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 123

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 123

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Fred Wilms, President and General Manager of the Wabash Coal Company, has been engaged in the coal mining interests of Sangamon county since 1870. He was first connected with the Western Coal and Mining Company, a corporate organization with an authorized capital stock of $500,000, at first, as its cashier, and later as its manager. The company operated at Riverton, this county, and at Danville, Vermilion county. At Riverton, it re-equipped the old shaft sunk by P. L. Howlett some years before, having se- cured a ten years' lease of the mine, and worked

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

a force of one hundred and fifty men, who mined a million bushels of coal per year. This company closed out in 1877. The Wabash Coal Company was organized in March, 1880, with a capital stock of $40,000, and Fred Wilms was made President and General Manager; Wil- liam Wilms, Secretary and Treasurer. This company sunk a shaft at Dawson, twelve miles east of Springfield, on the line of the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway, in the spring and summer of 1880. A five-foot vein of coal of very fine quality was reached at a depth of two hundred and fifty feet. This shaft works one hundred miners, who take out one hundred thousand bushels of coal per month. This com- pany is also operating the old junction mine, situated at Springfield Junction, two miles south of the city, Mr. Wilms having leased it in May, 1879. A hundred and fifty men are employed at this mine, and it yields an average product of one hundred and seventy-five thousand bushels per month. The coal from these mines finds a market chiefly at points east and west on the line of the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Rail- way, as far east as Toledo, and west to Quincy and Hannibal. The company has two retail yards, one in Springfield and one in Jacksonville. They also do a large business in hard coals, both at wholesale and retail.

The subject of this memoir was born in Quincy, Illinois, in 1842; from fourteen to twenty years of age, clerked in a dry goods store in his native city; was then six years in the employ of a wholesale and retail boot and shoe house there, as book-keeper and buyer of the stock. At the expiration of this time he engaged in the same line of business as proprie- tor. In 1870, he sold out and moved to Spring- field and has since devoted his attention to coal mining. He has been President of the Spring- field Coal Association three years; is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and has passed through all the degrees of the order to Knight Templar. In January, 1867, Mr. Wilms mar- ried Anna Dickhut, of Quincy, and a daughter of a pioneer in that place. They have two children, Carrie, aged twelve years, and Fred, six years old.

Edwin A. Wilson, real estate and loan agent, and publisher of the Sunday School journals "Labor of Love," and "Food for Lambs," was born in Carroll county, Maryland, in June, 1840; passed most of his early life in Baltimore City, where he received a good English education. During the years 1863, 1864 and 1865, he was employed on clerical duties in the office of the

United States Sanitary Commission; left there in November, 1865, and after visiting Boston and Indianapolis, landed in Springfield, Illinois, in January, 1866, and still being in the service of the Commission, was engaged in examining and classifying the rolls of Illinois soldiers till November of that year, then resigned to locate permanently in Springfield. Engaging in the real estate and insurance business, he carried both on till eight years ago, when he dropped the latter, and has since chiefly devoted his at- tention to dealing in and improving city real estate. Besides building many houses for others, he has erected some forty residences on his own property, and now owns thirty-seven occupied dwellings. Mr. Wilson was one of the publish- ers of the book entitled "Reminicenses of Old Settlers," of Sangamon county, in which he in- vested $6,000, quite a large per cent of which he has never realized. He is one of the elders of the Third Presbyterian Church, and is Superin- tendent of its Sunday School. He is publishing two Sunday School journals of the above titles, which are non sectarian in character, and both are extensively circulated. In 1864, Mr. Wil- son united in marriage with Miss Cynthia C. Hannon, in Washington City. She is also a native of Maryland. They have two children of each sex alive.

George Withey, of the firm of Withey & Brothers, Carriage Manufacturers, Washington street, between Seventh and Eighth streets, was born in Sommersetshire, England, and is fifty- four years of age. He is one of the five living sons of a family of seven sons and two daugh- ters of James and Jane (Stich) Withey of Ger- man ancestry, and who crossed the Atlantic in the spring of 1842, and settled in Sangamon county, Illinois, where the mother died about twelve years ago and the father about seven years ago. The senior Withey was a wagon- maker by trade; the sons took kindly to the sire's calling, and the three who compose the firm, William H., George D., and James, all learned the trade, and two of the brothers have five sons journeymen in the same business and engaged in the factory. The subject of this sketch married Miss M. T. Kimes, born in Knox- ville, Tennessee. They have a family of four daughters. In spite of several serious reverses of fortune the Withey Brothers are doing a large and prosperous business, in which they employ an average of thirty men.

