USA > Illinois > Will County > Past and present of Will County, Illinois, V. 2 > Part 46
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Captain McAllister in his youth was a student in the Washington Academy at Salem, which in- stitution his grandfather had helped to build and support. llis favorite recreation in boyhood was hunting and he became an expert snot. When twenty-four years of age he arrived in Illinois to become identified with the farming interests of Will county and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of raw prairie land in Plainfield township. Not a furrow had been turned or an improvement made on the property but he resolutely undertook the task of bringing it under cultivation and in the course of years he placed eleven miles of tiling on it, making the entire farm tillable. At one time he was extensively engaged in raising hogs and for a long period he made dairying one of the special branches of his business. For about ten years twenty-five hundred pounds of butter were made on his place each year, for which he
received twenty-five cents per pound. Prior to 1899 he not only managed the place but did much of the active work himself. After that time his attention was merely given to the superintendence of the work.
On the 4th of June. 1860, Captain McAllister was joined in wedlock to Miss Fannie Beebe and they became the parents of two sons and three daughters but the eldest son died at the age of six years. The others are: Carrie, now the wife of Edward R. MeClelland, of Plainfield township; Ada, the wife of Dr. Evans, of Spring Valley ; Jessie, who was a teacher in this county and is now the wife of Fred Foss : and Clyde, who has charge of the home farm. He is engaged in buying, feed- ing and raising cattle and hogs.
At the opening of the Civil war Captain Me- Allister was among the first to offer his services to the Union. In 1856 he had assisted in organizing the militia here which was known as the Plainfield Artillery, and he was the first man in this part of the country to enlist in the Civil war. April 19, 1861, his name was enrolled for service. He was elected captain of artillery and commanded the best battery of artillery in the Army of the Tennes- see. His company enlisted for three months. At the end of that time he organized a company for three years' service. He proceeded first to Cairo. In September he was sent to Fort Holt. Kentucky, which at that time was the lowest Union fort on the river. In February, 1862. he joined the Army of the Tennessee. His was the first battery to enter Fort Henry, and Captain Me. Allister was put in command of the fort. From there he was ordered to Fort Donelson, where his was the first shot fired by the Army of the Tennessee. Saturday morning, February 15. 1862. Finding that the enemy were preparing to break through the lines he opened on them with one of his guns without orders, thus waking all the troops around him, and this, the first gun fired in the battle, was the notifi- cation to the entire army of the opening of that memorable engagement. His own guns being dis- abled. he was ordered io select what he wanted from the forty-eight captured from the enemy. As his ammunition did not fit them he objecied to their use, and finally secured an order to go to General Sherman at Paducah and get a new outfit of brass guns. At the battle of Shiloh he had this new and superior ouffii. Having erecied his battery at
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the edge of a clearing across which he fought and silenced Stanford's Mississippi battery, he after- ward noticed a column of infantry, the Fourth Tennessee, in columns of fours, approaching along a road. He sent three cannon to the rear and placed the fourth in the road, then opened on the enemy with cannister, killing thirty-one and wounding one hundred and sixty men according to the Confederate reports of the war. The execu- tion of this one gun, served by nine good men, was probably the most severe on record in the war of the Rebellion. Captain McAllister helped to train the gun and only beat a hasty retreat when the enemy was within thirty paces. The nine brave men escaped by the enemy firing at the support of the battery, consisting of the Fourteenth Illinois, Twenty-fifth Indiana and Thirteenth Iowa Infan- tries, which lost one hundred men by the one volley fired by the enemy. Captain McAllister was for years ignorant of the real faets of the fight, until revealed to him by old comrades and Confederate soldiers. His gallant service in that engagement was the means of defeating a crack battery that had never before met with defeat. On the last day of the battle, Byrne's battery and two guns of the Washington artillery of New Orleans (the crack battery of the Confederacy), were ordered to dislodge a battery on an eminence that had stopped the advance of the entire army. Captain Mc- Allister and James A. Borland, of Joliet, were riding at the front preparing to fire at the battery, when a shot killed their horses and General Sher- man's horse, which was tied to a sapling. They secured good locations behind a rise in the ground, and carefully biding their time, were able soon to silence and dislodge the battery. Soon after the battle, owing to sickness, the Captain resigned his commission and returned home.
