania farm summers, and at home, ship-carpentering, winters. In 1847 he was married to Miranda Andrews, youngest child of John and Sarah Andrews, of Salem, Pennsylvania. In 1856 they moved to Illinois, where he purchased a farm two and a half miles west of Paw Paw. In 1864 he bought another near Malugin's Grove, and in 1868 a third in Willow Creek township. On July 7, 1872, he received the first shipment of lumber and coal brought to Paw Paw by railroad. Thus commenced his ex- tensive business on Peru street, which he carried on for several years. In 1875 he also engaged in the furniture business, on Maine street, and the next year built a store to accommodate his growing trade. He also became an owner in several mines in Colorado, and to these he gave personal attention during portions of 1877, and the year following. In 1880 he and Mr. Amos Siglin erected the Siglin and Potter Brick Block, into which he moved a stock of goods purchased of W. C. Runyan, and added general merchandising to his large list of enter- prises. Mr. Potter was one of the few who could keep many irons in the fire from early youth to three score without allowing any to burn. He was also one who identified himself with the growth and prosper- ity of the town, belonging to no religious organization, yet he contributed liberally to the support of all. Early in May 1881, while at Chicago, he was taken seriously ill, and his death occurred on the 26th of the same month. A large concourse of friends and citizens followed his remains to the Ellsworth Cemetery. His four surviving children are all married, and all, with their very worthy mother, now reside in or near Paw Paw.

JOHN BRITTAIN, pioneer (deceased). (By his nephew, John T. Brit- tain.) John Brittain was born in 1803, in Lycoming county, Penn- sylvania. He followed lumbering, and was an efficient deputy sheriff. He emigrated to Illinois and settled near Alton about 1840, and not long after went into the pineries, followed lumbering, and in company with others ran a large mill, doing a heavy business. But sickness compelled him to leave affairs temporarily to others, who pocketed large amounts and left for parts unknown, and Mr. Brittain found him- self and family destitute in the city of St. Louis. As soon as he accumulated sufficient funds again he bought two land warrants and located them in Wyoming township. He acted as justice of the peace

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for several years, and took quite an active interest in the union canse during the rebellion. A son died at Fort Donelson from over exer- tion. While an officer of Wyoming, about 1863, he received a dispatch to aid in arresting two horse-thieves ; he reluctantly consented ; he was fired upon, and one of the men was shot. Some reflections being cast upon him he demanded a trial, was acquitted, no one appearing against him. He died very suddenly, some thought from apoplexy, caused by the excitement and anxiety, others thought he was poisoned.

WILLIAM J. BRITTAIN, farmer, Paw Paw Grove, was born March 22, 1845, at Delhi, Jersey county, Illinois, and is the son of John and Elizabeth Brittain. When about eighteen years of age he started for himself. He lived on the home farm with John, his elder brother and his mother, and worked for her and others. On January 31, 1869, he married Ann Madison, of Paw Paw, a very worthy daughter of James and Mary Madison. Her father was killed by a fall from a building in Ohio when she was about two years old. Two children, Corda and Mabel, bless their union. Mr. Brittain is a staunch republican and an Odd-Fellow.

WILLIAM MAYOR, farmer, Paw Paw Grove, was born in the county of Lancashire, England, December 3, 1820. Being one of a large family, and put at work in early life, his schooling all told would not amount to a year. May 21, 1841, he landed in New York. Brigham Young came on the same vessel, and as they neared the port the pilot- boat brought the sad intelligence of the death of President Harrison. Going immediately to Albany, he worked in that city two years and five months; thence to Columbus, where he worked two years and seven months for the state on the Ohio canal ; thence to Dayton, and worked for James Seville, a farmer, nearly three years, and married his daughter, Sarah Ann Seville, September 4, 1848. He worked this farm till 1854, when he moved to Paw Paw. Illinois, where his wife died in 1874. March 28, 1880, he married Mrs. Nancy Kelly. His children are: James W., the harness-maker at Paw Paw; Mary Ann, wife of David Thomas, living at south side of the grove, and Sarah Jane, living at home. One daughter, Lucy Adelaide, died in 1879. The length of time Mr. Mayor has been wont to stay with his employ- ers indicates that he was a faithful, competent workman, and the enor- mous crops observed by the writer on his excellent farm show that he is still a good farmer. His farm is the "Elder Warriner farm," at the south side of the grove.

