USA > Illinois > Marshall County > Past and present of Marshall and Putnam Counties, Illinois > Part 44
USA > Illinois > Putnam County > Past and present of Marshall and Putnam Counties, Illinois > Part 44
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Charles A. Brown, secretary and treasurer of the Toluca Lumber Company at Toluca, is a native son of Illinois, his birth having occurred in Prince- ton, Bureau county, in 1871. His parents were C. E. and Frances (Pelton) Brown. The father, a native of Massachusetts, was born in 1838, and is a contractor and builder now living in Prince- ton. His wife, born in 1846, is a daughter of C. Pelton. She belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church, and both Mr. and Mrs. Brown are widely and favorably known in Princeton, where for many years they have resided.
Charles A. Brown, an only child, was educated in the public schools of his native city and began work for himself in 1889, clerking in Kansas, Princeton, Illinois, and different places until 1899, when he engaged in business for himself. He is now conducting a lumber yard at Toluca, being the active manager of the business and also secretary and treasurer of the company, of which J. E. Porterfield is president. Mr. Brown is a young man of good business ability and executive force, who has carefully directed his energies along well
defined lines of labor, keeping in touch with the spirit of modern progress and improvement.
In 1892 Mr. Brown was married to Miss Edna Porterfield, who was born in Spring Valley, Illi- nois, in 1873, a daughter of J. E. Porterfield. They now have an interesting little son, James E. Brown. Mrs. Brown belongs to the Congregational church. Mr. Brown is identified with the Wood- men, Knights of Pythias and Masonic lodges. He is very fond of hunting, which he makes his chief source of recreation, and he displays no mean skill with the rifle. He is popular, being a genial gen -. tleman, considerate of the opinions of others and possessing a jovial, kindly nature that has gained him many warm friends.
EDWARD A. LENZ.
Edward A. Lenz, who follows farming in Rob- erts township, was born within its borders May 8, 1872. His parents were Jacob and Augusta (Kem- nitz) Lenz, who are still residing in Roberts town- ship. The father was born in Schoenlanke, Posen, Germany, and when eighteen years of age crossed the Atlantic to America, making his way first to Canada, thence to Chicago and afterward to Mar- shall county. He took up one hundred and sixty acres of land on section 35, Roberts township, and is now residing upon a farm of one hundred and fifty-nine acres on section 25 of the same town- ship. Throughout the period of his residence here he has been identified with agricultural interests, and his diligence has proven the foundation upon which he has builded his success. His wife, also a native of Posen, Germany, came to the United States when fourteen years of age with her father, Michael Kemnitz, who settled upon a farm in Roberts township.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Lenz were born seven chil- dren, of whom six are yet living: Louis, who is engaged in the furniture and undertaking business in Lacon, has been very prominent in community affairs, serving as mayor of his city, sheriff of the county and in other offices. Edward A. is the second of the family. Frederick is deceased. Mrs. Ida Schwanke resides upon a farm near Varna. Emma is the wife of John Albert Vosberg, who resides upon one of the Lenz farms. Julia is the wife of Fred Arndt, living upon the Downey farm, about three miles cast of Varna. Theresa is with her parents and completes the family.
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PAST AND PRESENT OF MARSHALL AND PUTNAM COUNTIES.
Edward A. Lenz was educated in the district and German schools of Roberts township and was reared to the occupation of farming. This pursuit has always claimed his time and energies and he is now operating about three hundred and twenty acres of rich and productive land. His father owns about two thousand acres of land in Roberts township, being one of its most wealthy farmers, and has recently returned from an extended trip in Europe. Edward A. Lenz is now erecting a fine new residence of stone and concrete upon his father's old homestead. His father still owns this farm and is most comfortably situated in life. His land brings forth rich harvests, owing to the care and labor bestowed upon the fields, and every- thing about the place, in its neat and thrifty ap- pearance, indicates the careful supervision of our subject.
In 1901 was celebrated the marriage of Edward A. Lenz and Miss Louisa Kaatz, of Roberts town- ship, a daughter of Fred Kaatz, who is engaged in the implement business in Varna. Two chil- dren have been born unto Mr. and Mrs. Lenz: Gerhardt and Ernest, aged respectively four and a half and three years. The young couple are prominent socially and enjoy the hospitality of the best homes of this part of the county. In politics Mr. Lenz is an independent democrat without aspiration for office, though well informed on the questions and issues of the day. He and his wife are members of the German Lutheran church, and they occupy an enviable social posi- tion. From pioneer times the name of Lenz has figured prominently in connection with the his- tory of the county, especially along agricultural lines, and Edward A. Lenz is a worthy scion of the race.
