USA > Illinois > Lee County > History of Lee County, together with biographical matter, statistics, etc. > Part 86
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KINCAID, son of Joshua and Elizabeth (Swisher) Runyan, farmer and stock raiser, Ashton, was born in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, January 19, 1838. He was brought up on a farm, and with but a lim- ited means of education, though by much reading and careful observa- tion he has gained what might be called a good business education. In the spring of 1861 he came to Lee county, and hired out to work on a farm. This he followed till the winter of 1865, when he enlisted in Co. K, 3d Ill. Cav. After the close of the war, and a tour among the Indians through northern Dakota to the British possessions, he
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was honorably discharged, and returned to Lee county. January 19, 1869, he married Miss Charity, danghter of Daniel and Christena (King) Brecunier, and in the spring of the same year began as a renter on the farm he now owns. In the fall of 1874 he bought the farm and became permanently located, and is now engaged in farming and stock raising on Sec. 31, T. 22, R. 11. His parents were born, lived and died in the State of Pennsylvania. Mr. Runyan is of the opinion that his ancestors are of French origin, the name far back in its history being De Runyan. Since the above writing Mrs. Kincaid Runyan departed this life, November 17, 1881, after an illness of about five weeks. She bore her long suffering with great patience, and leaves, besides her almost broken-hearted husband, a large circle of friends and relatives to mourn their loss. She was a citizen of Franklin from childhood, and a member of one of the best families in the county. Her early death is severely felt by her grief-stricken friends.
HARLOW E. CHADWICK, son of Ambrose and Sarah Chadwick, mer- chant, Ashton, was born near Rochester, New York, June 11, 1840. When still an infant his parents moved to Oneida county. In 1856 the family removed to Iowa, and remained one year, after which they removed to Bradford township, in Lee county. Mr. Chadwick is one of the firm of Bly & Chadwick, engaged in business in Ashton in 1879, and is quite a prominent citizen. He conducted the county farm sev- eral years. August 14, 1862, he enlisted in the 75th Ill. Inf., was with the regiment one year, and was then transferred to the veteran reserves. Was discharged May 20, 1865. Is a member of Odd-Fellows' Lodge, No. 422, and also a member of the Presbyterian church, with which he united in 1879. Was married in 1866, to Miss Esther P. Starks, a native of Lee county.
DAVID SANFORD, postmaster, Ashton, son of Salmon and Elizabeth Sanford, was born near Dayton, Ohio, December 25, 1820, where he resided until eighteen years of age, when he went to Noble county, Indiana, and resided nine years. Then he came to Ogle county, Illinois. In the spring of 1850 he went to California, and remained until 1857 in the gold regions, then returned to Ogle county, where he remained until 1862. In that year he enlisted in the 75th Ill. Inf. and served until the fall of 1863. In that year he came to Lee county. In 1867 he was appointed postmaster at Ashton, and since that time has officiated in that capacity. Married, in 1863, Mrs. Mehetabel Oneil, a native of Ohio. Before his return from the army he was promoted to a captaincy of Co. G, and is now familiarly called "Cap."
HENRY BLY, merchant, Ashton, son of Thomas R. and Nancy Bly, was born in Chenango county, New York, June 9, 1827, where he resided until eighteen years of age; at that time he came to Light
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House Point, Ogle county, where he was engaged in farming until 1850. In that year he went with a party of wealth-hunters to Califor- nia, crossing the plains in a wagon drawn by oxen. While there he- traveled through a large portion of the mining district, and encount- ered a great many difficulties and dangers that beset the paths of those hardy, daring men who cast their lot in the wilds of California. Was in that state fifteen months; returned by way of New York. In 1857 was elected supervisor of Ashton township, and held the office eleven years. In 1853 was elected justice of the peace, and with the exception of a few years has held the office ever since. Is a member of Odd- Fellows and Masonic orders. Was married in July 1848, to Miss Anna J. Wood, a native of Canada.
MELVIN HARDESTY, hotel-keeper, Ashton, son of Richard and Sarah Hardesty, was born in Ogle county, Illinois, in 1844. His father came to Ogle county in 1835, and was one of the pioneers of that county. In 1862 Mr. Hardesty removed to Ashton, and for ten years has been engaged in carriage and house painting. In 1879 he bought a hotel, now known as the Clifton house, and since that time has been conduct- ing it in addition to his other business. He was married in 1872 to Miss Mary Beard, a native of Brooklyn, New York. In 1865 he enlisted in Co. H, of the 140th Ill. Inf., and served six months.
