History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc, Part 32

Author: Mercer County Historical Society (Ill.); Henderson County Historical Society (Ill.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill and Co.
Number of Pages: 1424

USA > Illinois > Mercer County > History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc > Part 32
USA > Illinois > Henderson County > History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc > Part 32

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HISTORY OF MERCER AND IIENDERSON COUNTIES.

mother in 1842, at the age of fifty-seven. Both were members of the Presbyterian church. Mr. and Mrs. Crabs have a family of seven children : Armenia. Ida, Elda. Sarah J., Emerson, Amy T., and Fay. He and wife are members of the Presbyterian church. He has a well improved farm of 120 acres. located one mile west of the village of Hamlet. Ilis stock, consisting of Norman and Morgan horses and short horn cattle, is of the best grades.

WILLIAM BRAIN, the subject of this life sketch, is a native of Eng- land, born in 1807. son of John and Sarah Brain, who were born and reared in their native country and there died. Our subject's father was a boatman. William Brain came to America in 1832, stopped for a time in Connecticut, then went to New York where he remained till 1834, when he returned to his native home. In 1843 he returned to New York, remained five years, came to Illinois and located where he now resides. By trade he is both wagonmaker and carpenter. He has been married twice, first to Elizabeth Sproson, of England, in 1832, by whom he has three children : Sarah A., Anna, and Elizabeth. The mother of these died in 1861. He was married again in 1862 to Mrs. Mary Halstead, formerly Miss Mary Cooper, and daughter of Thomas and Ann Cooper. She is a native of England. Mr. Brain has a fine farm of 240 acres, well improved and well stocked.

J. G. GILMORE's parents, Robert and Elizabeth Gilmore, came to Illinois with the pioneers and located in Warren county, eight miles northeast of Monmouth. The former was born in Chester county, the latter in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. They emigrated to Jefferson county, Ohio, with their parents, where they were married. He was a tanner by trade, but followed farming exclusively in Illinois. In 1820 he was a member of the Ohio legislature. and at one time was colonel of the state militia, and held the office of captain in the war of 1812. He and wife were members of the Presbyterian church. J. G. was born in 1819, in Jefferson county, Ohio, and came to Illinois with his parents when two years old. His early educational training was only such as the common schools of the pioneer districts of Illinois could furnish. He was reared on the farm. In 1839 he moved from Warren county to Mercer, where he has since resided, with the excep- tion of two years. In 1840 he moved to Iowa, where he remained one year, when he moved to Missouri, and stayed one year and returned in 1842 to Mercer county. He was married in December, 1843, to Alletta A. Brady, native of Ohio, born in 1822, daughter of John and Elizabeth Brady. By this marriage he has nine children: Elenor (deceased), Mary, Elizabeth, Lydia, Ann E., Robert B., Arabella. Ephraim C., and Albert N. (deceased). IIe hield the office of justice

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for nineteen years without cessation, and was re-elected in 1SS1 for another term. He also filled the office of supervisor for two years, the office of collector two years, and assessor in 1880. He and wife are members of the Presbyterian church at Hamlet. He has a farm of eighty-one acres, well improved and fairly stocked.

DAVID BOPES is a native of Columbia county, Pennsylvania, born in 1825, son of George and Sarah . (Bauchard) Bopes. Both were natives of Pennsylvania. They were married in Pennsylvania and came to Illinois in 1836 and located in Rock Island county, near Edgington, when there were but few white settlers in that part of the country. The former died in 1838, at a comparatively early age ; his wife afterward moved to Mercer county, where she died in 1843. She was a zealous christian and member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was a man respected for his integrity and other good qualities. David Bopes came with his parents to Rock Island county where he resided till 1858, when he located where he now resides. His early educational training was that of the pioneer schools of his neighborhood. Ile has always been engaged in farming, the voca- tion of his father. In 1854 he married Miss Sarah E. Titterington, a native of Ross county, Ohio, born in 1836, daughter of James and E. (Beal) Titterington, the former a native of England, and came to America when he was ten years old; the latter born in Ross county, Ohio, and now a resident of Rock Island county, near Edgington. The former died in 1876, at the age of sixty-nine years. They located in Rock Island county in 1839. Mr. and Mrs. David Bopes have six children living. Ile crossed the plains to California in 1849, and returned in 1851. Mr. Bopes has a farm of 480 acres of as fine land as can be found in Mercer county. It is well improved with substan- tial buildings, and beautified by groves which he himself planted, He deals in cattle, feeding them for the market, and has his farm well stocked with good grades. He is a successful farmer.

