USA > Illinois > McHenry County > History of McHenry County, Illinois, Volume II > Part 31
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On September 17, 1874, Mr. Peters was married to Fredrieks Sass, born in Mecklenberg, Germany, and died September 16, 1916. Mr. and Mrs. Peters became the parents of the following children: Bertha, who married Bernie Benjamin, a merchant of Coral village; Mary, who is at home; Minnie, who is Mrs. Charles Johns, of Coral; Alvina, who is Mrs. Clarence Lowdenbech, of Seneca Township; John, who is the junior member of the firm of Shutleff & Peters, of Marengo; Emma,
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who is at home; Florentine, who is a teacher at Chicago Heights, has been there for five or six years, but has taught in the Coral schools; George, who is at home; Walter, who is assisting in operating the home farm; and Dorothy, who died in infancy.
JOHN C. PETERS.
John C. Peters, junior member of the well known firm of Shurtleff & Peters, dealers in lumber, coal and feed at Hartland, is one of the pros- perous business men of Hartland. He was born in Coral Township, September 1, 1881, and is one of the nine children of his parents, John and Rachel Peters. John Peters was born in Germany in 1852, and eame to the United States at the age of sixteen years. He came direet to McHenry County, and worked for a short time on the farm of S. K. Williams of Huntley, and then located in Coral Township, where he is still engaged in farming.
John C. Peters was reared in Coral Township and attended its schools. He remained at home until he was twenty-three years old, when he entered the employ of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company as fireman, and remained with it until 1908. He then entered the employ of F. G. Jancke, and continued with him for two years. In 1911, he and Mr. Edward Shurtleff formed their present company, Mr. Peters being in charge of the lumber department at Hartland, and Mr. Shurtleff of the business at Marengo, and he is a resident of Wood- stock. Mr. Shurtleff is a resident of Marengo.
Mr. Peters was married September 21, 1910, to Miss Edith A. Koch, a daughter of William Koch, and they have a son, John Peters, the third to bear that name in the Peters family. The Kochs are numbered among the pioneers of Coral Township, and both they and the Peters family are well known in this part of the state. Mr. and Mrs. Peters are Protestants. He is a Republican. He is justly numbered among the successful men of this part of MeHenry County.
KNUDE L. PETERSEN.
Knude L. Petersen, now deceased, was formerly one of the enter- prising agriculturalists of MeHenry County, and operated a fine farm in
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Dunham Township, five miles south of Harvard, that is the property of Mrs. Peterson, and where she still resides. He was born in Norway, July 15, 1868, and he died on May 5, 1918. When he was sixteen years old he came to the United States, and went to Nebraska, where he was united in marriage with Margaret MeMullen, who had been reared in the vicinity of Woodstock. She died at Whitewater, Wis., about 1906.
After his marriage, Mr. Petersen went to Milwaukee, Wis., where he worked at his trade as a carpenter until after his wife's death, when he came to Woodstock, and was married (second) on May 28, 1913, to Anna Chase, and took charge of her farm. Owing to an accident when he fell from a building he was helping to construct at Kearney, Neb., Mr. Petersen was never very strong, and his death occurred while he was still in the prime of life. His children were as follows: Alva, who died at the age of twenty-two years; Fred L., who is a veteran of the World War; Mary Bauke, who lives at Marengo; Mabel, who was ten years old at the time of her father's second marriage, is now attending the Harvard High School, and living with Mrs. Petersen; and Jessie, who died at the age of seven years.
Mrs. Petersen is the daughter of Samuel and Hannah (Thomas) Chase, and granddaughter of Alva Chase of St. Lawrence County, N. Y., where both he and his wife were born. Samuel Chase was twelve years old when his parents came to Illinois in 1842, and the grandparents also came to McHenry County, and the Wells family were also of the party. They all secured government land, and the pres- ent farm of Mrs. Petersen was a part of what the Chase family took up. At that time it was all covered with heavy timber and great stones were found below the surface so that it was a heavy task to clear off the farm and make possible the putting in of erops. Alva Chase died on this farm in 1885, aged eighty-three years, having been born in 1802, surviving his wife, whose maiden name had been Minerva Thompson, for nine years. Their only child was Samuel Chase, who was born May 6, 1830, and he died in September, 1912. His wife was also born in Lawrence County, N. Y., and she was eleven years old when brought by her aunt, Mrs. Jonathan Wells to McHenry County. Her father died when she was five years old. Mrs. Chase lived with her aunt until her marriage. Her mother later joined the Wells family, having in the meantime married (second) William Gray, and later moved to Kansas, leaving her daughter behind her. After his marriage Samuel Chase settled on his farm in the house he had provided for his bride, which still stands, although enlarged, and remodeled. Although he carried on farming all his life, Samuel Chase also operated a black-
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smith shop for Cyrus Allen, about one-quarter of a mile away from his home. Samuel Chase and his wife had two children, namely: Hartson, who died in 1914, on a farm adjoining that of Mrs. Petersen, which his family has later so'd; and Mrs. Petersen. She was born on her present farm, December 8, 1858, and has spent her entire life here. She rents her farm, and lives alone, keeping several cows, three horses and five varieties of chickens, Light Brahmas, White Orpingtons, Rhode Island Red, Buff Rock and Plymouth Roek, and White and Buff Leghorns. She is very fond of animals. There is quite a lot of fruit on her place. While she is not a member of any of the neighbor- hood clubs, she is very well informed, keeping herself posted through the papers to which she subseribes and finds interest and enjoyment in her home and surroundings.
