USA > Illinois > Stark County > History of Stark County, Illinois, and its people : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 15
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Walter F. Young was reared in Toulon and was educated in the public schools, after which he learned the carpenter's trade. He con- tinned to follow carpentering and contracting for over thirty years and there are many buildings in Toulon and Stark county that are monuments of his architectural skill and handiwork. In 1912 he was nominated by the republican party for the office of circuit clerk and
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reeorder and at the following eleetion a substantial majority was given him. He entered upon the duties of the position in December of that year and has since occupied the office in a most creditable manner entirely satisfactory to his constituents.
In 1897, in Peoria, Mr. Young was united in marriage to Miss Effie Boardman, who was born in Missouri but was reared and edu- eated in Illinois and is a graduate of the Toulon high school. She afterward took up the profession of teaching, which she followed successfully for a number of years. Mr. and Mrs. Young began their domestic life in Toulon and to them have been born two children: Mildred, who is a graduate of the township high school; and Gilman B., who is attending high school.
Mr. Young is identified with the Masonie lodge of Toulon, in which he has filled all of the chairs and is a past master, while for a number of years he has been the lodge secretary. He likewise belongs to Wyoming Chapter, R. A. M., and he and his wife are members of the Eastern Star. They also hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church and take a most active and helpful part in the church and Sunday school work, both being teachers in the Sunday school, while Mr. Young is a member of the official board and is the church treasurer. They do all in their power to promote the growth of the ehureh and extend its influence and contribute in every possible way to the moral progress of the community. In all the relations of life, whether in business or in office. Mr. Young's record measures up to high standards of manhood and citizenship and the consensus of publie opinion names him as a man of many excellent traits of character.
WILLIAM II. HEWITT, D. D. S.
There is no more progressive dentist in this seetion of Illinois than Dr. W. H. Hewitt. of Wyoming, who has what is conceded to be the finest and best equipped dental parlor to be found in any town of its size in the state. He has a reception room, an office, a laboratory, a lavatory and a private rest room and is serupulously careful to secure surgical cleanliness in his work and his apparatus is electrically driven. His offiees are in the Seott, Walters & Rakestraw Bank building. A native son of Illinois, he was born in Bureau county in 1867. of the marriage of David and Drusilla (Spangler) Hewitt. The father was born in Ohio but in early manhood went to Bureau county, where he engaged in farming. Both he and his wife are deceased.
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W. H. Hewitt spent his boyhood under the parental roof and accompanied his parents on their removal to Cass county, Iowa, in 1872. He completed a course in the public schools and subsequently was for two years a student in Oberlin College at Oberlin, Ohio, after which he entered the Chicago College of Dental Surgery, from which he was graduated three years later, in 1904, with the degree of D. D. S. He at once located in Wyoming, where he has built up a large and representative practice. He has equipped his attractively fur- nished rooms with everything that could promote his efficiency and add to the convenience of his patrons. He has gained unusual skill in his profession and has won a well deserved reputation for doing excellent work. His home, which he erected three years ago, is one of the finest residences in the town.
Dr. Hewitt was married in 1900 to Miss Sarah Elizabeth White, a native of Bureau county and a daughter of William and Elizabeth (Lewis) White, the former of whom is deceased, while the latter survives. The Doctor supports the republican party but has never had the time to spare from his profession to take an active part in politics. Both he and his wife are members of the Congregational church, and he is also well known in Masonic circles, belonging to the blue lodge and chapter at Wyoming, the commandery at Kewanee and the Shrine at Peoria. Dr. Hewitt has not only won high stand- ing in his profession but has also gained the warm personal friendship of many, and his genuine worth is recognized by all who know him.
G. C. PLATT.
Among the energetic and prosperous farmers of Toulon town- ship is G. C. Platt, who is devoting his attention to the cultivation of one hundred and sixty acres of land adjoining the corporation limits of Toulon. He has successfully farmed that tract for the last twenty years and its productiveness has been greatly enhanced by his practical and progressive methods.
