USA > Illinois > DeKalb County > Past and present of DeKalb County, Illinois, Volume II > Part 7
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Mr. Shellaberger was born in the county of Northumberland, Pennsylvania, December 27, 1818. His father, David Shellaberger, a native of Mifflin county. Pennsylvania. was a farmer by occupation and died at the age of eighty-seven years, while his wife, Mrs. Catherine ( Moreheart) Shellaberger, died at the age of sixty years. In the paternal line the family is descended from Swiss ancestry, the great-grandfather having been born in Switzerland, while the grandfather was born in Pennsylvania. The maternal aneestry, both
in its lineal and collateral branches, has been dis- tinctively American since an early period in the colonization of the new world.
Mr. Shellaberger had most limited edneational privileges and the literary knowledge that he pos- sesses has been acquired through his own efforts since he has attained his majority. IIe has always had a strong thirst for knowledge and has carried forward his reading and investigation along many lines and will continue to be a student to the end of his days. He says that his greatest pleasure in his past life has been in thinking, and that he has put his thought to good use is shown in the faet that nineteen patents have been granted him upon inventions which have been evolved through the clear conception of his brain and hand. Four thousand dollars were paid him by one manufac- turing company for the invention of a single ma- chine beneficial to its plant. In early boyhood he found it necessary to work on the home farm and continued to engage in farming until twenty years of age, but even in his youth his inventive spirit and ingenuity found tangible form. Fond of pleasure and especially of skating, and knowing there would be no ice in the summer time, he in- vented and constructed a pair of wooden roller skates, which worked successfully upon the smooth, dry, hard roads. Hle therefore claims to be the first inventor of the roller skate.
Mr. Shellaberger removed from Pennsylvania to Ohio and afterward eame to Illinois, settling at Joliet. Later he took up his abode in Indiana and subsequently was a resident of Hamilton, Cald- well county. Missouri, where for three years he en- gaged in the hardware business. While thus en- gaged the manufacture of barb wire fencing was vet in its incipiency and priees were high. This caused Mr. Shellaberger to think how best to com- pete with the trade. He bought a hand-power machine and made what wire he could sell by hand, while still in the hardware trade. After selling out his hardware business he and his son Edward F. removed to Beaver Falls. Pennsylvania, and en- gaged exclusively in the manufacture of wire fencing of various styles in partnership with the Hartman Fence Manufacturing Company, with which they were connected for five years. They then sold their interest in the company and in the fall of 1891 came to De Kalb and commenced the erection of a building in which to manufacture
M. M. Shellaberger.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
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wire fencing of various styles under the name of the De Kalb Fence Company. From the start until the present time the business has been un- der the direct supervision of the son, while Mr. Shellaberger's part in the enterprise is to study out the construction of machinery best adapted for their purpose. He finds his greatest pleasure in such work and believes that no one is too old to do useful thinking. Fifteen of his patents have been granted him since he passed the age of sixty-five years and at present he has a workshop in the gar- ret of his pleasant home, where, as he says, he can make his mechanical thoughts visible with tools.
