USA > Illinois > Whiteside County > History of Whiteside County, Illinois, from its earliest settlement to 1908, Vol. II > Part 12
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to recover the Chickamauga battleground and bury the dead, arriving there December 5, 1863. In February, 1864, he was under fire at Buzzard's Roost, near Dalton, Georgia, commanding the Eightieth Illinois Infantry by order of General William Gross, who was in command of the brigade. In May, 1864, he led his troops in the battles of Tunnel Hill, Rocky Face Ridge and Dalton, followed by the two days' battle of Resaca and the engagements in June, 1864, at Kensington, Cassville, Cartersville, Pumpkin Vine Creek, Pine Mountain and Kenesaw Mountain. On the 1st of July, 1864, he commanded the skirmish line at Atlanta, and again on the 24th of August, when General Sherman was marching to the right and rear of that place. At Jonesboro, on the 30th of the same month, he was again under Confederate fire and at Lovejoy Station, September 2, 1864. After participating in the battle of Lost Mountain, Georgia, he pursued the rebel general Hood to Gaylesville, Alabama, and from that point was sent in command of a detail of the Seventy-fifth Illinois through the enemy's country. He next participated in the battles of Athens and Dalton, Georgia; Pulaski and Spring Hill, Tennes- see, and was in the sanguinary conflict at Franklin, Tennessee, November 30, 1864, when seven hundred killed and wounded lay on the Confederate battleground. Later he had charge of a skirmish line at the battle of Nash- ville on the first day and on the second day charged the first and second lines of the enemy's works with the Seventy-fifth Illinois and captured them. He was brevetted colonel for gallant and meritorious service at Missionary Ridge and brigadier general for similar service at Atlanta. On the 28th of July, 1866, he was appointed captain in the regular army and was brevetted major, lieutenant colonel and colonel in recognition of the splendid aid he rendered his country while with the volunteer army. His loyalty was ever above question and his own bravery inspired the men under him to deeds of valor and heroism. He was at all times a soldierly man in his presence and bear- ing and while at the head of his troops, although he maintained rigid dis- cipline, he also had the full love and confidence of those who served under him.
When the war was over Colonel Kilgour returned to Sterling and re- sumed the practice of law, being accorded a large and distinctively repre- sentative clientage. He also invested quite extensively in realty in the city and in Sterling township and was otherwise identified with the business interests of the city. In matters of citizenship he ever stood for progress, reform and improvement and was the stalwart champion of many measures for the general good. Honorable and upright in every relation of life, he was respected by all who knew him and in his home community his fellow townsmen had for him the most sincere friendship. He died at San Jose, California, May 29, 1885, at the age of fifty-seven years, and was survived for only a year by his wife, who was then laid to rest by his side in a come- tery at San Jose. His death resulted from a gunshot wound which he re- ceived at the battle of Perryville, Kentucky, October 8, 1862.
Colonel Kilgour married Miss Mary Isabelle Junkin, a native of Iowa and a daughter of Judge Benjamin Junkin, who for many years served on the bench in that state and was succeeded by his son Benjamin. The father
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lived in Muscatine and was a very prominent and influential resident of Iowa, leaving the impress of his individuality indelibly upon the judicial and political history of the state and upon the substantial development of the community. His wife, Mrs. Susan Junkin, lived to an advaneed age. They reared a large family, of whom one daughter, Miss Aliee Junkin, is still living in Museatine. In the family of Colonel and Mrs. Kilgour were five children, but only three are now living: Eliza G., the wife of E. C. Traey, of Chieago; James Albee, of Sterling; and William S., who is living in Roswell, New Mexico.
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GEORGE D. GREENOUGH.
George D. Greenough, junior partner of the firm of Greenough & Galt, conducting real estate and insurance offices in the Galt House block, at Ster- ling, is a native son of the county, his birth having oceurred at Roek Island Junetion, just west of Sterling, on the 21st of April, 1880. The Greenough family is of English lineage. and at an early period in the colonization of New England was established in Boston. At one time a member of the family owned Staten Island. James Greenough, the grandfather of George D. Greenough, lived for many years retired in Boston as a well-to-do man, and passed away there when about sixty years of age.
