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 25
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His marriage to Adeline Adams took place Nov. 27, 1854. She was a native of the township of Aurora, in Erie Co., N. Y., and her parents, Luther and Ruby Adams, were born respectively in Massa- chusetts and Vermont. They were members of the pioneer class in the western part of the State of New York. The son whose name leads this personal nar- ration is the youngest child and only son now living; Addie E. is the wife of Harry Roberts, a farmer of Sumner Co., Kan .; Quincy A., the oldest son, was born in Loraine Township, Oct. 31, 1855, and died in the same place Feb. 9, 1880. He was a finely educated man, and was a popular teacher in the public schools. He also served in the capacity of Justice of the Peace. Sarah, the third child, was born Dec. 12, 1858, and died April 23, 1862.
Cornelius H. Kemmis was a man in whom dwelt the proper spirit for a genuine pioneer. He had the sagacity to understand that the public weal was the true foundation of the welfare of the individual, and he had the generous nature that felt its best reward in the well-being of those around him. He was never unmindful of the relations he occupied to the development of the municipality of which he was one of the earliest founders, and he was ever ready to lend the hand of assistance to promote .the general good. He donated land for the building of the school-house and for the cemetery. He was a model man in his personal habits, and in all his life was never addicted to the use of spirituous liquors or tobacco. He was the stanch friend of morality and
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good order in society. He served several years in various township offices, among which were those of Assessor, Collector of Taxes and Justice of the Peace. He died Jan. 26, 1876, after having been for many years a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Frank E. Kemmis was brought up on the home- stead in Loraine Township, and acquired a fair knowledge of the fundamental branches of an Eng- lish education at the district school. He is the owner and occupant of the farm on which his father and mother settled and expended the best energies of their lives. His mother is passing a calm and serene old age under his care.
Mr. Kemmis was married July 16, 1884, to Emma Reynolds. She was born July 8, 1866, in the town- ship where she has passed the entire course of her life thus far. Mr. Kemmis is engaged in the prose- cution of mixed husbandry.
dward Anderson, Postmaster at Lynn Center and dealer in general merchandise, was born in Andover Township, this county, June 3, 1852. His parents were E. P. and Catherine (Munson) Anderson, natives of Sweden and farmers, who came from ~ their native country to the United States with their first five children in 1846, resided in Buffalo, N. Y., two years, and then settled in Lynn Township, this county, after a short residence at Andover. The senior Anderson died in Andover, July 20, 1854, dur- ing the cholera epidemic, leaving a widow with five children, some of whom were old enough to help support her and the remaining children. She died at her home in Lynn Township, Sept. 2, 1879.
After her death Mr. Anderson and his two sisters, Laura and Louisa, came into possession of the home- stead, and have since resided there. Their home adjoins the village of Lynn Center. In 1880, Mr. Anderson established a general merchandise store, with stock of first quality, and the same time received the appointment as Postmaster at that place. March I, 1884, he formed a partnership with Aug. Ander- son, of Andover, Ill., and the firm are now carrying on a prosperous trade.
Mr. Anderson is a member of the Swedish
Methodist Church at Andover, and is a reliable Re- publican. Neither he nor any of his sisters men- tioned is yet married except one sister, who is married to A. Burgeson.
lisha Cone, deceased, was one of the origi- nal members of the Geneseo Colony, one of the five who brought their families to the county in 1836. A full account of the operations of the little band are given in an- other department of this work, and so far as has been possible personal sketches of the other members have been obtained and appear elsewhere.
Mr. Cone was born Jan. 1, 1803, in Wallingford, Conn. . In his early manhood he removed to West- ern New York, and there, on the Ist of January, 1826, he was married to Eliza A. Hill. She was born in West Bloomfield, Ontario County. Their family included five children : Harriet M. married William Miller; Clarissa P. is the wife of E. M. Stewart, of Kansas; Francis F. married Gabriella Gilmore, and they live in Florida; Ellen A. is the wife of Peter Hill, M. D., of Florida; Charles E. was a soldier of the Eighth Kan. Vol. Inf., and died in the hospital at Nashville, Tenn., March 29, 1863. The death of Mr. Cone transpired in 1846. His widow still survives.
on. Bradbury H. Thomas, of the town- ship of Munson, came to Henry County in 1870. He was born in Mt. Vernon, Ken- nebec Co., Me., Oct. 17, 1812. His father, Na- than Thomas, was born in Marshfield, Mass., Aug. 2, 1787. The latter was the son of Na- than Thomas, who was a native of the State of Massachusetts, and was of English descent. The family settled in that part of the Bay State which was afterward called Maine, and were among the pioneer element of Kennebec County. The grand- father referred to bought and improved a farm in the township of Mt. Vernon.