Mr. Shellaberger has a military experience cov- ering five years, during which time he conducted himself in such a manner that no charge of misde- meanor was ever preferred against him. In 1841 he enlisted in the Fourth Regiment, United States Infantry, becoming a member of Company A. Two years later General Grant became second lieuten- ant of the company and General Taylor was in command when Mr. Shellaberger was discharged at Corpus Christi, Texas, on the expiration of his term of enlistment. He was then acting as ser- geant of his company. On the 22d of December. 1842, his regiment became engaged in an Indian fight in the Everglades of southern Florida, and this was the only place where he saw dead soldiers buried under the water in the places where they fell, pierced by Indian bullets. His experiences about this time are best told in his own words after five years of service :
"I was offered fifty-two dollars per month and double rations it I would remain with the regiment in the quartermaster's employ during the Mexican war, but having already served five years under military restriction, fifty-two dollars per month with double rations was no inducement for me to remain with the good old regiment any longer. So, after receiving my discharge and once more becom- ing my own boss, I bought a Mexican pony and saddle, for which I paid twelve dollars, and on the 17th of November, 1845, started from Corpus Christi, in southwestern Texas, with my pony out- fit and five days' rations, for Alexandria on the Red river in Louisiana. The distance thus trav- eled with two companions, who knew the route, was six hundred miles. The first half of the dis- tance was but sparsely settled by white men and we found but one family in the first one hundred
and forty miles but plenty of uncivilized Indians. We had to be very cautious the first sixty miles owing to the treachery of these southwest Indians. In this section the price of good prairie land at that time was from six and a quarter to twelve and a half cents per acre. The most interesting natural view 1 beheld in making my homeward journey through the wilds of southern Texas was a small body of clear water, known as Sour lake, the water tasting of citric acid, but why it thus tasted was not known until long afterward, when it was found that the great pressure of an unknown quantity of coal oil and natural gas underlying the bed of the lake forced the gas through the porous earth into the water, causing white bub- bles filled with gas to rise and explode, causing the water to become of an acid taste. Strange indeed was this to me at that time for the reason that 1 was entirely ignorant of the force and laws of nature, but being of an inquisitive turn of mind from my childhood days down to the present and ever striving for knowledge based on truth, I know more today than yesterday and the phenomenon above afinled to is no longer a mystery. The secret is no longer hidden, as men have tapped the earth on the borders of Sour lake and it is now embel- lishet with coal oil and natural gas wells. Had I known sixty-two years ago what I now know I would have bought five hundred acres of land bor- dering the lake, as I had ample money to pay for the land at the prices held and still have enough left to pay my traveling expenses home. But as ignorance is so much easier retained than success- ful knowledge gained, I live without worrying over the past."
Following his discharge from the army Mr. Shellaberger was married on the 9th of December. 1842, in Covington, Miami county, Ohio, to Miss Elizabeth Jane Young, of that place. Unto theni were born six children, four sons and two daugh- ters, all of whom are now married and have homes of their own. During his army service Mr. Shel- laberger was stationed for a time on the site of the present city of Tampa, Florida, which state was then under territorial rule, and where the city now is was a military camp covered with under- brush and live oak trees. This property still be- longs to the government and has been unmolested save that the underbrush has been cleared away. Mr. Shellaberger was often selected by his com-
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manding officer to fire the morning and evening gun under one of these live oak trees. After an absence of fifty-four years he returned to this spot in company with his wife, being at that time on a pleasure trip. They visited many noted places in Florida, including Tampa, and Mrs. Shellaberger was greatly interested in seeing the tree under which her husband had fired a cannon during his soldier career and of which she had often heard him speak.
In many respects Mr. Shellaberger is a remark- able man. Though now eighty-nine years of age he still displays great activity and finds much de- light in working out inventions and in studying out new ideas, many of which have taken tangible form. He is a man of sterling character, who started out without financial aid but who has, through the careful management of his business interests, worked his way up from a humble po- sition to one of wealth. He is a most interesting and entertaining man, with whom it is a delight to meet and converse, and in De Kalb is numbered among the most honored, respected and valued citizens.
HARMON M. STARK.
Harmon M. Stark, living in Kingston township. is one of the honored veterans of the Civil war, whose military record was most creditable. He is well known in both business and social eireles in his county and is a worthy representative of one of the honored pioneer families so that he well deserves mention in this volume. His birth oc- curred at Sycamore, on the 5th of July, 1842. and he is a son of Marshall Stark, who was born in Luzerne county. Pennsylvania. August 12, 1813. He was a most prominent pioneer settler and the first sheriff of the county. The paternal grand- parents, Oliver and Betsy (Dixon) Stark, were both natives of the Keystone state and were de- scended from old New England stock, tracing the line back to the same ancestry from which General Stark of Revolutionary fame was descended.
