USA > Illinois > Whiteside County > History of Whiteside County, Illinois, from its earliest settlement to 1908, Vol. II > Part 11
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In the spring of 1890 Mr. Davis gratified a long cherished desire of his life by joining an excursion to Europe and the Holy Land, visiting Ant- werp, Switzerland, Italy, Egypt, Jerusalem, Paris, London, and Edinburgh. On his return he delivered some lectures on his trip, "Jerusalem and the Pyramids," "A Sunday Morning With Spurgeon," "A Week in London."
His tales are literary. Autographs are a hobby, and his collection of poets, statesmen, heroes, divines, begun in 1865, richly illustrated, has few equals in the country. He is a constant contributor to the press. The Gazette of Sterling is printing a series of sketches on "Men and Women I've Met," notable people of a life-time, that has reached the sixtieth num- ber of the series. He is a favorite writer for the Lutheran Observer, Phila- delphia.
The Whiteside County Historical Society was brought into being by his efforts in 1903, and now has a large and valuable collection of books, papers and eurios of every name.
His letter writing has given Mr. Davis a peculiar local distinction. He has made numerous trips, short and extended, and never fails to despatch a daily bulletin of things as he sees them to his home papers. In this way, people have traveled with him. His letters from Europe and Egypt, Colo- rado, Washington and New York, Quebec, Mexico, Dakota, Havana, Florida, New Orleans, Chattanooga, would fill several volumes. Scarcely a day when
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at home that he has not a paragraph for the journals about some current topic.
Two children have blessed the union. John, after enjoying four years at the high school in Sterling, took four years in civil engineering at Illi- nois University, Champaign, and is now married and engaged in his profes- sion in Chicago. The younger child, Susanna Roland, also passed through the high school and is now in her second year of a general classical course at Oberlin College, Ohio.
JOSEPH L. PFUNDSTEIN.
Joseph L. Pfundstein, who is successfully carrying on agricultural pur- suits on section 16, Jordan township, was born in this township on the 18th of April, 1866, his parents being Joseph and Caroline (Winkle) Pfundstein, natives of Wittenberg, Germany, who emigrated to America in 1854. The father, whose birth occurred March 4, 1828, passed away March 11, 1901. On his arrival in the new world he located in Harrisville, Pennsylvania, where he remained for ten years, on the expiration of which period he came to Jordan township, Whiteside county, Illinois. This remained his place of residence until 1898, when he removed to Sterling.
On the 10th of October, 1864, at Dixon, he enlisted for service in the Union army as a member of Company A, Thirty-fourth Regiment of Illi- nois Volunteers, under Captain W. C. Robinson. He was with the army dur- ing the last nine months of the war and took part in a number of spirited engagements, including the battle of Nashville, Tennessee, on the 16th of December, 1864. In this encounter the fore finger of his right hand was shot off and he was taken to a hospital at Jefferson, Indiana, where he re- mained for ninety days, being subsequently engaged as steward in this hospi- tal and serving in that capacity until his honorable discharge on July 18, 1865. Ile was a member of Will Robinson Post and for many years was actively identified with the West Jordan Lutheran church, which he also assisted in building, and of which he served as a trustee for twelve years. Moreover, he was prominent in local political circles, serving as tax collector and road com- missioner of the town of Jordan for many years, while for nineteen years he was school director of the Jordan Center school. He was widely recognized as one of the prominent and prosperous agriculturists of the community and at his death left several valuable farms in Jordan. Jovial in disposition, kindly in action and straightforward and honorable in all the relations of life, he won the respect and admiration of his fellowmen, and when he was called to his final rest the county mourned the loss of one of its honored pioneers and public spirited citizens.
On the 24th of September, 1859, at Culpville, Pennsylvania, Joseph . Pfundstein was united in marriage to Miss Caroline Winkle, by whom he had eleven children, two of whom died in infancy. Seven sons and two daughters still survive, namely: Thomas, Joseph L., Frank and John, all of whom are
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successfully carrying on farming in Jordan township; Jacob, a prominent agriculturist of Rock Island Junction ; Andrew, now groceryman of Sterling; Richard, residing in Sterling; Mrs. Jabez Gilbert, of Jordan; and Amanda, wife of William Zigler, of Emerson. The father of this family is survived by two brothers and two sisters: Thomas, of Sterling; George, who resides in Erie; Mrs. J. G. Frank, living in Jordan; and Miss Anna Pfundstein, who makes her home in Germany.