EDWIN M. BLAIR, farmer and stock raiser, Amboy, was born in Oneida county, New York, November 23, 1826. His parents, James and Fanny (Hamilton) Blair, were born and reared in Massachusetts. His father was hotel-keeping in Jamestown, Chautauqua county, New York, when in 1838 (the date is erroneously given in the township history a year earlier) he quit the state, and coming here made a claim on the N.W. ¿ and half of the S.W. ¿ Sec. 29, T. 20, R. 10, besides somewhat more land than this which we cannot describe. This subject now owns 200 acres of the original claim. In 1839 the rest of the family, including the mother, the two daughters, Elmina and Caroline, and four sons, Winthrop H., Edwin M., William W. and Charles L. joined him. The latter was drowned in Inlet creek in the autumn of 1850. Winthrop resides in Marion township, and William at Sandwich, De Kalb county. The eldest son, James R., stayed behind in the east until about 1846; he then also came and lived here, where he died in 1857. Mr. Blair was married December 24, 1854, to Miss Juliet, daughter of Jacob J. Conderman, of Marion township, who removed there from Steuben county, New York, in 1851. Her death occurred in 1873. She was the mother of four children : Ida (dead), Frank, William J. and Rnth C. Mr. Blair was married again
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on September 24, 1877, to Mrs. Ruth M. Marsh (Crowder), widow of Edmund Marsh. She had by her first marriage the following chil- dren : Nettie, Dessa, William (dead), and Albert W. Mr. Blair has held office most of the time since the township was organized. He has been deputy sheriff one term, school trustee three terms, road com- missioner many years, and also assessor. He is a republican, and was a member of the Amboy lodge of Odd-Fellows before it lapsed, in the time of the war. Mrs. Blair belongs to the United Brethren church, but was formerly a Methodist.
ADONIRAM J. TOMPKINS, farmer, Amboy, son of Nathaniel S. and Sally (Reynolds) Tompkins, was born in New York in 1831. As early as Mr. Tompkins can remember, his father, who was a black- smith, moved to Ohio and settled on a farm, where he followed his new calling, and worked also at his trade. Mr. Tompkins learned the carpenter's trade, and early in 1856 came to Dunleith, Illinois, and the following spring, obtaining employment from the Illinois Central rail- road company, worked six months as foreman. After that he had charge of the carpenter work on station buildings between Dunleith and Wapella until about 1873, when his superintendence was extended to Centralia. In the spring of 1879 he quit the service of the compa- ny, and moved to his present farm, about two miles west of Amboy. Mr. Tompkins was married in 1858, to Miss Mary A. Smith, of New York, by whom he has three children : Walter, Elma, and Stella. Both parents are communicants in the Baptist church. He has been road commissioner of the township, and was alderman of Amboy five years. In polities he is a republican.
J. HARVEY IVES, senior member of the firm of Ives & Slauter, lumber and coal dealers, Amboy, was born in Berkshire county, Mass- achusetts, December 29, 1827. He was the youngest son of John and Hannah (Ford) Ives, whose ancestors settled in New Haven, Connecti- cut, in the early days of the colony. Mr. Ives obtained a common school education, and was reared to agricultural pursuits. At the age of seventeen he engaged in carpenter work, and for twenty-five years that was his only business. On May 12, 1852, he was married, in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, to Miss Antoinette I. Tobey, of that place, who was born March 2, 1833. They have reared one daughter, Clara, now Mrs. Willis Bristol, of Denver, Colorado. In December, 1856, Mr. Ives and his family removed from the east and settled in Amboy, where he continued working at his trade until July 1, 1870, when he embarked in his present business in partnership with D. W. Slauter, under the firm name of Ives & Slauter. He has been elected alderman of the city three times, and is a republican politically. Him- self, wife and daughter are members of the Congregational church.