In 1894, during a meeting of an association formed to make a national park out of the Shiloh battle-ground, Captain McAllister met on a boat one of the members of the Fourth Tennessee In- fantry, Thomas M. Page, of St. Louis, who told him that his one gun killed and wounded one hundred and ninety-one men in seven minutes, and he gave the captain great eredit for the defense he had made. He stated that he was willing to erect a two thousand dollar monument on the battle-ground. Later the government planned to build one at a cost of seven hundred and fifty
dollars. The government has also appropriated two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars for the purpose of making a national park of the battle-field, and Captain McAllister was asked to select tour pieces to mark such spots as he desired. He made four trips to Shiloh to attend meetings of Federals and Confederates.
He was a member of the Loyal Legion and Bartleson post, G. A. R., of Joliet. also the Society of the Army of the Tennessee. He likewise be- longed to Plainfield lodge, No. 536, A. F. & A. M. His death occurred August 25. 1900, and was a matter of keen regret to many friends who had known and honored him. His life was character- ized by many good qualities and in citizenship he was always as true and loyal to his country in days of peace as when he followed the old flag on southern battle-fields. He responded to the last roll call and went to join the host of the old sol- diers who, life's battles over, have been called to the home beyond.
H. W. NIEMEYER.
H. W. Niemeyer, a leading and influential citi- zen of the village of Crete, is serving as its presi- dent, in which connection he displays a public- spirited and active interest in its welfare and sub- stantial development. He has also figured promi- nently in business circles here as a contractor and builder. He was born in Hanover, Germany, October 28, 1851, a son of Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Niemeyer, who were likewise natives of the father- land, whence they emigrated to the new world when their son, H. W. Niemeyer, was a little lad of five summers. . Mr. Niemeyer settled in Will county about four miles east of Crete. He was a carpenter by trade and followed that pursuit in connection with farming. His death occurred, however, in the village of Crete when he was seventy-three years of age.
H. W. Niemeyer, the eldest of the family of ten children, learned the carpenter's trade under the direction of his father. In 1877 he removed to Peoria, Illinois, where he followed carpentering for a few years, after which he returned to Crete and for seven years was manager of the Crete Manufacturing Company, the output of which was
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sash, doors and blinds. This factory, however, was burned in 1895 and for a short time Mr. Nie- meyer was salesman for a Chicago house engaged in manufacturing similar products. Three years ago the firm of Niemeyer & Luecke was formed. They did a general contracting and building busi- ness, including both frame and brick structures, and many of the finest residences and business houses in Crete and the surrounding country stand as monuments to their thrift, enterprise and handiwork. About March 1, 1907, this partner- ship was dissolved.
In 1874 occurred the marriage of Mr. Niemeyer and Miss Bertha Knabe, a native of Saxony, Ger- many, who came to Will county when a year old. Mr. and Mrs. Niemeyer have eight children, of whom six are living. Rose and Minnie being both deceased. Those who still survive are Bertha the wife of William Reckow, living in Steger, Illinois ; Mrs. Anna Teifke, of Will county ; Mary, the wife of Julius Reckow; Amanda, who is clerking at Chicago Heights; Clara, a teacher ; and Walter, at home. The family occupy a beautiful residence on North Main street which was built by Mr. Nie- meyer three years ago.
IIe is a member of the German Lutheran church, in which faith the family have been reared. In politics he is a stalwart republican, giving firm and unfaltering support to the principles of his party. He was a member of the village board for twelve years and president one term during that time, and he is now serving for the second term as president of the village. Ilis interest in the public welfare is manifest by his support of all those measures and movements which tend to promote general improvement here, and he has exercised his official prerogatives so that they have been an element for the good of the village.
MONCENA SCHOONMAKER.
Moncena Schoonmaker owns and cultivates a valuable farm of two hundred and forty acres on section 10, Crete township, and in connection with the tilling of the soil he feeds and ships cattle and hogs on an extensive scale, being one of the leading business men of the township. He was
born in Kingston, New York, in 1849, a son of Jacob Schoonmaker, whose birth occurred in the Empire state. The grandfather was a native of the same state, but his great-grandfather came from Holland. Jacob Schoonmaker was a mer- chant and in 1856 came to Illinois, settling on the Kankakee river in Will county, where he bought a tract of land upon which he resided until about three months prior to his death, when he removed to Channahon township. He died in April, 1864. In the meantime his father, Peter Schoonmaker, had come to Illinois and spent his remaining days in Will county, dying in 1875, when past the age of seventy years. Jacob Schoonmaker was thirty- six years of age at the time of his demise. His brother, George Schoonmaker, was a soldier of the Civil war, enlisting in the One Hundredth Illinois Infantry, and was killed at the siege of Atlanta, Georgia.
