History of Whiteside County, Illinois, from its earliest settlement to 1908, Vol. II, Part 54

Author: Davis, William W
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago : Pioneer Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 882

USA > Illinois > Whiteside County > History of Whiteside County, Illinois, from its earliest settlement to 1908, Vol. II > Part 54

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Frank Brown was a little lad of about seven years when brought by his parents from New York city to Whiteside county, where he has since

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lived. The public schools afforded him his educational privileges and under his father's direction he received ample training in the work of the farm, early becoming familiar with the best methods of carrying on the work of field and meadow. When twenty-five years of age he started out in life on his own account as an agriculturist and in 1900 he bought eighty acres from his father. This he at once began to improve and develop, erecting all of the buildings upon the place and making it largely a model farm. Here in connection with the raising of cereals best adapted to soil and climate he also raises shorthorn cattle and Poland China hogs of high grade and his business interests are inaterially advanced thereby.

On the 18th of October, 1882, Mr. Brown was united in marriage to Miss Annie Beck, who was born in Germany, August 14, 1861, and is a daughter of John and Rose (Haberer) Beck. The father, who was born in 1817, died in 1878, and his wife passed away the same year. Her birth oc- curred in 1830. Their family numbered six children: Mrs. Christina Wol- ber, who makes her home in Sterling; Mrs. Barbara Obendorf, a resident of Carroll county, Illinois; Annie, now Mrs. Brown; Jacob, of Sterling town- ship; Mrs. Rose Brown, a resident of Hume township; and Mrs. Sallie Stern, · also of Sterling township. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Brown has been blessed with five children: William, born July 13, 1883; Frank, July 1, 1885; Mable, January 29, 1888; Roy, July 10, 1893; and Grace, September 9, 1902, all yet under the parental roof.

Mr. Brown has served as a school director for several years and the cause of education finds in him a stalwart and earnest champion. He gave his political allegiance to the democracy until 1905, when he became a sup- porter of republican principles. He and his wife are members of the German Lutheran church and he belongs to the Modern Woodmen Camp No. 12 of Sterling and to the Mystic Workers of the World at Rock Falls. Almost his entire life has been passed in this county and for more than four decades he has been closely associated with agricultural interests here. He stands as a high type of the progressive farmer, who utilizes his opportunities to good advantage and is quick to adopt any new method which his judgment sanc- tions as a valuable one in promoting farming interests.

JOHN WHITE.

Few of Whiteside county's native sons have resided so long within its borders as has the gentleman whose name introduces this review and who is recognized as one of the wide-awake, alert and enterprising farmers of Garden Plain township. He was born January 15, 1846, within a mile and a half of his present home, and the years which have since come and gone have wrought many changes, transforming the county from a wild and little improved district into a region of rich fertility and productiveness. His parents, Edward and Mary A. (Matthews) White, were natives of Durham, England, and came to America about 1844. Making their way into the in-

JOHN WHITE AND FAMILY

LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA

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terior of the country, they settled in Garden Plain township, where the father first purchased one hundred and forty-nine acres of land that cost him prices varying from one dollar and twenty-five cents to two dollars and fifty cents per acre. He improved all this land, but it required much arduous labor to transform the wild prairie into fertile fields, bringing forth rich and abun- dant crops. Upon that place Mr. White reared his family and the children attended school as opportunity offered, but educational advantages were some- what limited. In fact, the unimproved condition of the country brought about many hardships and privations incident to the frontier. In the early days of his residence here, Mr. White did his milling at Como, making the journey with ox team and sled, for there were few wagons in the county. Means of transportation being limited, one settler would often do the milling or marketing for his neighbors and thus a single trip would suffice. The death of Edward White occurred December 24, 1890, when he had reached the age of seventy-five years, and his wife passed away January 20, 1897, at the age of seventy-eight years. They had a family of six children: Edward, deceased; John, of this review; Alice, the wife of Charles F. Peck, of Rockford, Illinois; Harriet, the widow of Samuel Curry, of Garden Plain township; Thomas, who is living in Anamosa, Iowa; and Mary A., who is upon the old homestead.

