USA > Illinois > Whiteside County > History of Whiteside County, Illinois, from its earliest settlement to 1908, Vol. II > Part 3
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Unto Mr. and Mrs. Coe have been born three children: Albert Irwin, who is attending eollege in Mount Vernon, Iowa: Lauren Mortimer, who is also attending eollege in Mount Vernon, Iowa; and Carroll Deeius, who is now completing the high school eourse.
The home farm of the family comprises one hundred and ninety aeres of rich and productive land. It is carefully and systematically cultivated in the production of eorn, wheat and other eereals. It is pleasantly located, about seven and a half miles from Sterling and about the same distaneo from Morrison and in his farm work Mr. Coe displays keen judgment and sagacity. In all of his business dealings le is thoroughly reliable as well as enterprising and his labors have thus resulted in winning ereditable sue- eess. In community affairs he is progressive and takes an interest in all that pertains to the welfare and advancement of his native county. He has been assessor of Hopkins township for three years, sehool trustee for
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about fifteen years and also town clerk. He and his family are members of the Fourth Street Methodist Episcopal church, of Sterling, and he has served as superintendent of the Ben Sunday school for ten or more years. He belongs to Sterling Lodge, M. W. A., and is loyal to the teachings of the order and of the church, his life being actuated by high and honorable prin- ciples, whereby he commands the warm regard of all with whom he is associated.
HENRY BRUBAKER.
Henry Brubaker, an enterprising and successful agriculturist and stock- raiser of Garden Plain township, was born in Lancaster county, Pennsyl- vania, September 28, 1834, his parents being Henry and Susan (Brubaker) Brubaker, who were likewise natives of the Keystone state. The paternal great-grandfather of our subject emigrated from Germany to the United States and served with the American army in the war for independence. The grandfather, Abram Brubaker, reared a family of two sons and two daughters, of whom Henry Brubaker, the father of our subject, took up his abode in Lancaster county and later went to Franklin county, Pennsylvania. The latter passed away in the year 1863 and his wife was seventy-five years of age at the time of her demnise. Their family numbered eleven children, as follows: Samuel, deceased, whose family resides in Franklin county, Penn- sylvania; Daniel, who has also departed this life; Fannie, the widow'of David Keller, who likewise makes her home in Franklin county; Carrie and Eliza- beth, twins, both now deccased, the former having been the wife, of John Brakefield and the latter the wife of John Sell, of Franklin county, Penn- sylvania: Abram, who resides in Whiteside county, Illinois; Henry, of this review; Annie, the deceased wife of Jacoby Meyer, of Pennsylvania; Susan, the widow of Daniel Brewer; John, who makes his home in Garden Plain township; and Ezra, of Franklin county, Pennsylvania.
Henry Brubaker was educated in the district schools of Franklin county, Pennsylvania, and there grew to manhood. In 1865 he came westward to Whiteside county, Illinois, settling in Garden Plain township on the place where he now resides. He first purchased a tract of eighty acres which was slightly improved, paying thirty dollars per acre for the land, and subse- quently bought forty acres adjoining, at thirty-five dollars per acre. Later he added to his holdings a tract of twenty-five acres, mostly timber land. for which he paid a thousand dollars, and has also purchased another eighty- acre tract at sixty-six dollars per acre. Mr. Brubaker has one of the best improved farms and most desirable locations in Garden Plain township, and his success is all the more commendable by reason of the fact that it has been gained entirely through his own well directed energy and straightfor- ward business dealing. He is widely recognized as one of the most successful agriculturists and stock-raisers of the community and as a progressive and enterprising citizen.
