USA > Illinois > Bureau County > Past and present of Bureau County, Illinois : together with biographical sketches of many of its prominent and leading citizens and illustrious dead > Part 59
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continued the work of development in accordance with modern ideas of agricultural progress. His farm is now well supplied with good buildings and the land has been brought under a high state of cultivation. On the th of July, 1857, he was joined in wedlock to Miss Margaret Sin- nott, a daughter of Nicholas and Johanna ( Bry- ant) Sinnott. Five children were born unto Mr. and Mrs. Petter: Mary E .; George P .; John C .; Alice ., who died November 10, 1890; and Will- iam J., a graduateof the Princeton high & Lool and of the Gem City Business College of Quiz y, Illi- nois. In his political views George P. Petter, Sr., has always been a democrat since casting his first presidential ballot for James Buchanan in 1856. For many years he served as a member of the school board and has always been the champion of matters relating to general progress and de- velopment. About five years ago he retired from active farm life and is now living in Princeton.
In taking up the personal history of George P. Pettee, Jr., we present to our readers the life rec- ord of one widely known in Bureau county, where he has always lived. He attended the district schools and also the schools of Sheffield and after- ward engaged in teaching for some tim- in Sea- tonville. Subsequently he went to Chicago, where he attended the Bryant & Stratton Business College, and later tool up the study of pharmacy in Illinois Pharmaceutical College. Returning to Seatonville, he again engaged in teaching for some time and in Princeton has conducted a hardware store, being thus closely associated with its com- mercial interests. He went to Sratonville before the town was started and after its esta' 'ishment he served' for four years as postma-te: under President Cleveland. He is now cashier of the Seatonville State Bank, which was organized in 1904, with a capital of twenty-five thousand dol- lars. Mr. Pettee has been a most active and help- ful factor in the growth of Seatonville and his name is inseparably interwoven with its inter- ests and development.
In 1895 occurred the marriage of George P. Pettee and Miss Neva Myrtle Brookie, of Bureau county, a daughter of Arthur Brookie. Her father was born in St. Louis, Missouri, April 29. 1850, and is a son of Dr. John and Sophia : Keedy) Brookie, the former a native of Louisville. Ken- tucky, and the latter of Boonsboro, Washington county, Maryland, her hirth having oceurred within a mile and a half of the battleft !! of An- tietam. Dr. Brookie started out in bus'ness life as a farmer, but later took up the study of medi- cine under Dr. MeDonald, of St. Louis, and en- gaged in practice at that place for many years. Before removing to the city he had liv .1 with a brother-in-law, Mr. Kane, in Noble county, Illi- nois, and he planted the Best fruit tres set out within the borders of that county-a morilla cherry. He died in Peru. Illinois, Anzust 18, 1865, at the age of fifty-six years. Bot .. he and
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his wife were consistent members of the Chris- tian church. Mrs. Brookie passed away in Aug- ust, 1855. She was the daughter of Jacob and Priscilla Keedy, who removed from Maryland to Noble county, Illinois, in 1868 and there both died in 1881. Unto Dr. and Mrs. Brookie were born eight children: Sarah, Fannie, Mary, Will- iam F., Anna, Eugenia, Arthur and James.
Of this family, Arthur Brookie was educated in the common schools and has spent his life as a farmer. On first coming to Illinois he located in La Salle county, but later returned to Mary- land, where he engaged in farming for three years. On the expiration of that period he became a resident of Bureau county, Illinois, and clerked in his brother-in-law's store for a time. He after- ward again spout a year in Maryland, but once more came to Bureau county. He was married December 8, 1870, to Miss Lora E. Munson, a daughter of II. W. and E. J. Munson, in whose family were the following named: Plansina, who was drowned July 4, 1862; Augusta; Lora, the wife of Arthur Brookie; and William H. and James Munson. Mr. and Mrs. Brookie have be- come the parents of five children: Howard and John, twins, but the latter is now deceased; Neva Myrtle. now Mrs. Pettec; Lida Eugenia: and Anna Belle. Mr. Brookie is a democrat and is a member of the Knights of Pythias fraternity, while he and his wife hold membership in the Congregational church.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Pettee have been born two children, Harold and Marguerite, aged, respec- tively, eight and seven years. Politically Mr. Pettee is a democrat, with rather independent tendencies. He and his wife hold membership in the Congregational church. He owns land in Nebraska. He has in his possession the bow and arrows and deerskin sheath that once belonged to Spotted Tail, chief of the Sioux Indians, and these things are still in a good state of preserva- tion, the sheath showing wear through carrying. It is a very valuable and interesting relic. Mrs. Pettee is a relative of the Hall girls, who were kidnapped by the Indians in the Black Hawk war. Both are representatives of prominent old pioneer families and are surrounded at their home by a eirele of friends, who appreciate their true worth, entertaining for them warm regard.
