USA > Illinois > Whiteside County > History of Whiteside County, Illinois, from its earliest settlement to 1908, Vol. I > Part 67
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farm lands were still unclaimed. He has seen the wonderful changes that have since been wrought and with its agricultural interests has been actively identified, so that the history of the pioneer settlement of Whiteside county would be incomplete without the record of liis life and it cannot fail to be of interest to our readers.
JAMES H. WOODBURN.
James H. Woodburn, residing at No. 1209 West Third street, is con- ducting business as a nurseryman and dealer in seeds and flowers. He has long been identified with the agricultural and horticultural interests of Sterling and Whiteside county and is thoroughly respected in business circles.
He was born in Newville, Pennsylvania, October 12, 1836, his parents being George W. and Mary (Williams) Woodburn, likewise natives of the same state. The father followed merchandising in early manhood and in 1837 came to the middle west on a prospecting tour. The land in this locality had not yet been surveycd, but the government required the settlers to fence thirty acres of their homestead, which no one could take away from them, and when the land came into market Mr. Woodburn purchased two hundred and twenty acres, on which stood a log cabin containing two rooms. He then returned to Pennsylvania and in 1838 came again to Illinois, leaving the old home in the east on the 8th of January, arriving in Sterling on the 15th of April. The trip westward was made by wagon across the country, the way often leading through the primeval forests as well as across almost trackless prairie. Mr. Woodburn engaged in farming on what is now the western edge of Sterling, concentrating his cnergies upon the development of a new farm. His wife died in 1846 and three years later, in 1849, he went to the far west and prospectcd for gold in California. About seven years were spent on the Pacific coast and in 1856 he returned to Whiteside county, where he continued to reside until his death, which occurred when he was seventy-five years of age. For his second wife he chosc Phoebe Ann Shultz, who is still living.
James H. Woodburn, the only child of the father's first marriage, went to Indianapolis in his boyhood days and attended an academy there while living with his aunt, Mrs. Margaret F. (Williams) Espy. He spent six years in that city, after which he returned to his native town, becoming a student in the academy there, from which he was graduated in the class of 1854. His education completed, he returned to Sterling, where he began farming and he still lives upon the old homestead, which has been his place of resi- dence for fifty-three years and which is now his property. The homestead contains about twenty acres, lying within the corporation limits of Sterling. He also owns forty acres of the original purchase on the creek, which is timberland. Farming and fruit-growing have been his life work and in connection thicrewith he has engaged in the nursery business and in floricul- ture. His business is profitable, having been gradually developed along
JAMES HI. WOODBURN
LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA
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modern lines and he today receives a liberal patronage in the sale of nursery stock, seeds and flowers.
In 1858 occurred the marriage of Mr. Woodburn and Miss Susan A. Farrar, of Laconia, New Hampshire, a daughter of Isaac and Hannah Far- rar. Two sons were born of that union: Charles H. and George W., the latter now deceased. The former, who wedded Mary J. Clatworthy, is an attorney of Sterling. Mrs. Susan A. Woodburn, who was a doveted member of the Fourth Street Methodist church, died in March, 1903.
Mr. Woodburn also belongs to the same church and is interested in everything pertaining to the moral development of the community. He is entitled to membership in the Grand Army of the Republic by reason of his active service as a soldier of the Civil war. He was for three years at the front, enlisting in Company I, Seventy-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, as a private. Immediately, however, he was made sergeant and later was commissioned second lieutenant, but was not mustered in as such from the fact that the company was not full enough, its ranks having been greatly disseminated by the ravages of war. Politically he was originally a whig and since the dissolution of that party has been a stalwart republican. Hc is interested in all matters of citizenship and his cooperation can be counted upon to further progressive public measures.
He is one of Whiteside county's oldest settlers, dating his residence here from 1838, and his mind bears the impress of the early historic annals of the state and forms a connecting link between the primitive past and the pro- gressive present. When one looks abroad over the fine farms and the thriv- ing cities of Illinois it is hard to realize that it is within the memory of any living man when all this section was largely an unbroken prairie, but such it was during the early youth of James H. Woodburn. One could ride for miles without coming to a house or fence to impede his progress and the land, rich in its natural resources, had not been brought under the plow. From an early date he has borne his full part in promoting the interests which have transformed this into a rich agricultural district with thriving commercial and industrial centers in its midst.
