USA > Illinois > Peoria County > Peoria > Peoria city and county, Illinois; a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Vol. II > Part 43
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97
In 1861, Mr. Woodward was united in marriage to Miss Charlotte S. Mayo, a native of England and a daughter of the Rev. Joseph Mayo, who be- came one of the early ministers of Peoria county and took a helpful part in all the work that transformed a pioneer region into a prosperous section of the state. The death of Mr. Woodward occurred in 1894 while Mrs. Woodward survives her husband and makes her home in this city. For about half a cen- tury he had resided in Peoria county and had seen a little frontier town develop into a metropolitan center. With its growth he was quick to anticipate its needs and thus it was he who organized the first street railway company of
HENRY R. WOODWARD
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDA Y ONT.
385
HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
Peoria. While in association with Mr. Allaire he installed the first telephone system here. His name is indelibly inscribed upon the pages of Peoria's indus- trial, commercial and financial history. Ilis keen sagacity enabled him to see opportunities which others passed heedlessly by and his laudable ambition prompted him to use these to the best advantage. For a long period his name was recognized as a synonym for business integrity and enterprise in this part of the state and throughout his entire career he remained the same courteous, kindly gentleman whose ways were those of refinement and whose word no man could question. His religious belief found expression in his affiliation with St. Paul's Episcopal church of which he was vestryman for many years and at the time of his death, junior warden.
His son, Henry J. Woodward, has become his successor in different lines of business, principally as president of the firm of Allaire, Woodward & Com- pany while he is also one of the directors of the Central National Bank. With the former concern he has been identified since 1887 and his efforts have been a most important element in its continued growth and prosperity. He was born in Peoria about 1864 and during his youthful days was a pupil in the public schools, supplementing the grade work by a course in the high school from which he was graduated with the class of 1884. He then entered Prince- ton University in which he continued for three years, returning home to be- come connected with the business in which he is now engaged. He started out in a humble capacity in order to acquaint himself with every branch of the trade and, working his way upward through intermediate positions, was at length called to the presidency of the company in 1904, after having served for several years as its vice president. He was also the treasurer of the street railway company until they sold out to the Mckinley interests. Like his father he is a man of determined purpose and no difficulties nor obstacles have been allowed to bar his path if they could be overcome by earnest effort and honest dealing. He is a man of quick discernment, with the faculty for the separa- tion of the important features in any subject from its incidental or accidental circumstances.
In 1894 occurred the marriage of Henry J. Woodward and Miss Elizabeth Grier, a daughter of Robert C. Grier, for many years secretary of the Peoria Board of Trade and prominent as a grain merchant of Peoria for an extended period. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Woodward have been born four children, Henry Robert, King Grier, Susanna and Caroline. Mr. Woodward belongs to the Creve Coeur Club and to the Country Club, while his religious belief is evi- denced in his membership in St. Paul's Episcopal church.
WILLIAM FIELDER.
William Fielder holds a record in Peoria for length of service as justice of the peace, having held that office in this city for sixteen consecutive years, and then with a break of one term, for twelve years more. He is well known in this capacity, and his many friends delight in giving him the title of "chief justice," in recognition of his long term of able service.
William Fielder is a native of Peoria county, having been born in Lancaster, Illinois, May 6, 1848. He is a son of David and Mary Fielder who came to Illinois from Pennsylvania, and settled in Lancaster, Peoria county, where their son William was born. Mr. Fielder's mother died when he was four years old and his father when he was nine. He was educated in the country schools around Lancaster, and finally in the grammar schools of Peoria, but was compelled to lay aside his books before he had completed the eighth grade. Even during his school course, he worked as a farm hand in the summer, spending the winter
386
HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
months in study, and in the fall of 1867 he entered the circuit clerk's office in Peoria, as recorder, where he remained until 1876. In the spring of the follow- ing year, 1877, he was elected justice of the peace, and began his long term of service in this capacity. He was in office continuously from the spring of 1877 until the spring of 1893. He was out of office for one term of four years from 1893 to 1897, when he was again elected, serving until the spring of 1909. During his twenty-eight years of service, Mr. Fielder gained for himself an enviable reputation in his field of work. His honorable and upright character, his sense of duty, and his broad intelligence, made him an ideal man for the position, and how ably he served the people, is evidenced by their continued choice of him for the office. Mr. Fielder is a consistent democrat, with a firm belief in the prin- ciples of that political party. He has been a notary public since 1868. Mr. Fielder is active in many fraternal organizations. He has belonged to the Modern Wood- men of America since December 1889 and for two years held the office of treas- urer in the Knights and Ladies of Honor. He is active in the Independent Order of Redmen, to which organization he has belonged for twenty years, and has represented the Peoria branch of it in state meetings some ten or twelve times, and was state district deputy for one year. He is a prominent member of the Royal Neighbors of America and of the Order of Druids.