OLIVER J. FLINT, M. D.
Among the younger practitioners of medicine in Princeton is Dr. Flint, a native son of Bureau county, born on the 6th of November, 1870. His father, Milan Flint, was a native of New York and became a resident of Illinois in the early '50s. He was associated with the educational develop- ment of the state, being engaged in teaching school here at an early day, and he also engaged in farm- ing. while the moral progress of his community
found in him a promoting factor as he labored earnestly and zealousls in proclaiming the gospel as a minister of the Methodist church. He died in the year 1835 and those who knew him recog- nized the loss of a man worthy of all respect and honor. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Frances Wilhite, is a native of Kentucky.
Oliver J. Flint pursued his education in the public schools of Bureau county, completing the high-school course in Princeton with the class of 1888. His medical education was obtained in Northwestern University and was completed by graduation in the class of 1898. He commenced practice in Princeton in January, 1899, and has been a partner of Dr. C. A. Palmer during the period of his connection with the medical frater- nity of his native county. He is esteemed in pro- fessional circles and is secretary of the Bureau County Medical Society. He also belongs to the State Medical Society and the American Medical Association and reading and investigation are adding to his knowledge and promoting his efti- ciency. He maintains a high standard of profes- sional ethics and enjoys the regard of his profes- sional brethren as well as of a host of friends of social life.
MICHAEL FAGAN.
Michael Fagan, who is enaged in the meat and stock business in Ohio, was born in Ottawa, Can- ada. December 28. 1849. His father was James Fagan, who was born in Wicklow, Ireland, and went to Montreal, Canada. about 1816. After a period of about thirty-three years he removed to Bureau county, Illinois, and he died in La Moille, this county, on the 15th of August, 1865. He had seitled upon a farm in La Moille township of two hundred and eighty acres, which he purchased in 1853 at two dollars and a quarter per acre.
Michael Fagan was reared in this county amid pioneer scenes and conditions and he can remem- her back to the early days, when he saw a great drove of wild deer. He acquired his education in the common schools, which he left in 1868 in order to devote his undivided attention to work upon the home farm, where he remained until he attained his majority. He then engaged in the butchering business in Ohio for a period of one year, when he sold his interests and established a meat market in Chicago, where he remained for one year. He theu returned to the home farm, but a year later again came to the village of Ohio, in which he has since engaged in the meat and live stock business in a very successful manner. He has a good trade, which has con- stantly grown, and he enjoys the confidence of all with whom he comes in contact.
Mr. Fagan was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Shechan, who was born in Lee county, Illinois, in 1852. They were married in Amboy, Illinois, in 1813 and have become the parents of the fol-
DR. O. J. FLINT.
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lowing named : Estella, the wife of F. B. Kaiser, a resident of Mount Auburn, lowa; May, the wife of O. J. Conner, residing in Ohio; Anna, at home; William D .; and Martin J., who died April 19, 1904. The family are communicants of the Catholic church and in his political affiliation Mr. Fagan is a stalwart demoerat. He served as vil- lage trustee for a period of twenty-two years and the interests of the town were largely benefited by his active and public-spirited co-operation in every movement for the general good. Fraternally he is connected with the Modern Woodmen and the Knight, of the Globe. He has prospered and progressed in his business life and in addition to his business interests in Ohio he owns a half see- tion of land in Alberta county near Iligh River, Canada.
JUDGE RICHARD M. SKINNER.
Judge Richard M. Skinner, occupying the bench of the Circuit court, has for a third of a century been a member of the Bureau county bar and is widely recognized as one of the leading lawyers of this part of Illinois. His activity has been so closely interwoven with the development of the county along many lines as to make his life ree- ord an integral chapter in its history. Its social and financial affairs have felt the stimulus of his co-operation and have profited by his practical methods and keen discernment.
