History of Sangamon County, Illinois, together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 119

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Inter-state publishing company
Number of Pages: 1084

USA > Illinois > Sangamon County > History of Sangamon County, Illinois, together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 119

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

George Ritter, which continues under the title : George Ritter & Co. Mr. Ritter was married in St. Louis, Missouri, April 9, 1867, to Louisa E. Yehlen, and by this union have seven children-George F., Nettie, Fred. W., Lena M., Ellen and Carrie E. Mrs. Ritter is a native of Switzerland. Her mother died in New Orleans in 1849, of yellow fever. Mr. Ritter is a mem- ber of the Masonic Order, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Teutonia Lodge, No. 166, Work- ingmen's Savings and Homestead Association, and Director of the same.

Edward R. Roberts, Circuit Clerk, was born in Tazewell county, Illinois, in 1843; came to Springfield in 1857, with his parents, which has been his home since, save while he was in the army. Upon the inauguration of the civil war, he enlisted in April, 1861, as a private in Com- pany I, Seventh Illinois Infantry; received sev- eral promotions; was made First Lieutenant at the battle of Fort Donelson, and in 1864, be- came Captain of Company C. At the expira- tion of his first term of enlistment he veteran- ized; was brevetted Lieutenant Colonel of United States Volunteers, March 3, 1865, and was mus- tered out in July of that year. On March 7, 1864, Captain Roberts was captured at Florence, Alabama, and was in prison at Macon, Georgia, Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina, and Mobile, Alabama. On the 26th of November, 1864, he escaped from Columbia prison, and reached General Sherman's lines, about the mid- dle of Georgia, December 5th following. At the battle of Corinth, Mississippi, October 4, 1862, he was wounded by a gunshot in his right hand, resulting in the loss of the index finger and stffening the next one. After returning from the army, Colonel Roberts was clerk in the Adjutant General's office for a time. In 1868, he was elected City Comptroller, and three times re-elected, filling that office four consecu- tive terms. He was then made Superintendent of the Capital Coal Company for two years, at the end of which he became the book-keeper at the rolling mills store, and held that position until elected Circuit Clerk, in 1879, for four years, by a majority of one thousand four hun- dred, leading all other candidates on the Demo- cratic ticket. Mr. Roberts is a Mason, a mem- ber of St. Paul Lodge No. 500, Springfield Chap- ter No. 1, and Elwood Commandery No. 6, is Captain General of the latter.

Henson Robinson, dealer in stoves, tin-ware, mantles, grates and house-furnishing goods, 114 North Fifth street, established the business in a small way, in that location, March 13, 1861.

The magnitude of trade has steadily increased, and he now keeps a large stock of these several kinds of merchandise to meet its demand. He also carries on a manufacturing and job work department, in which he regularly employs ten to fifteen men ; employs a capital of $16,000, and did a business in 1880 of over $35,000, with an increase in 1881 for corresponding months. Mr. Robinson was born in Xenia, Green county, Ohio, March 14,1839 ; learned the tinner's trade there ; came to Illinois at nineteen years of age, arriving in Springfield July 1, 1858, which has since been his home. After spending about a year in school he worked as a journeyman at his trade until he started business as proprietor. May 8, 1861, he united in marriage with Hen- rietta M., daughter of James W. Keyes, of Spring- field, who settled here in 1831. Two daughters, Lydia M. and Margaret H., and a son-Charles Henson Robinson -- composes their family. Mr. Robinson has served three terms in the Board of Supervisors ; was a candidate on the National Temperance ticket for Mayor, in 1878, in opposition to both the old political parties, and was only beaten one hundred and twenty- one votes. He is now Chairman of the City Board of Education; is Treasurer of the Citizen's Street Railway, of which he was one of the projectors and builders ; in 1878 and 1879 served as Treasurer of Sangamon County Agri- cultural Society. He is a member of the Masonic order, Lodge, Chapter, Council and Commandery ; is Treasurer of the Lodge and Chapter, and is a member and trustee of the First M. E. Church.

