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 28
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Mr. Shattuck and Miss Nancy Woolums were united in marriage in 1852. She was a native of Ohio, and their union has been blessed by the birth of four children : John, Mary J., Sarah C. and Hat- tie A. John formed a matrimonial alliance with Rachel Petta; Mary J. was married to S. W. Bowen, and Sarah C. became the wife of G. H. McQueen.
Politically, Mr. S. espouses the principles of the Republican party, with which he always casts his vote. Religiously, he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which denom- ination he is a Deacon. He has held the office of Supervisor two terms, and at present is Road Com- missioner of his district.
harles H. Martin, of the firm of Duncan & Martin, at Geneseo, has been a resi- dent of Henry County since 1856, and he has been a citizen of Geneseo for the same length of time. He is a native of Orleans Co., N. Y., and was born Jan. 18, 1832. His father, Samuel W. Martin, was of Irish extraction and, like his wife, who before marriage was Miss Emma Merry, was born in the same State where their son was born. The ancestors of the
mother were of Massachusetts birth and of Puritan origin.
On arriving at the age when he found it incum- bent on him to engage in business he embarked in the lumber trade in his native State and operated there until his removal to Illinois. . He was similarly occupied at Geneseo after his arrival there for a period of two years, and in 1858 he was elected Con- stable. He officiated in that capacity five years. About the year 1870 he engaged with Mr. Duncan as an assistant in the business in which they are now interested and of which he became one of the pro- prietors by purchase in 1880. Their relations still continue, and they are engaged in the transaction of a prosperous business.
Mr. Martin has been a Republican since the or- ganization of the party.
His marriage to Margaret Dillehay took place at Geneseo, Sept. 9, 1858. She is a native of Guern- sey Co., Ohio. Of three children that were born to Mr. and Mrs. Martin but one is living. Owen S. died at the age of 19. One child died in infancy. Curtis C. was born Dec. 28, 1861. Mrs. Martin is a member of the Unitarian Church.
8 enjamin H. Goodell, Sheriff of Henry County and resident at Cambridge, was born in Galesburg, Knox Co., Ill., Dec. 28, 1846. His parents, Cyrus and Elizabeth (Holmes) Goodell, were born respectively in the States of Massachusetts and Ohio, and they had four children : Charles, Benjamin H., Ruhama and Nancy. The oldest daughter is de- ceased. The mother died in 1851. The family re- moved to Knox County about the year 1835.
Mr. Goodell obtained his education in his native county ; and with it he acquired the love of his coun- try, which made the American boy of that period a national institution, as the initiation of the Civil War proved to the satisfaction of one section of the coun- try. Mr. Goodell was but a lad in years when the opening gun of the Rebellion proclaimed the folly which in its re-action brought such disaster to those whose hot-headed haste involved their own ruin. He made several fruitless attempts to enlist during the first three years of the war, but he was thrown out
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on account of his tender age. Early in 1864 he went to Quincy, and there he succeeded in enroll- ing as a soldier of the Union. He enlisted Feb. 23, in Co. C, Ioth Ill. Inf., and continued in the mili- tary service until the close of the war. His regiment was assigned to the Army of the West and afterward to the command of General Sherman ; and he was a participant in the varied experiences of the Atlanta campaign and in the ever famous March to the Sea. On obtaining his discharge he returned to the same county in which he was born. He remained there one year and in 1866 he came to Henry County.
He located in the village of Woodhull, in Clover Township, and in the year following Josephine B. Hill became his wife. Their marriage occurred at Quincy, Ill., Aug. 22, 1867. Mrs. Goodell was born Feb. 15, 1849, in Athens Co., Ohio. To her and her husband the following children have been born : Ger- trude G., Lilly A., Pearl M. and Bessie H. Mrs. Goodell is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Goodell belongs to the Order of Masonry, being a member of Cambridge Lodge.