LOUIS PETERSON.
Louis Peterson, one of the enterprising farmers of Dunham Town- ship, is located on the old Jerome farm, which his wife inherited from her grandfather. The founder of the Jerome family in MeHenry County was Jason N. Jerome, a native of Vermont, who came to McHenry County in 1836, entering land from the government in Dun- ham Township, and here Jason N. Jerome died in 1892. He and his wife had one son, Nelson C. Jerome, who was born April 8, 1831, in Vermont, and he died September 18, 1889, on the old homestead, having spent his life in farming.
On December 25, 1852, Nelson C. Jerome was united in marriage with Harriet E. Blodgett, born November 14, 1833, a daughter of Abiel D. Blodgett, who was born near Concord, Massachusetts, April 24, 1794, and he was married November 16, 1820, to Susan Richmond, born at Lenox, Mass., October 19, 1795. He died September 14, 1861, and she October 21, 1866. The Blodgett home in Alden Township, two miles east of Harvard, is the one bought when the family came to McHenry County in 1845. One of the sons of Abiel Blodgett, Delos Blodgett, left McHenry County in young manhood, and going to the lumber woods worked his way up until he beeame one of the millionaires of Grand Rapids, Mich. At one time he was one of the pine landowners and lumbermen of Michigan, and associated with him was Delos Diggins, who also made a fortune. The Delos Diggins Library at Harvard is named in honor of the latter.
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M. F. Walsh.
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Nelson C. Jerome bought a farm adjoining the Blodgett homestead, and divided his time between it and his father's farm, but his death occurred on the latter. His wife survived him until February 10, 1901, when she passed away at the home of her daughter. There were three children in the Jerome family, namely: Howell Richmond, who is a retired farmer of Walworth, Wis .; Helen C., who is a maiden lady living at Harvard; and Katie C., who is Mrs. Louis Peterson.
Katie C. Jerome was born on the old Jerome farm, January 19, 1856, and she was married July 5, 1887, to Louis Peterson. He was born July 2, 1864, in Denmark, and at the age of sixteen years came to the United States with his parents, who stopped a time at Chicago, and then went to Monroe County, Wis., where several of their children still reside. . Louis Peterson came to MeHenry County in 1882, and worked at his trade as a mason for one or two years, and then went on the farm of Jason N. Jerome as a tenant. Still later he went to Chicago and was engaged there in contracting for mason work for fifteen years. Since 1901 he has lived on the old Jerome farm, buying out some of the other heirs in 1908, although Mrs. Peterson's sister still retains an interest in it. The Jerome farm comprises 271 aeres of land, 231 in Dunham Township, just south of Harvard, and forty aeres in Hartland Township. Dairying is the principal industry, thirty cows being milked. Mr. Peterson has recently built a silo and large barn, and has made other improvements, having everything in fine condition. .
Mr. and Mrs. Peterson have one child: Eva, who married Ralph Marshall, a member of the firm of Marshall Bros. of Harvard, has one daughter, "ona Katherine. Prior to her marriage Eva Peterson was a vocal music teacher and for a number of years has been the leading soprano singer in the Presbyterian church of Harvard. She takes great pride in being connected with two such old and honored families as the Jeromes and Blodgetts, and has every reason for it, as they are justly numbered among the most representative of those who have made MeHenry County what it is today.
JOSEPH F. PICHEN.
