Portrait and biographical album of Knox county, Illinois, Part 110

Author: Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo and Chicago; Chapman Brothers, pub
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical publishing company
Number of Pages: 1130

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both she and her husband are dead, having left two daughters and one son) ; Clark died in September, 1866, and left a widow and two children -- Curtis and Mary. The brothers and sisters of her husband are as follows : Polly, Catherine, Jacob, James, Peggy and two who died in infancy. Jacob died Nov. 19, 1881, in his 67th year.

Mr. and Mrs. Shumaker have a family consisting of 17 children, one of whom died in infancy. viz. : Robert, born Sept. 2, 1845, married Jane Shumaker and lives in Knox County ; Fidelia, born Oct. 27, 1846, died May 22, 1862; Harrison, born April 9, 1848, married Miss Sophia Shumaker ; Sally, born Oct. 25, 1849, is the wife of Mr. S. Meek; Mary, born Aug. 25, 1851, married Mr. M. Snyder; Will- iam, born March 29, 1853, married Miss Ella Cash- man; Charles E., born Feb. 29, 1855, died at the early age of two years, Sept. 20, 1856; Clarke, born Jan. 24, 1857, married Miss Annie Fuller ; Ida, born April 24, 1858, died Nov. 30, 1878; she was the wife of Franklin Bond, of this township, and they had one son, named Harley Bond; Niles, born March 12, 1860, died Dec. 24, 1863; James, born Jan. 8, 1862, died April 5, 1864; Theodore, born Oct. 7, 1863, died Feb. 12, 1865 ; Dell, born April 5, 1865 ; Carry, born Nov. 28, 1866, died in 1868; Cora, born Sept. 24, 1868, and Edna, March 16, 1870.

Mr. Shumaker is the owner of 190 acres of excel- lent land ; he has a good dwelling-house and con- venient out-buildings, and is engaged in the rearing of cattle and horses. He has 14 head of Short-horn cattle, and a bull, named Gladstone, two years of age. The name of Mr. Shumaker's farm is the "Gold Mine Herd Farm," and it is located four and a half miles southeast of Abingdon, about two and a half miles northwest from Herman. His location is beautiful, giving a fine view of the surrounding coun- try, with its gently undulating surface and fields of waving grain. Looking it over, he may well think proudly, " I am monarch of all I survey." In con- nection with his farming interests and breeding of cattle, he raises Clydesdale horses, and has an inter- est in two stallions-Romeo and Western Monarch, three and five years of age respectively. He has been very successful in his stock-raising ventures, and, in truth, in nearly everything he has attempted. Both himself and wife are able and useful members of the society in which they mingle, and his wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Her-

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man. He is an evidence of the truth of the saying, " Nothing succeeds like success." In politics he was originally an old-time Whig, and when the Repub- lican party came into power he joined that organi- zation and has been a Republican ever since.

lexander McConchie, the senior member of the successful firm of McConchie Bros., of Oneida, manufacturers of wagons and carriages, is the subject of this notice. He was born in Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland, Sept. 20, 1851. He was the oldest son in a family of seven children, and was about seven years of age when he first saw the broad prairies of Illinois.

He came from his native land with his parents (see sketch of David McConchie for their history), in June, 1857, and has since made his home in Oneida. Alexander was educated in the High School of this place, and at the age of 17 he apprenticed himself to David Hamilton, a well-known and skillful black- smith. He learned his trade thoroughly, working for three years. Afterward, as a "jour," he continued two years with Mr. Hamilton, then established a trade on his own account, opening a shop, in which he remained for one year. He next removed to Geneseo, Henry County, where he worked one year for a Mr. Parker. He then returned to Oneida, and in 1876 re-engaged with Mr. Hamilton, his old em- ployer, with whom he remained till 1879, when, with his younger brother, David, they established their present business, in which our subject took the posi- tion of manager of the iron department.

Naturally possessed of fine mechanical ability, and being a skilled workman in both design and execu- tion, Mr. McConchie has gained an enviable reputa- tion in his particular line of business. The buggies, carriages and wagons which have been turned out of the manufactory, have proved on critical examination to be first-class and both brothers enjoy the confi- dence of their patrons and townsmen.

April 8, 1876, Mr. McConchie was married in Wataga, to Miss Elizabeth Rowesburg, at the home of her sister. Miss R. claimed as her birthplace Pittsburg, Pa. She came to Illinois with her parents early in girlhood, and the family settled in Wataga, where the parents afterward lived for some time.