After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Goodell set- tled on a farm in Champaign Co., Ill., on which they were resident two years. They then removed to Woodhull, and Mr. Goodell established his busi- ness as a liveryman. He had prosecuted his inter- ests in that avenue but a short time when he sold out. In 1880 he received his first election as Sher- iff of the county of his adoption. On the expiration of his term of service he was made his own success- or, and is, at date of writing, filling the unexpired term.
acob L. Deem, a resident on section 36, Colona Township, 18 north and I east, is a citizen of the United States by adoption. He was born Feb. 17, 1830, in Bavaria, Ger- many, and his parents, Alois and Ludovica (Heckel) Dumm, as the name was spelled in German, were also Bavarians by birth. (It may be well in a biographical sketch to state that it is almost impossible for the American tongue to givethe prop- er pronunciation to a name which, as in this in- stance, contains the umlaut letter u, as it is called in German orthography. The name is pronounced
Deem in English, as that is the nearest approach that can be made by English analogy.)
Mr. Deem passed his youth in his native land. He was sent to school according to law from the age of five until he was 12, and he was then apprenticed to learn the trade of a maker of cord, laces, fringes and tassels, and other manufactured articles of that class. He served the terms of his indenture, which included three years, and then set out to pass the years that intervened before he was liable to military duty in the operations that belong to the life of a craftsman on the Continent, and in this country is called "jour" work. After two years he reached the age of 20 and he made it in his way to seek the ref- uge and privileges of the New World. He came to the United States in a sailing vessel and landed at the port of Baltimore. There he obtained employ at his trade, which he followed two years in the City of Monuments and in New York. At the expiration of the time named he established himself in the busi- ness of which he had a complete knowledge, and he continued its prosecution in the city of New York until 1858. He came in that year to Illinois, and settled at once on the farm which he has since owned and occupied.
It should have been stated that his brother pre- ceded him to America one year, and also that the cause of his removal to Illinois was the failure of his health in the business to which he had given unre- mitting attention since his arrival in this country. He bought the farm on which he lives in the year previous to his making a permanent removal to it.
In the fall of 1857 his brother Alois opened a coal- bank on land adjoining, and in the same year in which he took possession of his place he also started a similar enterprise, and in company with his brother continued its management two years. He then sold his coal interest and applied himself to farming until 1866. In that year he began to operate as a car- penter and joiner, and followed that line of business until 1880, when he resumed his agricultural opera- tions. He is the owner of 144 acres of land, which is in excellent condition for profitable farming. The place is supplied with all necessary buildings of a good type and the residence is situated in a fine loca- tion overlooking the Rock River.
The marriage of Mr. Deem to Mary Ann Suhrman took place in 1853. She was born in Oldenburg, Germany. To them have been born ten children,
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seven of which are now living. Their names are Bernhard L., Lewis M., Mary A., Henry H., Mag- gie K., Frank J. and Charlie F. The family are Catholics in religious belief.
Mr. Deem has been active and prominent in the local official management of the township in which he is a citizen. He has served in the capacity of Police Magistrate II years and acted in that of Supervisor in 1883 and 1884. He has served in other prominent positions. He is a Democrat in po- litical connection.
His parents died in Germany. His brother, who came to America, was named Alois, after their father. He married and settled in Colona Town- ship, and died in 1874, without children. There were four sisters, namely : Ann married Nicholas Maas, and they are living in Independence, Iowa ; Ludovica is the wife of John Sehuge, of Colona Township; Barbara married Fred Stottmeister, who is a resident in the same township, and Hannah is unmarried and lives in Minnesota.
lfred Whitman Perry, agriculturist, resi- dent at Geneseo, is a pioneer of Henry County of 1837. He was born Dec. 19, 1818, at Stockbridge, Berkshire Co., Mass., and is the son of Dr. Alfred and Lucy (Ben- jamin) Perry. He is of English extraction, his earliest known ancestors on the paternal side having settled in Derby, Conn., late in the 17th century, where the family was represented by descendants until the removal of David Perry thence to Berkshire Co., Mass., in the closing years of the next century. The latter died about 1815 in Richmond, Mass. Jerusha (Lord) Perry, his wife, was a native of Con- necticut, and became the mother of 11 children- seven sons and four daughters. Her death occurred in 1831, at Lee, Mass. Alfred, third in order of birth, was born in April, 1780, in Richmond, Mass. He was a graduate of Williams College in his colle- giate course, and of Rush Medical College in the city of Philadelphia, when that institution was still under the management of its founder, Dr. Rush. He practiced medicine some years in the South, and afterwards settled at Stockbridge, whence he re- moved to Mercer Co., Ill., in 1837. In the year suc-
ceeding, his family joined him there; and, although he had cherished the intention of quitting his pro- fession, physicians were few and the necessities of the settlers pressing, and in rare cases he attended to the calls on his skill. He died in September of the year 1838. His family included his wife and eight children, five of whom joined him in Mercer County. After his death his widow and children came to Geneseo. In August, 1839, she and her younger children returned to Williamstown, Mass., where she remained till about 1860; then she came again to Geneseo, where her sons were then all living. In 1881 she went to Kansas, and is still living in Ot- tawa, aged 93. She is as actively interested in life as ever, and it has been for a long time her custom to write a letter every day throughout the year. She represents a line of humanity remarkable for tenacity of life. Four of her sons and two daughters are still living.