ALBERT G. HUMPHREY.
Albert G. Humphrey, one of the prominent and representative residents of Henry, has been an active factor in public life and in office has ren- dered signal service to the city along lines of progress and improvement. He is now manager at this point for the Turner Hudnut Company, grain merchants at Pekin, Illinois, and is ac- counted one of the enterprising business men here.
He was born in Switzerland county, Indiana, July 9, 1857, and is one of the six children of Elias F. and Eliza S. (Jack) Humphrey. The father was born in Indiana and is now living in
Peoria, Illinois, at the advanced age of seventy- five years. He followed the occupation of farm- ing in Indiana and for some time was a distiller in Chillicothe, Illinois. In 1864 he removed to Peoria, where he was engaged in the real-estate business, in which he continued actively until 1871, when he retired from business life and has since enjoyed a well earned rest. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons. In politics he is a democrat, and held minor offices while in Chilli- cothe. His wife, who was born in Kentucky, died in 1896 at the age of sixty-eight years. She was a member of the Universalist church and a lady of many excellent traits of character. In the fam- ily were six children: Edward S., who is private secretary for Edward H. Jack, a capitalist of Peoria and an uncle of our subject in the ma- ternal line; Katie, who died at the age of two years ; Albert G .; Arthur, who died in infancy; Robert, who died at the age of four years; and Harry J., who is in New York city. He is one of the foremost managers of the Smith Typewriter Company, being formerly in charge of its branch offices at St. Paul and Chicago. He drew the plans for the company's office at No. 311 Broad- way, New York, and was placed in charge of the Chicago branch in 1900, from which place he was changed to the New York office. The plans, furnishings and finishings of this office are all the embodiment of suggestions made by him.
Albert G. Humphrey attended the public schools of Chillicothe and is a graduate of the high school of the class of 1875. He was after- ward a student in a business college in Peoria, Illinois, and after learning telegraphy he became an operator for the Western Union and the Rock Island Railroad and was also United States Ex- press agent at Chillicothe for six years. He came to Henry in 1882 and accepted a position as book- keeper in the grain office of Nicholson, Gilbert & Company, with whom he remained for a year. They then sold out to G. C. Griswold & Com- pany, with whom he continued until 1895, when Mr. Griswold died, after which Mr. Humphrey conducted the business for A. K. Knapp for a year and a half, or until it was sold. In 1899 he became manager for the Turner Hudnut Com- pany, grain merchants, with headquarters at Pe- kin, Illinois, and is still acting in that capacity. He also has an interest in the coal firm of Green- lee & Humphrey, of Henry, which firm was or-
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PAST AND PRESENT OF MARSHALL AND PUTNAM COUNTIES.
ganized in 1894, and he is likewise interested in insurance. He is a stockholder and director of the Henry National Bank, and is thus associated with various business interests of the city, being a man of keen enterprise and resourceful ability.
In 1885 was celebrated the marriage of Albert G. Humphrey and Miss Anna M. Orr, a daughter of N. W. and Lydia Orr. She was born in Troy, Ohio, in 1855, and her father was one of the pioneer merchants of Henry. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Humphrey have been born two children: Lila A. and Alta May.
Fraternally Mr. Humphrey is connected with the Knights of Pythias and with the Modern Woodmen of America. His political allegiance is given to the democracy and he is prominent in the local ranks of his party. He has been mayor, alderman, city clerk and city treasurer of Henry, and the duties of each office have been faithfully and promptly performed. Hc has also been a member of the board of education for twelve years, and the public-school system of the city finds in him a stalwart champion. The water works of Henry were built in 1902 under his administration, and he has always stood for prog- ress and improvement in municipal affairs and champions every interest which is a matter of civic virtue and of civic pride.
MRS. MIRANDA DOYLE.
