USA > Illinois > Whiteside County > History of Whiteside County, Illinois, from its earliest settlement to 1908, Vol. I > Part 59
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69
-
HON. JOHN GALT MANAHAN.
P No compendium such as this work defines in its essential limitations will serve to offer fit memorial to the subject of this review, for it is impossi- ble to measure the influence of a life of such diversified activity and interests as that of Hon. John Galt Manahan. Prominent as a lawyer and as a pro- moter of business coneerns, he was likewise prominent in publie serviee and was equally well known in connection with his earnest, effective and far- reaching labors in behalf of the moral development of the community. Moreover, he is entitled to representation in this volume as one of its honored pioneer citizens, having come to Whiteside eounty in 1846.
Mr. Manahan was born in Concord, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, May 12, 1837, and is of Scotch-Irish lineage, the family being founded in America by one who came from County Cavan, Ireland. The great-grand- father, James Manahan, who was born March 16, 1740, served as a soldier under General Washington in the Revolutionary war and died February 17, 1823, having lived for more than a third of a century to enjoy the fruits of liberty which he had helped to win. The grandfather, James E. Mana- han, was born near Baltimore, Maryland, March 16 or March 18, 1777, and at an early period in the development of Whiteside county came with his wife to Illinois, their remaining days being here passed.
William Manahan, known as Uncle Billy, father of our subject, was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, on the 25th of February, 1806, and
John G. Mancham
1
LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS ORDERNA
531
HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
while in the east engaged in merchandising and also conducted a private railroad. Before leaving his native county he was married in 1829 to Miss Isabella Galt, who was also born there, an aunt of Thomas A. Galt,. of Sterling, and a descendant of Robert Galt, who emigrated to America in 1710. The year 1846 witnessed the arrival of William and Isabella Mana- han in Whiteside county. They located in the town of Galt and as the years passed Mr. Manahan became an extensive landowner, having property in different parts of the county up to the time of his death. He was one of the first settlers of this locality who traveled westward by way of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, driving thence aeross the country to Fulton. He con- tinued to reside upon his farm near Galt until elected sheriff of the county in 1854, at which time he took up his abode in Sterling, then the county. seat. Hc aided largely in molding the public policy and shaping the destiny of the county at an early day. His opinions carried weight among his fellow townsmen, for it was well known that he had the best interests of the com- munity at heart and that his efforts in its behalf were practical and bene- ficial. Through his agricultural interests he contributed in substantial measure to the material development of the county and at all times he cham- pioned every cause that tended to prove of public good. When he located herc, such was the wild condition that he had to go to Springfield to enter his claim at the land office there. Following his removal to Sterling he engaged in the hardware business and also owned an interest in the R. B. Whitmer store. His carefully directed interests, unflagging industry and keen discernment combined to make him one of the wealthy citizens of the community, while his devotion to the public good gained him prominence as a citizen. He was a faithful member of the Presbyterian church and prior to the war was a staunch advocate of the abolition movement, assisting mate- rially in the work of the underground railroad, whereby many a poor slave from the south was assisted on his way to freedom in Canada. The death of Mr. Manahan occurred while he was on a visit to his farm in Hopkins township on the 16th of June, 1886, when he was eighty years of age, and thus passed away one of the most honored and valued pioneer settlers.
John G. Manahan was a lad of nine years when the parents made the trip down the Ohio and up the Mississippi to Whiteside county. The family . lived in true pioneer style and amid the environments of the frontier his youth was passed. It was an age in which every individual worked and when men were judged by their personal characteristics, ability and accom- plishments rather than by the record of their ancestors. Mr. Manahan re- mained upon the farm with the family until 1854, when they removed to Sterling. He supplemented his early education by study in Knox College at Galesburg and prepared for the bar in Sterling, beginning his reading in the office and under the direction of the law firm of Kirk & Ward, the latter an older brother of Judge Ward. Before his admission to the bar, however, events of national importance interfered with the continuance of his studies. His patriotic spirit aroused by the attempt of the south to break asunder the Union, he offered his serviees to the government, joining Company B of the "Thirteenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in 1861. Fearless in defense of the
532
HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
old flag and the cause it represented, he valiantly supported the Union cause until the siege of Vicksburg, in which he was wounded. His injuries neces- sitated his being sent to the hospital at St. Louis and later he was detailed to guard rebel prisoners at Rock Island, taking the first prisoners to Governor Island. His military service covered more than three years and was most creditable.