Like the others of the family, John White pursued his education in the schools of Garden Plain and Newton townships, but later had the advantage of attending the Morrison high school. He put aside the text books, how- ever, before the time of graduation and returned to the farm with his father. At the age of twenty-two years he entered the employ of a farmer of Newton township, with whom he worked for a year at twenty-two dollars per month. .Ambitious, however, to engage in farming on his own account, he then pur- chased a team and when in his twenty-third year began farming upon rented land. He thus operated land belonging to others until 1877, when the capital he had acquired through his industry and economy justified his purchase of the farm on which he now resides, comprising one hundred and eleven acres of land in Garden Plain township. A few improvements had been put upon it at the time of his purchase, but it has been mainly through the efforts of Mr. White that it has been converted into an attractive property, equipped with all the accessories and conveniences of the model farm. His place occu- pies one of the most desirable locations in the township and upon the farm stands a good residence, substantial barns and outhouses that furnish ample shelter for grain and stock. Mr. White makes a specialty of raising fine draft horses and also keeps some finc cattle and hogs.

On the 26th of January, 1876, was celebrated the marriage of John White and Miss Lizzie Adams, of Albany, a daughter of John and Jane (Short) Adams. Her father was a native of Scotland, while her mother came from New York when three years of age. John Adams arrived in Whiteside county about 1840 or 1841 and was one of the carliest stone- masons in this part of the state. There are few of the old houses to be found in the county that do not bear some evidence of his handiwork. He left Whiteside in 1868 and went to the west, where he remained until his death

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in June, 1907. In his family were four children: Lizzie, the wife of Mr. White; Frank, a resident of Grand Junction, Colorado; John, whose home is in San Francisco, California; and George, living in Texas. Mrs. Adams was married a second time in 1868 to Richard Brown, of Garden Plain town- ship, who owned and occupied a farm there. They had two children: Ab- bie, the wife of James Hanson, of northern Minnesota; and William, living in Clinton, Iowa. Mrs. Brown died in 1906, at the age of sixty-eight years.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. White have been born a son and daughter: Arthur B., who wedded Mary Johnson, a native of Anamosa, Iowa, by whom he has one son; and Lula M., the wife of Burton Wheeler, who is engaged in prac- ticing law and is holding the position of county attorney at Butte, Montana.

Mr. and Mrs. White hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church and are much interested in its work. He is serving as one of the church trustees, while Mrs. White is president of the ladies' society known as the Willing Workers. They are highly esteemed throughout the community and have a circle of friends coextensive with the circle of their acquaintance. They both belong to old pioneer families of the county and in the work of progressive development here have always borne their part.

JOHN A. RIORDON.

John A. Riordon, a member of the law firm of Blodgett & Riordon, has made gratifying advancement at the bar by reason of his close applica-' tion, his earnest study, his careful analysis and his logical reasoning. The firm of which he is junior partner receives a liberal clientage and one that connects them with much important litigation tried in the courts of the district.

Mr. Riordon is a native son of Whiteside county, having been born in Newton township in 1876. He comes, however, of Irish lineage. His parents were Bartholomew M. and Ellen B. (Kanc) Riordon, natives of Vermont and New Jersey, respectively. The father was a son of Irish parents, who settled in the Green Mountain state, and there Bartholomew M. Riordon was reared to farm life and has practically mnadc agricultural pursuits his life work. He came to Illinois about 1852, settling first at Al- bany, where he followed surveying for a short time. Before coming to this state, however, he lived for a brief period in Wisconsin. On withdrawing from surveying he purchased land in Newton township, where he still makes his home upon a farm. Although he was in limited financial circumstances at the time of his arrival here, by his industry and frugality he has become prosperous and is now the owner of two hundred acres of rich and produc- tive land, which annually. returns him a good income. He has always raised considerable stock and this, too, has been a good source of income. He mar- ried Ellen B. Kane, who about 1855 came with her mother to Illinois, set- tling at Fulton, where she was married. Both Mr. and Mrs. Riordon are communicants of the Catholic church, and fraternally he is connected with

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the Modern Woodmen of America. In politics he is a democrat and has been road commissioner and school director for many years. Throughout the community where he resides he is greatly esteemed by reason of what he has accomplished and the honorable methods lie has followed in his business career.

