Past and present of the city of Quincy and Adams County, Illinois, Part 73

Author: Collins, William H. (William Hertzog), 1831-1910; Perry, Cicero F., 1855- [from old catalog] joint author; Tillson, John, 1825-1892. History of the city of Quincy, Illinois. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1228

USA > Illinois > Adams County > Quincy > Past and present of the city of Quincy and Adams County, Illinois > Part 73

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Mr. Farlow was married in Ohio, in 1858, to Miss Rebecca Van Gilder, a native of that state. There were four children born of this union but two died in infancy. The living are: Mrs. Hezekiah Henry, who is assistant cashier of the People's Bank of Camp Point : and J. Addie, the wife of Jerome Christie of Qniney. Mr. Far- low was married again in Camp Point township. in 1864, his second nion being with Mrs. Jern-

sha Smith, a native of Indiana, who was reared and educated in Missouri. There are three children by this nnion : Fred, who is married and resides upon a farm in Camp Point township : Katie, a young lady at home, and Walter W. of Chicago.

Politically Mr. Farlow has been a life-long republican. He east his first presidential ballot for Abraham Lincoln, in 1860, and has voted for each nominee at the head of the ticket since that time. His wife is a member of the Preshy- terian church and he belongs to the Masonic fraternity, being the oldest living member of the lodge at Camp Point. He is well known in Quincy, and largely throughout the state, as a successful business man and stock dealer. le has a very wide acquaintance in Adams county, where he has made his home for sixty-two years, and is familiar with the history of this part of the state from the time of its early pioncer de- velopment to the present.

HHIRAM BLIVEN.

Hiram Bliven, farmer and thresher, who for forty-four years has engaged in the operation of threshing machines in Adams county, resides on seetion 20. Burton township, and upon this farm he was born February 26, 1843, his parents being Sammel G. and Mabel M. ( Wheeler ) Bliven, both natives of Renssalear county, New York, born in 1809. The family name is of English origin. On leaving the Empire state the father removed to Pennsylvania, where his three oldest children, Mary J. Me Vey, Albert and William 11., were born, and in the '30s he came to Adams county, Ilinois. His son William, who enlisted in the Seventy-eight Illinois Infantry, was killed in the battle of Chickamauga. Albert was a mem- ber of the One Hundred and Eighteenth Ilinois Volunteer Infantry and was wounded in a skir- mish but recovered and is now living north of Barry, Pike county, Ilinois. Jefferson was a member of the Eighty-fourth Illinois Infantry and died during the war at bonisville, Kentucky, his remains being brought back to Adams county for interment. The other members of the family are: Rachel, who married John W. Eppley and died in 1875, while her husband is also deceased ; Matilda, wife of John J. Gray, a jeweler of Chi- cago : Iliram ; Charles T., who was left a farm by his father but sold out: Alice, wife of George Abel, a retired farmer living in Quincy ; Esther, wife of William Ellermyer, a farmer near New- ton, Adams county.

Iliram Bliven pursued his education in Bur- ton and left school at the age of nineteen years, after which he turned his attention to farming.

PAST AND PRESENT OF ADAMS COUNTY.

Ile also began threshing and is to-day the oklest representative of the business in Adams county in years of continuous connection therewith, for he has been threshing for forty-four years. The first machine which he used was an Alton and he has had successively a Rice & Swartz, Nichols & Shepherd, Buffalo Pitts, Sweepstake, Minnesota and Belleville. He is now the owner of one hundred and twelve and a half acres of land. worth seventy-five dollars per acre.

Mr. Bliven was married. in 1862. to Mary H. Schwabel. a native of Quiney. Her father was born in Germany and came to Ilinois about 1834, settling in Belleville, where he was married, meeting his wife while working on a farm in that neighborhood. Mr. and Mrs. Bliven have become the parents of twelve children, of whom ten are nving. Annie, the first, having died in infancy, while the second died unnamed. The surviving sons and daughters are: William F., who mar ried Anna Ilagenbaum and lives in Quiney, is a carpenter and stone-mason, now acting as fore- man in Worst Stove store: Esther is the wife of Herman Zeh, a stone-mason of Riverside; Effie is the wife of Edward Zeh, a farmer living with her father : Samuel G. is a liveryman of Denver, Colorado: George A., married Annie Rowsey, of Newtown : Hiram and Arthur assist in the opera- tion of the home farm: and Eleanora, Mary M. and Milo G. are at home.

