USA > Illinois > Peoria County > Peoria > Peoria city and county, Illinois; a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Vol. II > Part 19
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FREDERICK BREWSTER TRACY.
Frederick B. Tracy, serving for the second term as city clerk at Peoria, has in public office made an excellent record, characterized by thorough understand- ing of the duties that have devolved upon him and promptness and efficiency in their execution. To him a public office is a public trust, and it is well known that no trust reposed in Frederick B. Tracy has ever been betrayed.
Mr. Tracy, who is one of New England's native sons, was born in Ellington, Tolland county, Connecticut, September 3, 1852. His parents were Addison L. and Ann L. (Chester) Tracy, who were residents of Tolland county in which the town of Ellington is located. In the year of their son Frederick's birth, however, they sought a home in the middle west, taking up their abode at Elm- wood, Illinois, where the father engaged in merchandising. Some years after- ward he and his wife went to Florida where they spent their remaining days.
Frederick B. Tracy is the only surviving child of that marriage. The public schools of Elmwood afforded him his early educational privileges which were supplemented by a course in Knox Academy at Galesburg, Illinois. He entered business life in the capacity of clerk in a general store at Elmwood, and came to Peoria in 1890 to fill the position of deputy circuit clerk, in which capacity he
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remained for one term. He then turned his attention to the insurance business which he followed in connection with other lines of activity until elected city clerk of Peoria in the spring of 1909. That his course was creditable and com- mendable is evidenced in the fact that he was reelected in 1911, and is the present incumbent in the office. He is methodical in the discharge of his duties and has carefully systematized the work of the position. He is a stalwart advocate of the republican principles and along legitimate lines does all he can to further the interests and promote the success of his party.
In 1878, at Elmwood, Mr. Tracy was united in marriage to Miss Mary B. Rogers, a daughter of Henry P. Rogers of Peoria county, who engaged in the lumber business at Elmwood. Her mother bore the maiden name of Annie Wilkin- son and was a resident of Farmington, Illinois, prior to her marriage, having come to this state from New York. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Tracy have been born two children: Annie C., who is now a teacher in the public schools of Peoria; and Frederick B., Jr., connected with the public utilities at Muncie, Indiana, as a member of the Central Indiana Gas Company.
Fraternally Mr. Tracy is identified with the Masons, and has attained high rank in that order. In 1901 he served as master of Illinois Lodge, No. 263, A. F. & A. M. at Peoria. He is also a member of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Valley of Peoria, and of Mohammed Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. In his life he exemplifies the beneficent spirit of the craft which recognizes the truth of universal brotherhood. He has attractive social qualities which render him a companionable man and the circle of his friends is constantly increasing as the circle of his acquaintance broadens. He is well known as a leading re- publican of Peoria county, and one to whom the public may look with confidence and trust as an able official.
SAMUEL WOOLNER, JR.
As a prominent representative of real-estate holdings, of banking investments and of distilling interests Samuel Woolner, Jr., is well known. He is capable of controlling important and mammoth business concerns, of formulating well defined plans and of executing these with results that add not only to individual success but also to general prosperity. His business activities on the whole have been features in the growth and material progress of Peoria, where the greater part of his life has been passed. He was born July 4, 1866, in Louisville, Ken- tucky, a son of Adolph and Antonia Woolner. The removal of the family to this city enabled him to pursue his education in the ward and high schools here until his graduation from the latter with the class of 1883. He afterward went to Ithaca, New York, where he entered Cornell University, and was graduated with the class of 1888. He has since been engaged in the distilling business and in other enterprises. He entered upon the former in connection with his father, the founder of the Woolner Distilling Company, under which name an enter- prise of extensive proportions has been developed. He acquainted himself with the trade as a factor in executive and administrative control and eventually was called to the presidency of the company. He is likewise a director in various other business concerns which are features in the commercial, industrial and financial activity of the city. He has made extensive investments in real estate and in banking and at one time was a director of the Merchants National Bank of Peoria and also was vice president of the Central Railway Company.