When honorably discharged Mr. Manahan returned to Whiteside county and spent the succeeding three years upon his father's farm, with the hope that the outdoor life would again build up his health, which had been broken down through the rigors and hardships of military experience. It was during that period that he married and thus established a home of his own. On Christmas day of 1866 was celebrated the wedding of John Galt Manahan and Miss Chattie L. Ward, a daughter of John B. and Mary A. (Mumma) Ward. The former was a son of Philip Ward, a native of Ches- ter county, Pennsylvania, who followed farming throughout the greater part of his life. He wedded Margaret Brown and in later years removed to Ohio, where he died in his eighty-ninth year, while his wife passed away in her eighty-fourth year. They were the parents of thirteen children, ten of whom reached adult age. The Ward family is of English descent. The Mummas, however, are of German lineage and John Mumma, the maternal grand- father of Mrs. Manahan, was a native of Maryland, where he carried on agricultural pursuits. He wedded Mary Fox, who was also born in Mary- land and was likewise of German descent. When about forty years of age he was killed by a falling tree and his wife, long surviving him, died in her eighty-ninth year, being blind for three or four years prior to her demise.
John B. Ward, father of Mrs. Manahan, was a native of Chester county, Pennsylvania, while his wife was born in Hagerstown, Maryland. In early childhood they accompanied their respective parents to Ohio, settling in Belmont county, where they resided until 1873, when they came to Sterling. Here Mr. Ward purchased a number of lots and built a comfortable home on Avenue B, where he died in 1899 at the age of eighty-nine years and seven months. His wife survived him until April, 1903, and lacked but twenty-five days of being ninety years of age. They had three sons and two daughters: Eber B., who was captain of Company A, Thirty-fourth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and died during the war; Mrs. Manahan ; Rowena V., the deceased wife of- J. F. Barrett; Winfield Scott Ward and Judge Henry C. Ward, both of Sterling.
Following their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Manahan remained for a year upon the old homestead farm and then removed to Sterling, where he pur- chased the ground on which the beautiful home of his widow now stands. There was one daughter born to them Mary Isabella, now the wife of Fred W. Honens, a civil engineer in the employ of the government, now residing at Sterling. They have two children, John G. and Robert W.
In 1868 Mr. Manahan was admitted to the bar and engaged in practice in Sterling, being a partner of Colonel William Kilgour for a number of years. A large and distinctively representative clientage was accorded him and he became especially prominent in the practice of patent law before the
533
HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
federal courts. His preparation of cases was thorough and exhaustive and his position was largely unassailable. Aside from his law practice he had business interests in Sterling, having been one of the organizers of the Ster- ling Gas & Electric Light Company and financially interested in the Gas Engine Company.
In community affairs Mr. Manalian was ever known as one loyal and progressive in support of public measures for the general good. His aid could always be counted upon to further any movement tending to benefit the community. He was largely instrumental in establishing the public library and advocated many interests which were a matter of civic virtue and civic pride. He served as alderman for many terms and for three terms was mayor of the city, giving a businesslike, practical and beneficial administra- tion. He was also elected to represent his district in the state legislature as- the candidate of the republican party and gave to each question which came up for settlement during his term his earnest consideration. His support or opposition were always a matter of sincere belief and his political integrity was ever unsullied. He served for twelve years, beginning in 1879, as a member of the state board of charities, and his broad humanitarianism, com- bined with his business dispatch, well qualified him for that office. He had a wide acquaintance among the prominent political leaders of the state and enjoyed the warm personal friendship of Governors Fifer and Tanner. None « doubted his Christianity. It was a part of his daily life as well as Sunday church observance. He belonged to the Presbyterian church and for more- than twenty-five years served as one of its deacons, while for a long period he was superintendent of the Sunday school. He contributed generously to. the support of the church and did everything in his power to promote its growth and extend its influence. He died September 11, 1897, at the age , of sixty years, and Whiteside county mourned the loss of one whom it had come to know and honor, one who in pioneer days was connected with its early development, who in his profession had adhered to the highest standard of legal ethics, who in public service had discharged his duties with the utmost fidelity, who on the fields of battle had demonstrated his loyalty and who in the circle of his acquaintances held friendship inviolable and dis- played the utmost devotion to family ties.
