Portrait and biographical album of Knox county, Illinois, Part 96

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

USA > Illinois > Knox County > Portrait and biographical album of Knox county, Illinois > Part 96

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Mrs. Blakslee still occupies the homestead with three of her children. Sarah H. resides in Maquon Township, and is the relict of the late Thomas Fos- ter; Solomon is a practical and successful farmer. whose home is on section 32 in Salem Township. Those at home are Eli, Chauncey and Mary.

Mr. Blakslee was Democratic in politics, and lib- eral in religious matters. He was one of the Direct- ors who hired a Miss Minerva Hart to teach school, and paid her one dollar per week ; this was in the year 1837. The other two Directors were George Saunders and Ira Baker, of Fulton County. The pupils were eight in number, and Mr. B. boarded the teacher.

illiam D. Epperson. One of the princi- pal citizens of Knox County, a farmer, resident on section 6, Rio, is Wm. D. Ep- person, of whom this personal history is written. He is the School Director in his home district, which office he has held for some length of time, and has held the position both of Constable and Collector.

Our subject was born in Madison County, Ky., Nov. 17, 1827, and came to Knox County in May, 1836, under the guardianship of his parents. At this time he was eight and a half years of age, and he remained under his father's roof from that time until he reached the years of wisdom and under-

S21

KNOX COUNTY.

standing, gaining in the meantime a common-school education and helping his father on the farm. Hav- ing a liking for agricultural pursuits, he has ever since engaged in them, and is at present the owner of 125 acres of land, part of which is timber. He has been successful.

Mr. Epperson was united in matrimony with Miss Mary J. Westfall, Sept. 27, 1848, and their nuptials were celebrated in Mercer County, Ill. To them have been born ten children, as follows : George W., William E., John F., Olin E., Mary L., Adella N., James A., Edward D., Eva E. and Sarah A. From this circle of brothers and sisters two have been taken by the hand of death-Olin E. and Mary L. The latter was the wife of Edwin B. Rhodes, and left one child, Kate, in the care of the bereaved husband. George W., residing in Vernon County, Mo., is engaged in farming ; William E. follows mercantile pursuits in Alpha, Ill .; John is a clerk, living in Rio Township, and the other children are still inmates of the home circle.

Mr. Epperson is a stirring, energetic man, an act- ive member of the Masonic fraternity, and takes an interest in local and general politics, affiliating with the Republican party. Both himself and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

on. August W. Berggren. Prominent among the best known citizens of Knox County, one who has attained eminence as a representative of the people is the subject of this notice. He is State Senator from Knox and Fulton Counties, and is also engaged in dealing in gent's furnishing goods, at Galesburg.

Mr. Berggren was born in Sweden, Aug. 17, 1840, and came to this country in 1856; he arrived at Oneida, Ill., and with his father came to Galesburg the next year, his mother having died several years prior to their coming to this country. He had learned the tailor's trade in his native land and at Victoria, where the subject of this sketch spent the first year after arriving in the State. He worked at the bus- iness there, as he also did at Galesburg, after mov- ing there, until about 186t.

Mr. Berggren had been reasonably well educated in his native country, attended school some after coming here, and otherwise improved every oppor-

tunity that was afforded for the acquirement of knowledge; thus within a comparatively short time he was recognized as a man of more than ordinary information and soon became a local leader in pub- lic affairs.

In 1869 Mr. Berggren was elected Justice of the Peace ; Sheriff in 1872; re-elected in 1874, '76, '78, holding the office altogether eight years. In 1880 he was elected to represent his district (consisting of Knox and Mercer Counties) in the State Senate, and in 1884 re-elected by a popular majority in the new district, comprising Knox and Fulton Counties. Hence it will be reasonable to assume that as a political leader his influence is no longer circum- scribed by locality. Senator Berggren is a member of the Masonic fraternity and a Knight Templar ; Past Grand Master of the I. O. O. F., and was Grand Representative of the Order to the Sovereign Grand Lodge, which convened at Baltimore in 1885 ; he has been President of the Covenant Mutual Ben- efit Association, Galesburg, since its organization in 1877, and is also Director in the Galesburg National Bank.

Whatever successes have attended Mr. Berggren since coming to this country are to be credited wholly to his individual merit. He came here a poor boy; has never inherited a dollar; has been identified with no great schemes, whereby some men have been lifted from poverty to affluence; but on the contrary has, in a quiet, unostentatious manner, pursued the even tenor of his way to where we now find him, in the prime of mature manhood. He was married at Galesburg, March 8, 1866, to Christina Naslund, a native of Sweden, and six children have been born to them.

