USA > Illinois > Henry County > Portrait and biographical album of Henry County, Illinois : containing full-page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county > Part 24
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ohn Wight, a citizen of Cambridge, has been a resident of Henry County since 1854, a period of over 30 years. He was born July 14, 1809, near Montreal, Canada, of American parentage, they being natives of Massachusetts, is the son of William W. and Polly (Griswold) Wight. They were the parents of nine children, and came to Henry County to spend the closing years of their lives. Both are now de- ceased. Mr. Wight was brought up and educated in Ohio. He acquired a knowledge of the business of carpenter and millwright in Lake County, in that State, and followed it there 18 years, or from 1836 to 1854.
He was married March 1, 1832, in Lake County, to Sarah A. Ballard, and they had five children- William K., Lucien T., Charles Day (deceased) and Reuben E. The mother died Feb. 5, 1875, in Cam- bridge. The second marriage of Mr. Wight, to Mrs.
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Nancy E. (Ballard) Stickney, took place in Mus- kegon Co., Mich. She had seven children by her husband.
Mr. Wight reached Cambridge with his family April 11, 1854. He spent the season ensuing in breaking prairie, and then turned his attention to the business in which he spent 12 years, and which he prosecuted with success. In the course of the time named he moved 1,033 buildings and raised 147 others.
In early life Mr. Wight was actively interested in political affairs. On becoming a voter he adopted the principles of the Whig party. Succeeding events, including the agitation of the slavery question, made him an adherent of the Free-Soil element, and since the organization of the Republican party he has been its unswerving adherent. He has been a life-long abstainer from the use of intoxicants, and has been consistent in his advocacy of temperance principles. Although he is 76 years of age, he is in firm, sound health, and able to work if necessity required. He reads without the aid of glasses.
He has spent three winters in Natchez, Miss., and New Orleans, La., to avoid a pulmonary difficulty which threatened. Mrs. Wight is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
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acob W. Winans, general farmer of An- dover Township, residing on section 13, was born in Union Co., N. J., July 16, 1857. His father, Nathan Winans, was the grandson of one of three brothers who came to America from Holland prior to the American Revolu- tion. His grandfather, Aaron, as well as his own father, was a farmer. Mr. Winans' parents are still residents of New Jersey, in Union County.
Mr. Winans, the youngest of a family of seven children, was brought up and educated in his native State, residing at home until about 1881, when he came to this State, and commenced working for his uncle, E. M. Crane After his marriage, in 1884, he purchased 127 acres of land on section 13, An- dover Township, where he is now resident. He is a breeder of thoroughbred cattle, making a specialty of Herefords. The bull is registered and called " Peace
Maker." Mr. Winans is a Republican in political views, and both himself and wife are members of the Presbyterian Church.
Feb. 13, 1884, is the date of Mr. Winans' marriage to Sally M. Williamson (see sketch of R. William- son). Mrs. W. was born in Mercer Co., N. J., Dec. 1, 1856, and was five months old when her parents came to this county, settling in Munson Township, where she was reared and educated in the public schools.
rank G. Welton, County Clerk of Henry County (1885), resident at Cambridge, was born April 14, 1843, near Waterbury, New Haven Co., Conn. His earliest progen- itors in America were John and Mary (Upson) Welton, who emigrated hither from England about the year 1667. Twelve years later, in 1679, they settled in Waterbury. Mr. Welton belongs to the seventh generation of their descendants, and the following is the line of his succession : Richard, Eliakim, Richard (2d), Noah, Miles and Albert. Albert married Susan E. Bidwell and their children were Frank G., Mary E., George W. and Clarence W. In early life Mr. Albert Welton acquired a knowledge of wood-turning and passed many years in the pursuit of that vocation. He became a citi- zen of Cambridge in 1851, and was principally en- gaged in farmning until 1879, when he removed to Lancaster Co., Neb.
Frank G. Welton was eight years of age when his parents removed to Illinois, and he has been since 185 1 a resident of the place where he is now dis- charging the duties pertaining to the position of a prominent county official. Two months after he reached the age of 18 years, he entered the military service of his country, enlisting in July, 1861, in Co. B, 42d Ill. Vol. Inf. His regiment was first com- manded by Col. Wm. A. Webb, and was attached to the Western Army. After the evacuation of Colum- bus, Ky., the " 42d " was assigned to service con- nected with the United States Squadron under the command of Commodore Foote, and participated in the siege of Island No. 10. After the capture of that rebel stronghold, the regiment again became an auxiliary of the army, in front of Corinth. Mr. Wel-
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ton was a participant in the campaign under Sher- man until the battle of New Hope Church, Ga., on May 29, 1864, in which he received five bullet wounds. One struck the knee of his right leg, and he afterwards underwent amputation. Jan. 1, 1865, he was made Sergeant, and March 4 of the same year he was honorably discharged.
