USA > Illinois > Peoria County > Peoria > Peoria city and county, Illinois; a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Vol. II > Part 95
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
JOHN J. HARMAN.
John J. Harman, a prominent representative of and partner in the Harman Engineering Company of Peoria, was born November 23, 1880, in Iroquois county, Illinois, a brother of Jacob A. Harman, whose biographical record ap- pears on another page in this volume. He attended the district schools in Iroquois county, Illinois, and afterward the Sheldon high school for three years. He then spent two years in Eureka (III. ) College before entering the University of Illinois at Champaign. He pursued a four years' course there in mechanical engineering and was graduated in 1902 with the Bachelor of Science degree and in 1904 with the Mechanical Engineering degree. In 1902 he entered the draft- ing room of the Link Belt Company and later was made chief draftsman with the Acme Harvester Company of Peoria, with which concern he remained through 1903. He had shop experience with the United States geographical survey in the fuel tests at St. Louis in 1904 and did other engineering work. He also became connected with the University of Illinois in teaching machine design to which he gave his attention from 1903 until 1905. He was engaged on the designing and erection of the new steam laboratory in the latter year and in teaching in the
878
HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
steam laboratory in 1905-06. In the summer of 1906 he worked for the Har- man Engineering Company of Peoria. In the fall and winter of 1906-07 he taught Senior Machine Design at the University of Illinois, and later in 1907 was assistant to the chief engineer in the National Tube Company, at Kewanee, Illinois. In 1908 he pursued his profession of mechanical engineer, doing special work for the National Tube Company at Pittsburg, and since 1909 has been mechanical engineer of the Harman Engineering Company, his specialty being power plant design and the supervision of construction and tests.
On the Ist of June, 1910, John J. Harman was married to Miss Flora J. Wiley, of Peoria, a daughter of F. P. Wiley, a manufacturer of stamps and print- ing supplies in Peoria. Mr. Harman is connected with various leading societies, professional and otherwise. He is a member of the Peoria Association of Commerce, the East Peoria Commercial Club, the Hamilton Club of Chicago, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Western Society of Engineers and the Illinois Society of Engineers and Surveyors. He is likewise a member of the Central Christian church. His life has been an extremely successful one, bringing him into notable prominence along professional lines for one of his years.
WILLIAM PLOENSE.
William Ploense is the secretary of the Peoria Bedding Company, with offices at No. 1500 North Adams street since 1910. In March of that year he came to Peoria and in the intervening period he has contributed much to the success of the enterprise with which he is now connected. He was born in Bloomington, Illi- nois, July 15, 1887, and is a son of Ernest and Bertha Ploense, old residents of Bloomington, where they still make their home. The son acquired his education in his native city but left school at the age of fourteen years and has since been dependent upon his own resources, working his way steadily upward through persistent and determined effort. He first started out as an employe in a brick yard where he remained for about two seasons, but later became an apprentice with the Dodge-Dickinson Company and gradually working his way upward until he left that firm to come to Peoria. Here he purchased an interest in the corporation of which he was elected secretary and has since had active voice in the management of a business which is growing in volume and importance, for its output finds favor with the public and the trade therefore increases year by year. Mr. Ploense has already attained an enviable position for one of his years and the record that he has thus far made argues well for success in the future. His political allegiance is given to the republican party but he does not seek nor desire office, preferring to concentrate his entire time and attention upon his busi- ness affairs.
ALONZO WOOKEY.
Among the men who by well directed effort have gained a position in the front ranks of the business men of Peoria, who have attained wealth and con- tributed to the material advancement of the city'along purely business walks of life, is numbered Alonzo Wookey. He was born in Peoria and is a pioneer in the music supply business of the city. His name has become a synonym for all that stands for progress and improvement along that line and his own efforts have made the foundation of his success. He has earned the position which he occupies through individuaul effort and tireless enterprise and the people of
879
HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
Peoria have genuine admiration for him by reason of what he has accomplished. HIe needs no praise from us for the simple record of his career tells its own story.