Mr. Berggren has always been identified with and a stanch supporter of the principles of the Repub- lican party.

dgar L. Phillips, M. D., of Galesburg, belongs to that class of men who have aided in the building up of that city, which takes a recognized prominence among the many beautiful and thrifty cities that the State of Illinois can boast of. He is a native of New York, and was born in Orange County, April 5, 1827. His parents were William and Sarah (Evertson) Phillips. The father was a prominent farmer and

822

KNOX COUNTY.

manufacturer, and served for a short time in the War of 1812-14, and subsequently held a colonelcy in the militia in the State of New York for many years. He was a gentleman of sterling integrity and noble worth, and always judged his fellow-man his equal in that respect, a quality which eventually proved dis- astrous to him in a financial point of view. He was descended from Rev. George Phillips, who accom- panied Gov. Winthrop from England to our shores, and who settled at Watertown, Mass., whence came a great many of our American Phillipses. Sarah Evertson was a native of Dutchess County, N. Y., of Dutch descent, and came of a worthy line of pioneers in that locality. Their five sons all became prominent in their different callings. Henry L., who lived at Honesdale, Pa., died May 12, 1886; Nich- olas E. is in the grain business at North Henderson, Mercer Co., Ill. ; William N. is living at Galesburg, and Thomas S., who was a resident of Chicago, died April 21, 1886.

Edgar L. Phillips was prepared for college at Lee, Mass., and Middletown, N. Y., and in 1844 entered Williams College, Williamstown, Mass., where he spent nearly four years. He withdrew from his studies there in the Senior year, on account of the death of his father, which occurred Sept. 1, 1846, and which left our subject to care for himself. In 1848 he came West and located at Fairview, Fulton Co., Ill., where he commenced the study of medicine and attended lectures at Cleveland Medical College, Cleveland, Ohio; in the meantime continuing his studies in the office of Prof. John Delamater. In 1851 he commenced the practice of his profession in Fairview, Fulton County, and continued until the spring of 1852, when he was constrained to join a party who were en route for California, his brother, Nicholas E., going with him. On his arrival in that State he resumed the practice in Eldorado County, in which he continued for about three years. He also engaged in the mining business. In 1855 he returned East, and after reading and attending lectures at the St. Louis Medical College, from which he graduated, he, in 1856, opened an office at Knoxville, this county, where we find him in active professional work for a few years. In 1860 he retired from pro- fessional work on account of ill health, and spent two seasons on his farm in Pottawatomie County, Iowa. In 1862, as soon as he had recuperated his health, he returned to his adopted State and enlisted

in the cause for the Union. He was assigned to the 91st Regt. Ill. Vol. Inf., as First Assistant Surgeon. His regiment was captured by Gen. Morgan at Eliza- bethtown, Ky., in December, 1862, and after being paroled was ordered to Benton Barracks, St. Louis. In the following summer the regiment was exchanged and he continued in the field, serving at Vicksburg. Port Hudson and Carrollton, La. Before the close of this year his health failed him and he resigned his position while the regiment was stationed at Carroll- ton, and returned home and spent a year farming near Galesburg. In 1865 he located at Galesburg, where he has continued to successfully practice his profession.

While taking a prominent rank as a professional man, he is also a gentleman of excellent citizenship, contributing to all measures attending the advance- ment of the city, together with her many important interests. He is a member of the Board of Examin- ers for Pensions, a position he has creditably filled for four years. He is a member of the Military Tract Medical Society, the American Medical Association and the Kappa Alpha Society of Williams College. He is a member of the ancient and honorable frater- nity of F. & A. M., and holds membership with Alpha Lodge, No. 155, and Galesburg Chapter, No. 46, R. A. M., and served as High Priest of the latter body for three years. May 6, 1857, Dr. Phillips was married to Miss Mary L. Sanburn, of Knoxville, and their union has been blest with two sons and two daughters. John Sanburn, the elder son, was gradu- ated from Knox College in the class of 1882, and, upon the organization of the Wheelman, of Boston, accepted a position upon its staff as literary editor, which he acceptably filled for a time, when he retired to enter Harvard College, from which renowned in- stitution he graduated in 1885. He then returned home and formed a matrimonial alliance with Miss Emma, daughter of C. C. West, of Oneida, and in September of that year departed for Leipzig, Germany, where he is prosecuting his studies for further ad- vancement as a teacher. His intelligent and accom- plished wife joined him and is studying art. Edgar E., second son of our subject, a young man of clever attain- ments, is thoroughly practical in his ideas, and is a printer in the office of the Register-Republican, at Galesburg. Elizabeth and Julia, the two daughters of Dr. Phillips, reside with their parents.