Edward T. Roe, Assistant United States Dis- trict Attorney, was born in Shawneetown, Gal- latin county, Illinois, November 28, 1847. In 1848, he moved with his parents to Jacksonville, Illinois, where he remained until 1852, when the family moved to Bloomington, Illinois. He re- mained there and attended the Illinois Univer- sity until 1868, when he attended the New York State University, at Albany, and graduated in the law department of that University, May, 1869, and was admitted to practice in the Su- preme Court of New York State. Ile became a member of the Illinois bar in 1870, and prac- ticed law in Bloomington, Illinois, until 1871, when he was chosen for the position he now oc- cupies, Assistant United States District Attor- ney. He was married to Miss Cornelia B. Glen, at Monticello, Illinois, April 13, 1875. She was born near Newark, New Jersey, and was a daughter of William R. Glen, who was born in Glasgow, Scotland. He was a Presbyterian

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

minister, and died in 1880. His wife, Miss Mary S. Avery, was born in New York. She is a member of the Presbyterian church, and is liv- ing with her son-in-law, E. T. Roe. Mr. E. T. Roe and wife have three children, viz, Jean Paul Roe, Daniel Roe, and Lillian May Roe. Mrs. Roe is a member of the Second Presbyter- ian Church in Springfield, Illinois. The father of E. T. Roe, ex-United States Marshal E. R. Roe, was born at Lebanon, Ohio, and came to Illinois in 1841. He was a practicing physi- cian at Shawneetown, Illinois, nine years. He then removed to Jacksonville, Illinois, and es- tablished the daily issue of the Jacksonville Journal. He was also editor of the Blooming- ton Pantagraph four years. He was Professor of Natural Sciences at the Normal University, at the commencement of the war. He was a Major and Lieutenant Colonel in the Thirty- third (Normal) Illinois Regiment was wounded at the siege of Vicksburg. He was afterward Circuit Clerk in McLean county five years, and was appointed United States Marshal of South- ern District of Illinois, December 12, 1872, a position he held two terms-eight years. He is at present engaged in the drug business at Bloomington, Illinois. He was married to Miss Ellasan Dunham, in 1836. She was born in Pennsylvania. She was a member of the Bap- tist Church, and died February 30, 1881, and was buried at Oak Ridge Cemetery. She was the mother of five children, viz., Charters S. Roe, who is now mining in Colorado; Albert J. Roe, practicing physician, at Decatur, Illinois; Mrs. Mary E. Eberhart, who resides at Bloom- ington, Illinois; Mrs. Jennie Uhl, wife of E. C. Uhl, Dixon, Illinois, and E. T. Roe, the subject of this sketch, who in politics is a Republican, and a strong supporter of that party, and cast his first vote for U. S. Grant for President of the United States. He is of English descent, and the family are formerly from Long Island.

Charles W. Roepper, Superintendent of the Steel Mills of the Springfield Iron Company, was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 1848. His father, Professor William T. Roepper, deceased, was a scientist of considerable eminence in that State. Besides the advantages of the schools of his native town, Charles enjoyed private instruc- tions from his father, which were administered with special care, and these were supplemented with a course in Lehigh University. At the age of fifteen years, he went into the machine shops in that place; and at seventeen, into the labra- tory of the Lehigh Zinc Company, and filled the position of chemist in their works until 1872,

during which he enjoyed rare opportunities for witnessing the practical workings of the estab- lishment. From 1872 to 1876, Mr. Roepper was employed as chemist for the Bethlehem Iron Company, and from that time until 1879, had charge of a blast furnace in New Jersey, in the manufacture of pig and Spiegel iron. In 1879, he became associated with the Springfield Iron Company, and has since had supervision of their steel mills. Mr. Roepper is a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, and is a devoted student of science, of which he already possesses a wide range of knowledge.

Henry W. Rokker, proprietor of Rokker's book bindery and printing house, 309 South Fifth street, came to Springfield in 1865, and in 1867 opened a book bindery on South Fifth street, between Adams and Monroe. In 1872, his bindery was totally destroyed by fire, in which he lost about $10,000. A month after he re-opened business on the corner of Washington and Sixth streets, and continued there until he moved into his present quarters, in 1876. Mr. Rokker purchased the lot and erected the fine three-story brick building, 20x157 feet, that year. He then added a book and job printing office, starting with one small press, in connection with the bindery. His business in both departments rapidly grew under his practical and efficient management; presses and material were put in from time to time, of the most approved pat- terns, until the plant now contains four large and two small presses, with ample supply of the latest styles of type. The bindery is equipped with the finest improved machinery, the whole constituting one of the most complete book binding and printing establishments in the West. The concern employs sixty hands, whose weekly salaries aggregate $500. Mr. Rokker started business with a cash capital of $225. He was born in Holland, learned the book binding trade in Europe, and was foreman of an estab- lishment there at twenty years of age; immi- grated to the United States when twenty-one, and'located in St. Louis, Missouri, where he pursued his calling a number of years, the latter part of that period on his own account

Samuel Rosenwald was born in Buende, near Minden, Prussia, June 18, 1828, where he at- tended school and was engaged in the mercan- tile business until 1854, when he emigrated to the United States; he came alone and landed in Baltimore, Maryland, where he remained one year, and peddled with pack; then went to Win- chester, Virginia, and kept a clothing store one year, when he returned to Baltimore and kept a