He returned to Cambridge and obtained employ- ment for a time in a drug-store. In 1868, he es- tablished the same business in his own interest, at Swedona, Mercer Co., Ill. He was obliged to bring his business to a close on account of the difficulties attendant upon the loss of his leg, and he returned to Cambridge. He obtained a situation in the office of the Circuit Clerk, which position he held a little over one year. In November, 1869, he was elected County Clerk of Henry County as a Republican, and has been his own successor at every recurring elec- tion since.
April 30, 1866, Mr. Welton was married to Ella M., daughter of Dr. Dexter G. Clark. Their mar- riage occurred at Wheaton, Du Page Co., Ill. Mrs. Welton was born Dec. 13, 1849, in Rockford, Ill. The children now included in the household are five in number : Albert D., Clarence W., Kate C., Ma- bel E. and Susan B.
Mr. Welton belongs to the Masonic fraternity and to Post No. 436, G. A. R.
illiam A. Mussey, a grain dealer at Atkin- son, was born in Rutland, Vt., Jan. 22,
1839. He was brought up in his native county, and had just passed his minority when the Civil War made its unwelcome ap- pearance, and in September, 1862, he en- listed in the 12th Regt. Vt. Vol. Inf. He was in the service but nine months, when his term of en- rollment expired.
He returned to Rutland, and was there engaged in business until his removal to Illinois, which oc- curred in the fall of 1868. He located at Atkinson, where he entered upon the prosecution of the enter- prise in which he has since been engaged. He is rated as among the most reliable and responsible business men of the county. He is the owner of
160 acres of excellent land on section 23, in the township of Atkinson, and he is considered one of the model farmers, as is commonly the case when the principles of the agriculture of the New England States are put into practice on the fruitful acres of the prairie. The grain business of the Brothers Mussey is of extensive relations, and the elevator which they own and operate has a capacity of 50,- ooo bushels.
Mr. Mussey was married to Louisa Nowers, March 31, 1868. She is a native of Oneida Co., N. Y., and is the daughter of Thomas and Decima (Foster) Nowers, who are natives of England and are resi- dents of Atkinson. An extended sketch of the par- ents of Mrs. Mussey is to be found elsewhere in this work. Mrs. Mussey was born May 2, 1845. Mr. and Mrs. Mussey have two children : Clara F. was born Nov. 6, 1874. The birth of Henry R. occurred Dec. 7, 1875.
Mrs. Mussey is a member of the Congregational Church. Mr. Mussey is a Republican in political sentiment.
illiam Whitney, engaged as a farmer on section 26, Clover Township, was born May 13, 1823, in Washington Co., Ohio. His parents, John and Sarah (Chapman) Whitney, natives of Massachusetts, came to Ohio in a very early day, where they engaged in farming. The father died in 1849.
The subject of this sketch remained at home until he attained the age of legal majority, receiving a dis- trict-school education. He then worked as a com- mon laborer, and rented a farm for a time, and in 1847 he purchased 40 acres of timber land, and occupied it for six years, improving it and bending all his energies toward making a good home. He then sold out and came to DeKalb County, this State; and, after spending a winter there, he resided two years in Winnebago Co., Ill., upon a rented farın ; likewise for three years he was a renter in Boone Co., Ill .; and in 1860 he removed into this county and purchased 40 acres on section 16, Clover Town- ship; after remaining on the same for five years, he sold it and bought 80 acres on section 17, and lived there until 1882, when he purchased 120 acres on
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sections 26 and 27, Clover Township, where he now resides. Mr. W. is a successful agriculturist, is a Greenbacker, a member of the Christian Church and of the Masonic Order, and has served one term as School Director, and one as Path Master.