HARVEY R. SENIOR.
Harvey R. Senior, vice president of the First National Bank of Albany, was formerly closely associated with agricultural interests in Whiteside county but has retired from the work of the farm and gives his attention merely to his invested interests at the present time. He is a man of undoubted business integrity, of enterprise and of stalwart determination-qualities which have characterized him throughout his entire life and gained him his present enviable position as one of the substantial citizens of the community. He was born in Garden Plain township, this county, December 4, 1850, his parents being John and Mary (Murphy) Senior. The father came to White- side county some years prior to his marriage. At the time he located here
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it was difficult to obtain even the necessitics of life, while none of the com- forts and luxuries could be enjoyed. In fact, the settlers had to undergo many hardships and privations in order to reclaim this region for the pur- poses of civilization. Mr. Senior had come from England and in this country he gave his time and energies to agricultural pursuits. In Whiteside county he wedded Mrs. Mary Baird, nee Murphy, the widow of Harvey Baird. With her first husband she came from Ohio to Illinois in 1847 and their home was established in Garden Plain township, where the country was absolutely new, neighbors few and far between and the comforts of life almost unknown. Mr. Baird entered and purchased land and became quite an extensive farmer. Following the death of her husband, Mrs. Baird be- came the wife of John Senior in 1849. By her first marriage she had four children who lived to years of maturity: Frank, now deceased; Ethelinda, the deceased wife of William T. Crotzer; Mary, the widow of Mat Hopkins and a resident of St. Louis, Missouri; and Ebenezer, of Beaumont, Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Senior became the parents of. but one child, Harvey R., of this review. Mr. Senior had also been previously marricd and by his former union liad one son, John, who is probably now deceased. Frank Baird, the half brother of our subject, was killed at the battle of Vicksburg in July, 1863. The mother died in the same year.
Harvey R. Senior was rearcd upon the home farm and educated in the country schools. He was left an orphan at an early age and his opportunities in youth were about like those of the average boy in a frontier community. At the age of twenty-one years he commenced farming on his own account on land purchased by the family and for a long period continued actively in general agricultural pursuits. His early training well qualified him for the capable conduct of his business in this connection and as a farmer he has been very successful, the methods he has followed leading to prosperity. He early learned how to till the soil to the best advantage and to take the best care of his crops, and thus for a long period he annually gathered rich harvests, for which he found a ready market. Outside of farming he has had but few business interests. In 1902, however, in connection with Dr. S. B. Dimond and C. E. Peck, he organized the First National Bank of Albany, of which he is a director and the vice president. He was also presi- dent for a number of years of the Garden Plain Mutual Fire Insurance Company.
On the 30th of March, 1876, Mr. Senior was married to Miss Emma A. Stonc, of Garden Plain township, a daughter of I. D. Stonc, an early settler of Whiteside county who followed the occupation of farming as a life work. Mrs. Senior was the only child of her father's first marriage and there were two sons of his second marriage: Daniel S., now living in Garden Plain township; and Burt, whose home is in Morrison, Illinois. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Senior were born four children: Clarence F. and Newell K., both residents of Garden Plain township; and Olive L. and Emily B., at home. The wife and mother died in 1899, and her death was deeply regretted by many friends, ·who entertained for her the warmest regard in recognition of her many sterling traits of heart and mind.
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Mr. Senior gives his political allegiance to the republican party and in 1898 was elected to the office of county supervisor. No higher testimonial of his efficient, faithful and capable. service could be given than the fact that he was continued in the office by re-election until December, 1906, when he resigned, having removed that ycar to Albany. He has filled various offices in this township and no trust reposed in him has ever been betrayed in the slightest degree. He is a representative man of his county, public spirited in anything that pertains to its development and progress. He has at all times been broad-minded in his business affairs as well as in his public relations, and the course of life which he has marked out for himself and closely followed is one which has gained for hin the unqualified confidence and esteem of his fellow townsmen.
THOMAS SHIRLEY MCKINNEY.