The Pine-Tree State was in its most primitive condition, and of the experiences and hardships to which the pioneers were subjected through the natu-
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ral conditions of things, the first settlers in a prairie country have no means of forming anything like an adequate idea. Supplies were remote, and it was necessary to traverse long distances on horseback through a forest so dense that their darkness and the difficulty of making way through them has be- come typical of hardship. The closing days of the ancestor of Mr. Thomas were passed in the city of Augusta. He was a preacher in the Baptist Church, and did pioneer duty in his profession in the State in which he first located. The mother of Mr. Thomas, of this narration, was born in Litchfield, Kennebec Co., Jan. 3, 1789. Her parentage and descent were of the same locality and nationality as those of her husband, and they were also pioneers of the county in which she was born. Nathan Thomas (2d) was born and reared to manhood in Kennebec County, on the farm of his father. He passed his entire life in argicultural pursuits. Late in life he went to New Portland in his native State, where his earthly career terminated, Aug. 1, 1849. His wife died Jan. 24, 1871. They were the parents of ten children, eight of whom are yet living: Seth is a resident of Manchester, Me .; Sarah is the widow of Rawson Soper, and lives in the East with her children ; Wil- liam lives in Manchester, in the same State where he was born; Hannah is the widow of Benjamin Morton, and is a resident of Phillips, Franklin Co., Me .; Martha survives her husband, Orrin Pitts, and lives in Portland, Me .; Mahala is the wife of Abra- ham Morton, of the town of Phillips, already men- tioned; Mary J. lives in Manchester, where the other members of the family have located.
Mr. Thomas was brought up on the farm of his father in Maine, and was a member of the household until he was 18. At that age he became an appren- tice to the trade of tanner, and also learned boot and shoe making, as in those days both went together. He remained in service until he was 21, when he began to operate as a journeyman. May 29, 1838, he was married to Sophia, daughter of Benjamin and Eliza (Sargent) Melvin. She was born in Read- field, Me., Feb. 13, 1813. , Her parents were from the State of New Hampshire. On preparing to set- tle in life Mr. Thomas bought a farm in the town- ship of New Portland, in Somerset Co., Me., and carried on farming operations there for a period of six years. He then sold out and took possession of the homestead estate of the father of his wife. They
lived there until the death of the old people trans- pired, when Mr. Thomas became by purchase the proprietor of the well-known property of ex-Governor Hubbard, in Readfield Township, which he owned and occupied 12 years. He sold it in the year in which he removed to Henry County. On removal to this county he bought the farm on section 4 on which he has since prosecuted the business of gen- eral farmer. The place is pleasantly located three miles south of the city of Geneseo, and is in good condition for profitable farming. The residence is finely located on a slight rise of ground and com- mands a pleasant view.
Mr. Thomas was prominent in his connection with public affairs in the State of which he is a native, and represented his township in the State Assembly in 1868. He has been a valuable citizen in the town- ship in which he has been a resident for 15 years, and is much respected. Both himself and his wife are members of the Methodist Church, and have been a long time connected with that communion.
They have had six children, as follows: Charles died in infancy; Henry C. lives in Minneapolis ; Helen married Gustavus Sanborn ; she and her hus- band are both deceased, and left three children; Augusta is the wife of William Rideout, who is a citizen of Ottumwa, Iowa; Eva J. married Frank Melvin, and they live on the Thomas homestead; and Melvin died in Maine, at the age of seven years.
avid L. Machesney, A. M., M. D., has been a medical practitioner of Henry County since 1853. He came hither in the fall of that year and settled in Annawan Township, where he vigorously prosecuted the duties of his profession for a period of 17 years without intermission, coming, at the expiration of that time, to Geneseo, where he has established his business and reputation.
He was born in Greensburg, Westmoreland Co., Pa., Jan. 10, 1827, and is the son of Andrew and Mary (Henderson) Machesney. He obtained a thorough elementary education and later became a student at Jefferson College at Canonsburg, Wash- ington Co., Pa., where he was graduated in 1850. He attended medical lectures at the Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia, jand afterward matriculated
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at the medical college at Castleton, Vt., and was graduated from that institution in 1852. He began the practice of his profession at Middlebury, Summit Co., Ohio, and was in business at that place one year.