Among the soldier citizens of Perryton township is C. B. HALSTEAD. He was born in New York in 1843, and son of Lewis M. and Mary J. (Cooper) Halstead. His father was a native of New York, and his mother of England. He first emigrated to Michigan in 1838, where he married and returned to New York. In 1851 he came to Mercer county and located where his son C. B. now resides. Here he died in 1854, at the age of forty-two. He served three years in the U. S. dragoons. The date of his discharge is 1836. C. B. Halstead came to Mercer county with his father when eight years old. His early education was limited to the common school. In 1861 he enlisted in company H, 61st III. Vol. Inf., and served two years and five months.

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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

He was in the battles of Pea Ridge, Prairie Grove, and Vicksburg, after which he was discharged on account of a wound received in the battle of Pea Ridge. Ile then returned home to the farm. He was married in 1870 to Elnora A. Neely, of Illinois, born in 1851, in Stark county, daughter of Joseph and Happy Neely, both of Pennsyl- vania. They came to Stark county with its early settlers and moved to Mercer county. The father is now living in Hamlet, this township ; the mother died in 1879, at the age of 66. Mr. Halstead has four children : Dallas B., Riley E., L. Benjamin. He is a member of the masonic lodge at Edgington. Illinois. He has a farm of 120 acres, and keeps a good grade of farm stock.

Among the farmers and stock raisers of Perryton township is MICHAEL VETTER, located on the north line of the township. He is of German birth, born in Hesse Darmstadt in 1830, and is a son of Peter and Mary Vetter. They lived out their lives in their native country. The former died in 1862, aged sixty-four years : the later in 1852, aged fifty-three years. They were members of the Presbyterian church ; by vocation they were farmers. Michael came to America and first located in New Jersey; then moved to New York; then to Rock Island county, where he remained till 1867, when he came to Mercer county, where he has a fine farm of 292 acres fairly improved and well stocked with good grades of cattle, sheep, hogs, and horses. He was married in 1856 to Elizabeth Vetter, of Germany, daughter of Lewis and Mary Vetter, both of Germany. The former died in Germany in 1840, at the age of forty-two ; the latter came to America in 1855 and located in Rock Island county, now lives in Duncan township, and is in her seventy-seventh year. By this marriage Michael has eight children : Catharine, Barbara, Mary, Elizabeth, Lewis, Michael, John, and Willie. Ile and wife are members of the German Presbyterian church.

FREDERICK HARTMAN is a native of Germany, born in 1838, and is a son of Daniel and Barbary Hartman, both of Germany. They came to America in 1840; lived one year in Muscatine; then moved to Buffalo Prairie, Rock Island county, where they lived for thirty years, when they moved to Perryton township, where their son Frederick now lives. They were farmers, and members of the German Presbyterian church. The father died in 1866, aged seventy-eight years; the mother in 1848. Frederick came to Mercer county in 1867, where he now resides. He was reared to the business of farming. His literary education was wholly German and taught him in his mother tongue. He was married in 1861 to Barbary Schweobel, of Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, daughter of George and Margaret Schweobel, both of Ger- many. They emigrated to Rock Island county in 1849, and now live

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with their daughter, Mrs. Frederick Hartman. They are both mem- bers of the German Presbyterian church. Mr. and Mrs. Hartman have six children : Margaret, George, Thomas, John, Frederick, and Edward. He has a fine stock farm of 240 acres, well improved and well stocked. Ile and wife, like their parents, are members of the German Presbyterian church.

HAMLET COOPER (deceased) was one of the pioneer settlers of Perry- ton township. He located here in 1844. At that time there was but little else here than wild grass and wild animals. IIe emigrated from England, his native country, about 1832, to New York, and then to Michigan, where he resided six years, and then came to Perryton township, where he died in 1847, at the age of forty-one years. In 1829 he was married to Mary A. Clark, of England. They raised a family of eight children : Thomas, William H., Charlotte A., John H., Lester II., Philip, Enoch, and Robert (deceased). The last named enlisted in company A, 9th Ill. cavalry ; he was mustered into the service in 1861 and served one year, when he died at Keokuk, Iowa. William H. and Lester H. enlisted in 1862, in company C, 102d Ill. Vol. Inf., and served till the close of the war. They were at the battle of Peach Tree creek, with Sherman on his march to the sea. Both were with the company all the time during their term of service. They passed through Richmond, to Washington, then to Chicago, where they were mustered out. William H. now resides in Kansas ; Lester H. on the farm, three-fourths of a mile west of the village of IIamlet. Lester H. received only a moderate educational training ; for several years he followed breaking prairie, when he took to the farm, but at present is engaged in keeping fine horses. He was married in 1876 to Mary J. Nichols, native of Illinois, daughter of Ephraim H. and Diana Nichols, both of Ohio. They came to Illinois in 1854 and located in Hancock county; they afterward came to Mercer county, but returned to Hancock county, where both are living.