His son, James S. Greenough, father of our subject, was born in Boston and became a railroad man and telegraph operator. He arrived in Sterling when about nineteen or twenty years of age and continued a resident of the city throughout the remainder of his life. He was engaged in the retail and wholesale oil business here before the Standard Oil Company took the field, and during the last ten or twelve years of his life he lived retired, enjoying in well earned rest the competence which he had acquired in his aetive busi- ness career. Always fond of travel, he had visited South America and Nova Seotia before he was fourteen years of age. When twenty years of age he lost a limb in a railroad accident, but this disaster seemed to prove no bar to his success, and for a long period he was aecounted one of the enterprising and energetic business men of Sterling. He died in 1901, at the age of fifty- two years, and is still survived by his wife, who resides at No. 411 Avenue B. Mr. Greenough was an Odd Fellow in his fraternal relations, and in religious faitlı his wife was an Episcopalian. She bore the maiden name of Nellie E. Kitel, and was a daughter of George B. Kitel, a native of Vermont. He be- came connected with railroad interests and, following his removal to Illinois, aided in the construction of the Northwestern Railroad. He rode on the first enginc, called the Old Pioneer, that made the first trip out of Sterling. For some years he served as postmaster of this city, and was a prominent Mason lierc, becoming a charter member of Rock River Lodge, No. 612, A. F. & A. M. His daughter, Mrs. Grecnough, was born in this county. By her marriage she became the mother of two daughters: Fannic M., the wife of W. F. Lipp; and Helen M., the wife of J. F. Wahl.
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George D. Greenough, the only son and the youngest member of the family, has been a resident of Sterling throughout his entire life, and is indebted to the public schools and the old Wallace sehool for his edueation. He entered business circles in his father's office, and afterward embarked in the real-estate and insurance business, admitting Frank Galt to a partner- ship in 1905, under the firin style of Grcenough & Galt. They now have many clients and are condueting a business which in volume and importanee makes them leading representatives of their line in Whiteside county.
On the 15th of August, 1902, George D. Greenough was married to Miss Evelyn B. Coe, a daughter of Mark I. and Julia A. (Galt) Coe. Mrs. Green- ough is a member of the Presbyterian church, while Mr. Greenough is a communicant of the Episcopal church. He also affiliates with Roek River Lodge, No. 612, A. F. & A. M., and in politics is a republican, who, though never seeking office for himself, gives his influenee on the side of progress and reform, as so many business men of today are doing-this constituting the most hopeful political sign of the period. He resides at No. 409 Avenue B, where, in 1906, he erected a beautiful home, which architecturally is an adornment to the city, while its graeious hospitality makes it the eenter of a cultured society eirelc.
BARTHOLOMEW KNISKERN.
Bartholomew Kniskern, one of the carly settlers of Whiteside county, who has now passed away, was born in Fultonham, Schoharic county, New York, May 22, 1823. His parents, Peter and Nancy (Vrooman) Kniskern, were likewise natives of Fultonham, wlicre they spent their entire lives, the father dying at the age of sixty years, while the mother passed away at the age of seventy-nine. As the name indicates, the family is of German lineage. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Peter Kniskern were born five daughters and two sons. Of this family Bartholomew, reared under the parental roof, remained a resident of his native village until 1865, when the opportunities of the west drew him to Illinois, and with his family he came to Lyndon.
Mr. Kniskern had been married in the east to Miss Caroline Haynes, who was born in Fultonham, June 16, 1820. On the journey westward they procceded by rail to Morrison over the Northwestern Railroad, which was then the only line in Whiteside county, and from that town they continucd on their way by wagon to Lyndon. The father purchased a farm of eighty aeres on the open prairie on section 17, Lyndon township, and at once began to cultivate and improve the plaee. As the years passed he transformed it into a valuable property, erecting thereon the present buildings, setting out fine fruit trees, bringing the fields under a high state of cultivation, and other- wise carrying on the work of agricultural development up to the time of his death. In addition to producing wheat, corn and other cereals usually culti- vated on Illinois farms, he likewise raised broom corn, as he had done in New York, and made and sold brooms throughout this and adjoining counties.
