USA > Illinois > Lee County > History of Lee County, together with biographical matter, statistics, etc. > Part 83
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JAMES SANTEE, farmer, Dixon, was born in Luzerne county, Penn- sylvania, on April 9, 1803, son of James M. and Rachel (MeNeal) San- tee, of Pennsylvania. He was married February 21, 1837, to Miss Margaret Clinetop, daughter of Christopher and Margaret (Varner) Clinetop, of Pennsylvania. In the month of April, 1837, they left their native state, and reached Illinois in June following, and settled in Lee county during the summer. They were among the first settlers of Lee county, and are associated with its early history in this work. The issue of their marriage was four children, two of whom are living : James M., who resides on the home farm, and Lyidia, who lives with her aged mother on the same place. James Santee, the subject of this sketch, was an enterprising citizen and good farmer, and his death, on December 16, 1871, was generally lamented. His family that survive him are highly esteemed and respected.
DAVID R. BOWLES, merchant, Dixon, was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, in 1831, and was the son of Robert and Jane (Ross)
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Bowles. His parents removed from Hagerstown, Maryland, to Franklin county, Pennsylvania, in 1822, and resided there until their death. Mr. Bowles acquired his early education at an old log school, house in 'the vicinity of his home, and when twenty years old entered the offic tof a large ironworks in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, as a clerk. "He remained there for nearly four years, and then removed to Cambria county, Pennsylvania, where he occupied a similar position. In 1860 he removed to Reynoldstown, Lee county, Illinois, where he purchased a farm upon which he remained until 1875, when he rented his farm and removed into Dixon, and soon after engaged in the grocery business, which he still carries on. Mr. Bowles was married in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, October 31, 1855, to Miss Rebecca D. Scott, daughter of Thomas Scott, Esq., and a sister of the Hon. Thomas A. Scott, lately deceased, who was assistant secretary of war during the administration of Abraham Lincoln, and widely known in later years as the president of the Pennsylvania Central Railroad Com- pany, and as one of the most energetic and capable railroad men in the United States. Mr. Bowles has six children : Thomas S., George N., Harriet, David R., Minnie J. and DeCharms B., all of whom reside with their parents. In political sentiment Mr. Bowles is a republican, but votes and uses his influence for what he deems the best interests of the country, independent of party ties.
B. B. HIGGINS, merchant and stock raiser, Dixon, was born at Perry, Wyoming county, New York, in February 1829. His parents were Selden and Polly (Taylor) Higgins. His father was a furniture manufacturer, and died while Mr. Higgins was quite young. He received his education at Perry and at the Homer Academy, located at Homer, Cortland county, New York. When he was seventeen years of age he started into the drug business at Perry and carried on that branch of business for some five or six years. He removed to Dixon in the spring of 1858 and opened a drug store, which he still conducts. He also owns a stock farm in the vicinity of Dixon and has achieved great reputation as a successful breeder of blooded stock. An account of this farm appears elsewhere. Mr. Higgins was married in Perry, New York, to Miss N. A. Huntington, of Shaftsbury, Vermont, in 1856, who died at Dixon in 1865. He has but one surviving child, Arthur S. Higgins, who was born at Dixon, August 2, 1863. Mr. Higgins is a republican in politics and an elder in a Presbyterian church.
JOHN A. WERNICK, farmer, Dixon, was born in Saxony, June 14, 1789, and is now in his ninety-third year. Notwithstanding his advanced age he is active and in the enjoyment of all his mental faculties. In his youth he served under the great Napoleon, and was
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present at the battles of Berlin, Reisenbach, and Katzbach, and was a participant in the disastrous Russian campaign. He was also present at the battle of Leipsic, during which the Saxon troops deserted the waning fortunes of Bonaparte and went over to the enemy. From that time until the final overthrow of Napoleon at Waterloo Mr. Wernick fought against his former commander, and carries with him two.certifi- cates of honorable service in the shape of a saber-cut upon his head and a terrible scar upon his wrist caused by the thrust of a lance. Mr. Wernick migrated to America in 1848, settling first in Ogle county ; but in 1851 removed to Lee county and purchased the farm now occu- pied by him. His son, Ernest Wernick, was born in Haringen, Prussia, in 1832, and was brought up in his native country. He came to America in 1848 with his father. He has been engaged in farming ever since and is now the owner of some 450 acres of fine land in Dixon township. In September, 1862, he enlisted in 75th Ill. Inf. and served in that regiment for three years with great credit to himself. He was married at Dixon in 1855, to Miss Mary Page, who died in 1862, and in 1865 he was again married, to Miss Catherine Rupert. He has eight children living : Henry, Annie, Mary, George, Minnie, Wesley, Oscar, and Carrie. Mr. Wernick is an earnest republican and a mem- ber of the Evangelical Lutheran church.