Thomas Shirley Mckinney, who at the time of his death was cashier of the First National Bank of Sterling, having for some years been closely asso- ciated with the financial interests of the city, belonged to that class of men whose worth in business circles and in citizenship caused their death to be the occasion of deep and wide-spread regret. A native of Indiana, he was born on the 27th of April, 1855, his parents being Joshua Vose and Catharine Mckinney, who were natives of the Empire state. The father came west when a young man and he and his brother William were very early settlers of Ster- ling, where for some years lic conducted a milling business. His last years were spent in honorable retirement from labor in the enjoyment of well 'carned rest and he died November 27, 1906, at the age of eighty-four years. . He was one of the founders of the Congregational church here and a man of deeply religious sentiment, whose christianity was evidenced in his daily life. He was ever just and honorable, having the strictest regard for truth and veracity, while in his opinions of others he was charitable and in his actions * kindly. For many years he served as deacon of the church and such was his life that he left to his family an untarnished name. Unto him and his wife were born eight children, five sons and three daughters, of whom four are now living: Jeannette, the wife of Dr. James E. Harlan, vice president of ·Cornell College, of Mount Vernon, Iowa; Olive, who became the wife of Clinton L. White, a prominent lawyer of Sacramento, California; William E., who makes his home' in Dewitt, Iowa; and John G., of Los Angeles, California.
Thomas Shirley Mckinney, brought to Illinois in his early childhood, was reared in Sterling, pursued his education in the public schools and was graduated from the high school. He afterward attended Cornell College at Mount Vernon, Iowa, and entered business life as teller in the First National Bank, where his fidelity, loyalty and capability won him promotion. He became assistant cashier and eventually succeeded Mr. Sanborn in the posi- tion of cashier, in which capacity lie was retained for a number of years or until the time of his own demise. Ever faithful to the interests of the bank, he contributed in no small degree to its success and was a popular official.
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On the 1st of August, 1892, Mr. Mckinney was married to Miss Mary Viola Cassell, a daughter of Abrain C. and Barbara (Meyers) Cassell. They became the parents of one son, John B. Mckinney. The parents of Mrs. Mc- Kinney were natives of Pennsylvania, making their home in Philadelphia, where their daughter was born. The father was a cigar manufacturer and about 1869 came with his family to Sterling, where he and his wife still reside, being prominent and highly esteemed old people of the city. They are members of the Christian church and have here an extensive circle of friends. Mr. Cassell was the first prohibitionist in Sterling. His father, also a native of Pennsylvania, conducted a cotton mill there. Mrs. Cassell's parents were John and Elizabeth (Meyers) Meyers, likewise natives of Pennsylvania. Un- to Abram C. and Barbara (Meyers) Cassell were born seven children, five daughters and two sons, namely: Henry Clayton, of Pasadena, California; Mrs. McKinney; Elizabeth Gertrude, of Sterling; Addie Laurene; Mabel Dora, the wife of Edward W. Anger, a resident of Chicago; John Allen, also of Sterling; and Beulah Latina Cassell.
The death of Mr. Mckinney occurred July 1, 1905, when he was fifty years of age. He belonged to the Congregational church with which Mrs. Mckinney still holds membership, and his life, displaying many excellent traits of character, won for him the stalwart friendship of the great majority of those with whom he came in contact. He was an exemplary representa- tive of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to Rock River Lodge, No. 612, A. F. & A. M .; Sterling Chapter, No. 57, R. A. M .; and Sterling Commandery, No. 57, K. T. His political allegiance was given to the republican party but he neither sought nor desired office, preferring to concentrate his energies upon his business affairs. In manner he was genial and cordial and he had the happy faculty not only of winning but also of retaining friends, and when he was called from this life Sterling felt that death claimed one whom she could ill afford to lose.
JUDGE JAMES E. McPHERRAN.
An enumeration of the men of Whiteside county whose record confers honor and dignity upon the community which has honored them would be in- complete were there failure to make prominent reference to Judge James Em- mett McPherran, for no man of the county was ever more respected or ever more fully enjoyed the confidence of the people or more richly deserved the esteem in which he was held. In his lifetime his fellow citizens, recognizing his merit, rejoiced in his advancement, and since his death they have cher- ished his memory. Honorable in business, loyal in citizenship, charitable in thought, kindly in action and true to every trust confided to his care, his life was of the highest type of American manhood, and he left the impress of his individuality upon the laws of the state in their formation and in their execution.