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In New York he also had a hop yard and employed many hop pickers. He was a most hospitable man, and he .and his wife delighted in entertaining their many friends. They had dislics sufficient to set a table for sixty people, but on one occasion, when the house was struck by lightning, the greater part of their dislies were destroyed. Both Mr. and Mrs. Kniskern were members of the American Lutheran church, while living in New York, and after their removal to. the west attended the Congregational church. They were widely recognized as earnest Christian people, and enjoyed in large measure the esteem and good will of neighbors and all with whom they came in contact.
The death of Mr. Kniskern occurred in August, 1874, when he was fifty- one years of age. For five years after his death Mrs. Kniskern continued on the home farm which she then rented and purchased a dwelling in the village of Lyndon, where she continued to reside until called to her final rest, on the 8th of March, 1907, when in her eighty-seventh year. In the family of this worthy couple were five children: Freeman, a carpenter now living in Lyndon; John, who died in his forty-ninth ycar; Peter, who died at the age of fourteen years; Henry, who passed away in his forty-eighth year; and Mrs. Anna L. Bouck, who was born August 6, 1857, and is the widow of Albert Bouck. They were married in New York, where she was visiting at the time. Mr. Bouck died about sixteen months later, and his widow returned to Lyndon, where she has since made her home. For four years she had charge of the postoffice at this place, her brother, John, having been appointed post- master. She was also associated with her brother in conducting the grocery department of his store, and after his death she assumed the management of the dry goods department as well. She has since been conducting this gen- eral store for a period of nine years, and she and her brother have been in charge for fifteen years. Mrs. Bouck is a lady of good business ability, execu- tive force and displays keen discernment in the management of her mercan- tile interests. She has, morcover, attractive social qualities that have won hier many friends here. By her marriage she became the mother of one daughter: Neta, who is now the wife of G. D. Maxfield. They have one child, Mildred Caryl, and reside with her mother, Mrs. Bouck.
THOMAS A. DRAIN.
The history of the pioneer settlement of Whiteside county would be in- complete without the record of Thomas A. Drain, who from its carliest period lias been a prominent factor in the substantial growth and improvement of this section of the state. Mr. Drain is a native of Kentucky, his birth having occurred on the 28th of November, 1832. His parents were Joseph and Julia (Walker) Drain, the former born in Kent, England, while the birth of the latter occurred in Virginia. In the winter of 1832 the parents located in McDonough county, Illinois, where they made their home for eleven years, subsequent to which time, in 1843, they took up their abode in Warren county, this state, where they lived during the succeeding ten years, while in
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1854 they established their home in Whiteside county. Here the father entered a tract of government land, on which he built a log house containing but one room, with punchcon floor and clapboard roof, this being the home of the family for several years. Their family numbered five ehildren, of whom our subject is the eldest. He has a brother, George Drain, who resides in Henry county, Illinois, while his sister Mary makes her home in Kansas. The two youngest members of the family are dceeased. The death of the parents occurred in Whiteside eounty, and thus passed away two of the highly respected pioneer settlers of this section of the state.
Thomas A. Drain, although born in the old Blue Grass state, has spent neariy his entire life in Illinois, being an infant at the time of the removal of the family to this state, and a young man of twenty-one when he accom- panied the family on their removal to Whiteside eounty. During the period of his boyhood and youth he assisted his father in the work of the fields, shar- ing with the other members of the family the hardships and trials that must necessarily be met in the establishment of a home on the frontier. His edu- cation was acquired in the common schools, where he gained a fair knowl- edge of the English branehes. Upon attaining his majority he started out in life on his own aeeount, and purchased forty acres of land at a dollar and a quarter per acre. He later added an additional tract of forty aeres, paying for this two dollars and a half per acre, while still later he bought forty aeres more at twenty cents per acre, this being seeurcd at an auetion.
He first built a small frame shanty, twelve by fourteen feet, in which he made his home for twelve years, but this home has since been replaced by a more modern and pretentious structure, and he has also added many improvcinents and accessories, so that his place is now a valuable property, comprising one hundred and twenty acres, from which he derives a good rental, while he is now living retired in Prophetstown. When he located in this district the Indians were still living here, while deer and other wild game were very plentiful. In 1857 he had a ten-acre field of wheat which he was compelled to watch in order to keep the wild deer and wild geese from de- stroying it. The nearest trading point was Peru, so that the family was put to great inconvenienee in order to market their produets and make their purchases of provisions and other neeessities of life.
