USA > Illinois > Whiteside County > History of Whiteside County, Illinois, from its earliest settlement to 1908, Vol. I > Part 60
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Harry Hunter Wood was reared in Sterling and acquired his education through the medium of the public schools and the Sterling Business College. He passed through consecutive grades until he beeame a high school student and afterward received commercial training qualifying him for life's practical and responsible duties. After putting aside his text books he seeured a position as bookkeeper and grain buyer in connection with G. T. Elliott's elevator and for a short time was in the Sterling postoffice. In 1890 he became bookkeeper for the Eureka Company, carriage manufacturers, and subsequently went upon the road as its traveling representative. His capability led to his pro- , motion to the position of sales manager and later he purchased an interest in the business, of which he was made secretary. In August, 1906, he purchased the interest of Thomas A. Galt in the enterprise and was chosen president and treasurer of the company. They manufacture vehicles for domestie and for- cign trade and employ about seventy-five people. The factory is located in Rock Falls and is equipped with all of the latest improved machinery to facil- itate work in their line. They hold to high ideals in the character of their manufactured produet, in their personnel and in their service to the public, and that they have gained publie eonfidenee and patronage is indicated by the fact that their output is now about five thousand finished vehicles annually.
On the 20th of October, 1903, Mr. Wood was married to Miss Etta Me- Cune, a daughter of James A. and Ella (Piekett) MeCune. The family residence is at No. 805 West Fourth street and both Mr. and Mrs. Wood have a wide eirele of friends in Sterling and other parts of the county.
COLONEL PETER EGE.
Colonel Peter Ege, who is now living retired, although formerly active at the bar as a well known and able lawyer, was born at Pine Grove Furnace, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, November 10, 1835. His parents were Major Joseph A. and Jane Almyra (Woodburn) Ege. The father was also a native of Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, as was the grandfather, Captain Peter Ege, who derived his title by service in com- mand of a company of Pennsylvania. Dragoons and who was wounded in the war of 1812. His father, Michael Ege, was a native of Philadelphia and a son of Brainard Ege, a native of Germany, who became the founder of the family in America, erossing the Atlantic in the seventeenth century. He was aeeompanied on his emigration to the new world by two sons and set- tled in Trenton, New Jersey. Brainard Ege and his son Michael were both civil engineers and the latter was one of the early teachers of Philadelphia.
COL. PETER EGE
LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
Major Joseph A. Ege reared the following children to adult age: Jane Almyra, now deceased; Margaret W., the widow of Major John J. McFar- land, of Minneapolis, Minnesota; Jane L., the deceased wife of Peter May- berger, who has also passed away; Peter, of this review; Martha E., the widow of George Roddy, of New Bloomfield, Pennsylvania; Henrietta M., the widow of Judge S. Burd, of Minneapolis, Minnesota; Joseph A., who served as colonel of the One Hundred and Eighty-seventh Pennsylvania Regiment in the Civil war and is now deceased; James H., who for three years served as a private in the Ninety-third Illinois Infantry and is now residing at Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Francis H. and Ellen E., both of whom have passed away. The mother of this family died in 1850 and in 1853 Mr. Ege was again married, his second union being with Kate R. Reish, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Unto them were born four children : 4 Wil- liain L., deceased; Charles F., a resident farmer of Newton township, White- side county ; Eva M., the deceased wife of Harper Earl, of this county; and Hattie B., a teacher of Oakland, California.
The maternal ancestor of Colonel Ege of this review was James Wood- burn, who was of Scotch Irish parentage. He married Agnes Martin, who was of pure Scotch lineage, a daughter of Dr. Martin, who located in Car- lisle, Pennsylvania, in 1734 and served as a surgeon in the war for inde- pendence. He was also in the war of 1812 and occupied the same position. He participated in most of the engagements of the war fought by General Scott and rendered valued service in caring for the sick and wounded.
Colonel Peter Ege was educated in the east. When the country became involved in hostilities between the north and the south, Colonel Ege, on the 14th of April, 1861, only two days after Fort Sumter was fired upon, left Chicago as a member of the Chicago Zouaves in the ninety days' service. :Before the expiration of this term he was made first lieutenant on the staff of Governor Richard Yates of Illinois, while General U. S. Grant was second lieutenant on the same staff. General Grant was appointed by Governor Yates colonel of the Twenty-first Illinois Infantry and Colonel Ege had the honor of presenting him with his commission. The regiment of which he became commander was raised by Colonel Curtis, a banker of Quincy.