Seneca Wood, Springfield, Illinois, was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, October 1, 1806 ; his father and mother died when he was a mere

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

child, and he was left to take care of himself. He was taken by Enos Coles, a blacksmith ; to learn the trade ; but as he had a farm, he was busy there instead of the shop, except rainy days, when he could not work out-doors. Ile remained with Mr. Coles until he was nineteen years of age, then engaged in Belchertown, Mass- achusetts, to work by the year, at one hundred and twenty dollars ; remained there three years, and accumulated a few hundred dollars. He spent one winter in Georgia, peddling clocks for a man named Kendall ; the following spring re- turned to Belchertown, when he hired for two years to the same party he had previouly worked for. Taking his hard earned money, he, in company with a man named Wilson, came to Schenectedy, New York, when they started a paper. Mr. Wood being the money-man in the enterprise, and being ignorant of the business, it was not a successful undertaking, and he sold out to Wilson, getting what he could out of it ; came to Buffalo ; from there to Painesville, Ohio, where he spent the summer, and in August started out with a team and light Dearborn wagon for Illinois, and located in Springfield.

In 1835, he entered land in Island Grove township, which he sold to a Mr. Brown, from Kentucky, who bought a large tract of land in that county. Mr. Wood then went to Berlin, where he built the Half-way House, between Jacksonville and Springfield, and kept it for a number of years. Among his guests were Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas, Forquer, John J. Harding, Daniel Webster, Martin Van Buren, E. D. Baker, and many men who rose to eminence. He married Miss Sarah Ann Todd, of Bourbon county, Kentucky. She was born May 22, 1800. There were eight children, four of whom are living. Mr. Wood held the office of postmaster in Berlin, and was justice of the peace for a number of years.

Henry Wohlgemuth, M. D., may well be placed among those of whom there are so many, so-called "self-made men." He is a native of Germany, was born on the 22d day of May, 1822, in the city of Hanover, and is the eldest son of Frederick and Maria Wohlgemuth, ( parental name, Boehne). His parents were of industrious habits, not possessed of large fortunes. His father died at the age of forty-two years, in Ger- many. His mother died in the year of 1859, at the age of fifty-four, in St. Louis, Missouri. His brother, Christian, died in St. Louis, Missouri, in the year of 1849, of cholera, at the age of twenty- three years. Two sisters are still surviving, both married, and live respectively, one, the

eldest, in Montana Territory, and the younger sister in Illinois.

Henry, from his earliest boyhood, applied himself to industrious and steady habits, avail- ing himself of what means his parents were able to bestow, in obtaining an education, and at the age of sixteen years, he chose the study of medicine, and his chief desire was with an am- bition to acquire a thorough knowledge of his chosen profession.

In 1845, unknown to him, and being absent from home, his widowed mother and three chil- dren, (one son and two daughters) decided to emigrate to America, and informed of their ac- tion, though unprepared for so sudden a change, he decided to go with them. They embarked in a sailing vessel at Bremerhaven, in the month of September, 1845. After a long and tedious voy- age of sixty-two days they arrived in New Orleans in the month of November. Having friends living in Illinois, they procceded on their journey up the Mississippi, thence the Illi- nois river, and landed at Beardstown, where they had friends living. In the winter of the same year the Doctor made his way to Springfield, laboring first under many embarrassing disad- vantages, poor in health, poor in purse, unac- quainted with the language and an entire stranger among the people with whom he had cast his lot. Springfield, then, with not more than three thousand inhabitants, now has grown to be a city of twenty-two thousand or more, what was the woodlands and open prairies has given away to stately mansions and fine culti- vated farms.

His determination and honesty of purpose, aided by a sound and well-directed judgment, soon overcame all obstacles. Although his health being much impaired, owing in a great measure to a change of climate, together with the many other disadvantages and embarrassing circum- stances, Dr. Wohlgemuth opened an office in the spring of 1846, and began the practice of his profession. Giving himself industriously to his work, he met with marked success, rapidly ac- quired a knowledge of the language and laid the foundation of an extensive and lucrative prac- tice, his practice extending through a wide circle outside the city, and he was called upon to endure all the hardships incident to a physician's life of about thirty-five years in a country where farm mansions, cultivated fields, and well-worked high- ways with railroads in every direction, have sup- planted the log cabins, dreary prairies, heavy timbers, and almost impassable roads that then existed. The resident physicians, of whom there

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

were some thirteen, besides the scattering ones throughout the country, of whom there were but few, have all passed away except it be one or two in the county, who still survive but no longer engaged in active practice, which leaves Dr. Wohlgemuth, so to say, the pioneer, or oldest physician, in Sangamon county, at an age of sixty years, still vigorous and engaged in active practice.