Mr. Bliven is a republican in his political views and has served as road commissioner. His wife belongs to the Lutheran church. Te has in his possession a madstone which came from the Mi- ami river in Ohio, and has been in the family for seventy-five years. people coming from all over the United States to have it applied. In his busi- ness affairs Mr. Bliven has been quite success- ful and he has a wide acquaintance in the county by reason of the work he has done as a thresher. He has made good use of his time and opportuni- ties and is now in comfortable financial circum- stances.

GEORGE BAUGHMAN.

George Banghinan, deceased, was the pioneer earpenter of the city of Quiney and contributed in so large a measure to the substantial im- provement and upbuilding of the city that no history of Adams county would be complete with- ont mention of his career. lle settled here in March, 1838, and in the field of his chosen oc- cupation did much for early progress here, erecting many of the first buildings. Ile was born in Baltimore county, Maryland, in 1813, in the house in which his father's birth had or- eurred. His mother was also a native of Balti-

more county. The parents were farming people in Maryland throughout their entire lives and George Baughman was there reared upon the home farm. The educational advantages which he received were such as were afforded by the common schools of that locality and when only a boy he went to the city of Baltimore to learn the carpenter's trade, serving his regular ap- prenticeship. Having mastered the business. he afterward worked as a journeyman for some time.

Following his marriage Mr. Banghman re- moved to Quincy. where he began working as a carpenter. lle assisted in building the old Quincy House, one of the first hotels of this city, and later entered into partnership with Mr. Littlefield, with whom he erected many of the substantial early buildings here. Subsequently their business relations were discontinued and in 1860 Mr. Baughman formed a partnership with Mr. Hanworth. with whom he was con- nected for several years. He then received an appointment to act as superintendent of the construction of the new courthouse of Adams comity and to this work directed his energy. Ile continued a representative of the builder's art in Quincy until in his later years he retired from active business life, enjoying a well earned rest until he was called to his final home on the 12th of January, 1894.

Before leaving Baltimore Mr. Baughman was married to Miss Sarah Kreis, a native of that city, where her parents had located at an early day. Both her father and mother died there. Mr. and Mrs. Banghman became the parents of ten children, of whom six are vet living. Samuel K. Baughman, the eldest, was married to Lavina Simpson, who died at Camp Point, Illinois, in 1890. Hle afterward wedded Helen V. Roesch- lanb, and they now reside with his mother. He is one of the old and prominent railroad men of this city and is now filling the office of postal clerk on the Chicago, Burlington and Quiney Railroad, having a regular run between Quincy and Kansas City. He is well known and popu- lar among the railroad men on his line and is one of the trusted employes in the postal ser- vice, in which he has had long experience and has given excellent satisfaction by reason of his promptness and capability. Henry J. is married and lives at Denver, Colorado. Mrs. Emily A. King is a resident of Quincy. William E. J. Banghman resides in Sacramento, California. and is secretary of the Merchants and Mechanies Savings Bank. Elizabeth is the wife of Mel- ville Clark and resides in Chicago. Those de- ceased are Charles, Laura. Alice and George.

In early life Mr. Baughman gave his political support to the whig party and joined the re- publican on its formation and continued as one of the earnest advocates until his death. He held

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several minor offices but preferred to give his attention to his business interests. He always took a deep and helpful interest in church work and both he and his wife were members of the Congregational church of Quincy. He was one of the honored pioneers of the city and evidences of his handiwork are still seen in some of the older and more substantial buildings here. He was a man faithful to every trust reposed in him whether of a publie or private nature and his genuine worth gained him warm friends. Quincy benefited by his efforts in her behalf and his name should be inscribed high on the roll of leading citizens of Quiney who are now muim- bered with the honored dead. His widow and son still reside at the old family home at No. 623 Jersey street, which was built by Mr. Baugh- man in 1846 and is one of the landmarks of the city.

CICERO F. PERRY.

Cicero F. Perry, of Quincy, was born near Springfield, Sangamon county, Illinois, Jan- mary 22, 1855, and was reared in Hancock and MeDonongh counties. July 15, 1880, he was united in marriage with Rebecca K. Morey. They moved the same year from Colches- ter to Quincy, where Mr. Perry was employed several years as telegraph operator and assistant train dispatcher. In 1884, Mr. and Mrs. Perry moved to California, but returned to Quiney the next year. Mr. Perry was police magistrate of Quiney from 1886 until 1891, from which latter year till 1903 he was engaged in daily newspaper work. In the fall of 1903 he bought a controlling interest in The Quiney Optic, a weekly family newspaper, of which he has since then been the editor and manager. Mr. Perry is an associate historian of the "Past and Present of the city of Quiney and Adams County, Illinois." Mr. and Mrs. Perry have two children, namely : Miss Grace Margaret Perry and Master Ralph George Perry.