Colonel Ege, in August, 1861, was sent by Governor Yates and the state government to recruit a company. He then made his way to White -. side county, where he had located in 1855, and here raised what became Company A of the Thirty-fourth Regiment of Illinois Volunteers. With this command he served in the Army of the Tennessee and later with the Army of the Cumberland and was made colonel on the 7th of November, 1864, in command of the Thirty-fourth Regiment of Veterans. The first battle in which he engaged was that at Shiloh on the 7th of April, 1862. There he was slightly wounded in the neck. Later he took part in the engagement at Corinth, Mississippi, and afterward at Stone River, Buzzard's Roost, Georgia, and Resaca and Rome. At the last named place he was wounded in the abdomen and was confined in the hospital for a short time. This wound proved very serious and from its effects he has never yet recov- ered. However, after a time he was again on active duty with his regiment
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and participated in the battle of Kenesaw Mountain, where he was slightly wounded in the hand. He was also in the battle of Goldsboro, Georgia, and later he was for one hundred and two days in and around Atlanta, being stationed on the skirmish line. Thus he was in constant danger and was under fire every day and frequently at night as well. At the time of the capitulation of Atlanta he was at that eity. He was also in front of Savannah, Georgia, and on the 17th of December, 1864, was wounded at that place, being struck by a bullet in the thumb of his right hand. The injury proved quite serious, however, and confined him to the hospital for six weeks. After the troops under General Sherman had succeeded in reaching the sea, the army started on the return north and on the 15th of March, 1865, the battle of Averysboro, North Carolina, was fought, but in this Colonel Ege did not participate, Colonel Walker being in command of his regiment. He was, however, engaged in the battle of Bentonville, North Carolina, which . was the last serious engagement of the war. Colonel Ege commanded his regiment from this point to Richmond, Virginia, and thenee on to Wash- ington, where the army was mustered out. Colonel Ege was in command of a brigade of the Second Division of the Fourteenth Army Corps, which he continued to command until it was mustered out July 17, 1865. He served for three years and eleven months in the Thirty-fourth Illinois Vol- unteer Infantry and altogether put in four years and six months' time as a soldier in defense of the Union. He commanded his regiment at the grand review at Washington.
When the war was over Colonel Ege returned to Whiteside county, where he resumed the praetiee of law and also engaged in the lumber busi- ness. He was for many years a member of the Whiteside county bar and was recognized as an able and learned lawyer. He had from the time he left school in 1854 up to the time of the outbreak of hostilities devoted his attention to engineering and in this work was associated with such men as General George B. Mcclellan, Major Bushnell and Captain George Brown. He was employed in surveying the Chieago & Northwestern Railroad from Chieago to Dewitt, Iowa, with a Mr. Seott as engineer-in-chief. As stated, after the war Colonel Ege praetieed law for a long period, but has now lived retired for a number of years.