He came thence to Annawan Township, as has been stated, and in 1871 he removed to Geneseo. Dr. Machesney is one of the leading physicians of Henry County in point of culture and also in expe- rience. He is a thorough student of human nature and is adapted by nature for the responsible position he occupies. His course as a man and in his busi- ness relations have been such as to secure the confi- dence and esteem of the communities where he has lived, and he is the possessor of a corresponding de- gree of influence. He has kept pace with the prog- ress in the medical profession, and in 1860 the degree of M. A. was conferred upon him by his alma mater, Jefferson College.
He was united in marriage at Geneseo, Ill., May 28, 1862, to Martha E., daughter of Alfred Taylor. Mrs. Machesney was born in Wardsboro, Windham Co., Vt. Dr. and Mrs. Machesney have had two sons : Andrew Grant has just arrived at man's es- tate ; he was 2 1 years of age in 1885 ; Elmer D. died when he was between four and five years old. The parents are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Doctor is an inflexible Republican.
rank F. Johnson, a general farmer, resid- ing on section II, Lynn Township, is a son of John F. and Margaret (Herman- son) Johnson, having been born in Lynn Township, Feb. 14, 1859. His father was a native of Sweden, where he was born on the 31st of August, 1821, and a son of a farmer of that country, in which place his father died. In the year 1853 our subject's father emigrated to America, and located in Ontario, Knox Co., Ill., where the year following he was united in the bonds of matrimony with Miss Margaret Helmanson. She was born in Sweden in 1828, and emigrated to the New World in 1849 with a sister, locating in Knox County, where she remained until her marriage. Some few years after their marriage they came to Andover, Henry County, where they remained for a while, afterward,
in 1858, moving to Lynn Township, where the father was the owner of 240 acres of well improved land at the time of his death, which occurred at his home in Lynn Township June 11, 1876. Since then Frank F., our subject, has had the superintendency of the homestead.
Mr. and Mrs. Johnson had a family consisting of six children: Ida, who is married and resides in Nebraska; Louisa, also married, and a resident of Osco Township; our subject; Andrew J., Emma, and Amanda, who lives at home with her mother. The family are members of the Swedish Lutheran Church in Andover, and in politics the gentlemen of the family are stanch Republicans, as was their father.
enry A. White is the junior member of the firm of Duncan & White at Geneseo. He was born in the city of New York, March 18, 1853. His parents, Henry and Jemima (Barnhart) White, removed to Geneseo in 1856, when he was but little more than an infant. After he had passed the period of extreme youth and obtained a fair education, he learned the trade of tinner, and in April, 1882, he entered into his present business relation with Mr. Duncan. (A full account of their affairs as a business house may be found in connection with the biographical sketch of Mr. Duncan on other pages.)
Mr. White was married Jan. 21, 1875, to M. Frances Foster. She is a native of Henry County, and is the daughter of John P. Foster. The political connections of Mr. White are with the Republican party.
onas Westerlund, engaged as a general farmer and stock-grower, on section .3, Lynn Township, where is also his resi- dence, was born in Gefleborg Lan, Sweden, March 31, 1830. His father was Eric A. Westerlund. (See sketch of Peter Wester- lund.)
Jonas, whose name heads this notice, was the eld- est but two of a family of nine children. He lived at home and had but very little time to acquire
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an education, assisting in the maintenance of the family. At the age of 21 years, he came with his parents to the United States, and located at Ando- ver. Here our subject at once endeavored to earn his own livelihood, by which he secured a position to work in saw-mills up in the State of Minnesota, after having remained for about eight or nine months in Henry County. For about seven years he was en- gaged in the lumber business and mills in the re- gions of Minnesota.
He was married Aug. 29; 1856, in Taylor Falls, Minn., to Miss Ellen Nelson, daughter of Nelson Oleson and Mary (Mangasson), both natives of Swe- den. Mrs. Westerlund was born in Sweden, Dec. 23, 1835, and came with her brother when 18 years of age to America. They located at Stillwater, Minn., and after a short period she began to earn her own livelihood. She lost her parents in the old country, their deaths occurring there some time ago. Mr. and Mrs. Westerlund have become the parents of nine children, two having died in infancy. Lizzie married J. W. Anderson, and resides in Osco Town- ship; N. Henning, John E., Charlie E., Jonas N., Joseph E. and Gilbert L. reside at home.
