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 52
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He was born in Union Township, in Tolland Co., Conn., June 5, 1823. Chauncey Paul, his father, was also a native of Tolland County, in the same State, and was born in 1798. He is still living, and is a resident on the farm on which he was born, and which he holds as a heritage from his father. The maiden name of his wife was Polly Armour, and she was born in the same county in which she was mar- ried, in October, 1879. She died there Aug. 25, 1883.
Mr. Paul attained to the state of manhood in the township of Union, and received a good education. He obtained a fair knowledge of the English branches in the common schools, and afterwards attended a term of study at the academy at Dudley, in Massa- chusetts, two terms at Warren, in the same State, and the same length of time at Munson Academy. At the age of 19 he began to teach, and was occu- pied in that vocation in the States of Massachusetts and Connecticut for some years. In 1852 he went to Townsend, Mass., and there he engaged in the business of a turner of handles for farming imple- ments, and other irregular work. He was thus em- ployed in that place until the spring of 1856. Then, as has been stated, he came to Henry County. He became by purchase the owner of a tract of land in the township of Edford, located on section 14. He
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built a good and commodious frame house, and pro- ceeded with the improvements on the place. In May, 1860, the residence was destroyed by a torna- do, being entirely blown away. It was necessary to rebuild from the foundation, which he did on the same site, and continued the labor of placing the farm under the best quality of improvements. There are 162 acres in the farm, and it is all inclosed and cultivated. In 1882 he bought the place on which he now resides, in the township of Geneseo, located on section 20, and containing 80 acres. The place is in first-class condition for profitable cultivation, and is fitted with all necessary buildings, fruit and shade trees.
The marriage of Mr. Paul to Ann E. Kinney took place March 16, 1852. She was born in Union Township, in Tolland Co., Conn., and is the daugh- ter of Nathan and Lucy (Wales) Kinney. Addie J. is the name of the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Paul.
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illiam Broadbent, one of the energetic and progressive farmers of Annawan Township, where he resides on section 34, is a son of James and Betty Broadbent. He was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1822. His parents are both deceased, having died in England, which was their native country -- the father . May 27, 1871, aged 78 years, and the mother May 17, 1879, aged 8r years.
William came to America in 1849, on the 17th day of April, and may be called one of the pioneers of Henry County. He located in the Barren Grove, where he owns 320 acres of good land, 220 acres of which is under excellent cultivation, and finely equipped, and 100 acres of it is timber pasture. Upon this land he has erected a good substantial dwelling, 40 × 46 feet, being a two-story house. He has a herd of 90 head of Short-horn cattle of a good grade. His horses are of the English Draft breed, and he has an excellent flock of Cotswold sheep.
Before Mr. Broadbent left England he was united in marriage with Rose Ann Prince, their wedding day being the 8th of May, 1844. She started with him across the Atlantic to the New World, and while in mid-ocean died, and was consigned to a watery
grave. In 1851 Mr. Broadbent and Mrs. Martha Booth were united in marriage. She was born in 1826, in England. The record of the children are as follows : By his first marriage the following chil- dren were born : Benjamin, July 1, 1844, and Wil- son, July 2, 1846. By his second marriage the fol- lowing were born : George H., May 11, 1853; Mary E., Nov. 27, 1855 ; Charlotte H., Jan. 9, 1858; Jamies E., April 30, 1860 ; Thomas A., Sept. 29, 1862 ; Alice J., Sept. 27, 1866. Mrs. Broadbent, by her former marriage to Mr. Booth, had the following children : Robert P., born March 7, 1846, and Eliza, May 22, 1848.
Mrs. Broadbent's father, George Prince, was also a native of England, and was born in 1782. He was married to Rebecca Wilson, who was born in June, 1796. They came to America, and located in the northern part of Illinois, where, on the 4th of May, 1862, in Bureau County, Mr. Prince died. Mrs. Prince died in Henry County. They were the par- ents of the following ten children : Sarah, Robert, George, Rose Ann, Martha, Mary, Anna, Rebecca, Ruth and Emma.