In 1858 Mr. Drain was united in marriage to Miss Anna Leavenworth, who was born in Vermont, but came to Illinois at a very early day, she being one of a family of five children. By her marriage she beeame the mother of six children, as follows: Julia; Carrie; Herbert, deceased; Sadie, who has also passed away; and Matie and Graee, twins. The wife and mother died in 1900, and thus passed away one of the highly esteemed women of White- side eounty, for she had gained many warm friends through her good traits of heart and mind.
Mr. Drain gives his politieal support to the men and measures of de- mocracy, and has filled several township offiees. He is a Mason, belonging to Blue Lodge, No. 293, at Prophetstown, and has filled most of the chairs in that body. He is identified with the society of Christian Scientists. Fifty- four years have come and gone sinee Mr. Drain arrived in Whiteside county,
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and Prophetstown had not then been laid out. During the intervening period he has been a prominent factor in the agricultural development of this see- tion of the state, and his memory goes baek to the time when this seetion was but sparsely settled; when the Indians were more numerous than the white raee, and the land had not been reelaimed for the purposes of cultivation, but remained in the primitive condition in which it came from the hand of na- ture. In former years he worked hard and energetically to acquire a eom- fortable competenee, and now, at the advaneed age of seventy-six years, he is able to live retired in a pleasant home in Prophetstown, where he is sur- rounded by a host of warm friends.
JAMES ST. JOHN GREENOUGH.
James St. John Greenough, who by his many friends is remembered as an enterprising and thoroughly reliable business man of Sterling, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on the 15th of March, 1847. The aneestral his- tory is traeed baek to an early period in the settlement of the new world, when representatives of the name eame from Seotland and settled in Boston, then a small colonial village. A. member of the family at one time owned Staten Island, and several representatives of the name served as soldiers of the Revolutionary war.
James St. John Greenough was a son of James and Mary Greenough, na- tives of Massachusetts, in whose family were five ehildren, three sons and two daughters, all now deceased. The father, beeoming a well-to-do man, lived retired in Boston during the latter part of his life.
In the eity of his nativity Mr. Greenough of this review spent his boy- hood and youth to the age of nineteen years and benefited by the exeellent seholastie training afforded by the publie sehools. In the year 1869 he ar- rived in Illinois and worked for the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Com- pany as a brakesman. He lost a limb by the ears, and afterward became tele- graph operator, aeting in that eapaeity for sixteen years at Roek Island June- tion. On the expiration of that period he came to Sterling, where he eon- dueted business as a wholesale and retail dealer in oil, seeuring a liberal patronage which brought to him a gratifying financial return. On his re- tirement from that field of activity he engaged in the insurance business, eontinuing therein until his last illness. In all of his different business re- lations he was found reliable and trustworthy, and the sueeess that he achieved was attributable entirely to his own labors, as he started out in business life empty-handed.
On the 17th of January, 1877, Mr. Greenough was married to Miss Nellie E. Kitel, a daughter of George B. and Amanda (Wright) Kitel. The father was a native of Massachusetts, and the mother of Vermont. He was reared in the state of his nativity and became a railroad man. Removing westward to Illinois, he settled at Sterling in the year in which the North- western Railroad was built, and taking a contraet for construction work, he
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built the line from this point to the Mississippi river. He moved his family here on a flat car, on which he also shipped his house. He continued in railroad construction work until 1883, when he engaged in the oil business in Sterling, continuing to operate in that line until his death, which occurred March 22, 1886, at the age of sixty-one ycars. His widow still survives him and is well known in this city, where she has long lived. She is a communi- cant of the Episcopal church, of which Mr. Kitel was also a member. He was somewhat prominent in political circles and represented the Third ward of Sterling as a member of the City Council. His father was William Kitel, a native of Massachusetts, who lived in Willianistown, that state. The ma- ternal grandfather of Mrs. Greenough was Dorastus Wright, a native of Ver- mont, who married Sophia Bigelow Parker, a member of a family of excel- lent record in connection with the Revolutionary war. Unto Mr. and Mrs.' George B. Kitel were born two sons and a daughter, of whom Edward R. Kitel is now deceased. The other son, Andrew W. Kitel, is a resident of Chi- cago. The daughter, Mrs. Greenough, still makes her home in Sterling, and by her marriage became the mother of three children: Helen M., now the wife of Frank Wahl; George .D., who married Evelyn B. Coe; and Fannie M., the wife of William F. Lipp.