In the fall of 1856 Mr. W. came to Illinois, locat- ing on an 80-acre farm in Lynn Township, on sec- tion 2, which was his first purchase. By subsequent purchases he is now the owner and proprietor of 382 acres of well improved land, all in one large farm. Mr. Westerlund is one of the heaviest stock-breed- ers in his township, besides being a progressive and respected farmer. Religiously, the family are con- nected with the Swedish Lutheran Church, of which Mr. W. has been both Trustee and Deacon. Of his township he has held the position of Road Commis- sioner. Politically, he affiliates with the Republican party.
ob Gibson, a farmer of Atkinson Township, operating on section 15, was born in the State of New York, Feb. 6, 1826. He was a resident of the State of his nativity until 1856, when he came to Davenport, Iowa. He passed three years there operating as a carpen- ter, and in 1860 he removed to Morristown in Henry County, where he pursued the vocation of a farmer six years ; he then went to Colona and operated as a
carpenter. In 1867 he bought 80 acres of land. It was wholly uncultivated, and the owner has in- proved it all in the best possible method.
Mr. Gibson was united in marriage with Margery Kelley, in 1849. She was born in the State of New York, June 24, 1828. The only child of Mr. and Mrs. Gibson, Amanda H., was born June 3, 1854, in the State of New York, and married L. D. Man- kins, and died at Villisca, Iowa, May 25, 1882, leav- ing two children: Allyn Lester was born in 1875, and Mabel Clare was born in March, 1881.
In political views and connection Mr. Gibson is a Republican.
evi Waterman, President of the Farmers' National Bank at Geneseo, has been a busi- ness man at that place since 1857, when the firm of Herman and Waterman was estab- lished. The house has conducted its transac- tions under the same style 28 consecutive years, and is the oldest mercantile firm in Henry County. They maintain a fine trade in clothing and in furnishing goods, and their business requires an investment of about $10,000.
Mr. Waterman was born in Wurtemberg, Ger- many, March 5, 1836, and is the son of Felix and Sarah (Neuberger) Waterman. He came to the United States in 1853, when he was 17 years of age, and joined his brother in Charlesville, Ky. He re- mained there until the spring of 1857, when he came to Geneseo, and Mr. Herman founded their business as already stated.
He was one of the founders of the Farmers' Na- tional Bank in 1876, and was its first President. He . has held the position of chief official of the institu- tion without intermission since.
In 1866 Messrs. Waterman and Herman bought a third interest in the Geneseo Brewing Company, and are now the owners of two-thirds of the stock. The concern was incorporated in 1884, and Mr. Waterman was elected its President. Since the be- ginning of their operations the firm have been ex- tensive dealers in wool.
Mr. Waterman has officiated six years as Supervi- sor of the township of Geneseo, and as to political affairs he advocates Democratic principles.
He was united in marriage Jan. 26, 1868, in the
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city of New York to Matilda, daughter of Solomon Dreyfus. She was born in Wurtemberg, and came from her native land to the United States in 1852. Mr. and Mrs. Waterman have three children living. They have lost two by death. The record is as fol- lows : Felix, born Jan. 7, 1869 ; Jennie, born Nov. 9, 1870, died July 12, 1876; Henry, born Sept. I, 1872; Samuel, born Sept. 29, 1875 ; and Sydney, born April 1, 1877, died July 29 following.
ared C. Kinsey, grocer at Cambridge, came to Henry Co., Ill., from Coshocton Co., Ohio, in March, 1863. His family is from Bucks Co., Pa., which is as far back as he has any knowledge. Ulysses Kinsey, grandfather of Jared C., moved from Bucks County to Coshocton Co., Ohio, about the year 1820. Uriah Kinsey, son of Ulysses and father of Jared C., es- tablished a woolen mill on Paddy's Fork of Lomica shortly after moving to Ohio, the motive power of which was a tread-wheel propelled by oxen.
He was married Aug. 17, 1824, to Margaret Chal- fant, daughter of Mordecai and Mary Chalfant, the latter being a sister of Jacob Strawn, for years the famous Illinois cattle king. By this union seven children were born,-four sons and three daughters. Three of the children died in their infancy. Phœbe died at the age of 82, unmarried. Lydia was mar- ried twice. Her first husband was Wm. Smith, by whom she had two children, named Phebe Francis and George F. Her second husband was Isaac Camp, by whom she had one child, Andrew D. She died Dec. 27, 1861, aged 33 years. Jacob S. Kinsey studied medicine under Dr. Benj. F. Lemert, of Dresden, Ohio; graduated at the Ohio Medical Col- lege in 1859-60; entered the volunteer service as Surgeon of the gun-boat " Cincinnati ; " was in their first engagement at Fort Donelson; resigned on ac- count of sickness in 1862 ; came to Cambridge and commenced the practice of medicine in March, 1863. He so continued filling a prominent place in the medical fraternity till the time of his death, which occurred May 3, 1874, when he was 37 years of age.