Subsequently the father went to the State of Mis- souri, where he died at Canton. The mother sur- vived him but a short time, dying in 1869, at Cen- terville, Ill., at the home of her daughter. Mrs. Mc- Conchie was educated in Wataga, of this county, and in Canton, Mo. She grew up under the paternal roof, remaining at home till the death of her father, and after this sad bereavment she was cordially wel- comed into the home circle of relatives, where she resided till her marriage.

McConchie Brothers are in possession of some valuable real estate in Oneida, composed in part of their business property, which includes a large lot, occupied by a number of convenient workshops, and a valuable residence lot in the west part of the town. Mr. McConchie takes as great an interest in outside affairs as is consistent with the responsibility of his growing business, in which he is mainly engrossed. He is a Democrat in political belief.

llen W. Phares, live-stock dealer in Gales- burg, was born in Greene County, Ohio, May 10, 1813. He came into DeWitt County, this State, in 1848, and to Galesburg in 1858. His parents, Robert and Mary (Chamberlain) Phares, natives of the State of New Jersey and England, were married in New Jersey, and soon afterward removed to Ohio, where their sons and daughters were born and reared; the two old people died in Union County, Ohio, the father in 1840, at the venerable age of 76, and the mother in 1843, aged 69. The old gentleman was a farmer and mechanic, and for 18 years consecutively before he died was Justice of the Peace.

Allen W. was brought up on his father's farm, edu- cated in the elementary branches of the common schools of Greene County, Ohio, where he taught a term or two, and in 1838 gave up agriculture as a business. When about 25 years of age he engaged in the mercantile business at the town of Summer- ford, Ohio, but followed it only a short time. In Clinton, De Witt County, this State, he farmed a few years, and then engaged in mercantile business and stock-shipping. Coming to this county, he bought a farm about four miles northeast from Galesburg, where in 1859 a burning stick, thrown from a loco- motive engine, set fire to and consumed his barn

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and the entire product of an 80-acre wheat-field, the loss being about $2,000. For this damage he sued the company, and his attorneys settled his claim for $300.

Mr. Phares came to Galesburg to live in 1861 ; engaged in the meat business five or six years, and has since carried on live-stock traffic. He was mar- ried in Madison County, Ohio, when about 20 years of age, to Miss Permelia Willard, who died July 14, 1884, aged upward of 68 years. She was the mother of nine children-Calvin, Martin, Abner R., Mary Helen (deceased), Hulda Jane, Ella (deceased), Albina, Louisa and Sarah, who died in infancy. Abner R. is a banker in Clinton, Ill .; Mary H. was the wife of Thomas Hamplin; Hulda is the wife of Thomas Rowen, and Ella was married to William Rowen. The family are Universalists, and the chil- dren were all educated at Lombard University. Sept. 19, 1883, witnessed a highly enjoyable cele- bration of the golden wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Phares, at which time the handsome and substantial remembrances of children and friends were of such character as tended to gladden the hearts of the old people the remainder of their lives.

ev. Thomas Camp, third son and sev- enth child of Sterling and Anna Camp, was born in McMinn County, Tenn., Jan. 21, 1814, and died at Abingdon, this county, Nov. 26, 1856. His parents were born in South Carolina, and in their youth witnessed the stirring and often distressing scenes that occurred in that section during the Revolutionary War.

In early life they accompanied the first emigrants who crossed the mountains and sought settlement in East Tennessee, amid the wilds of nature and the still wilder Indians, and there shared the hardships and perils encountered by the early settlers of that region. Pushing on in the van of emigration, they at length acquired a body of valuable land, then in the territory of the Cherokees, now embraced in Mc- Minn County, where they made final settlement. There their children were born and reared, and there their ashes now rest. Shut in by formidable mountain ranges, communication with the outer world was both difficult and rare. Few books, fewer letters, and still fewer newspapers reached these

land-locked pioneers. Business, moral, social and religious standards took quality largely from individ- uals, who, by common consent, gave laws on these questions, by the power of their opinions and ex- ample.