Patience Smith Schoonmaker, the mother of our subject, was born in New York and traced her ancestry back to the celebrated Captain John Smith. She was married in the Empire state and died in 1902 at the advanced age of seventy-eight years. She held membership in the Methodist Episcopal church and was a lady of strong reli- gious convictions, who throughout her entire life was most loyal to her professions. In the family were nine children. Dora became the wife of IIenry Soper, founder of and president of the Soper School of Oratory in Chicago. Before her marriage, in 18:3, she was sent by the Methodist church as a missionary to Japan, where she spent four years. Rodney, the second surviving member of the family, is postmaster of Las Vegas, New Mexico, and has extensive business interests there. Wilbur, formerly a locomotive engineer, is now a farmer in Kansas. Ida became the wife of George Wignall, a contractor of Chicago, and died in 1889. Four of the children died in early life.
Moncena Schoonmaker was educated in the coun- try schools, having but meager opportunities, how- ever, owing to the pioneer condition that here existed and also owing to the fact that his father died when the son was but fifteen years of age, and being the eldest of the family the burden of carrying on the farm devolved upon him. With courageons spirit he took up the task and faith- fully discharged his duties toward the younger members of the family. All of his life he has been
ELIZUR W. SAGE AND HOME.
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largely interested in cattle and has won the greater measure of his prosperity through his dealings in live-stock. At the time of the establishment of the town of Pullman in 1886 he went there and opened a store, which he conducted until 1895. He then removed to Chicago Heights, where for five years he carried on a grocery store. On the expira- tion of that period he came to Crete township, where he owned a farm of one hundred and eighty- five acres on section 10. To this he has added enough to make the farm two hundred and forty acres and it is a valuable property, lacking in none of the equipments and accessories of a model farm of the twentieth century. He feeds and ships cat- tle and hogs on an extensive scale and this branch of his business is proving very profitable.
Mr. Schoonmaker was married June 13, 1870, to Miss Leni Sage, who was born in this county in 1852, a daughter of Elizur W. Sage, whose birth occurred in Oneida county, New York, in 1812 and who died in 1884. His father was Elisha Sage, of Welsh ancestry. Elizur Sage was one of seven children, including Russell Sage, the great New York financier, who was four years his junior. Elizur Sage married Miss Mary Willard, a native of New York, and they became the parents of nine children, five of whom reached years of maturity. In 1838 they removed to Illinois, set- tling in Channahon township, where Mr. Sage resided until his death, which occurred in 1884, when he was seventy-two years of age. He was a carpenter by trade, became well-to-do and always owned a farm, but never lived upon it, having con- siderable property in town, including a comfortable residence. Both he and his wife were members of the Methodist church. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Schoonmaker has been blessed with six chil- dren. Mary, the eldest, is the wife of F. C. Ben- dle, a real-estate dealer of Chicago, and they have two children. Hattie married Charles Rheutan, a glassfitter of Pullman, and died in 1897, at the age of twenty-four years, leaving a daughter, Beatrice, who was then twenty months old and is now
* living with her grandparents. Dora died at the age of six years. Jennie is the wife of Walter H. Clayton, a mail clerk of St. Paul, and they have two children. Elsie is the wife of Robert J. Johns- ton, who is with Montgomery Ward & Company, of Chicago, and they have two children. Dale, a resident farmer of Crete township, wedded Susie
Weishaar and has one child. There are now eight grandchildren.
In his political views Mr. Schoonmaker has al- ways been a republican, stanchly advocating the principles of the party, yet never seeking office for hinself. He has lived in this part of Illinois for fifty-one years and is therefore familiar with the events which constitute its history. What to others is a matter of record is largely to him a matter of personal observation or experience, for he has witnessed the great changes that have occurred and transformed Will county from a frontier district into a region of much industrial, commercial and agricultural importance. As the years have passed he has carefully managed his business interests and is now a substantial resident of Crete township.
JACOB H. WARNER.