On April 1, 1880 William Fielder was married in Peoria to Miss Winifred Malee and they have one daughter, Mae, living at home. Mrs. Fielder's father was Edward Malee, a laborer residing in Peoria. Mr. Fielder's long term of service as justice of the peace, and the record of efficiency which he made while in office, have made him a prominent figure in the city and county of Peoria.
NICHOLAS R. DAY.
In 1875, a little Irish lad fourteen years old, came to the old C. B. & Q. depot in Peoria, and applied to Mr. Lucas Merkle, then in charge of the station restau- rant, for a position. He was put to washing dishes, and doing other odd chores around the station. Today, that little boy, grown up, Nicholas R. Day is owner of the restaurants in both the large railroad stations it this city, the Union and Rock Island depots. It is an undoubted fact that the success of a man is not measured so much by the position he has gained in life, as by the position from which he has risen. But Nicholas Day has gained success of both sorts. He has attained a high place in the city of his birth, and he has risen from a very low one. The qualities which made him a good dishwasher in the little old C. B. & Q. station, when he was fourteen years of age, have made him a successful hotel and restaurant owner today. Promptness in execution, thoroughness in every un- dertaking, cleanliness, willingness to work, are qualities which are inevitably domi- nant influences in the life of the man who possesses them. Nicholas R. Day's success was based upon their presence in his character. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, June 1, 1861. He was of direct Irish descent, his father, Patrick Day, having come from Ireland with his father to America when but fourteen years of age. His mother, Ann Neyton was two years old when she was brought from Ireland. The family moved from Missouri to Illinois, when Nicholas Day was very young, and settled near Farmdale, and in the country schools around this village, their son acquired his education. He left school at the age of fourteen, and washed dishes in the railroad restaurant for a number of years. When the Rock Island station was built, Nicholas Day entered the restaurant there where he served in various capacities until 1888. All during his business career, he had carefully saved his earnings, until in that year, the little dishwasher was able to buy the restaurant privileges in the Rock Island depot, where he carried on a very successful business for a number of years,
387
HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
and where he is still owner. He is also owner and manager of the lunch counter and restaurant in the Union station of this city, and his energy, ability and knowl- edge of his business, have taken the departments of which he has control, out of the class of ordinary station restaurants. Mr. Day is prominent in business circles of the city in other directions. He is vice president and a director of the Peoria Artificial Ice Company, and is active and prominent in the Peoria Associa- tion of Commerce. He votes a consistently republican ticket on national issues, but keeps himself independent of party lines and political partisanship in local affairs. He is prominent in the Knights of Pythias, the Elks and the Modern Woodmen of America, and is a member of the Creve Coeur Club.
Nicholas R. Day was married in Peoria in 1885, to Miss Amelia Schleicher, daughter of George Schleicher of this city, and they have two children: Eva, the wife of Fred Seifert, Jr., of Peoria ; and Arthur L. who is associated with his father in business. Mr. Day is essentially a self-made man, who by his indefati- gable energy, unswerving determination, and rare ability has carved out an hon- orable career for himself, in a city where he began at the bottom rung of the ladder.
GERDES, SPRAGUE & COMPANY.