Marshall Stark was reared in the county of his nativity and after acquiring a good education de- voted his early life to teaching school during the winter months. while in the summer seasons he
was engaged in the work of the farm. The tide of immigration was steadily flowing westward. bringing to the Mississippi valley hundreds of sub- stantial settlers from the older east who recognized the natural resources of the country and began its development. In the summer of 1835 Marshall Stark made his way to Illinois and secured a claim near Rockford in Winnebago county, but made no permanent settlement at that time. On returning to Pennsylvania he taught school through the suc- ceeding winter, but in the spring of 1837 he again came to De Kalb county, locating a claim on what are now sections 20 and 21, Sycamore township. He purchased his land from the government when it was placed upon the market and in true pioneer style began life in the west, his home being a log cabin which he built near the timber. He turned the first furrows in the fields and continued the work of improving the farm until the fall of 1841. when he again went to Pennsylvania, being married there on the 5th of October of that year to Miss Louisa Tyler, a native of Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, born December 16, 1820, and a daughter of Royal and Mary (Southwick) Tyler, both of whom were natives of Connecticut. They settled in Pennsylvania in the fall of 1820 and there the daughter, Louisa, was reared to womanhood.
Two weeks after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Stark started for their new home in the west. driving across the country with horse teams. The log cabin remained their place of abode for three years and was then replaced by a more comfortable and pretentious frame residence, in which they resided for a long period. Careful of expenditures, industrious and energetic work, Mr. Stark entered upon an era of prosperity that gained him the reputation of being one of the most energetic, thrifty and capable business men in De Kalb county. Ilis fitness for official service was also recognized and in 1848 he was elected sheriff of the county, in which capacity he served for three years. At the beginning of his service he removed to Sycamore and during his term of office he opened a hotel in Sycamore, which he conducted for six years. At the end of that time, however, he sold out his business interests in the county seat in 1853 and returned to his farm, which comprised five hundred acres of fine land, well
HARMON M. STARK.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
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improved and conveniently and pleasantly located about a mile and a half from Sycamore. He was called to several public offices, serving as assessor, school director and supervisor of his township. and was a member of the county board at the time of his death. IIe did not confine his attention to one line of business, but extended his efforts to other fields of activity and became extensively in- terested in the lumber business, spending two winters in the pineries of Michigan. In 1874, in partnership with his son, Theron M., he established a large lumberyard in Sycamore, which he carried on with pronounced success until his death on the 26th of December, 1882, when he was sixty-nine years of age. He also engaged in buying and sell- ing stock and grain for many years and that busi- ness proved equally profitable. In fact he carried forward to successful completion whatever he un- dertook, and his energy. ready adaptability and far-sighted sagacity constituted the salient factors in his finanical advancement. Both he and his church of Sycamore, to the support of which they contributed liberally, making generous donations also for the erection of the house of worship and taking a helpful part in many of the church activi- ties. Mrs. Stark survived her husband for about ten years and died July 1, 1892. They were the parents of ten children.
wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal " on the old homestead there in 1865. He has since
Harmon M. Stark, the oldest of the family, is indebted to the public-school system of De Kalb county for the educational privileges which he enjoyed in his youth. Lessons of industry and economy were early impressed upon his mind and he came to know the value of unfaltering and hon- orable labor. Throughout his entire life he has followed farming and stock-raising save at the period of the Civil war when he put aside all busi- ness and personal considerations and offered his aid to the government. When the call to arms was sounded he was about eighteen years of age. When twenty years of age he enlisted, on the 9th of August, 1862, as a member of Company C, One Hundred and Fifth Illinois Infantry, the regi- ment being assigned to the Twentieth Corps. He joined the army as a private and was content to follow the old flag without official rank, earnestly desiring to aid in the preservation of the Union. He participated in many important engagements,
including the battles of Resaca, Peach Tree Creek and the Atlanta campaign, followed by the cele- brated march to the sea under Sherman after the surrender of the city of Atlanta. He was in the siege of Savannah and in a number of hotly con- tested skirmishes and after participating in the military movements in the Carolinas and Virginia, he took part in the grand review at Washington, D. C., when the victorious army marched through the streets of the city and passed a stand erected on the grounds of the White House on which stood the president to review the returning troops. Mr. Stark was in the army for two years and ten months and was mustered out on the 7th of June, 1865.