Jacob H. Warner, now conducting a tobacco business and billiard rooms in Wilmington, is well known in this city and county having at different times been closely connected with its business in- terests. He was born in Pennsylvania, January 10. 1847, a son of Jonathan and Julia (Mead) Warner, in whose family were five sons and two daughters.
When only nine years of age Jacob H. Warner lost his mother and when a youth of thirteen he began learning the printer's trade under W. R. Steele, the editor of theWilmington Independent. This was on the îth of October, 1861, and he re- mained with that paper until 1866, when he went to live with his grandmother, Mrs. Sarah Warner, his grandfather, Hezekiah Warner, having died in 1862. He continued with his grandmother un- til he attained his majority, when he married and removed to Pontiac, Illinois, where he spent a year. In.the fall of 1869 he located at Odell, this state, where he began the publication of the Odell Independent, and in the fall of 1870 removed his business to Wilmington, publishing his paper un- der the name of the People's Advocate-the paper today known as the Wilmington Advocate. In 1872 he sold out to E. D. Conley and later worked in the office of the Chicago Journal and also on papers in Omaha, Nebraska, and Joliet. In April.
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1906, he bought out J. W. Funk's tobacco and billiard business, which he is now conducting.
Mr. Warner was married in Wilmngton, June 1, 1868, to Miss Ellen Nagle, whose birth occurred in Portland, Maine, in 1850, a daughter of Thomas and Margaret. Nagle, who were born, reared and married in Ireland. In their family were six chil- dren : Mary, who was born on the sea while her parents were coming to this country, and who is now deceased; Mrs. Warner; John and Thomas, both deceased; Elizabeth and Jennie, twins, de- ceased. The parents came by sailing ship in 1848 and in this country the father was a railroad em- ploye. He held membership in the Roman Catho- lic church.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Warner were born six chil- dren : Lillian A., the wife of William Paulucci, of Kenton, Ohio, by whom she has two daughters and a son; Nellie, who became the wife of Joseph A. Hollingsworth and died in Topeka, Kansas, leaving one daughter: Adeline R., the wife of George T. Neil, of Wilmington township, by whom she has one daughter ; Sara Julia, the wife of Fred Keeley, of Wilmington: Blanche, the wife of Morris T. Murphy, of Streator; and John Byron, at home.
Mr. Warner is a charter member of River camp. No. 124, M. W. A., and was its first clerk. In polities he is a republican. He is widely known in Wilmington and this part of the county, where he has many warm friends.
MAJOR E. SEARLES.
Major E. Searles, a resident of Joliet from early manhood until his life's labors were ended in death, on the 22d of July, 1894, was uniformly regarded as a citizen of sterling worth because of his activity in business, his valor and loyalty in military service and his fidelity and trustworthiness in public of- fice. Born in Tecumseh, Michigan, on the 18th of July, 1838, he became a resident of Brockport, New York, in his early youth and there spent the period of his minority, acquiring a public-school education.
On leaving the Empire state, he removed to Joliet and entered the employ of his cousin, the lale S. O. Simonds, who was proprietor of a gro-
cery store. Major Searles remained in that service until after the outbreak of the Civil war, when. at the age of twenty-four years he offered his services to the government. Aroused by a spirit of patriot- ism he could no longer content himself to remain at home while his country's honor and stability were imperiled and enlisted on the 24th of July, 1862. as a member of Company B. One Hundredth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He served his coun- try for two years and nine months, participating in the battles of Stone River, Kenesaw Mountain and Missionary Ridge. At the last named he was wounded. He was with the late Colonel Bartleson when that officer was killed at Kenesaw Mountain, and in fact assisted in carrying the body off the field. Because of valor and meritorious service Mr. Searles was promoted from the ranks to first lieutenant of Company B, and he remained a faithful defender of the old flag until mustered out of service at the close of the war.
Returning to his home in Joliet, Major Searles was appointed mail agent on the Michigan Central Railroad between Joliet and Lake Station, Indiana. He filled that position for several years, and in 1870 was appointed deputy postmaster of Joliet under the late James Goodspeed, which position he filled for twelve years. He then embarked in the grocery trade, in which he continued until his death, seenring a liberal patronage in recognition of his straightforward business methods, his rea- sonable prices and his earnest desire to please his customers.