GEORGE H. FADDEN.
George H. Fadden, president of the village board of Erie, is one of the representative citizens whosc efforts in behalf of public progress have been far-reaching and beneficial. He is morcover a business man of energy and determination, who has gained a place among the men of affluence in White- side county by reason of liis well directed energy and unwearied diligence. He is owner of the Rock River Dairy Farm and is the only milk dealer in the village in which he resides.
Mr. Fadden is a native of the province of Quebec, Canada, having been born near Clarenceville, December 8, 1847. His parents were Ira F. and
534
HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
Lucinda (Patterson) Fadden, also natives of that locality. They resided in Canada until 1889, when they came to Whiteside county, Illinois, and Mr. Fadden spent his last days in Prophetstown, where he died in October, 1906, at the venerable age of eighty-five years. His wife, who was born February 26, 1828, in Prophetstown, died February 17, 1908. The Faddens lived in the United States during the colonial epoch of our country's history but became pioneer settlers in Canada and cleared heavy timber land, developing that region in which occurred the birth of George H. Fadden.
The eldest in a family of twelve children, of whom eleven are yet living, George II. Fadden was reared upon the home farm, about two miles from the town of Clarenceville, to the age of seventeen years. He then left home and has since provided for his own support. Going to Vermont, he worked at the carpenter's trade for a year, after which he returned home to spend the winter. He next went to Marlboro, Massachusetts, where he worked during the greater part of the time during the succeeding two years. He then again went to Canada, where he continued until the fall of 1868, when he once more crossed the border into the United States and this time became a resi- dent of Sterling, where he continued for a brief period. He worked on the dam the year in which the bridge went out. In September, 1868, he came to Erie and for six years was engaged in railroad construction work in this state and Iowa, being thus engaged through the summer months, while the winter seasons were passed at Erie. At length he enterd the butchering and live-stock business with William Guthrie, a relation that was maintained for four years. He continued in the butchering business altogether for about ten years and on the expiration of that period turned his attention to farm- ing, which he followed for eighteen years, liis farm buildings being within the corporation limits of Erie. This was his father-in-law's old place, which is now owned by his wife and comprises two hundred and twenty acres of land. Four years ago he left the farm and built his present fine residence, which he now occupies. He is engaged in retailing milk, running a wagon for this purpose, and he owns a valuable farm property of one hundred and fifty acres on sections 27 and 28, Fenton township. His farm in the town is conducted as a dairy farm and is known as the Rock River Dairy. Mr. Fadden has continued in the dairy business for the past seven years and is now the only retail dealer in milk in Erie. He keeps twenty-five cows and has a liberal patronage, conducting an extensive and profitable business. Aside from his interests in that linc he is a stockholder and director in the First National Bank of Eric, with which he has thus been connected from its organization. In his business affairs he displays sound judgment and keen sagacity and his well managed interests are bringing to him gratifying success.