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

store some nine months; was married in Balti- more to Miss Augusta Ilammerslough, August 23, 1857; he then entered into partnership with L. Hammerslough, in a clothing store at Peoria, Illinois, six months, when he bought out Ham- merslough and ran the store until 1860, when he went to Talledega, Alabama, and ran a clothing store one season, when he opened a store in Evansville, Indiana, ran a store there one year. In July, 1861, he came to Springfield, Illinois, where he went into partnership with the Ham- merslough Brothers, at 117 west side of the square, and in 1868 bought out the Hammer- slough Brothers' interest, and has run the store ever since, and has now one of the largest and most complete clothing houses in the city; this store was established in 1876, and Mr. Ros- enwald established the one-price system. He and wife are both members of the Hebrew Church, on North Fifth street, and have six child- ren, viz: Benjamin S., Julius S., Maurice S., Selma S., Sophie and Lewis S. Rosenwald. The father of Samuel Rosenwald, Buedix Rosen- wald, was born in Prussia, Germany; he was a merchant and a member of the Hebrew Church, and died in 1840. His wife, Miss Vogal Frankford, was born in Prussia, Germany; she is a member of the Hebrew Church, and is still living in Germany, in her seventy-ninth year; she was the mother of four children, two living, viz: Samuel, the subject of this sketch, and Herman Rosenwald, a dry goods merchant in Prussia, Germany. Mr. Samuel Rosenwald is a member of the A. O. U. W., Capital City Lodge No. 38, and of the I. O. B. B. Lodge No. 67, in Springfield, Illinois. In politics he is rather independent; he cast his first vote for Buchanan for President of the United States. Mrs. Sam- uel Rosenwald was a daughter of Salmon A. Hammerslough; born in Hanover, Germany; his wife, Julia Benjamin, was born in Hanover, Germany; they were members of the Hebrew Church, and had a family of six children.

Patrick J. Rourke, Superintendent of Schools for Sangamon county, was first elected to that office in November, 1873, for the term of four years, and re-elected in 1877, for a like term. Mr. Rourke is a product of Sangamon county, born in May, 1849. He graduated in the classical course of the Springfield High School in the class of 1866, since which time he has pursued scientific and other studies privately. Prior to assuming the duties of County Superintendent of Schools he was engaged in civil engineering and teaching; also served as Deputy United States Clerk from 1870 till 1872. His parents,

Owen and Margaret Rourke, emigrated from Ireland forty years ago, and after living about four years in Vermont, came to Sangamon county, Illinois, where they have since resided. In October, 1879, Mr. Rourke nnited in marriage with Miss M. Emma, daughter of Samuel Ray, deceased, a prominent citizen of Gardner town- ship, which he represented several years in the Board of Supervisors.

Edward Rutz, State Treasurer, of Illinois, is a native of Heidleberg, Germany, and was born in 1829. When eighteen years of age he emi- grated to the United States and settled in St. Clair county, Illinois. In 1854, he took a tour through Iowa and Kansas, and in 1858 went on through to California, remaining there till the war broke out in 1861. Ile entered the army from that State as a member of Battery C, U. S. Artillery, and served chiefly in the Army of the Potomac; fought in twenty-one battles, among them were, Yorktown, Williamsburg, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorville, and others; was discharged in October, 1864, having never been absent from duty from inability a day during the three years of his service. Upon retiring from the army Mr. Rutz went to St. Louis, and was employed there, and in Tennessee in the Quarter Master's department with General Myers, from Novem- ber, 1864, till April 7, 1865. He spent that sum- mer prospecting through the South, but not be- ing pleased with the outlook, returned to St. Clair county, Illinois, and that fall was elected County Surveyor for two years. At the expira- tion of that time he was elected Treasurer of that county for two years, and was re-elected in 1869 and 1871; and in 1873, was elected State Treasurer for the term of two years. He was again elected to the same office in 1877 and in 1880, the last times from Cook county, he hav- ing moved there about two years previously. In politics Mr. Rutz is a pronounced Republican, and has been a member of the party from its organization. He married in St. Clair county, Illinois, in 1866, to Miss Mary Mans, a native of that county. Three daughters and one son com- pose their family.