During the last quarter of a century, the insurance business of Peoria has grown to such enormous proportions that the same amount of business which half a dozen companies performed twenty-five years ago, now commands the attention of over fifty firms, the members of which are among the most influen- tial, energetic, public-spirited and wealthy citizens. Many of them are men who have worked their way from the humblest positions in their professions, and by a praiseworthy perseverance, indomitable courage and unflagging industry have carved their names upon the roll of honor in the commercial world of the city. Many are young men who have started out with an honorable business ancestry behind them, and a bright future of honorable industry ahead. The coming greatness of Peoria, the rise of her commercial enterprises, the upbuild- ing of her public institutions, are all in the hands of the young business men of today. They hold in their offices, the coming glory of their city. Inasmuch as their policies are honorable, their methods efficient, and their honesty unques- tioned, the future of the business of their city will be unquestioned, efficient and honorable too. It would be superfluous to ask if these men deserve well of their fellowmen. The history of Peoria would be imperfect without honor- able mention in this class of the insurance firm of Gerdes, Sprague & Company, which while still in its early youth, is one of the most popular and widely known.
The firm was organized in 1905 by Charles K. Gerdes, son of the late Alt. Gerdes, a prominent man in Peoria during his life and treasurer of the city at the time of his death. Mr. Gerdes secured the agency of one company, the Standard Accident of Detroit, Michigan, and upon this slim foundation, started out to make his name in the business world. His career since that time pre- sents a fine example of honesty, energy and perseverance, struggling with all the obstacles which present themselves in a young business, and rising at the present day to complete triumph. The small agency has now grown till it is the largest for the Standard in the state, the personal accident premiums approximating ten thousand per year. This remarkable growth did not come by chance. Mr. Gerdes devoted his time and attention and his best energies to the expanding and develop- ing of his business, and from 1905 to 1908 its success was the result solely of his business capacity and individual effort.
In 1908 Mr. Gerdes entered into partnership with Loyal T. Sprague, Jr., the son of Dr. Loyal T. Sprague of Peoria, and the partnership was a remark- ably happy inspiration. Mr. Sprague was well prepared by heredity and educa-
388
HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
tion to take his place in the business circles of his native city. His preparatory education was received at Lawrence Academy at Groton, Massachusetts and supplemented by a course at Dartmouth College. After leaving Dartmouth, Mr. Sprague entered the circulation department of the Peoria Journal, but left it in a short time to join Mr. Gerdes in his rapidly growing insurance business. The business was entirely reorganized at this time, and fire insurance and other lines were added, the capitalization increased, and the business generally widened.
The office of the firm was at this time in the Old Library building at the corner of Jefferson and Main streets. This building was destroyed by fire in June, 1910, and the danger with which many valuable papers of the firm were threatened at this time, made the necessity of a fire-proof vault apparent. The office of the firm was moved to their present location at 123 North Jefferson street, and a policy of duplicating all records and keeping one set at all times in the large fire-proof vault away from danger, was inaugurated.
The success of the firm of Gerdes, Sprague & Company, since that time has been singularly rapid. The members of the company are among the young business men of the city whose lives and personal exertions have done much toward the material and commercial prosperity of Peoria. Both Mr. Sprague and Mr. Gerdes are remarkable for their steadiness of purpose and strict atten- tion to business. Their activities have grown from quite an unpretentious be- ginning until today they have the agency for ten fire insurance companies, two surety companies, two life insurance companies, three accident and liability companies, and fourteen other companies, writing various lines of insurance, such as automobile, marine, burglary, baggage and motor boat insurance.
Their success is an example of what Young America can do, if given a chance at success. Both the members of the firm are still young men, full of the fire of youth, of wonderful energy and tireless diligence, well versed in their business, gifted with preeminently engaging social qualities. The men who have made Peoria great in the past, like the men who are making it greater in the present and the men who will in the future make it far greater still, are men who have never been satisfied with a little achievement. They have kept trying to do a little better. The young men of Peoria today are building for the future, and it is to such young, active and honest business men as the members of the firm of Gerdes, Sprague & Company, that the city must look to make that future hon- orable.