Mr. Perry, of this sketch, was educated to the age of 16 at an academy in his native State. In 1834 he went to Williams College, where he remained but a short time, and he came thence to Marion College in Missouri. He was a student there some months. In the winter of 1835-6 he came to Illinois, and passed a short time prospecting, returning in the spring ensuing to his native county. He passed al- most the whole of the year 1836 in the city of Al- bany, N. Y. In the spring of 1837 he came to Mer- cer Co., Ill., where his father had previously entered claims of land, and he settled there to enter upon the work of improvement on land which had not been broken, and also to manage a part of the prop- erty on which some improvements had been made. Within the same year he bought 245 acres of land in the township of Geneseo, 80 of which are now in- cluded in the site of the city. The remainder was on section ro, township 17. In 1839 Mr. Perry sold his land in Mercer County, and in the fall of the same year, in company with W. H. Holcomb, he as- sumed the management of a mail and stage route from Peoria to Oquawka, and later the route was extended to Flint Hills, now . Burlington, Iowa. Still later the route was extended to the north and south in that State, and in 1841 Mr. Perry estab- lished a mail and stage route to Iowa City, which then contained one log house. The business of Messrs. Perry and Holcomb was managed in har- mony with that of Frink and Walker, the two man-
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agements exchanging facilities. In the summer of 1842 Mr. Perry closed his connection with the busi- ness.
He came to Geneseo and interested himself in farming, having held his land and made further pur- chases of real estate. In the fall of 1843 he went to Chicago to traffic in stock and horses, and was also interested in a mercantile enterprise of considerable extent. In this line of business he continued until 1848. In that year, in company with his brothers, D. L. and N. B. Perry, he started with several loads of dry goods for a westerly point, but was detained by a storm in Kane County. The business pros- pects of that place seemed to warrant a continued stay there, and instead of pushing further on they made a permanent stop. They established their mercantile business there and remained two years. In the fall of 1852, in connection with their other affairs, they opened a private banking house at Geneseo, which was conducted in connection with their commercial business, and they also engaged in farming, in which line they had extended their opera- tions until it became a heavy enterprise. In 1855 they detached the business of the bank, and asso- ciated a Mr. Spaulding with themselves in that branch of enterprise. This was conducted until 1864, when Mr. Perry secured a charter for the First National Bank at Geneseo. He retained his in- terest therein until he sold to the present owners. In 1862 he closed his relations with mercantile mat- ters, selling to his brothers.
In 1864 he and his brother Charles bought coal and farming lands, and also lands for the purpose of grazing. They continued to prosecute the business of mining to a considerable extent until 1884, when Mr. Perry closed his interests in that line. He is still the owner of the coal-fields and fixtures, which are not now in active operation.
He has been continuously interested in farming and in rearing stock of excellent grades. His acre- age is extensive, and he has been one of the chief factors in in the agricultural development of Henry County.
In his political connections he is a Republican. Although interested in local and general issues, he has refrained from holding official positions.
March 31, 1841, Mr. Perry and Mary Boone were united in marriage. She was born in Bloomsbury,
Columbia Co., Pa., and is the daughter of James and Hannah (Barton) Boone. In the spring of 1835 she accompanied her parents to Fort Clark, now& Peoria. In the. spring following another removal was made, to Mercer County. Mr. and Mrs. Perry have two children-Fannie L. P. and Clara B. The former is the wife of Marshall F. Wolcott, to whom she was married May 9, 1866. She is the mother of three sons : Alfred P. is 18, George E. died in in- fancy, and Frank B. is 14 years of age.