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In 1863 Mr. Brubaker was united in marriage to Miss Margaret E. Rinaker, a daughter of Samuel and Catherine (Hevel) Rinaker, natives of Pennsylvania and Germany respectively, the latter being eighteen years of age on her arrival in this country. Her father, who came to the United States prior to the Revolutionary war, took part in that struggle for liberty and was killed in battle. He had intended to bring his family to America as soon as he was able to do so. Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Rinaker reared a fam- ily of eight children: John, who now resides in Moundridge, Kansas, served as a soldier of the Civil war for nine months. Mary is the deceased wife of Jolın Miller. Catherine is the wife of Hiram Kirschner, of Oklahoma. Eliz- abeth is the next member of the family. Sarah is the deceased wife of William Spore. Samuel enlisted for service in the Civil war three different times, his first term being for three months, his second for nine months and his third term of enlistment for the remainder of the war. He served for almost five years and was never wounded, though he took part in a number of important and hotly contested engagements, including the battles of Bull Run and Gettysburg. He now makes his home in Oklahoma. Daniel and Annie Rinaker are both now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Brubaker are the parents of three daugliters: Laura, the wife of Ervin Hoff, of Garden Plain township; Einma, the wife of George Garwick, likewise of Garden Plain township; and Cora, who died at the age of thirteen years.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Brubaker are devoted and faithful members of the Church of Christ, and during the long period of their residence here have gained the warm esteem and friendship of many with whom they have come in contact, being well known as people of genuine personal worth and up- right, honorable lives. Coming to this part of the state when it was still a. pioneer region, they have watched with interest and likewise aided the slow, persistent work of development that has transformed the county into a rich agricultural district teeming with all the comforts and conveniences of a modern civilization.
JUDSON TAYLOR WILLIAMS.
Judson Taylor Williams, who resides upon Woodlawn farm near Ster- ling, is the owner of some of the finest farms of this seetion of the state, his landed possessions aggregating sixteen hundred aeres. He is also extensively engaged in breeding livestock and stands as one of the foremost representa- tives of agricultural interests of central Illinois. His success as a breeder of live-stock has been so great, being the result of keen sagacity, business dis- erimination and experiment, as to render his opinions upon this subjeet large- ly conclusive.
He was born May 22, 1875, and in both the paternal and maternal lines is a representative of families prominent in the upbuilding and progress of this state. His paternal grandfather, David W: Williams, was a native of the Empire state and followed the occupation of farming at Argyle, New York,
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where he died at the age of eighty-one years. His wife, Mrs. Margaret (Tacey) Williams, was of Scotch-Irish descent and was upwards of sixty-four years of age at the time of her death. They had two sons and a daughter, and by a former marriage David Williams had two children, one of whom, Robert, is now living in Waterloo, Iowa, at about the age of eighty-seven years.
Taylor Williams, father of our subject, was born in the state of New York and after arriving at years of maturity wedded Mary N. Jenne. Her father was Daniel C. Jenne, to whom Illinois and the upper Mississippi valley region is greatly indebted for its progress. He was associated in large and beneficial measure with the improvement of the waterways and the establishment of railroad transportation in this part of the country and in all of his work the public was a large, if indirect, beneficiary. His birth occurred at Shaftsbury, Vermont, in 1814. He became a civil engineer, following that profession through much of his life, although at different times he was also connected with the coal business and with railroad interests. Coming to the west, he purchased a large tract of land at Prophetstown, Illinois. He also lived in Chicago for a time but died in Sterling, when more than seventy-one years of age. At the time of his death, in 1886, he was president of the Brazil Block Coal Company. For many years he had charge of the eastern division of the Erie canal, the Black River canal and the Champlain canal and was known as a division engineer. At the same time he was chief engineer of the Utica & Black River Railroad. In 1867 there came to him very unexpectedly an appointment whereby he was placed in charge of the improvement of the Mississippi river at Keokuk, Iowa. While at that place he was appointed by the state of Illinois to take charge of the Illinois river improvement and to put in locks and dams. After the completion of this work he began operating in the coal fields and continued in that business up to the time of his demise, his previous experience in civil engineering proving of much value to him in this later line of work. In 1856, at the solicitation of Governor Horatio Sey- mour, he went to Appleton, Wisconsin, to take charge of the improvement of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers. In 1862 he went to Kenosha, where he built the Kenosha & Rockford Railroad. On the completion of that line he returned to Albany, New York, where he resumed his old position of division engineer of the New York canals. His life work was therefore of a most important nature, proving an element in the development and progress of various locali- ties. Throughout his entire life he was a consistent member of the Baptist church and at the time of his death was a trustce of the Divinity School at Morgan Park, Illinois, and also chairman of the building committee which erected the library there. A gentleman of plain and unpretentious manner, he possessed nevertheless great strength of character and commanded the respect and confidence of all who knew him.