WILLIAM II. DeGROOT.

On the roster of county officials in Adams county appears the name of William II. DeGroot. now serving as county supervisor after four years spent in the same office in the capacity of deputy surveyor. He was born at Long Branch, New Jersey, in 1832. Ilis father, JJohn DeGroot, was a native of New York and a farmer by occu- pation. Emigrating westward he became one of the pioneer settlers of Adams county, Illinois,

locating in Quiney in 1836. The following year he took up his abode upon a farm in Northeast township, where he continued to reside until his death. HIe prospered in his undertakings in the west and as his financial resources in- creased he added to his property until at the time of his demise he had over seventeen hun- dred acres of land. He was a consistent mem- her of the Christian church and in polities was a democrat. Ile filled the office of supervisor and other local positions and was a man of firm conviction, of sterling integrity and of strong will power. Ile commanded the uniform con- fidence and respect of those with whom he was associated and he lived a long, useful and honor- able life, passing away in 1889 at the age of eighty-one years. In early manhood he wedded Margaret Harvey, who was born in New York and died in 1882 at the age of eighty-one years. They were the parents of seven children, of whom William I. was the second. His twin brother died when fourteen years of age and five of the family are yet living.

William Il. DeGroot acquired his early edu- ration in the common schools of Adams county and afterward enjoyed the benefit of instruction in the Mount Washington Collegiate Institute of New York city and also in Eastman's Business College of Poughkeepsie, New York. His edu- cation completed. he entered a counting house in New York city, where he remained until 1856, in which year he was married and then came to Northeast township. Adams county, Illinois, where he turned his attention to farming, fol- lowing that pursuit continuously for forty-six years or until 1902. Hle was an enterprising agrienlturalist, never dilatory in his work and from the time of his early spring planting until after crops were harvested in the late autumn he gave careful attention to the work of the fields and thus secured a good return for his labors. Since his retirement from the farm he has made his home in Quincy. He was appointed deputy county surveyor by Edward C. Wells and F. L. Hancock. In 1904 he was a candi- date for county surveyor, E. A. Grummond be- ing his opponent on the prohibition ticket and the only other candidate in the field. He is now serving in the office, with the duties of which he had become familiar during his ineumbeney as deputy. He has filled a number of local of- fees, acting as supervisor, assessor and in other positions in his township. lle held the position of supervisor of Northeast township for six years, resigning upon his removal to Quiney. In polities he is a strong Bryan democrat.

In 1856 Mr. DeGroot was married to Miss Anna C. Beach, a daughter of Elijah and Helen ( Clark ) Beach. She was born in New York in

Sincerely, Dicen F. Perry

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PAST AND PRESENT OF ADAMS COUNTY.

1835 and by her marriage became the mother of two children : Charles A .. who died in 1886: and Fred B., a practicing physician of Rock Is- land, Illinois. The parents are members of the Christian church and are highly esteemed in the community where they make their home, having many warm friends in the city and throughout Adams county.

ALBERT P. GAY.

Prominent among the energetic, far-seeing and successful business men of Adams county is the subject of this review. Integrity, activity and energy have been the crowning points of his success and his connection with various business enterprises and financial interests has been of decided aid to this section of the state, promoting its material welfare in no uncertain manner.

Mr. Gay was born in Camp Point township, December 31, 1840. His father, Vixon P. Gay, was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, and was descended from English aneestors, who settled in the state of Maine about 1630. There were three brothers that came to the new world at that time and one established his home in Massachu- setts. the second in North Carolina, while the ancestors of Albert P. Gay became residents of the Pine Tree state.

Nixon P. Gay came to the west in 1837 and was numbered among the pioneer residents of Illinois. Hle was here married to Liddy Abigail Knight, a native of Maine, and a daughter of Captain George Knight, an old sailor who followed the sea for a long period, spending a number of years on the Atlantic ocean. At length. however, he removed from the sea coast and took up his abode in Illinois.