Unto him and his wife have been born nine children: William G., a farmer, of Newdale, Canada; Mamie, who is engaged in teaching and rc- sides with her parents; Margaret, at home; James K., who is engaged in the grain and coal trado in Erie, Illinois; John A., of this review; George. also living at Erie; Nellie, who has previously engaged in teaching and is now a student at the State Normal, at DeKalb; and Charles B. and Robert, who are still on the homestead farm.

John A. Riordon, who was reared upon the old homestead farm, mas- tered the common branches of learning in the district schools and afterward pursued a business and shorthand course at Clinton, Iowa. Determining upon the profession of law as a life work, he spent three years as a student at the Northern Illinois College at Fulton, Illinois, graduating therefrom in June, 1900. During the same time he also studied in the law office of C. C. McMahon, of Fulton, and in 1900 was admitted to the Illinois bar. In January, 1901, he began practice at Morrison, entering into partnership with W. A. Blodgett. This relation has since been continued and the firm havo been very successful. Mr. Riordon presents his cases in clear and logical manner and has won many notable forensic victories. Aside from his work as a member of the legal fraternity he is connected with the finan- cial interests of the county as a stockholder in the First National Bank.

Mr. Riordon was married February 20, 1908, to Miss Daisy M. Boyd, who was born in Morrison, a daughter of Peter R. and Elizabeth 1. (Fraser) Boyd.

JOHN R. RENNER.

John R. Renner well deserves mention among the self-made men, for, starting out in life empty-handed, whatever success he has achieved is attri- butable entirely to his own untiring labor. That is the secret of his prosperity --- his earnest, unremitting toil. He was born in Greene county, Pennsylvania, February 17, 1842, of the marriage of William and Elmina (Reinhart) Ren- ner, both of whom were natives of Greene county, Pennsylvania. The father was born in 1812 and died in 1862, while the mother, whose birth oceurred in 1815, passed away at the ripe old age of eighty-six years. Their family numbered the following: John R .; James A., a resident of Hahnaman town- ship, Mrs. Mary J. Collins, of Tampico, Illinois; Mrs. Susan Buxton, of Deer Grove, this county ; Mrs. Ruth Swope, of Wright county, Iowa; and Frank, a resident of Hahnaman township. It was in the year 1842 that the parents came west from Pennsylvania making the journey down the Ohio and up the Mississippi and Illinois rivers to Peoria, where they secured a claim of govern-

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ment land, upon which they resided for two years. On the expiration of that period they came to Bureau county, Illinois, where they lived for eight years and thence removed to Whiteside county.

John R. Renner was but an infant when his parents left the Keystone state and came to the middle west. He was reared to farm life and had but limited opportunities in his youth. He worked in the fields during the summer months as soon as his strength permitted and it was only by attend- ing school in the short winter seasons that he acquired his education. Through- out the remainder of the year his time was taken up with the task of plowing, planting and harvesting until he reached the age of eighteen, when he began working by the month as a farm hand. At one time he worked for two weeks for ten yards of blue drilling, sueh being the low wage paid at that time.

After the outbreak of the Civil war, however, he put aside business inter- ests and all other considerations that he might become a defender of the Union cause, enlisting on the 14th of September, 1862, as a member of Com- pany K, One Hundred and Twelfth Illinois Infantry. He enrolled his name at Geneseo, Illinois, and saw hard service at the front. He participated in the. battles of Knoxville, Tennessee, and Atlanta, Georgia, and numerous smaller engagements. He was captured at the battle of Columbia, Tennessee, and in- eareerated in Andersonville prison for six months, or until the close of the war, suffering all of the horrors of that famous rebel prison. After the elose of hostilities he was mustered out at Springfield, Illinois, July 1, 1865. He had gone to the front when a boy inexperienced, but returned a man with all a man's experiences and the knowledge that comes from suffering hardships and trials.