Mr. Platt is a native of Pennsylvania, his birth having occurred in Clarion county, December 18, 1864. He was there reared upon a farm and on the 18th of December, 1885, he was united in marriage, in Cattaraugus county, New York, to Miss Ella Bodish, also a native of Pennsylvania. For a time Mr. Platt engaged in railroad- ing and in 1887 he made his way to the far west, settling at Grays Harbor, Washington, where he worked at anything that came to
LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBAI.A
G. C. PLATT
MRS. G. C. PLATT
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA
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hand, being willing to follow any employment that would yield him an honest living. While residing in that state he lost his wife in 1889, after which he returned to the east and joined his mother, who had located at Toulon. There he worked by the month as a farm hand for a time, but he was not content to remain in such a position, being desirous to engage in business on his own account, that he might work his way steadily upward. Accordingly he afterward rented the place whereon he now resides, assuming the management of the property in 1895. He has since earefully and sueeessfully carried on general agricultural pursuits here, and in connection with the eulti- vation of eereals best adapted to soil and climate, he has made a suceess in raising and feeding stock, both branches of his business being carefully managed.
On the 10th of November, 1892, Mr. Platt was again married, for on that day, in Toulon, Miss Jennie Dodd became his wife. She was born in Tennessee but was brought to Stark county when a maiden of ten summers and was here reared. They traveled life's journey happily together for about twenty-two years and were sepa- rated by the hand of death on the 22d of April, 1914. The children of the first marriage are: Herbert, who is married and resides in Galva, Illinois, where he follows the machinists' trade; and Purl, who was born in the state of Washington and assists his father in carrying on the home farm. The children of the second marriage are: Pauline, who is a graduate of the Toulon high school and is now her father's housekeeper; Roy, Floyd and Myra, all at home. Mr. Platt is a member of the Methodist Episcopal ehureh and also holds membership in the Masonic lodge of Toulon, in which he now serves as master, while in 1915 he was its representative in the grand lodge. He is also a member of Wyoming Chapter, R. A. M., and is ever loyal to the teachings of the craft and to those higher principles which are ineuleated by Christian instruction. His has been a busy and useful life and whatever success he has achieved and enjoyed is attributable entirely to his earnest and indefatigable efforts.
CHARLES H. GRISWOLD.
Charles H. Griswold is the owner of excellent farm property in Stark and Bureau counties and is engaged in the raising of high grade cattle and fine hogs. His business interests are carefully, sys- tematically and sueeessfully managed and are bringing substantial Vol. 11-1#
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financial results. Mr. Griswold has always made his home in this part of the state, his birth having occurred in Milo township, Bureau county, on the 24th of February, 1853, his parents being John A. and Maria (Steinbroek) Griswold, the former a native of Herkimer county. New York, and the latter of Pennsylvania. Coming west in early life, they were married in Illinois and the father carried on general farming in Bureau county until his death, which occurred in 1877. his widow surviving him for about twelve or fifteen years.
In his youthful days Charles 11. Griswold was a pupil in the public schools of Milo township and later he attended college at Abingdon, Illinois, for two years and also became a student in the Valparaiso University at Valparaiso, Indiana. Following his return he located upon the home farm and was thereafter identified with general agricultural pursuits until 1905. In 1882 he began the breed- ing and sale of road horses and has since continued in the business. In this connection he has traveled extensively, making trips each fall to purchase horses. IIe has bred, raised, trained and driven his own horses and he has handled some of the finest steeds seen in this part of the country. He also carries on general agricultural pursuits and to some extent raises high grade cattle and fine hogs. His farm com- prises two hundred and twenty-two acres of rich land in Bureau county. all under a high state of cultivation and well improved. and he also owns three hundred and forty acres of land southeast of Chillicothe. Missouri. He makes his home, however, in Bradford, where he has erected a fine residence. a good barn and garage. . U'pon his farm he has sixteen head of fine trotting stoek and at one time had forty head. He has sold more trotting stoek that any other man in the countryside and is one of the best judges of horses. He is today the owner of Lora Lay, regarded as the best horse in the county. His first raee horses of note were Billy and Nellie McGregor and he has also been the owner of Phalaneer. Fred McGregor. Buelah Wilks. Jennie C., King Amarigo and Prince McGregor. while at the present time he has Lora Lay and Mamie Amarigo.