Joseph L. Pfundstein of this review pursued his cducation in the com- inon schools and when he had attained the age of nineteen years began working in a creamery, being thus employed for thirteen years. On the expiration of that period he took up farming and has since been successfully engaged in this line of activity, being now the owner of one hundred and eighty-two acres of land on section 16, Jordan township, which he has cultivated and improved until it is now one of the model farms of the locality.
On the 9th of February, 1897, Joseph L. Pfundstein was joined in wed- lock to Miss Barbara Woessner, a daughter of Mathias and Christina (Hau- breaur) Woessner, both natives of Germany, where they still reside, the father being a shoemaker. Their daughter, Mrs. Pfundstein, came to the United States in 1892, and her brothers and sisters are as follows: Mathias, living on a farm in Whiteside county; John, also an agriculturist of this coun- ty; Christina, who resides in Germany; Will, likewise a farmer of Whiteside county ; and Dora Schick.
In the county where his entire life has been passed Joseph L. Pfundstein is well and favorably known, having the warm esteem and confidence of all with whom he has come in contact by reason of his genuine personal worth and unfaltering integrity. He is a member of the West Jordan Lutheran church and by his ballot supports the republican party. He has served as as- sessor of Jordan township for two years and school director for six years, holding the latter office at the present time.
FRANK DETWEILER.
Frank Detweiler, who carries on general farming on section 15, Jordan township, was born on the old family homestead in that township, May 5, 1870, his parents being Henry M. and Magdalena (Detweiler) Detweiler, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania.
Frank Detweiler attended the common schools, spending his boyhood days under the parental roof, and when not busy with his text-books worked in the fields, assisting his father in the care and improvement of the property. He remained at home until twenty-four years of age and then started out in life on his own account, beginning the operation of the farm upon which he now resides.
He was married on the 6th of June, 1900, to Miss Edith Elizabeth Eshle- man, a daughter of Albert and Mary (Rhoades) Eshleman, who were natives of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. They came to Whiteside county in 1879
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and have resided here continuously since, with the exception of a few years passed in the east. They are now residents of Sterling township. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Detweiler have been born three children-Fay Everett, Ethel Marie and Harold Albert.
The parents are well known in the community, where they have a circle of warm and loyal friends. Mr. Detweiler gives his political allegiance to the republican party, but is not an official aspirant, preferring to concentrate his energies upon his business affairs rather than seek office. He now has the management of the old homestead farm of two hundred and fifteen acres of rich and productive land and in addition to the cultivation of the fields and the production of the cereals best adapted to soil and climate he likewise raises stock and also engages in dairying, and in his business is meeting with suc- cess.
DANIEL B. HENWOOD.
Daniel B. Henwood, one of the venerable citizens of Erie, was born July 22, 1824, probably in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He has resided in White- side county from the pioneer epoch in its history, and has been closely asso- ciated with its business development and substantial progress. He was only a year old when his parents removed to Bucyrus, Ohio, and soon afterward the family home was established in Huron county, Ohio, where they lived for seven years. The parents were Peter and Sarah (Shapley) Henwood. The father, a native of Germany, died in Bucyrus, Ohio, when his son Daniel was but four years of age, while the mother spent her last days in Angola, Indiana. He was a blacksmith by trade, and there seemed nothing that he could not make out of steel, even to a gun. He learned the trade in Phila- delphia, serving a seven years' apprenticeship, and became an expert in his line. He was twice married, and by his first marriage had one son, William Henwood. After losing his first wife he was married again in Pennsylvania, and by that union there were five sons and three daughters. All of the sons of William Henwood served under General Sherman in the Civil war, and the daughters carried on the home farm while their brothers were at the front. They lost several horses when General Lee made his raid into Pennsylvania. The mother was also married twice, her first husband being William Jackson, and their children were David, Jerusha, Rufus and James. By the second marriage of Peter Henwood and Sarah Shapley there were three children, Daniel, Peter and Thomas, but the subject of this review is the only one now living. As stated, the family lived in Huron county for seven years. The next removal took them to Steuben county, Indiana, in 1837, driving through the black swamp. The roads much of the way were very bad and they could cover but a mile or two in a day. They continued to reside in Steuben county, Indiana, until 1847, when they started across the country with team and wagon to Chicago, and thence proceeded westward, locating at Cascade, 'about twenty-six miles from Dubuque, Iowa, where Daniel B. Henwood re-
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
mained for a short time. For three years he traveled through Illinois as a peddler and never erossed a railroad track during that time. He next turned his attention to the practice of medieine as a nurse, in connection with Dr. Dungan, of Galena. . While thus engaged for three years he spent part of the time in Springfield, Illinois, and part in Peoria county, and in 1851 he ar- rived in Erie, where he purchased the old ear ferry, which operated where the bridge now stands, continuing to conduct the ferry until the bridge was built. He also established a hardware and drug store and carried on farming interests in connection with the operation of the ferry and the conduet of his store, devoting his attention to all three lines of activity during the period of the Civil war. Recently he sold his farm to his son. He platted several lots, known as the Henwood addition, comprising twenty-two acres of land in the eastern part of the town, and is thus contributing to the substantial development and upbuilding of Erie.