R. Francis Ruth was born in the city of Springfield, Illinois, May 5th, 1856. He attend- ed the Fourth Ward School until 1869, when he began in the High School, where he graduated in the class of June, 1873, along with J. H. Matheny, Jr., Edward C. Hainey, Samuel Grubb, Miss Anna Painter, now Mrs. Tudin, and others. In July, 1873, he was employed in the hardware store of O. F. Stebbins, where he re_

IR Saunders

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

mained until July, 1877, when he went into partnership with his father, on the south side of the square, where he is still located. His father, R. F. Ruth, was born in Pennsylvania. He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Springfield, where he died September 28, 1881. His wife, Maria Diller, sister of R W. Diller, was a member of the Third Presbyterian Church, and died May 28, 1870; she was the mother of two children, viz: J. D. Ruth and the subject of this sketch, R. Francis Ruth, who is a member of the First Presbyterian Church, and was a Sun- day school teacher in that church two or three years, and in 1879 was elected Superintendent, a position he still retains. He was one of the first to join the Young Men's Christian Association in Springfield, of which he is an active member. He is a member of the Board of Directors of that Association. In polities he is a Democrat, and cast his first vote for Hayes for President of the United States.

William R. Sampson, partner in the queens- ware house ot James A. Rhea & Co., 225 South Fifth street, was born in Medford, Massachu- setts, and is twenty-eight years of age. He en- joyed the advantages of the superior public schools of his native place; at the age of sixteen entered the employ of a wholesale leather firm in Boston, and had become one of their leading salesmen before attaining his majority, when they sold out and retired from business. In August, 1874, Mr. Sampson came to Springfield, Illinois, and passed some four years as traveling salesman for Springfield and Chicago houses, three of these years, he represented the extensive wholesale queensware establishment of Pitkin & Brooks, Chicago. In June, 1881, Mr. Samp- son formed a partnership with James A. Rhea and A. Anthony, and opened their present store with a fine new stock of queensware, glassware, cutlery and house furnishing goods, which they handle at wholesale and retail. They are all practical, thorough-going business men, which, with the liberal trade the house has enjoyed dur- ing its brief history, augurs a successful future. Mr. Sampson united in marriage with Miss Min- nie A. Hawk, of Cleveland, Ohio, May 26, 1877. One son, Odiorne, aged three years, is the fruit of their union.

Mr. Rhea is a native of Missouri, but for the past twelve years has been engaged in manufac- turing and mercantile business in Pittsfield, Pike county Illinois.

Jonathan R. Saunders, was born February 17, 1802, in Fleming county, Kentucky; and the son of Gunnell Saunders, who was born July 27,

1783, in Londen county, Virginia, of English ancestry. His parents emigrated to the vicinity of Lexington, Kentucky, and a year or two later moved to Fleming county, in the same State. Mary Mauzy, his wife, was born April 15, 1784, in Fauquier county, Virginia; her parents were of French descent; moved to Bourbon county, Kentucky; they were married in 1801, and had a family of seven children. He was a soldier from Fleming county in the war of 1812, and afterwards moved his family to Sangamon county, Illinois, arriving May 10, 1828, and settled four miles north of Springfield, where they resided for a number of years. Gunnell Saunders and his wife moved from Springfield, Illinois, to Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, in the summer of 1846. Hon. E. D. Baker, of Ball's Bluff fatal memory, with whom Mr. Saunders was on terms of most inti- mate friendship, visited Mt. Pleasant, and made a speech in favor of the election of General Tay- lor. Mr. Saunders took Colonel Baker in his carriage to Ottumwa, and on the morning of October 26, 1848, bade him adieu and left for home. He was found about two miles from Ot- tumwa, in his carriage, dead, with the lines so adjusted as to bring the carriage on a cramp. Gunnell Saunders was about sixty miles from home, but his remains were taken to Mt. Pleas- ant for interment. His widow continued to live there until October 18, 1851, when she died from the effects of a dose of arsenic carelessly put up by a druggist in place of morphine. Jonathan R., who was the first son of the preceding, was married December 18, 1823, to Sarah McKinnie. They moved to Sangamon county, Illinois, ar- riving November 28, 1824, at Springfield. He entered the land on which the Sangamon county fair is held, two miles north of Springfield, and moved there in 1828. His family consisted of six children, of the number, two living and four deceased.

Asbury H. Saunders, son of the preceding, is now engaged in the grocery business; first in April, 1854, in partnership with W. T. IIughes, in a room adjoining his present store. The fall following they added a stock of dry goods. In 1858, Mr. Saunders bought Mr. Hughes' interest, and the next year sold out the business, and en- gaged in the live stock business up to 1866, since which time he has been carrying on business in the store he now occupies. His stock consists of a large assortment of staple and fancy groceries, in which he does a retail business of about $30,- 000 a year. Mr. Saunders was born on the lot where he now resides, corner of Carpenter and Sixth streets, November 7, 1828. His father and

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mother now reside with him; his father is now in his eightieth and his mother eighty-one years old. Mr. Asbury HI. Saunders was married Oc- tober 20, 1856, to Marcia E. Underwood, in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. She was born February 7, 1837, at Portage, Ohio. They had four child- ren; three died young. His only daughter, Helen, born June 2, 1863, lives at home with her father. Mrs. Marcia E. Saunders died September 30, 1874. He is one of the leading members in the Christian Church, and a member of the Ma- sonic fraternity, Central Lodge, No 71.