Mr. Broadbent is one of the prominent and well- to-do farmers of Henry County. He is a man highly esteemed for his many good qualities, and one of the old settlers of Henry County.
liny Freeman, of Geneseo, is one of the solid citizens of the place, where he has YOY been a resident since the fall of 1869. He is the proprietor of a large amount of prop- eity in the city, which includes several busi- ness blocks and dwellings. He is the owner of Freeman's Hall. He has passed the allotted term of human life by ten years, but is still actively interested in the personal supervision of his affairs
Mr. Freeman was born in Sturbridge, Mass., in the same town in which his ancestors had lived from the period in which the first progenitor, so far as is now known, settled when he came thence from New- ton, in the Bay State. The year of his removal is not known. His name was Samuel Freeman, and he probably became a resident of Sturbridge about the middle of the 18th century. The town was in- corporated Feb. 13, 1739, and he located in what is now the central portion of the village. His widow
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afterwards married again, and died in 1807 at the age of 92. Their children were named Benjamin, Comfort, Jared, Samuel, Walter, Rachel, Martha and Mary (twins) and Raney. Comfort was the grand- father of Mr. Freeman, and was born Aug. 23, 1750 (O. S.). He was married May 6, 1771. She was born at Sturbridge, Feb. 13, 1749 (O. S.). He died at Sturbridge, Dec. 4, 1796 (N. S.). Her demise oc- curred Aug. 5, 1832 (N. S.). She was upwards of 93. They had nine children.
Pliny, second son and fifth child, was born Sept. 24, 1780. He was a farmer, and also worked to some extent as a carpenter, as he had a natural gift for the use of tools. He married Delia, daughter of Silas Marsh, and lived nearly the whole of his life at Sturbridge, where his children were born and reared. He died at the residence of his daughter in the town of Webster, in the same county, Oct. 10, 1855. His wife died in 1859. Their children were named Silas .M., Pliny, Beulah, Delia, Florilla, Augusta and Dwight. The last named and Mr. Freeman, of this sketch, are the only survivors, and they both reside at Geneseo.
Mr. Freeman was brought up on his father's farm, and had only the advantages of the common-schools of the place and period, which were hardly of the character of the educational institutions of the State which are now the pride and boast of New England. However, those days were the time in which the ma- terial on which the prosperity of the West is founded was in its formative state, and it is a mooted ques- tion whether what was then considered the lack of education, was not the condition which ensured the future of the country. It is an established fact that those who were reared without the so-called advant- ages of these later times came to be the bone and sinew of the times when men were needed. Mr. Freeman inherited the privilege and ability for hard work, and also the unassuming pretensions of the family tree, of which he was an offshoot. He learned the trade of a carpenter, finishing his knowledge of its details under the instructions of a man named Loren Merrick.
The limited opportunities of the East impelled him to seek a new field of operation, and at 23 he came to Cleveland, Ohio, where he had friends, and he there found an opportunity to work at the trade which he had fixed upon as his vocation in life. Not long after he had commenced his labors in Ohio
he was seriously injured in his left knee, and he passed some months on a sick bed in consequence. But his job waited for him, and as soon as possible arrangements were made so he could go on with the work he had planned. He saved his earnings and bought a small piece of land in the vicinity of the city, which he afterwards sold. He fixed his resi- dence at Cleveland, and was a citizen of that place 40 years, and was engaged there as a carpenter dur- ing the entire period.
Meanwhile his brother Dwight had settled at Geneseo, and he came here to visit him about the year 1853. He bought at that time a piece of land in the vicinity of the village (then) and made some improvements, with the intention some time of mak- ing his home thereon. In the fall of 1869 he re- moved to Henry County to fulfill the purpose ; but, instead of building his house and making ready to pass his life in the quiet retirement of a small place just suited to the needs of his family, he was induced to invest his savings in an entirely different avenue. His brother was the owner of a business building in Geneseo, and soon after the arrival of Mr. Freeman it was destroyed by fire. Mr. Freeman rebuilt the structure, and has since been occupied in the man- agement of the property in which he so unexpectedly became permanently interested.