Mr. Wookey was born in Peoria, a son of Stephen and Hannah (Jones ) Wookey. The father, a native of Somersetshire, England, was brought to this country by his parents at an early age and in 1836 the family erected the house at what is now No. 420 West McClure avenue, in which Alonzo Wookey was later born. The Wookeys were among the first in the city to engage in the busi- ness of brick-making and Stephen Wookey learned the trade and followed it for several years after his marriage.
Alonzo Wookey was six years of age when his parents removed to a large farm in Truro township, Knox county, Illinois, after which he attended the dis- trict schools and worked in the fields until seventeen years of age. He then returned to Peoria and began learning the trade of whitesmith, which he fol- lowed for several years, when his attention was directed to the music business. to which he has since devoted his time and energies. Ofttimes seemingly trivial circumstances turn the tide of life and it was so with Mr. Wookey. While he was working in his shop he had a caller who chanced to be an agent for an organ company. The man complained of business, stating that he had a number of organs which he was unable to sell. Mr. Wookey offered to try to find purchasers for them among his friends, whereupon the agent turned over the unsold organs and Mr. Wookey promptly disposed of the entire lot. The agent came again and left another shipment at MIr. Wookey's disposal. His first success was repeated again and again until gradually he became interested in the work and in the busi- ness and in 1886 accepted a position in the music house of the Brown, Page & ITillman Company. For eleven years he remained with that firm and a recogni- tion of his marked business ability won him advancement and increasing responsibilities until he finally became general manager. In 1897 he left the employ of the Brown, Page & Hillman Company and started in business on his own account, opening a little music store at No. 211 South Adams street. The personnel of the establishment consisted of Mr. Wookey and his wife, who aided her husband by selling sheet music while Mr. Wookey had charge of the musical instruments department. The business grew and flourished. Every year the capacity was increased and additions made to the number of employes until in 1910 Mr. Wookey was forced to acknowledge that his quarters were too small for his growing business, at which time he removed to his present attractive loca- tion at Nos. 320-322 South Adams street. His store is now one of the largest of its kind in the state outside of Chicago and its business is growing each year. The building which he occupies is thirty-six feet wide by one hundred and seventy-five feet deep and has three stories and basement. Unique features of the establishment are the comfortable and inviting rest rooms and a large recital hall which Mr. Wookey places at the disposal of the music teachers and the musical clubs of the city for recitals and concerts. The company keep from sixty to seventy-five pianos of different makes in stock at all times, the lowest priced instruments being one hundred and eighty-five dollars. Second-hand pianos and musical instruments of all kinds are also features of the trade. Mr. Wookey was the first piano dealer in Peoria to offer to the public the piano player and these instruments now form a special department in his store, which was established in 1898 as soon as the invention was perfected. His business in this line has been growing at a phenomenal rate and besides a half dozen of the most prominent makes of piano players this department now contains a library of seven or eight thousand rolls-one of the largest in the state.
Mr. Wookey usually votes with the republican party but still holds to an independent political position. He is an active member of the First Congrega- tional church and his is a sincere and simple religious life, his belief giving color to his character and his deeds. He is a friend of the cause of education and was secretary of the board of school trustees at the time the Columbia school was built.
880
HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
Mr. Wookey insists that his success is in great part due to his wife, who in her maidenhood was Miss Harriet Zinser, of Peoria. Her work and encourage- ment greatly aided him when his business was small and her belief in his suc- cess has always been one of his sources of inspiration. Mrs. Wookey's father was for many years cashier of the People's Savings Bank of the city, which position he resigned to enter the office of Wookey & Company, now being office manager. The business is, as previously stated, the largest in the city, and has 110 equal in the state outside of Chicago. Mr. Wookey has always supported musical affairs of the city and for several years was president of the Peoria Chorus. Substantial success has come to him through his devotion to trade interests and activities and in no relation of life has his business or personal integ- rity been questioned. His house maintains a high reputation in musical circles and has been favorably mentioned in such prominent musical journals as the Presto. His utilization of reasonable prices and straightforward dealing has ever commended him to the confidence and support of the public until the name of Wookey has indeed become recognized as a synonym for all that is reliable and all that is progressive in musical circles.