DAVID H. COOPER was born in 1832, in the State of New York, and is a son of Levi and Lucy Cooper. He emigrated with his parents from New York when five years old, and came with his father in 1846 to Mercer county, where he has since resided. His early educational training was such as the pioneer schools of the west could furnish. He was reared to the business of farming, which he has since followed. He was married in 1855 to Sarah A. Brain, daughter of William and Betsey Brain. He has by this marriage seven children : Clara, Lucy, Lewis (deceased), Willie J., Fanny E., Ella, and Levi. His wife is a member of the Wesleyan Methodist church. He resides on the farm of his father. He keeps a good grade of farm stock. In politics he is a republican.

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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

H. N. ROSEBERRY is a native of New Jersey, born in 1827, son of Elijah and Nancy (Young) Roseberry, natives of New Jersey. The mother died in 1829; the father came to Perryton township, Mercer county, where he died in 1864, at the age of sixty-three years. He was a farmer and trader. H. N. came with his father to Mercer county in 1849, and located where he now resides. He was married in 1859, to Ann Killon, a native of England, born in 1842, who came to America with her god-father, in 1849. Her parents were James and and Mary Killon, of whom the former died in 1869, the latter about 1842. Mr. and Mrs. Roseberry have seven children : Anna, Mary, Rebecca, Catharine, Hilda HI., Stanton (the youngest not named). IIe has a fine farm of 190 acres located along the north line of the county in Perryton township. It is well improved and well stocked with good grades. He and wife are members of the Methodist Epis- copal church. Since he settled in Mercer county he has seen the sea of tall, waving wild grass transformed into beautiful farms, ornamented with the maple and elm trees, and fine spacious barns and dwellings.

F. G. WAIT, the subject of this sketch, is a native of Indiana, born in 1857, son of Meigs and Caroline Wait. He was reared on the farm, and received a common school education. Except one year, which he spent in a store, he has followed the business of farming. He was married in 1881 to Lizzie Asquitt, of Illinois, born in 1860, daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Webster) Asquitt, both of English birth, and emigrated to America about 1850. They are now residents of Reynolds, Rock Island county, Illinois. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is a retired farmer. F. G. Wait has a well improved farm of eighty acres, located two and a half miles east of Hamlet. He keeps a good grade of stock.

A. KENDALL is a native of Chautauqua county, New York, born in 1836, son of Hazzard and Mary (Smith) Kendall, both of Connecticut. They emigrated to Pennsylvania, then to New York, then to Kane county, Illinois, then to Kendall county, Illinois, where the former now lives, his wife having died in 1838 in New York at the age of twenty-one years. Ebenezer Kendall, father of Hazzard Kendall, was a native of Scotland. The family, consisting of four brothers, came to America and settled, one in each of the following states (then colonies): Massachusetts, New Jersey, Vermont, and Connecticut. Levi Smith, maternal grandfather of A. Kendall, was a native of Gen- esee county, New York, and moved to Mercer county in 1840, locating at Millersburg. A. Kendall was married in 1863 to Lucretia Wait, of Switzerland county, Indiana, born in 1863, and daughter of Henry and Sophia (Wells) Wait, both of Vermont. They came with their

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parents to Xenia, Ohio, where they were married, then to Switzerland county, where their daughter was born ; they then moved to Rock Island county, where the father died in 1882, at the age of eighty-nine. He had served as a soldier in the war of 1812. A. Kendall has four children : Lettie, Ida, Viola, and Meigs W. He has a farm of 2123 acres of fine farming land, fairly improved and well stocked with good grades of cattle, sheep and hogs.

CORNELIUS SWARTWOUT is a native of Saratoga county, New York, born in 1809, son of Thomas and Elizabeth Swartwout, both of New York state. IIis father died in 1839 at the age of fifty-six, and his mother in 1814. They were Baptist people. The advent of the family into America, consisting of three brothers, was during the colonial times. All of them settled in New York. The Swartwout family is of German descent. Cornelius received a common school education, such as could be obtained in the then almost pioneer schools of his boyhood days. He was taught the vocation of farming which he has always fol- lowed. He came to Illinois with his family in 1855 and located in Rock Island county, where he remained until 1860, when he came to Mercer county, where he now resides, three-fourths of a mile east of Hamlet, on his farm of 240 acres. He was married in 1839 to Lucinda Platt, a native of New York and daughter of Epenitis and Eve Platt, both of New York and now living in their native state. They have six children : James, Elizabeth, Sarah, John, William, and Henry. The eldest enlisted in the army in 1862, in company B, 126th Ill. Vol., and died in 1864. He and wife are members of the Presbyterian church.