Dr. Phillips can with pride look back upon a life

823

KNOX COUNTY.

well spent as a pioneer, and rejoice with that noble class of people that, though their early lives were fraught with hardships and privations, they have lived to see the country developed to its present wonderful condition.

ranklin Nichols is a very old settler of the county and a successful farmer, own- ing 157 acres, on section 2, Walnut Grove Township, less Sc recently deeded to his son. This worthy citizen was born in Jefferson Township, Schoharie Co., N. Y., Jan. 17, 1822. His father, John, was a farmer, born in Williamstown Township, Vt., and he in turn was the son of Ezra, a native of Connecticut and of New England parent- age. Ezra died in Harpersfield Townsbip, Dela- ware Co., N. Y. The father was brought up in the same county, where he arrived when he was in his sixth year. While in Connecticut he married Laura Hamilton, a lady born in that State, near Danbury. She was of old English descent.

The parents of our subject, alter their marriage, settled in Jefferson Township, Schoharie Co., N. Y., in 1813. In this county they lived and died, having secured about 1,ooo acres of good land and won for themselves the good will and high esteem due to prominent citizens, as they were. The son is yet an owner and operator of part of the old homestead. The family born of this marriage were three sons and four daughters, one of the former dying when young, the others living to maturity. Our subject was the eldest of the family but one. He learned to read, write and " cypher " while living in the old log cabin, where for hours he would sit and study near the wide, antique, stone fireplace. His second teacher, Samantha Hoyt, gave the boy his first card of merit, and he has never forgotten the couplet it contained. This runs as follows :

" Labor for learning before thou art old,

For learning is better than silver or gold."

This truism he took to heart and believes to this hour.

On the 24th of March, 1843, Mr. Nichols was married in Davenport, Otsego Co., N. Y., to Miss Margaret Multer, a native of Worcester, Otsego County, where she was born in February, 1820. She was the daughter of an Otsego County farmer, by

name Christian Multer. The father was born in New York City and died in Worcester, Otsego County. Her mother, Mary Becker, resided and died in Worcester also. These parents were of German and Holland Dutch descent respectively. Mrs. N. of this notice was the fifth child of a family of nine-three sons and six daughters. She is the mother of eight children herself-six sons and two daughters.

George Nichols married Miss Catherine Rockfel- low, and resides in Summit, Schoharie Co., N. Y. Walter married Sophia Nelson and lives on the homestead of So acres deeded by his father; his wife is the daughter of Charles and Matilda (Stread) Nel- son, natives of Sweden ; she was born in Altona and is the eldest in a family of seven children. Walter was previously married to Mary Field, who is now deceased, her death taking place in December, 1881. By his first marriage he became the father of one child-Harry F .- and by his second marriage he has one child, named Claude Nathan. Nathan re- ? sides in Lynn Township, Knox County, and is the owner of 113 acres of prime land; Irvin J. resides at home; John C., Wesley, Ellen J. and Julia are deceased. The entire family are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Mr. Nichols being a Trustee of that body in whom the greatest confi- dence is placed. In him, also, the Republican party has a consistent and able adherent. Politically speaking, he is solid to the core, and watches with interest all matters likely to promote the good of his party.

J. Oleen, Vice-President of the Scandi- navian Mutual Aid Association, and senior member of the well-known boot-and-shoe firm of Oleen & Peterson, of Galesburg, was born in the south part of Sweden, March 8, 1844, and came to America in July, 1865. His parents, who both died in Sweden, reared three sons and three daughters.

Mr. Oleen of this writing attended the schools in his native country, acquiring therein a tolerably thorough education, and after coming to Galesburg graduated from the Business College ; thus, before attempting anything in a business way, he fitted himself to be of service to his employers. His first employment, aside from a little work done as a

824

KNOX COUNTY.

broom-corn cutter, was as clerk in the grocery house of G. D. Crocker, where he remained three years. From there he went with E. F. Thomas' dry goods house as salesman, and afterward with Mr. Thomas' successors, where he remained until 1881. He next traveled for a Boston house for a year or two, and in the spring of 1883 went into his present business en- gagement.