He was married Sept. 8, 1835, in the city of Cleve- land, to Marcia, daughter of Gaines and Mary (Bron- son) Pritchard. She was born in Waterbury, New Haven Co., Conn., April 11, 1816. Her father re- moved his family from Connecticut to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1820. The journey was made with an ox team and occupied six weeks. The following year was sickly, and the mother died in August. A month later the father was also in his grave, and the daughter, then six years old, was an orphan. The generations of the families to which Mrs. Freeman belongs were noted for tenacity of life. When she was in early infancy she had six grandmothers. Her grandmother Pritchard was 96 when she died, and the grandmother on her mother's side was within a few weeks of being 100 when her decease took place. The latter at 90 was in the vigor of a person 20 years younger. She had her second sight and could read and sew without glasses. She was a woman of un- common energy, and noted for the work in her family which she accomplished, an array that would tire the belles of the period to hear enumerated. The male
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progenitors of both families were principally farmers, but two of Mrs. Freeman's cousins in the Pritchard line were Episcopal clergymen, and one was a physi- cian. All the women in the generations which pre- ceded hers were well instructed in the arts common to the period in which they lived. They spun and wove, were fairly educated, and bore themselves through their long and useful lives with dignity and grace. Their noble traits are fresh and sweet in the remembrances of their descendants. The mother of Mrs. Freeman, Mary Pritchard, was the daughter of Gates Bronson. The father of the latter was a sol- dier of the Revoiution, and was made a Lieutenant. He also did the duty of an Adjutant. His son was born in the course of the war and was named after the noted General Gates. Lieutenant Bronson never received a pension, and never applied for one, but after his death his widow received about $200 yearly from the Government. Mrs. Freeman is a com- municant in the Episcopal Church. She is a re- markably well preserved woman, and is a good type of the New England blood from which she sprung. She would have made a heroine if circumstances had demanded. But passing her life in the quiet repose which the later generations in this land en- joy, she is simply a lady who is an honor to the com - munity in which she lives. She is prominent in Church matters, and is known for her liberality and genial temper.
Kenry Messmore is one of the prominent and well-to-do farmers of Annawan Township, and resides on section 34. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1831, and in 1835 went to Ohio with his parents. There he passed the follow- ing eighteen years of his life, attending such schools as the community where his parents lived af- forded, and assisting his father at his work. In 1853 we find him in Henry County, and the following year he celebrated his marriage. Miss Christina Blin, who was born in Warren Co., Ohio, Oct. 14, 1833, was his bride. They have an excellent farm of 280 acres, all well improved and equipped, and upon which is a two-story dwelling 40 feet square, and a barn 30 x 60 feet. He has a fine herd of Short-horns, five of which are thoroughbred. He is a member of
the I. O. O. F., and is connected with Lodge No. I28. The hall where the Lodge meets is in Kewa- nee. He and the family are all members of the United Brethren Church, and politically Mr. Mess- more affiliates with the Democratic party.
Mr. and Mrs. Messmore became the parents of the following named children ‹ Daniel W., born April 14, 1855 ; Margaret A., born May 5, 1856; Sarah E., born Oct. 7, 1857 ; and Jacob N., born Aug. 7, 1859. The following are deceased : two in- fants unnamed; Julia E., born Oct. 28, 1863 ; and George E., born March 1, 1865.
homas Liken, of Munson Township, is one of the most extensive land owners in Henry County, and is the owner of more than 1,100 acres of improved land, which is all in- cluded in the same township. Mr. Liken was born in 1820. Until he was 13 he was brought up in the city of Pittsburg, Pa. In 1833 his father removed from the city to Indiana Township, in its vicinity, where he bought a farm. There were at that date no free schools, and Mr. Liken was sent to a private school, where he obtained a fair education. This was in the city before the removal of the family to Indiana Township. The residence there was maintained but three years. At the end of that time another removal to the township of Penn was effected, where the father also bought a farm. The mother of Mr. Liken had died when he was eight years old, and his father was again married. The latter died in the township where the last farm was bought, May 7, 1839. The death of the stepmother took place six weeks after that of her husband. Mr. Liken was the oldest son and he took charge of the estate. When it was settled he became the owner of a part of it, and was a resident thereon until 1865. He left his patrimony in the hands of a renter and re- moved to Henry County. He located at the very first in the same township where he has since prose- cuted his farming projects. He made a purchase of 160 acres of land, on which there had been no im- provements whatever, and also bought 97 acres which had been placed under the plow. The first purchase is all improved and is neatly hedged. The buildings on the farm of Mr. Liken do credit to his
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taste and judgment, and the place is rendered more beautiful and valuable by the trees which have been set out in great plenty. Mr. Liken is an adherent of the Republican party.
His marriage to Sarah A. Sands was celebrated Feb. 3, 1842. She was born in Allegheny Co., Pa. To them four children have been born, whose names are Thomas P., John F., Samuel S. and Florence K. The latter is married to A. P. Hoffman, a resident of Los Angeles, Cal. The oldest son, William A., was a soldier in the late war and was killed at the battle of Petersburg, June 18, 1864. He enlisted in Co. E, 155th Penn. Zouaves.