In August, 1849, Dr. Wohlgemuth was married to Miss Mary Elizabeth Wolgamot, a native of HIagerstown, Maryland, who removed to Spring- field with her parents in the year of 1840, when she was eleven years old. They have had six children, two of whom died in infancy. The eldest, a daughter, Mariette, was born June 10th, 1850, and died on the 22d day of October, 1872, beloved by all who knew her. The two sons, Henry I., aged twenty-nine, and William, twenty- five, both promising young men, engaged in mer- chandise pursuits. The only daughter, Minnie Bell, now a promising young lady, was born July 5,1865.

Generous and public spirited, Dr. Wohlge- muth has contributed largely to the interest and growth of Springfield, and apart from his regu- lar practice, has held many positions of confi- dence and public trust.

In 1856, he was elected City Physician, in which capacity he acted until that office was combined with that of County Physician. This latter position he held from 1861 to 1863.

In 1863, he was elected Alderman, and held the office till 1866, and was chairman of many important committees. He was for one year a member of the Board of Education, and in 1865 was appointed one of the Water Works Com- missioners, and while acting in this capacity, rendered valuable service to the city in the con- struction of the works.

For many years past, the Doctor has been a member of the Board of Managers of Oak Ridge Cemetery, for most of the time has been its President, and it is justly due in saying, to him is greatly due, as also the gentlemen who were and still are his associates, in making Oak Ridge Cemetery what it is, the pride of Springfield.

He has been for many years an active mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity, of Sangamon Lodge, No. 4; is a member of the Chapter and Royal Arch, also a member of Elwood Com- mandery, No. 6, K. T., since 1859, and is at present its Eminent Commander. He has also been a member of other associations.

To more fully prepare himself for the duties of his profession, the Doctor, in the year of

1854, upon attending lectures, received the degree of M. D. from the Eclectic Medical In- stitute, Cincinnati, Ohio. In the advancement of medical science, he has taken a special inter- est, and at the organization of the Medical Asso- ciation, was elected its President; is also a mem- ber of the National Eclectic Medical Associa- tion, honorary member of the New York State Medical Society; and in all that pertains to the medical art and the advancement of science, he takes a deep interest. He has amassed a liberal competence. His reputation is that of honor, and unimpeachable.

Christian Wolf, hatter and furrier, Pasfield Block, southwest corner of the square, estab- lished this branch of mercantile business in Springfield in 1865, occupying a small store on the north side of the square. Two years after he formed a partnership with John Hablizel, which continued until the spring of 1880, when Mr. Wolf purchased his partner's interest and became sole proprietor. In 1869, the increase of trade demanded more room, and they moved to the large store, 109, west side of the square, which was abandoned for the present elegant quarters in the new Pasfield block in the fall of 1881. Mr. Wolf carries a stock of the finest hats, caps, furs and gentlemen's furnishings in the market, the largest in the State outside of Chicago, and has an annual retail trade of $40,- 000. He makes a specialty of elegant fur goods, of which he sells a large quantity. Mr. Wolf is a native of Wurtemberg, Germany, born in 1838; after being partially educated there, emigrated to the United States, at the age of sixteen years; lived over five years in Cincinnati, Ohio; went thence to New Albany, Indiana; there carried on the hat business on his own account over two years, after which he located in Springfield, Illi- nois. He married in New Albany in October, 1861, to Jennie Welch, a native of that city. Their family consists of three children of each sex. In 1877, Mr. Wolf was elected City Alder- man from the Sixth Ward on the Republican ticket, without effort on his part, but resigned after a little more than two years of service. He is a member of Capital Lodge No. 465, I. O. O. F., and a member of Brigadier General I. N. Reece's staff. I. N. G.