Vixon P. Gay purchased land and eventually owned in this county three hundred and twenty acres, becoming a prominent and well-to-do ag- riculturist. He reared his family and spent his remaining days here. Ile held various local offices of honor and trust, serving on the first county board of supervisors and in other public offices, wherein he demonstrated his loyalty to the general improvement. lle was twice mar- ried and his first wife died November 5, 1852. llis death occurred September 20, 1877.

Albert P. Gay is the oldest of a family of two sons and one daughter. Ilis brother, C. V. Gay, is a business man of Camp Point, and the sister, Mrs. Sophronia A. MeGill. is living in Bowen, Illinois. Albert P. Gay was reared on the old home farm and his educational advan- tages were those offered by the district schools. Ile pursued his studies in a little log school house such as was common at that time, but he

possessed a nature ambitious for intellectual de- velopment and by reading and observation he be- came a well informed man. In this manner he prepared for teaching and followed that profes- sion for five or six years. He possesses intel- lectual talent and worked for years at the ear- penter's and joiner's trade.

On the 20th of April, 1865, Mr. Gay was united in marriage in Adams county to Miss Harriet L. Strickler, who was born in this county and is a daughter of W. A. Strickler, one of the early and prominent residents of this part of the state. Mrs. Gay was reared and educated in Adams county and possesses superior business qualifications. as well as social attractions and has been a faithful companion. helpmate and ad- visor to her husband in his business transactions. They located on a farm in Houston township, Mr. Gay securing a tract of eighty aeres of raw land there. This he broke and transformed into productive fields. Ile built substantial buildings and good fences and added all modern equipments as his financial resources permitted. Ile later bought more land and owns over two hundred and forty acres, carrying on his farm- ing operations for a quarter of a century. He also raised good grades of stock and was the first farmer of that township to own a herd of Jersey cattle. In 1888 he retired from the farm and removed to Camp Point. where he built a neat and substantial residence on North Ohio street. Since locating in this city he has heen engaged in the banking business, being for a time a representative of this line of activity in Camp Point. He assisted in organizing the Bowen Bank at Bowen, Illinois, and is also a stockholder in the Mendon Bank and likewise has an interest in another bank. On the organi- zation of the Camp Point Mutual Insurance Company he became one of its original stoek- holders and a director and has served as presi- dent, secretary and treasurer of the company.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Gay was born one son, Otho N. Gay, who was born in Houston township, June 26, 1862. Hle is well educated and is a man of good business ability. At one time he was engaged in the jewelry business at Camp Point and for a year was in the same line at Chicago, but later sold his store in the latter city and returned to Camp Point. He is now assistant cashier of the Mendon Bank, in Men- don, Adams county. He was married in Camp Point to Gertrude Anna Ogle, who was reared and educated in Adams county.

Politically Albert P. Gay has been a life-long republiean, always supporting the party since casting his first presidential ballot for Abraham Lincoln in 1864. Ife was elected and served for two years as supervisor and was a member of

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PAST AND PRESENT OF ADAMS COUNTY.

the honorary county board. He was identified with the educational interests of the county from the time he left the old schoolhouse as a student and became a teacher. Hle was a member of the school board for two terms and has always been deeply interested in whatever has tended to promote the intellectual progress and develop- ment of this part of the state. He and his wife are members of the Christian church at Camp Point, in which he has served as eller for many

years. As a pioneer resident, one who has spent his entire life in Adams county he has witnessed much of its growth and development. Ile is a man of tried integrity and worth and he and his estimable wife are much esteemed in the community. Ile has made an untarnished record and unspotted reputation as a business man. In all places and under all circumstances he is loyal to truth, honor and right, justly vahing his own self-respect as infinitely more than wealth, fame and position.

O. H. BROWNING.

Orville H. Browning, one of Quiney's most illustrions citizens, eminent lawyer, state legis- lator, congressman, United States Senator, cabinet minister, and especial friend of Lin- com, was born in Kentucky, Feb. 10, 1806, and died at his home in Quincy, Illinois, Aug. 10, 1881. Mr. Browning received his educa- tion in his native state, where he was admitted to the bar, and whence in 1831 he came to Quincy, with whose history he was henceforth identified until his death.

