Portrait and bigraphical album of Livingston County, Ill. : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, together with portraits and biographies , Part 133

Author: Chapman Brothers (Chicago) publisher
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Chicago : Chapman brothers
Number of Pages: 1208

USA > Illinois > Livingston County > Portrait and bigraphical album of Livingston County, Ill. : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, together with portraits and biographies > Part 133

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Mr. and Mrs. Blackwell are members of the Pres- byterian Church at Chatsworth, of which he is one of the Trustees. They have been blessed with three children, two of whom are living: Ada Irene, born Sept. 7, 1870, and Grace L., July 30, 1878; they are giving these two daughters all the advan- tages possible for securing a good education, and they have been attending the High School at Chats- worth for a number of years, making excellent progress in their studies. Mary Eva, the eldest daughter, died Jan. 23, 1886, aged eighteen years. Mr. Blackwell is active in politics, and votes and works with the Republican party. He has been School Trustee for three years, and has always manifested a lively interest in educational matters. This is the only office he has ever held. lle takes an active part in selecting men as candidates for offices. but is not an office-seeker.

A lithographie view of Mr. Blackwell's handsome residence is shown on another page of this work.

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OSEPH E. MYER is the son of one of the earliest pioneers of Eppard's Point Township, and came with his parents to this locality when a youth fourteen years of age. They began in a new country, like most of the early set- ters, having little to depend upon but their strong hands and courageous hearts.

Our subject was reared to habits of industry, and has been an energetic worker all his life, while he

RES . of JAMES TREDENICK, SEC. 9. SULLIVAN TOWNSHIP.

RES. OF NELSON A. BEMIS , SEC. 2. ESMEN TOWNSHIP.

RES. OF JAMES LOVELOCK, SEC. 31, SAUNEMIN TOWNSHIP.

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has now as the reward of his labors one of the finest farms in the southern part of Livingston County. This comprises 240 acres on section 22, located about the center of the township, where he has re- sided since about 1867. Here he has carried on farming and stock-raising successfully, and now keeps about thirty head of cattle, fifteen head of horses, and from twenty-five to thirty head of swine. The farm residence is a model structure of its kind,

Joseph E. Myer is the son of Ely and Catherine (Umphenour) Myer, who came to this county in 1850, and located in Eppard's Point Township, where they spent the remainder of their days. Pre- vious to this they had been residents of Licking County, Ohio, where Joseph E. was born in Sep- tember, 1836. ITis early studies were conducted in the district school, and he distinctly remembers the journey from the Buckeye State to Illinois, which was made overland with teams, their outfit consisting of three horses and a wagon. They started about the latter part of October, and it was a trip which young Joseph did not especially en- joy, as he was shaking with ague most of the time. They settled upon a tract of uncultivated land, and erected the conventional pioneer dwelling, a log house.

Our subject remained under the home roof until about twenty-five years of age, and afterward for a time took charge of the farm of a widowed sister near Fairbury. After the outbreak of the Rebellion he enlisted in the fall of 1863 in Company G, 129th Illinois Infantry, and with his regiment proceeded to Louisville, Ky. Thence they were detailed to guard duty around Bowling Green, and afterward in Tennessee, and participated in the battles of Chattanooga, Atlanta and Resaca, Ga. Subse- quently, at Peachtree Creek, our subject received a gunshot wound in the left knee, which disabled him for about one year, which time he spent mostly at home, where his father had removed him. Being very anxious to rejoin his regiment he started out once more, before his wound was healed, and not long afterward received his discharge, Of his com- pany only nine reported after the battle of Peach- tree Creek, the others having been killed, wounded or otherwise unfitted for duty.

Mr. Myer upon returning home resumed farming

on the homestead of his father, where he remained until the spring of 1868, and then purchased the land which constitutes a part of his present farm, and which he had contracted for before his enlist- ment. He also received a county bounty in land, which was worth, when he returned home, about $20 per acre. On the 19th of August, 1869, he was united in marriage with Miss Ann St. John, who when a bride of about a year was called away, Nov. 17, 1870. Mr. M. was a second time married in 1878, and put up his present residence two years later. The present wife of our subject was formerly Miss Sarah A., daughter of Jacob and Almira (Green) Lindley, and their wedding took place at the home of the bride, in Woodford County, Ill., Elder Mer- ritt, now of Fairbury Baptist Church, officiating.