In Scranton, Pennsylvania, on the 12th of October, 1898. Mr. Woolner was united in marriage to Miss Martha Moses, a daughter of B. Moses, and they now have two children. Gladys T. and Adolph M. In social circles the family is well known and the hospitality of their home is most attractive. Mr. Woolner
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is prominent in democratic circles and has done much to shape the policy of his party here. He was formerly chairman of the city and county committee, also a member of the democratic state central committee and has been a delegate to state and national conventions of his party. At all times he keeps thoroughly informed concerning the vital and significant problems of the country and in this connection stands abreast with the best thinking men of the age. His posi- tion in business circles is further indicated by the fact that he has been honored by the election to the presidency of the Peoria Board of Trade ; nor is he neglectful of his religious duties, being vice president of the congregation of Anshai Ameth. He is likewise a prominent member of the Independent Order of B'nai Brith, of which he several times served as president. He belongs to the Creve Coeur and the Country Clubs of Peoria and to the Illinois Athletic Club of Chicago. He is vice president of the National Wholesale Liquor Dealers' Association and is now serving his third term. He is a man of miost courteous manners yet firm and unyielding in what he believes to be right. In various lines he has, indeed, won success and distinction, yet in all he wears his honors with becoming modesty.
HENRY WARD WELLS.
Henry Ward Wells, a distinguished lawyer, lawmaker and author, whose contributions to the literature of the profession are regarded as of a most valu- able nature, entered into active connection with the Illinois bar in 1855 and from the close of the war until his death was a prominent practitioner of Peoria. He was born in Pulaski, New York, June 20, 1833. His father, Colonel Wells, an Englishman by birth, married Julia Tracy, a daughter of Dr. E. Tracy, of Middle- town, Connecticut, and granddaughter of General Artemas Ward.
In his youthful days Henry W. Wells became a resident of Illinois, pursuing his education in the schools of Galesburg. When still quite young he came to Peoria and entered the employ of Pettingell & Babcock, with whom he remained for a year, receiving a hundred dollars as compensation for his services. It was his ambition, however, to enter upon a professional career and in 1850 he attended the National Law School at Ballston Spa, New York, where he was graduated with the class of 1853. He then returned to Illinois and further continued his law studies by entering the office of Johnston & Blakesley, well known attorneys of Peoria, in the spring of 1854. The period there passed brought to him practi- cal as well as theoretical knowledge and experience. and in 1855 he opened a law office in Cambridge, Henry county, Illinois, where he continued in active practice until after the outbreak of the Civil war.
At the second call for troops Mr. Wells offered his aid to the government, enlisting as a member of Company D, One Hundred and Twelfth Illinois Infan- try. He was promoted to the rank of major on the staff of General Tillson, who commanded the defense at Knoxville. He afterward served on the staff of Gen- eral J. D. Cox, of Ohio, and took part in all the battles from Buzzards Roost to the capture of Atlanta. He was thus often in the thickest of the fight and was always faithful and loyal to his duty, whether on the firing line or the lonely picket line.
At the close of the Civil war Mr. Wells established his home in Peoria and from that time forward until his death was a distinguished representative and honored member of the bar of this city. His practice was of a most important character and indicated his thorough and comprehensive knowledge of various departments of the law. Furthermore, he was called to aid in framing the laws of the state, being elected a member of the convention which formed the Illinois constitution of 1870. His authorship included a work entitled Mechanics' Lien, also a volume on Patent Law and another entitled Wells on Replevin. He stood
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II. W. WELLS
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among the foremost representatives of the Illinois bar, his ability commanding the admiration of his colleagues and contemporaries. While he was most faithful to the interests of his clients he never forgot that he owed a still higher allegiance to the majesty of the law. He won his success through wisely and conscientiously using the talents with which nature had endowed him, ever recognizing the fact that careful preparation must precede the successful presentation of a cause in the courts.
While a resident of Cambridge, Illinois, Mr. Wells was married, on the 8th of September, 1859, to Miss Demaris C. Showers, a daughter of Alexander Hardy and Lucy M. Showers, who are now deceased. She holds membership in the First Congregational church and also in the Peoria Woman's Club, the motto of which is "To help another from what one has or is, is the most noble deed." The club works for the best interests of Peoria in meeting its needs and beautify- ing the city, and with this work Mrs. Wells is in hearty sympathy.