Elected judge of the thirteenth judicial circuit in 1903, his record on the bench is in harmony with his record as a man and a lawyer, distin- guished by unswerving integrity and by a mas- terful grasp of every problem presented for soli- tion.
Judge Skinner was born in Morris county, New Jersey, April 13, 1847, a son of John C. and Mary (Stevens) Skinner, likewise natives of thai state. In 1853 the father, accompanied by his family, removed to Ohio and in 1851 sought a home in Bureau county, Illinois, settling upon a farm near Princeton, where he spent his remain- ing days, his death resulting from an accident in 1877, when he was sixty-three years of age. His wife survivel him until 1893, departing this life at the age of seventy-eight years. Their family numbered two sons and three daughters: Sarah S., the wife of Henry U. Bacon of Ottawa, Kan- sas; Richard M .; George S., an attorney at the Princeton bar; Mary E., the wife of Elijah P. Lovejoy : and Eliza J., librarian in the Congres- sional library at Washington, D. C.
From the age of seven years Judge Skinner was reared to farm life and his primary educa- tion was acquired in the district schools. Ambi- tious for further intellectual training, however. he entered the high school at Princeton, from which he was graduated with the class of 18:0, the first class sent out from that institution. His scholas-
tie training was continued in Cornell University at Ithaca, New York, where he pursued a partial course, when having resolved to make the prs tice of law his life work he matriculated in Albany Law School of Union College and following his graduation in 1822 was admitted to practice in all the courts of the state of New York. For a brief period, however, his attention was not given to his chosen profession. He spent two terms as a teacher in the high school of Princeton and then in 1823 entered upon the active practice of his profession as a member of the Bureau county bar, wherein he was destined to win the distine- tion which comes from close and unremitting at- tention to the profession and from head and comprehensive understanding of the principles of jurisprudence. He has practiced in all of the courts of the state and is recognized as the peer of many of the able-t members of the Hlinois bar. From 1826 until 1880 he was state's attorney of Bureau county and again from 1888 until 1892. His official duties were ever discharged without fear or favor and his high standing at the bar. his recognized ability in the interpreta- tion and correct application of principles of law led to his selection for the bench. Fairness and impartiality characterize his decisions, together with a thorough and comprehensive understanding of legal principles, and he displays a marked sense of conscientious obligation in the discharge of the duties of the office to which life, liberty and property interests must look for protection. Aside from the profession he has extended his ef- forts to other lines and has served as director of the Farmers National Bank and as director and general attorney of the Citizen- National Bank of Princeton. Conservative in all business matters, his judgment is relied upon by his associates and the public has confidence in the stability of an in- stitution conducted by such men.
Judge Skinner was married on the 12th of June, 1878, to Miss Mary Eila Sharp. a daughter of John N. and Naney (MeCracken) Sharp, of Hackettstown, New Jersey, later of Brooklyn, New York. The five children of this marriage were: Dewitt. who died in 1892 at the age of twelve years ; Walter R. : Anna B. ; John S. : and Richard M. The family attended the Congregational church.
Judge Skinner is perhaps best known aside from his professional activity by reason of the prominent pari which he has taken in political interests. He was reared in the faith of the re- publican party and his mature judgment has sane- tioned its principles as most conducive to good government. He has delivered many campaign addresses in support of party measures and he stands for progress, improvement and reform. Wherever there is a public-spirited attempt to disloder misrule in municipal affairs he is to be found working with the leaders of the movement. A thorough temperance wan from principle, he
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has always opposed the licensing of saloons and in 1895 was elected mayor of Princeton on the no license ticket. He brought to his official du- ties a firm determination to execute the laws and exercised his official prerogatives in support of every movement and measure which he deemed would prove of permanent benefit. His course as chief executive won the commendation of the most progressive and law-abiding element. He served on the bench as county judge of Bureau county from 1897 until 1902. In the public-school sys- tem of the state he has always taken a lively in- terest and for eighteen years was a member of the board of education of the Princeton high school district, being one of the first graduates of the high school and one of the first of its alumni to occupy the position of a teacher in it. The in- terest manifested as student and teacher has ever been maintained. The Princeton high school oc- cupies a peculiar position, being the first high school in Illinois to be organized under a special charter from the state. Its standing as an ad- vaneed school has always been the highest and to Judge Skinner much of the eredit of its efficiency is due. For years he has been either president or clerk of the board and is familiar with every de- tail of the work connected therewith. lle has served as a member of the Matson public library board and he is the champion of all that stands for intellectual progress and for all that upholds the political and legal status of his community. He has left and is leaving the impress of his in- dividuality upon public life in Bureau county and his clear judgment, his lofty patriotism and his publie spirit well render hum a leader of thought and action.