Jacob Lindley was born in Knox County, Ohio, in t830. and was the son of Mahlon Lindley, of Pennsylvania, The latter removed from his native State to Ohio in the pioneer days, and was one of the earliest settlers of Knox County. The mother was a native of Jefferson County, Ohio. Their family included eight children, of whom six are now living, three in Champaign, two in Ohio, and Jacob in Woodford County. Jacob married and came to the West in 1855, making his wedding tour in a lumber wagon. They first crossed the Missis- sippi into Council Bluffs, Iowa, which was then but a village, and not liking the outlook returned east to Bureau County, this State. Two years later they located in Nebraska Township, this county, where they resided until 1869, and then repaired to Wood- ford County, where they still remain. Of their five children Sarah A. was the eldest: Frank S. died of typhoid fever when four years old: Willie G., a young man of twenty-one years, as well as Hattie E. and LeGrande, are living at home. Mr. Lind- ley is a man of more than ordinary intelligence, and has given his children the advantages of a good education. They are all members of the Baptist Church at Ocoya.

Mr. Myer came to the West five years prior to the arrival of the Lindleys, and first took up a tract of land in Eppard's Point Township, where the young people began life in a manner suited to their income, and have since labored vith one common | purpose. In due time the household was enlarged

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by the birth of four children. Lindley W. the eldest, was born Nov. 29, 1880; Lillian A., Aug. 15. 1851 : LaRado J .. born July 25, 1883, and died July 12. 18:5; and Ethel C., born Dec. 17. 1885. Mrs. Meyer has been a member of the Baptist Church since a young girl twelve years of age. and is now connected with the society at Ocoya, where Mr. M. regularly attends with his wife. although not a member. In politics Mr. Myer affiliates with the Republican party.

Le EVI LOUDERBACK. largely engaged in farming and stock-raising on a finely culti- vated tract of land in Aimty Township, is the son of an early pioneer of Vermilion County, this State. where his birth took place Dec. 10, 1832. A sketch of hi- parents, Thomas and Sarah (Sprin- ger) Louderback, will be found in the biography of Liberty Louderback. on another page of this ALBUM.

Our subject commenced "paddling his own calle" soon after reaching bis majority, and by hard work and good management succeeded in se- enring the warranty deed to 175 acres of land, the greater part of which is now under a good state of cultivation. The field- are enclosed with neat and substantial fence-, and the farm buildings will bear fair comparison with those of the homesteads adja- cent. The location is unusually desirable, being convenient to church and school, and one of the most attractive features of the place is the only deer park in the county, which contains a number of fine animals.

Mr. Louderback very wisely refrained from as- summing the responsibility of a family until he had laid the foundations for a home and a competency. This accomplished. he was married in Livingston County, on the 1st of March. 1863, to Miss Sarah Jane Stretch. Mrs. Londerback was born on the 19th of February, 1810. in Tippecanoe County, Ind .. and is the daughter of William and Mary ( Blue) Stretch, natives of Indiana. The mother was born July 5. 1x11. and departed this life at her home in Tippecanoe County. Ind .. Dec. 9. 1817. William Stretch was born Ang. 20, 1809. and died if the sune place Feb. 6, 1856. They were married 1

in the above county, April 2, 1835, and were blessed with a family of seven children, two of whom died unnamed. The others were Thomas Harrison. now deceased : Sarah Jane: Ilarriet Elizabeth, the wife of John Randolph, of Lafayette, Ind .: William Moore, who became a Union soldier and was killed at the battle of Shiloh, and Mary Catherine, who died in infaney.

William Stretch was subsequently married to Mrs. Nancy Holleraft, June 1. 1850, in Clinton County. Ind., and of this nion there were born two children : Celestia A., wife of Harry Canfield, a railroad conductor and now a resident of Louis- ville, Ky., and Ed. who died in Washington City, Feb. 14, 1874, when nineteen years of age. He was attending school and would have graduated in another month. Their mother is now deceased.

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Londerback located in a modest dwelling on the farm where they now reside, and the household circle was com- pleted by the advent of the following children, the record of whom is thus given: Ulysses William was born March 1, 1864. and is now a promising young man twenty-four years of age. and complet- ing a literary comse of study in the college at Dixon ; he is remarkably fond of reading and study, and will doubtless choose one of the professions; at present, the winter of 1887-88, he is teaching school. Hattie Celestia, born Oct. 26, 1865, also took kindly to her books, and is now a teacher in the public schools of Livingston County. The second daughter, Ella, was born July 11, 1867, and died on the 15th of August of the following year. John Schuyler was born Feb. 10, 1869: Levi Guy, Feb. 3. 1875; Harry Thomas, May 29, 1880; and Mary Gertrude, March 19, 1885; these four are at home with their parents.