He was one of the organizers of the Scandinavian Mutual Aid Association, and has since been Vice- President of that body, and is also at present one of the Board of Managers. He was also one of the founders of the Covenant Mutual Benefit Associa- tion, and was for some years one of its Board of Directors and Managers. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. He has represented the First Scandi- navian Lodge, No. 446, in the Grand Lodge of the State for two years, and Colfax Encampment, No. 28, for the years 1884-85.

Mr. Oleen is eminently deserving of more than ordinary mention on account of his high social and business standing, of his political and gentlemanly deportment at all times and under all circum- stances, and of his merited popularity with all classes ; but the writer is restrained from cataloguing his many good points by the promises exacted, on account of his modesty, which always accompanies true worth, by the subject of our sketch.

Mr. Oleen was married at Galesburg, March 17. 1872, to Miss Louisa Anderson, and to him have been born five children, namely: Clara Hildegard, Carl Theodore, Wilford Martin, Eveline, and one child, a daughter, who died in infancy. Politically he is a Republican.

„rwin H. Belknap, one of the oldest pas- senger conductors of the C., B. & Q. R. R., is now (January, 1886), Past Assistant Grand Chief Conductor of the Order of Rail- way Conductors, and member of the Executive Committee of the Grand Division of that or- ganization. (See Order of Railway Conductors, this volume.)

Our subject was born at Springfield, Otsego Co., N. Y.,Feb. 22, 1836. From earliest childhood he seems to have been forced to self-reliance, improving every |

opportunity that offered, whether of public or private instruction. At the neighboring town of Franklin, N. Y., there was an academy of considerable repute, into which young Belknap early sought admission. He was being brought up to farm life, and his attend- ance at school was limited to such times as his em- ployer could find nothing else for him to do. How- ever, by dint of extraordinary industry he made such progress as enabled him to offer his services as a teacher before he was 15 years of age, and from that time until he attained his majority we find him in- structing the youth in the public schools of Delaware County, his native State, during the winter, and labor ing upon the farm the rest of the year.

In 1857 our subject left the State of New York, and turned his face Westward. Elgin, Ill., was the point where he first halted, and there for a few months he earned a livelihood laboring in a nursery. He next went on the road as a " drummer," but six months' experience as " knight of the gripsack " was all that he could stand, and in 1858 he began brak- ing on a passenger train of the C., B. & Q. R. R., under Conductor A. N. Towne, now the General Manager of the Central Pacific. After braking for a time, he left that hazardous occupation, and at Oneida learned telegraphy. So soon as he was able to handle an instrument the C., B. & Q. R. R. Co. placed him in charge of their office, yards and switches at Yates City. He remained there a year, when he was installed as Station Baggageman at Galesburg. In September, 1863, he took charge of a passenger train between Galesburg and Burlington. He was on this division seven or eight years; was transferred to the Quincy Division ; was there about ten years, and since 188t has been pulling the bell- cord and taking up tickets between Galesburg and Rushville. To speak of Belknap's popularity both with the people and the great company that em- ploys him would be superfluous, for 23 consecutive years in a position where the highest order of ability and deportment is strictly essential needs not to be commented upon in this volume.

At the organization of the Galesburg Division, No. 83, Order of Railway Conductors, Mr. B., being a charter member, took an active part. He was the first Chief Conductor of the Division, a position he filled for some time, when, being promoted to a higher, he relinquished it. A detailed history of this Order, now recognized as one of the most meritorious be-

825

KNOX COUNTY.

nevolent organizations in the Union, would show that no man has done more toward building it up, sys- tematizing and placing it upon the high plane it now occupies than has E. H. Belknap. These facts we learn from men prominently connected with the Order, and while we know that Mr. Belknap's modesty would stay our hand, were it in his power, we take the privilege of one who chronicles historical truth to place this eulogy in imperishable type.

The brief outline here given of this man's life in- dicates naught but devotion to arduous duty. It reflects no picture of his social habits ; it is silent as to his hours at home; it says nothing of his never- abandoned application to study and self-improve- ment, and yet in all these things, from his boyhood to the present, there has been an unbroken consonance.