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ARTHUR P. WASSON, farmer, Amboy, son of Lorenzo D. and Aurelia (Gaylord) Wasson, was born in Amboy township, May 3, 1849. In his father's family there were six children : Henrietta, Benjamin (dead), Arthur P., Audentia E., Marietta, and John C. (dead). Mr. Wasson was married February 22, 1872, to Miss Lizzie M. Sprague, daughter of James Sprague, an early settler of Putnam county. They have the following children : Oddy, Lorenzo D., Arthur Guy, and Winn. We append the following interesting sketch of the grandfather of our subject, his removal to the west in an early day, and settlement in Amboy township. It was furnished by Mrs. E. DeWolf:
BENJAMIN WASSON removed with his wife, formerly Elizabeth Hole, and five children, from Broome county, New York, to Illinois, in the fall of 1836. The entire journey was made with their own teams, and consumed forty days. They camped out most of the time after leaving New York, as they found that pleasanter than the hotel accommodations on the frontier at that time. For the comfort of his family he stopped first in Farmington, Fulton county, where a house was procurable. The same fall, with his eldest son, Lorenzo, he vis- ited the Rock river country, and made woodland claims in Palestine Grove, and prairie claims a mile or two north. On the latter they erected, during the following year, a log house. When they had the body of it up, an oil-cloth carpet was stretched over the top for cover- ing, and here the eldest daughter, Clara, not yet fifteen years old, kept house for her father and brother, while they cut the trees and converted them into puncheon for the floor, and shakes with which to cover the roof. When nightfall came, and the wolves began as usual to howl, the young girl used to seek shelter and safety in the covered wagon, drawing down the curtains closely all around, and waiting for the return of the men. This house, the first, I think, built on the prairie between Palestine and Franklin groves, was located about three-quarters of a mile northeast from the depot of the Illinois Cen- tral railroad, in the city of Amboy. Energy and perseverance were necessary to meet successfully the obstacles in the pathway of the early settlers, and these traits were prominent in the character of this pio- neer. While the pine clapboards, glass, sash and all had to be brought from Chicago on wagons and sleds, in a very few years a new and more comfortable dwelling, with other farm buildings, surrounded the first rude home in the then far west. To this all the family removed from Farmington, in 1837, and here they lived unharmed through the perilous banditti times. The log house remained to welcome and give shelter to the families of relatives and friends who came, while they were building abodes for themselves. In this home the youngest
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child and daughter, the writer hereof, was born in August 1839. Although no sign of entertainment ever hung beside the gate or door, the weary wayfarer was always cheerfully welcomed, and the question "Do you need dinner ?" or supper, as the case might be, or " Are you hungry ?" became a habit with the ever kind and careful mother of the household. In 1849 the California excitement induced the old gentleman to take his youngest son and cross the plains. From this journey he never returned, but died of shagress fever while on his way home in February 1851. The widow continued to live on the old place until near the end of 1863, when, to the hardships of pioneer life, and numerous added afflictions, her health gave way, and the old home was broken up. The mother followed the fortunes of the youngest child until May 18, 1874, when she was called from earth to paradise. The older children, Lorenzo D. Wasson, Dr. Harmon Was- son, and Roxy Emma, who became Mrs. Simon Badger, all died at Amboy in the prime of life. The surviving children are Mrs. Clara Backensto, of Iowa City, Iowa; Mr. Warren Wasson, of Carson City, Nevada, and Mrs. E. DeWolf, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The eldest grandson, Arthur P. Wasson, owns and lives on the old farm, while the remaining grandchildren and great-grandchildren are scattered from New York to Colorado and Nevada.
THOMAS BROWN, Franklin Grove, was born in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1820. He is the only son and youngest child of Thomas W. and Rebecca (Vial) Brown, whose family numbered six, five of whom are living. His paternal grandfather was a " revolutioner." His father was a tailor, and the same craft was learned by the son. In 1839 Mr. Brown came to Lee county, in company with Erastus De Wolf, and soon after made a claim. In 1840 he returned to his native state, and in April of the following year was married to Ruth Simpson. He then came back to Illinois. In 1855 Mr. Brown came to the village of Franklin Grove, having previously lived about ten years in Lee Center, at "Inlet." His family are Thomas W., Robert P., Mary E., Harriet, and Lottie. Mr. Brown is one of those men whose good memory and friendly, affable nature are indispensable in collecting mat- ter for a work of this nature. He has lived here to see the great growth of this county, its prairies transformed into beautiful fields producing a wealth of golden grain, its towns and villages, churches and schools, scattered all over this beautiful land.