ELIAS B. STILES, capitalist, Dixon, was born in Huntingdon, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, on March 9, 1820, and was the son of Lewis and Sarah (Dodson) Stiles. He was brought up and educated in his native county, but when twenty years of age came to Dixon, where he became a clerk, which occupation he followed for two years, after which he formed a copartnership with Otis A. Eddy, under the firm name of Eddy & Stiles, which continued until 1846, when Mr. Stiles moved to St. Louis. In 1848 he returned to Dixon and engaged largely in the land agency and real estate business. He opened a private bank in 1853, and enjoyed a large and prosperous business until 1864, when, owing to unfortunate speculations, he was obliged to suspend. Since 1864 he has been largely engaged in farming and agricultural pursuits, and is also one of the largest and most daring operators on the Chicago board of trade, having experienced many favorable and unfa- vorable vicissitudes, but meeting good or evil fortune with equal nerve and fortitude. He has long been a prominent member of the democratic party in his district, and was for ten years county treasurer. In 1862 he was the democratic candidate for congress in his district against Hon. E. B: Washburne, and made a sharp and close contest for the position. Mr. Stiles was married at Dixon on August 8, 1847, to Miss Sybil Van Arnam, and they have three sons : Charles, born September 18, 1848; Alexander, born July 18, 1854; and Eugene B., born No-
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vember 8, 1861. On the morning of Angust 26, 1881 (and after the foregoing sketch was written), the sad and sudden announcement of the death of Mr. Stiles, in Chicago, from paralysis of the heart, came to the citizens of Dixon, taking them by surprise, as very few knew of his illness. He had experienced one severe stroke of paralysis some three years since, and one comparatively slight attack since, but had gone from Dixon to Chicago but a few days before his death in his usual good health and spirits, and no one anticipated such a sudden termination of his active and energetic career. His remains were brought to Dixon, and the funeral services took place at the Methodist Episcopal church on Sunday, August 28, a large concourse of his fellow- citizens attending and showing by their presence the esteem and respect in which he was universally held.
RICHARD B. LOVELAND, deceased, Dixon, was born in Bainbridge, New York, May 1, 1819, and was the son of Otis and Mehitabel (Parker) Loveland. He was reared and educated at Bainbridge, and at an early age entered the employ of Smith Gilbraith, who afterward moved to Dixon and became one of the leading business men of that section. When Mr. Loveland was twenty-two years of age Mr. Gil- braith sent for him to come to Dixon, which he immediately did, arriving at his destination almost penniless. His first employment consisted in overseeing the workmen employed in removing obstruc- tions from Rock river with a view to making it navigable. In 1842, in company with Elijah Dixon, a son of Father Dixon, he procured, through the influence of Mr. Gilbraith, the contract for carrying the mails between Milwaukee and Janesville, Wisconsin. Mr. Dixon dying a year later, his interest was purchased by Mr. Loveland, who continued to hold the contract for some years longer, making consid- erable money; but when the passenger coaches of Frink & Walker were put on the route he returned to Dixon and engaged in the general mercantile business, which he continued up to his death, which occurred in August 1851. He was married in May 1843, to Miss Susan Clute, of Dixon, and left three children surviving: Willett O., born in 1844, and now a merchant at Byron, Illinois ; George, born in 1847, and now engaged in business at Mount Carroll, Illinois; Kittie, born in 1850, and married in October 1871, to Dr. H. E. Paine, of Dixon. Mrs. Loveland was married a second time in October 1854, to Maj. James A. Watson, of Dixon, who served for three years in the 75th Ill. Vols., and since the close of the war has been actively engaged in railroad contracting and bridge building. Mr. and Mrs. Watson have three children : Fred M., born in 1854, and Samuel, born in 1858, both of whom are in the employ of prominent wholesale houses in Chicago, and Nellie, born in 1864, who resides with her parents.