Danicl C. Jenne married Nancy D. Butler, a daughter of Ezekiel and Eunice (Shaw) Butler, the foriner a son of Luther and Hannah (Wilson) Butler, while Eunice Shaw was a daughter of Eunice and Dorcas (Gee) Shaw. The ancestry of the Jenne family could also be traced back to a much more remote period, Daniel Jenne being descended from John Jenne, who in 1623 came on the third ship from England. The death of Mrs. Daniel
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Jenne occurred in Chicago, when she was seventy-four years of age. Their family numbered four children, including Mrs. Mary J. Williams, who was a native of the Empire state and became the wife of Taylor Williams, their only child being Judson Taylor Williams of this review.
The father, Taylor Williams, was a grain dealer and live-stock buyer, who prior to the Civil war came to the west, settling at Ottawa, Illinois, about 1856 or 1857. Thence he removed to Sterling and began farming, while sub- sequently he operated a coal mine at Rapid City, at Cleveland, at Happy Hol- low and also at St. David, Norris, Clark City and Gardner, Illinois. He was thus closely associated with the development of the natural resources of the state in taking from the earth its rich coal deposits and as he met prosperity in his undertakings he made judicious investments in property and became the owner of valuable farming lands. He dealt extensively in grain and in live-stock, and although his business interests called him to various localities he still retained his residence in Sterling and here died in 1897, at the age of sixty-six years. Mrs. Mary J. Williams still survives him. The father had been previously married, his first union being with Susan Mickle and to them was born a daughter, Elizabeth, now the wife of C. E. Goltman, of Sterling. At one time Taylor and Mary J. Williams were members of the Baptist church but in later life Mr. Williams became identified with the Pres- byterian church. He was a man of exemplary traits of character, honorable and reliable in every relation of life, and Sterling recognized him as one of its foremost citizens. His path was never strewn with the wreck of other men's fortunes, his success resulting from a fair exchange in purchase and sale, from judicious investment and the legitimate profit which arises from an honorable conduct of business.
Judson T. Williams, always a resident of Sterling, attended the public schools of the city in his early youth and afterward continued his education in Lake Forest Academy, at Lake Forest, Illinois. When he had completed his education he spent two or three years in buying live-stock and was after- ward engaged in the coal business for six years at St. Louis. He then returned to his old home in Sterling and in 1904 he purchased what was known as the Whipple farm, adjoining the corporation limits of the city on the west. He breeds, buys and sells live-stock, handling trotting horses, Percherons, saddle horses and Shetland ponies. He also breeds and raises Holstein, Hereford, Aberdeen Angus and polled Durham cattle, which are distributed over the five large farms which he owns. He resides on what is known as the Wood- lawn farm at the edge of the town. His landed possessions, however, aggregate sixteen hundred acres. In connection with John N. Harpham he built what is known as the Harpham & Williams building, at the corner of Third and Locust streets, one of the fine business blocks of Sterling. He is a most excel- lent judge of live-stock and his investments have been judiciously made. In all of his business interests he displays sound judgment and keen sagacity.
On the 21st of April, 1898, Mr. Williams was married to Miss Olive Wood, a daughter of Thomas Wood, but she died on the 13th of July, just three months after her marriage. On the 31st of March, 1903, Mr. Williams was joined in wedlock to Miss Jennie Hoover, a daughter of David and Mar-
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garet (Graybill) Hoover. They have two children, Virginia and Jackson Taylor. Mrs. Williams is a member of the Methodist church and a most cstimable lady. Her paternal grandfather was John Hoover, who became an early resident of Whiteside county and herc spent his remaining days. His wife was a Miss Sprecher. The maternal grandfather was John Graybill, a native of Pennsylvania, who cast in his lot with the pioneer residents of Ogle county, Illinois. Thic parents of Mrs. Jennie Williams were natives of Pennsylvania and became carly settlers of Whiteside county, her father liere following the occupation of farming. He died March 13, 1900, at the age of sixty-four years, and is still survived by his wife. They had two children but the elder daughter, Florence May, dicd at the age of three years.