Presco Wright, Treasurer of the City of Springfield, was born in Somerset county, New Jersey, in 1820. His parents, Presco Wright, Senior, and Jane McKissack, were also natives of that State. The son and subject of this sketch grew to manhood and received an aca- demical education there. He began mercantile

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

life as a clerk at fourteen years of age; and upon coming to Springfield, in 1849, pursued the same avocation, first as salesman for Jacob Bunn, then for Lewis & Adams, and in 1851 engaged in a general merchandising business, as a member of the firm of Wright & Brown, which continued five years, at the end of which he sold out and retired. During two of those five years, he filled the office of City Treasurer. In the fall of 1856, Mr. Wright was elected Circuit Clerk of Sangamon county for the term of four years, running six hundred votes ahead of his ticket in the city and township, and was the only Demo- cratic candidate elected at that time. Being a pronounced War Democrat, he was elected in 1862 to the office of County Treasurer on the Union ticket, by a handsome majority, and served two years. In 1865, he was appointed Post- master of the city by Andrew Johnson, and filled the position till 1868; was then appointed Assistant Assessor for the two years following; subsequently, he served two years as Deputy County Clerk, and in the spring of 1879 was elected to his present office, having been twice re-elected since by a liberal majority. At the age of twenty-four, Mr. Wright married Phebe A. Sutton, in New Jersey They have an adopted daughter, Mettie Wright. Mr. W. is a member of the Lodge, Chapter, Council and Commandery in the Masonic Order.

James T. Wright, grocer, 421 East Washing- ton street, has been identified with the grocery trade of Springfield for many years. He first started as a delivery clerk, for Forden & Seely ; was afterwards employed as salesman ; in 1872 became joint proprietor with Mr. Forden, and three years later, sole owner, by purchasing Mr. Forden's interest. In August, 1879, he located in his present store, which is one hundred and fifty-seven by twenty feet in front, and forty feet at the rear end. He occupies two floors, carries a large stock of goods, and has one of the heaviest retail trades in the city in family groceries and country produce. Mr. Wright is a product of Sangamon county, Illinois, born on Round Prairie, in 1840. Thomas Wright came from Kentucky to Sangamon county in an early day, and married Sarah Smith, also of Kentucky, but came here in childhood. Their family con- sisted of one daughter, and the subject of this sketch. Thomas Wright died when James was fourteen years of age, leaving the widow, who now lives with her son. James left the farm when twenty-two, and settled in the city, which has since been his home. In 1873, he married Mary A. Lloyd, a native of Springfield, who

has borne him one son, Elmer, aged seven years.

Fred H. Zahn, merchant tailor, 135 South Fifth street, Lincoln's old law office, established the business in that room, July 8, 1875, with fifteen dollars capital, having lost everything in becoming surety for friends in the East. ! Jpon arriving in Springfield, in 1873, he worked as a cutter two years. Having good credit with friends in Eastern cities, he was able to start with a fair stock of goods, and keeping nothing but the finest grades of American, English, and French suitings, which are made up in the high- est style of the art, his business rapidly grew from $9,000 the first year to $2,000 to $4,000 per month, in which over twenty skilled hands are regularly employed. He also keeps a fine line of ready-made clothing for children.

Mr. Zahn was born in Berlin, Prussia, May 25, 1840; from early childhood was brought up in city of Baltimore, Maryland, where he learned the tailor's trade. In May, 1861, he enlisted in the Union army, in the Second Maryland In- fantry. In the second battle of Bull Run he was shot through the left lung with a minnie ball which he still carries in his body. After remain- ing in the hospital six months, he had so far re- covered that he started for the front, but being seized with hemorrhage of the lungs, was com- pelled to return to the hospital, and was afterwards made Hospital Steward, holding that office till mustered out of service in June, 1864. Mr. Zahn married Miss Ellen M. Brown, of Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1872. His father, August Zahn, died June 11, 1881, aged seventy-one, in Baltimore, Maryland, where his mother still resides.

Robert B. Zimmermun, of Zimmerman & Prouty, dealers in wall papers, shades, paints, etc., 427 Washington street, and of R. B. Zim- merman & Co., painters, and decorators and dealers in papers and paints, was born in Center county, State of Pennsylvania, Octo- ber 5, 1811, and is the son of Ezekiel and Esther Zimmerman, the former a native of Pennsyl- vania, the latter born in South Carolina. Her father, William Swanzey, was in General Fran- cis Marion's army at the time of her birth, and he did not see her until a year old. At the age of seventeen years, Mr. Zimmerman began'learning the trade of chair-making and house-painting, in Newton-now Elmira-New York, remaining there four years and a half. After spending another year in Tompkins county, he came West, stopped three months in Indianapolis, and made the first chairs used in the Indiana State