Mrs. Miranda Doyle is the owner of a valuable farm of four hundred acres situated on section 27, Saratoga township, in the midst of which stands a beautiful residence that is surrounded by well tilled fields that annually return to her a good income. Mrs. Doyle is one of Marshall county's native daughters, having been born in La Prairie township, March 12, 1856. Her father, Major Alanson P. Webber, was born in Gayhead, Greene county, New York, March 16, 1828, and was mar- ried on the 13th of February, 1850, to Marion J. Calder, who was borne in Greene county, New York, June 22, 1831, the marriage being cele- brated when she was nineteen years of age. A few months later they removed to Illinois and lo- cated in La Prairie township, where they lived for five years. On the expiration of that period Mr. Webber purchased a quarter section of land in Saratoga township, upon which he resided until his death. He passed away, however, at the home of Owen Doyle, June 27, 1902, having for about
three years survived his wife, who died on the old home farm in Saratoga township, August 31, 1899. A lovely daughter, Orie B. Kelley, had also preceded him to the better land. Two sons and two daughters survive: Newton, who is living in Chicago; Allie, of Saratoga; Miranda, now Mrs. Doyle; and Myra, the wife of Clarence H. Watt, of Chicago. When the Civil war broke out Mr. Webber volunteered and enlisted in Company C, Eighty-sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and was chosen fife major of the regiment. During the battles in which the regiment participated he served as a sharpshooter and for extraordinary gallantry and bravery at Kenesaw Mountain the congress of the United States awarded him a medal of honor. He afterward served with great credit as a member of the Illinois legislature. He and his wife were faithful and devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal church for about fifty years and in their lives they stood for temperance and for all ennobling virtues. The richest legacy they left their children was their good name-a most blessed memory.
Mrs. Doyle of this review spent her girlhood days upon the old home farm in Saratoga town- ship and supplemented her early educational privi- leges in the district school by study in Hedding College at Abingdon, Illinois. On the 18th of September, 1881, she gave her hand in marriage to Owen Doyle, who was born in Peoria county, Illinois, Mareh 1, 1850, and was a son of Thomas Doyle, a native of Pennsylvania, who for many years lived in Illinois and removed from Peoria county to Saratoga township, Marshall county. Owen Doyle was for a long period identified with the agricultural interests of this county and prospered in his undertakings. He lived a life of thrift and industry characterized by strong pur- pose and unfaltering fidelity to manly principles, and in his business undertakings he prospered, so that he became the owner of a valuable farm of four hundred acres of fine land, which he left to his widow and children. He erected thereon a beautiful residence, which was built about the time of their marriage and which is most taste- fully furnished.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Doyle were born four ehil- dren : Carl, who is living with his mother at the age of twenty-four years and operates the liome farm for her; Herbert, sixteen years of age; Belle, fourteen years of age; and Marion, who is ten
ALANSON P. WEBBER.
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PAST AND PRESENT OF MARSHALL AND PUTNAM COUNTIES.
years of age and completes the family. The death of the husband and father occurred May 19, 1904, after a very brief illness and was the occasion of deep and widespread regret. He had served as school director and as road commissioner and was treasurer in the Methodist Episcopal church, with which he long held membership. His life was characterized by unfaltering industry and in all relations he was found true to manly prin- ciples and a high standard of conduct, so that he commanded the esteem and good will of all with whom he was associated.
JOHN D. BALL.
John D. Ball, one of the prosperous and prom- inent residents of Marshall county, is living on section 12, Belle Plain township, where he owns and occupies a beautiful residence about a mile west of Toluca. He has wielded a wide influence over public life in this community, manifesting a public spirited devotion to the general good, and in his business interests has displayed a spirit of progress and enterprise that have enabled him to overcome all difficulties and obstacles in his path and make steady advancement on the highroad of prosperity. He was born in Lacon, Illinois, in 1855. His father, Jonas L. Ball, a native of Mas- sachusetts, came from Hamilton, Ohio, to Marshall county, Illinois, making the journey on horseback. He settled here at a pioneer epoch in the history of the county, taking up his abode just west of Toluca, where G. W. Thomas now resides on a part of the old homestead. Mr. Ball became a very extensive land owner, having at one time fifteen hundred acres, but he divided his property among his children, giving to each two hundred acres when they attained their majority. He ever utilized his opportunities to the best advantage, was quick to recognize a chance for good invest- ment, and, moreover, in his daily life displayed a spirit of industry and capable management that constituted the strongest elements in his success. His political views were in accord with the prin- ciples of democracy and he was one of the founders of the Antioch Christian church, which was after- ward removed to Toluca. His land lay just west of Toluca about a half mile and extended into Belle Plain township. For four years he served as supervisor, and his devotion to the public good stood as an unquestioned fact in his life. He con- tributed to the material, intellectual and moral
progress of the community through his co-opera- tion in affairs that had direct bearing upon the welfare of the county along those lines, and he passed away in 1888, respected and honored by all who knew him. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth C. Fetter, was born in Pennsyl- vania in 1823, and was a daughter of Dr. Fetter. She too held membership in the Christian church and was a mnost estimable lady. In the family of this worthy couple were seven children: Alice, who died in infancy; William L., also deceased; Charles, who died at the age of two years; Jonas T., living west of Toluca ; John D., of this review ; Gertrude, the wife of Sain Welty, a lawyer of Bloomington; and George L., who was drowned in Senachwine lake while in bathing on a pleasure trip at the age of thirty-three years. He left a wife and four children, the wife being now Mrs. Maria E. Ball, who is educating her children in Eureka.