In his political views Mr. Wells was an earnest republican, feeling that the platform of the party contained the best principles and elements of good govern- ment. Hle belonged to the Masonic fraternity and he was a man of kind and gentle nature who ever wished to do justice to all. He was very fond of chil- dren and took great interest in them. He loved art and was considered an expert judge on art works. For eighteen years he served as a member of the library board and was greatly interested in all that tended to improve the literary tastes of the general public. In fact, his influence was always on the side of progress and improvement and his sympathies and aid were given to those activities which work for the material, intellectual, social and moral uplift of humanity. His character and reputation were above reproach and he was honored no less for his personal traits than for the position of prominence to which he attained in his profession.
JUDGE HEZEKIAH MORSE WEAD.
Illinois has always been distinguished for able jurists and attorneys, many of whom have achieved distinction. Among those who were well known at an early day and who labored persistently and conscientiously for the upbuilding of the state, especially in its educational and judiciary systems, was Judge Heze- kiah M. Wead, for many years a prominent lawyer of Peoria, Illinois.
Judge Wead possessed an analytical mind, a comprehensive knowledge of the fundamental principles of law, a clear judgment, which made him not only a formidable adversary at the bar, but also gave him distinction, while on the bench. He cultivated the talent of expressing himself clearly in few words, a habit which enabled him to present an argument forcibly and convincingly.
Judge Wead was born in Sheldon, Vermont, June 1, 1810. His ancestor, Samuel Wead, of huguenot descent, was one of the early settlers of Danbury. Connecticut, a member of the general court and a prominent citizen. After the burning of Danbury by the British, the family removed to New York, where in one of the many "patent" disagreements of that state, they lost nearly every- thing and settled at Lanesboro, Massachusetts, on Silver street, where the house. built by Jacob Wead, grandfather of Hezekiah, still stands. Jacob took part in the Revolutionary war, but later, boundary controversies drove the family to Vermont, where Samuel Wead, son of Jacob, married Rebecca Morse, daughter of Rev. Daniel Moss, whose ancestors were prominent in the upbuilding of New Haven, Connecticut. They incorporated the town of Wallingford, and at least two of them fought in King Philip's war, while another joined the crusaders and assisted in the capture of Jerusalem.
Having learned what he could at the public schools of Sheldon, Judge Wead took a short course at Castleton Academy. Vermont, and then engaged in teach-
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ing, while preparing for his chosen profession of law. In 1832 he was admitted to the bar both in Vermont and New York and in 1840, in search of wider op- portunities, he went to Illinois and settled at Lewiston. Here he won distinc- tion as an able practitioner, was elected judge of the circuit court and became a member of the state constitutional convention of 1847. aiding by his legal knowl- edge in framing the organic laws of the state and assisting materially in solving many of the problems which came before the convention. In 1855 he removed to Peoria. where he soon gained a large and representative practice and where he was regarded as one of the most capable lawyers of central Illinois. In civic affairs, he always took a keen, vital interest, and throughout life manifested a spirit of zealous participation in the larger affairs of the community.
It is interesting to note that in 1876, he published in the Peoria Daily Trans- cript a series of articles in which he earnestly advocated the submission of state laws, and particularly, of all city ordinances, to a vote of the electors to be affected thereby before they should become valid; a theory of legislation now much discussed, and growing steadily in popular esteem, but then quite generally regarded as an impracticable theory.
In 1841, Judge Wead married Miss Eliza Young Emery, a scion on her father's side of an old family, running back through colonial days to England and thence to Normandy; on her mother's side she is a descendant of Elder William Brewster, of Mayflower fame. Of this union four children survive, two daughters and two sons, one of whom, Judge S. D. Wead, has followed in his father's footsteps in the practice of the law. Judge H. M. Wead died May 10, 1876, and his wife, February 10, 1887.
JONATHAN L. PLUMMER, M. D., AND AMZI S. PLUMMER, M. D.