Feb. 15, 1844, is the date of Mr. Whitney's mar- riage to Miss Jane Cheffy, a native of Virginia. They have had six children, as follows : George W., who married Hattie Osborn, has five children -- Anna J., William S., Luella, Harvey S. and John ; Sarah who married James Woodworth, has three children -William H., Flora B. and Sarah M .; Charles E., united in marriage to Lura Mosher; the other three are deceased. Mrs. Whitney died Aug. 28, 1885.
eorge Washington Rowe, a farmer in Phenix Township, has been a resident of Henry County since 1851. He was born May 20, 1825, in Bath, Steuben Co., N. Y., and is the son of John Smith and Rachel (Shearer) Rowe. In 1836 the family started from Steuben County for Illinois. They traveled with their own teams to Erie, Pa., where they took pass- age on a steamboat on Lake Erie for Detroit. At the time, the family included the father, mother and five children. They started with three horses and a wagon, and after leaving the boat at Detroit they re- sumed their journey with their team. They were on the road six weeks and settled in Whiteside County, to which place the father had come the previous year and had made a claim in the township of Port- land. He had stayed long enough to build a log house, and the househould found it a welcome re- treat after the tedious journey in the wagon. The stay of the father at the time he secured his claim extended from the fall of 1835 until June, 1836. In addition to the erection of a shelter for his family, he broke a considerable portion of prairie and put in a crop.
The house was covered with clapboards, which were retained in their places by poles. The struc- ture was 16 x 16 feet in dimensions. A barn of logs was also built on the place, both of which were de- stroyed in the tornado of June 5, 1844. The build- ings were entirely demolished and the family were the severest sufferers in the county. Two sons were
killed, and a daughter was so seriously injured that she suffered all her after life from the consequences. The father was also badly injured. A large number of cattle belonging to the farm were de- stroyed, and one cow was transported a half-mile and set down on the top of a hot cook-stove! The animal had sufficient vitality left to administer a severe kick to a son of the owner of the cook-stove. The senior Rowe died in Portland, Dec. 9, 1852. The mother is also now deceased. The names of the sons who lost their lives in the tornado were Delanson and William. The whole number of the children were seven. George W., of this sketch, is the oldest. Lavinia is the wife of La Fayette Cran- dall, of Erie, Whiteside County. Eliza Ann married Henry Kempster, of Portland Township, in the same county. Mary is the wife of James Corkings, of Whiteside Co., Ill.
Mr. Rowe passed the remaining years of his min- ority in the township of Portland, working on the farm and attending the public schools, which were of the pioneer variety. At the age of 25 years he be- came the head of a family of his own. In 1850 he was married to Julia, daughter of John and Lydia (Hall) Kempster. Her parents were among the pioneer settlers of Whiteside County. She was born Aug. 25, 1826, in Oneida Co., N. Y. About the time of his marriage, Mr. Rowe bought 40 acres of land, and also made a Government claim of a simi- lar amount in addition. He built a frame house and improved his place in the best manner, fencing it in good shape and setting out fruit, shade and other trees, and small fruit in considerable variety. He continued to own the place until 1851, when he sold it preparatory to a removal to Henry County. He here again set out in life in pioneer style, building a log house on 160 acres of land, which he secured in Phenix Township. After erecting the cabin of the pioneer he set about the work of making improve- ments, and soon after he built a good frame house. He reaped the reward of the faithful and diligent husbandman, and made further purchases until he was the possessor of an aggregate of 700 acres. He has since deeded a portion of the estate to his chil- dren. Mr. and Mrs. Rowe have been the parents of four children. The oldest and youngest, Ann Eliza and Arthur, are deceased. The daughter died at the age of three years, and the demise of the son took place when he was three years and eight months old,
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Viola, the second in order of birth, is the wife of John Guild, and lives in Gage Co., Neb. Edith, the third in order of birth, is the wife of John Walker, of Phenix.
p'ninde
enry L. Kiner, editor and proprietor of the Henry County News, published at Genesco, was born Feb. I, 1851, in Perry Co., Pa.,
at the foot of the celebrated Mt. Nemo, in Shafer's Valley. He comes of German stock in the paternal line of descent, and is a mem- ber of a family who have been known in the literary circles of the continent for many generations. The well known German poet, Theodore Koerner, came of the same race-tree, and the original orthography of the patronymic, and that still preserved in Germany, is what is made familiar by the distinguished relative of Mr. Kiner. The latter is the son of William Kiner. The father's ancestors came to the Western Continent in the early days of its history, and they came with the purpose of founding a permanent home, which they fulfilled in every particular. They helped bear the burden of the Revolutionary period, and in that contest the grandfather of Mr. Kiner served as a Captain. He was also a commissioned officer of the War of 1812. The mother of Mr. Kiner, whose name before her marriage was Mar- garet A. Calhoun, is a member of the same family to which John C. Calhoun belonged.