In 1861 was celebrated the marriage of Colonel Ege and Miss Harriet L. Booth, a daughter of Elijah and Sarah (Beekley) Booth. Her paternal aneestors came to Ameriea in 1767 and settled at Virginia near the town of Norfolk. James Booth, the progenitor of the family in the new world, was a native of Wales but was reared in England, in which country his wife, who bore the maiden name of Naney Stallaker, was born. One of their sons, Danicl Booth, was a eolonel of the American army in the Revolution- ary war, commanding a regiment of Virginia volunteers. He died in the Old Dominion in 1790 and left a family of eight children: James, Isaac, Daniel, David, John, Stephen, Jane and Major W. Booth. The Booth family has ever been noted for the loyalty and patriotism of its members. Among the children of Colonel Danicl Booth was Danicl Booth, Jr., who served as colonel in the war of 1812. Another son, Captain John Booth,
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was killed by the English in the second war with England. His brother, Stephen Booth, who was sergeant of a company, was killed in the same battle. Jane became the wife of W. F. Wilson, who was also a soldier of the war of 1812. Major W. Booth likewise served with the American army in that war. He married Deborah Hart, and they had fifteen children. She was a daughter of Edward Hart, who was a son of John Hart, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. In 1839 Major W. Booth removed westward with his family and settled in Newton township, White- side county, Illinois. He had received a land warrant for service in the war of 1812 and with this he secured a claim in Newton township, which remained in possession of the family until a few years ago. Before his arrival in Whiteside county he had lived in other places. He removed from Virginia to Ohio and thence to Logansport, Indiana, where he lived for four years, after which he came to Illinois, making the entire journey with teams. The Booths have from early colonial days been numbered among the most prominent, influential and leading families of the Old Dominion. Elijah Booth and his wife were the parents of six children, four of whom reached years of maturity. Mrs. Booth died in Logansport, Indiana, in 1844, and it was the year following that the family came to Whiteside county. Of the children, Sylvester H. Booth, now deceased, served as a sergeant in the Civil war. When about twenty years of age he left home on an overland trip to California. The family supposed him dead, as they had not heard from him for a long period, but after an absence of twenty years he returned. Harriet L., the next of the family, is now the wife of Colonel Ege. Martha J., now deceased, was the wife of Pascal Early, who was a sergeant of Company F, Ninety-third Illinois Infantry. Mary M. is the deceased wife of S. H. Beckwith, of Iowa. The father of this family was a builder and contractor. He did not long remain in Whiteside county, but went south and died soon after the death of his wife.
Unto Colonel and Mrs. Ege have been born nine children: Martha and Maude, both of whom have passed away; Mary, the wife of Charles Wheaton, of La Harpe, Illinois; Harry P .; Henrietta W., the wife of Wil- liam F. Rumbull, of Laurel, Mississippi; Deborah B., the wife of W. L. Olds, of Madison, Wisconsin; Sylvester, a civil engineer, of. Laurel, Mis- sissippi and a soldier in the Spanish-American war; Sarah L., who is prin- cipal of the schools of Laurel, Mississippi; and a daughter who died in infancy. .
Colonel Ege and his family are members of the Presbyterian church and are prominent in the social life of the community. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity at Albany and Fulton Chapter, R. A. M., while of the Commandery at Laurel, Mississippi, he has become a Knight Templar. At the present time he has the distinction of being the second highest living officer now residing in the state of Illinois and none of the boys in blue have had a more varied military experience than fell to his lot while he defended the Stars and Stripes. He participated in the long marches, the hard cam- paigns, the sieges and the pitched battles, manifesting a bravery and valor
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that inspired his men to deeds of courage. In the years which have since come and gone he has been equally faithful to the interests of his country and in Whiteside county there is no more honored or respected citizen than this worthy veteran, who has now reached the seventy-third milestone on the journey of life.
· JOHN BRADLEY CRANDALL, M. D.
Dr. John Bradley Crandall, who as a physician and surgeon has gained recognition as one of the ablest representatives of his profession in Sterling and Whiteside county and who during the Civil war made a record as a valorous and patriotie soldier, was born at Roxbury, Vermont, February 22, 1840. His paternal grandfather was John Bradley Crandall, who was descended from Sir John Bradley Crandall, who was a lieutenant general and belonged to the right wing of protection to the crown. The grandfather removed from Connecticut to Vermont and served as a justice of the peace in Roxbury. He followed the occupation of farming as a life work and there rcared his family. He married a Miss Burnett, whose father was of Scotch descent, and served on Washington's staff in the war of the Revolution with the rank of lieutenant colonel. John Bradley Crandall lived to be about sixty years of age, while his wife reached the advanced age of nearly ninety years. They liad a large family, now widely scattered throughout the United States.