In 1882 Mr. Griswold wedded Miss Emma Bennett, of Milo, Bureau county. and they had a son, Harry, who is president and manager of the Keystone Iron Foundry at Los Angeles. California. The wife and mother passed away in 1892 and in 1894 Mr. Griswold wedded Miss Jennie Conover, of Marshall county. Ilinois. Mrs. Griswold is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Mr. Griswold gives his political allegiance to the republican party and has always been a strong advocate of the temperance cause, work- ing earnestly and untiringly in its support. In fact his influence is
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always on the side of right, reform, progress and improvement and throughout Stark county and wherever he is known he is spoken of in terms of high regard.
MR. AND MRS. ALEXANDER MCKENZIE.
A life is judged very largely by its inspirational quality, by its power to give to the lives that follow it just cause for loving admira- tion, and through that admiration, faith and hope and courage. As a loving tribute, then, and also as a noble example of that unwavering courage and that unquestioning acceptance of life as it is, to be made better and more acceptable by those to whom the gift of it has come, this sketch of two simple, unaffected lives is here written, with a full realization of its inadequacy, but with the consciousness that it will be read by sympathetic minds and understanding hearts. fitted to interpret its words aright.
From the deepest poverty in the Highlands country of Scotland, there came across the Atlantic, in 1863. a father. Alexander MeKen- zie, and two sons, Alexander MeKenzie, Jr., whose life is here recorded, and Dunean MeKenzie. Alexander MeKenzie, Jr .. was born March 20. 1842, near Fairburn, in Ross-shire, Seotland, about eighteen miles from Inverness, the capital of the Highlands. The father and sons came straight west from New York city and located in Stark county, Illinois, in the Scotch settlement of Elmira, where they joined John MeKenzie, the oldest son of the family. The mother. Janet Chisholm MeKenzie, had died in Scotland when Alex- ander was but three years old and Duncan, one. The father died in this country a short time after coming here.
Without money and without help, it was some time before this little family was able to earn enough in a strange, new country to make a beginning toward buying a home. But little by little the tiny hoard grew, until finally these three brothers together were able to buy, near Elinira, an eighty-aere tract of land with an old house upon it. On the 14th of September, 1876, Alexander MeKenzie married Sarah Fowler, a daughter of one of the earliest pioneers, Brady Fow- ler, who likewise had made his beginning in the new country with absolutely no money. In fact, he borrowed the money for his marriage license when he married Rebecca Wiseman. This, how- ever, was probably the only debt he ever had without the means in sight to pay it off. But the investment was evidently a wise one and the
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risk allowable in such a case. A few years later these two with a family of three children set out from Pennsylvania by wagon to make a home in this fair Illinois of ours, which was then the great unopened west.
In this new country, Sarah Fowler was born near Osceola Grove, in Stark county, May 5, 1844. Practically her whole life was spent in this county, where her father and mother broke the virgin prairie soil and built one of the old pioneer log cabins. Her childhood knew both the pleasures and the hardships which belonged to those days, the days of the so-called "good old times," and her young womanhood experienced the thrilling period of the Civil war. Brady Fowler was a stanch abolitionist and a harborer of fugitive slaves in those ante- bellum days.
After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. McKenzie went to a small farm of eighty acres near Toulon, which they bought for a home, and here nearly all the rest of their lives were spent, a place inestimably dear to them all their days. To this original eighty-aere tract they kept adding other land near it and making other investments. Here four children were born to them, two sons, Neil and Kenneth. and two daughters. Florence and Clare, all of whom are living in and near Toulon. In 1877 they built a comfortable and beautiful new home on the old farm. To make and build such a home of his own was a great object of Mr. Mckenzie's life, for he came from a country where such an achievement would have been impossible. Further than that he did not look or aspire at that time, but day by day, in spite of failures and discouragements, and the slow consummation of his hopes, he worked steadily, perseveringly, without despair, with- out envy, without bitterness, toward that end. never for an instant losing confidence in himself or failing in a persistent, enduring cour- age. Time passed and brought to him more than he had hoped in the way of possessions, until finally he came to be regarded as one of the leading financiers of the community. Such success in a financial way would be worthy of little comment were it not for the fact that he made his way alone and unaided while most people had at least some help to start with, meager though it might be. Neither would it be of much value for its own sake, aside from the fact that it is a monument to what man can do for himself in a patient, courageous way without the advantage of so-called "Inck" and "good fortune." without any tampering with speculation. or by any illegitimate business, but by simple. honest. persistent effort, merely raising the products of the soil and with the proceeds buying more ground to continue the same work.