In his political views Mr. Williams is a stalwart republican but the honors and emoluments of office have had no attraction for him, as he lias preferred to concentrate his energies upon his business affairs. As a business man lie has been conspicuous among his associates not only for his suceess but for his probity, fairness and honorable methods. In everything he has been eminently practical and this has been manifest not only in his business undertakings but also in social and private life. His activity as a live-stock dealer has not only contributed to his individual success but has also been a factor in agri- cultural progress, as he has done much to improve the grade of stoek raised and thereby advance priees. He is yet a young man but has already attained a notable measure of success, making him one of the prosperous residents of Sterling.
GEORGE W. BREWER.
No resident of Whiteside county has so long resided within its borders as George W. Brewer, who dates his residenee here from 1837. The history of early settlement would be incomplete without his record, for from the early founding of the town he has been a prominent factor in its substantial growth and improvement. The land was largely in the primitive condition in which it came from the hand of nature and through his agency much of it has been reelaimed for the purposes of cultivation. He has as the years have gone by purchased and sold large tracts of land in the county and his business operations have always been carefully conducted, making his invest- ments profitable. Now in his declining years he is living retired, enjoying a well-earned rest, which is the merited reward of a long and honorable busi- ness career.
Mr. Brewer was born about eight miles from Cooperstown, in Otsego county, New York, on thic 6th of May, 1827, his parents being Henry and Lucinda (Johnson) Brewer, who were also natives of the Empire state. Tlie paternal grandfather was a soldier of the Revolutionary war and of German descent. Henry Brewer was a wagonmaker by trade and followed that pur- suit during the greater part of his life. In 1836 he came to the middle west to look over the country and in the fall returned to the east. The following -
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Elizabeth & Brewer
George The Bower
LIBRARY UNIVERSAL: UNA : TROIS
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spring he started with his family to Whiteside county, settling in the western side of the county. The trip was inade down the. Allegheny and Ohio rivers in a lumber raft. At Louisville the raft was tied up and the owner deserted it, leaving Henry Brewer without means to continue his journey further. Necessity, however, is the mother of invention, and he perfected plans whereby he could continue his journey, eventually landing from a steamboat with his family at St. Louis. From that point they went to Rock Island as passengers on another boat. While at St. Louis Mr. Brewer met a brother Mason, and giving the sign of distress, received a loan of sixty dollars from the Mason, who also assisted him with teams on his way to his destination to Whiteside county. A very exciting incident occurred, however, before the party left St. Louis. Some time before leaving the wharf Henry Brewer left the boat and was absent so long that it was feared some accident had befallen him. The doubts and fears of the passengers were highly intensified by a report that a man had been murdered and his body thrown into the river. Mrs. Brewer was in great distress of mind and a second report that a man who had tried to walk the gang plank and get into the boat had just fallen into the river by no means calmed her alarm. She felt sure that it must have been her husband and lighted a tallow candle to go to the rear of the boat and see if the body would appear. There was no guard rail at the stern of the vessel and in the darkness she walked right off the boat and fell into the river. A man in the crowd suggested starting the paddle wheel to working as the only hope of bringing her body to the surface. This proved to be a good suggestion, for in a few seconds Mrs. Brewer appeared, clinging by one hand with a death-like grip to the paddle wheel, while in the other she held the tallow candle. The men assisted her to get aboard the boat and while she stood amid the large crowd of passengers all gathered around her, the water dripping from her clothing, her husband suddenly appeared upon the scene.
At length the party reached Whiteside county in safety and here Henry Brewer found the frame of a house, but there was no roof upon it. Later he found a shingle shanty about twelve by sixteen feet, in which the family made their home for about six weeks. They next moved into a log cabin in Portland township which had a hole in it for a window and also a small opening for a door, but there was no floor and no gable end nor was the cabin chinked. They lived there, however, for a few months and in February of the following year removed to what was then Harrisburg, making a perma- nent settlement upon ground that is now part of the site of Sterling at the head of the rapids of Rock river, another town called Chatham being at the foot of the rapids. The first settler here was a man by the name of Hezekiah Brink.