Among those uncrowned, non-elected givers of laws to their fellows, were Sterling and Anna Camp -he, in the morals, methods and habits of successful business-she, in the domestic, social and religious virtues. Such was the parentage of the subject of this sketch, and such the conditions to which he was born, and which, with small modifications, surrounded him to the age of manhood. He had small oppor- tunity for obtaining an education, other than he found or could make within his own home. How- ever, a native thirst for knowledge led him to employ all his available time in study, and while still young he evinced a strong desire for a liberal education, which grew to be the one ambition of his earlier years. Circumstances compelled him to abandon this cherished purpose, which through all subsequent life was a source of deepest regret. At the town of White Plains, Ala., Dec. 20, 1835, he was married to Charity Teague, fourth daughter of Dr. John Neal, a physician then widely known through the new South- ern States. Returning with his bride, he was soon es- tablished in a home on land situate on the Hiawassee River, one and a quarter miles above Charleston. This land was put under cultivation, and large grain and saw mills, workshops, etc., were erected at the river side. Here was his home and the principal scene of his labors, till the autumn of 1848, when, in com- pany with his brother-in-law, Rev. John M. Courtney, and two other families, he emigrated to Western Illi- nois-proceeding the entire distance by road wagons -reaching his temporary destination in Warren County, after six weeks' traveling. In the spring of 1849 he purchased and located upon a tract of land, situated where the town of Good Hope, McDonough County, now stands, a point then separated by many miles in some directions from the nearest settler. This property he improved, and upon it resided with his family till the spring of 1856, when he removed to Abingdon, which has been the home of a portion of his family during the past 30 years. His sole pur- pose in this removal was to give his children such opportunity for an education as he had so ardently desired for himself, but which had been denied him. Thomas Camp was the son of a Puritan mother, and

LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

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Rebecca Chase Hoodmansus

LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINO ;

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partook largely of her physical and mental character- istics.

Mrs. Anna Camp, nee Helm, was tall, lithe and sinewy of body-clear, vigorous and courageous of mind, with moral and religious convictions as well defined as a geometrical figure. She possessed much of that force of character which has made several of her name conspicuous figures in different South- ern communities. Though of purely Carolina stock, she was as essentially Puritan in heroic endurance for and defense of truth, right, liberty and conscience as any who ever went out from Plymouth Colony. These qualities contributed much to make her the authority and power she was among the people and amid the perils of her border home. Among the things that came to be approved by people of influ- ence about her, which fell under condemnation by her fixed standards, were rum and slavery-to both of which she was unalterably opposed. In these views of the mother the son shared from boyhood, with all the intensity of a strong nature. He felt the wrong of slavery as strongly as did any New England Abolitionist, and in addition thereto he knew, by act- ual contact with that institution, its blighting influ- ence upon the better nature of both the white and black races, and early determined to place his chil- dren beyond its immediate contagion. It was to ef- fect this object that he sacrificed his comfortable home in the South, and accepted the stern conditions of an early settler in Illinois-a step he never re- gretted. When, after a painful struggle, he abandoned his cherished purpose of suitably preparing for a learned profession, he turned to his plantation, mills and shops, with much energy, perseverance and fair success ; at the same time prosecuting such course of reading and study as his limited leisure would per- mit. This line of life, however, did not prove satis- fying. He was possessed by an uncontrollable im- pulse toward a sphere of broader usefulness among men. At length he became convinced that it was his duty to enter the Gospel ministry, and to allot a portion of his time to that work, while the remainder should be employed in conducting his ordinary bus- iness affairs. Very many of the most effective preachers of that country and period so divided their time. Accordingly, on the 18th of May, 1845, he was ordained to the ministry in the Baptist Church, and from that date to the close of life a portion of his time was set apart for that work, and with such

allotment he allowed no requirement of other bus- iness to interfere. He never accepted the pastorate of any church, though repeatedly urged to do so -- choosing rather to labor in the unoccupied or irre- ligious fields. He never accepted compensation for ministerial labor, but always gave liberally of his own private means to the support of the Gospel, and in- sisted that Christians to whom he preached should do likewise.

Mr. Camp had little of the mannerism and minor methods of popular preachers, and was therefore not a universal favorite. However, among more thought- ful people, of various shades of belief and unbelief, his ministry was ever acceptable, commanding their attendance and profound attention. In his pulpit service he attempted no mere verbal ornamentation or rhetorical effect. His discourses-clear, logical and practical, enforced by scriptural quotations, and illustrated by facts gleaned from a wide range of reading-were directed to the minds and consciences of men with great power. He held that, under our form of government, the duties of citizenship take rank as high moral and religious obligations, and, therefore, took deep interest in the politics of his country. He was a stanch Whig until that party was disbanded, when he naturally affiliated with the Re- publican party with zeal and enthusiasm. It is re- membered that he felled with his own hands, and with his teams conveyed to the spot on Main street, Abingdon, where it was erected, the young tree out of which was wrought the great pole from which the large Fremont and Dayton flag floated during the. campaign of 1856. He felt the defeat of the Repub- lican party in that year, with all the poignancy of a personal bereavement. The principles for which he liad contended for a lifetime achieved a political triumph four years later, but ere then he had been " gathered to his fathers."