In June, 1852, Mr. Henwood was married to Miss Lydia Coburn, a na- tive of New York, born January 4, 1828. She came, to Illinois with her parents, Charles and Hannah (Maxwell) Coburn, and for forty-seven years traveled life's journey with Mr. Henwood as liis faithful companion and helpmate. They were separated in death in 1899, Mrs. Henwood being called from this life on the 26th of January of that year. Their children were seven in number: Burton, who died in childhood; Butler, who conduets a dray line in Erie; Charles, who died in infancy; Ida, the wife of George Baker, of Marion, North Dakota; Mary, who died at the age of three years; Carrie, the wife of F. E. Burridge, a druggist of Erie; and Frank, of Texas. Sinee the death of his wife, Mr. Henwood has made his home with Mr. and Mrs. Burridge. He is one of the prominent and honored old pioneer settlers of this eounty and has attained the age of eighty-four years. He figures as one . of the characters in M. M. Kirkman's story of "The Romans of Gilbert Holmes." Mr. Kirkman, who is the second vice-president of the North- western Railroad, was reared by Mr. Henwood, becoming a member of his household at the age of five years and remaining with him until he started out in life on his own account. With the early development and progress of the county Mr. Henwood was closely associated and for many years figured in its business life, and is still supervising his invested interests. He has an extensive acquaintance in Whiteside county, and wherever known is respected and honored; receiving the esteem and veneration which should ever be ae- corded one who has advanced thus far on the journey of life.
WILLIAM T: GALT.
William T. Galt is numbered among the native sons of Sterling who have found the city as a place of residence so attractive and its business opportuni- ties so favorable that they have had no desire to seek homes elsewhere. Mr. Galt was born October 26, 1873, and has spent his entire life in Sterling. He attended the publie schools, passing through consecutive grades and later eon-
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tinued his education in Williston Seminary at East Hampton, Massachu- setts. He then began writing life, fire and accident insurance and still con- tinues in that line, also conducting a real-estate and loan business as senior partner of the firm of William T. Galt & Company, with offices in the Galt House block. He is thoroughly conversant with the opportunities offered by insurance protection, and as representative of a number of the old standard companies he has secured a large clientage in this direction. He is, moreover, well known through his operations in real estate and in placing loans and in all departments of his business has gained a gratifying patronage.
On the 27th of January, 1905, William T. Galt was married to Miss Re- becca S. Weeks, a daughter of George D. and Jane Weeks. They have one child, Elizabeth Jane Galt. The mother is a member of the Methodist Epis- copal church and is prominent socially in Sterling. Mr. Galt belongs to Rock River Lodge, No. 612, A. F. & A. M .; Sterling Chapter, No. 57, R. A. M .; Sterling Commandery, No. 57, K. T .; and Tabula Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He resides at No. 912 West Fourth street, and in the city where his entire life has been passed has a wide and favorable acquaintance that is indicative of his many commendable traits of character.
RUSSELL, BURDSALL & WARD BOLT & NUT COMPANY.