In 1863, when Mr. Louderhaek took possession of his present property, there was much to be done in order to render it comfortable and desirable as a homestead, but to this task he set himself with a will and may be justified in looking upon the re- sults of his labor with a great deal of satisfaction. He has been upright in all his dealings, and num- bers his friends by the score in the community which has known him long and well, and learned to value him for his manly worth and integrity.

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HIe has done a father's full duty by his children, who form a family group of which the parents need by no means be ashamed. Mr. and Mrs. Louder- back are both members of the Methodist Protestant Church and in good standing of the same.

ELSON N. MICKELSON, the leading gro- cer of Dwight, is of Danish ancestry, and was born in Denmark, July 29, 1850. Hle comes of long-lived ancestry, his paternal grand- parents living to be over ninety years of age. ITis father, Mikkel K. Mickelson, was a native of the same country, and was a cooper by trade, conduct- ing an extensive business. His mother was, in her girlhood, Miss Cecelia M. Frederickson, and they became the parents of six children, namely : Nelson N., Jens P., Botellie, Michal S., Andreas and Andre.

The father of our subject, soon after his marriage, started out ou a sealing expedition as cooper of the vessel, visiting Greenland and the northern seas, being thus occupied ten years. He then returned to terra firma, and spent his last years in his native Denmark. He was a hard-working, industrious man, temperate and upright, and is remembered as a good husband and father in the broadest sense of the term. His first wife died when sixty years of age, and two years later he married again, and died Jan. 9. 1870.

The subject of our sketch received his education in a common school, and learned coopering from his father in early life. Upon reaching his major- ity he resolved to seek his fortune in the New World, and accordingly embarked ou a sailing-ves- sel from Hamburg, and after a fair voyage, arrived in New York City. He at once set_his face west- ward, and coming directly to this county, located in Dwight, where he has since resided. Ilis ambi- tion to become a citizen of the United States had been stimulated by his teacher in the old country, by whom he was advised to emigrate, even if he had to borrow the money for the purpose, which ho did, securing $100 from several farmers in the locality where he had been reared, who knew him as an honest young man who would certainly repay

them. The year after his arrival here he liquidated his debt, and still preserves the leaf in his memo- randum book containing the names of the kind friends who had so materially assisted him.

Upon coming to this country Mr. Mickelson was employed as a farm laborer one year, and then en- gaged as an employe of William HI. Conrad, with whom he remained two years, one year in general work and one at his trade. The four years follow- ing he was engaged as clerk with MeWilliams & Smith, dealers in dry-goods and groceries, taking care to live within his income and save what he could of his earnings. In 1878 he established him- self in the grocery trade in a small frame building on East street, and there began the career which has proved so successful.

In due time Mr. Mickelson was obliged to in- crease his facilities, and moved to the district which was afterward visited by a disastrous fire which de- stroyed the business portion of the town of Dwight. In common with others of his townsmen, he met with great loss. but spent no time in brooding over his misfortune. A week later found him estab- lished on the West Side with the remnants of his little fortune around him and ready for business. Subsequently he rented a store in the Hetzel Build- ing, where he is now located, enjoying a good and growing trade, while he has the esteem and confi- dence of his fellow-citizens. He is essentially a self-made man, and has been chiefly remarkable for his strict attention to his own concerns.

Mr. Mickelson was married, in the spring of 1884, to one of his own countrywomen, Miss Mar- garet Pfeifer, and they have become the parents of one child, a son, Mitchell S. Mr. MI., after becom- ing a naturalized citizen, cast his lot with the Re- publican party. and with his excellent lady, is a member in good standing of the Methodist Episco- pal Church.

6 SHOMAS C. HARTSHORN, D. D., a retired clergyman and resident of Pontiac, is agent at this point of the American Bible Society, and for a period of twenty-five years was one of its most active and efficient workers. Ile is a native of Montrose, Susquehanna Co., Pa., where he was

LIVINGSTON COUNTY.

born March 1. 1>30. Ilis father was Asa Harts- horn, Esq., a native of Norwich, Conn., who in early manhood removed to Pennsylvania.

Asa Hartshorn was the youngest of the four sons of Oliver Hartshorn. of Lisbon, New London Co .. Conn., who served in the Revolutionary War. and died on his farm near Lisbon, in October, 1810. His family included four sons and four daughters, namely : Ryal. Oliver, Ira. Asa. Clarissa, Miranda, Sophronia and Elizabeth, all of whom, with one ex- ception, emigrated in the early part of the present century with their widowed mother to the town of Lebanon. Madison Co., N. Y .. where, with the ex- ception of Ira and the eklest daughter, they all spent the remainder of their lives. The latter never married, and at this date ( March, 1887), remains on the homestead and has reached the advanced age of ninety-three years.