He placed an exaggerated estimate upon the ad- vantages conferred by a classical education, and, though a man of rare attainments, he always felt at a disadvantage among men whose opportunities for education had been such as had been denied to him. This, added to a native modesty approaching dif- fidence, caused him to shrink from prominence among his fellows, and resulted frequently in his not being placed in those stations of responsibility for which he was so eminently fitted by superior natural and acquired abilities.

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A devoted husband and father, consistent in char- acter, a model of probity, ardent and tenacious in friendship, wise and sympathetic in counsel, generous to a fault, and a lover of his kind, Thomas Camp was, altogether, such a manly man as good men, everywhere, cherish in association and in memory.

harity Teague Camp, relict of Rev. Thomas Camp, resided at Abingdon for more than a fourth of a century. She was born in South Carolina, May 7, 1818, and died at Shenandoah, Iowa, Sept. 26, 1885. She was the fourth daughter of Dr. John and Rebecca B. Neal, scions of an old South Carolina family. Dr. Neal was a man of great skill as a physician, but of such restless energy that no single vocation satisfied him. To his professional labors he, from time to time, added those of mer- chant, planter, drover, mill-owner, etc., but not with uniform success. He made and lost fortunes with marvelous rapidity and equanimity. The excitement of frontier enterprises and dangers had a peculiar fascination for him, and, in 1834, led him to locate among the Creek Indians, in Alabama, where he died a few years later. He was a man of spot- less character, and of broad usefulness in his time.

The subject of this sketch had few advantages derived from schools of any grade, being reared in the same vicinity and amid surroundings similar to those of her husband. But, in addition to the in- tellectual character and pursuits of her father, she had large compensation in her mother, who had been bred with great care and tenderness, and who devoted herself with rare assiduity and success to the cult- ure of the minds and manners of her daughters. Mrs. Camp sympathized heartily with the tastes and pursuits of her husband, and, by her cheerful, hopeful views of life, shed continuous sunshine upon their often rugged and shadowy pathway. She was womanly in the last degree by nature, and instinctively leaned upon her husband in all purely business affairs-a habit strengthened by her South- ern education. When, therefore, she was left a widow, with a limited income and eight children, all minors, she felt, as she expressed it, " like a child confronted by a stone wall, through which it must

pass." She, however, bravely consecrated the ener- gies of her life to carrying forward the work begun by her husband, in the education of their children, and never turned aside from it while opportunity lasted. How she struggled and sacrificed, in that work, many know in part, and her children will cherish in holy remembrance.

In the summer of 1861, her married daughter enigrated across the plains to California, and her eldest son entered the service of his Government in a foreign land. In the autumn of the same year, her other sons, aged 20 and 17 respectively, enlisted in the Union Army, for a term of three years' service.

About the same time, death claimed little Lizzie, the idol of the household, leaving only the widow and three young daughters in the broken home. What she endured in her loneliness, from domestic cares, anxiety for absent ones-more especially from the awful suspense that hung about the results to her of oft-recurring battles in the field, during the terrible years of the Civil War-no mortal ever knew, for she bore her greatest burdens in secret.

She was devoutly pious from early youth, and her faith gave tone and strength to her character. Trust- ing implicitly in the promises of the God of the Bible, she rested in the arms of Omnipotence with a quiet courage which no calamity could wholly break. Her religion was, to her, a fountain of hope and cheerful- ness, even in the darkest days of her long widow- hood, and kept her heart young to the end of life. She was ever the ideal of children, the welcome companion of youth, the cherished friend and coun- selor of young manhood and womanhood. She was a wife and mother in all those sacred terms imply, and lived a widow nearly 30 years, not in name only, but in heart. In every relation in life she filled the full measure of a true woman-loved while living, and mourned when dead, by a wide circle of friends. She lived to see her seven remaining children heads of families, and to rejoice in the love and veneration of her grandchildren. Her four daughters are wo- men of high character and liberal culture, ranking with the useful members of the community in which they live. Mrs. Rebecca A. Nye lives at San Jose, Cal .; Sarah E., wife of Dr. S. M. Spaulding, lives at Minneapolis, Minn .; Maggie M., wife of Dr. H. P. Duffield, lives at Shenandoah, Iowa ; Ivy C., wife of M. J Duffield, lives at Omaha, Neb.