Their son, Daniel Burnett Crandall, a native of the Green Mountain state, followed the occupation of farming and died in Vermont about twenty- five years ago when sixty-six or sixty-seven years of age. IIe had married Lydia A. Bailey, who was also born in Vermont and was a daughter of Samuel Bailey, of Massachusetts, who removed to the Green Mountain state when it was largely undeveloped and unsettled. He was a hatter in his early man- hood but took up farming after his removal to Vermont, where he died in middle life. His wife, Mrs. Lydia (Reed) Bailey, lived to be about ninety years of age, her home being near Berlin, Vermont. The Recds were a promi- nent family of that state. Mrs. Lydia A. (Bailey) Crandall survived her hus- band for about ten years and passed away at the age of seventy-one. She was a niember of the Congregational church. In their family were three sons and three daughters, but only two are now living, the brother of our subject being George H. Crandall, a farmer of Berlin, Vermont. Another son of the family, Major Richard B. Crandall, of the Sixth Vermont, entered the Union service as adjutant of that regiment and held the position for about a year, when he was promoted to the captaincy. He served with that rank for six montlis and was then promoted from junior captain to the rank of major. He was a man of strong mentality and a fine soldier.
Dr. Crandall of this review spent his boyhood days largely at Barry, Vermont, and attended the common schools of Berlin and the academy at Barry. In the latter place he took up the study of medicine, was graduated from the medical department of the University of Vermont and subsequently pursued a post-graduate course in the College of Physicians and Surgeons in
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New York. He began practice in connection with the army, enlisting in the summer of 1861 He was made hospital steward of the Sixth Vermont In- fantry and served until the suminer of 1862. He was then graduated from the University of Vermont and in October of that year was appointed assist- ant surgcon in the army. He was on active duty with Mcclellan's forces in the seven days' battle of the Wilderness, belonged to the old Vermont brigade and was in General Baldy Smith's division in the retreat at Harrison's Land- ing. He remained with the Thirteenth Vermont until the autumn of 1863 and was the senior assistant surgeon on the Gettysburg battlefield. He was afterward on duty in general hospitals in the Department of the East and was stationed at Burlington, Vermont, until the summer of 1864. Subse- quently he was transferred to the Sloan United States Hospital at Montpelier, where he continued on duty until the hospital closed in the winter of 1865-6. . He then took a post-graduate course in the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York and, thus splendidly equipped by broad study and the practical and varied experience of army life, in the summer of 1866 he re-entercd the regular army and was put on duty in the Department of Missouri as assistant surgeon, being stationed on the frontier until he came to Sterling in 1868. The winter of 1866-7 was spent at Fort Riley and in the spring he went with an expedition of the Seventh Cavalry against the Indians, General Hancock commanding. In that year the regiment was also sent to Fort Dodge and sta- . tioned there in the center of the Indian strongholds. A cholera epidemic broke out there, the disease being brought by colored troops from St. Louis. There were eighty-five cases in all, with twenty-eight deaths. A curious feature was the fact that Troop B, United States Cavalry, was not attacked by the disease, while some of the officers and civilians in the officers' quarters were attacked and died. Dr. Crandall could not account for this except upon the theory that Troop B was quartered in the stables with the horses and the ammonia probably destroyed the germs of the disease. He contributed an able article to the Medical Journal on this subject a number of years ago, which was widely copied throughout the country.
In the fall of 1868 Dr. Crandall left the army and settled in Sterling, Illinois, where he has been in active practice continuously to the persent time. eovering a period of over forty years. Throughout this time he has enjoyed a liberal patronage and has long been accounted one of the foremost physicians of this part of the state. IIe has ever kept abreast with the ad- vanced thought and progress of the profession and his ability and energy have enabled him to successfully cope with the intricate problems continually presented through the complications of discase.
In January, 1869, Dr. Crandall was married to Miss Eliza Fluelling, a daughter of Benjamin Fluelling, who was an early lumber dealer of Ster- ling. Her mother was a Miss Robins before her marriage and died in the province of Ontario, Canada. Dr. and Mrs. Crandall have two children: Richard B., who learned the drug business; and Laura, the wife of Stowers Dunbar, of Sterling. Mrs. Crandall belongs to the Episcopal church.
The Doctor holds membership with the Sterling Club, of which he has served as president. He belongs to Will Robinson Post, G. A. R., of Sterling,
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and was on the national staff when General Black was commanding and also when General Brown was commander. He is now a member of the Chicago Commandery of the Loyal Legion and a non-resident member of the Com- mandery of the State of Vermont, Colonel Brown commanding, he having been a eolonel in the regiment to which Dr. Crandall belonged. In politics the Doctor is a republican, giving a stanch support to the party, yet without aspiration for office as a reward for party fcalty. The only position that he has filled has been in the line of his profession, as he has been president of the pension examining board during the past two administrations. He was also health officer for about ten years and was appointed by the state board as .inspector for infectious diseases for the northern part of the state. He belongs to both the County and State Medical Societies and United States Medical Association, and is interested in all that pertains to the advancement of tlie profession in increasing his efficiency and promoting his skill that his labors may be of more direct benefit to his fellowmen.