John D. Ball was provided with liberal educa- tional privileges. He supplemented his early training by study in Eureka College at Eureka, Illinois, and he began farming on his own account in 1875. He first followed that occupation just west of the old home place on a farm given him by his father. He now has extensive property holdings, including three hundred and forty-five acres of the old homestead, three hundred and twenty acres in Oklahoma and one hundred and seventy acres in southwestern Kansas. His prop- erty holdings are therefore extensive, and return to him a very gratifying income. For the past fifteen years he has lived retired from active business life. While at La Rose, Illinois, he was engaged in the grain business and also dealt in coal, lumber, lime, salt, cement and other similar commoditics. He established his store in 1888 and sold out in 1893. He removed to the town in order to give his chil- dren good educational privileges, and while re- siding there became connected with its commercial interests.
Mr. Ball was united in marriage to Miss Anna M. Griffin, who was born in Pennsylvania, near Pittsburg, in 1853, and is a daughter of Hamilton and Nancy Griffin, both of whom are now de- ccased. They were members of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Ball have been born the following named: Charles, who died at the age of two years; L. Eleta, living at home; Ellen G., at home; Josie Fayetta and
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PAST AND PRESENT OF MARSHALL AND PUTNAM COUNTIES.
Jonas H., twins. The former is attending the Woman's College at Jacksonville, Illinois, and the latter is studying scientific farming in the uni- versity at Champaign.
Mr. Ball is deeply interested in the cause of education and is giving to his children excellent opportunities in this direction. The local schools have found in him a stalwart champion, and for twenty-one years he has served as school director and as school trustee. He has also been assessor of Belle Plain township for four years and was supervisor for three years. While living in La Rose he was a member of the village board for three years and was president at the time of his removal to the farm. In 1904 he was the candi- date of his party, the democratic, for state sena- tor, but was defeated. Fraternally he is identified with the Knights of Pythias lodge, No. 291, at Lacon, and the Modern Woodmen camp and the Royal Neighbors of Toluca. He belongs to the Christian church, of which he is serving as trus- tee, and his interest in various phases which con- stitute the general life of the individual is man- ifest by the hearty co-operation which he gives to many movements for the public good. He lives in a beautiful home about a mile west of To- luca, facing the main public road. His business interests have been carefully managed, and though he received from his father a good farm he has enlarged his holdings and brought his land under a high state of cultivation. He is seldom if ever at error in matters of business judgment, and his carefully directed labors have brought to him a gratifying measure of prosperity. He has never concentrated his energies, however. upon business affairs to the exclusion of other interests, and, in fact, in all matters of citizenship has displayed a most worthy and generous support. Viewed from a personal standpoint he is a strong man-strong in his honor and his good name, strong in his ability to plan and to perform and in his power to achieve that which he undertakes.
ORANGE A. AVERILL.