WILLIAM BANSCHBACHL.
After a useful and well spent life William Banschbach is now Jiving retired in Princeton, en- joying a well earned rest and the fruits of former toil. He was born in Baden, Germany, on the 12th of June, 1832, his parents being Martin and Caroline (Bischofberger) Banschbach, who came to America in 1851, and settled in Bureau county, Illinois. For a time the father resided near Mal- den and then removed to Selby township, where he bought a farm which continued to be the home of him-elf and his wife until called to their final rest. He died in August, 1857. and she passed away on the 12th of August, 1887, at the age of seventy-five years and eighteen days. In his na- tive land he served in the German army and then, coming to America, followed briek-making and the burning of lime and tile in connection with farming, but in this country devoted his atten- tion almost exclusively to agricultural pursuits. He had five children, namely : Martin, who is rep- resented on another page of this work: William, whose name introduces this review; Charles, who
resides in Chicago and was for forty years fore- man of the roundhouse for the Illinois Central Railroad Company, but recently resigned that po- sition though still employed in the shops there; Louis, who is a farmer by occupation and has made his home in Christian county, Illinois, for the past thirty-five years; and Henry, who enlisted at the age of sixteen years in Company G, Twenti- eth Illinois infantry, and was wounded in service, dying at the general post hospital at Jackson, Ten- nessee, October 29, 1862, when only nineteen years of age.
William Banselbach spent the first fifteen years of his life in his native land, and in 1852 crossed the broad Atlantic with his brother Martin, be- coming a resident of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he remained for two years, and at the end of that time took up his abode in Bureau county, Illinois. Ile worked as a farm hand in Selby township until he had attained his majority and later followed the harness business for twenty years at Depue, Malden, Hollowayville and Prince- ton, being at the last named place for nine years. Selling out his business in 1818 he later devoted his attention to the drug trade from 1880 until 1883. disposing of his store in the latter year. Ile once acted as administrator and guardian for some eighteen or twenty years, but in the fall of 1905 retired from business and has not actively engaged in any enterprise since that time.
On July 2, 18:2, Mr. Banschbach was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Ann Redlingshafer. She was also born in Germany in 1848, but was a muere infant when brought to America, learning to walk on shipboard when crossing the Atlantic with her parents, who came to the United States that year. She was practically reared in lowa and was married at Sheridan, that state. Having received a good common school education, supple- mented by a four years' college course at Ames, Iowa, she successfully engaged in teaching for twenty-one terms in Lucas and Delaware eoun- ties, Iowa, prior to her marriage. Five children have been born to Mr and Mrs. Banschbach, name- ly: Edward Aaron, now of Chicago, who for years acted as sale-man for typewriters, and is now selling the Burroughs adding machines ; Will- iam Martin, who married Edith French, and con- Jueted a sporting goods store and repair shop at Princeton for some time, doing a good business, but now makes his home in Portland, Oregon; Ohmer Lott, now at Yokoham .. Japan, as pay clerk in the United States Navy on the U. S. S. Raleigh; Winnifredl G., who is a graduate of Knox Conservatory of Music and is now success- fully engaged in traching music at Princeton ; Litta Celia, who was graduated at the Illinois State University in June. 1906. and is now pur- suing a post-gradnoite course at the University of Illinois.
Mr. Banschbach was a supporter of the repub- lican party until the election of Cleveland, but
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since that time has voted independently. Social- ly he has been affiliated with the Odd Fellows fra- ternity for thirty-five years, being a member of the order af. Princeton. His wife is connected with the Daughters of Rebekah and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. She is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church and both are held in high regard by all who know them. They have a nice home at No. 5 South Pleasant street, where hospitality reigns supreme.