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Nor were other things neglected for the sake of the mere aceunnila- tion of possessions. Of a quite and retiring disposition, Mr. MeKen- zie seldom took a part in public affairs but was always a ready giver to things for the public good and always took great pride in the town and community where he lived. In the Toulon Congregational church, to which he transferred his membership from the Elmira Presbyterian in his later years, he was much interested and was ambitious for its growth and improvement.
In the year of 1913, Mr. and Mrs. MeKenzie came to Toulon to the beautiful new home they had erected, because they felt they eould no longer attend to their old work, and here, not quite a year later, Mr. MeKenzie passed away on February 5, 1914. after a brief illness. Many people would regard this period of idling as a pleasure and consider the past years the hard part of life, but Mr. Mckenzie did not feel so. Ile regarded the years of his work time as the happiest years of his life and always felt that if a man could not take pleasure in his work, his life was not ordered aright, and for his own part he keenly regretted the necessity of leaving the old farm home. Yet with his characteristic facing of life as it was, he set himself to enjoy the simple pleasures of retirement and be grateful that he had lived such a long period of years, not set aside among the old but still a part of the world.
For such a hard task as was his in his early years, he found in Mrs. MeKenzie a perfect helpmeet. Even among pioneer women she was a remarkable woman, remarkable in an infinite variety of ways. At the time of her marriage, she was able to do everything about a home, even to making candles and soap and yeast and eutting patterns for gowns. Yet amid all her household cares and the eares of a large family, she found time to keep up her intellectual interests. Her purely formal education, in her girlhood, consisted of the somewhat haphazard instruction given in the old fashioned district sehool and a little smattering of Latin, grammar and history and rhetoricals at a small seminary near Abingdon, Illinois, where she begged her father to send her mueh against his will, for it was not yet the day of the education of women generally, and Brady Fowler was a firm, old fashioned believer in the home as woman's only sphere. She read and she learned all her life afterward, balancing with a rare good sense the intellectual and the practical. The breadth and variety of her interests were marvelous, considering the meager opportunities of her child- hood and the time in which the formative years of her life were spent. They even extended into financial matters, in which she always took a keen pleasure and delight, managing her own private property her-
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self, for the pure pleasure of doing it, with no small skill. She was one of the early members of the Congregational church of Toulon when it was small and weak and insignificant, entering it because she had faith in its broad principles and believed in its future, and she always remained interested in its services and all its allied societies. She was one of the earliest members. also, of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, likewise a small and insignificant organization, before the days of the popularity of temperanee and before any con- siderable body of people had faith in it. Very early, too, she came to a belief in woman's suffrage, another unpopular cause in that day. In countless ways she saw and lived and moved in advance of her time, a pioneer woman in more than one sense of the word.
Yet with all this variety of interests, and interests, many of them, which were in her time unusual and not customary among women, she was primarily a home woman, a perfeet and devoted mother. keep- ing in the midst of all the stress of life and its conflicting demands. her sanity and balanee and sweetness. In all the matters of the mod- ern world her interest continued to the end, and about her person and character in her declining years there was an almost complete absenee of the withering touch of age. She, too, until death elaimed her also, just four days later than her husband, on February 9, 1914, was a brave and splendid example of how one can mold cireumstanees till they contribute to the upbuilding of great life and character.