A life of continuous and well directed activity has brought to Orange A. Averill a well merited measure of success and he is now owner of a well appointed hardware store in Hennepin, from which he derives a good income, owing to his honorable methods and his earnest desire to please his patrons. He was born August 3, 1843, in an
old house that formerly stood upon the site of the present home of O. B. Davis. His father, Na- thaniel Averill, familiarly known all over this part of the state as Uncle Nat, was born at Alfred, Maine, June 1, 1819, and died in Princeton, No- vember 29, 1905. He came to Hennepin in 1836, casting in his lot with the early settlers who were reclaiming the region from the influences of the rule of the Indians and converting it into uses of civilization. Locating in Hennepin he followed the trade of wagon and carriage making, which he had previously learned, devoting his energies to that pursuit until 1848, when he removed to a farm across the line in Bureau county. He also made trunks and coffins in those early days, and was regarded as the best woodworker in this part of the state. He would go into the forest and get out his own timber, bring it home, dry it out and work it up into wagons and buggies. Some of the vehicles which he built were in use forty years, being splendidly made. He also made the blinds for the windows of the Union Grove church in 1840 and today those blinds are still doing service. They were made of butternut wood, and have been utilized for two-thirds of a century. He was close- ly associated with many interesting events con- nected with the pioneer history of the county. At one time, in company with Isaac Cecil, father of Jasper Cecil, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work, he found a nest of wild goose eggs in a tree. He climbed the tree, put the six eggs in his shirt, climbed down, took the eggs home and put them under a setting hen. They were hatched and grew to be large geese, but one day wandered away with some wild geese that came flying past, their native instincts thus being asserted. In early manhood Nathaniel Averill was married in Granville, Illinois, to Miss Nancy Rice, a native of Maine, who died in Hennepin when her son Orange was but a year and a half old. The father afterward wedded Amelia Nickerson, who came with her parents to Putnam county, Illinois, at a very early day. She is still living in Princeton, one of the honored pioneer women of this part of the state, and she can remember when there were five hundred Indians encamped just across the river from Hennepin. It was in 1848 that Nathaniel Averill removed with his family to a farm of two hundred acres in Bureau county. Of this about two acres had been cleared, while the remainder was covered with heavy timber. Upon
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PAST AND PRESENT OF MARSHALL AND PUTNAM COUNTIES.
the place was a large log house with a double fire place, built by a man of the name of Nevis, one of the early settlers of the county. The house was a story and a half in height and was considered a mansion for those times. A house today as large as that and built of the same kind of timber would cost ten thousand dollars. Nathaniel Aver- ill, with the assistance of his son Orange, cleared and developed that farm and the father there made his home until 1888, when he left the farm and retired to Princeton, where he passed away November 29, 1905. His widow still owns the farm, the estate having never yet been divided. Mr. Averill belonged to what is known today as the Christian church. In politics he was a whig until the dissolution of the party, and later he be- came a stanch republican. For many years he was regarded as the most popular man in Leepertown township, and held office there for over twenty years, acting as supervisor, assessor, township clerk and school treasurer all at one time. He was greatly interested in everything pertaining to the progress and development of his community, and he was instrumental in forcing the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company to pay its taxes, and forced the company, while he was asses- sor, to pay as it does today-sixty per cent of the taxes of Leepertown township. He was a man of marked individuality and of strong and sterling characteristics, of unquestioned honesty of pur- pose and most faithful in his friendships.
Orange A. Averill was the only child born of his father's first marriage. By the second mar- riage there were five children: Mrs. Helen Howe, who with her two children lives in Princeton; Caroline, the wife of James Reeves, of Waco, Ne- braska ; Lucy, who is living in Peoria, Illinois; Marcella, who was injured in a runaway accident and died soon afterward; and Charles O., who is living on the old home farm.
Orange A. Averill remained at home until Au- ยท gust 7, 1861, when at the age of eightcen years he left the parental roof and began earning his own living by working as a farm hand by the month. In 1862 he went to Chicago, intending to enlist in the army, but on account of his youth his father prevented this. He was not only too young but was also under size. However, in 1863 he enlisted for three months' service as a member of Company B, One Hundred and Thirty-ninth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and on the expiration
of that term he re-enlisted in the same regiment for another three months' service. In 1864 he became a member of Company E, One Hundred and Forty-eighth Illinois Infantry, for one year's service or until the close of the war, and was mus- tered out October 28, 1865. He went as far south as Chattanooga, Tennessee, but was never in any pitched battles, although he participated in sev- eral skirmishes. He enlisted as a private, but be- came corporal before his term expired, and while at Springfield, Illinois, had entire charge of the company, being the only member who had seen service or knew anything about drilling. He was a faithful soldier, and the government now grants him a pension of twelve dollars per month. He belongs to Hennepin post, No. 231, G. A. R., in which he has held all of the offices.
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