R. B. KIRKPATRICK, M. D.
More than fifteen years have come and gone since Dr. R. B. Kirkpatrick opened an office in Peoria, where he is now engaged in general practice and where his advancement has been continuous and gratifying. He had previously followed his profession in La Harpe, Hancock county, Illinois, for about fifteen years. He was born at Wheeling, West Virginia, April 28, 1855, and is a son of Dr. George Kirkpatrick. The father removed to La Harpe when his son was a little child and there practiced for over fifty years. In that village Dr. R. B. Kirkpatrick spent his youthful days, attending the public and high schools until graduated from the latter. He worked in a drug store for a time but became. imbued with a desire to follow in the professional footsteps of his father. Whether it was an inherited tendency, early environment or natural predilection that led to his choice of a profession, it is impossible to determine, but at all events he resolved to become a physician and his success indicates that he has chosen wisely and well. He began study in Bennett Eclectic College at Chicago and on the completion of the full course was graduated with the class of 1887. He then returned to La Harpe, where he joined his father in practice, the business association between
-
DR. R. B. KIRKPATRICK
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR LENOX AND TILDEN FOUND: IT
391
HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
them continuing until the son removed to Peoria in 1896. Here he continues in general practice and his worth is demonstrated in the large patronage accorded him. In 1880 was celebrated the marriage of Dr. Kirkpatrick and Miss Anna Harris, a daughter of Edwin Harris, of Carthage, Illinois. Their marriage has been blessed with two children : Madge, a teacher of domestic science in the high school of Peoria, who is a graduate of that school, also of the Lake Forest College and of Bradley Polytechnic Institute; and Lisle, who is a teacher in the kindergarten. She, too, was graduated from the Peoria high school and the Bradley Polytechnic Institute.
Dr. Kirkpatrick is a Mason, who has taken the degrees of the blue lodge, chap- ter and commandery, being now a Knight Templar. He belongs to the Illinois State Eclectic Medical Association and the National Eclectic Medical Association and is easily the foremost eclectic physician of this city. He keeps thoroughly in- formed concerning modern methods of practice and his work is followed by good results, showing that his labors are based upon broad, scientific principles.
SAMUEL R. STOWELL.
For many years one of the most prominent names in Peoria county and one which has been actively identified with its agricultural life for more than half a century, is that of the Stowell family, whose present representative, Sam- uel R. Stowell, is now living retired at 161 North University avenue. The first of the name to settle in Illinois was Ebenezer Stowell, the father of the subject of this sketch. The family was originally from Vermont, whence a representative went at an early date to New York, where Ebenezer was born October 19, 1807. His father was Abisha and his grandfather Israel Stowell. Ebenezer learned the trade of carpenter and millwright in his native state and in 1836, in com- pany with Roswell and Isaiah Nurse, made the journey from New York to Illi- nois on foot. Arriving here, he took up some land in Peoria county, and walked to Quincy to complete the details of the transaction at the United States land office there.
Ebenezer Stowell was twice married. His first wife was Paulina Bridge- man, whom he wedded February 23, 1833, and she died in May of the following year, leaving him one son, Orson, who died on February 23, 1904. In October 1835, Ebenezer Stowell married his first wife's sister, Laura Bridgeman, by whom he had the following children: Calvin, born October 5, 1836, formerly a farmer of Hallock township but now of Savannah, Georgia, where he makes his home ; Henry, who was born March 14, 1841, and died March 16, 1853; Charles E., whose birth occurred on September 23, 1843, and who died January 19, 1845: Mary C., who was born on April 4, 1845, and is now a resident of Marshall county ; Charles E., the second of that name, who was born on March 6, 1848, and is now a farmer of Marshall county ; Samuel R., who was born February 23, 1850, and is the subject of this sketch ; Anna Paulina, born May 14, 1851, who is a resident of Blue Ridge; and Ebenezer, Jr., who was born March 11, 1855, and died July 28, 1892, at the age of thirty-seven years. Ebenezer Stowell, the father, died on May 7, 1880, and his wife survived him until April 19, 1889.