The record of Rock Falls' industrial development would be incomplete without some mention of the Russell, Burdsall & Ward Bolt & Nut Company, which is conducting an important enterprise in this city, with Allen N. Brad- ford as manager. The original partners, Ellwood Burdsall and William E. Ward, became acquainted in New York City in the winter of 1844, and on the 1st of October, 1845, formed a partnership for the manufacture of screws, Mr. Ward becoming impressed with the idea that he could devise machines for screw manufacture more economically than had previously been done. They rented a room with power at Pemberwick, Connecticut, put in a lathe, and Mr. Ward started upon the work, but the machine which he brought forth was not entirely successful, and when the New England Screw Company obtained a patent on the gimlet-pointed wood screw, which was so superior to the unpointed screws manufactured by Russell & Ward, the latter firm aban- doned work of that character; but from Thomas Southard, a stove nianu- facturer of New York City, Mr. Burdsall received the suggestion that if the screws they manufactured were fitted with nuts they would answer for put- ting stoves together. In 1847 a third interest in the business was sold to Russell, Mackay & Beach, and the name changed to Russell, Burdsall & Company. Mr. Burdsall took some samples of stove bolts to Albany and obtained some good orders. In July, 1850, Mr. Ward obtained a patent on an open die header, used for making carriage and plow bolts. Some of thesc were made of square iron, while carriage bolts were made out of round iron and the square under the head upset into the dies. In 1851 Mr. Russell pur- chased the interest of both Mackay and Beach, and the name was changed
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
to Russell, Burdsall & Ward. The work of invention and manufacture were carried steadily forward, and in 1852 Mr. Ward obtained a patent on a solid dic heading machine, which overcame the difficulties met with in his old roulette machine. In 1856 Mr. Ward obtained a patent on a machine for forging nuts, which was operated successfully till about 1880. Throughout the years changes were made which introduced improvements of value in the manufacture of screws and bolts and in the nature of the iron utilized.
In 1866 the business was re-organized as a joint stock corporation, with Mr. Russell as president; Mr. Burdsall, attorney and general agent; Samuel Comly, secretary and treasurer; and Mr. Ward, manager. During the subse- quent prosecution of the business, various changes and modifications were inade in the machines used. A great many machines were devised for au- tomatically finishing the bolts, some of which were eminently successful, such as automatically pointing and threading bolts, and shavers for shaving the heads of carriage bolts, and machinery for automatically tapping nuts.
In 1871 William E. Ward became president of the company, and from 1880 until 1882 was busy devising machinery for the manufacture of cold cut nuts and finishing machines for tire bolts, and in the latter year organized the Portchester Bolt & Nut Company for the manufacture of these goods. This company was very successful and its business grew rapidly. In 1889 Richard H. Burdsall became treasurer of the company, while Ellwood Burdsall, Jr., owing to the enfeebled health of Mr. Ward, assumed the direction of the mechanical department. He has also designed many machines that are in successful operation. In 1900 Mr. Ward, the president, died, and his son, William L. Ward, succeeded as president of both companies, which were con- solidated April 15, 1901, under the name of the Russell, Burdsall & Ward Bolt & Nut Company.
The company's mode of manufacture in the beginning differed very little from all other carriage bolt and nut makers at that time. The bolts were forged from heated square bars of iron, mostly by hand. William E. Ward concluded that a large saving in iron could be made by inaking a short, stove-in square by heading bolts off the rod from round iron. This idca was put into effect, but it was some time before the public adopted it. The company was the first to construct the bolt heading machine, on which stove and tire bolts were forged cold, automatically, and with this machine the first stove bolts placed on the American market were manufactured. Shaved and slotted stove bolts and turned head tire bolts were first offered to the trade in 1855. In 1856 Mr. Ward completed the first forged or hammer nut machine ever invented, and although it was not successful, he continued his work until he succeeded in perfecting machines that produced more than thirty thousand forged nuts daily. In 1857 the company matured a new and distinct process of bolt manufacture, working the iron cold and making the bolts complete without heating except for annealing before turning the heads. The work of perfecting machines and the output was carried stead- ily forward, and as time passed new additional machines were invented and new buildings erected, with proportional facilities as business required, until Russell, Burdsall & Ward became the largest full square carriage bolt manu-
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facturers in America. The company owns its own peculiar class of machinery and has introduced various improvements, some patented and others not, which have been especially useful in making goods of which they were for years tlie almost exclusive producers. Among these was an ingeniously contrived machine for forming the point and cutting the thread with a chasing tool, au- tomatically feeding the blanks into jaws, which seized the end bearing the head, advancing it against a tool which formed the point, the blank then passing to a chasing tool which eut the thread as by an engine lathe. No doubt Mr. Ward's greatest achievement was the invention of his cold nut inachine in 1880, on which he further improved and secured a patent De- cember 7, 1886. So successful was the invention that the company estab- lished one of the largest tire bolt trades in the country. Another remark- able feature of the Russell, Burdsall & Ward establishment is the perform- ance of nearly all branches of labor by machinery. Time has tested the methods of their inventions and their products and placed the stamp of ap- proval upon all.