LORD JONES, retired from business, Paw Paw Grove, was the son of Lewis and Sarah (Benedict) Jones, who were among the first set- tlers in the Wyoming Valley, and his grandfather Benedict baptized the first white child ever baptized in the Susquehanna. Lord was

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born in Exeter, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, July 9, 1805. When quite young he was naturally ingenious with tools; would split sticks and fasten together, constructing a house such as would challenge the skill of mature years. He never learned a trade regularly, by serving an apprenticeship, yet became a good carpenter. He was married January 6, 1830, to Phebe, daughter of Maj. Ezekiel Goble. In 1848 they emigrated to Paw Paw Grove. Here the Goble family was a numerous family of grand, early pioneers, who doubtless did not a little in giving shape to the tastes and customs of the settlement about Paw Paw Grove. Two brothers and three sisters, and the parents too, all with families, were here gathered at Jacob Rogers' to greet the Jones family at the end of their thirty-three days' journey, and under the cottonwood trees at the Rogers place forty-one kindred friends sat down to the first dinner. Gobles, Boardmans, Rogerses and Towns, including their thirty children, were present at this reunion. The Joneses settled on a farm in Secs. 8 and 9. Three sons of this worthy family espoused the cause of their country. Their first-born, Theodore S., enlisted in 1861 in Co. D, 1st Ill. Art. Over-exertion and expos- ure at the battle of Vicksburg, brought on fatal disease. He started for home, was for several weeks confined to the hospital in St. Louis, and died of congestive chills at Schofield's barracks. Orlando B. Jones enlisted in 1862 in Co. K, 75th reg. Ill. Inf., and served till the end of the war; though knocked down by a spent ball, hitting him di- rectly over his heart, his strap and blanket saved his life. Benjamin A. enlisted in January 1864. Five sons and two daughters are still living. Their entire family are republican in sentiment and belong to the Baptist church.

W. A. PRATT, druggist, Paw Paw Grove, was born at Deep river, Connecticut, October 5, 1853. He was the son of Henry H. and Mary (Comstock) Pratt. In the spring of 1856 the family moved to Illinois, and settled in De Kalb county, on a farm near Sandwich. Here he made good use of the advantages afforded by the district school, sup- plemented by the graded high schools, until he was eighteen. The winter of 1870 and 1871 was saddened by the death of his mother. The following spring he entered the drug store of A. H. Palmer, of Sandwich, where he spent three years learning the business. In the spring of 1874 he came to Paw Paw, and entered the employ of W. C. Runyan. In the fall of 1877 he bought out the business and stoek of goods and opened trade in his own name. In January, 1878, he was married to Mary E., daughter of Isaac J. and Harriet E. Berry. His business increasing, in November, 1880, he moved into the new Siglin & Potter block, where he has one of the best arranged and most com- plete drug stores in Lee county. In politics Mr. Pratt is republican.

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He is an Odd-Fellow, and treasurer of Anchor Lodge, No. 510, I.O.O.F. He has one child.