When the war was over Mr. Stark returned to Sveamore and began farming in De Kalb county. Here he has since carried on general agricultural pursuits save for five years devoted to the tilling of soil in Buchanan county, Iowa. He returned to Kingston township in 1874, having first located carried on the work of the farm. which presents a splendid appearance. in keeping with the model farms of the county.
Mr. Stark was first married, at Beloit, Wiscon- sin, to Miss Mary J. Patten, who died in April, 1875, leaving four children : James M., who was a veterinary surgeon and passed away in January. 1900; Louisa M., wife of Dr. E. A. Buxlow, of Vinton, Iowa; Herbert H., who is living in Syca- more ; and Emma J., who is also in Vinton, Iowa. On the 3d of October, 18:7. Mr. Stark was mar- ried to Miss Susie Clark, a native of Kirkland township, and daughter of Robert and Susan Clark. who came from England in 1855. Both wore natives of that country. born in Cambridge- shire and Lincolnshire, respectively. Three chil- dren have been born of this marriage: Grace M., wife of William Armbruster of Kingston town- ship, by whom she has two children : Henry M .. who wedded Miss Mary M. Wilson, daughter of F. L. Wilson, now of Iowa, but formerly of De Kalb county, and they have one son ; and Ray E., the youngest of the family, at home.
Mr. Stark owns and operates a finely improved farm of one hundred and sixty acres in addition io which he cultivates another quarter section of land. In his farming methods he is practical and
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progressive and the rotation of crops and judicious use of fertilizers and all the modern helps to farm- ing, make his work profitable. In politics he is a republican. He belongs to the Grand Army post and has been commander of Barnes post. No. 295. of Kingston, for several years, a fact which shows how high a position he occupies in the re- gard of his comrades who wore the blue. le like- wise belongs to the Masonic lodge of Kingston and the commandery at Syeamore, and both he and his wife are members of the Order of the Eastern Star. He is also affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America at Kingston and with the Knights of the Globe, and Mrs. Stark is a member of the Meth- odist Episcopal church of Kingston. Mr. Stark is very popular both socially and in business cir- eles, where he is known for his thorough reliability, his enterprise and his progressive methods. Those who come within the closer circle of his friendship can always count upon his loyalty, and true worth can always win his friendship. He is a prominent representative of one of the old pioneer families of the county and has made a record which justly entitles him to representation in this volume.
F. J. POBSTMAN.
F. J. Pobstman, who carries on general agri- cultural pursuits in Pierce township, was born in Delaware county, New York. September 4, 1858. Ilis parents were George and Margaret (Vuirich) Pobstman, and the father was born in Germany, July 18, 1802. He came to America in the '40s, settling in New York where he resided until 1866 when he brought his family to Illinois. He was a shoemaker by trade and followed that pursuit for some time or until he took up his abode upon the farm where his son, F. J. Pobstman, now re- sides. There he continued to make his home until his death, February 19, 1892.
F. J. Pobstman was a young lad of eight sum- mers when he left his native state and came with his parents to Illinois. He lived at Cortland for two years at the end of which time the family re- moved to the farm upon which he yet makes his home. Here he was reared to general agricultural pursuits and in the district schools of Pierce town- ship acquired his education. He now owns two
hundred and twenty-nine acres of choice land on sections 3 and 4, worth between one hundred and twenty-five and one hundred and fifty dollars per acre.
On the 5th of February. 1884, Mr. Pobstman was married to Miss Elizabeth Kauth, who was born June 9, 1863. They became the parents of eight children: George J .. born May 10, 1885 ; Mary M .. born March 24, 188 ;; Esther A., born February 6, 1892; James F., born December 2 :. 1893 ; Isadore R., born May 10, 1895 ; Alice J., born January 26, 1898 : Harold N., born June 28, 1901; and Frederick F .. born September 15. 1904. Mrs. Pobstman was a daughter of Peter and Margaret (Bartz) Kauth. Her father was born September 29. 1821. and died March 8. 1904, while the mother's birth occurred in Prussia, Germany, which was also the natal place of her husband. They came to the United States in the '40s, set- tling at Lamont, Illinois, where they resided for a few years, afterward removing to Wisconsin. It was in the public schools of the latter state that Mrs. Pobstman was educated.