On the 22d of September, 1875, Mr. Fadden was married to Miss Geneva M. Gordon, who was born in Rushford, Allegany county, New York, October 18, 1852, and in 1854 was brought to Erie, by her parents, Lorenzo Dow and Orissa (Rawson) Gordon, who drove across the country from New York to Illinois. Her parents were natives of Allegany county, New York, and continued residents of the Empire state until 1854, when they came to White- side county. Her father conducted a woolen factory in the east but on
535
HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
reaching Illinois settled upon the farm which is now owned by Mrs. Fadden, on seetion 7, Erie township. Mr. Gordon purchased two hundred acres of land which was partly improved and which lies partly within the corporation limits of the village. There he resided until his death, which occurred in October 22, 1894, when he was seventy-seven years of age, his birth having oeeurred in 1817. His wife, who was born in 1817, passed away May 7, 1884. His father, William Gordon, was owner of a large woolen mill in the east. He was a native of New England and was of Seoteh deseent. His family , numbered twelve children. He was very active in the work of the Methodist church and was a local preacher of that denomination. The family of Lorenzo D. Gordon numbered two children, the older being Marion, the de- eeased wife of Robert Wood.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Fadden have been born three children: Lester Gordon, who wedded Christina Michelson and resides upon his mother's farm in Erie township; Mabel Clare, the wife of Fred Bleitz, who is living upon her father's farm in Fenton township; and Hazel Belle. 'Mr. and Mrs. Bleitz have two children, Gordon and Darrel Hobart.
While Mr. Fadden has long made his home in this eounty and is well known as a. representative business man, he has been equally prominent in public affairs and is now serving for the sceond term of two years as president of the village board. He has been a life-long republican and a recognized leader of his party in this locality. He has served on the village board for thirteen consecutive years and has done effective service for the town in its development and progress. He has also been sehool director here for ten years and the eause of education finds in him a stalwart champion. Frater- nally he is a Mason, belonging to the blue lodge at Erie and the ehapter at Prophetstown and he is also eonneeted with the Knights of Pythias lodge of Erie. His is a sturdy American character and a stalwart patriotism and he has the strongest attachment for our free institutions, being ever willing to make any personal sacrifice for their preservation, while his loyalty to eom- munity interests is manifest in many tangible ways.
JUDGE AARON A. WOLFERSPERGER.
Judge Aaron A. Wolfersperger, a well known member of the Sterling bar, was born in Jordan township, Whiteside county, March 22, 1856. The Wolfersperger family is of German Swiss aneestry and was established at a- very early day in the seventeenth century in Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, where John Wolfersperger, the grandfather of our subjeet, was born, reared and followed farming. Later he and his wife, Mrs. Margaret Wolfersperger, came to Illinois in 1868, after selling their property in the cast, and resided on one of the farms owned by their son John in Jordan township. There John Wolfersperger, Sr., died at the age of eighty years, while his wife sur- vived him for a few years and died at the age of eighty-four.
.536
HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
Their son, John Wolfersperger, Jr., was an only child. He was born in Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, and throughout his entire life followed general agricultural pursuits. He removed westward to Whiteside county about 1850, settling in Jordan township when this was a frontier district. He purchased land from the government and from time to time added to his possessions until they aggregated about nine hundred and sixty acres, which he developed and improved, bringing his farms under a high state of eultivation. Be- cause of his judieious investment and capable business management he prospered, becoming one of the wealthy farmers of the county. He resided upon his place until 1884, when he removed to Sterling, where he lived re tired, his death there occurring in 1897 when he was seventy-seven years. In early manhood he married Lydia Kapp, a daughter of Jacob Kapp, a na- tive of Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, and of German descent. The history of the Kapp family also dates baek for many generations in that state, where Jacob Kapp followed farming as a life work. Both he and his wife dicd there. Their daughter, Mrs. Wolfersperger, passed away in 1895 at the age of seventy-three years, while the death of Jolin Wolfersperger occurred in Sterling in 1897 at the age of seventy-seven. They were both members of the Lutheran church and its teachings constituted the guide of their lives. In their family were six children, of whom four are yet living: Cassie W., the wife of Rev. W. C. Seidel, of Sterling; Maggie W., the wife of W. W. Davis, also a resident of Sterling; Henry F., who lives in Minneapolis, Kan- sas; and Aaron A., of this review.