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ames M. Allan. The personal records of this gentleman are inseparable from the collated annals of Henry County, as he was one of those who were a part of the days of first things, and has borne a similar relation to every step in the development of the resources of the section of Illinois where he has been a con- tinuous resident from the time when he came hither to seek a suitable location for a home to the date of this narration. Mr. Allan is a citizen of Loraine Township, and is the proprietor of a large tract of land located on section 29.
He was still in his minority when, like Captain Underhill riding to Hilton Head on the same errand, he came to Illinois on horseback. The doughty Captain had shaken from his feet the dust of Massa- chusetts Bay to seek freedom from the strictures placed on the followers of Annie Hutchinson, and Colonel Allan sought the privileges of that portion of his native land that was free from the curse of slavery. He had grown up under its evils, and pos- sessed a temperament that led him to an intuitive comprehension of all that is embodied in the princi- ples of liberty, and he had a vague notion that the North afforded opportunities for the exercise of his inherent views.
He was born in Sumner Co., Tenn., Nov. 23, 1814. His father, John Allrn, was a native Englishman by birth, and was of mixed Scotch and English extrac- tion. He came to the United States about 1800. The mother of Mr. Allan, Nancy (Hodge) Allan, came of a family of traditionary Irish origin in its earlier history, and recorded at a later date as Eng- lish. John Allan removed his family to Huntsville,
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Ala., and there the son grew ro approximate man- hood ; and, as has been stated, just previous to reach- ing his majority, he left the South to escape the evils of a State government that sustained slavery.
He came to Illinois in the fall of 1835. He passed the first winter in Carrollton, Green County, and in April, 1836, made his first entry into Henry County. He made his first headquarters at the point now called Dayton, and entered a considerable quantity of land. The opportunity was fairly open, and he availed himself of it. His abilities were recognized as valuable to the interests of the country that was entering upon its period of development, and he was appointed County Clerk. He was also made Circuit Clerk, and was the first incumbent of those positions in the county. In that year he went on horseback to Vandalia, then the capital of Illinois, and by his exertions the separation of Henry from Knox County was effected. Mr. Allan was appointed County Clerk by the first Commissioners' Court for Henry County on the 27th of June, and on the 7th of Au- gust of the same year he was elected Circuit Clerk. Five days later the election for choice of an officer to command the battalion of the county was held, and Mr. Allan was elected Major, and duly commis- sioned by Governor Duncan. He had established the county seat in the first summer after his arrival, and he did it on this wise : With a sense of the eternal fitness of things, he recognized that the seat of government should have a location as near as possible to the geographical center of the county, and, by a process of his own, he fixed on a point which he considered to be the practical center of which he was in pursuit, bought the quarter section and staked out a town, which he named Richmond, and took the proper steps to secure its claims to the distinction of county seat. He was successful in his maneuvers, and Richmond became the govern- ment center of the new county. Mr. Allan estab- lished his headquarters there and held the fort until the few buildings that had been erected were de- stroyed by fire, in less than two years after. The court-house was a temporary structure, 16 x 24 feet in extent, and one and a half stories in height. The entire town burned, only a stable and a hay-stack being left to mark the site of the metropolis of Rich- mond. Mr. Allan saved the county records and pa- pers and conveyed them to Geneseo.
He owned large tracts of land in the neighborhood
of that place, and it was afterwards his home for nearly 50 years. He erected a handsome and ex- pensive residence, which is now the building occu- pied by the Normal School. In 183- Mr. Allan was elected County Judge. He has served three years as a member of the Board of Supervisors, and has had other offices of less importance. In the course of the Civil War he took an active part in attention to the interests of the county in raising men and money, and was appointed Provost Marshal, in which capacity he served two years. He was sent to the Legislature in 1851 to exert his influence to secure the charter for the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, and he succeeded in effecting the purpose." The opposition to the project in the coun- ties lying north and east of Henry County was de- termined, as there was an apprehension that such a road would shut. out others ; but it was overruled. The interest of Mr. Allan in the road was unmis- takable, as he had been its untiring advocate for six years, and had kept up an unceasing series of efforts in its behalf. He first communicated with John Thompson, of New York, in relation to running a line of railroad through Henry County, and made the proper representations concerning the advantages of the location ; but his overtures were met with disap- proval, on account of the credit of the State being in a low condition. But continued agitation of the sub- ject and unremitting effort finally accomplished the desired end. From 1847 to 1850 Mr. Allan was in- terested in a mercantile enterprise at Geneseo. In 1837 he bought 80 acres of land situated about half- way between Geneseo and Cambridge, for which he paid $10. He was. its owner until 1845, when he traded it to Royal M. Wilcox for a one-horse wagon, valued at $30.