The father of our subjeet came to New York State in 1831. during its early settlement, and located in Delta, Oneida County, where he remained until 1-15. then went to Hamilton, Madison County, and passed the remainder of his days, His death occurred Nov. 22, 1865, and he left a family who were all located around him in pleasant homes. Asa Hartshorn was essentially a self-made man, and started out in life for himself at the early age of fourteen years. He served an apprenticeship of seven years at the silversmith trade, and in tsto -et up in business for himself at Montrose, Pa. Here be formed the acquaintance of the lady who sulrequently became his wife, namely : Miss Mary, youngest daughter of Putnam Catlin, Esq .. a prom- inent jurist and legislator of Pennsylvania, who -pent his early years at Wilkesbarre and subse- quently removed to Montrose, where he reared a fine family of sons and daughters. Among these was George, who became eminent as an artist and defineator of Indian character.

Putuam ( atlin was also an officer of the Revo- lutionary army. and the personal history of the lady whom he married at the close of the war was itself a theme for romance. She was a daughter of James Sutton. of Wilkesbarre, and together with all her father's family, was in the midst of the Wyoming massacre, and they in the darkness of the night from the uplifted tomahawks of the savages. The parents

of our subject were married Christmas Eve, 1820, at the pleasant home of Judge Catlin in Montrose, Pa., where they continued to reside until 1834. They then removed to Delta, Oneida Co., N. Y., and eleven years later to Hamilton, Madison County, where they spent the balance of their lives. There was born to them besides our subject one son only, Horace P., who was born April 23, 1823.

Thomas C. Hartshorn, after being graduated from the Hamilton Academy, entered Madison Uni- Versity of Hamilton, when sixteen years of age, and from which he was graduated four years later in 1850, with the degree of A. B. Ile received three years later the degree of Master of Arts, and in 1863, from Mount Union College, that of Doctor of Di- vinity. After leaving Madison University, he en- gaged in teaching and officiated as Principal of the Young Men's and Ladies' Institute at Peru, 111. In 1853 he became connected with the American Bible Society, and three years later was placed in charge of the field made vacant by the resignation of the late Rev. Dr. A. W. Black, in Eastern Ohio, and which was under his supervision for a period of ten years. In the meantime the State of Virginia was annexed to this territory, and Rev. Dr. Harts- horn had charge of the entire work of reconstruc- tion, under the most discouraging circumstances. It was accomplished, however, in the face of preju- dice and difficulty, with entire success, greatly to the credit of the Doctor.

Our subject, in 1866, returned to Illinois and lo- cated in Pontiac, where, for a period of eight years, in addition to other labors, he was Superintendent of the Chicago Bible Society and its auxiliaries throughout Cook County. He continued his ar- duou- labors until 1879, and was then smitten down with spinal disease, the result of constant fatigue. This affliction compelled him to abandon his life work, and since that period he has been endeavoring to comfort himself with his books and the friend- ship of the people who have known him long and well.

It is scarcely possible to arrive at any accurate statement in figures of the work accomplished by Dr. Hartshorn during a quarter of a century, but it is safe to state that he has raised, directly and in- directly, probably more than $250,000 for the dis-

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semination of the sacred Scriptures in not fewer than 200 languages and dialects, while at the same time directing the disbursement of the Word of God to 20.000 destitute families. In the matter of pul- pit discourses Dr. Hartshorn's style was eminently effective from one special feature-his almost uni- form hold upon the sympathies of his . hearers. Whatever the theme he handled, scarcely ever did he fail to carry them with him from the start, owing largely to his happy faculty of illustration, and still more, perhaps, to the cleanly eut and incisive style with which his thought was clothed, always ornate, sometimes almost to profusion. not to say redun- daney. Ile rarely, if ever, so imbedded his thoughts in words as to sacrifice clearness or force, or to ren- der him chargeable with logomachy. In conclud- ing the subject we cannot dismiss it more appro- priately than by an illustration from the Chicago Times of Nov. 30, 1869, in a discourse published in that issue, and delivered by Dr. Hartshorn the day before in that city. Ilis theme was the "Per- sonality of a Divine Revelation." We give this extraet simply to illustrate the style of the speaker's usual address.