While he was in early childhood, the parents of Mr. Kiner removed their family and interests to Illinois. They settled in Ottawa, La Salle County, and he there passed the days of later boyhood and early youth. The greater part of his education he obtained at Farm-Ridge Seminary in La Salle County. He completed a full course of study, and was graduated at the age of 17.
He came to Geneseo in the fall of 1869, and entered the drug-store of Moderwell & Co. He re- mained in that position one year, and on the ter- mination of his relations with that firm he went to Prophetstown, in Whiteside County, and bought a drug-store there, in company with Dr. R. E. Barnes. They continued its management jointly about a year. The proclivities and tastes of Mr. Kiner were of an entirely different character from those required by
the routine of business drudgery, and at the expira- tien of the time named he relinquished his project of winning fame and fortune in mercantile avenues, and returned to Geneseo.
He at once entered upon the fulfillment of a long cherished project to pass his life in a journalistic pursuit, and established the newspaper to which he is still devoting his energies and abilities. The initial number of the News was issued in January, 1874, and was received from the outset with general favor, which has never abated. On the contrary, the journal has continued to increase in favor and popularity, and has won a substantial recognition in journalistic circles as a reliable, enterprising, wide- awake sample of the modern newspaper. The lit- erary style of Mr. Kiner is such as to ensure the approval of the general class of readers, being of the breezy, cheery character that should mark the paper designed to meet the requirements of the classes who are generally its patrons in a rural dis- trict, and who depend almost wholly on the weekly paper for their connection with the world at large. The News has been in existence about 12 years, and during that time has never missed an issue. In political tendency it is independent. In size it is attractive and seems to promise the subscriber a full return for his investment, being a nine-column folio.
Mr. Kiner has won a modest fame as a poet, and is the possessor of an autograph letter of Henry W. Longfellow, expressing the kindest and heartiest ap- preciation of the efforts of his namesake. The latter was a contributor to the public prints before he had reached the age of 17. In addition to his abilities, he possesses the pluck and energy to push a project to a successful issue. When he started the News at Geneseo, he did so under the inost discouraging circumstances and with the prestige of assured fail- ure. He was still a very young man, and there were already on record the failures of a half-dozen of similar enterprises. But he has made a different showing, and has achieved a substantial success. At the date of starting his paper he was in posses- sion of a cash capital of $1,500, which has swelled through his industry and perseverance to a property of respectable dimensions.
The marriage of Mr. Kiner to June Howard took place at St. Louis, Mo., June 7, 1882. She was born in Mendota, Ill., and is the daughter of A. and
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Ella M. (Hopple) Howard. In the opinion of Mr. and Mrs. Kiner, their son, Henry Clyde Kiner, is the finest sample of a boy in America.
illiam S. Woolsey, a pioneer of Henry County of 1835, living a retired life at Cambridge, was born Feb. 4, 1807, at Half Hollow Hills, Suffolk Co., L. I., N. Y. The earliest recorded ancestor in the paternal line came from England to the New World and located in Connecticut. He reared five children, all of whom became heads of families in the States, with one exception, in the case of a daughter who went to St. Johns, Nova Scotia, as the wife of a British officer. John Woolsey, one of the sons, father of Mr. Woolsey of this personal narration, became a soldier of the Revolution. He removed to Long Island, in company with his brother Israel. He there married Phebe Rogers, who was born on the island, of Eng- lish parentage. She died there, after having given birth to 12 sons: Gilbert, John, Jesse, Woodhull, Zebulon, Daniel, Jarvis, Henry, Abel, Israel, Moses and William S.
The latter is the only survivor. He came to Illi- nois in company with his brothers, Jesse and Abel, and the trio were the only ones of the brotherhood who came to the State. Mr. Woolsey made a short stay at St. Louis, while Jesse Woolsey, with three others, representing the interests of an incorporated company styled the " New York Association," came in June, 1835, to Henry County, to select a site for the location of a colony. They had expected to set- tle near the present site of the city of Galesburg, but earlier prospectors had been there and they sought another location. The names of the committee were Pillsbury, Slaughter and Pike, and they founded a city on sections 8 and 17, of town 15 north, ranges I and 2 east, and named it Andover, that it might have the prestige of the scholarly culture and learn- ing that had made the name prominent in the East. Jesse and William S. Woolsey settled on land now included in the site of Andover village. They were stockholders in the association, and each was the owner of 20 acres of timber, a village lot of two and a half acres and a quarter section of farming land. Jesse Woolsey was the first hotel-keeper at Andover,
and his brother worked at his trade as carpenter. About the year 1842 he sold the land he held by virtue of his connection with the stock company, and bought a quarter of section 15, which he placed in profitable agricultural condition. In 1881 he re- moved to Cambridge, where he has since been a resident. He sold his farm in Andover, after his re- moval thence. He is now the owner of 80 acres in the same township.