Samuel R. Stowell spent all his active life as a farmer in this county. He was keenly interested in the science of agriculture and in the new methods of farming which were constantly coming into use. At the time of his retirement, he was known as a practical, keen and intelligent farmer, whose intelligent methods and knowledge of the details of the life enabled him to acquire a com- petency upon which he could retire for the remainder of his days. He is a re- publican in his political affiliations, and he and his family are faithful members
392
HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
of the Congregational church of Lawn Ridge, Peoria county, of which his father and mother were among the original founders in 1845.
On November 4, 1886, Samuel R. Stowell married Miss Clara Hollister of Hamlet, Mercer county, Illinois, and they became the parents of three children : Ruth, born January 19, 1888, who on October 4, 1911, married R. M. Turnbull of La Prairie, Marshall county, where she now resides; Armina, born April 23, 1890, now a student at Bradley Polytechnic Institute ; and Esther, born November 4, 1898, who is now attending the Franklin school of this city. The parents and grandparents of Mrs. Howell came in 1847 from New York state to Illinois and settled at Blue Ridge this state.
The members of the Stowell family are justly proud of their long residence in Illinois. Calvin Stowell, eldest of the brothers, writing of his father, Ebenezer, who was one of the earliest pillars of the county, says: "So far as I can remem- ber, there is no one who could testify in regard to the facts connected with our final move to Illinois in 1843 aside from the writer. The incidents connected with his first trip to Illinois on his exploring expedition in 1836 we can only give from memory as we have heard them talked over again and again at the fireside in our childhood days and often repeated in our maturer years. So under existing conditions we should feel ourselves unworthy of the father who begot as or the mother who bore us if we should refuse to give any facts in regard to those pio- neer years of hardships and heroic endeavor and endurance that would add any- thing to the history of the early settlers of Illinois whose lives are now numbered upon the records of the heroic deeds of the past.
"In the spring of 1836 when my father, Ebenezer Stowell, was twenty-nine years of age, he with his first cousin, Roswell Nurse, and the latter's son, Isaiah Nurse, a young man just at his majority, packed their grips with such things only as were absolutely necessary for health and comfort on the road, and with one rifle as their only weapon, which they carried turn about, started from Bain- bridge, Chenango county, New York, for the much talked of land of promise, the young state of Illinois. Their plan was to make the trip on foot and to make any side explorations in going as might be deemed best. Just the route they took we are unable to state, further than this that they explored quite thoroughly much of the country along the Wabash river in Indiana and then struck across to Peoria, Illinois, which was then little more than a village. From there, they went up the river to Chillicothe, a town of a few houses along the river bank. Here they met Jacob Booth whom they had known in New York state and who had preceded them by a length of time unknown to us. We have also heard them speak of meeting J. H. McKeen, now a resident of Wyoming, Illinois, well past his forescore and ten years. But they had little time for visiting, time was precious, and they were there on business. Leaving Chillicothe, they went to Northampton where Reuben Hamlin had a tavern. Here they established head- quarters while exploring the county. They finally located timber land which has since been called Blue Ridge, and prairie land along the south line of Marshall county where Lawn Ridge now stands. They then took up their line of march for Quincy, Illinois, a distance of one hundred and sixty miles, the site of the nearest land office. Having made their entries and secured their patents, they returned to Hamlins, which they made their stopping place while they built a small but comfortable log house on the exact spot where Isaiah Nurse subse- quently built a good, substantial home now owned by H. H. Nurse and occupied by his son. Game was plentiful in those days and in their walking back and forth to Hamlins they often picked up a turkey with their rifle, thus adding to their naturally limited bill of fare.
"It was now getting along well in the fall. It was arranged that Isaiah Nurse should remain and keep house while Roswell Nurse and my father should return to the east for their families. So the two men started on their march for Chicago with a view of shortening their trip to New York by taking a schooner to Buffalo,
-
393
HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
New York. It was late in the fall and they often had to lie in the lee of some island before they could proceed. Three weeks were consumed in the trip from Chicago to Buffalo. Here they took up their line of march for their old home about the center of the state on the south line, their trip finished and the task they set out to do, accomplished. It was upon his return from Illinois that we first met our father, our arrival having anticipated him by a few weeks." Here closed the first chapter of the record.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.