On the 11th of February, 1864, Major Searles was united in marriage io Miss Jenny Munroe, the wedding being celebrated in the parlors of the Will county jail, while George Munroe, now deceased, an own cousin of Mrs. Searles, was sheriff of the county. In polities Major Searles was a stalwart republican, who kept well informed on the ques- tions and issues of the day, and had firm faith in the principles of the party to which he gave earnest and effective support. He held membership in Bartleson post, G. A. R., and greatly enjoyed the meetings with his old comrades with whom he had faced danger and death on southern battle-fields. His residence in Joliet covered more than a third of a century, and while he never sought to figure prominently in public affairs he lived a life which commanded uniform confidence and respect, prov- ing his trustworthiness in public office and in busi-
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ness relations as well. He thus gained that warm personal regard which is ever an indication of true worth of character and his death was deeply regretted by many who entertained for him strong friendship.
JOSEPH JOHNSTON.
Joseph Johnston, of Wilmington, was born at Leadhills, Wigtonshire, Scotland, July 12, 1833, and was educated at Muirkirk, Scotland. His par- ents, John and Mary Campbell, were married December 31, 1825, in the parish of Minnigoff, and were members of the Church of England. Having spent the days of his boyhood and youth in his native country, Joseph Johnston sought the better business opportunities of the new world, leaving his native land in the spring of 1853. As a passenger on the old sailing vessel Columbia, he left Liverpool on the 2d of June and after six weeks and three days on the ocean proceeded by boat and rail across the country to Joliet, where he arrived on the 30th of July. He lived in and near the city until 1859, when he removed to Jackson township and a year later went to Manhattan township, where he resided until 1876, farming forty acres of land, on which he built a house. He then sold that property and bought seventy-two acres in Wesley township, which he improved, adding to the place until he had one hundred and twelve acres. There he lived until 1893, when he removed to Wilmington, where he now resides.
On the 10th of November, 1859, Mr. Johnston married Miss Mary C. Miller, who was born in Pennsylvania, January 11, 1834, and died No- vember 8, 1893. She was a daughter of Martin and Esther (Potter) Miller, who were married in Pennsylvania, December 9, 1832, and had four children, all now deceased. The father was a carpenter by trade and at an early day came to Joliet. After his death his widow married Samuel Green, who was born in the Keystone state, Oc- tober 26, 1807. Mrs. Green, nee Miller, was born in Pennsylvania, October 16, 1813, and died January 21, 1879, while Mr. Green passed away in 1878.
After losing his first wife Mr. Johnston was married, December 10, 1895, to Annie Gall, who was born in Shropshire, England, March 3, 1864, a daughter of Charles and Barbara (Duxon) Gall, both natives of Cambridgeshire, England. The father, born July 5, 1832, died February 24, 1906, and the mother, born August 5, 1832, died De- vember 3, 1874. They were married May 1, 1860, and had four children, three now living: Mrs. Johnston, Elizabeth, and Naomi, the wife of Fred- erick Blackhaus, of Yorkshire, England. The father was a mechanical engineer, belonged to the Masonic lodge, and spent his entire life in Eng- land.
By his first marriage Mr. Johnston had three children: Elizabeth, the wife of Willis Hazel- ton : Esther A., who was the wife of Thomas Cairns and died November 26, 1906; and Martin H., who married Tina Lugar and is living in Joliet, being superintendent of the Joliet & Chi- vago Interurban line.
While living in Wesley township Mr. Johnston served as road commissioner for six years and has been three times elected justice of the peace in Wilmington, elected for the last time April 29, 1905. In politics he is an earnest republican, having supported each presidential candidate of the party since casting his first vote for Abraham Lincoln.
ERNEST W. BALGEMAN.
Ernest W. Balgeman is president of the Crete State Bank and has laid out and improved a sub- division to the city which has been an important element in its growth and development. A na- tive son of Illinois, he displays the enterprise and alertness which have been special elements in the upbuilding of the state. His birth occurred in Elmhurst, DuPage county, in 1874, and he comes of German lineage. His father, Ernest Balgeman, was born in Hanover, Germany, and is now resid- ing in Elmhurst at the age of fifty-six years. He came to the United States in 1854 in company with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Balgeman, who were pioneer farming people of DuPage coun- ty, and established their home at Elmhurst. Ern- est Balgeman had common school advantages and
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