Joseph F. Pichen, one of the most public-spirited men of Cary Station, is extensively interested in agriculture. He was born in MeHenry County, March 18, 1872, one of the seven children of his parents. Frank and Antonia (Janek) Pichen. Frank Pichen was a
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, Bohemian by birth, but came to the United States in young manhood and lived at Chicago and in Kane County, prior to loeating in MeHenry County, where he was engaged in farming until his death which occurred in 1882. His widow survived him, dying in MeHenry County in 1918.
Joseph F. Pichen attended the common and high schools of MeHenry County, and learned the trade of a blacksmith, and he also learned that of a butcher. For the past twenty-five years he has been engaged in raising cattle, his fine farm being located on the outskirts of Cary, and his stock transactions amount to about $20,000 annually.
In 1900 Mr. Pichen was married to Miss Celia Kutbla, a daughter of James Kutbla of McHenry County, and they have the following children: Stanley, Lillian, Ehner and Joseph. The family all belong to the Catholic church. Mr. Pichen is a Republican, and was first elected mayor of Cary Station in 1914, and re-elected in 1916. He built for the city the substantial town hall in 1917, at a cost of $5,100, and bought the property adjoining the hall for a city park. Mr. Pichen has been instrumental in securing many improvements for the city, and owns a large amount of property, and deals quite extensively in city real estate and farms. His fraternal connections are with the Odd Fellows and Woodmen of the World. A man of unusual energy and business ability, he has not only conducted his own affairs in such a manner as to win a comfortable fortune, but he has given to his city the benefit of his knowledge and experience, and under his wise administra- tion, Cary Station made remarkable progress in every respect.
ELLEN HYDE PIERCE.
Ellen Hyde Pierce, widow of John Pierce, is the last survivor of the nine children born to David W. and Dolly (Church) Hyde, natives of Vermont and New York, respectively, who were married in the latter state. Mrs. Pierce was born at Hampton, Washington County, N. Y., March 19, 1832, and when she was thirteen years of age, her parents came to Illinois by way of the Erie Canal and the Great Lakes, landing first at Racine, Wis., from whence they came to Kenosha. Her father had previously visited MeHenry County, and later secured government land near Lake Geneva, in Walworth County, which was covered with timber. At that time there were only three families in the neighbor- hood. Still later the Hyde family came to Hebron Township; and the
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parents spent their last years with their youngest son who lived west of Hebron.
Ellen Hyde was married April 26, 1857, to John Pierce, born May 10, 1833, in Herkimer County, N. Y., but in an early day was brought to MeHenry County by his parents who settled on a farm west of Hebron, Mrs. Pierce's house being located on a part of this farm. It was on this farm that John Pierce died December 4, 1884, having just completed a fine barn that is still standing, as is the house he built two years previously. Mr. and Mrs. Pierce had two sons, namely: Lyman Zenar, who was born November 13, 1864, lives at Hebron, married Della Conn, a daughter of George Conn, has one son, Howard; and Perry Oliver, who was born April 7, 1867, is a conductor on the Chicago & North Western Railroad at Chicago, for which he has worked since he was seventeen years old. Hle has been a conductor for twenty-three years and his run is now between Chicago and Clinton, Iowa. His residence is No. 3112 Washington Boulevard, Chicago. On April 26, 1893, Perry Oliver Pierce was married to Mamie Burns of Belvidere, Ill. There are no children.
JOHN PIERCE, SR.
John Pierce, Sr., one of the oldest farmers of MeHenry County, and a man widely and favorably known, owns and operates 120 aeres on section 24, Greenwood Township. He was born in Litchfield County, Conn., June 5, 1828, a son of Bethel B., also born in Connecticut, as was his father before him. The paternal grandfather of John Pierce, Sr., served his country as a soldier in the War of 1812.
Growing up in his native state, John Pierce, Sr., attended its schools and there learned to be a practical farmer. He was married in New York state, to Electa Hinman, born in New York, April 27, 1829, a daughter of Elijah Hinman, who was born in Connecticut. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Pierce spent three years in Connecticut, five years in Pennsylvania, and then went to New York state. In 1868, they came to Illinois, settling on their present farm in Greenwood Township. They had nine children born to them, of whom the follow- ing six survive: Nellie M., who is Mrs. William Allen; John W .; Mattic, who is Mrs. Charles Abbott; Arthur C .; Edgar H .; Rena, who is Mrs. Francis Abbott; while those who died are as follows: Hattie, who was
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Mrs. Henry Howard, died at the age of forty years; Arthur, who died at the age of five years; and Adgar, who died at the age of three years. Mr. Pierce has been a life long Democrat. During his long and active life in MeHenry County, Mr. Pierce has been associated with much of its material development, and has won and retains the confidence and respect of his neighbors.