The marriage of Mr. Allan to Susannah D. Stew- art occurred in 1839. She was born in Geneseo, N. Y., and is the daughter of Roderick D. Stewart, one of the Commissioners of the Geneseo Colony who came here in 1836. Theirs was the first marriage in the place, and Mrs. Allan was the teacher of the first school in the county. Four children came to the Allan household, one of whom died in infancy. Sarah A. is the superintendent of the Kindergarten School at Fort Collins, Col. Mary Amelia is the wife of George West, of Geneseo. Frances married William Pearsall, of the same place. Louise A. L. is the wife of Frank Williams, of the township of Loraine.
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Mrs. Allan is connected with the Congregational Church by membership.
In early life Mr. Allan was a Whig. At a later period he became a Republican and he has since pre- served a uniform and unwavering consistency with the principles of the party and has supported its is- sues.
oseph A. Sawyer, of Geneseo, came to Henry County in 1850, and from that date to 1877 he was identified with its business interests. He was born in the town of Sharon, Hillsborough Co., N. H., April 10, 1812. Abial and Sibyl (Buss) Sawyer, his father and mother, were both natives of the "Old Granite State," and were descendants of the Scoth-Irish who settled at Dunbarton, N. H., in 1719.
Mr. Sawyer was reared to the business in which he has principally passed his active life and in which he commenced his preparatory as a clerk at the age of 14. He came to Illinois in the fall of 1834 and spent the following winter at Peoria. In the spring of 1835 he went to Tremont, Tazewell County, where he became a member of the colony located there, and was engaged in the transaction of mercantile business three years. He was associated with Mr. James L. Wilson, who was so mysteriously mur- dered at Winetka in 1884. He went thence to Hampton in Rock Island County and operated there as a merchant until 1850, when he reinoved his in- terests to Henry County and located at Dayton. He established his business at that place and was en- gaged in its successful prosecution until his change of base to Geneseo, which transpired in 1861. At Geneseo he entered vigorously into the prosecution of his commercial interests and established branch stores, at Cleveland, Green River and Colona, where he conducted his commercial affairs until 1877. He then retired to private life at Geneseo, where he had maintained his residence from the date named as that of his removal there.
Mr. Sawyer has been actively interested in the es- tablishment and progress of the Geneseo Collegiate Institue since the inauguration of the project. He was made one of the first Trustees, and has con- tinued to discharge the duties of that position since.
He is of Democratic political views, and during his residence at various points has served in different official positions. Among the most prominent have been those of Justice of the Peace, Postmaster and as a member of Educational Boards.
He was united in marriage to Martha S. Rich- mond, Dec. 31, 1835, at Tremont. She was born in the State of Rhode Island, and was the daughter of Braddock Richmond. They became the parents of two sons and two daughters. Edward S. entered the military service of the United States during the Civil War, and enlisted in the Ninth Ill. Cav. Emma E. is the widow of Lewis W. Hanna, a son of Prior Hanna, one of the pioneer settlers of the county and whose name is given in one of its townships. (A sketch of Mr. Hanna may be found on other pages.) Mrs. Hanna lives at Peabody, Kan .; Louisa is en- gaged in the prosecution of a book, music and sta- tionery business at Greeley, Col. Albert, who is the third in order of birth, was also a soldier and be- longed to the 146th Ill. Inf. The mother died Jan. 25, 1849.
Mr. Sawyer was a second time married in July, 1850, to Lucy A., daughter of Elihu Wells. They have three children : Laura A. is the wife of George W. Dexter, who is a wholesale grocer in Chicago; Ella is the second child ; Henry W. married Cora L. Phares and is a resident of Chicago. Mrs. Sawyer is a native of Massena, St. Lawrence Co., N. Y., and came to the county in 1836, at the age of 17, with her father, mother and five sisters, in their own con- veyance.
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