Judge McPherran was a native of Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, born in 1834. He was a son of John and Elizabeth (Stewart) McPherran,
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a grandson of Andrew and Martha (Adams) McPherran and a great-grandson of John McPherran. The earliest representatives of the family in the new world eame originally from the highlands of Scotland and had all the sterling traits of the Scotch people. Andrew McPherran served his country as a sol- dier in the Revolutionary war. He married Martha Adams, a cousin of the two presidents of that name. Her mother was a Sterling from the town of Sterling, Scotland. Andrew McPherran was one of three brothers, two step- brothers and three sisters who came from Seotland to the new world and after aiding in winning independence for the colonies lie settled at Raeetown Branch in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania. Two cousins of the name, John and William McPherran, also came to America with the brothers and sisters mentioned and settled at Baltimore, Maryland.
Jolın MePherran, father of Judge McPherran, was a native of Pennsyl- vania, became an iron master and also operated a farm. He was a devoted member of the Presbyterian church, in which he served as elder, and he died when well advaneed in years, having long survived his wife, who passed away in middle life. Of their children, only one, Stewart McPherran, of Kansas, is now living.
Judge McPherran acquired his early education in Pennsylvania and was graduated from Jefferson College, after which he made his way westward to Chieago and completed a course in the Chicago Law School in 1862. In the fall of that ycar he eame to Sterling, where he opened an office and practieed as a member of the firm of Sackett, McPherran & Ward. After a short time, however, he withdrew from this association and continued alone in practice throughout the remainder of his long connection with the Whiteside county bar. As an attorney he ranked at the head of this bar, being widely recog- nized as a lawyer of more than ordinary ability. His success in a profes- sional way afforded the best evidence of his powers. He was a strong advocate with the jury and concise in his appeals before the court. Mueh of the suc- eess which attended him in his professional carcer was undoubtedly due to the fact that in no instance did he permit himself to go into court with a case unless he had absolute confidenee in the justice of his client's cause. Basing his efforts on this principle, from which there are far too many lapses in professional ranks, it naturally followed that he seldom lost a case in whose support he was enlisted. For a number of years he served as master in chancery and was filling that position at the time of his death.
On the 20th of April, 1865, Judge McPherran was united in marriage to . Miss Sarah A. Withrow, of Macomb, Illinois, a daughter of William E. and Harriet Eliza (Chase) Withrow. Her mother was a relative of Salmon P. Chase. Her father was a native of Lewisburg, Virginia, and a graduate of Yale College. He read law in the east and afterward came to Illinois, settling at Rushville in 1835. There he became acquainted with Miss Chase and they were married in 1839. His parents were James and Letitia (Edgar) Withrow, while his wife was a daughter of Moody and Lucy (Farnum) Chase. The former owned a large farm near Cornish, New Hampshire. He was a son of Moses Chase, who served as a private in Captain William Scott's company of Colonel Jonathan Chase's regiment in the Revolutionary war and who was a
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member of the house of representatives three times. He married Hannah Brown. William E. Withrow died in Sterling, November 15, 1886, at the age of seventy-seven years, while his wife died at the comparatively early age of thirty-three years. They had three children: Chase Withrow, now a prominent lawyer of Denver, Colorado; Mrs. McPherran; and Judge James Edgar Withrow, of St. Louis, Missouri, who has been on the bench for twenty years.
Four children were born unto Judge and Mrs. McPherran but the only daughter, Mabel, died in 1897 at the age of thirty-one years. Edgar With- row, the eldest son, was admitted to the bar in both Michigan and Illinois and is now land commissioner for the Duluth; South Shore & Atlantic Rail- road and lives at Marquette, Michigan. He married Miss Mabel Alice Wil- kinson and they have two daughters, Elizabeth and Sarah. Ralph Stewart McPherran, the second son, pursued a course in chemistry and metallurgy and was graduated from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. After spending ten years with the Allis-Chalmers Company at Milwaukee, Wis- consin, he is now holding a position in the line of his profession with the J. 1. Case Threshing Machine Company, of Racine, Wisconsin. Charles Chase McPherran, the youngest son, is a chemist and metallurgist and suc- ceeded his brother in the service of the Allis-Chalmers Company. He mar- ried Miss Fredericka Augusta Wholrab, a granddaughter of Colonel Lind- wurm, an old resident of Milwaukee.