Henry Brewer could not find work at his trade of wagon-making and therefore turned his attention to carpentering for a time, assisting in building a number of the first houses of the county, the timber for which was cut and hewed right on the ground, parties wanting to improve the land having free access to the timber on the town sitc. The shingles were made, cut and shaved by hand. Mr. Brewer aided in large measure in the pioneer develop-
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ment of the community and witnessed a most wonderful transformation as the years passed by. As soon as he could he built a house and wagon shop for himself, hauling logs to Brink's sawmill, which was built after his arrival in the county. He split out spokes and seasoned them and bought plank at the mill and seasoned that, after which he built his wagons, con- tinuing in the business until his death, which occurred February 27, 1848. He was then aged fifty-nine years, two months and twenty-nine days. His wife survived him until January 6, 1867, and had reached the age of seventy- eight years and nine days at the time of her demise. Both were consistent members of the Universalist church.
In their family of nine children, five sons and four daughters, George W. Brewer is the only one now living. He was ten years of age at the time the family made their memorable trip from the Empire state to Illinois, and during intervening years Whiteside county has continuously been his home. In fact, he lives upon an adjoining block to the one on which his father settled in what is now Sterling and has never moved but once. His boyhood days were spent in work in his father's shop, where he thoroughly mastered the wagonmaker's trade, and after his father's death he became his successor and carried on the business for five years. He then traded the shop for a farm in Sterling township and for a considerable period bought, improved and sold land, but always made his home in the city, he and his wife having lived for fifty-one years on one corner. In his investments in property he showed wise judgment and keen discernment, and his carefully conducted business interests brought to him a gratifying measure of prosperity.
Mr. Brewer was married in Walworth county, Wisconsin, on the 4th of March, 1851, to Miss Elizabeth S. Green, a daughter of David and Ruth (Southwick) Green. His father having died, Mr. Brewer moved with his bride into the home of his mother and there lived for five years, after which he took his household effects to his present home, which he has built up and improved as the years have gone by until it is now a fine residence property.
Ten children have been born unto Mr. and Mrs. Brewer, four sons and six daughters, of whom four are yet living: Delora Elizabeth is the wife of Isaac S. Bressler, a resident of Jordan township, and they have three chil- dren, Fred Nelson, George Brewer and Carrie Elizabeth. Orra Leona is the wife of John Bressler, living near Sterling, and they have one son, Harry Brewer Bressler. Carrie May is the wife of William P. Northcott, of La Grange, Illinois, and their children are Horace Brewer, Ruth Elizabeth and Florence Harriet. Myrtie Mabel is the wife of Charles Otis Lipp, a resident of Aurora, Illinois, and they have three children, Helen Elizabeth, Evelyn Lucile and Charles Williams. Mr. and Mrs. Brewer have two great-grand- children, Gladys Carrie Bressler and Edward Nelson Bressler. Those of the family now deceased are: Emma, born March 26, 1856; George N., born August 12, 1857; Hattie L., born June 18, 1859; Charles D., born December 8, 1860; William H., born November 30, 1863; and Eddie C., born June 6, 1866.
Mr. and Mrs. Brewer are members of the Methodist church, she being a charter member of the church at Sterling, and they have lived lives of
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uprightness and integrity, gaining for them the respect of all with whom they have been brought in contact. Politically Mr. Brewer is a republican, giving stalwart support to the party since its organization. For about thirty years he served as a school director, was also alderman for a number of years and township collector, discharging his official duties with promptness and fidelity.
In the early days of his residence here he hauled grain from Sterling to Chicago with an ox team, making his first trip before he attained his ma- jority and receiving ten dollars for his load of wheat, which sold for fifty cents per bushel and he received twenty-five cents per bushel for hauling it. Nine dollars of the same was expended for a thousand feet of barn boards, some of which are still in the gable of his barn. When making the trips to market in that way the early settlers camped out at nights and took pro- visions with them for the meals on the journey. There is particular satisfac- tion in reverting to the life history of this honored and venerable gentleman, since his mind bears the impress of the historic annals of the state from early pioneer days and also from the fact that he has attained to a position of distinctive prominence in the thriving city where he has retained his residence from 1837 until the present time, being now one of the revered patriarchs of the community.
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