JACOB HENDERSHOT, merchant, Paw Paw Grove, is one of the well- known business men of Paw Paw. Born at Washingtonville, Mon- tour county, Pennsylvania, November 22, 1832. His father's name was Evan and his mother's Margaret C. (McBride). In 1840 his parents moved to Limestoneville, whence Jacob soon after went to live with his grandmother at Whitehall, staying with her till he was four- teen. To the common school of these three places is he indebted for his schooling, but not for his education. Like many of our self-made men, Mr. Hendershot's student life has comprised the spare moments

of a life-time. At the early age of fourteen he went to live with an uncle, a merchant and thorough business man, and was with him an entire decade. In 1856 he came west and, after prospecting through northern Illinois, located at Paw Paw, as clerk for Cone & Madden. Here he remained in the employ of the two succeeding owners, D. W. Madden and Hiram Fuller, till the winter of 1857-8, when he went east and closed out a stock of goods for Robt. McCoy. Returning, he began business as a grocer on the north side of Main street, in Paw Paw, in the fall of 1858. In the fall of 1860 he purchased his house and lot, corner of Main and Pern streets, and was married to Jane M. Carey, of Whitehall, Pennsylvania. In 1873 he erected the first brick store in the place, and in it he is still carrying on business. In 1880 he tore down his old brick house, and on the same spot erected a fine, spacious brick residence. Mr. Hendershot has ever given close per- sonal attention to business, and to this end has declined official honors and responsibilities. His sympathies have always been with the demo- cratic party, except that in county and town offices he aims to vote for the best men, regardless of party. He is a Mason, and was the secre- tary of Corinthian Lodge, No. 205, A.F. and A.M., five successive years, and junior warden three years. Mr. and Mrs. Hendershot have one daughter.

SAMUEL BUNKER, farmer and stock raiser, Paw Paw Grove, was a native of Maine, born in Penobscot, February 10, 1820, son of Stephen and Lucy (Page) Bunker. Till twenty-two his work was farming, carpentering and lumbering, with a moderate allowance of schooling. He came first to Lamoille, in Bureau county, Illinois, but remained there only about two years, meanwhile purchasing from O. W. Bryant a claim in Lee county on the north side of Four-Mile Grove. In the fall of 1844 he went to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where, during a stay of three or four months, he underwent three fevers, and was compelled to borrow money to defray the expenses of his homeward passage. After some ten years at the carpenter and joiner trade, in the counties of

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Bureau and La Salle, he left these parts for the pineries of Wisconsin. Being a " down-easter," he was an unusually valuable man to handle a team in the timber. On one occasion ten men with five yoke of oxen tried in vain to haul out a heavy balance-beam. Bunker took the same team and only one man, and in two hours accomplished the task. He was there some three years. It was about 1858 that he came to his land in Lee county, where he still resides. The farin comprises 168 acres just at the edge of the grove; two overflowing perennial springs render it a valuable stock farm. On December 27, 1861, he was mar- ried to Cordelia N. Bryant, sister of Hon. O. W. Bryant. They have three children : Sarah A., born August 5, 1862; William E., July 24, 1866, and Lillie A., April 2, 1870. He is a republican, and never known to be " on the fence." He and his wife are members of the Free Baptist church at Four-Mile Grove.

JOHN M. JACOBY, farmer and stock raiser, Paw Paw Grove, born at Franklin county, Pennsylvania, June 27, 1822, was the son of John and Mary (Mace) Jacoby. In his thirteenth year he was bereft of a kind and tender mother. At twenty-one he went to the carpenter's trade, and in winter evenings also taught music, thus following both till after his marriage, March 6, 1848, to Miss Cynthia J., daughter of Francis T. Neir, of Shippensburg, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. In 1851 they moved to Peoria, Illinois ; was there a year, at Peru the next year, and at Princeton two years, then moved to their present farm at the northeast corner of Four-Mile Grove. Here, by hard labor well ap- plied, Mr. Jacoby has made a good farm. It contains 250 acres, and is well adapted for stock raising. The buildings are first-class, and the indications of well-directed husbandry appear on every hand. They have three children : John Edgar, a farmer on the Mendota road ; Francis S. and May Bell, both at home. For twenty years he has been a member of the Wyoming Presbyterian church at Cottage Hill. He is a democrat and a union man most emphatically.