The subject of this sketch, Jared C. Kinsey, was born July 12, 1834; was educated after leaving the
district school at West Bedford Academy, in Coshoc- ton Co., Ohio. He read law with Judge Simmons, of Coshocton, and was admitted to the Bar in June, 1859; removed with the family to Henry Co., Ill., in March, 1863. The war demoralizing the values of almost everything, he tried his hand at farming for three years, two and one-lialf miles west of Cam- bridge. In December, 1866, he opened up a drug and book store in Cambridge, which he continued till July 17, 1882, when he disposed of his stock and entered upon a new field of labor, that of selling goods on the road for a Chicago firm. Tiring of this, he opened a grocery store in January, 1885, in which he is now prosperously engaged.
Oct. 2, 1855, he was married to Miss Catherine E. Keefer, of West Carlisle, Ohio, by whom he has had six children, named respectively Addie H., Osman Leigh, Alice May, Florence, Carroll B. and Effie. His wife, Catherine E., having died in Jan- uary, 1869, he married Miss Sarah A. Hawley, of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, Oct. 18, 1869, by whom he has had five children, viz. : Infant, dead-born ; Kate, Earl S., Emma Louise and Edith Clare, all of whom, by both wives, are living at this writing (1885) ex- cept the infant above noted.
Mr. Kinsey has been a believer in the Jefferson school of politics,-that all powers not expressly delegated to the general Government are reserved to the States.
rof. Norbury W. Thornton, A. M., Princi- pal of the Collegiate Institute at Geneseo, roy became the incumbent of the position which he is still occupying (1885) at the open- ing of the institution. He was born Nov. 20, 1852, in Mercer Co., Ill., and is the son of Hiram W. and Elizabeth (Norbury) Thornton. His father is of English lineage and a native of the State of Pennsylvania. He was a pioneer of Mercer County of 1838. His mother was born in the same State and was of the same nationality.
Prof. Thornton obtained his literary education at Monmouth College, in his native State, and was graduated in the classical course in 1876, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He prepared for the ministry at the Presbyterian Theological Seminary at
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Princeton, N. J., where he was graduated in 1879. He entered upon his first pastorate in West Liberty, Iowa, and officiated there five years. On the com- pletion of the arrangements for the establishment of the educational institution with which he is con- nected he was called to take the chief position, and assumed its charge, entering upon his duties Aug. 7, 1884. The initiatory term opened Sept. 16 follow- ing.
Prof. Thornton was married in Monmouth, Aug. 14, 1879, to Elizabeth Garvin, who was born in Wheeling, W. Va., and is the daughter of James Garvin. She is the mother of two children -- Eliza- beth and Willett.
wan P. Johnson, residing on section 12, Lynn Township, where he follows the oc- cupation of farmer and stock-raiser, is one of the progressive and energetic farmers as well as respected citizens of Lynn Township. He was born in Kalmar Lan, Sweden, March 24, 1832. His father, Jonas Swanson Johnson, was a native of the same country in which our subject was born, and a farmer by occupation. He married the daughter of a Swedish farmer, Mary Peterson, and they were the parents of four children. Swan P. was the eldest; Martha C. resides in Sweden ; Charles C. is a farmer in Lynn Township, this County ; Anna S. (Olson) resides in Andover.
Swan P. Johnson, whose name heads this bio- graphical notice, was not quite eight years of age when his father died. He then resided with his mother in his native country until her death, which occurred about 1848. From the time he was ten years of age, he worked as a laborer in his native country until he had attained the age of 21 years, when, hoping to better his financial condition in life, he emigrated to this, the land of progress. Soon af- ter his arrival in this country, he came to Andover, this county, which place he reached on Sept. 8, 1853, with the exceedingly large capital of 50 cents in cash! After spending the night at Andover, he was compelled to pay the last cent he had in the world for his lodging, and was left entirely penniless. That same day he succeeded in getting work from a Mr. Graham of that place, at a salary of $ro per
month, which to him at that time and under the circumstances seemed a blessing. He had worked for Mr. Graham only about 20 days when he was taken sick, and after convalescing he worked at threshing for 35 cents per day. His next labor was for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, with whom he remained for some time, when he again took sick. After recovery he went to Galesburg, where he worked on the railroad for a while, when he for a third time became ill, and spent all the savings of his former labor, and placed his trust in Provi- dence. Friends came to his aid and gave him credit, which enabled him to receive good medical attention, and recover from his illness. He after- wards procured work, and paid back the last dollar advanced to him in his time of need.
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