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JAMES M. SANTEE, farmer and stock raiser, Dixon. Prominent among the pioneers of Lee county may be mentioned James M. Santee and his wife Margaret (Klintob) Santee. They came here from Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, in 1837, with a team, and settled in Dixon town- ship. Mr. Santee died December 16, 1873, after a life of usefulness and honest toil, loved and respected by all who were favored with an acquaint- ance with him. Mrs. Santee is still (1881) living on the old home, at the advanced age of eighty years. Their son James M. was born in Lee county, Dixon township, September 11, 1845, and was reared and educated on the farm, finishing his education at the Mount Morris (Ogle county, Illinois) and Mount Vernon (Iowa) acadamies. After this he engaged in farming on his father's farm. On June 22, 1871, he married Miss Susanah, daughter of John and Martha (Cooper) Black- man, a native of England, who came with her parents to America in 1851 and to Illinois in 1859. They are the parents of three children : Charles, Martha, and Wilber. Mr. Santee is now living on the old home in Sec. 10, T. 22, R. 9, of which he owns half, there being in the farm 240 acres. Stock raising and farming are his permanent em- ployment.
HETLERS, farmers, Dixon. Many men there are who, though quiet and unassuming, "leave footprints on the sands of time." The deep stream moves silently on with scarce a ripple, yet far greater are its burdens and more lasting its wearings on rocky bank and bed. So it is with silent men. They bear the burdens of society. They are light- houses to the generations on the billowy ocean of time, which men see- ing, take heed and steer their frail life-boats into calmer waters, away from noisy dashings of surf-beaten rocks and reefs. It is well that such men live. Such a man was Nathan Hetler, a name positively German. Mr. Hetler was born in Columbia county, Pennsylvania, February 14, 1809. He early learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed till coming west. He was married to Katharine Kulp, who was born in the same county in 1806. Mr. and Mrs. Hetler, with their three children, Anna M., now Mrs. James A. Heaton, Mary A., wife of Aquilla Spencer, and Hiram, moved across the country with a two-horse wagon, bringing their all and landing about June 6, 1837. Their first residence was on Sec. 35, T. 22, R. 9, W., in what is now Nachusa township. At the end of two years a change of location found them on Sec. 2, T. 21, R. 9, on an eighty-acre farm. This he improved, and on this farm Mr. Hetler built the first barn erected on the prairie. In this barn the Lutherans held services prior to the erection of their church. In a few years this farm was sold and what is now the home- stead was purchased. Here Mr. Hetler died, May 22, 1877, and here Mrs. Hetler still survives. The names of both these pioneers are on the
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records of the Lutheran church as among its organizers. After their arrival in Lee county five"children were born to them : Jesse, Jeremialı, Amanda, John, Henry C. (dead). Hiram, the third child, was born in Columbia county, Pennsylvania, January 17, 1836. His early years were such as were common to pioneer children, the farm and the sub- scription school. In 1859 he made a trip to California, whence he returned in 1860. August 11, 1862, he was united in marriage to Nancy, daughter of Seth and Elizabeth (Smith) Crippen, both natives of New York, and who moved in 1856 to Dixon, where they resided many years, but subsequently made their home in Michigan. Mrs. Hetler was born near Rochester, New York, May 17, 1843. August 22, 1862, Mr. Hetler enlisted in his country's service in Co. F, 1st Ill. Light Art. He was actively engaged at Vicksburg, Jackson, Mississippi, Missionary Ridge, in the series of battles and skirmishes from Chatta- nooga to Atlanta, and thence with Thomas to Nashville. When mus- tered out he was transferred to Co. A, with which he was finally dis- charged July 12, 1865. Mr. Hetler then returned to the quiet pursuits of the farm. He has now a farm of 240 acres, well improved. He has been much engaged in the affairs of his vicinity, having been school director continually since the war with the exception of three years, also assistant supervisor since 1878 and highway commissioner since 1873. In the family are three children : Ida G., Lulu M. and Minnie E. John Hetler, the seventh child of Nathan and Katharine Hetler, has charge of the homestead. The farm, buildings, and all, speak order and system, doing honor to the owner.
JEREMIAH HETLER, farmer and stock raiser, Dixon, son of Nathan and Katharine (Kulp) Hetler, was born in Lee county, Illinois, Oc- tober 4, 1842, and, like his father, was reared a farmer, and strictly trained in the ways of industry and economy, receiving such an educa- tion as could be obtained in the pioneer schools of this county's early history. He remained at home with his father till the farm was cleared of debt, at which time he was about twenty-six years of age. December 25, 1867, he married Miss Mary E., daughter of William and Selinda (Morehead) McCleary. She was born in Lawrence county, Pennsylvania, March 15, 1843, and came to Lee county in 1864. They have three children : Grace M., Katie M. and Nettie S. In 1877 Mr. Hetler moved on his farm in Sec. 10, T. 22, R. 9, and engaged in farming and stock raising.