Judge Aaron A. Wolfersperger spent his boyhood days quietly and uneventfully upon his father's farm in Jordan township, assisting in the work of the fields through the summer months and attending the distriet schools in the winter seasons. Ambitious for further educational privileges, he afterward attended the Carthage College at Carthage, Illinois, and was grad- nated therefrom in 1876. Having determined upon a professional career, he matriculated in the Union College of Law in Chicago and after completing the course by graduation in 1879, was admitted to the bar and opened a law office in Sterling, where he has remained continuously since. He has made orderly progression in his profession and while his devotion to his elients' interests has been proverbial, lie has never forgotten that he owcs a still higher allegiance to the majesty of the law. He filled the office of city attorney from 1883 until 1890 and in the latter year was elected county judge by over sixteen hundred majority. He remained upon the bench for four years and his service as a judge was in harmony with his record as a man and a lawyer, distinguished by the utmost fidelity and by marked ability in handling the work of the court. His decisions were strictly fair and impartial, personal beliefs or prejudices never entering in as a disturbing force. On his retirement from the bench he resumed the regular practice of law in Sterling, where he has an extensive clientage of a most. important character. He is now attorney for and a director of the Sterling National Bank, with which he has been thus connected since its organization in 1882. He is likewise president of the Rock. Falls Manufacturing Company of Sterl- ing, which manufactures coffins and hearses and employs a large foree of workmen in the conduct of its extensive business.
537
HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
On the 4th of November, 1880, occurred the marriage of Judge Wolfers- perger and Miss Anna H. Hendricks, a daughter of Jacob and Sophia (Snyder) Hendricks, who were natives of Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. The former was a son of John Hendricks, who was born in the Keystonc state, where he followed farming and was of German descent. The maternal grandfather was also a Pennsylvania farmer and of German lineage. He and his wife died in the east but the paternal grandparents of Mrs. Wolfers- perger came to the west in the '50s and spent their last days in Whiteside county. In the year 1856 Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Hendricks arrived in Jordan township, where the father purehased a farm, upon which he lived until sometime in the '60s. He then sold that property and removed to Sterling, where he died in November, 1880, at the age of eighty years. His wife survived him and passed away at the age of seventy-nine. They were the parents of only one child who grew to maturity-Mrs. Wolfersperger, who by her marriage has become the mother of a daughter and son. The former, Lelia, is a graduate of Vassar College of the elass of 1906. The son, John, was graduated from Cornell University in the same year and is now attending the School of Mining in Columbia University in New York city.
Judge and Mrs. Wolfersperger arc members of the Presbyterian church, in which he is serving as a trustee. He belongs to Roek River Lodge, No. 612, A. F. & A. M .; Sterling Chapter, No. 57, R. A. M .; and Sterling Com- mandery, No. 57, K. T. He also affiliates with Sterling Lodge, No. 174, I. O. O. F., and with the Encampment. Politically he was a demoerat until 1896 and has sinee given his allegiance to the republican party. With his family he resides at No. 602 First avenue, where he built a pleasant home in 1888. While undoubtedly he is not without that honorable ambition which is so powerful and useful as an ineentive to activity in public affairs, he re- . gards the pursuits of private life as being in themselves abundantly worthy of his best efforts. He has developed the intellectual powers with which nature endowed him and, well versed in the learning of his profession and with a deep knowledge of human nature and the springs of human conduct, with sagacity and tact, he is in the courts an advocate of power and influence, to whom judges and juries listen with attention and deep interest.
HARRY HUNTER WOOD.
Harry Hunter Wood, president of the Eureka Company, carriage manu- faeturers at Rock Falls, is in this connection closely associated with the indus- trial development and consequent prosperity of his city and county. Hc was born in Sterling, Illinois, March 15, 1872, his parents being John and Susan . (Holdridge) Wood, natives of the state of New York. His paternal grand- father was a farmer and dairyman, while the father followed various pursuits, devoting some time to the purchase and sale of real estate and of horses. Removing westward he became an carly settler of Sterling and after residing there for a number of years began the manufacture of wagons, being president
538
HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
of the Union Wagon Company, which plaeed upon the market the Union wagon that was sold in all parts of the country. Mr. Wood continued in that business up to the time of his death, which oeeurred in 1881, when he was sixty-one years of age, while his wife survived him and passed away in May, 1906, at the age of seventy-two years. She was a member of the Episcopal church.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.