WILLIAM M. KILGOUR.
William M. Kilgour, for many years a prominent eitizen of Whiteside county, was a native of Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, and was a son of Ezekiel J. Kilgour, who was also born in the Keystone state and engaged in farming in Sterling township, this eounty, following his removal to the middle west. He was one of the pioneer settlers of Whiteside county, aiding . in the reclamation of wild land for the uses of civilization and thus extending the frontier. He wedded Eliza Graham, who died at the age of eighty-nine years, while he, too, passed away when well advanced in agc. They were the parents of four children: Nancy Jane, who became the wife of John B. Crawford and died at Lohrville, Iowa; William M., of this review; Ezekial J., who was a soldier of the Civil war and died in Nashville, Tennessee; and Mary Belle, who died in Fairbury, Illinois.
William M. Kilgour came with his father's family to Sterling in 1827. He was then but a boy and the journey over the mountains in a wagon and across the prairies of Indiana and Illinois made a deep impression upon his memory. The family spent the first winter in a little cabin on Elkhorn creek, near what is now called Emerson. They then removed to the present site of Sterling and settled on the banks of the Rock river, only a few yards from the present residenee of W. W. Davis. Ezekiel Kilgour there purchased a quarter section of land and upon the new farm William M. Kilgour was reared. Because of the remoteness from the older centers of civilization the family were forced to endure many hardships and privations, but it is a well- known fact that for thousands of stalwart Americans the west has been the field of opportunity, not only for business successes, but for eharacter develop- ment. Upon the frontier a man is not judged by his ancestry or his posses- sions but by his character and worth, and the Kilgour family had no diffi- culty in establishing their right to rank with tlie foremost.
W. W. Riggan
LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
William M. Kilgour aided in the development of the home farm, and having arrived at mature years devoted the summer months to general agri- cultural pursuits, while . in the winter scasons he taught sehool at Linden, driving to and from his home. He regarded this, however, as an initial step to other professional labor, and becoming imbued with the desire to engage in the practice of law he utilized every moment for the mastery of the prin- ciples of jurisprudence and in due course of time was admitted to practice in all the courts of the state at the term of the supreme court held in Ottawa in 1856. Later he was admitted to practice in the United States district and cireuit courts and in the supreme court of the United States at Washington. He first opened a law office in Sterling, where he remained continuously as an active member of the profession up to the time of his death, save for the period of his serviec in the Civil war. He became recognized as one of the ablest members of the Whiteside eounty bar. His devotion to his clients' interests was proverbial, but he never forgot that he owed a still higher alle- giance to the majesty of the law. In the preparation of his eascs he was thorough and in their presentation clear and foreeful, his deductions follow- ing in logical sequence, while his eitations of law and precedent were almost uniformly correet. Soon after his admission to the bar he was elected justiee of the peace in Sterling township and filled that office for four years, also serving for several terms as supervisor.
As stated, the only interruption to his practice eame when at the front he defended the Union cause as a member of the Thirteenth Illinois Volun- teer Infantry. He joined Company B and was elceted second lieutenant. He remained at the front with his regiment for a year, participating in the battles of Wet Glaze, Lion Creek and Springfield, Missouri, and was then compelled to resign on account of illness. As soon as he had recovered his health, however, he re-cnlisted at the call of the president in 1862 for six hundred thousand more troops and was instrumental in raising the Seventy- fifth Illinois Volunteer Regiment. On the organization of Company I he was elected its eaptain and on the organization of the regiment was chosen major, with which rank he went to the front. In the battle of Perryville, Kentucky, October 8, 1862, he sustained a gunshot wound which was so serious that he was carried from the battlefield to a farmhouse near by, where he remained under the care of the army.surgeon until January, 1863. He was then taken to Louisville, Kentucky, and eventually returned home on sick leave. But patriotism was dominant to all else in his life at that time and as soon as his health permitted he rejoined his regiment at Stephenson, Alabama, and participated in the battle of Chickamauga, September 19 and 20, 1863. There he was taken prisoner, but with Company D, commanded by Captain Moore, he cut his way through the enemy's lines and joined his regiment. He also participated in the defense of Chattanooga and at one time was completely surrounded by the enemy, all communieation being eut off. Later he participated in the battle of Lookout Mountain, November 24, 1863, being in the advance under General Hooker. He was in the thickcst of the fight at Missionary Ridge, and also met the enemy at Ringgold Gap and Taylor's Ridge, subsequent to which time he was sent with the detail
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