S. A. GRISWOLD, physician, Franklin Grove, was born in the State of New York, Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence county, in the year 1839, son of Justinian and Prudence S. (Dole) Griswold, both of Vermont. His
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father, a teacher by profession, had a family of one son and one daughter ; he died when our subject was two years old. The latter, while yet a lad, came with his mother to Lee Center; here he attended school, and as soon as qualified began teaching. In the spring of 1861 he enlisted in the 13th III. Inf., Co. A, Capt. Noble, 1st Lieut. Henry Dement. He had hardly learned the drill before he was made a hospital steward. He was in Missouri and Arkansas till he was mustered out, early in 1863. He then resumed the study of medicine, which he had but just begun before enlisting; in 1866 graduated from the Cincinnati Physio- Medical Institute. In 1864 Dr. Griswold came to Franklin Grove; January, 1867, he married Olive May, who died August 1873, leaving one son, DeWitt E., born April 30, 1869. Mr. Griswold is a republi- can and a Mason ; for six years he has been a member of the town school board. In February of 1877 his mother died, aged seventy-three years, after several years of married life with her third husband, Elisha Pratt, an early settler in Lee county. The doctor is one of those men who are always ready to lend a helping hand to any enterprise which tends to benefit or build up the community in which he lives, and his long and successful business profession in this part of the county has won for him a great many true friends.
In writing the history of the early settlers of this township we find the REINHARTS worthy of honorable mention. They were natives of Germany, and came to Lee county, Illinois, in an early day. Andrew Reinhart was born in Hesse Cassel in 1843. He has by hard work, good management, and a close attention to business, with the help of an industrious and faithful wife, accumulated a large amount of prop- erty. His farm, about two and a half miles south of Franklin, con- tains over 300 acres, is one of the best in that part of the township, and is evidence of the thrift of its owner. Coming with his parents to Lee county when a small child, he was thus deprived of the advantages of an education except such as was afforded by the pioneer schools of the county. In June, 1868, he was united in marriage to Miss Catha- rine Hafenrichter, a native of New York, who was born March 7, 1845, and came to Illinois when about one year old. They are the parents of eight children, five of whom are living : Charlotte F., Anna C., Henry C., Elizabeth, and John F. Mr. Reinhart's parents, Crist and Christina Reinhart, are buried at Lee Center.
That some families are more certainly successful than others with the same advantages, and by economy and industry rise to prosperity and wealth, is certainly illustrated by the HANSENS. The two brothers, Henry and Harrison, are the pioneers of the family. They left their
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native home near Bangor, Maine, in the fall of 1838, arriving at Frank lin Grove in October, and soon after bought a claim of Erastus De Wolf, a man noted for his ambition to own every good piece of land in the county. The boys went to work on the principle that time is money, and that principle has characterized them through life. They went to farming and opening up their new home as soon as the means could be raised to make the start, hauling their wheat and pork to Chicago with ox-teams, and selling the former sometimes as low as forty cents per bushel, and the latter for two and a half cents per pound, and hauling back Inmber or such other commodities as could not be dispensed with. These trips were made on an outlay of less than seventy-five cents in cash. For their milling they generally went to Aurora. In the fall of 1840 their father, Charles Hansen, with the rest of the family, came on and joined them in their new home. He soon bought a farm, the one where his son, S. C. Hansen, now lives. Here he lived till the time of his death, which occurred March 20, 1869, at the age of seventy-nine years. His wife died December 4, 1878, aged nearly eighty-nine years. They are buried in the cemetery at Franklin Grove, and a substantial monument marks their last resting place. He was the youngest of two brothers, Fredrick and Charles, whose paternal ancestor came from Saxony as an officer in the commissary department of Burgoyne's army in the time of the revolutionary war, and at the time of the surrender of that noted chieftain, when the choice was given the prisoners to be released on parol or join the Colonial ranks, he proposed that if Gen. Washington would assign to him the same position he held in the British army he would take the oath of allegiance to the American cause, and from that time he became forage master for Gen. Washing- ton, and rendered very efficient service in that position till the close of the war. He was a Saxon-German, born and reared in wealth, being a son of a family of high rank and a learned officer of that proud na- tion. He died in the State of Maine, where he had married and reared his family. His eldest son, Fredrick, remained east, where he reared a family, and his second son, Charles, came to Lee county, Illinois, as above stated, and reared a prosperous family, which is now (1881) living in the vicinity of Franklin Grove, where they first settled.
SYLVANUS C. HANSEN, farmer and stock raiser, Franklin Grove, was born in the State of Maine October 17, 1825, and in 1840 came with his parents to Lee county, Illinois. His school advantages were very meager, only such as were afforded in the old subscription schools of pioneer history. At the age of about sixteen he became the victim of a protracted fever, which finally resulted in a fever-sore settling in one limb. For a time his life was despaired of, at the age of nineteen not weighing 100 pounds. Soon after, however, he changed for the
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better, and at the age of twenty-one was entirely restored. December 20, 1859, he was united in marriage to Miss Sabina Fellows, of Belvi- dere, Boone county, Illinois. They have become the parents of five children : Ida C., Charles F., Lillian, Grace, and May. Mr. Hansen made his start by working on his father's farm as a renter. Following up his first start, and by hard work and good management, he has been successful in so much that he now owns 680 acres of good, valuable land, and is living on part of the old homestead one mile west of Frank- lin Grove.