THOMAS J. BUCKALOO, farmer and stock raiser, Dixon, was born in Dixon, March 17, 1842. His early youth was spent in farming and attending school, the latter to a very limited extent, as his father died leaving him to care for himself at the age of twelve years. The next five years of his life was spent in working out by the month, after
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.
which he engaged in farming for himself. January 23, 1867, he mar- ried Miss Maggie A., daughter of Mr. John and Margaret (Mong) Craddock, who was born in Maryland, May 11, 1843, and came to Lee county when a child nine years old. They are the parents of five children : Clinton C., Mabel E., Grace, Elizabeth L. and Allen T. Mr. Buckaloo is now the owner of the old homestead, where he now lives engaged in farming and stock raising. His father, Joseph Bucka- loo, was born in Columbia county, Pennsylvania, January 22, 1811; was united in marriage, in 1835, with Miss Eliza Kerr, who was born January 24, 1815, in Northampton county, Pennsylvania. In 1839 they came to Dixon, where, after renting around two years, they, in 1841, bought a claim in Sec. 15 and 16, T. 22, R. 9, permanently set- tled, and lived till the death of Mr. Buckaloo in 1852. He is buried in the Dixon cemetery. Mrs. Buckaloo is still living, and resides at her pleasant home in the city of Dixon. Of their six children three are living: Thomas J., Amanda, and George W .; the latter in 1881 removed to Wisconsin.
STEPHEN FULLER, farmer, Dixon, is a son of Joshua and Sybel (Chappen) Fuller, and was born March 17, 1797. His business through life has been farming. He came from Luzerne county, Penn- sylvania, to Dixon in an early day. At the time he first saw Dixon there were but a few houses or cabins there besides the old fort. His first winter was spent near Dixon, but in the spring he moved out on his claim in Sec. 37, T. 22, R. 9, and bought the same (320 acres) when it came into market, and has ever since made this place his home, preferring a home in the beautiful State of Illinois to one in the old rocky state of his nativity. He left Pennsylvania with a team and wagon and drove through to Dixon. The country was then so sparsely settled that from twenty to thirty miles could be traveled and without seeing a house. He was married December 12, 1822, to Miss Anna H. Pratt. She died in 1851, leaving him with three children living : Champion, Caroline, wife of James Poorman, now living at Lyons, Iowa, and Abraham, who was born in Lee county, February 9, 1837, and is probably the oldest native born citizen now living in the county.
WILLIAM DEPUY, farmer and lime dealer, Dixon, is a son of Har- mon and Catharine Depuy ; was born in Tioga county, New York, October 16, 1833, and in 1838 came with his parents in a wagon to Lee county. For six weeks after their arrival in Dixon they lived tented in their wagon, after which they moved into a house on rented ground. Mr. Depuy soon after bought a claim, but continued to rent land about five years before moving on his new home. This delay was caused by his loss of money ($1,500) lent to a man in the mercantile
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trade in Dixon. After moving on his farm about two miles northeast of Dixon he remained there till the time of his death, which occurred September 15, 1856, aged sixty years. Mrs. Depuy died Angust 20, 1869, aged sixty-two years. They are buried, and are now resting side by side in the beautiful cemetery in Dixon. January 25, 1870, William, the subject of this sketch, was married to Miss Mary J. Mc- Evitt, a native of Ireland but of Scotch parents. They are the parents of six children, as follows : Oscar, Lillian, William H., Edner, Jacob C. and Frances. About 1851 Mr. Depuy, with his brother, began burn- ing lime near their home a short distance up the river from Dixon, but some years later they purchased a large and valuable body of limestone adjoining the city of Dixon, where Mr. Depuy is now constantly burn- ing large quantities for both home and outside demand.