Again taking up his abode in Whiteside county, Mr. Renner began farm- ing in Hahnaman township, where he rented land for a short period. He then joined his brother in the purchase of eighty acres of wild land which he sold in a short time and invested in one hundred and sixty aeres in Lee eoun- ty, Illinois. This he broke and improved, turning the sod in many a field and bringing the farm under cultivation. At length he sold that property and purchased one hundred and sixty aeres in Tampico township, which he also developed and improved. He then again sold out, after which he and his brother divided their interests. Starting in business alone, Mr. Renner pur- ehased two liundred aeres on seetions 20 and 21, Hahnaman township in 1880. It was then wild and uneultivated land but he improved it and there carried ou farming until about ten years ago, when he retired from active business life and is now renting his land. He likewise owns one hundred and twenty aeres on seetion 17, Hahnaman township, and from his property he obtains a good ineome that enables him to enjoy not only the necessities and comforts of life but also many of its luxuries. He has worked hard to achieve sueeess and his prosperity is well merited.

Mr. Renner is now serving for his second term as supervisor and has been road commissioner for eighteen years, his fidelity to duty being man- ifest in his long continuance in this position. In polities he is a stalwart republican, having supported the party sinee age conferred upon him the.

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right of franchise. Fraternally he is connected with Tampico Post, G. A. R., and thus maintains pleasant relations with his old army comrades. In days of peace he is as loyal in his citizenship as when he followed the old flag upon southern battlefields and faced the enemy's bullets in defense of the Union.

FRED W. SEARS.

Fred W. Sears, who as a civil engineer of Prophetstown is enjoying a liberal patronage, was born January 27, 1853, in the village in which he yet makes his home, his parents being Silas and Sarah C. (Warner) Sears, early residents of this part of the state. The father was a native of Vermont and was descended from ancestors who came to the new world prior to the war for independence. For many years the Warner family was represented in Missouri and is probably of German lineage. The marriage of Silas Sears and Sarah C. Warner was celebrated in Prophetstown in 1851, the former having become a resident of this place about 1848 or 1849. Here he engaged in teaching and for a number of years was the efficient principal of the Prophets- town schools, during which time he held to higli ideals of education and did much to improve the course of publie instruction in this place. He was elected county surveyor of Whiteside county, being the fourth or fifth ineum- bent in' that office, to which he was re-elected until his service in the posi- tion covered twelve years. He was the first surveyor who, under the diree- tion of the board of county supervisors, engaged in promoting the work of publie drainage and in faet was the first to institute works of any great im- portance to the county. While he was filling that position, in connection with the surveyor of Rock Island county, he settled the boundary line be- tween the two counties and in this settlement Whiteside county made great gain, while securing thereby valuable land, owing to the untiring and well directed efforts of Mr. Sears. Prior to this time the boundary line of the two counties was being continually changed by the change of the ereeks. After his term of office as county surveyor had expired Mr. Sears engaged in the real-estate business and did work as a publie surveyor. His services in the latter connection were in constant demand, especially in behalf of drainage, being employed by various drainage districts, for the subject of properly draining the county was at that time a paramount one before the people and through his labors he did much to reclaim otherwise uneultivable land. He continued in the real-estate and surveying business until his death, which occurred September 7, 1887, when he had reached the age of fifty- eight years. He was survived by his wife and son Fred, both of whom are still living. Mrs. Scars yet makes her home in Prophetstown at the age of eighty-one years and is enjoying excellent health, retaining both her mental and physical faculties unimpaired.

Fred W. Sears was educated in his native town and for two years .at- tended the high school at Peru. Illinois. He was sixteen years of age when

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he left school and began clerking in a general store in Prophetstown, his time and attention being thus fully occupied until he had attained his major- ity. He was married on the 6th of September, 1874, to Miss Louise Baldwin, of Prophetstown, a daughter of Edwin II. and Charlotte E. (Hanford) Bald- win, both of whom were natives of Connecticut, in which state the birth of Mrs. Sears also occurred. About two years after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Sears removed to Nebraska, where he purchased and improved a farm, upon which he made his home for three years. He then returned to Prophets- town and engaged with his father in surveying-a profession in which he had become deeply interested in his boyhood days. His practical experience with his father, who was one of the best eivil engineers in the state at that time, gave him advantages which he could not have acquired in technical schools at that day. He has been especially devoted to engineering and as a civil engineer has gained a wide and gratifying reputation. For many years he has been employed by different drainage boards and districts of the county and under his supervision some of the best drainage of the county has been done. His work is always effective and his labors have resulted in making wild and unimproved districts tracts of rich fertility and value. His work has not been confined to Whiteside county alone but has extended into all adjoining counties and also into other districts. The years 1894, 1895 and 1896 he spent in Connecticut engaged in his profession in work on railways and public roads.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Sears lias been born a daughter, Pearl E., now the wife of Charles A. Nicholas, of New York city. They have one daughter, Grace L. Both Mr. and Mrs. Sears are members of the Congregational church and Mr. Sears belongs to the Modern Woodmen eamp. Almost his entire life has been spent in the locality where he now makes his home and the fact that many of his stanchest friends are numbered among those who have known him from his boyhood indicates that his has been an active and honorable career. He has made orderly progression in his chosen calling, his broad experience and wide reading on the subject constantly augmenting his knowl- edge and promoting his efficiency. He has now an extensive patronage that renders his business profitable and satisfactory.