John H. Schuck, lumber merchant, corner of Ninth and Jefferson streets, embarked in the lumber trade in Springfield in 1865, as a member of the firm of Schuck & Baker, located on the corner of Tenth and Jefferson streets, where they continued the business until April 1, 1877. Then Mr. Schuck sold out to his partner and opened his present yard. lle carries a large stock of the various grades of lumber, and of sash, doors, blinds, cement, nails paints, etc, comprising a complete assortment of builders' materials. During the year 1880, his sales were over two million one hundred thousand feet of lumber, one million five hundred shingles, three hundred and sixty-five thousand five hundred laths, five hundred barrels of cement, and two hundred and eighty barrels of plaster, besides sash, doors, blinds, hair, drain tile and sewer pipe. His trade for 1881 is running consider- ably larger. Mr. Schuck was one of the origi- inal projectors of, and prime movers in building the Citizen's Horse Railway in Springfield, which was accomplished under persistent opposition and very harrassing circumstances. Ile is now President of the company; is also one of the Directors of the First National Bank, and of the German American Building Association. He is a native of Heidleburg, Germany; came to Springfield, Illinois; in 1848; pursued the cabi- net maker's trade for some years, and since 1854 has been associated with the lumber business. As an experimental test of the value of red cedar blocks for street pavings, Mr. Schuck urged that a piece of pavement be put down, which was done in front of the Government building and Leland Hotel on Sixth street, by him as con- tractor, in 1878, and that fine piece of road may attest the wisdom of his suggestion in making the trial. Mr. Schuck is one of the oldest mem- bers of Springfield Masonic Lodge No. 4.

John Schoeneman, proprietor of the Western Hotel, corner Third and Jefferson streets, was born in Wedinburg, Germany, February 8, 1830. When sixteen years of age, he came with his

parents to the United States, landed at New York City, and came to Springfield, Illinois, ar- riving here August, 1847. Mr. Schoeneman worked here for different parties untill 1856, when he went to Franklin county, Kansas, where he entered one hundred and sixty acres of land and lived for five years, and in the spring of 1863, went with a government outfit as teamster, to Wyoming Territory; remained there in the employ of the government eleven months, when he went to Montana, and mined in the gold mines three years. He was successful in mining, and in the fall of 1866 returned to Springfield, Illinois. In 1868, he built the Western Hotel, which he now owns and runs in first-class order, well filled up. He was married to Miss Helena Hoechter, June, 1870. She was born in Sanga- mon county, Illinois. She was a daughter of Baltzer Hoechter, born in Germany, and who settled in Sangamon county in 1844. He died in 1877. His wife, Mary Eck, was born in Ger- many, and still lives in Woodside township. The father of John Schoeneman, Andrew Schoene- man, born in Germany, was a gardener, and died in 1878. His wife, Margaret Fischter, was born in Germany, and died in 1847. She was the mother of six children, four living. Mr. John Schoen- man and wife are members of the Catholic Church, and in politics he is a Democrat.

William J. Schroyer, Police Magistrate of Springfield, Illinois, was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, January 7, 1836; son of Joseph J. and Mary Ann (Sparks) Schroyer. Joseph J. was a merchant, and William was brought up in the mercantile business, received a collegiate education and graduated at Oxford College; went to Lawrenceburg, Indiana, where he read law with Philip Spooner, and was admitted to the bar in 1859; the same year was elected Prose- cuting Attorney, in Ripley county, Indiana, where he remained about a year. In 1857, en- gaged in the mercantile and distillery business in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, which was not a finan- cial success. In 1861, was appointed Bounty Clerk, under Captain D. W. Cheek, Mustering and Dispensing Officer, at St. Louis, Missouri, of the Thirteenth Regiment United States In- fantry, where he remained eighteen months. In February, 1862, he came to Springfield, where he was in the Provost Marshal's office. In 1880, was elected to the office of Police Magistrate, which he has since held. He married Miss Sarah Roll, who was born in this county in September, 1849.

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History of Sangamon County, Illinois, together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 119

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, Inter-state publishing company Number of Pages: 1084

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Inter-state publishing company
Number of Pages: 1084