JOHN F. SCHIPPER.
In the history of Peoria mercantile enterprises no name has been more con- spicuous than that of John F. Schipper, for many years the senior member of the firm of Schipper & Block, proprietors of the extensive department stores conducted under their name in Peoria and Pekin. Mr. Schipper was born at Wundel ( which was the home of the Schipper family for over two hundred years), near Wirdum, in Ostfriesland, Germany, December 22, 1838, and died in Pekin, Illinois, September 25, 1893. His father, Frederick Schipper, was a man of strong and pleasing personality, who occupied various positions of trust and honor in his day. Although in later life belonging to the landed gentry of Northern Germany, he bore an active part in the defense of his fatherland against the aggressions of the First Napoleon, being one of those who, under Blucher, took part in the overthrow of the despoiler of Europe finally con- summated on the field of Waterloo. He was also active in the engineering de- partment which constructed many of the public works of northern Europe, especially the harbor at Cherbourg, France. He died respected and honored, in the old home in Germany, in 1876, at the advanced age of eighty-five, having survived his wife for many years.
John F. Schipper was the third of a family of five sons, and spent his boy- hood in the family home in much the same manner as boys of his station and period. His educational advantages were of a superior order and, coupled with studious habits and an eager desire for knowledge, fitted him for the business career which he was ultimately destined to pursue. His preliminary training was received from private tutors and in the gymnasium at Wirdum, after which, at the age of seventeen, he took a course in a business college, when he obtained a position in a dry-goods store in Emden, and later spent two years in a similar position in Rotterdam, Holland. During the latter period, his health having become somewhat impaired he determined to visit Japan; but was in- duced by the urgent advice of his father to change his destination to America. This was in the year 1865, immediately after the close of the war for the preservation of the Union-a period when many young Germans of high culture and liberal principles were having their attention directed toward the New World, as that of their countrymen had been after the Revolution of 1848.
Coming to Pekin, Illinois, in the year just named, with the business exper- ience gained in his native country, Mr. Schipper soon found employment as
JOHN F. SCHIPPER
PUBL
A
T. . . .
٠٨ ١٢٠
1
883
HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
clerk in the dry-goods store of M. Heisel, but six months later entered into partnership with C. Bonk under the firm name of Bonk & Company, which continued until the death of Mr. Bonk. He soon after organized a partnership with Mr. Henry Block, out of which, in addition to the Pekin establishment, have since grown the great department store of Schipper & Block, and the Schipper & Block Furniture and Carpet Company, of Peoria, which, combined, transact a larger business than any other concern in the state outside of Chicago. Of these Mr. Schipper was the president, and for many years was also a mem- ber of the banking firm of Teis Smith & Company, of Pekin. Although Mr. Schipper had the advantage of being born in affluent circumstances, he took the same pains to qualify himself for a practical business career as if he had been dependent upon his own resources. With such training it is not surprising that he should have developed one of the most successful business enterprises ever achieved in the state, and that too, only by the employment of legitimate business methods.
Strongly cosmopolitan in his tastes, Mr. Schipper traveled quite extensively before coming to the country of his adoption, and during 1873, in company with his wife, visited the great exposition at Vienna, and the ancestral seat of the Schipper family, later extending his travels throughout Germany and other portions of Europe. Again, in 1892, he and his wife made an extended tour through the United States, deriving especial enjoyment from a visit to the Pacific coast and adjacent regions.
On November 3, 1869, Mr. Schipper was married to Anna Look, the only daughter of Ibe and Lena ( Steen) Look, of Pekin, Illinois. Six children were born to them-three daughters and three sons. Charlotte, the eldest, died at two years of age; Martena at the age of one year, and Leonora at seventeen. The three sons-Carl, I. John and Frederick-survive; the two older embarked in business in Pennsylvania and the younger is preparing for a future career . by study and travel. All are young men of ability and promise, who have re- ceived an ideal training from a devoted and loving mother.