STEPHEN A. NAWA.
Stephen A Nawa, who carries on farming and stock-raising on section 32, Selby township, is a native of Germany, his birth having occurred in Schlesien on the 20th of December, 1857. His parents, John and Johann. (Stokony) Nawa, con- tinued to make their home in that country throughout life and both died in 1882. The father was overseer of timber lands for a forester. In his family were seven sons and three daughters, namely : John, Edmond, Emanuel, Franz, Casper, Stephen, Paul, Mary, Augusta and Annie. Of this number Casper came to America and died in Reading, Pennsylvania, where he was for some time engaged in agricultural pursuits. With the exception of our subject all remained in Germany. During his boyhood and youth Stephen A. Nawa attended school in his native land, completing his education by a collegiate course, and he was thus well fitted to start out in life for himself. After leaving school, at the age of twenty years, he served for three years in the German army, as did also all of his brothers. Before coming to Amer- ica he was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Kalthoff, who was born in Rhine province, Octo- her 25. 1860, and is a daughter of John and Annie (Pauss) Kalthoff. Her father, who was a coal miner, died in Germany and her mother sub- sequently came to the United States, where she passed away some sixteen years ago. Mrs. Nawa has one sister, Mrs. Yorks, who lives at De l'ue. Illinois, and has two half brothers. Clement Wolf. a painter of De Pue, and William Wolf, who is also engaged in business at that place.
Thinking to better his financial condition in the new world, Stephen A. Nawa crossed the Atlantic and in 1882 became a resident of Bureau county, Illinois, residing for some years at De Pue. There he followed coal mining for four years and was employed at check weighing. He then rented a farm from Charles Savage for six years and at the end of that time purchasedl his prosent place. He now has one hundred and thirty acres on section 32, Selby township, and eighty acres on section 29. upon which he has made excellent improvements. his place being supplied with pri- vate waterworks. for use in both house and barn. Here he has made his home for the past nine years and to its further cultivation and improve-
ment he devotes his entire rene aml attention. He is an energetic and progressive farger and stock- raiser and the succe that he has achieved in life is due entirely to his own well direeted cfforts, as he came to this country practically without cap- ital.
Ten children have come to bless the home of Mr. and Mrs. Nawa, five sons and five daughters, namely: Matilda. now the wife of Walter Thurs- ton, a farmer of Bureau county; and William, Frank, Benjamin, Fred, Enuna, Annie, Mary, John and Freda, still under the parental roof. Mr. Nawa is not identified with any political or- ganization, but votes for the mien whom he be- lieves best qualified to fill the off , regardless of party ties. Fot a time he served as alderman at De Pue, and has always taken an active and com- mendable interest in public affairs, giving his sup- port to any enterprise which he believes will prove of public benefit. Socially both he and his wife are members of the Toilers, while two of their children belong to the Mystic Workers, and in re- ligious faith the family are Catholics. They stand high in publie regard and have a host of friends throughout Bureau county.
PALMER E. ANDERSON.
Palmer E. Anderson, engaged in the real es- tate, loan and insurance business with office, on Main street, is numbered among Princeton's na- tive sons, boin on the 29th of March, 15:4. His parents were Jonas and Elizabeth (Nelson) .An- derson, both of whom have now passed away, the father having died on the 1st of March, 1899, while his wife's death occurred February 1, 1890. Mr. Anderson was a carpenter and hous mover and came to Princeton in 1853. A Lative of Sweden, he established his home in St. Charles, Illinois, on coming to the new world, and subse- quently removed to Bureau county, where he was closely associated with industrial interests as a carpenter and house inover. He possesso many of the sterling characteristics of the Swedish race, including unfaltering industry, adaptability and integrity, and these qualities rendered him a valued resident of his adopted city. He took an active part in politics and served as collector and in other local offices.
Palmer E. AndJerson was indebted to the public- school system of Princeton for the educational privileges he enjoyed and entering upon his busi- ness carrer he become connected with the dry- good- trade as a young man and so contirol until 1901. Ile was for some time a junior member of the firm of N. W. Isaacson & Company, with whom his business connection continued for sex- eral years. On withdrawing from commercial pur- suits he become connected with the real estate, loan and insurance business and now has well ap-
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