The death of the husband and father occurred May 28, 1902, when he was fifty-five years of age, and to his family more than to all others his loss came with telling force. He was, however, a valued resident of the com- munity, and as a business man and citizen was thoroughly respected. He belonged to Sterling Lodge, No. 174, I. O. O. F., and gave his political alle- giance to the republican party.
Mrs. Greenough has in her possession a picture of the old homestead of Commodore Loring, which was built in 1760 at Jamaica Plain, Massachu- setts, and was purchased in 1784 by David Greenough, the great-grandfather of her husband. She also has a most interesting relic in an old sideboard that was made by hand, without nails or screws, the lumber hewn with an ax. It was brought from England on the Mayflower on the memorable voyage in which Captain Standish was in command. It has been handed down from one generation to another, and in his life time Mr. Greenough refused the sum of five hundred dollars for it, saying that he would not take five thousand. It is a most interesting piece of furniture because of its antiquity as well as its peculiar construction.
MILETUS S. HEATON.
Miletus S. Heaton has now passed the seventy-seventh milestone on life's journey and, having retired from active business cares, is now living quietly in the enjoyment of well-earned ease, deriving his income from valuable property interests. He was born in Jefferson county, New York, February 2, 1831, his parents being Tertius and Almira (Rider) Heaton, both of whom were natives of Vermont. The father was born in Montpelier and
M. S. Heaton
LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
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came of aneestry represented in the patriotic army in the Revolutionary war. He served his country as a soldier of the war of 1812, enlisting from New York. Wlien not engaged in military duty he followed farming and won a fair measure of success for his day. His life was characterized by industry and perseverance and those qualities never fail to bring a good return. In early manhood he wedded Almira Rider, a sister of Horatio Rider, who was' also a soldier of the war of 1812. Both Mr. and Mrs. Heaton were devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal church and their lives were in constant harmony with their professions. The father was a whig in his political views until the organization of the republican party, when he joined its ranks. His deatlı occurred in 1878 when he had reached the age of seventy-eight years, and his wife died in 1887 at the age of eighty-two years. Their family num- bered five children, but our subject is the only one now living. Phineas R., the eldest, was born January 20, 1825, and died April 4, 1860; Orange G., boru October 25, 1828, died July 24, 1865; Claudius B., born February 23, 1833, died May 19, 1841; Doreas F., born January 15, 1836, died in De- eember, 1898.
. No event of special important occurred to vary the routine of farm life for Miletus S. Hcaton in his boyhood days. He attended the country schools and from the time of early spring planting until erops were harvested in the late autumn he worked in the fields, soon becoming familiar with the best methods of tilling the soil and caring for the crops. He continued farming in the east until the fall of 1855, when he arrived in Whiteside county, Illinois, and settled on a farm five miles northeast of Morrison in Mount Pleasant township. He bought the first tieket sold in Chicago by the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad from Chicago to Morrison on the 8th day of Oc- tober, 1855.
After reaching this county, Mr. Heaton bent cvery energy toward the development and improvement of the farm, making it a valuable property, the fields being brought under a high state of cultivation, while large crops were annually gathered. He continued to. cultivate and improve his traet of land of two hundred and twenty aeres until 1884, when he came to Morri- son, but still owns the farm. His property interests also include two hundred and sixty aeres in Mount Pleasant township and a large traet of land, a part of which is now the manufacturing addition to Morrison. He has two resi- dence properties in the city, one of which he occupies. He wisely made investment in property, securing some of the rich farming land of Illinois -- of which there is none better to be found in the whole world.
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