In religious faith the family are Roman Cath- olies while in political belief Mr. Pobstman is a democrat. He belongs to Port Clinton camp. No. 2662. M. W. A., of which he is a charter member. His life has been characterized by untiring toil and good management and in this way he has ac- cumulated a comfortable fortune so that he is now enabled to provide his family with all the necessities, many of the comforts and some of the luxuries of life. His fellow citizens speak of him and his family in terms of high praise and warm regard. Mr. Pobstman indeed deserves much credit for what he has accomplished and his life record should serve as a source of inspiration and oneouragement to others, showing what may be ac- complished when one has the will to dare and do.
HENRY F. CONDON.
It is a utilitarian age, and in no other period in the world's history has there been such rapid ad- vance in the line of invention of useful articles, implements and machinery which lessen labor and promote trade. America is the exponent of this spirit, her inventions far exceeding those of other
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countries in number and practical utility. Henry F. Condon, of De Kalb, well known as an inventor and manufacturer has given to the world many valuable devices-the tangible evidence of a fertile brain and skilled hand.
He was born in Will county, Illinois, May 13, 1853. IIis father, John Condon, was a native of Mitehellstown, County Cork, Ireland. while the mother, Mrs. Eliza (Davelin) Condon, was born in County Down, Ireland. She came to America at the age of thirteen years, settling in Canada, where she gave her hand in marriage to John Condon, who had erossed the Atlantic at the age of fifteen. They came to Illinois in 1831, settling in Will county. The father was a farmer by oc- cupation, thus providing for his family, which numbered fifteen children. of whom Henry F. was the seventh in order of birth. In 1852 Mr. Con- don sold his property in Will county and removed to De Kalb county. settling on a farm in May- field township, where he lived for a considerable period, giving his time and energies to the culti- vation of the fields and the care of the erops. Later he retired from active business life and took up his abode in De Kalb, where both he and his wife passed away.
Henry F. Condon began his education in the country schools of De Kalb county and completed his studies in the high school of Sycamore. After leaving school he learned the carpenter's and build- er's trade, which he followed for fifteen years, and about 1890 he became associated with J. F. Glid- den. the inventor of barbed wire. He has from early youth displayed marked mechanical skill and ingenuity, and entering the Glidden works, he turned his atttention to the invention of different articles, among which is a folding mouth speculum for horses, for the use of veterinary surgeons. His inventions also include a tubular farm gate, exclu- sively of steel, which was the first of its kind. He likewise invented an automatic pipe bending ma- chine, so construeted as to bend the pipe without the use of fire or filling, and upon this he has se- cured four patents. Another invention of im- portanee is a humane driving bit for horses, which is being manufactured by O. B. North & Company, of Hartford, Connecticut, and is having a large sale, being manufactured on a royalty. Later Mr. Condon turned his attention to hardware special- ties and his inventions in this line inelnde a sim-
ple and useful tool for lacing heavy belts, a very complete article which has no competition. also a suit hanger. so simple and complete that it is revolutionizing trade in that respect. He has likewise produced an angular hoe for removing the overgrowing grass from cement sidewalks, and this is also the only one of the kind on the mar- ket. A steel wire mop which is entirely new in its construction is likewise attracting the at- tention of the entire country in its simplicity and usefulness. Mr. Condon's mind continually dwells upon the study of mechanical problems and the evolution of different devices, implements and ma- chines, and his labor has been of direct benefit to the world along these lines. He has brought forth two valuable inventions in connection with the famous Glidden patent, for which he received con- siderable money. He also has invented several important improvements on automobiles, including a flexible steel tire protector, an anti-skid device and a gravity steering device, also the four-wheel drive and a four-wheel steering device. He has thirty-eight patents. He is a man of broad, scholarly attainments along scientific lines, espe- cially in the development of mechanical construe- tion, and he has furnished much valuable informa- tion to Chicago papers and to The Iron Age.
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