HENRY LEWIS, liveryman, Paw Paw, was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, April 17, 1828. His father, Henry, was a carpenter by trade, but in quite limited circumstances, so that the subject of our sketch had little or no schooling. Indeed, at twenty-one he was hardly able to write his own name. Since then, however, he has learned to read quite well, and is said to be well versed in the scriptures. In 1850 he was married to Jane Taylor. In 1851 they moved to Seneca county, Ohio, and next year to Miami county, where he farmed till 1856, when they emigrated to Illinois. In the spring of 1857 he bought a farın of eighty acres near Twin Groves; this he still owns. His wife died in 1874. His second wife was Elizabeth Fisk, of Malu- gin's Grove. In 1878 he bought out Charles Pulver, since which time

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he has been in the livery business at Paw Paw, doing a good business. Since his second marriage three children have blessed their home : Raymond, William Henry, and Caroline.

GEORGE W. LINDSEY, Paw Paw Grove, a practical butcher of remarkable experience, with an established reputation for all depart- ments of his business. Born at Attica, Wyoming county, New York, April 12, 1843, the eldest son of George W. and Rhoda (Hamlin) Lindsey, our subject started for himself in the meat and stock business at the age of twenty, in Walworth county, Wisconsin. He was mar- ried September 24, 1863, to Elizabeth M. Phillips. In 1865 he changed the base of his operations to Whitehall, Michigan, thence in 1867 to the plains of Texas, where, in the cattle trade, he failed and lost every- thing, save his indomitable, restless spirit. On Christmas-day, 1869, he came to Paw Paw, and the next spring again engaged in the butcher business. Two years later he built the first market ever put up in this village. After a stay of about four years at Paw Paw he went to Chicago into the live stock commission business, and opened two mar- kets, one at the corner of Thirty-first street and Indiana avenue, the other at Forty-third and Halsted streets. Of this experience he says, "Too many irons in the fire lost." Not discouraged, on March 15, 1876, he started for the Black Hills, arriving May 4, and leaving there Septem- ber 20 for Paw Paw, bringing with him eighteen pounds avoirdupois weight of native gold. He immediately built his dwelling-house on maple street, and erected a brick building on Main street opposite the Detamore House, for a market. Selling the latter to B. J. Wheeler, away he goes to the San Juan valley, secures a joint interest with Lester Potter, of Paw Paw, in three different mines; returns, buys the market he now occupies, and opens again in his regular business. One year later the western fever attacks him again, and away to Idaho and Montana, whence, after a six-weeks' stay, he returns again from this his latest and tenth trip across the plains. He says " to Alaska will

be his next journey." Mr. Lindsey has surely heeded the advice of Horace Greeley -" Go West"; but contrary to Poor Richard's say- ing about the rolling stone gathering no moss, his business is simply immense. Mr. Lindsey was married September 24, 1863, to Elizabeth M. Phillips. Their two children are Edwin Gallaway and Nellie Gertrude. He is a Mason and a democrat.

WILLIAM M. GEDDES, editor and proprietor of the Paw Paw "Herald," inherits both linguistic taste and mechanical genius from his father, Robert Geddes, of Amboy, a man proficient in the use of six languages, and for twenty years master mechanic in the employ of the Illinois Central Railroad Company. With such a parentage, we are not surprised to find the subject of our sketch at the printer's case at