A. C. COOPER.
A. C. Cooper owns four aeres of land within the limits of Wyo- ming and is there engaged in growing fruit and raising bees. He is also active in the affairs of the municipal government, having been a member of the city eonneil for the past twelve years. A native of Stark county. he was born on the 11th of November, 1874, and is a son of George Cooper, who was also born in this eounty and is now living with a daughter in Wyoming. He was a farmer during his active life and gained a gratifying measure of sueeess in that oeenpa- tion. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary J. Patterson, was a native of Rock Island, Illinois, and is deceased. The paternal grandfather of our subject, David Cooper, was born in Pennsyl- vania and married Eleanor Essex, a sister of Isaac B. Essex, who was the first settler of Stark county and for whom Essex township was
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named. A sketch of the life of Mr. Essex appears elsewhere in this work.
A. C. Cooper has passed his entire life in this eounty and during his boyhood and youth assisted his father with the work of the home farm and also attended the public schools, thus gaining a good educa- tion. Since 1881 he has resided in Wyoming, where he owns four acres of land, and he is specializing in fruit growing and bee raising. He has made a scientific study of these subjects and is finding them both profitable. He raises strawberries and raspberries, for which he finds a ready sale on the market. He is one of the most extensive bee raisers in the county, having from ninety to one hundred colonies, and he takes great pains in their care, with the result that the honey from his hives has become well known for its fine flavor.
Mr. Cooper is a republican in politics and has taken a leading part in publie affairs. For twelve consecutive years he has been a member of the city council and has exerted a great deal of influence in that body. He is a man of keen insight and strong personality, and his position on any question is never an equivocal one. He has a wide acquaintance throughout the county and is universally respected.
R. CHESTER JACKSON.
In 1909 R. Chester Jackson purchased the farm on section 30, Elmira township, on which he now resides. His entire life has been given to general agricultural pursuits and the persistency of purpose which he has displayed has led to the attainment of his present snecess. He was born in Elmira township, April 9, 1881, a son of William and Louisa (Stone) Jackson. The father was a native of Scotland and came to the United States with his father, Thomas Jackson, when about seventeen years of age. The family home was established in this county and here William Jackson wedded Louisa Stone, who was born near Oseeola. He was a pioneer settler of Elmira township and there, following his marriage, continued to engage in general agricul- tural pursuits until his life's labors were ended in death.
R. Chester Jackson supplemented his early education, acquired in the district schools of Elmira township, by study in the Toulon Academy, and when not busy with his textbooks his attention was given to the work of the home farm until he reached the age of twenty- seven years, when he started out in business life independently by renting land in Toulon township. There he remained for three years,
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after which he purchased his farm on section 30, Elmira township, becoming owner of the property in 1909. This is a one hundred and sixty acre triangular tract, on which he carries on the task of cultivat- ing corn, wheat and other cereals. He annually harvests good crops, for his methods are practical and resultant.
In 1908 Mr. Jackson was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Grieve, a daughter of William Grieve, mentioned elsewhere in this volume. They have become parents of two children, Helen Charlotte and Marcia Louise. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson are members of the Pres- byterian church, in which he is serving as clerk, and their interest is always manifest on the side of those forces which work for the moral progress and improvement of the community. In polities Mr. Jack- son is a republican, but while he has never sought nor held political office, he has served on the township school board of Toulon township and the cause of education finds in him a stalwart champion. For more than a third of a century he has been a resident of Stark county, covering the entire period of his life, and since starting out in the busi- ness world for himself he has made substantial progress, having stead- ily advanced toward the goal of prosperity.
ROLLIN E. WHEELER.
Toulon gained a substantial citizen when in 1906 Rollin E. Wheeler became a resident of Stark county. For the past six years he has been engaged in the hardware and automobile business and the progressive spirit which actuates him in all that he undertakes is bringing him to the goal of success. He was born in Ontario county, New York. June 24, 1880, and had good school opportunities there while spending his youthful days in the home of his parents. His father, Sylvester H. Wheeler, was a native of the same county, born in 1829. and was a son of Sylvester Wheeler, Sr., who served in the War of 1812. Sylvester H. Wheeler, Jr., was a merchant and farmer of Ontario county, New York, for a long period but ultimately was appointed superintendent of a division of the overland mail service operating across Texas to the California gold fields, where he re- mained for several years or until the outbreak of the Civil war, when lie returned to Empire state and there spent his remaining days. His death occurred in 1901, and he is survived by his last wife, who resides in Bristol, New York.
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