At the meeting of the Quincy Bar Associa- tion to take action on his death, of which meet- ing Gen. James W. Singleton was chairman. the resolution read thus: "Mr. Browning pos- sessed those rare qualities of mind and heart. bright intellect, deliberate judgment, profound and varied learning, quick comprehension, vivid and lofty imagination, clear insight into human character, tender regard for the rights of others, reverence for justice and law, sym- pathy for the suffering and charity for all, that would have distinguished him as a remarka- ble man in any age and in any country. With- out the aid of college, university or patrimony, he attained a position in his profession second to no one of his time. For half a century, he was a distinguished lawyer, and for the later twenty-five years of that time, by the univer- sał accord of his associates, stood first at the bar of Illinois and without a superior in the nation. As lawyer, legislator, and cabinet min-

ister, he ranked among the foremost men of the century."

Jan. 6, 1882, at a meeting of the Illinois State Bar Association, of which Mr. Brown- ing was president at the time of his death, Hon. Chas. B. Lawrence, said in the course of his memorial address on Mr. Browning :

"After his admission to the bar he might have commeneed what, no doubt, would have been a brilliant career in Kentucky, but he was decided in the conviction that slavery was an inenbus upon the prosperity of the state, and that his professional life should begin elsewhere. Influenced by this conviction he left Kentucky in 1831, and established him- self at Quiney, Illinois.

"Of course he was obliged to go through that experience which so many of us have rea- son to remember in our own lives-the bitter experience which comes in various forms to a youthful lawyer who opens, for the first time. his modest office in a land of strangers with little money in his pockets, and wonder- ing every morning how long he will be able to keep the wolf from the door. But the hope deferred which maketh the heart sick was not long the experience of Mr. Browning. His handsome face, his fine person, his frank man- ners, united to a consciousness of intellectual powers and a conviction of final success, made his way smooth and his progress rapid.

"Within a very short period after his settle- ment in Quincy, he and Archibald Williams, who had preceded him from Kentucky by two or three years, were the undisputed leaders of the bar in that portion of the state.

"Ile was a man of such large and even de- velopment of talent that he was fitted to exeel in any department of the law. Whether deal- ing with the technicalities of common law plead- ing, the refined justiee of courts of chancery, or the unforseen difficulties and pitfalls of a jury trial on either the civil or criminal side of the court, he was always at home, and, as far as could be said of any lawyer, 'Master of the situation.' At that time there were men of uncommon power at the bar of central Illinois. Confining myself to the mention of the dead, I call back to your memory Archibald Williams. Cyrus Walker, Stephen A. Logan, Edward Baker, Abraham Lincoln and Mr. Browning, a noble array of legal talent. It could not be truthfully said of any one of them that he dominated the others, but I think it may be fairly claimed for Mr. Browning that while one of these distinguished lawyers may have excelled him in one point, and another in an- other, yet he surpassed them all in the many- sidedness of his intellectual power and devel- opment.

O. H. BROWNING

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PAST AND PRESENT OF ADAMS COUNTY.

"His power over a jury was very great. He never spoke above the heads of the twelve men in the box. His object was not to com- mand the admiration of a critical bystander, but to win the verdict. And he did win it oftener, I think, than any lawyer at the bar. Though bearing himself with a rather stately manner, he was kind and courteous to his brethren, and especially so to those just en- tering upon their professional career. We may well cherish his professional fame as that of a brother who has done us honor."

In sketching Mr. Browning's service in the state senate and the unpopularity of his course, Mr. Lawrence said: "I have referred to this matter not only because it was his first appear- ance in public life, and illustrates the wise so- briety of his judgment, but because it also illustrates a quality in his character of which our public men have far too little, but which he possessed in an eminent degree. I refer to his calm and absolute independence of popular elamor and prejudice, when his judgment told him that the path of duty lay athwart the pub- lie will. At whatever sacrifice of popular fa- vor, he would be true to his own convictions. This was the jewel of his character in public life.

"There had long been an intimate friendship between Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Browning. They believed each in the other. There was always a gentle touch of affection in the tone of Mr. Lincoln's voice as, in the old library room of the supreme court, from his seat by .the stove, he would call to Mr. Browning to quit working at his brief and come and have a talk.

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Past and present of the city of Quincy and Adams County, Illinois, Part 73

Author: Collins, William H. (William Hertzog), 1831-1910; Perry, Cicero F., 1855- [from old catalog] joint author; Tillson, John, 1825-1892. History of the city of Quincy, Illinois. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1905 Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1228

Author: Collins, William H. (William Hertzog), 1831-1910; Perry, Cicero F., 1855- [from old catalog] joint author; Tillson, John, 1825-1892. History of the city of Quincy, Illinois. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1228