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fourteen, and in the editorial chair at twenty-one. William was the fourth child in a family of seven children, all of whom and both parents are still living. Zanesville, Ohio, was his birthplace and August 21, 1856, his birthday. But that same year the family moved to Amboy, Illinois. At eleven William entered the high school, and at fourteen the office of the Amboy "Journal." So small of stature was he that he had to stand on a box a foot and a half high to reach the case, yet in two months' time he was able to take the case of a regular journey- man printer, and in six months, instead of getting boys' pay, he re- ceived good printers' wages. He was in this office some four years, while it was owned successively by Corbus & Stimpson, William Par- ker, and William H. Haskell. Close application beginning to tell on his health, he clerked a few months for W. B. Andrus & Son. Back again at the "Journal " office, he was about this time laying his plans for his business career, and we are not surprised that he determined to invest first in education. As a student he was an indefatigable worker. After drinking from the Pierian spring as deeply as his means would allow, he came to Paw Paw in February 1878, and purchased the " Herald " office from its founder, R. H. Ruggles. April 14, 1880, he married Jennie M. Parker, daughter of his former employer, William Parker. That Mr. Geddes found a helpmeet indeed, may be inferred from the fact that her ancestry on both sides for generations back were printers. Her father is well known as a veteran in the editorial corps, and she herself is not unacquainted with the art of successfully using the pen and the scissors. For three years she was a teacher in the Mendota High School. When Mr. Geddes assumed the management of the office at Paw Paw, the " Herald " was in its infancy and with less than one hundred subscribers, but the books now show 900 sub- scribers, and the prospect is good for 1000 at the beginning of the year 1882.

JAMES W. MAYOR, harness-maker and dealer, Paw Paw Grove, born at Dayton, Ohio, May 1, 1850, is the only son of William and Sarah (Seville) Mayor. In the spring of 1855 his parents brought him to Paw Paw, Illinois, where all the surviving members of the family still reside. His father, sensible of his own lack of early advantages, was anxious his son should have a good, substantial education, and kept him at the Paw Paw school till he was fifteen. But James de- veloped a mechanical turn of mind, so at fifteen he began learning harness-making, continuing his studies at school in the winter seasons. In this way he is said to have made very commendable progress. In the fall of 1869 he bought out the business, and has since carried it on in his own name. He is doing a good business for a place of this size, receiving orders from those who know his work, as far away as Iowa,

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Nebraska, and California. October 17, 1870, he was married to Juli- ett Madison, youngest daughter of James and Mary Madison, of Paw Paw, Illinois. They have had four children : Jessie Viola (deceased), Harry Edgar, Elmer A. and Genevieve. He is an Odd-Fellow, has passed through all the offices in Anchor Lodge, is now its representa- tive to the Grand Lodge, and is also chief patriarch in Paw Paw En- campment. Politics, republican, in faith and practice.

WILSON C. BRYANT, eldest son of Hon. Obed W. and Lucy (Lind- sey) .Bryant, was born at Four-Mile Grove, in La Salle county, November 26, 1843. Was there about ten years, till his parents moved just across the line into Lee county, to a farm at the northeast corner of the same grove. He attended school in the home dis- trict, at Lee Center, at Mendota, and in the winter of 1864-5 at Wasioja, Minnesota. He also taught several terms. In 1869 he pur- chased the Burrill farm on Cottage Hill, in Wyoming township. On March 12, 1872, he was married to Terressa A. Blee. Wilson C. Bryant and his excellent wife are very nicely fixed on a beautiful farm on Cottage Hill, amid groves and hedges, and with a pleasing prospect around and before them. Wilson C. Bryant is the eldest son of Hon. Obed W. Bryant. His mother was Lucy Lindsey. He was born November 26, 1843, at Four-Mile Grove, near the county line, but in La Salle county. He was there about ten years, tifl his parents moved across the line into Lee county to a farm at the northeast corner of the same grove. His school advantages were quite good. He attended more or less at Lee Center, Mendota, and Wasioja, Minnesota. He also taught a few terms. Finally, in 1869, he purchased his present farm, known as the Burrill farm, and on March 12, 1872, was married to Terressa A. Blee, also of Cottage Hill. Joseph M. Blee, her father, is reputed to have been one of the best men ever in Wyoming. His death, on January 16, 1873, was cansed by injuries received but a few hours before by being thrown from a wagon. He came to Cottage Hill in 1855; was a native of Pennsylvania.

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History of Lee County, together with biographical matter, statistics, etc., Part 73

Author: Hill, H.H. (Chicago) pbl Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, H.H. Hill Number of Pages: 910

Author: Hill, H.H. (Chicago) pbl
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, H.H. Hill
Number of Pages: 910