HON. JOSEPH CRAWFORD, surveyor and banker, Dixon, was born in Columbia county, Pennsylvania, May 19, 1811, and is the son of John and Catharine (Cassedy) Crawford. In 1822 he removed with his par- ents to Huntington, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, and at the age of twenty he engaged in school teaching, in which profession he continued for four years. On April 4, 1835, he started for Illinois. Passing Chicago and Dixon's Ferry, he stopped at Galena, where he remained but a short time, returning to Dixon's Ferry, and located on a farm south of Grand Detour, in May of the same spring. He also engaged in business as surveyor, which he followed extensively until recent years, and made the original survey of most of the villages on Rock river from Rockford to Rock Island. In 1836 he was appointed deputy county surveyor for northwest Illinois, and was elected county surveyor of Ogle county, which then included Whitsides and Lee, and was elected surveyor of Lee county at the time of its organization in 1840, in which office he served for eighteen years. He served in 1841 as member of the first board of county commissioners for the county of Lee, and was elected to represent Lee and Whitesides in the Illinois state legislature in 1849, and reëlected to the same in 1853. In 1852 he settled in Dixon, where he still resides. He has dealt extensively in farming lands, and owns about twelve hundred acres of fine farming land in Lee county ; one farm of 1,000 acres in one body three miles east of the city of Dixon, and one four miles southwest of the city, embracing 200 acres. Both farms are devoted to grain and stock-growing. He was one of the chartered members of Lee county national bank, which was organized in 1865, since which time he has sustained the relation of president. He was elected mayor of the city of Dixon in 1873, and reelected the two following terms. On September 16, 1852, Mr. Crawford was united in marriage to Mrs. Huld (Bowman) Culver. Resulting from this union is a son, Joseph Willber Crawford, born
49
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Angust 20, 1859, and still making his father's house his home. Mr. Crawford had two brothers and three sisters. His brother, Dr. John S. Crawford, of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, was killed by a train of ears while crossing the track in his buggy. His brother, Samuel Crawford, resides at Sterling, this state; his two surviving sisters are Sarah and Catharine; the former, Mrs. L. W. Hale, resides in Lee county, and the latter married Mr. John Litle, of Pennsylvania. They now reside in Hardin county, Iowa. His parents were born in Lan- caster, Pennsylvania, and his forefathers were of Scotch blood. Mrs. Joseph Crawford was the daughter of John and Mary (Bretten) Bow- man ; the father was born on the banks of the Delaware river in Penn- sylvania, and the mother on Staten Island. Her grandfather, Christo- pher Bowman, was of Germany.
NATHAN A. CORTRIGHT, farmer, Dixon, was born in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, on September 27, 1852, and is the son of Isaae and Mollie (Pollock) Cortright. His parents were natives of Penn- sylvania, and resided in that state until 1862, when they removed to Illinois, and located in Dixon township. His father died in the spring of 1880, but his mother is still living. Mr. Cortright received the principal part of his education after his removal to Illinois, and after leaving school engaged in farming, in which occupation he still con- tinues. He was married in 1873 to Miss Katie Burket, daughter of John M. Burket, deceased, an old resident of the township. They have three children : John W., aged six, Charles N., aged four, and Shelby M., aged two years. Politically Mr. Cortright is a republican, and his wife is a member of the Lutheran church.
WILLIAM P. CORTRIGHT, an elder brother of Nathan, was born in Pennsylvania in 1835, and when a young man was engaged in mer- cantile business, but at the breaking out of the civil war he enlisted in Co. A., 28th Penn. Vols. From exposure in the service he became dis- abled, and being discharged, he returned home, and was employed in the office of a mining and railroad engineer company, at Hazleton, Pennsylvania. He remained with them several years, though in ex- tremely bad health, the result of his army career, and in the spring of 1868 his body from the waist down was completely paralyzed. He was then brought to the home of his parents at Dixon, and remained in a perfectly helpless condition until July 4, 1880, when death re- leased him from his suffering, which he had borne with heroic fortitude and resignation for over twelve years.
PROF. JESSE B. DILLE, principal of the Northern Illinois Normal School and Dixon business college, was born in Huntington county, Indi- ana, on December 10, 1856, and is the son of Ichabod and Rebecca (Ha- vens) Dille. His father is a farmer, and still resides in Huntington county.
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Prof. Dille received his primary education in the schools of his native county, and then entered the normal school at Valparaiso, Indiana, from which he graduated in 1878, and then took charge of the school at Lagro, Indiana, remaining there a year. He then returned to Valparaiso and became a teacher in the normal school, where he remained until his removal to Dixon in 1881, when he, in connection with Mr. John C. Flint, established the school of which he is the head. Prof. Dille was married in 1879, to Miss Florence Flint, a resident of Valparaiso. He is a republican in politics, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. The flourishing institution which is under the management of Prof. Dille is yet in its infancy, its first term having but just been completed, but owing to the pluck and energy of its founder its success was assured from the beginning, and it already vies in the number of its pupils and in the variety and extent of its branches of study with similar schools of years standing and of established reputation. Prof. Dille has ten assistant instructors, and the course of study includes everything from the common branches to music and fine art. Phonog- raphy and type-writing are also taught by a competent and skilled instructor, Prof. J. D. Derr. So large has the attendance already be- come, and such popularity has the school attained, that it has become a necessity to erect a new college building, and a campus ground of twelve acres has been purchased on which a large college building will be erected in the spring. The estimation in which the school is held by the citizens of Lee county is shown in the fact that they have donated to the institution the sum of $27,000, which will, without doubt, be- increased to $40,000.
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