After a residence of two years in Henry County, he returned to Huntington, L. I., where, March 13, 1838, he was married to Sarah C. Platt. She was born at Huntington, Aug. 25, 1814, and is the daughter of Gilbert and Maria (Conklin) Platt. Both her parents were natives of Long Island. Following is the record of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Wool- sey : William H. resides in Webster Co., Iowa. The others who are living are: John Platt, Sarah M. and Ida N. Three older children died while young. The parents and children are all, except one, members of the Congregational Church. Mr. Woolsey is a dyed-in-the-wool Republican.
John Platt Woolsey was born June 29, 1839, in the township of Andover, and he obtained his edu- cation in the common schools. He engaged in farming on arriving at independent manhood, in which he was interested until November, 1883, when he sold his farm and engaged in the sale of hardware and agricultural implements at Cambridge, associ- ated with A. B. Lafferty.
He was married Dec. 30, 1875, to Eliza Hammar, a native of Westmoreland Co., Pa. Three of their children are living-Sarah F., Carrie and Edward.
eorge Pomeroy, a farmer of Colona Town- ship, was born Feb. 27, 1821, in Fairfield, Herkimer Co., N. Y .. He is the son of Pliny and Lavina (Mann) Pomeroy, and his parents were born respectively in Northampton, Conn., and in Fairfield, where the son was born. In 1829 they removed to Leyden Hill, Lewis Co., N. Y. The son was brought up to the business of a farmer, and he obtained a fair education in the common schools. When Mr. Pomeroy, of this sketch, attained the age of legal freedom he entered into a partnership with a man named Henry Winslow, and they conducted a joint business in the manufacture
CH. Kemmis
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of cement cisterns, which they prosecuted about IO years, in the vicinity of Brockville.
In 1857 Mr. Pomeroy removed to Henry County and bought a farm in Western Township. It was all wild land, and he gave his entire attention to the labor of improving a homestead, erecting a good class of buildings and planting an orchard. He was the occupant of the place until his removal 14 years later to Iowa, where he settled two miles from Kel- logg, in Jasper County. He bought an improved farm, and also invested in wild land. Between three and four years later he sold out there and came, in 1870, to the township in which he has since resided. He built the residence his family occupies in Colona. In 1842, Mr. Pomeroy was married to Nellie Sher- man, a native of Brockville, Canada, and they have six children -- Lavina, wife of T. W. Beese; Ella, wife of Perry Hanna; Amasa, Emery, Colonel Edward and Charles A.
rank E. Kemmis, a farmer on section 10, Loraine Township, was born on the same section on which he is now living, June 9, 1862. He is the only son now living of Cor- nelius and Adeline (Adams) Kemmis. His father, of whom a portrait is presented on the opposite page, was a pioneer settler of the county in 1836, and made his claim in Loraine Township be- fore the land came into market.
. The latter was born in the town of Cambridge, Washington Co., N. Y., Feb. 15, 1808. He was reared on the farm of his father, who died when he was 18. He had two older brothers, who were away from home, and he remained with his mother and sister and devoted himself to their care and support. He had obtained his education as he could in the in- tervals of farm labor, in which he was obliged to assist while his father was still living, and he made a business of studying evenings until he was the pos- sessor of a fair education.
He was 28 when, in 1836, he came West to seek a better opportunity to get on in the world, as the East was already too full of hangers-on, and he was not of a temperament that could sit down tamely to a life of small effort and results of corresponding size.
He came to Galena and passed a summer in the lead mines.
In the fall ensuing he came to Henry County, secured his claim on section 10, Loraine Township, and prepared for the reception of his mother and sis- ter, who joined him as soon as he was ready for them. They took possession of a small log cabin, and Mr. Kemmis proceeded with the work of putting his property in profitable condition. As soon as the land sales came on he purchased his claim, obtain- ing the deed from the Government. In 1839 he built a more suitable log house, which was 16 x 30 feet on the ground and a story and a half in height. This constituted the family residence until 1868, when he built a convenient and commodious frame house. He pushed his business plans with success, and improved 200 acres of land. At the time of his death he was the owner of about 400 acres.
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