WARREN F. POWERS.
Warren F. Powers is now living retired in Sterling, deriving his income front farming property and other investments. He represents one of the old families of this section of the state and is a native of Palmyra township, Lee county, where his birth oceurred September 13, 1851. His parents were Abijah and Amanda (Sprout) Powers, both of whom were natives of Massa- chusetts. The former was a son of Joseph Powers, who was also born in the Old Bay state and followed the occupation of farming as a life work. He married Sarah Powers and in their later years they came to tlie middle west to make their home with their son Abijah. Mrs. Powers died when seventy- six years of age, on the anniversary of her son's birthday, and a notable eoincidence was that he died at the age of seventy-six years on his mother's birthday. The Powers family can trace their lineage back to the thirteentli century. Two brothers of the name were residents of Ireland and one went to England and the other to France, the latter becoming the founder of the family of which the subject of this review is a representative. In the ma- ternal line Warren F. Powers comes of an old New England family. His grandfather was a native of Massachusetts and a farmer by occupation. Hc died in the east, when about seventy years of age, after whichi his widow removed westward to Lee county, Illinois, and died at the age of eighty-nine.
Abijah Powers began providing for his own support at an early age. working by the day. He noted that the tide of emigration was steadily drifting westward and realized that opportunities must draw them to that section of the country. He therefore resolved that he would enjoy the benefits offered by the west and in the spring of 1837 came to Illinois, settling in Palmyra township, Lee county, where he worked for a year and a half. He then returned to the east and was married, after which he again became a resident of Lee county, in 1839, and there carried on general farming. His
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home farm contained two hundred and eighty-one acres of land, to which he added as his financial resources increased. In addition to his property in Lee county he had four hundred acres in Whiteside. county, also two half sections in Iowa and other land in Minnesota. The first winter after bring- ing his bride to the west they lived in a little log cabin without door or window to shut out the cold. One year his taxes amounted to five dollars and it occasioned him considerable worry as to how he should raise the money to meet the payment, for money was very searee in the middle west in those days and the farm products brought but little recompense. As the years passed, however, he prospered and improved several farms, thus contributing to the general advancement of this seetion of the state as well as to his indi- vidual success. He was the pioneer raiser of shorthorn cattle in this section of the state and perhaps did more to improve the grade of cattle raised than any other man in northern Illinois. He continued to reside upon the old homestead until his death, which occurred in July, 1891, when he was in his seventy-seventh year. His wife still survives him and is now in her eighty- ninth year. She has always been very active, has enjoyed excellent health and has ever been devoted to the welfare of her family. Mr. Powers was not only prominent in agricultural lines but also in community interests, filled nearly all of the town offices and was also elected to represent his district in the state legislature, where he served for one term, and then refused a second nomina- tion.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Abijah Powers were born six children, five of whom reached adult age: Elvira A., the wife of Captain Charles Eckles, of Marshall- town, Iowa; Nellie C., the deceased wife of A. E. Thummel; Mary A., the widow of James C. Nickerson, a resident of Pierre, South Dakota; Warren F., of this review; Austin A., of Palmyra township, Lee county, and residing on the old homestead farm; and Alfred, who was the first born and died of scar- let fever when six years of age.
Warren F. Powers was reared upon his father's farm in Lee county and his early educational privileges, afforded by the district schools, were sup- plemented by a course in the Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois. After putting aside his text-books he resumed farming and one year later was married and began farming on his own account by renting land in Jor- dan township, Whiteside county. He thus continued to engage in agricul- tural pursuits until his father's death, when he inherited a part of the estate, and now owns one hundred sixty-six and a half aeres of produetive land, whieli brings to him a good rental. At one time his holdings embraced three hundred and twenty acres, but having opportunity to sell advantageously he disposed of this land and purchased the farm he now owns.
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