The members of the family of Mr. Liken are mem- bers of the Presbyterian Church.
oseph C. Webb, of Annawan Township, came to Henry County in 1852. He was born in the town of Bloomfield, in Somer- set Co., Me., Sept. 26, 1882. His father, J. B. Webb, was born in Maine, in the year 1797 . His mother, Martha (Weston) Webb, was born in the same State in 1799. She died in 1869. The death of her husband took place in the year fol- lowing. Theodore D., Joseph C., Ellen, Esther, F. D., Hiram, Stephen, Anna, Martha, Frank, Olive and Mary E. are the names of their children.
Mr. Webb, of this sketch, married Elizabeth Bur- gess, in September, 1848. She was born in March, 1825, and has been the mother of five children. Hiram, Charles H., Lizzie and Sarah are living. Samuel died March 3, 1861.
Mr. Webb located on the farm on which he has since prosecuted his business schemes, in the spring of 1853, the year subsequent to that in which he came to Henry County. He is the proprietor of 160 acres of land, on which there is a good dwelling, and the usual outfit of excellent farm buildings. On the home place there are 260 rods of hedge. All the stock on the place is thoroughbred. Mr. Webb has one full-blooded bull of the Short-horn breed, and his horses are Normans and Clydesdales. Mr. Webb is a farmer of the rank in that profession who has aided in the splendid development of the county. He is esteemed for his worth as a citizen, and his business integrity, as well as the interest he has man-
ifested in the progress of the communtty of which he is a member. In political preference he is connected with the Republican party. Mrs. Webb is connected in membership with the Congregational Church.
mariah Withrow, a farmer of Phenix Township, is the oldest son of Neely Withrow, one of the pioneers of the first year of the settlement of Henry County. The family came to this county in 1835, and to Phenix Township in 1836, of which they have since been residents, and have been without inter- mission since then connected with the history of the municipality into which they came at a time when its locality was designated by the number which marked its relative position on the chart of the sur- veyor.
Mr. Withrow, of this account, was born May 4, 1831, in White Co., Ill., and he was only four years of age when his parents came to Henry County. They settled on a farm, and the son grew up under the conditions which characterized the experiences of the pioneer days on the prairie farms. He was an attendant at the sessions of the first school taught in the county, in the first log school-house that was built within the limits of Henry County. It was the most primitive sort of a building, its floor being of slabs and the benches of the same material set up on legs, and without backs. The entire boyhood, youth and early manhood of Mr. Withrow were passed in the manner common to the location, and he has devoted his later years to the improvement of the township in which he received his first im- pressions of his obligations to the interests of the world of work and effort.
He was united in marriage, Aug. 8, 1856, to Mary J. Huston, a native of Ohio. Their surviving chil- dren are named William H., Letha A., Lucinda E. and Jerome S. One after another of their first three children passed away while they were in their earliest infancy.
After his marriage, Mr. Withrow took possession of a tract of land which he had previously purchased on section 14, and it has since been the field of his operations. He is engaged in the pursuits of a stock and grain farmer. At the time of his purchase of
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the property a small frame house had been erected thereon. To this the proprietor has made the neces- sary additions, and it is still the family residence. A good frame barn has also been built on the farm.
Mr. and Mrs. Withrow are both members of the Episcopal Church.
illiam Clarke, a retired farmer residing at Orion, was born in the northern part of Ireland, March 10, 1819. His parents were life-long farmers, and lived and died in their native country. They were John and Margaret (Armor) Clarke. William was the fifth child of a family of nine children, six sons and three daughters, all of whom are married except one.
William passed the years prior to his majority under the parental roof, devoting the latter years of this period to learning the carpenter's trade, serving an apprenticeship of five years under John Maxwell. After he reached the age of 21 years, he set out for America all alone. He soon made his way to Mer- cer Co., Ill., where he located, his brother having come in 1835, five years before he did. He soon went to Rock Island, however, where he followed his trade for nearly two years, when he returned to Swe- dona, formerly called Berlin, Mercer County, where he was married Aug. 23, 1842, to Miss Almira Pills- bury. (For her parental history see sketch of Levi Pillsbury.) She was born in Grafton Co., N. H., October 9, 1813. Shortly after her birth, the family moved to St. Lawrence Co., N. Y., where they lived for some years, when they came West and located in Andover Township, when she was 23 years old, and were consequently very early pioneers in this section of the country. The five children born of her mar- riage to Mr. Clarke are John P., who married Emma Wilkinson, and is a farmer of Lynn Township, this county; Esther Ann, wife of George Carnes, of Orion ; Edward P. married Anna Cunningham and lives at Monmouth, where he is a clerk in an agricul- tural store; Amelia R. is the wife of William Smith, an attorney of Orion ; Almira L. resides at home.