ERVIN BAUDER.

Ervin Bauder, the proprietor of a machine shop and pattern works at Sterling, is one whose business activity and well directed labor constitutes the basis of all the success which he has enjoyed and he may therefore well be termed one of the county's self-made men. He was born in the town of Pala- tine, Montgomery county, New York, February 13, 1842, his parents being Christopher and Lana (Nellis) Bauder. The family for several generations have been residents of the Empire state. The great-grandfather came from Germany to the new world when sixteen years of age and loyally served his adopted country as a soldier in the Continental army in the Revolutionary

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war. His son, George M. Bauder, a native of New York, joined the army in defense of American interests in the second war with England in 1812. Throughout the greater part of his life he followed farming and died at the very advanced age of ninety-seven years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Suits, passed away previously at an advanced age. They were the parents of four children: George; Christopher, the father of our subject ; Jane; and Philenia.

Christopher Bauder was born in Palatine, New York, and learned and fol- lowed the carpenter's trade, eventually becoming a contractor and builder at Palatine. He married Lana Nellis, also a native of New York, as was her father, Peter Nellis, who was a blacksmith. The Nellis family comes, how- ever, from Gernian aneestry. The death of Mrs. Bauder occurred in 1853, and the father long survived her, passing away in 1898, at the age of eighty- seven years. They were Lutherans in religious faith.

"Their family numbered nine children: Simon, now living in Amster- dam, New York, married Rachel Getman and has two children, Ella and Car- rie, both married. Eliza, who died in 1900, was the wife of George Drexler, living in Creston, Illinois, and they had two children, Ervin and Libby, both married. Eleanor, a resident of Palatine, New York, is the widow of Joseph Nestle; who died at Palatine Bridge in 1907. Rufus, also a resident of Pala- tine, married Hannah Dillenbaek and has three children, William, Ida and Charles. Ervin, of this review, is the next of the family. Henry, living in Wallowa. Oregon, married Matilda Veder and they have two children, May and Gertie, both married. Amanda first married William Miller and is now the wife of George Drexler, of Creston, Illinois. She has three children by the first marriage: Charley, now in Ohio; Jane, in Palatine, New York; and Ella, a professional nurse in Philadelphia. Lana is the wife of Jerry Van Wie, of Palatine. George, living at Ephrata, New York, married Orena Beck and has three children, Lizzie, Alice and Effa.

Ervin Bauder was reared on a farm in the Empire state and is indebted to the publie school system of New York for the educational privileges he en- joyed. When twenty-one years of age he left the farm and began learning the pattern-maker's trade. The following year he came to the west, settling first at Springfield, Illinois, where he remained for three years, after which lie went to Beloit, Wiseonsin. A brief period there passed was followed by his removal to Lyons, Iowa, where he remained for several years. In 1871, he came to Sterling and worked for seven years as a pattern-maker for the Will- iams & Orton Manufacturing Company, after which he established a pattern shop bn his own account in 1878 and has continued in the business to the present time, covering about thirty years. He also now eonduets a machine shop, employing nine people. He owns his business property as well as a good residence at No. 612 Sixteenth avenue.

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History of Whiteside County, Illinois, from its earliest settlement to 1908, Vol. II, Part 54

Author: Davis, William W Publication date: 1908 Publisher: Chicago : Pioneer Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 882

Author: Davis, William W
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago : Pioneer Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 882