GRAHAM LEE, the subject of this sketch, was born January 22, 1821, and is the son of Elisha and Almyra (Scoville) Lee. His father is number 18,194 of the sixth generation of the family, Graham is num- ber 18,249. Elisha Lee was born Angust 27, 1794. This history is recorded in the chronological history of the Strong family, volume II. The Lees trace their ancestry to John Lee, born in 1621, a native of Ipswich, England, who came to America in 1834, in the ship Francis, under the care of William Westwood. He located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he remained a short time when he moved to Hartford, Connecticut, where he married and became one of the per- manent men of the settlement. Graham Lee was born on the same farm as was his father, and in the same house, where he was reared to the age of twelve, when his father moved to town and engaged in the mercantile business. Here Graham received a fair education and but for indisposition of his eyes would have begun a collegiate course. But notwithstanding his failure to enter college. a long life of continuous reading and careful observation has made him a well-posted man as to

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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

practical knowledge concerning business and national needs. At the age of nineteen he went to New York to superintend the dairy farm of his father where he remained till he arrived at the age of twenty-one. In 1842 he went on a whaling voyage on the Pacific Coast with a view to improve his health, and spent two years on the coast of Alaska. In 1845 he, in company with his brother Henry, went to Ohio, purchased a flock of sheep, which they drove to Mercer county, Illinois, the same year, to what is now Perryton township. They laid a claim on section 9, which is now owned by him. He has made one of the most beautiful farms in Mercer county. In 1853 he was married to Mary A. Candor, born 1834, and a native of Union county, Pennsylvania. She came with her parents, Thomas and Margaret (Montgomery) Candor, to Mercer county, Illinois, in 1837. They had nine children, two of whom are living: Elisha, born in 1856, and Fanny, born September, 1865. Elisha was married December 18, 1881, to Lena Bopes, daughter of David Bopes. He carries on the business of the farm for his father. Mr. Lee was elected vice-president of the state board of agriculture in 1864, which position he held till 1870. At the organization of the institute for the feeble-minded of Illinois, he was appointed a member of the board, and with the exception of two years has held the position of president of the board since its organization. His wife, Mary A ... died January 30, 1874. He was married a second time, to Anna S. Fisher, a native of Greene county, Pennsylvania, born March 1, 1847. They have one child, Graham, born February 24, 1880. Mr. Lee was raised a Congregationalist, but is now a member of the Presbyterian church at Hamlet.

Among the many successful farmers of Mercer county whose first capital to begin business with was muscle and will power is the subject of our sketch, JONATHAN GAUNT. He is a native of Lancashire county, England, and a son of James and Ann Gaunt. His father was a manu- facturer of cotton, and died in 1845, at the age of fifty-six years. His mother came to America with Jonathan in 1851, and settled in Rock Island county, where she lived for ten years, when she moved to Mercer county, where she died in 1879, at the age of eighty years. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, her husband of the Episcopal church. . Jonathan partly learned the trade of his father. He lived with his mother till he arrived at the age of twenty, when he went to work for himself. He was married in 1862 to Emily Damp, a native of New York, born in 1841, daughter of Michael and Eliza Damp. They have five children : Fernando, Cicero, Lorenzo, Eliza, and Albert. . He has a fine stock farm of 520 acres, well improved and well stocked

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with the best grades. IIe makes a specialty of raising horses to sell. In 1881 his sales of horses amounted to $1,912.