Mr. Schipper was trained in the tenets of the Lutheran church in his native land, but, inspired by a broad-minded independence and free from bigotry and sectarianism, he liberally aided other denominations in their worthy enterprises, and contributed freely but unostentatiously to public and private charities. Without being a politician in the partisan sense of the term, he believed in the principles of the republican party, and more than once received its nomination for important offices; also served the city faithfully and efficiently as alderman and inspector of schools for a number of terms. His death, in the very zenith of his business career and in the midst of his greatest usefulness, was an ir- reparable loss to the cities of Peoria and Pekin, with whose interests he had been so long and so intimately identified.
P. W. SOMMER.
P. W. Sommer is the president and general manager of the Keystone Steel & Wire Company, which has its factory and offices at Bartonville. This state- ment alone is sufficient to indicate his prominence as a business man to any one at all familiar with the history of Peoria, for the company of which he is the chief executive officer controls one of the largest and most important productive industries of the state, furnishing employment to five hundred workmen in the manufacture of woven steel wire fencing. A spirit of dauntless determination combined with the power of keen insight and executive ability have brought him rapidly to the front in the development and control of this mammoth concern. He was born on a farm near Fairbury, Livingston county, Illinois, September
884
HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
10, 1869, and is a son of Henry and Mary (Prisacher) Sommer. The father was originally a farmer and the work to which he ultimately turned his atten- tion gave evidence of the old adage that "necessity is the mother of invention." He was attempting to cultivate his tract of land near Fairbury but the ground was wet and undrained and, becoming discouraged, he removed with his family to Tremont, Illinois, settling on a farm then owned by his brother. He built rod after rod of stake and rider fences in order to enclose his fields, but the task was arduous and the fences ofttimes somewhat insecure, so that his thoughts naturally turned to the subject of fence building with other materials. More- over, he possessed considerable mechanical and inventive genius and he con- sidered the subject of a stronger and less bulky material, becoming convinced that galvanized wire would serve the purpose. In the fall of 1888 he showed his son, P. W. Sommer, now president of the Keystone Company, a washer which he had bent and had inserted therein two short pieces of wire, crossing them within the washer, and afterward straightening the washer out so as to clamp the wires together. He suggested to his son that they build a fence in this way. That constituted the inception of the great business of manufacturing fencing materials now carried on at Bartonville. The business of manufacturing fencing material for other than their own use was taken up and later the washer idea was replaced by a method whereby the wires were twisted together.
In the meantime P. W. Sommer had the usual experiences of the farm boy of the western frontier. He was about ten years of age at the time of the re- moval of the family to Tremont, where his time was devoted to the work of he fields and the acquirement of an education in the district schools. At length the father's idea concerning the fencing took material form, whereupon he and his sons, P. W. and John, began the manufacture of woven wire fencing, becoming pioneers in this line of business. They experienced many difficulties in invent- ing a device for making the wire, but gradually overcame all obstacles and now build all machinery for making both the wire and the fencing. The father con- tinued an active factor in the business for a long period and still holds the rela- tion of vice president of the company, but while he spends his winter months in Peoria he does not take active management in the business, giving his time to the supervision of an extensive ranch which he owns in Colorado and upon which he spends the summer months. The active members of the firm at the present time are P. W. Sommer and his two brothers, B. L. Sommer, who is the secretary and treasurer, and W. H. Sommer, vice president and general superintendent. The firm today enjoys a national reputation in connection with the manufacture of wire fencing known as The Square Deal, and there are three features to their project which support their claim for manufacturing the most serviceable and neatest woven wire fences on the market. These are the Square Deal lock, the one-piece stay wire and the wavy strand wire. The Square Deal fence meets every demand of the modern farmer. There is a style for every need, from enclosing the wildest stock down to the tiny chick. Made by men that are practical farmers, no requirement for perfect fences has been over- looked. The company manufactures their own wire looms or fence weaving machines and also their own wire. Something of the growth of the business is indicated by the fact that on their pay roll are now found the names of five hundred employes. Experiment, joined to scientific principles, has led to per- fections resulting from the many improvements that have been made since they patented the first fence machine October 29, 1889. They began manufacturing in May of that year and put their first fence on exhibition in Peoria in the same year. Their premises were originally sixteen by twenty-four feet and to- day the plant covers about twenty acres with most splendidly equipped factories in which is continuously heard the hum of machinery.