LYMAN PIERCE.
Lyman Pierce, now deceased, was probably one of the best known men in this section of Illinois, and also in Wisconsin, where he spent sixty-five years of his useful life engaged in farming. He owned a fine farm in Hebron Township on the state line between Illinois and Wis- consin, two miles north of the village of Hebron, but he died September 30, 1911, at Hebron to which village he had moved in 1889. He erected the house now occupied by his daughter, Mrs. John P. Wickham, in 1904. His wife, Maria, died at Hebron, January 30, 1911. When he went to the village he lived in the old house built by his father, who had died in it.
Lyman and Maria Pierce became the parents of the following chil- dren: Hattie, who is Mrs. John P. Wickham of Hebron, owns a portion of her father's farm, now included in the village of Hebron, on which she was reared, although she was born in Lynn Township, Walworth County, Wis .; John, who died in June, 1900, aged thirty-three years, had gone to Montana, and from there to Mariposa, Cal., in search of a climate that would agree with him, but in vain, and he died there. unmarried; and May, who died in infancy. The Pierce family is con- nected by marriage with a number of the other important families of MeHenry County, all of whom played their part in the development of this section of the state.
SILAS W. PIERCE.
Silas W. Pierce, a skillful blacksmith and carpenter, and one of the substantial men of Spring Grove, was born in Burton Township, two miles east of Spring Grove, March 22, 1849, a son of Marvel N. and Eleanor (White) Pierce, natives of Susquehanna County, Pa., and Tioga County, N. Y., respectively. After their marriage, in 1838, Marvel N. Pierce and his wife came to La Salle County, Ill., and after
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two years spent there, located in Burton Township, which he had pre- viously visited. Job Pierce, a brother of Marvel N. Pierce, went to California in 1854, and died there.
Marvel N. Pierce was a farmer and spent his life on his farm with the exception of his military service during the Civil War, he enlisting in the Ninety-fifth Ilinois Volunteer Infantry, from which he was trans- ferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps on account of disability, and after three years was discharged. His death resulted from the effects of his service, he passing away in May, 1878, aged sixty-four years. His widow survived him until she was sixty-nine. Their children were as follows: William; Hiram, who was killed in the Civil War; Perlina, who lives at Hebron; and Silas W., whose name heads this review. The remaining children are deceased. The old farm is now owned by H. C. Sweet.
Silas W. Pierce remained at home until thirty years old and then, in 1877, he was married to Lizzie M. Rix, of Volo, Lake County, Ill., but living in Nunda Township, a daughter of Samuel and Marian Rix, who was nineteen years old at the time of her marriage. Follow- ing his marriage, Silas W. Pierce conducted the homestead for a time, then rented land. Still later he opened a carpenter and blacksmith shop at Spring Grove, and has since operated it with the exception of two years spent in Marinette County, Wis., to which he went in 190S. In 1911 Mr. Pierce was married (second) to Mrs. Mary Potter, nee Barrus, widow of Charles Potter, a farmer of Volo, Ill. By his first marriage Mr. Pierce had the following children: Edna, who is Mrs. . H. A. Colby of Waukegan, Ill., has three children, Mildred, Elsie and Arthur; James, who is a farmer of Wheeling, Ill., married Clara Ander- son, who died and left two children, Edwin and Emily, and then he married (second) Mrs. Martha Blanchard, and they have one daughter, Reta Marie; and Mark, who is a farmer of Burton Township, married Minnie Seigslaugh, and has two sons, Clarence and Allen. Mr. Pierce holds no offices, never having entered polities. Fraternally he belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America. A man of high character, Mr. Pierce enjoys the respect of his neighbors, and is a representative citizen.
CHARLES C. PINGRY.
Charles C. Pingry, now deceased, was for many years a man of importance in Algonquin and Coral townships, and is remembered
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with great respect by those who had the honor of his acquaintance. He was born at Danbury, N. H., September 7, 1818, and he died at Crystal Lake, Ill., April 3, 1904. He was a son of True Pingry, a native of New Hampshire, who was married to a Miss White, also of New Hampshire. As a lad Charles C. Pingry was taken to Erie County, N. Y., where he attended school, and in 1858 was brought to Illinois, his parents settling two miles northeast of Nunda, in Nunda Township, on land entered from the government. Here the mother died while still a young woman, but the father survived her many years, passing away at the age of ninety-three years, having sold his farm and moved to Wisconsin where his last years were spent. Charles C. Pingry was the only one of his sons to remain in McHenry County, the others going to Wisconsin with their father.