JOHN MONTGOMERY is a descendant of one of the earliest pioneer families to locate in this part of the state. Among the pioneer preachers of northwestern Illinois is Rev. John Montgomery, his uncle. John Montgomery, our subject, is a native of Rock Island county, born in 1838. His parents were Daniel and Margaret S. Montgomery, both of Montour county, Pennsylvania. They emigrated from their native state to Edgington, Rock Island county, in 1836. They were of that class of Pennsylvania people who carried their morals with them. Both were devoted members of the Presbyterian church, and did much to establish a high degree of morality in the community where they resided. The father died in 1849, when he was fifty years old. The mother is now living in Milan, Rock Island county, and is in her seventy-third year. Jolm Montgomery received a fair common school education, in addition to which he attended school at Dixon, Illinois, for some time. He was reared on the farm, which business he has always followed. He was married September, 1868, to Sarah J. Morris, native of Ohio, and daughter of William and Sarah Morris, both of Ohio, and members of the Methodist Episcopal church. By this marriage he has two children living : Mand M., born January 4, 1870, and Fanny L., September 6, 1871. His wife, Sarah J., died in 1874. He married again in 1876, Elizabeth Swartwout, born in 1842, a native of New York and a daughter of Cornelius and Lucinda Swartwout. By this second marriage he has three children : Lucinda, born March 6, 1877 ; James S., May 17, 1878; and William H., May 30, 1880. He and wife are mem- bers of the Presbyterian church at Hamlet. He first came to Perryton township in 1868, then returned to his native county and remained till 1882, when he again came to Perryton township, and located on the old David Blue farm, where he owns 360 acres. He makes a specialty of fat cattle, in addition to which he does a good business in buying and shipping stock. He enlisted March, 1865, in company K, 68th Ill. Vol., and served one year.

The present practicing physician and druggist of Hamlet is Dr. M. CRISWELL, a native of Pennsylvania ; was born in 1847, and is a son of Mathew and Sarah M. (Whitehill) Criswell, both of Pennsylvania. They emigrated to Rock Island county, Illinois, in 1855, where they remained till 1878, when they came to Mercer county, where she died in 1864, aged fifty-one years. The father and his son Mathew now reside in the village of Hamlet. Dr. Criswell received a good common school education. In the study of medicine he graduated at Jefferson medical college, Philadelphia, with the class of 1876. The same year

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he located in Pre-emption township, where he remained till 1877, when he came to Ilamlet. He was married in 1879 to Anna C. Huyett, o Illinois, native of Rock Island county, daughter of Dr. Joseph and Harriette L. Huyett, of Pennsylvania. They located in Milan, Rock Island county, about 1850, where he has since been engaged in the practice . of medicine. Dr. Criswell has by this marriage one child, Edith. He has a paying practice.

The subject of this sketch JOSIAH CANDOR is a native of Columbia county, Pennsylvania, born in 1830, and is the son of Thomas and Margaret (Montgomery) Candor. He came to Mercer county with his parents. He was reared and educated on his father's farm in Ohio Grove township. In 1852 he went to Oregon and California, returned in 1854 and engaged in the mercantile business in Edgington, Rock Island county, where he remained till 1867, when he, in company with his brother, Capt. D. M. Candor, opened a store of general mer- chandise in Hamlet, in which business he continues. He has held the office of postmaster in Hamlet since 1868. Ile was married in 1857 to Mary E. Nichols, a native of Searsport, Maine. She was born in 1838 and is a daughter of Woodburn and Olive (Sleeper) Nichols, both of Maine, who came to Mercer county in 1859 and located in Perryton township. The mother now lives with her son Albion, one mile south of Hamlet. Mr. and Mrs. Candor have six children : Mary C., May, Robert A., Edwin II., Vessie O., and Herbert J. He and wife are members of the Presbyterian church. Ile has a farm of 175 acres well improved, and adjoining Hamlet, on which he keeps a good grade of stock. He and his brother formerly dealt in stock buying and ship- ping. Previous to the building of the town of Reynolds, in Rock Island county, they carried on a trade in coal at Hamlet. Ile has been the school treasurer of the township for the past six years.

Capt. DANIEL M. CANDOR was born in Columbia county, Pennsyl- vania, in 1836, and came with his parents, Thomas and Margaret (Montgomery) Candor, to Mercer county when he was one year old. His early education was such as he could get in the pioneer schools of his neighborhood, with a two years' course in the academy at Macomb, Illinois. He remained on the farm with his parents till of age. He went to Pike's Peak in 1859, stayed two years, returned in 1860, and enlisted in 1861, in company A, 30th Ill. Vol., and served a few days over four years. He first enlisted for three years, or during the war, and afterward veteranized at Vicksburg. He was in the following engagements : Belmont, Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, the skirmishes around Shiloh. Brittin's Lane, Port Gibson, Raymond, Jackson, Mis- sissippi, Champion Hills, siege of Vicksburg, Kennesaw Mountain, sieges

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History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc, Part 32

Author: Mercer County Historical Society (Ill.); Henderson County Historical Society (Ill.) Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill and Co. Number of Pages: 1424

Author: Mercer County Historical Society (Ill.); Henderson County Historical Society (Ill.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill and Co.
Number of Pages: 1424