At Tremont, Illinois, on the 5th of November, 1895. P. W. Sommer was married to Miss Elizabeth Getz, a daughter of Henry and Hannah Getz, the for-
885
HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
mer a farmer and early settler of Tremont. Mr. and Mrs. Sommer have three sons and four daughters: Mary H., who is a student in the Bradley Institute ; Henry G., Reuben E. and Marcus, who are pupils of the public school; Emma ; Ruth ; and Helen. The family reside at No. 233 Crest Lawn apartment, which was erected by Mr. Sommer and is the most thoroughly modern and best equipped building of the kind in Peoria.
Mr. Sommer votes with the republican party. That he is socially prominent is indicated by the fact that he is a member of the Creve Coeur Club. His has indeed been a busy and useful life, his duties and responsibilities continuously increasing with the growth of the business that is now one of the most substantial features in commercial and industrial activity in Peoria county.
JACOB ANTHONY HARMAN.
Jacob Anthony Harman, the founder and still the head of the Harman En- gineering Company, (contracting) Engineers, Superintendents and Managers, with offices at No. 120 Fredonia avenue, in Peoria, was born in Randolph county, Missouri, March 7, 1866, a son of Jacob M. Harman, who was a farmer by occupation. In the district schools he pursued his early education and after- ward attended the academy at Strother, Missouri. He next entered the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, from which he was graduated in 1887, completing both the scientific and civil engineering courses, at which time the degrees of B. S. and C. E. were conferred upon him. Through the succeeding winter he engaged in teaching in district schools and then took up the business of engineering in both the civil and scientific departments. In June and July, 1888, he made surveys and plans for the Beaver drainage district of Iroquois county, Illinois, and from August until December was engineer in charge of drainage work in that county. In November, 1888, he was elected county surveyor and from that date until August, 1889, served as county surveyor and drainage engineer. From August until December, 1889, he was engaged in the prelimin- ary surveys for irrigation and water supply in Garfield county, Colorado, and from January until August, 1890, he was again occupied as county surveyor and had charge of surveying the drainage districts of Iroquois county, Illinois. He then became assistant engineer of the construction of the Peoria water-works system, acting as general assistant on the distribution system and making topo- graphical surveys, at the same time having charge of the construction of the pumping stations. In 1892 he was engaged in general civil engineering, and sur- veying work, designing the water-works system for Lacon, Illinois, the estimated cost of which was twenty-seven thousand dollars, and superintended the construc- tion. He also designed and superintended the construction of the water works for Morton, Illinois, and was engineer for the Prospect Heights street railway until the work was abandoned. He designed the system of grades for Elmwood, Illi- nois, and also did general work along the line of surveying and improving prop- erty. In June, 1893, he was appointed city engineer of Peoria for a term of two years, and while the incumbent in that office designed fifty miles of sewers, con- structing twenty miles, prepared the plans and specifications for about twenty- five miles of street paving and constructed eight miles of paving. He also de- signed complete sewage and grade systems for Pekin, Illinois.
In 1895 Mr. Harman began following his profession independently and as such superintended the construction of the water works at Mount Pulaski, de- signing the water-works system for Milford, Illinois, the sewage system for Macomb, Illinois, and there constructed a main sewer. He also prepared plans and specifications and superintended the construction of a mile and a quarter of brick pavement for Averyville, Illinois, and designed and built a mile race Vol. II-40
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.