Judge McPherran, because of his long residence in Sterling and his active and honorable service in behalf of public interests, was one of the best known citizens here. He was made a Mason in Washington Lodge, No. 164, A. F. & A. M., at Washington; Pennsylvania, affiliated with Char- tiers Lodge, No. 297, at Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, June 23, 1856; and joined Sterling Lodge, No. 202, June 21, 1862, while on the 6th of March, 1896, he became a member of Rock River Lodge, No. 612. He was exalted to the Royal Arch Degree of Sterling Chapter, No. 57, R. A. M., June 27, 1900, was created a Knight Templar in Sterling Commandery, No. 57, October 30, 1900, and was an exemplary member of the 'craft. . He was long an earnest Christian man and prior to his death united with the Presbyterian church, of which Mrs. McPherran is also a member.
He possessed rather a retiring disposition but such was his genuine worth that the measure of respect and confidence accorded him was no lim- ited one. He might have attained to distinguished honors in political and public life had he so desired. As it was, he was prominent in both state and municipal affairs and in 1873-4 represented his district in the Illinois assem- bly, becoming identified with some of the most important legislative meas- ures enacted during that period, being the author of several bills which today occupy a place among the statutes of the state. Public spirited in an eminent degree, he was interested in all that pertained to local advancement and national progress and when' called to positions of honor and trust dis- charged his duties with marked fidelity and promptness. He was especially interested in the library of Sterling and to him, more than to any other citizen, the city is indebted for its present excellence. His home life >was
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largely ideal and he found his greatest happiness in the quiet enjoyment of the companionship of his wife and children. He died December 11, 1903, at the age of sixty-nine years. Few lawyers have made a more lasting im- pression upon the bar of Whiteside county, both for legal ability of a high order and for the individuality of a personal character which impresses itself upon a community. He stood for high ideals, not only in the practice of law but in every walk of life, and while his retiring disposition limited in a way his cirele of intimate friends, there were none who knew him that did not entertain for him the highest respect.
ANTHONY A. THOME.'
Anthony A. Thome, whose position in the public regard and confidence of his fellowmen is indicated by his recent election to the mayoralty of Roek Falls, is also well known as a representative of industrial life here, being senior partner of the firm of Thome & Decker, general blacksmiths, in which connection he is enjoying a growing and profitable patronage. His life, record began in Jordan township, this county, on the 1st of January, 1864.
His parents were Anthony A. and Maria (Van Buskirk) Thome, natives of Alsace-Loraine, Germany, and New York respectively. The mother be- longed to an old colonial family and on the maternal side was deseended from Captain Braddoek, of Revolutionary fame. Her father was a native of New York and died in middle life. Our subject's paternal grandfather, who also bore the name of Anthony A. Thome, died in Germany at an advanced agc.
Reared to the occupation of farming, the father of our subjeet always followed that pursuit. The opportunities of the new world were attractive to him and thinking to enjoy the better business chances on this side of the Atlantic, he came to America and settled first in the state of New York, later becoming one of the early residents of Whiteside county, Illinois. Fol- lowing his removal to the west he took up his abode in Jordan township, where lie cultivated a good traet of land and successfully engaged in farm- ing operations until his removal to Dixon, Illinois, where he is now living retired. He served as a soldier of the German army ere leaving his native land. . His wife passed away in 1905, at the age of seventy-three years, and her death. was the occasion of deep regret to many friends who had come to esteem her for her many good qualities. In the family were five children, four sons and a daughter: Katy, the wife of J. P. Johnson, a resident of Grafton, Nebraska; John, who makes liis home in Dixon, Illinois; Anthony A., whose name introduees this record; Henry, of Harmon township, White- side county; and George, of Montmoreney township, this county,
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