On April 28, 1845, C. C. Pingry was married to Eunice Johnson, born June 2, 1825, at Concord, N. H. When only fifteen years old she became a teacher, and in 1841 went to Lapeer County, Mich., to teach school, joining a sister at that point. The following year this sister, Martha, with her husband, Charles Warner, brought her to Nunda Township, and there she continued teaching school until her marriage.
Mr. and Mrs. Pingry settled, after their marriage, on the farm now owned by their son, John, two miles east of Crystal Lake, in Algon- quin Township. In 1889 they went to the village of Nunda, now Crystal Lake, where Mr. Pingry operated a hotel that is now conducted by their son, Sumner, which was then known as the Pingry Hotel. In 1900 Mr. Pingry retired, and he died four years later, his wife sur- viving him until October 27, 1906. The operation of the hotel at Nunda was not his first venture in this line of business for during the Civil War he conducted what had been the Algonquin Hotel at the village of Algon- quin, giving it his own name, and he operated it for twenty years. A strong temperance man, he would not permit the selling of any liquor in a day when this branch of the hotel business was an important feature, and a bar was to be found in almost every hostelry. All his life he fought to secure prohibition, and although a Republican, he voted the Pro- hibition tieket. It was the initial work of such men as he, carried on under the worst of discouragements, which made possible the late legis- lation which closed the saloons of the country.
When he and his bride settled on their farm, their first house was built of logs, but later they erected one of cobblestones, secured princi- pally from the shore of Lake Michigan, and it stands and is a landmark
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for the surrounding country. This remarkable house is in a magnificent state of preservation and is occupied by John Pingry.
Mr. and Mrs. Pingry had the following children: Ellen, who married James Kee, died November 6, 1917, in the village of Crystal Lake; Mary, who is Mrs. Henry A. Rowley, lives at Crystal Lake; Sumner, who is proprietor of the Pingry Hotel at Crystal Lake; John, who is operating the old farm; and Frank, who was a resident of Crystal Lake, died at the age of thirty-five years. Travelers through MeHenry County between 1860 and 1900 became well acquainted with the excel- lent service given by the Pingrys, and sought to so regulate their trips so as to make their stopovers at the hotel conducted by Mr. and Mrs. Pingry, where they knew they would find comfortable beds, delicious meals and a genial hospitality that made them guests, rather than mere inmates of the house.
JOIIN PINGRY.
John Pingry, one of the successful farmers and representative citizens of MeHenry County, is engaged in farming two and one-half miles east of Crystal Lake, in Algonquin Township, this being the old homestead of his father, Charles Christian Pingry, a sketch of whom appears else- where in this work. John Pingry was born on his present farm, and in the house he now occupies, January 11, 1861. This house which is one of the oldest in the township, is built of cobblestones and is today a monument to the skill of the masons of sixty years ago. It was about a year old when John Pingry was born, and he is very much attached to it as it has sheltered him all his life. His father operated a hotel and also lived at Crystal Lake, but continued his farm until his retire- ment over sixteen years ago, when he settled permanently at Crystal Lake, and there he and his wife passed away, he dying at eighty-six years of age, and she surviving him for several years. One of their sons, Sumner Pingry, now operates the National Hotel at Crystal Lake. The two sons and a daughter, Mary, who is Mrs. Henry Rowley of Crystal Lake, are the only survivors of the family of C. C. Pingry.
John Pingry grew up on the farm, and as he displayed an agricultural bent, his father deeded to him forty acres of it before his death, and since then John Pingry bought the balance, now having 100 acres, all of which his father had entered from the government. Originally it was covered with timber. It is now all cleared and well drained, and here
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Mr. Pingry carries on dairying, keeping about twenty , cows of the Holstein strain. His barn was built in 1910 by him, and is 34 x 80 feet, twenty-four feet in height, with a full basement, all cemented, which is used for dairy purposes. His thirty-six foot well is never pumped dry. The entire premises show the effect of careful manage- ment and hard work, and Mr. Pingry has every reason to be proud of it and the results of his efforts.
When he was thirty-three years old, Mr. Pingry was married to Mary A. Anderson, of Wauconda, Lake County, Ill. They have two children, namely: George Clinton, who is assisting his father with the farm; and Grace Hazel, who married Paul E. Slotman, has no children, and lives in Crystal Lake. Mr. Pingry belongs to the Modern Wood- men of America and the Mystic Workers of the World, and is popular in both organizations, as he is in his community, for he is a man whose characteristics command friendship and esteem.
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