In speaking of Mr. Belknap's rare literary accom- plishments it would be improper to qualify by refer- ence to his opportunities, and we only regret our inability to here reproduce selections from his versi- fication upon various themes illustrative of what under a different environment might have developed a genius.

Mr. Belknap was married at Ontario, Knox County, May 29, 1865, to Miss Julia F. Camp, a native of Oneida County, N. Y., and the accomplished daugh- ter of the late Charles F. Camp, mentioned in the history of this county as the gentleman who laid out the town of Oneida. Mr. and Mrs. Belknap's only child, Henry Erwin, was born Jan. 14, 1867, and died Oct. 12, 1868.

ilo D. Cooke, Police Magistrate of Gales- burg, was born at Cornwall, Vt., June 4, 1819. His father, Chauncey Cooke, also a native of Vermont, was a General of mili- tia for a number of years, and his grandfather, Joseph Cooke, was a Brigadier-General and a soldier of the Revolution. His mother before mar- riage was Betsie Evarts, and was a distant relation of William M. Evarts. Chauncey Cooke was a farmer by vocation, to which honorable calling he brought up his sons.

The subject of this sketch graduated from Middle- bury (Vt.) College, in the Class of '42 ; taught school ten years, read law in the meantime; came to Gales- burg in 1852 and here has since remained. He has

continued in his present office since 1857. Aside from holding the office of Police Magistrate, he has at several times been Supervisor, member of the Board of Education of the City of Galesburg for some 12 years and is now a member of the same. He was regularly admitted to the bar in 1860, and is recognized by the profession as being one of the best legal minds that ever presided over a Justice's Court in the county.

Our subject was married in the State of New York, in 1847, to Betsie B. Smith, a native of Vermont. To Mr. and Mrs. Cooke has been born one son- Forest Cooke, who is at this writing the foremost at- torney for his age at the Knox County Bar.

obert G. Jamison, one of the best known and most highly respected men of Knox County in business circles, whose abilities are of a high order, is the subject of this personal narration. He is a farmer, carpen- ter, wagon-maker and blacksmith. His me- chanical genius directs his taste in many ways, and he is fairly successful in any enterprise which he takes in hand. His home is situated on section 36 of Chestnut Township, where he not only carries on the occupation of farming, but engages in the breed- ing and raising of cattle, in which he is quite exten- sively interested.

Our subject was born in Westmoreland County, Pa., Nov. 26, 1819. He came to Illinois in 1855 and located in Fulton County, where he erected a steam saw-mill. There he remained for ten years and then moved to Knox County, where he has since remained. He was united in the bonds of wedlock, Jan. 17, 1844, with Miss Sarah Barnes, who was born June 8, 1821, in Pennsylvania, and their nuptials were cele- brated in that State. Mr. J. is now the owner of 40 acres, which he works in connection with his shops. Seven children have been born to them, all of whom are dead but the two youngest, and they are twins. Ezra E., born April 25, 1845, died in Memphis, of typhoid fever, in June, 1863 ; he enlisted as a private in the 103d Ill. Vol Inf., and died in the hospital ; he was unmarried. Rebecca married Cornelius Norval Sept. 3, 1846; Jane, born in August, 1848, died in her 13th year ; Bithia, born in 1851, died in

826

KNOX COUNTY.

July, 1878 ; Lydia died in infancy ; Sarah and Martha are twins, and both married twin brothers ; Sarah be- coming the wife of H. B. Barnes, and Martha of James C. Barnes. Mr. Jamison was reared under the doctrines of the Presbyterian Church and his wife in the Methodist Episcopal. In politics he is Republican, strong and stanch, voting always for the party of which he is a member. He can boast of being the oldest man in the county whose father still lives. The old gentleman, Robert Jamison, Sr., now lives within 40 feet of the spot where he first opened his eyes to the things of earth. He was born in 1789, in January, and lives in Westmoreland County, Pa., having never moved from the farm which he now owns. The mother of our subject, Jane (Workman) Jamison, was also born in the State of her husband's nativity in 1793, and died in 1881. They were the parents of nine children, as follows : Martha, Robert, Elizabeth, Margery, Eli, Joseph, Amanda, Margret and Jane.

Robert Jamison is a hale and hearty old gentle- man, who is enjoying life in the sunset of a happy old age. Both himself and wife enjoy excellent health and are active, worthy members of the com- munity in which they belong.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Portrait and biographical album of Knox county, Illinois, Part 96

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