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

Capital; landed in Springfield, November 18, 1835; passed the early summer months in St. Louis, the next year; returned in July, and bought out Mr. Powell, of Phelps & Powell; sold out to Mr. Phelps in 1839, and in company with John A. Mason, carried on a chair manu- factory, eighteen months. They then dissolved, and Mr. Z. formed a partnership with A. P. Willard, in the painting business, in 1841. This relation lasted until Mr. Willard's death, in 1865, which occurrence severed a life-long friend- ship, of the most fraternal nature. For eight years, Mr. Z. carried on. business alone; then took two of his employes, Thomas Armstrong, and Henry Bolte, as partners in one house; and about three years ago took Mr. Prouty in part- nership in the other establishment. Both firms do a large business, employing from thirty to forty men in the busy season. Mr. Zimmerman settled in Springfield when it was a village of nine hundred inhabitants, and has been an active business man in the place forty-five years. He married Miss Susan P. Seeley, of St. Lawrence county, New York, on December 25, 1838. She died October 30, 1840, leaving a daughter, Susan L., now the widow of E. L. Gross, late of Springfield. Mr. Z. married Mary C. Townsend, of Calidonia county, Vermont, in October, 1845. They had two sons, both deceased. They reared an adopted daughter, Lizzie Zimmerman, now the wife of M. V. Smith, superintendent of the rolling mills at the National Tube Works, near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. In early life Mr. Zim- merman was a Whig in politics, and late years has been a Republican, He has always been a reader, has been a constant patron of the New York Tribune for forty years, of the Evangelical Alliance, forty-five years, and of the Illinois State Journal, since 1836, and has been a mem- ber of the Presbyterian Church since 1835. Mrs. Zimmerman was very active in Aid-Society work during the war, even going to the front to see that the supplies reached those for whom they were intended.

Frank M. Sperry, Springfield, Illinois, was born at Anna, Union County, Illinois, March 6, 1857, when three or four years of age he moved with his parents to Cobden, Illinois, remained here a short time when he went with his mother south, and remained a couple of years during the war at Memphis, Tennessee, Paducah, Ken- tucky, Bird's Point, Missouri, and Cairo, Illinois. At the close of the war the family returned to Anna, Illinois, where he remained until nine years of age, when he moved with his parents on his father's fruit farm, one-half mile west of

Cobden, Illinois. He remained here working on the farm and attending the graded schools of Cobden until fifteen years of age, when he was employed as a clerk in the dry goods and cloth- ing store of H. Blumenthal, at Cobden nearly two years. He then attended school one term at Cobden when he came to Springfield, Illinois. He worked here in the Illinois State Journal with his uncle, D. L. Phillips, some fourteen mouths, when his uncle was appointed Post- master of the Springfield Post Office, he was then employed here with his uncle until June, 1879, when he went to learn railroading at DuQuoin, Illinois, on the B. & S. I. Railroad, of which his uncle, D. L. Phillips, was President. He remained here as bill clerk in the office of the I. C. and B. & S. I. Railroads, studying tele- graphing until the death of his uncle, Major E. T. Phillips, who was station agent. Since that time he has worked for W. J. Young & Co., in Clinton, Iowa, six or eight months. In August, 1880, he returned to Springfield, Illinois, where he was engaged in the sewing machine trade some five or six months. when he began to sell pianos and organs, and in July 20, 1880, was employed by the Inter-State Publishing Com- pany, to assist in writing up Sangamon county for a history, and by whom he is still employed. His father, Captain Isaih M. Sperry, was born at Hoosac Falls, New York. At the outbreaking of the late rebellion he raised Company B, Sixth Illinois Cavalry Volunteers, and was commis- sioned Captain of this company by Governor Yates. At the close of the war he settled on his fruit farm in Union county, Illinois, he was married to Miss Maggie L. (Phillips) Sperry; she was born at Belleville, St. Clair county, Illi- mois, she was the youngest of a large family, among whom were Mrs. Governor E. H. Finch, residing at Anna Illinois, Thos. H. Phillips, lawyer at Anna, Illinois, and D. L. Phillips deceased, of Springfield, Illinois. Captain I. M. Sperry and wife have had twelve children, eleven living, viz: Frank M., Ella M., Fred. B., in bus- iness at Anna, Illinois, Ralph P., Aggie, Samuel H., Don. C., Sadie F., Maggie L., Olivia M., and Nellie Sperry. Captain Sperry is a Mason and a member of Jonesboro Lodge. Mrs. Sperry is a member of the Presbyterian Church. The sub- ject of this sketch is a Republican and a strong supporter of that party, and cast his first vote for James A. Garfield who was so cruelly assassinated.

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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 123

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