John N., the eldest son, who was educated at

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Abingdon College, was appointed at the beginning of President Lincoln's administration Consul to Kings- ton, Jamaica. After the expiration of his term he was engaged for awhile in business in Central America. From that country he went to Galveston, Texas, where he has since made his home, and en- tered the customs service. During this period he was married to a lady of Kingston, Jamaica, and subse- quently he was appointed by President Grant Col- lector of Internal Revenue for the First District of Texas. He became active and prominent in the latter part of the reconstruction of Texas, being a member of most of the conventions of his party (Republican), and a wise counselor in all its deliber- ations, as the writer of this sketch personally knows. In Galveston, especially, has he been the leader of his party, and directed here all its movements. He is a man of fine personal appearance, of large in- tellect, extensive culture, of exalted character and unquestionable integrity.

Sterling T. and Henry Clay served over three years in the Union Army, participating in many bat- tles, among them Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, Pleasant Hill, and the two days' fight near Nashville. They were in the 58th Ill. Vol. Inf., Col. Lynch. S. T. resides at Abingdon, Ill .; H. C., in St. Paul, Minn.

ev. Erick G. Hjerpe, pastor, in charge of the Swedish Evangelical Mission Church, of Galesburg, was born at Hillringsbergs Bruk, Glafva-Socken, Wermland, Sweden, March 12, 1853. He came to America in 1879, and in the State of Minnesota spent a year and a half. From there he came to Knox- ville, where he graduated in due course of time from the Ansgari College, a religious institution, and was at once called to Galesburg in charge of the Second Lutheran Church. Christmas, 1881, he accepted the pastorate over which he has since continuously pre- sided. His sermons are preached in his native lan- guage, and the church of which he is in charge is properly entitled "Svenska Evangeliska Missions Forsamlingen," located at 341 East Simmons street, Galesburg.

Our subject had received a pretty thorough com- mon-school training in the old country and had there

preached some in a local way. His parents, named respectively Carl and Marta Lisa (Hane) Hjerpe, reared two sons and three daughters. The subject of this sketch was the eldest of the sons.

· Mr. Hjerpe is a fluent speaker, good organizer, is devoted to his profession as a minister of Christ, and, altogether, wields an influence for much good. He is greatly loved both as a pastor and man. His mar- riage took place at Galesburg, Oct. 5, 1882, when he was married to Miss Josephine Albertina Peterson, daughter of Mr. Gustafus Peterson, and a native of this city. They have two children, who are named Caroline Elizabeth and Ester Josephine.

ons Hawkinson, a farmer, residing on section 13, Galesburg Township, was born in Sweden, May 15, 1839, and came to America in 1856, landing at Boston, whence he proceeded at once to Knox County, Ill. On arriving here, Aug. 16, 1856, he went to work with characteristic industry by the day and by the month.

He came to this county with his parents, who were named Hawkin Anderson and Hannah (Hawkin- son) Anderson. She was born in Sweden Nov. 7, 1809, and is still living in Galesburg, at a venerable age. He was born in the same country and in the same year, about December, and died March 30, 1873. They were members of the Lutheran Church at Galesburg, and were the parents of eight children, as follows‹ Betsy, Annie, Margaret and one infant died in Sweden; Olof, Mons, Nels and Andrew are living, and are all residents of Knox County except Nels, who lives in Phillips County, Neb.

Mons, the subject of this sketch, was married to Miss Christina Larson, Aug. 23, 1873. She was born May 29, 1851, in Sweden, and came to America in 1869, with her parents, named Gust. and Annie (Swanson) Larson. They had two children-Chris- tina and John A. Larson. The parents are still liv- ing in Henderson Township, Knox County, Ill.

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Portrait and biographical album of Knox county, Illinois, Part 110

Author: Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo and Chicago; Chapman Brothers, pub Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Chicago : Biographical publishing company Number of Pages: 1130

Author: Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo and Chicago; Chapman Brothers, pub
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical publishing company
Number of Pages: 1130