The history of Drs. Jonathan L. and Amzi S. Plummer is unique in that father and son pursued their college medical course at the same time, were graduates in the same class and have since practiced together in Peoria for a period of fourteen years, having well equipped offices in the German Fire In- surance building and also an office at 1315 Main street. Both father and son, in the course of their long career as practitioners, have achieved distinct success, and are now looked upon as among Peoria's most able and prominent physicians.
Dr. Jonathan L. Plummer was born upon a farm in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, near West Newton, November 18, 1847, and is a son of William and Sarah Elizabeth ( Robertson) Plummer. The father disposed of his farm during the boyhood days of his son and removed with his family to a farm in Jefferson county, Ohio, near Steubenville. There the boy was reared, meeting with the usual experiences that come to the lad who spends his youth amid rural surroundings. He attended the district schools and in the summer months aided in the work of plowing, planting, and harvesting. He then pursued an academic course at Richmond College at Richmond, Ohio. He also studied medicine with his brother, Dr. T. R. Plummer, at Trivoli, Illinois, and later under two pre- ceptors in Ohio. Two of his brothers died while surgeons in the army during the Civil war. Owing to poor health, he was obliged to discontinue his studies and adopted farming as a temporary vocation to give him the benefit of outdoor life, that he might recuperate his health for the furtherance of his future pro- fessional work. In the fall of 1895, he entered the college of Physicians and Surgeons at St. Louis, accompanied by his son, both taking up the study of medi- cine and graduating together with the class of 1898.
On the 6th of February. 1873, occurred the marriage of Dr. Jonathan L. Plummer and Miss Alice R. Worthington, a native of Pennsylvania, who, how- ever, was a resident of Peoria when they were married. They have but one
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child, Dr. Amzi S. Phuimmer, who was born December 20, 1873, in this city. He attended school here and also pursued a course in Hedding college at Abingdon, Illinois, and in Brown's Business College at I'coria. Ile then spent three years as pharmacist for Charles Fisher & Company, prominent druggists of this city. He subsequently accompanied his father to St. Louis, where they entered the college of Physicians and Surgeons, father and son pursuing the full three years' course together, after which they were graduated in 1898, this being the only case on record, so far as is known, where father and son completed a tull course together. They then opened an office in Peoria, where they have since en- gaged in practice. Dr. Jonathan L. Plummer had previously had some exper- ience as a general practitioner in Kansas. Their work in this city has been crowned with a substantial measure of success, they being now accorded a liberal practice which brings to them good returns.
Dr. Amzi S. Plummer was married in September, 1911, to Miss Bessie I. Pitney of Peoria, a daughter of I. R. and Mary Hopkins ( Hall) Pitney, the former a conductor on the Rock Island & Peoria Railroad. Both father and son are members of the Masonic fraternity, and Dr. Amzi S. Plummer also belongs to the Peoria City and the Illinois State Medical Societies. They are also mem- bers of the First Presbyterian church and their lives are guided by high and honorable principles. They are in hearty sympathy in their purposes, plans and ambitions and since coming to Peoria they have made continuous progress along professional lines.
MILO T. EASTON, M. D.
Dr. Milo T. Easton, physician and surgeon, who is also city bacteriologist, came to the starting point of his career well equipped by thorough training, and in the intervening years has been a close and discriminating student, quickly adopting those methods and measures which his judgment sanctions as of value in the work. He is proud of his native city, and on the other hand, Peoria is glad to number him among her native sons. He was born September 29, 1884. of the marriage of O. M. and Della (Tripp) Easton, both of whom were rep- resentatives of old American families that were early established in Peoria. Here Milo T. Easton was reared, his boyhood and youth being uneventfully passed, his time being largely given to the acquirement of his education in the local schools until he was graduated from the Peoria high school in the class of 1901. He worked in a drug store in the city for about a year and then entered the Northwestern Medical College when but little more than seventeen years of age. He was the youngest member of his class but this did not prevent his thorough and systematic work leading him to his graduation in 1906. He was afterward house physician at the Cook County Hospital in Chicago for a year and a half and during that time also engaged in teaching, giving instruction con- cerning the diseases of the chest at the College of Physicians and Surgeons. His active practice in the hospital and his work as an educator were both acceptable and further qualified him for the professional duties which have devolved upon him since he entered upon active practice in Peoria. While he continues in gen- eral practice, he has also done considerable microscopie work and his skill in this particular is noted by the profession, as well as by the general public.