About two years after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Clarke went to Milan (then called Camden Mills), Rock Island County, where they resided from 1844 to 1861, and where Mr. C. erected the second house
in the village. During the time he was in Milan, he was engaged in the wagon-making and blacksmith- ing business. In 1855 he purchased a farm in Lynn Township, this county, upon which he made fair im- improvements. He followed agricultural pursuits for two years successfully, when in 1857 he returned to Milan and embarked in the general mercantile business, which he continued to run for four years and was at the same time Postmaster. In 1861 he again returned to his farm and was there engaged, with the exception of two years he lived at Bloom- ington, Ill., until 1879, when he came to Orion. He then purchased the property he now occupies, and upon which he has made great improvements, chiefly in the erection of an elegant residence. He improved a half section of land in Lynn Township, one-half of which he bequeathed equally to two sons and the re- mainder, which is well improved, he retained. His lot in the village contained four and one-half acres.
Both he and his wife are members of the Presby- terian Church, of which Mr. C. has been Elder for many years. Politically, he is a Prohibitionist.
oseph Fronk, a farmer on section 14, in the township of Annawan, located in Henry County in 1854. He was born in Dauphin Co., Pa., in 1813. He came to the State of Illinois in 185 1, at settled at Tiskilwa, in Bu- reau County, where he resided until the year in which he came to Henry County.
At the age of 24 he was joined in marriage to Miss Mary Kaplar. Their union occurred in May, 1834. She was born Aug. 30, 1812, in Juniata Co., Pa. Seven sons have been born to them, of whom all are still living but one. Henry N. was born May 15, 1836; David, Oct. 5, 1838; William H., Oct. 12, 1841; James A., Oct. 30, 1843; Joseph W., Oct. 21, 1847 ; Jacob R., Jan. 13, 1851. The son who is deceased was a soldier of the late war, and was wounded at Stone River. He died after two weeks, of hemorrhage, and was brought home for burial. His remains were placed in Fairview Cemetery, in the county where he was born.
Henry Fronk, the father of Mr. Fronk, of this sketch, was born in the county of Lancaster, Pa., in 1775. He died in Dauphin Co., Pa., in 1867. Sarah
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Buchanan Fronk, his wife, was born in the same county in which her son was born, in 1777. Her de- mise took place in 1865. She became the wife of Mr. Fronk, senior, in 1809. Her parents came from Ireland, and those of her husband were natives of Germany. The family of which Mr. Fronk is a member comprised the following children : Elizabeth, Joseph, Levi, Hannah, John, Harriet and Sarah. John and Sarah are dead.
The farm of Mr. Fronk includes 160 acres. He became its possessor in the year in which he removed to the county. He obtained the title of the Govern- ment of the United States, and he has placed the entire acreage under excellent cultivation. The farm house is a comfortable structure, and the other build- ings are of excellent type. On the place is a fine grove of trees, which Mr. Fronk planted with his own hands. He is a member of the Republican party, and both himself and his wife have been for more than a score of years connected with the Church of the United Brethren.
illiam Smith, of Edford Township, is a representative citizen of Henry County in more than the common acceptation of the term. What he is he has made himself. He is a foreigner, and at the outset of his career he was in the most humble circumstan- ces. All that is included in the term "poor" he has known in its full significance.
He was born in Prussia, Nov. 10, 1822. He was the son of Henry and Caroline Smith, and from his parents his only inheritance was the privilege of bearing his own spear and shield in the battle of life. The conflict commenced when he was a lad of ten years. His first employment was in the capacity of a herder of cattle, and he passed eight months in that kind of labor. For the entire period of his efforts in that direction he received one dollar in cash, a pair of shoes, and ten yards of the home-made linen, which is a common product of his native country. He was in the habit of rising at four o'clock in the morning, and he had charge of the cattle until ten o'clock, after which he was per- mitted to attend school until one o'clock. He then resumed his vigilance over the cattle, and was on duty from that time until nightfall. He continued
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