WILLIAM FORBES, deceased, was born in North Carolina, June 20, 1817, and was reared a farmer, with but limited educational advantages. In 1856 he came to Illinois and settled in Ogle county, and there en- gaged in farming. December 20, 1857, he married Miss Susan Burges, a native of North Carolina, who was born January 22, 1827. They became the parents of six children, four of whom are living: Mary E., wife of John H. Parker, now in Kansas; Julius, Margaret, and Caleb, now at home. A son died in. Washington county, Kansas, March 23, 1881, aged nearly twenty-one years. His death was a sore affliction to his mother. In 1870 Mr. Forbes removed to Lee county, Illinois, and bought a farm in the north part of China township, and there en- gaged in farming till the time of his death, which occurred January 22, 1873. Mrs. Forbes with her children still live on their home in this township.
HENRY W. HILLISON, farmer and stock raiser, Franklin Grove, was born in Bradford township, Lee county, Illinois, September 12, 1850, and was reared on the farm. He received a liberal education. During his early youth he attended the common schools at home, but finished his education with about two years in college, or high schools. May 8, 1873, he was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth, daughter of John and Barbara (Burnhart) Roth. They are the parents of three children : John H., Christian A. and William C. At the time of his marriage Mr. Hillison moved on his farm of 200 acres in Secs. 26 and 36, T. 21, R. 10. This farm is but one of the many prosperous ones of this town- ship, and proves its owner to be a young man of good taste and enter- prise. In 1881 he erected one of the finest residences in the township. His father, Oman Hillison, a native of Norway, came to Lee county in an early day, and settled near Lee Center. His first residence was a sod house in what is now Bradford township. He died in June 1854. His mother, Elizabeth (Rienhart) Hillison, is by nativity a Hessian- German, and came to America when only fourteen years of age, and also became one of Lee county's early pioneers. She is still living in Bradford township.
GEORGE W., son of Martin and Mary (Fisher) Eastwood, was born
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in China township, Lee county, Illinois, April 1, 1846. He, like his father, was reared a farmer. In 1864 he enlisted in the 34th Ill. Vet. Vol. Inf., and was honorably discharged at the close of the war. De- cember 10, 1867, he was nnited in marriage with Miss Julia R., daughter of E. C. Thomas, Esq., of Franklin Grove. She was born in this town- ship August 20, 1846. They have two children, Alice M. and Byron E. Mr. Eastwood began life by working out by the month, but not with the intention of making it his business through life, but only to get a start, for soon after we find him on a rented farm for a short time, and hè soon after bought a farm of his own in Sec. 26, T. 21, R. 10, which he has finely improved, besides adding to his first purchase till he now owns over 200 acres, which, if no unforeseen misfortune over- takes him, he will soon have clear of debt. His parents came to Lee county in 1840, and are still living.
LEONARD W. HALE is one of the few early settlers yet living in Lee county. He was born in the State of New York May 25, 1806. When he was about eighteen months old his father (Jessee Hale) died and lie was taken by his grandfather, who in 1812 removed to Ohio, where young Leonard was reared in the backwoods among the Indians, and well trained in all that pertains to pioneer life and hardships. At the age of twenty he began for himself by working out by the month, which he followed successfully about eight years. He then rented a dairy farm and after following that business about ten or twelve years had secured means enough to enable him to undertake to make the trip to, and start in, a new country, so accordingly he set out for Illinois in 1847, bringing with him his family, a team of horses, and wagon. He first settled in the north part of Dixon township, where he worked on rented land three years, and then removed to his present home farm of 160 acres in Sec. 26, T. 21, R. 10, in China township. Here he per- manently settled and has since lived, following the business of farming and stock raising. December 29, 1836, he was united in marriage with Miss Sarah A. Crawford, a sister of the Hon. Joseph Crawford, of Dixon. They are the parents of six children, three of whom are living: Mariett, now Mrs. John C. Leake; Alvira, wife of Adam My- nard, and Abi, wife of Bascom Decker. When Mr. Hale began in Lee county, he hauled wheat that he had raised on shares to Chicago, and sold it for thirty-seven and a half cents per bushel.
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