On the 18th of May, 1910, Dr. Easton was united in marriage to Miss Helen Blackburn, a daughter of George M. Blackburn, and unto them has been born one child. Mary Elizabeth. Dr. Easton holds membership with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. Politically he is a republican and from Mayor Wood- ruff in 1909 he received the appointment of city bacteriologist. He also be- longs to the Phi Beta Phi, a medical fraternity, and he is a member of the Peoria
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City Medical Society and of the Illinois State Medical Society. His reading embraces the most advanced writings concerning the profession, especially in the line of his specialty, and quick to adopt new and improved methods, his work is at all times thoroughly modern and scientific.
J. REX SHOLL, M. D.
Dr. J. Rex Sholl, commissioner of health of Peoria, has engaged in the prac- tice of medicine here since 1903, and is now serving for the second term in the office, his appointment coming to him from Mayor Woodruff. He was born in Pekin, Tazewell county, Illinois, September 7, 1880, and is therefore one of the younger representatives of the profession in this city. His parents are J. M. and Rosie (Cluser) Sholl, who removed to Peoria when their son Rex was but three years of age, so that he was reared in this city and is indebted to its public- school system for the early educational privileges which he enjoyed. Gradually he worked his way upward, passing through consecutive grades until his gradua- tion from the high school in 1897. Thinking then to make the practice of den- tistry his life work, he began studying with that end in view in Chicago College of Dental Surgery, from which he was graduated in 1901, receiving the degree of D. D. S. Two weeks later he was made a member of the faculty, being appointed professor in physiology. During the two years which he occupied that position he also studied medicine and thus won his M. D. degree. He is a graduate of the Chicago Homeopathic Medical College of the class of 1903 and of Hahnemann Medical College of the class of 1904. In April of the latter year he opened an office in Peoria. He has pursued a special course in electricity and X-ray work in the Illinois School of Electro-Therapeutics, of Chicago, and is now making a specialty of practice of that character and also of internal medicine. His offices are in the Hamlin building and in the city hall. He main- tains the second office by virtue of his position of commissioner of health, which he has occupied since 1909, being kept the incumbent in the office in the second term, receiving his appointment from Mayor Woodruff. His work in this con- nection is most satisfactory and creditable and he is one of those who is making his present administration in all of its departments an honor to the city. He holds to high standards in his professional work and is most conscientious and capable in the discharge of his duties. He belongs to the Peoria City Medical Society, the Peoria County Medical Society, the Illinois State Medical Society, the American Medical Association and is also a member of the American Public Health Association. Fraternally he is connected with the Benevolent Protec- tive Order of Elks and socially with the Country Club, the Creve Coeur Club and the Peoria Social Athletic Club. His advancement for one of his years is most creditable, showing that his preparation was thorough and that since en- tering upon practice, his diagnosis of cases has been most carefully made, so that success has followed his administration of remedial agencies.
WILLIAM T. WHITING.
William T. Whiting, attorney at law, and also prominently known as a worker in local political circles, was born upon a farm in Kickapoo township, Peoria county, May 4, 1850, his parents being William and Jane (Cummings) Whiting. The father came to this county in 1839 from Kent, England, and settled upon a farm, casting his lot with the pioneer residents of this part of the state, for the
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work of development and improvement had scarcely been begun here. He aided in the arduous task of developing new land, converting wild prairie into productive fields and for many years was numbered among the representative agriculturists of the community. It was in this county that he was married, his wife having come to Illinois in 1834 from Ohio. The father of William T. Whiting remained a resident of Peoria county until his demise, passing away in 1896, and the mother is still living on the old homestead farm, at the advanced age of eighty-seven years.
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