The Times says: "The theme of Dr. Hartshorn's discourse yesterday morning was .The Personality of the Revealed Word,' founded on the 103d verse of the 119th Psalm. . The central truth of Divine revelation,' the Doctor observed, 'is the revelation of a personal mediator. From the oldest annals of human feeling the perplexing and oft repeated question has been, "How shall a man be just with God?" The sacrifices in every age and upon every altar are a perpetual memorial of the earnestness and fruitlessness with which a solution to this question has ever been sought. But from the smoke of their incense no voice has ever yet spoken to give repose. That mankind will have a religion of some sort, is attested by the universal experience of the race, and the religion of the Cross never shines forth with greater effulgence than when brought into comparison with the various systems which men have devised to take its place in the great yearning heart of humanity. They testify by the very contrast to their utter incapacity to satisfy the universal longings of human souls after immor- tality. And the great central truth of Divine rev-

elation is that it is a revelation to the individual mind of man ; it is a personal revelation. When I go to God in llis Word, it is that i may hear that Divine voice addressing my soul; it is to me that He speaks, and not to man. Ile had reference to me when He made that revelation; He knew all my needs and my necessities, and lle has adapted Ilim- self to them and -atisfied them all. Christ, my Di- vine Savior, has, so to speak, embodied flimself in this written Word that He may minister to all my personal wants and necessities, and that He may cheer, and comfort, and encourage me through all my pilgrimage here upon earth, and I am made to feel that all the provisions of His Gospel are sacredly and personally my own through His rich and abound- ing grace.

".Reasoning a posteriori, it would certainly be a matter of the strongest presumption that God would make a personal revelation to man, if any at all. from the fact of the clearly revealed doctrine of per- sonal accountability. The language of Scripture is most explicit : "Everyone must give account of him- self to God," and this doctrine of personal account- ability seems to underlie the whole system of the Divine government. I cannot conceive for a mo- ment, how a system of moral government conld he maintained or administered upon any other terms than of personal accountability between the subject and the sovereign. The Scriptures are everywhere expressive in the strongest language, of the responsi- bility of personal character before Him. and this doctrine of personal accountability implies and pre- supposes the correlative one of personal provision and personal adaptation. The Bible therefore ad- dresses itself to the individual consciences of men, and it "speaks as one having authority, and not as the scribes." Nothing em ever supply its place ; no creeds or ethics can ever become a substitute for it: no tradition, though it were to come from heaven and emanate from the very throne itself, could ever supply its place ; it stands pre- eminently alone as containing the only revealed will of God to His creatures, and unfolding the processes of His moral government over them. The Bible brings to our race the only adequate revelation of the char- acter and will of God. The Doctor observed that it had been stoutly and persistently maintained that

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Nature had made an antecedent revelation in the Volume of her works, and at this very day, through lip- professeally friendly to the instructions of this -acred book, there are infused into the popular mind, to a most alarming extent. sentiments which, though specious in form, are most insiduons, most fatal in their ultimate tendencies, and are calenlated to undermine the whole groundwork of Christian faith. It has been said that the inspired word is but a transcript of God's antecedent revelation in the volume of His works; that in this external rev- elation His character i- most legibly written; that every green leaf in the forest, the cloud-capped mountain, and the smiling valleys, the purling -tream- at our feet, and the broad blue canopy above ns. have emblazoned all over them the wonder- ful attributes of the Deity. To a limited and only a limited extent is this true. . The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork : day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.' But here they leave us. They tell of Ilis wisdom, His power, and Ilis skill. but what do they tell us of Ilis mercy and ITis love? What answer do they bring us to that long vexed question of our immortality ? Alas: where most light is needed the inquirer is left most fatally in the dark. That man would be a most treacherous guide who should attempt to conduct You through a region of pitfalls till he brought you to the very brink of the precipice, and then should leave yon in hopeless abandonment to your fate: and just such a blind guide has Nature ever been to unenlightened reason. What light has she mer bern enabled to throw over the dark regions of the tomb ? Go and consult her voiceless oracles, and where in all human history did there ever come back an answer to that vexing question: "If a man die. shall be live again?' A most unsatisfactory process has this "dim light of nature' been in all age-, and the whole catalogue of pagan philos- opbers attests how indistinct and even absurd have been the nation- of the wisest of them pertaining to God and their moral relations to Him. Plato rea- -bed with him-elf by the dim light of Nature till le berame so entangled in the meshes of hi- 4- reasonable logie. that he came at last to doubt whether even he himself existed; and Socrates,

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Portrait and bigraphical album of Livingston County, Ill. : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, together with portraits and biographies , Part 133

Author: Chapman Brothers (Chicago) publisher Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Chicago : Chapman brothers Number of Pages: 1208

Author: Chapman Brothers (Chicago) publisher
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Chicago : Chapman brothers
Number of Pages: 1208